by Barbara Demarest
Mercer,who conducts the What’s Working(TM) survey,has asserted that “half of all US employees are really not happy.”When the economy is down,people understandably stay with jobs they don’t find satisfying. There is no support for transitioning to a different,more satisfying job. The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s recent article:“Nonprofit Employers Don’t Meet Worker’s Needs for Job Satisfaction”shared data from two surveys conducted in New York and Washington DC. The news wasn’t good with the survey showing “some disturbing issues for nonprofits managers.”
Turning our learning lens on this subject of satisfaction,we noted the perspectives of three authors who have addressed the issue in different ways:
Factors of Job Dissatisfaction - Patrick Lencioni,author of nine best-selling books including,Death by Meeting and The Five Dysfunctions of a Team has also written the Three Signs of a Miserable Job. Lencioni says that there are three underlying factors that lead to job dissatisfaction:anonymity,irrelevance,and immeasurement (I think that last one is a made up word,but we get the point). These factors all stem from the employee’s relationship with his or her direct manager. Even if you are well paid,have great benefits,a balanced work and personal life,and work you find fulfilling,you will be miserable if you cannot get what you need from your manager. The three factors are:
- Anonymity –the sense that your manager has no interest in your life,your aspirations and your interests
- Irrelevance –when you don’t see your job making a difference in the lives of others including how your job fits into the work of your group or organization
- Immeasurement –when you don’t see a way to assess your contribution and your manager is not providing any gauge for your success
What Motivates –In Drive:The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us,author Daniel Pink offers a similar three-part framework for achieving greater satisfaction:
- Autonomy –the desire to direct our own lives
- Mastery –the urge to get better and better at something that matters
- Purpose –the desire to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves
Pink’s point,which he backs up with an almost overwhelming number of studies,is that the assumption of a carrot and stick mentality as a means of motivating is a false one. Dan Pink suggests that satisfaction is best gained through intrinsic motivations.
A Focus on Behaviors –Marshall Goldsmith,a well-known leadership coach and author has another take on satisfaction in two of his books,What Got You Here,Won’t Get You There and MOJO:How to Get It,How to Keep It,How to Get It Back If You Lose It. Goldsmith sees that changes in the world and changes in your organizational role can present challenges you haven’t encountered in the past. The approaches that gave you satisfaction and success in the past may not be helping you in the present. Goldsmith focuses on changing your behaviors,not skills or knowledge and suggests several simple steps:
- gather feedback from appropriate colleagues and cohorts
- determine which behaviors to change so that you can get back to satisfying work
- apologize if you need to do so
- tell others what you are working on
- listen
- thank people for helping
- practice and follow up
We’re interested in what you think about job satisfaction. Are you satisfied in your work,your role,with your manager? What are the challenges to job satisfaction in philanthropy? Does philanthropy share the same issues as other nonprofits? What do you do to stay motivated and engaged in your work?
