Is Money Everything?

...... What a silly thing to ask.

As most of us already know, money is everything. It makes our lives a lot easier. That fancy diamond ring that you (or your wife / girlfriend / boyfriend) craved for, the luxurious trip to Cancun, or for us lesser mortals the 2 kg onions that we purchase at Rs 100 a kilo (- downright ridiculous I say), the money earned makes our lives a little comfortable.

But then once  basic needs (& then a little more) are met, we start considering intangible feelings such as work satisfaction. And as if such hard to meet expectations & complex emotions weren't enough for us to handle, as leaders / mentors, we have to also take care of such crucifying mindbenders when our reportees & team members ask us the same question.

And then suddenly we are thrown in the roller coaster ride of pitching (believable) psycho analysis babble & depending on whether we still want them on the team try to convince them, confuse them or just tell them to explore the vibrant opportunities available to them - outside the company (of course)!

Now while all these wily moves are a standard fare to most of us wisened veterans, the fact is that we know that it really isn't money that eventually drives motivated individuals & team members - Its actually the pride in what we do, in what we create & the knowledge that what we are doing makes a difference in the overall scheme of things. It’s the feeling that we matter & are, in our minds (subconsciously perhaps), indispensible, that drives us to be engaged & do better. Even if its something so manual as filing documents or fixing your nuts - on the car.

It isn't quite different to the passion some of us exhibit in our hobbies. Something akin to the high my numismatist (coin collector) friend gets by watching 2000 year old naked ladies on old worn out coins or the stamp licking stamp collector friend of mine.

But here is a twist. Nicholas Epley, John T Keller Professor of Behavioural Sciences at Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, says that People don’t always work hard for things that make them happy, & you cant always tell how a person really feels by watching what they do. When we look at colleagues, team members, reportees or for that matter even family members our perceptions often influence our inference of that they really feel & want from us & their life / job. Epley says that the right way is to just go flat out & ask them. And since most humans get stymied when asked a direct question, to know what they look forward to / want in the job, we ask them for example what part of their day brings the most satisfaction for them & also what part the least satisfaction. As a leader if you want to increase the probability that your team member enjoys  their work, try increasing & decreasing the relevant activities.

The tendency to overestimate the importance of extrinsic motivators like money & to underestimate the importance of intrinsic motivators like doing something meaningful or worthwhile seems to be a rather reliable bias among employers & leaders like us. That’s a trap that we rather beware.

(Note: Yeah ok -so I used double meaning entendres to get the point across - & yes I admit it isn't only naked ladies on old coins that gets my numismatist friend turned on! My apologies Dev for generalising ;-)

Also please note that the quality of my friends doesn’t necessarily attest to the weirdness of my behaviour)

Reference: Book review (Mindwise: How we understand what others think believe, feel & want by Nicholas Epley, Penguin books) article printed in the Strategist, Business Standard, Monday 21July 2014. Also Interview of Epley by Ankita Rai

Key words: Motivation, Pride, Self worth, Work satisfaction, Leadership, Mentor, What employees want