The Reward of Service
“…the reward of service is more service.”
~ Chester I. Barnard
We can learn a lot about how to motivate our team members by thinking about what motivates volunteers to do the work they do for organizations for no pay. They provide services for the reward of the service itself. Satisfaction comes from successfully applying one’s expertise to a worthwhile purpose (Maciariello, 2014).
“The management of people is a marketing job.” ~ Peter Drucker
We need to think about those working in our organization and consider how we would need to serve them if they were volunteers. Volunteers have to get more satisfaction from their work that paid employees, precisely because they don’t get a paycheck (Maciariello, 2014). Volunteers need, above all, challenges. As we know, one of the most important factors in workforce engagement is the employee believing he or she is truly making a difference. Additionally, engaged employees are ones that believe they are being challenged.
Therefore, don’t forget the reward of service. Consider what is truly motivating to the people in your organization. Appeal to the full range of their motivations, not merely to financial remuneration. It has been my experience that the financial compensation is not usually the top factor determining high employee engagement. This is why I always strive to have a “Make it so!” environment for our staff. In this environment staff comes to me with ideas and solutions well thought out and it is my goal to always say, “Make it so!”
Reference
Maciariello, J. A. (2014). A year with Peter Drucker: 52 weeks of coaching for leadership effectiveness. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.
Byron's Babbles 
leave a comment