Happy Spring! As many of you know, I write new articles every other month, using the “leap month” to respond to questions and comments from past articles and suggest ideas in preparation for those upcoming. This is a leap month! For those of you who did not get a chance to read last month’s issue entitled, “Nine Rewards of Working”. (You will find a link to this issue below.)

In summary, I used last month’s issue to discuss the following work motives, each of which may or may not be at issue when a person is deciding to go to work or choosing among vocational options:

• Safety/Security (The need to make a living and pay the bills)

• Self-Determination/Responsibility (Desiring to be self-sufficient)

• Belonging/Participation (Wanting to be with people and experience the social/professional affiliation)

• Competency/Achievement (The desire to use one’s talents and to grow in one’s capacities)

• Recognition/Identity (The aspiration for social status and a sense of professional standing or respect within one’s community)

• Purpose/Service (The desire to make a difference and participate in something that one genuinely cares about)

• Passion/Joy (Doing something for the sheer pleasure and enjoyment of it; being passionate about it)

• Honor/Integrity (Needing one’s work to be in concert with one’s core principles and deeply-held values)

• Personal Growth/Individual Legacy (The desire to do work that adds to one’s sense of who they want to become, a meshing of vocational desires with one’s spiritual beliefs and personal development)

Having presented the “nine rewards of working” in varying formats and training contexts to countless numbers of employment professionals throughout the years, I have come to anticipate certain questions which inevitably arise with discussion of this material. Questions and inquiries from readers from last month’s issue of the newsletter mirrored those I frequently receive at my training events. I chose five of the most common ones, which I believe will have the widest appeal to readers, to respond to in this issue. Enjoy!

~ Denise

Denise, I can see how a discussion of these work motives would be of interest to people working with those who are motivated and wanting to go to work for a variety of reasons. My question is, how does any of this matter to people who are not motivated? I am working with people coming off of welfare and I cannot get them fired up about anything! What suggestions do you have for working with the chronically unmotivated?
 

In my experience of working with individuals leaving welfare, it was clear to me early on that there was far more at issue in the decision to go to work than what meets the eye. What on the surface appeared to be an issue of laziness or unwillingness to go to work, were deeper questions of values, deep-seated fears, and a longing to not put at risk one’s basic sense of security. I know that there are those who meet the more common stereotype of staying on welfare simply to enjoy “living off the system”, but I believe that there are far more recipients of public assistance who are biting at the bit to be free of that system and to enjoy the liberties, freedom and privileges that come with self-sufficiency. When working with someone who is stopped in their tracks by fear, our job is to help them restore faith in themselves until it is stronger than their fear. When working with someone who is hesitant to move forward for lack of hope – our job is to help them dream again and see possibilities for their future which they may have long ago abandoned.

This work is not for the feeble-hearted. It is for those who believe that at the heart of each person is a basic need and desire to bring their gifts to the world and to play a part in their community, no matter how hidden or unknown to the person his/her gifts might be. The challenge is to understand how a person’s present actions make sense in their world and then to find a way to bridge their view of the world with the opportunities being offered them. By taking the time to understand the underlying values and desires motivating a person’s behavior, we have a place to build upon, and we can work to bridge the distance between those needs and values and the ones we are asserting as meaningful and important.

Denise, what would you say to the person who is completely focused on wages when it comes to considering their employment options and claims that the only important factor with regard to work is the money?
 

Let’s say you have been offered a job for $12.00 an hour. It is not in an industry that holds any interest for you and you doubt that you will have much in common with your co-workers. The work itself might be pretty boring, causing the hours to tick by slowly … but hey, at the end of the day, you will have earned your $12.00 an hour. Now, imagine that you have been offered another job for $12.00 an hour. It is in a business that excites you where you have reason to believe you will have something new to learn everyday. You suspect that you will quite enjoy doing the work and have much in common with your co-workers. People who work there tell you it is a dynamic environment and they are often surprised how quickly the time flies by to the end of a shift. The question is, are these two situations equally acceptable to you given that they pay the same amount?

Wage and benefits are the given in an employment situation – no one is likely to accept a job for less than what will serve their financial needs. But many other factors like the work environment, the working conditions, and relationships at work are those that ultimately lead to or away from true job satisfaction. People may take a job solely based on wages or salary, but few will stay in a job simply for that reason because, on a day to day, hour to hour basis, it is not a motive that will sustain the human spirit.

Denise, because of disincentives built into the system, what would you say to the person who figures that when all is said and done, it will cost them more to go to work than to preserve their benefits?
 

Remembering the words of Sigmund Freud, “More of our basic human needs will be simultaneously satisfied through work than any other arena of our lives.” I do believe that the basic human needs reflected in the nine rewards of working listed above can be satisfied in other ways. For example, we can enjoy a sense of belonging, purpose, recognition, competence, accomplishment and joy in many ways outside of work. To satisfy those needs to the same degree that they are simultaneously fulfilled through work, however, would take a very self-disciplined, self-aware, self-initiating person. (Ask anyone who has been out of the work force for some time who is enjoying a full, wholehearted life and they will tell you that it is hard-earned in other ways!)

Clearly there are people in circumstances in which becoming employed really isn’t there best option. But that doesn’t mean they don’t need to attend to the many other needs of the human spirit beyond basic security. I would work to help them create contexts and circumstances outside the work force in which they are leading fulfilling and purposeful lives and in which they are sharing and growing their gifts.

Let me add here that sometimes we stay in jobs that no longer serve us on many levels other than a sense of security or financial gain. It is important in those situations to take into account the high cost that is being paid emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually in order to maintain the status quo. Surely an unsatisfying work situation exacts a price on our primary relationships as well. Truly understanding our relationship to money and knowing what adds or detracts from our basic sense of security may reduce the risk of looking back at our career with remorse or regret when it is too late to change course and being forced to muse, “I wonder if I could have…” No job is going to fully satisfy all of our human needs, and it doesn’t need to because our lives are bigger than our jobs – there are many other arenas of life in which to satisfy our needs, but attend to them we must!

Denise, what happens when you are torn between these various nine rewards of working, knowing that one may have to be satisfied at the expense of another, depending on the choice you make?

I remember years ago when, after having had an accident on it, I was faced with the decision of getting back behind the wheel of a motorcycle or giving the bike away. Learning to ride was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life, and part of me longed to ride again. As a parent of a young child, however, I feared that it was too dangerous a risk. When sharing my indecision with a good friend, he asked me bluntly, “Well, Denise, it seems you are torn between fun and adventure and a sense of security as a single mother to not take an unnecessary risk. You value both, but which motive matters more to you at this time in your life?” The gift of this question closed the case – surely my parenting took precedence over the thrill of wind in my hair. Not all decisions are this clear cut and straightforward, but reevaluating one’s priorities can go a long way in making the decision-making process a little easier.

Denise, do you think that our personal work motives affect the work we do with our clientele and with one another in the workplace?
 

When torn between motives – to be safe or to grow, to belong or to stand alone, to be right or to be kind – a little perspective can go a long way in shedding light on the values from which we would be making our choice. This startling poem by contemporary poet Marie Howe stopped me in my tracks, providing the perspective I needed while in the midst of making a difficult decision.
 

1. Think about the times in your life when other people considered you in any way “unmotivated” to do or be something they thought you should do or be. Identify what it was that motivated your actions or non-actions in that situation.

2. Think of someone in your life whose actions are completely perplexing to you and brainstorm at least five alternative ways of viewing the situation from their point of view which would make sense of their behavior or decisions.

3. Consider each of the nine rewards of working in relation to your current work situation and identify those which you value the most. Thinking about the people you work with, do you see a diversity of work values in your workplace? How do you think the similarities and differences of work values in your workplace add or detract from the team and the work being done?

4. Consider how you can meet or more fully satisfy each of the nine human needs outside of work.

5. Think about the last difficult decision you had to make and the extent to which you were torn between motives. What led you to choose one motive over another?

Denise has published several important works on topics of job development, career development, personal development and similar topics. She also has two video-based in-service training programs available. Please visit our online store, Diversity Shop, for more information on these and related products.

Four of Denise Bissonnette’s most popular items are included in this package – The Wholehearted Journey (Book and CD), 30 Ways to Shine as a New Employee, and Beyond Traditional Development. Buy them as a set and save!

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