Tl; Dr: All people are motivated by meaning of their work. The ability to shape the \u201cstories\u201d that we tell ourselves gives meaning and thus is an essential motivational tool. This meaning is also key for personal satisfaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s consider a standard engineer. There are a lot of \u201coutlooks\u201d this engineer might have. I\u2019ll go over 5 out of thousands of possibilities just to illustrate some variety:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What I\u2019m proposing is that the same engineer<\/em> having the same experiences<\/em> could retell that same experience in any of the ways I listed above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, you\u2019ll find that a lot of people gravitate towards common narratives. I have a friend, let\u2019s call him Fry who always sees the same story: The big guy is mistreating the little guy<\/em>. One thing I learned quickly was that he liked and actively chooses (if not entirely consciously) to see the world in these terms. And if I want his help, I can motivate him by giving him a rebel story he can play a part in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, if I\u2019m trying to create a new tool, I could tell it in a way that plays up the opposition, especially if it\u2019s an entrenched \u201csenior\u201d group that\u2019s cautious about new ideas, and it\u2019ll make him want <\/em>to help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everybody has a narrative or two that resonates with them. I have another coworker, Bender, who always promotes the story: People are stupid.<\/em> I know not to try to change his story, because it\u2019s a choice and likely inspired by some very frustrating life experience (I imagine those frustrations are valid, albeit rather long-lived). If I need him on a PR I can ask it in a way that implies I need his expertise. That way he act can out his fantasy of undoing the damage of incompetent\/indifferent<\/em> through the act of improving my code. A win\/win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes these narratives are just plain counterproductive. I can think of experiences when teammates were annoyed that some \u201cundeserving\u201d party \u201cstole credit.\u201d In these situations you can try to rewrite the narrative, though it takes a certain skill. One way to accomplish this is to bring up an opposing narrative like, \u201cYeah so his name was mentioned in a meeting big deal\u2026 I don\u2019t do great work so some manager can mention my name, I do it because there are literally millions of users who are experiencing what I make and I think I\u2019m lucky to be able to be in a position to help so many people. That\u2019s something I can be proud of.\u201d [And as an aside their is no duplicity in this. It is our choice whether to aim to \u201cdo good\u201d or to accrue material. Each philosophy has its upsides.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the fact that people are <\/em>choosing<\/em> to live these stories is an important fact. For a long time, I would have thought doing this type of thing was \u201cmanipulative\u201d or \u201ctricking\u201d people into work when I could instead explain to them why their underlying narrative was too black&white. But knowing that these narratives are choices, with symbolic importance, that give meaning to the individual who holds them, I see now that people choose to live these stories hoping to \u201cplay them out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And most importantly, we all<\/em> have narratives. Mastering other peoples narratives is a great tool, but mastering your own is probably more important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n Part 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re a leader in an organization, you need to be aware of the stories that occupy the minds you oversee. Do people see themselves as battling each other for recognition? Do they see themselves as allies against a great evil? Do they see themselves as victims of your rule?<\/p>\n\n\n\n People within the company all have their narratives, and those attitudes are contagious. Your actions will have a great role in deciding which attitude wins out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve seen organizations torn apart by leaders who were out-of-touch with the effects of their actions. The cultural effects you have are of supreme importance. Actions like requiring engineers start an hour earlier, for example, are incredibly dangerous, because they give room for the narrative \u201cWe are seen as code monkeys\u201d to thrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To win this battle you must understand the narratives that you are battling against. You must truly understand<\/em> them, you must know and appreciate the day-to-day of your workers. For example, you must know that your Office Manager Lela is frustrated, sleep-deprived, is wondering where her life is going, and is starting to feel like the \u201cmanager\u201d in her title is meaningless. When you know the people you work with you\u2019ll know what stories are compelling to them<\/em>. When you understand, you will be capable of offering the service<\/em> of arming them with a better story, a brighter story, a more compelling story. Because as bad as Lela\u2019s life is, it\u2019s better for everyone if she feels like her work matters at the end of the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tl; Dr: All people are motivated by meaning of their work. The ability to shape the \u201cstories\u201d that we tell ourselves gives meaning and thus is an essential motivational tool. This meaning is also key for personal satisfaction. Let\u2019s consider a standard engineer. There are a lot of \u201coutlooks\u201d this engineer might have. I\u2019ll go over 5 out…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/think-twice.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/think-twice.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/think-twice.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/think-twice.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/think-twice.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/think-twice.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32,"href":"https:\/\/think-twice.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions\/32"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/think-twice.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/think-twice.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/think-twice.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}