By Dr. John Demartini
Have you ever wondered what it costs businesses when employees are not productive? Every day that employees are uninspired, uncreative, and unproductive, they cost their companies millions or billions of dollars. This may surprise you but no employee is loyal to a company. They are only loyal to the fulfilment of their highest values and aspirations. By values I mean the aspects of life that they perceive as most valuable to them. That is why it’s vital to hire people who have a congruency between their highest values and their job description.
When we live congruently according to our highest values, we are inspired from within and require no outside motivation to meet our objectives. But when we set goals or objectives that are more aligned with our lower values, things less or least important to us, we require outside motivation and reminding repeatedly to move us into action. If we are requiring outside motivation to get into action, then we are not being true to our highest, most meaningful priorities, values, or purpose in life. This also holds true for individuals in their work capacity. If workers can see how their job descriptions and goals are aligned with the things that are most important and meaningful to them, they are automatically self-reliant, inspired, and do not require outside motivation to get their jobs done.
There are six areas of life in which people can be inspired: family, social, spiritual, financial, physical, and vocational. Whatever areas are highest on their list of priorities or values will determine what will most inspire them.
Here is a brief outline of them:
- Family- Some people are dedicated primarily to their families and secondarily to their jobs. For example, a woman who has a high value on her family and a low value on work and who is focused mostly on her children is likely to be less inspired and possibly less consistently productive in her job. The minute the children are ill, she may want to go home to them and let her work duties slide.
- Social- Then you have people who are dedicated to meeting and interacting with people and desiring to travel. They will more likely shine and excel at work primarily when their job duties require social interaction.
- Spiritual- In the case of someone with a spiritual focus, the person looks for spiritual rewards. They may feel isolated if there is no one else in their faith available to commune with at work or they may feel unfulfilled if their work doesn’t allow them to express their spirituality in some form that they perceive valuable.
- Financial- Those with a money/financial focus will be inspired to work primarily because of the financial rewards or incentives.
- Physical- People with a high value on physical activities are more likely to be inspired by a job in the health, healing, beauty, or sports industries depending on the form of physical activities they value and are able to incorporate into their job.
- Vocational- Those with an entrepreneurial focus will want to help build the company if their job descriptions are aligned with their highest values. They may even desire to become partners or shareholders and will focus their energies at work.
As I explained earlier, no one is loyal to a company. They are loyal to the fulfillment of their highest values. If their highest values are fulfilled by their job duties – they will be inspired to go to work and deliver an innovative service.
Inspired employees will help their employers get what they want if they perceive they are getting what they want. When employees feel they can fulfill their highest values, they will see opportunities and act on them, retain learned information on that opportunity, and be more creative and self-initiated which leads to increased productivity.
A tell-tale sign of the potential degree of congruency is when the employee asks, “What activities will I get to do in the position?” and “What services will I be able to provide?” versus “What are the benefits package of this job?” and “How many days leave do I get?”
In addition to being an internationally published author, Dr. John Demartini is an educator and a human behavior specialist. Contact Dr. Demartini by email at [email protected] or visit his website at www.DrDemartini.com. To download a free Value Determination Process Workbook, please visit www.DrDemartini.com/pm_determine_your_values.
