After these meetings, do you think these trainers acted as my boss had described them, as people who came to work, did their jobs, then left?
Hardly. My greatest problem was managing their overtime. Cathy was rewarded for her new reporting system, Dina became the company’s first factory training supervisor and Sandy committed herself to a personal development program that she claimed brought her back from the “living dead.” The high evaluations they received from those they trained reflected their renewed motivation to work.
The point of the story is not to tout my success. Success should be given to the management programs I had been teaching over the years; I was just practicing what I taught. The point is that the difference in these employees’ productivity had nothing to do with their knowledge and skills. The bottom line was impacted by their emotional commitment. Their performance was based on how they felt while doing the job, not on how well they knew how to do it.
It’s a simple formula. If I WANT TO do a good job, I do it.
If I don’t feel like doing a good job, I don’t, at least
I do not perform up to my maximum potential.
I might do what is required, but my discretionary effort—the extra effort that drives a company’s competitive edge—rests on HOW I FEEL in any given moment.
This may sound like common sense. But most people aren’t aware that they can’t simply override their emotions and devote themselves to a job they dislike, at least not in the long haul. They can’t bully themselves to work at their best for long.
While people may push themselves to work, their emotions are still being triggered, causing chemicals to be released which restrict access to memory and hinder creativity (a discussion of emotions and the physical impact on the brain and body is in the next section of this chapter). The only chance they have to do
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