You hear people talking about the workplace culture, and in the same breath, you see an older people shake their collective heads. We are talking about people who have been in the workforce for 40-50 years in their days men and women worked hard and they went home. They had the philosophy “I’m not here to make friends, I’m here to do a job.”
There were lots of great quotes that all revolved around similar concepts. Thomas Edison said “ There is no substitute for hard work.” My dad used to say “Put your nose to the grindstone, and dig in your heels.” Mark Twain said “The only place work appears before success, is in the dictionary.” That was the world our parents grew up in. An insensitive, dog eat dog world, that prized toughness over sensitivity. It prized ability over diversity, and your ability to succeed was only limited by how hard you were willing to work for it.
Now success has a different look for the younger generations. They say,
“How am I impacting the world?”
“ Do I like my coworkers?”
“ Those jokes are offensive.”
“ I need a safe space.”
The whole idea seems bizarre and crazy to most business owners, and you may find yourself looking in the mirror and asking.
“Why aren’t people willing to as hard as I did to get here?”
“Where’s my nose to the grindstone people?”
It can be very frustrating when you don’t have all the answers, but maybe this will help. These days, people are motivated by more than money. They are motivated by prizes, recognition, friendship, or just general acceptance. Your job as a business owner/manager is to find out how to motivate your employees and then go to bat for them to put those things in place. After you do that then you will find your team members will crawl through the mud to help their beloved owner/manager.
If you become the manager that your employers need then maybe just maybe your culture won’t suck.
Thanks for reading.
There were lots of great quotes that all revolved around similar concepts. Thomas Edison said “ There is no substitute for hard work.” My dad used to say “Put your nose to the grindstone, and dig in your heels.” Mark Twain said “The only place work appears before success, is in the dictionary.” That was the world our parents grew up in. An insensitive, dog eat dog world, that prized toughness over sensitivity. It prized ability over diversity, and your ability to succeed was only limited by how hard you were willing to work for it.
Now success has a different look for the younger generations. They say,
“How am I impacting the world?”
“ Do I like my coworkers?”
“ Those jokes are offensive.”
“ I need a safe space.”
The whole idea seems bizarre and crazy to most business owners, and you may find yourself looking in the mirror and asking.
“Why aren’t people willing to as hard as I did to get here?”
“Where’s my nose to the grindstone people?”
It can be very frustrating when you don’t have all the answers, but maybe this will help. These days, people are motivated by more than money. They are motivated by prizes, recognition, friendship, or just general acceptance. Your job as a business owner/manager is to find out how to motivate your employees and then go to bat for them to put those things in place. After you do that then you will find your team members will crawl through the mud to help their beloved owner/manager.
If you become the manager that your employers need then maybe just maybe your culture won’t suck.
Thanks for reading.
