Excited to Go To Work?

When you went to work today, were you glad to be there? Did you get up in the morning and say, “Wow, this is going to be a great day, and I love going to work.” I hope so, because as leaders, we have an obligation to love what we do and to provide enthusiastic role modeling to our associates. If that is not how you started the day, then I suggest that you should think about why.

The point of this is, not actually how you felt about going to work, but rather, how your staff felt about going to work. If you asked them the same question, what would they say? I want to believe that you know, but in case you do not know, then do you have the courage to ask? I hope so, because it is the core question that every leader needs to know the answer to.

Why that question? The plain fact is, how your staff feels about going to work, has everything to do with how they do at work. You as a leader actually have very little that you can do to “motivate” your staff. In fact, for years I have said that I actually think that most leaders should think of their job as working to make certain that they do not “de-motivate” their staff. That perception is founded on the idea that your staff comes to the work place with a level of motivation and it is up to you to create an environment where they can hold that attitude and achieve their goals because you supported them.

If your staff comes to work, wishing they were somewhere else, then you have a huge problem. Indeed, they have a huge problem, and they would be smart to solve that problem for themselves and for you, by looking for a new job. Yes, I think that if you have a staff member who is not excited about coming to work, then you could do them and yourself a great favor by helping them to get another job. The simple fact is that your staff members spend almost as much time, or more, with you as they do with their significant other. If they are wasting their life away with a job that is not interesting to them, then they should quit.

By the way, the younger the work force you have working for you, the more likely you will experience that type of decision. The generation Y workers are far more inclined to expect (actually demand) a workplace they enjoy, than almost any other generation. If you have them working for you, you already experienced that reality.