Graduate Development Programs

Motivation: Ups & Downs at Work

One of this first things you will notice in your graduate job is the unwritten rule in the office that says you must be busy, all the time. It is borne out of the fear that allowing others to see that you have time on your hands will throw your productivity or work ethic into question, thus jeopardising your prospects. Conversely, if you have too much work and cannot complete it on time, you are told that you need to work more efficiently. It’s nonsense.

Sure, having too much time on your hands may in fact mean that you aren’t doing your work and consistently missing deadlines can mean you are inefficient. But that is beside the point. The main game is to avoid giving others the ammunition to question your professionalism or productivity. As a graduate you may find these silly games irritating, but that is just the way things work in most workplaces.

The perception of your productivity will be determined by your behaviour and the level of trust you have established with your manager. Putting aside whether you have the motivation to do so, nobody can work at 100% capacity at 100% of the time. There is a saying that you can not sprint a marathon. Sure you can run 100 metres in x seconds, however that doesn’t mean you can run 1000 metres in x * 10. Yet some people think they should or worse, that you should!

Everybody has different patterns of working. My personal style is broken into 2 phases; high and low intensity work. These categories are applied to creating, planning and then producing results. I have high intensity sessions of creativity and planning that often appear to be periods of low productivity with few tangible results, but in fact this creates the framework for weeks and often, months of work.

These creative sessions allow me to produce a high level of productivity over the ensuing weeks/months by planning the bigger picture, identifying the required resources and desired outcomes; which then allow me to concentrate on carrying out the planned actions. As a graduate in your first professional job, try paying attention to the

Not withstanding these personal differences, we all have one thing in common; we have our highs and lows. The days of command and control are long gone. People no longer ask, how high when confronted with a request? These days, we are more likely to ask why? For the better in my opinion, because if we don’t know why we are doing something, should we really be doing it? Scrutiny promotes diligence and honesty

Motivation has been a topic that has intrigued academics and employers alike. What motivates people? Everybody is different. However, a distinction needs to be made between motivation to work and motivation to go the extra distance.

First of all, I don’t believe anybody should have to motivate you to do your job. That is an agreement you have entered into by accepting the job. The company pays you to get the job done, so get the job done!

What does it mean to go the extra distance? It means treating the business as though it was your own and doing things that you think will help the business without waiting to be asked. Here are a couple of thought exercises to go through:

- If you were the sole owner of the business, how would that change your attitude towards the work you were doing, your colleagues and your general behaviour in the office?
- If your colleagues were in a room talking about you, which characteristics would you like them to highlight? If you were hiring someone to be in your role, which qualities would you look for?

Be that person.

Now ask the opposite of these questions:

- Which characteristics would you hope your colleagues did not think you displayed?
- Which qualities would make you rule out a person applying for your role?

We all have our ups and downs. The objective is to smooth these out and minimise the damage to your prospects. Perception is everything! In my experience, motivation has not been a problem for most on the Graduate Program. At least not until the realities of work begin to grind on their expectations. That usually takes anywhere from 3-6 months to set in! As college graduates and nearly 20 years of education, we have been conditioned to expect to progress every 6 months. The corporate world just doesn’t work like that.

Everybody has their moments and next up, we will be exploring the issue of “Bad Days”.

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On that note, let me leave you with one of the great philosophers of our time: