Smart Business Magazine, October 2017

October 2017 Smart Business Akron Canton 9 Money The compensation fallacy And that should make sense because after all happiness has been around long before Bentleys and yachts But it seems as though CEOs must be forgetting that fact because so many of them turn to money as the primary motivating tool for their teams Money can divide It can isolate leaders from their teams and it can isolate teams from each other Theres a reason compensation is every organizations most closely held secret Its because salaries arent always fair and if revealed could trigger the ugliest qualities in human nature to kick in within teams I can tell you right now that if youve got teams showing up to work each day for the money alone youve got big problems Thats because research shows that although money may motivate in the short term it does little to inspire Its a delta If a million bucks motivates you today itll take 11 million tomorrow That delta can only go so far before it no longer motivates Its an unsustainable setup for failure in the long term Its positive life experiences that truly make us happy and its the employees who look toward whats next in life rather than the next payout who almost always do better work Of course money affords many of the positive life experiences Im talking about like the opportunity to get an education start a family travel and try new things And yes thats part of what money compensation is there to provide But theres one life experience thats directly within control of the CEO and it just so happens to be the life experience that occupies a significant chunk of our waking hours That life experience is work itself Research shows that there are four primary motivators that help shape a fulfilled life for the individual while also inspiring better performance for the organization as a whole Sense of Fairness Knowing that youre being paid a reasonable amount for your work so that money no longer becomes an issue Sense of Autonomy Controlling events in your work life by choosing what you want to do and when you want to do it Sense of Mastery Excelling at a craft that you enjoy and being recognized as a master by peers that you respect Sense of Purpose Feeling that your work is helping other people and benefitting the world in a positive way Great companies can only sustain greatness if their people are motivated and inspired by their work and fulfilled by their work life as part of a greater life experience It aint just the money Happiness is a relative scale The poor workingman scrubbing floors could very well lead a happier and more fulfilled life than the richest woman on Wall Street Thats not debate Its well researched fact DR ALBERT GREEN INNOVATION INSIGHT DR ALBERT GREEN CEO Kent Displays Inc Makers of Boogie Board Dr Green is a corporate thought leader who demonstrates an incredible tenacity to transform companies industries and communities as a whole 330 673 8784 agreen@ kentdisplays com www kentdisplays com www myboogieboard com linkedin com company kent displays @ kentdisplays @ boogieboard