Scott Mautz - Make It Matter: How Managers Can Motivate by Creating Meaning

MAKE IT
MATTER

How Managers Can Motivate
by Creating Meaning

Scott Mautz

American Management Association

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Mautz, Scott.

Make it matter : how managers can motivate by creating meaning / Scott Mautz.1 Edition.

pages cm

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-8144-3617-2 (hardcover)ISBN 0-8144-3617-X (hardcover)ISBN 978-0-8144-3618-9 (e-book)ISBN 0-8144-3618-8 (e-book) 1. Leadership. 2. Employee motivation. 3. Meaning (Psychology) I. Title.

HD57.7.M3935 2015

658.314dc23

2014042342

2015 Scott Mautz.

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When the nobel prizewinning physicist richard feynman was still getting his graduate degree at Princeton, he was asked to oversee a group of engineers who were tasked, without much context, to perform an endless series of tedious calculations. The math wasnt especially difficult if you were an engineer, but the work proceeded very slowly and it was full of errors. Growing more frustrated with the performance, Feynman made a critical discovery that would dramatically alter the course of events moving forward. He realized the problem wasnt the math, but that the engineers were totally disengaged. So he sagely convinced his superiors to let the engineers in on what he already knewwhy they were performing the calculations, and why they were sweating their tails off in the New Mexico desertin Los Alamos, New Mexico, to be exact.

It was at that time that Feynmans boss, Robert Oppenheimer, pierced the veil of secrecy that had surrounded the work and let the engineers in on the enormity of what they were doing. They werent simply doing routine math for some inconsequential lab exercise. They were performing calculations that would enable them to complete the race to build the atomic bomb before the Germans did.

Their work would win the war.

Meaning matters.

Obviously, not every workplace has as meaningful a backdrop as global conflict. However, this book will show you whats possible in any place of work, in your place of work, when meaning-rich experiences are facilitated and the resultant energy is channeled toward work that truly matters.

Engagement and productivity would know no limitsand thats something we need more than ever.

One of the great business conundrums of our time is working with shrinking budgets and compressed timelines but inflated demands for productivity. Were working harder and longer for less and without a lot of conviction. The statistics dont lie; in this increasingly more with less business world, a shocking number of workers are more or less disengaged. Our potential is slipping away along with, most likely, our profits.

For the well-meaning manager, there is a solution to this conundrum, one that can transcend the typical short-term fixes, inspire growth and fulfillment, unlock sustained effort, and give everyone a greater return on their investment in time at work.

Its meaning.

This book teaches you how to motivate by creating meaning so that everyone profitsthe company and all of its constituents.

Perhaps youre thinking that meaning is just a higher-order concept, nice to imagine but too ethereal and touchy-feely to have any practical application.

Make It Matter will shatter that misconception with dozens of proven exercises, tools, and instructions. Youll find provocative, insightful new concepts for driving the highest level of sustained performance in your organization while unlocking deep fulfillment for your constituents (and yourself) along the way.

This book is meant for managers looking to step up, stand out, and make a step change by reframing and reinvigorating a work life that so many want so much more from. Its for those who want to work with a clear and rewarding sense of purpose and who want their work to amount to a compelling legacy left behind. Its for those who want to motivate truly peak performance. And its for those who want to inspire and improve the whole lives of those reporting to them, not just the eight hours theyre together.

Do matter at work?

The question isnt do you earn your paycheck, or are you good at what you do.

Do you matter?

Does the work you do uniquely make a difference to your company and to othersand does it matter to you?

Far too many of us feel our hours at work dont count. While our plates may seem full, our lives may not. As a result, many of us simply disengage at some level. Gallup research found that 71 percent of American workers can be coded as either not engaged or actively disengaged in their work, meaning they are emotionally disconnected from their workplaces and are less likely to be productive. Actively disengaged can even mean that workers are undermining their workplace environment with negative attitudes and behaviors that amount to sabotage (weve probably all run into at least one of these people).

Other studies on workplace engagement have come to similar conclusions. The Conference Boards 2014 survey indicates that only 47.7 percent of Americans are satisfied with their jobs, down from 61.1 percent when the survey was first conducted in 1987, and a study by the