When I was a boy my father taught me a story by the great Zig Zigler. You may have heard it, Zigler’s Rail Road Story. Robert Terson repeats it in full here. It’s about the railroad president named Jim, who one day stopped to pull a line worker, Dave, into his car, where they sat and chatted for an hour.
When Dave’s friends on the crew asked what was going on he told them that he and Jim had started working on the same day 20 years ago. They wondered to themselves, how could one man become president while the other was still working on the line?
As Terson reminds us:
“Dave looked wistfully up into the sky and said, “A little over 20 years ago Jim Murphy went to work for the railroad; I went to work for a $1.75 an hour.”
The truth of this story was so powerful that when I heard it I decided that I would probably never work simply for a paycheck, but always “go to work for the railroad.”
Most people believe that there is only one motivation that triggers our behaviors. As a therapist, I have discovered there are many motivations that drive the things we do, and, often, unconsciously. In therapy, much of the work is uncovering these motivations. So, the answer to the question, “Who do you work for?” is not binary. Jim worked for the railroad. He also worked for a salary, but it was not the primary reason.
The fact is that people work for far more than those two reasons. I am driven to work to support my family. I don’t think I would work as hard without three other people in my life, especially with college ahead for two of them. Being unemployed for half a year has been a grind and a time for personal growth. Much of our self-worth is tied up in how productive we are.
Sometimes, however, work is not for yourself or your family. One of the Gallup’s Q12* survey questions asks about having a “Best Friend” at work. Gallup has shown that if someone says they have a best friend at work, they are more likely to be engaged. It’s about the relationship they have formed with the people on either side of them. The starkest example of this is combat. Veterans will tell you in the moments of combat they are fighting for their brothers and sisters.
The late Bill Mauldin, the wonderful cartoonist who did Willie and Joe all through World War Two, captured this foxhole relationship many times in his years-long series of cartoons. There was one with Willie telling Joe, “Joe, yestiddy ua saved my life an’ I swore I’d pay ya back. Here’s my last pair of dry socks.”
For supervisors, it is vital to understand what your personal motivations are for working, as well as to understand the motivations of your employees. If your motivations are centered on your income, the people working for you will know it. If your goal is focused on the advancement of your own career, they are going to know that too.
These are important goals. But if they are the sole focus, they can be self-defeating. Employees know when you care about their careers. They know when you are dedicated to discovering and develop their goals.
We have sayings for someone who is just working for a paycheck: “Phoning it in”, “Doing the bare minimum not to get fired”, “Waiting for retirement”. These all mean the same thing: the employee is disengaged and not going to do his or her best.
Leaders and managers in the 21st Century need to understand the employees’ reasons for working. Otherwise the “Jims” will move to someone who does understand them, and you will be left with the “Daves”. If you are a “Jim” and your current employer does not seem to care, start looking for someone who will.
Bryan G. Stephens is an executive on a mission to transform the workplace. He is the founder and CEO of TalkForward, a consulting and training company, utilizing Bryan’s clinical and management expertise to develop managers and teams in a corporate environment. As a licensed therapist with strong understanding of developing human potential, he is dedicated to the development of Human Capital to meet the needs of leaders, managers, and employees in the 21st Century workplace.
Bryan has an Executive MBA from Kennesaw State University, Coles School of Business, and both a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in Psychology.
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