Your department, or team, is made up of people with varying degrees of emotional commitment to the goal. It helps to know the type of person you are dealing with because each requires a different leadership style to keep them on track.
1) The hours-for-dollars, un-emotionally-invested type of employee. This person isn’t necessarily a bad employee. They know their job description and look at work as the activity that takes place while they have to be away from home to earn their pay. They can be committed to perform their activity while at work and the results will be achieved when enough of the activity has been done to reach the finish line. They might be willing to stay late to hit a deadline, if asked, but their natural tendency is to arrive, and leave, on time.
2) The kind that converts emotion to passion, but only does what is politically correct and is willing to pass on what is "right" for what is "acceptable" to management, even if they are steering the team, department or company into a ditch. This type of person does what's right for him/herself, first, and then does what they can for the company with whatever latitude remains. This person is willing to compromise on moral victories to “get along” in the organization. They soften their approach to doing the most directly right thing for the project by diluting their actions with political correctness or inefficient guidance of their leadership instead of constructively challenging their leaders.
3) The kind the converts emotion to passion and is willing to risk targeting "right" even if it ruffles feathers. This type has the interests of the enterprise in mind at all times. They are color-blind to political correctness because they honestly believe they were hired to make a difference rather than making an empire for themselves. This is a leader that might struggle in larger organizations because of politics, but excels in smaller, more agile companies that still target success. This type of person believes in moral victories and that driving toward the goal in the most direct and efficient way should be the only factor in assessing their performance.
Each of these types of people can be a solid contributor when the leader knows what he/she is working with. Understanding what makes people tick provides the leader the knowledge to ensure each person is properly assigned to a task in a way in which they can be successful. It allows you to “right-size” your expectations so you’re not surprised when they behave precisely the way they’re wired instead of how you wanted them to act.
1) The hours-for-dollars, un-emotionally-invested type of employee. This person isn’t necessarily a bad employee. They know their job description and look at work as the activity that takes place while they have to be away from home to earn their pay. They can be committed to perform their activity while at work and the results will be achieved when enough of the activity has been done to reach the finish line. They might be willing to stay late to hit a deadline, if asked, but their natural tendency is to arrive, and leave, on time.
2) The kind that converts emotion to passion, but only does what is politically correct and is willing to pass on what is "right" for what is "acceptable" to management, even if they are steering the team, department or company into a ditch. This type of person does what's right for him/herself, first, and then does what they can for the company with whatever latitude remains. This person is willing to compromise on moral victories to “get along” in the organization. They soften their approach to doing the most directly right thing for the project by diluting their actions with political correctness or inefficient guidance of their leadership instead of constructively challenging their leaders.
3) The kind the converts emotion to passion and is willing to risk targeting "right" even if it ruffles feathers. This type has the interests of the enterprise in mind at all times. They are color-blind to political correctness because they honestly believe they were hired to make a difference rather than making an empire for themselves. This is a leader that might struggle in larger organizations because of politics, but excels in smaller, more agile companies that still target success. This type of person believes in moral victories and that driving toward the goal in the most direct and efficient way should be the only factor in assessing their performance.
Each of these types of people can be a solid contributor when the leader knows what he/she is working with. Understanding what makes people tick provides the leader the knowledge to ensure each person is properly assigned to a task in a way in which they can be successful. It allows you to “right-size” your expectations so you’re not surprised when they behave precisely the way they’re wired instead of how you wanted them to act.
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