I received a job offer from a renowned company that offered a significantly larger package compared to my current employment. The offer itself was high in salary and came with many benefits: stock options, performance bonuses, and a great retirement plan. Obviously, the financial uplift that came with it was tempting, and to be brutally honest, it really did feel like a validation of me and my potential.
I accepted it, hoping for immediate monetary benefits and long-term security. Within a few months, I started feeling an irretrievable void of dissatisfaction in my new job. Notwithstanding good compensation, the job was far from challenging or bringing about professional advancement. The company culture was also not in line with my value system because it was more about competition than cooperation.
Reflecting on the whole episode in relation to Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman’s First, Break All the Rules, I realized that though compensation is motivational in nature, it is not the single driver of job satisfaction and performance. The book strongly advocates knowing individual strengths and role alignment. In my case, a high motivation for pay temporarily obscured the mismatch between my strengths and the job requirements.
It was in the very nature of the offer that it predisposed me towards acceptance, an active step, given that an offer of compensation holds out immediate, material benefit. According to Harter et al. (2016), in monetary terms, validation is a powerful magnet for professional value. However, successively increasing job dissatisfaction and effort revealed the fact that compensation could do nothing for long-term engagement. There was an observable and clear lack of alignment between my strengths and role requirements, which began to demotivate me further toward continuing in the role.
This is what I think I learned from the experience: reward gets behavior going, but true job satisfaction results from a role from which one can play from their strengths and feel growth associated with it while being true to the values. Companies that understand this approach can attract and retain top talent, fostering more engaged and productive workforces.
References
Harter, J., Buckingham, M., & Gallup Organization. (2016b). First, break all the rules : what the world’s greatest managers do differently. Gallup Press.
Leave a Reply