3 Motivators to Engage Your Workforce
Designers don’t pursue a career in architecture only for the money. Instead, they remain engaged through three main motivators: achieving small wins, leading projects, and taking part in meaningful work. Each motivator requires effective management, benefits organizations, and applies to any industry.
Small wins are like a boulder slowly rolling downhill, signaling progress and building momentum. They successfully motivate continued effort and interest. In architecture, small wins can take many forms, from discovering that a particular siding material is available in the color blue, to receiving stakeholder buy-off on a design direction. They allow the designer to move forward and take the next steps in the project. This forward movement is critical. In The Power of Small Wins, authors Amabile and Kramer discuss the progress principle. They note that “even ordinary, incremental progress can increase people’s engagement in the work and their happiness during the workday.” Their research suggests that “the more frequently people experience that sense of progress, the more likely they are to be creatively productive in the long run.”
“The more frequently people experience that sense of progress, the more likely they are to be creatively productive in the long run.”
Organizations benefit from small wins because they potentially lead to achieving larger goals down the line. In The Stretch Goal Paradox, authors Sitkin, Miller, and See write that “small wins work by building momentum, energy, and resources, and fostering learning that will allow a firm to take on bigger, more ambitious goals later.” Managers play a significant role in small wins because they must be effective in facilitating and delivering important information and the necessary resources to enable workers to make progress and achieve goals.
Managers play a significant role in small wins because they must be effective in facilitating and delivering important information and the necessary resources to enable workers to make progress and achieve goals.
Leading projects is another effective motivator employed in architecture. Since early in my career, I’ve taken on leadership roles in designing projects and managing complex teams of clients, vendors, and engineers. Leading projects and teams inspires me to take ownership and strive to accomplish an impeccable quality of work. According to Dewhurst, Guthridge, and Mohr’s Motivating People: Getting Beyond Money, “a chance to lead projects is a powerful motivator because it inspires employees to make a strong contribution and it’s an opportunity to develop their leadership capabilities.” In the article they cite a survey from McKinsey Quarterly, which found that 62% of respondents said “opportunities to lead projects or task forces” is an ‘extremely’ effective or ‘very’ effective motivator in the workplace.
“A chance to lead projects is a powerful motivator because it inspires employees to make a strong contribution and it’s an opportunity to develop their leadership capabilities.”
Managers can empower their team members to take on leadership roles by accounting for it in their project plans. This benefits organizations because they can leverage worker motivation to boost performance and develop leadership skills.
Managers can empower their team members to take on leadership roles by accounting for it in their project plans.
The third motivator is partaking in meaningful work. One of the reasons I chose to practice architecture was to design for people’s needs and create a space where they can carry out their daily lives, whether it’s a place they call home, or an office where they work day-in and day-out. This purpose gave my work meaning and served as motivation. In The Power of Small Wins, Amabile and Kramer write that “of all the things that can boost emotions, motivation, and perceptions during a workday, the single most important is making progress in meaningful work.” They say that “the work must be meaningful to the person doing it.” While some tasks are mundane, such as figuring out where the sink should be located in the bathroom of a house being designed, they can still be meaningful if the worker is aware of how the tasks contribute to the final outcome. In other words, if the tasks are purposeful and lead to progress, they are viewed as meaningful, and are therefore motivating.
“Of all the things that can boost emotions, motivation, and perceptions during a workday, the single most important is making progress in meaningful work.”
Effective managers are important to creating meaningful work because they remind their teams how their work is contributing, they reinforce that the work is relevant, and they recognize that the work is significant. Organizations benefit from having a workforce that finds their work meaningful because, as Jurgan Appelo writes in #Workout: Games Tools & Practices — Merit Money, “if you facilitate their steady progress in meaningful work, make that progress salient to them, and treat them well, they will experience the emotions, motivations, and perceptions necessary for great performance.”
Effective managers are important to creating meaningful work because they remind their teams how their work is contributing, they reinforce that the work is relevant, and they recognize that the work is significant.
Achieving small wins, leading projects, and taking part in meaningful work are three effective motivators exercised in the architecture industry that effectively engage workers and benefit organizations in any industry.
