The Most Important Word Underlying Achievement

Do you want to know what the word is? This is especially critical in the workplace. If you are not aware of this concept with respect to your employees and the achievements they experience then you will fail to connect with them and the results they experience. This is even important for absolutely anyone to consider both in their work and in their personal lives in any activity that they enjoy doing.

The KEY word is validation.

To understand this word in the context of achievement we need to look at motivation first. People can be motivated intrinsically and extrinsically in their work and their life. If the validation of the achievement is not linked to the employee’s or person’s motivation then you will fail to connect with your employee. For example, if an employee blew their sales targets out of the water in the second quarter and you recognize and validate them for their achievements that is fantastic. However, this is only effective if the employee is extrinsically motivated by the targets that exist for their role. If they are motivated by their targets then receiving this recognition and validation from their manager for achieving this great accomplishment you will connect with the employee and this will strengthen the employees feelings of purpose, confidence in their role, etc.

HOWEVER, what if the employee is not motivated by the sales targets but is instead motivated intrinsically by feeling that they are developing strong and well-rounded relationships with their clients? Then, by receiving recognition and validation for the sales target is not as important to them because it is just a by-product of what truly motivates them. It is extremely important that we, as individuals and managers, know what the primary motivators are so that we can validate those. By validating the primary motivator we will strengthen our bond to that individual and that individual will, in turn, feel more connected to the organization, their role and their purpose not because they need it but because you RECOGNIZE what’s most important to them. You have paid attention to them as a human being and have validated the thing that is most important to them.

So, make sure you validate the primary motivator when you are recognizing an achievement. You can still recognize and validate other aspects as well but they will never be as important to the person than their primary motivator is to them.

As Always, Strive To Optimize!

Mike