Let’s define engagement for a second. Engagement is the intensity and nature of a person’s work ethic. Other people have their definitions; this one is mine.
Leaders who want to build high-performing teams should keep track of this, mentally if not on paper. I’d been doing this for quite awhile before I realized I was often the only one around a program who realized which people were in it for something bigger, and which ones were clocking in and checking out.
So I sort these stages according to what motivates the person to show up in the morning, and once you see it you can’t unsee it. This is not one of those things that takes weeks of interviews and observation to get right; I can usually get an accurate reading on a person’s place on these stages in about an hour of observation or a 30 minute conversation.
Here they are.
Paycheck
Today’s work is about the next paycheck only. Do as little as necessary to get to payday. These people often disappear after the first check because their mindset is so centered in the present moment that they forget all about tomorrow’s needs. Teenagers mostly occupy this stage, along with many people in the throes of substance abuse or mental health crises. They’re tough to work with, but they’re essential to the economy and if you run a business with a lot of minimum wage workers, they’re unavoidable.
Job
Get and keep a good job that keeps the paychecks coming. These folks will pay attention to goals and work hard to meet expectations, not for a promotion, but for security. They’re often great if not spectacular workers, and even the best performers occasionally revert to this orientation when their personal lives are at their most demanding, like after returning from parental leave, during bereavement, or when enduring severe medical problems. They might also move to the next stage rapidly following life milestones like marriage, birth of a first child, etc. You can find these people as high up as a director or even VP layer.
Career
Career-minded workers are working to advance. They may not be intrinsically motivated by the mission of their employer or even particularly like their work, but they seek promotion for either financial reasons, practical (more flexibility, for example), or ego (Dad was a VP at my age so I should be too). Paradoxically, career-motivated workers can be dangerous because their hunger for advancement may be greater than their ethics, their loyalty to the firm, their empathy for customers and peers, or their curiosity about the customer. It’s not life events but usually coaching and mentorship that help them shake this and realize that their goals demand that they graduate to the next phase.
Mission
For mission-oriented people, the job and even the career are a means to an end for a bigger story unfolding through their lives, a change they seek to make in the world. These folks in the right roles are natural stars because they can see through the tactical, transactional operation of their role to its purpose and value. They take initiative, they seek improvement, and they also risk overworking themselves. It’s not just leaders, either. Nonprofits and entertainment-oriented professions like theater, music and film have many mission-oriented people even at the entry level. They’re often reluctant to take on leadership roles because the craft of their work gives them so much fulfillment that leadership seems mundane by comparison; but when persuaded to lead they are frequently spectacular leaders.
Legacy
When a person is legacy-oriented, the mission and career become threads in the greater story of their lives. They seek balanced lifestyles that include fulfilling their mission through pro bono work, charitable donations, mentoring, and community service. Family and leisure also occupy an important place in their lives as they holistically examine their mark on the world. The highest achievers might arrive here in middle age, but most don’t until nearing retirement. Natural leaders, legacy-oriented workers think very strategically but have mostly shed the economic motivations that even mission-oriented workers still retain.
