Make It Matter: How Managers Can Motivate by Creating Meaning

251 Pages·2015·1.96 MB·English

by  Scott Mautz

MAKE IT
MATTER
MAKE IT
MATTER
How Managers Can Motivate
by Creating Meaning
Scott Mautz
American Management Association
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Mautz, Scott.
Make it matter : how managers can motivate by creating meaning / Scott Mautz.—1 Edition.
pages cm
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-8144-3617-2 (hardcover)—ISBN 0-8144-3617-X (hardcover)—ISBN 978-0-8144-3618-9 (e-
book)—ISBN 0-8144-3618-8 (e-book) 1. Leadership. 2. Employee motivation. 3. Meaning (Psychology) I.
Title.
HD57.7.M3935 2015
658.3’14—dc23
2014042342
© 2015 Scott Mautz.
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Printing number
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
PART ONE : DEFINITION
CHAPTER 1: Why Meaning Matters
CHAPTER 2: The Markers of Meaning
PART TWO : DIRECTION
CHAPTER 3: The Potency of Purpose
CHAPTER 4: The Lighthouse of Legacy
PART THREE : DISCOVERY
CHAPTER 5: Learning and Personal Growth
CHAPTER 6: Meaningful Decision Making and Influence
PART FOUR : DEVOTION
CHAPTER 7: Cultures of Consequence
CHAPTER 8: Meaning-Making Leadership
CHAPTER 9: Cutting Off Corrosive Behaviors
PART FIVE : DILIGENCE
CHAPTER 10: A Plan to Make It Matter
NOTES
INDEX
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
FREE SAMPLE CHAPTER FROM THE ENEMY OF ENGAGEMENT BY
MARK ROYAL AND TOM AGNEW
Introduction
When the nobel prize–winning physicist richard feynman was still getting his
graduate degree at Princeton, he was asked to oversee a group of engineers who
were tasked, without much context, to perform an endless series of tedious
calculations. The math wasn’t especially difficult if you were an engineer, but
the work proceeded very slowly and it was full of errors. Growing more
frustrated with the performance, Feynman made a critical discovery that would
dramatically alter the course of events moving forward. He realized the problem
wasn’t the math, but that the engineers were totally disengaged. So he sagely
convinced his superiors to let the engineers in on what he already knew—why
they were performing the calculations, and why they were sweating their tails off
in the New Mexico desert—in Los Alamos, New Mexico, to be exact.
It was at that time that Feynman’s boss, Robert Oppenheimer, pierced the
veil of secrecy that had surrounded the work and let the engineers in on the
enormity of what they were doing. They weren’t simply doing routine math for
some inconsequential lab exercise. They were performing calculations that
would enable them to complete the race to build the atomic bomb before the
Germans did.
Their work would win the war.
The workplace, the work, and the workers’ performance were completely
transformed once the task was imbued with meaning. From that point forward,
Feynman reported that the scientists worked ten times faster than before with
few mistakes, and with fierce commitment.1
Meaning matters.
Obviously, not every workplace has as meaningful a backdrop as global
conflict. However, this book will show you what’s possible in any place of work,
in your place of work, when meaning-rich experiences are facilitated and the
resultant energy is channeled toward work that truly matters.
Engagement and productivity would know no limits—and that’s something
we need more than ever.
One of the great business conundrums of our time is working with shrinking
budgets and compressed timelines but inflated demands for productivity. We’re
working harder and longer for less and without a lot of conviction. The statistics
don’t lie; in this increasingly more with less business world, a shocking number
of workers are more or less disengaged. Our potential is slipping away along
with, most likely, our profits.
For the well-meaning manager, there is a solution to this conundrum, one
that can transcend the typical short-term fixes, inspire growth and fulfillment,
unlock sustained effort, and give everyone a greater return on their investment in
time at work.
It’s meaning.
This book teaches you how to motivate by creating meaning so that everyone
profits—the company and all of its constituents.
Perhaps you’re thinking that meaning is just a higher-order concept, nice to
imagine but too ethereal and touchy-feely to have any practical application.
Make It Matter will shatter that misconception with dozens of proven
exercises, tools, and instructions. You’ll find provocative, insightful new
concepts for driving the highest level of sustained performance in your
organization while unlocking deep fulfillment for your constituents (and
yourself) along the way.
This book is meant for managers looking to step up, stand out, and make a
step change by reframing and reinvigorating a work life that so many want so
much more from. It’s for those who want to work with a clear and rewarding
sense of purpose and who want their work to amount to a compelling legacy left
behind. It’s for those who want to motivate truly peak performance. And it’s for
those who want to inspire and improve the whole lives of those reporting to
them, not just the eight hours they’re together.