Alisha Foster

Posted: 5/23/2023

Whether you are in leadership, recruiting, managing your own company, or any direct report, this post can help you. We all have basic needs that we expect our job to fulfill. At a very high level, these can be bucketed into three categories: Money, Passion, and Happiness. While endless contributing factors fall into these three buckets, and there may even be some other buckets you can think of, we will focus on just these three today. A leader did this exercise with me once, and I've utilized it with my direct reports ever since and have also learned more about how this can help everyone along the way.

Want to skip the exercise? Jump straight to Supporting the Key Drivers to see how you can help across all three drivers or Advocating for Your Key Drivers to learn how to advocate for yourself both in the workplace and as a job applicant.

Let's do an exercise together! I will do this with you and share a little about myself.

Scenario

When we think about a perfect job, there are three things we all want out of that job: Money, Passion, and Happiness. These three things can mean something slightly different to us, but that is part of the fun.

Problem

Typically, we don't land a job that gives us all 3 of these key drivers. We all hope to find that dream job and hold onto it throughout the rest of our careers, but most of us end up settling for two of these drivers instead of 3. So here comes the challenging part - If you had to drop one of these - Money, Passion, and Happiness - which would you drop first?

No matter what you eliminate first, there is no wrong answer. This is about you and what your needs are in your career. For me, the thing I would drop first is passion. For those of you who have done this exercise with me before, you'll notice this is different than my previous answers. My reasoning is primarily due to the last year's economic and industry salary changes. While I used to feel I would always be able to make the amount I needed to be comfortable in my life, my recent budgeting has shown me that may not always be the case, and we are stretched more thinly than I anticipated. Because of this, I would love to have a job where I am passionate about my work, but if I were required to, I would trade the passion for enough money to live a comfortable and sustainable life. I want to be happy in my work environment while making the money I need to live life with financial security. I could get by working in a field I don't have a deep passion for as long as I'm happy and financially stable.

At this time, you should have two drivers left. You may have money and passion, money and happiness, or passion and happiness left. I'll be continuing the visuals for my specific experience. This next step is a tricky one.

Problem

So now we're left with two drivers, but sometimes, we have to do whatever it takes to find a job that meets our bare minimum needs. In this situation, we must drop one more of our drivers. This is a situation many of you may be facing right now. With the market being where it is, you may need to limit yourself to only one of these key drivers in a job. Again, none of us want to make this type of sacrifice. We all want to have all 3 of these drivers, but this is part of many individuals' challenges. For me, I'll be deciding between money and happiness.

So what did you end up being left with? Money, Passion, or Happiness? For me, it's happiness. Based on my explanation for part 1, you may have thought money would be my final driver, but that is not the case for me. Money is essential, don't get me wrong. Being able to be comfortable and afford necessities in life is an absolute must. That said, I can choose to be picky about where I apply and what jobs I take to ensure I meet my minimum financial needs. I am confident I can continue my lifestyle while working in quality and leadership.

So why happiness? It's a pretty straightforward answer for me: If I am unhappy at work, I am unhappy at home. Work is a substantial portion of our lives. If I am somewhere causing burnout, high daily stress, and frequent unhappiness, that will bleed into my personal life and make me generally unhappy. This doesn't mean I expect to ever work in a completely stress-free environment, but everything should be in moderation.

So now you know your key driver, and if you are a leader, you can utilize this activity in your 1-on-1s to learn your direct reports drivers. Still, what can we do with this information? It's important to remember there is a balance that should exist between all three of these drivers when improving employee retention, but knowing the key drivers of specific individuals can help you make quick changes to help their overall workplace satisfaction. Let's break these sections down by driver and what each role can do to support those drivers.

Those with the money drive as their #1 may have different definitions of what it means to them, but in general, it means money is the most significant factor for whether they join a company and stay at that company. It can be that their personal goal is to make millions eventually, or maybe they're in a role where making top dollar is important because top dollar still puts them living paycheck to paycheck. For some, having enough money means pursuing their passions outside work and building happiness outside work. Whatever the reasoning, here are some things you can do to help money driver individuals be happy.

Business Owners

• Work with your people and financial teams to establish and openly communicate salary bands.
• Work with leadership to establish career frameworks that empower employees to move towards increased pay based on performance and implement them across all departments.
• Budget for cost of living raises every year.
• Work with your people, financial, and leadership teams to establish and openly communicate merit raises.

Recruiters

• Openly communicate salary bands on all job posts - this saves you and the applicant from interviews they automatically turn down due to low pay.
• Discuss salary expectations in the first interview and be honest about what wiggle room exists or doesn't exist.
• Discuss avenues for potential raises if the applicant were to become employed so they know their paths for earning more money if the salary is low.

Leaders

• Create a safe space in 1-on-1s to discuss current salary and how your direct report feels about their current pay.
• Continuously discuss performance and career frameworks in your 1-on-1s to work towards merit raises. Give consistent feedback on performance.
• Advocate for underpaid individuals based on performance, even if they are not advocating for themselves.
• Set realistic expectations for pay increases - don't promise a raise if you cannot promise that.

Having a passion driver means these individuals must deeply care about their job. They don't just want to punch the clock doing work that feels pointless. They are looking for meaning in their work, and while sometimes the job produces that passion, at other times, individuals need help finding it. This could even mean purposely coaching an individual out of their current role and into a new department where they have the passion they seek.

Business Owners

• Regularly discuss the business's drives, goals, ambitions, and direction. The product the company is selling could be the passion of some employees, and regularly speaking about it can help keep that passion alive.
• Encourage internal movement when employees want to grow from one department into another if there is headcount space. 

Recruiters

• Help leaders build detailed job postings that balance the job's technical side and overall goal. This can help applicants understand if the job fits their passions well.
  
• During initial interviews, ask what a candidate is looking for in their role and deeply understand the role to gauge whether it would fit them well. Be honest in the conversation if it feels like a mismatch, and ask additional questions when further clarification is needed. If they show confidence that this could be their job, trust them and continue the interview process.
  

Leaders

• Create a safe space in 1-on-1s to discuss what your direct report wants out of their role, their professional goals, and how you can help clear the pathway for them.
• Lead with empathy and understanding to help direct reports feel comfortable sharing when the role is not a good fit. Collaborate with other leaders to coach your direct report into a new role within your company or elsewhere. - Coaching out does not have to be negative!
• Give projects to your direct reports that fulfill their passions and help them to establish or lead ERGs that play into their passions.

The happiness driver is a little more complex. Those with the happiness driver want to be happy in their workplace, but happiness can come from endless different aspects of the job. To ensure satisfaction in the workplace, it is crucial to understand your employees and their general wants and needs. Once the individual goals are known, then we can work on meeting them.

Business Owners

• Work with your people team to conduct a full company anonymous health check. This can be done through means such as an employee engagement survey.
• Take Visible Action: Assign improvement efforts from the anonymous health check to specific leaders and hold leaders accountable for hitting those improvement goals - this should be communicated with the entire company.
• Provide monthly updates on improvement goals through company meetings, presentations, email, etc. - transparency around improvements is critical.
• Drive a culture that will keep your employees happy - work/life balance, minimize micro-managing, setting realistic deadlines, realistic promises to board members, optional virtual and non-virtual company events, remote opportunities, etc. This short general list can change depending on what your employees want.
• Create an employee recognition program that celebrates individuals and the effort they put into the company. This can be difficult when trying not to glorify overworking and burnout behaviors, but when done correctly can build your employees' happiness.

Recruiters

• Discuss ongoing company efforts toward company happiness in interviews and the feedback loop process.
• Share how employees are celebrated and how employee value is seen across the company and in the applicant's department.
• Ask the applicant to define their dream company and role. We don't expect perfection to exist, but this will give insights into what the applicant is looking for and whether your company and open role would fit them well. Have deeper discussions around this if it appears to be a mismatch.

Leaders

• Through 1-on-1s, anonymous surveys, and team meetings, ensure you regularly collect feedback from your direct reports. Create multiple avenues to provide synchronous and asynchronous feedback. Focus feedback around happiness on their team, in their department, with their role responsibilities, and with you as a leader.
• Build a collaborative plan to solve pain points and follow up in future 1-on-1s and team meetings to see how things have improved.
  
• Take accountability for your pieces of the improvement plan and follow through on your work. Provide updates to the team so they know you are working on these improvement areas.
• When necessary, advocate for your team to upper leadership and peers for more considerable organizational changes, process improvements, and any paint points you do not control.
• Create virtual and in-person team-building opportunities to build community and trust within your team when possible.
• Provide ongoing and consistent professional growth feedback in 1-on-1s. Discuss areas where the direct report meets expectations, exceeds expectations, and has growth opportunities.

Success in balancing key drivers doesn't come from only business owners, recruiters, and leaders. You can also help create success with key drivers as a direct report. Whether you are currently at a company or actively looking for your next opportunity, here are a few ways to utilize key drivers to help you succeed.

Money

• Ensure performance is a regular conversation in your 1-on-1s.
  
• Advocate for yourself in 1-on-1s when you are performing above the role expectations. Document precisely how you exceed expectations and clearly state the raise or bonus you seek.
• Ask for continuous feedback from your leader so you know where you fall within the career framework
• If a career framework doesn't exist, suggest one be created so you can monitor your growth toward the next pay level.
• If pay bands are not visible or communicated, ask your leader or people team about them. Follow up with them if they need time to gather this information.

Passion

• Work with your leader to get involved in projects you are passionate about.
  
• Bring up your passion for your work and what may be lacking in your 1-on-1s.
  
• Seek information about the team and company goals. If it's not visible to you, ask for that information to be shared. Follow up if time is needed to gather information to provide to you.
  

Happiness

• Provide continuous feedback, impediments, and pain points in 1-on-1s and through surveys whenever possible. If you do not voice concerns, leadership may not know they exist.
  
• Suggest and participate in team-building opportunities when possible.
  
• Ask for frequent performance feedback in 1-on-1s.
• Advocate for your work/life balance through good calendar management and visibility.
• Participate in peer celebration practices.
• Speak up when you see company culture shifting away from the company's core values.

Always advocate for yourself through any avenues that are made available to you. You are your own best advocate, and communication is critical to seeing improvements made.

Money

• Ask early in the process about salary expectations, and respectfully decline further interviews if the company does not meet your financial needs.
  
• Ask about raises, bonuses, and promotion opportunities.
• Only apply to jobs you know fit your salary criteria if that information is posted in the job description - this saves both you and the company time.
  

Passion

• Be honest with yourself and those interviewing you about what you are looking for in your next role.
• Speak to your short-term and long-term professional goals to see if this aligns with the role you're applying for
• If you expect to eventually switch departments, ask if the company has supported that type of internal movement.
• Ask the hiring manager how they balance performance and professional goal conversations and the expected frequency for these check-ins.
• Discuss any ERGs that exist that fit your passions.

Happiness

• Pay attention to company values. When reading company values, consider their message and whether this aligns with your ideal culture fit. Some messages you may find: Fast Paced, Work/Life Balance, Respect, Empathy, Transparency, Collaborative, Innovative, Overly Determined, Humble, Customer Focused, Quality First
• Be honest with yourself and those interviewing you about what you are looking for in your next role
• Research the company through sites like Glassdoor to see if there are frequent complaints. Ask in the interview what the company's ongoing improvement efforts are in these areas.
• Ask how the company collects constant feedback and if actions are taken to improve based on the feedback received.
• Speak with the hiring manager about how they provide and receive feedback, the cadence around this feedback, and their approach to addressing pain points.

No matter the role you are in, you play a part in the company's culture, and you are your own best advocate. By knowing the three key drivers, you can help ensure conversations and practices are in place that lead to higher employee retention, improved employee satisfaction, and balancing what everyone wants out of their career. Every company is a little different, and every individual has different needs, so this is not a one size fits all solution. Still, it can provide the foundation needed to start down the path of improvement. Try this exercise in your 1-on-1s, share your key driver with others that can help you succeed, and work on continuous company improvement.