As Published in Business 2 Business, August 2003

Marching To A Different Bucket

A good employee might want pay that won't cost you anything

Roll the tape. If all your friends jumped off the bridge…..would you jump too?

Or what about these favorites?

1. Make sure you have clean underwear, just in case ____________________.

2. A little power is a _______________________________________________.

3. Money is the root _______________________________________________.

4. Winning isn't everything, it's  ______________________________________.

Bring back any memories? These statements when told to us over and over again become beliefs. Based on the outcomes we experience, we learn that all things told to us are not always true. We learn to trust certain beliefs and value them positively and disbelieve others and view these negatively.

For instance, you studied really hard to ace a test or be number one in your class or become the expert at work. If you were rewarded for these accomplishments in the past, you would likely value continual lifelong learning. The more rewards you received for good grades or expertise, the more likely it is that you will value education and training in the future.

But let's say you accomplished your goals, but you were constantly overlooked for promotion. Others received the acknowledgements you felt you deserved. In your opinion, they “earned' their rewards based on favoritism and politics. You might now have a very difficult time believing that knowledge leads to power, In fact, you might begin to judge learning and education very negatively. Instead you might come to believe it's every man for himself. You might also believe it's more important who you know and not what you know. And you might even consider advanced education as no more than the right to hang a piece of paper on the wall, and see no purpose for self-improvement and skill development.

Similar to believing that every man must fend for himself, you didn't need to always follow your friends off the bridge might lead to a strong value being placed on thinking and acting against the norms of society. While some may value the entrepreneur's drive and non-conformity, others may detest them for pusing the limits and never resting for a minute. “Can they ever be happen with the way things are? Why do they always have to be changing things and trying to be number one”? Individualists do not follow the crowd. Amazingly many of the same parents who challenged their kids to not follow the crowd are astonished and annoyed at the attitudes they assume as adults.

But an individualistic attitude is not a good thing or a bad thing but it likely will affect how well you an individual plays well with other or following the lead of others. If you value this belief strongly, you likely prefer your independence, are willing to take a stand on principle and even be controversial when necessary.

Effective interpersonal skills depends on your ability to understand what drives behaviors. You may be an outstanding communicator but your endorsement with others will be shallow and weak if you don't understand what is in it for them. To turn effective communication into productive and rewarding relationships, you need to learn what drives behaviors.

Values are shaped by our beliefs. You've heard them and some of us even still believe them. We fight the parental tapes even as adults but they just won't go away. We've all heard statements like knowledge is power, a penny saved is a penny earned, beauty is only skin deep, it is better to give than receive, work before pleasure, only quitters give up in helping us define how we ought or ought not to act. Some of us love them. Others hate them. Regardless we still hear them. These tapes are indelibly recorded for infinity and all we can do is choose to follow or ignore the advice

And what about the clean underwear philosophy? (Just in case you couldn't fill in the blanks above, you always wear clean underwear just in case you are ever in an accident.) If you were injured, do you think the doctors, nurses, or paramedics really would care about your underwear? My goodness, with all the butt-cracks exposed these days, the underwear theory may just be another mother's tale that bites the dust! Do you tend to conform to traditions, customs and beliefs and accept a higher power as your guiding beacon? Or do you believe that your conscience is your best guide? Do you value non-conformity and diversity more than adhering to a strict code of moral standards set by others? Silly as it seems, it's the simple things like ‘wearing clean underwear” and “following your friends over a bridge” will influence our lives forever.

As individuals bring these values to the workplace, you begin to see that diversifying the workplace is easier said than done. Consultants and trainers attempt to change behaviors through training. What is driving these behaviors are the values, beliefs well entrenched in our minds and actions. Without understanding individual values, you might find it easier convincing a pig to fly.

Making Value-able Sense.

When you wake up each morning, turn off the alarm, and open your eyes, you sub-consciously pick up two buckets. These buckets are just two out of the six values cluster buckets. These buckets are named Theoretical (Conceptual), Utilitarian (Economic), Aesthetic, Social, Individualistic(Power and Authority) and Traditional (Doctrine).

Whether you crawl, walk, run, or rock'n roll through life, you are driven to get your two favorite buckets filled. At the end of each day, you will measure the worth of your day based on how full each bucket is. The more your two favorite buckets get filled, the more satisfied and more motivated you are. If your two buckets are empty or filled with rewards meant for other buckets, you are at the very least unsatisfied. If other buckets got filled instead, you may even view the day as a loss. The more this happens, the more dissatisfied and stressed out you become.

Let's talk about a real-life situation. Brian shows up for work with his Theoretical and Utilitarian buckets. Brian is most motivated by learning and solving problems through using logic and his experience. He measures results in terms of efficiency, effectiveness and money, time and effort. In other words, was he paid enough, did it save him time and was it worth the trouble?

While being recruited for this position, he was wined, dined and recruited to the organization with promises of continual learning (Theoretical) and incentive bonuses (Utilitarian). But as a result of slower sales and subsequent cutbacks, training was cut-back, tuition reimbursement eliminated and salaries frozen or even lowered. He still arrives loyally to work each day with his empty buckets. But he goes home empty every night. Yes, he got paid but not enough to fill his bucket while his Theoretical bucket was bone dry.

To stay motivated Brian discovered several creative ways to fill his buckets. Unfortunately and hopefully unknowingly his supervisors, managers and other co-workers did not value the same things that Brian valued. They pick-pocketed his buckets and attempted to replace what them with what they found gratifying.

“Why do you bother taking those stupid classes? You know you won't get paid more”, your co-worker utters. Your supervisor “mentors” you with “If you'd spend more time doing and less time learning, we'd all be better off”. Before long, Brian finds himself completely de-motivated, unfulfilled and dissatisfied. He is de-moralized and hardly has even enough energy to arrive at work with one bucket, no less two.

Brian is not alone. Millions of workers are recruited and hired every year with promises of bucket-filling careers only to experience bucket-looting jobs. Ultimately we all evaluate our own self-worth based on how well we meet out personal internal needs and wants and manage fears regardless of the impact it may have on other people. In order for human beings to predictably get what they want out of life and out of other people, they must learn to recognize the preferred communication style of others and how to recognize the six values clusters.

Energy and passion for living and life returns when you find a work culture, a job, or a career that fills your buckets. My advice for employers and managers - employees remain motivated and become satisfied when you fill their favorite buckets, not raid them. If you can't fill certain buckets, don't hire employees or market customers who expect you to fill them. There are plenty of other buckets you can fill to go around.

Ira S. Wolfe is founder of Success Performance Solutions, a consulting firm specializing in employee selection and managing performance. To learn more about assessing employee and organizational values, call 717.656.4632 or e-mail: iwolfe@super-solutions.com Don't miss Stop Guessing, Start Knowing on August 20, 2003 at The Lancaster Chamber and Hiring the Best and Stop Messing with ther Rest on October 16 at the Lancaster Chamber Business Expo.