There are plenty of blogs out there about how to motivate people. Some backed with facts and figures, some just ideas, and some.. Well, you get the picture. I decided, well, I'm not an expert. I've never been in HR. Although my Mom was an HR Director - and she had some interesting stories to tell. This isn't about her observations. At different points in my career I had been a team lead, manager and project manager. I'm still doing some of the project management. So am I qualified to write about what motivates people? Probably not. But I can tell you what motivates me and let you mull it over.
Here's my job - I get up early in the morning, and I go to work. Not really of course there is more than that. So I'll give you a quick overview of probably a fairly normal day. The exception - or maybe not as much of an exception - anymore is that I work from home.
If possible training is added here and there. If not, I train as I have to work on a project.
I think that's a pretty normal boring routine. Wake up the next day and repeat. So how do I keep motivated? It's a boring day right?
Now I've gone through why my day isn't so boring most of the time. Now:
Those are my long lists. Have you thought about what motivates you? What makes you say, yes, I really do like my job most of the time?
Here's my job - I get up early in the morning, and I go to work. Not really of course there is more than that. So I'll give you a quick overview of probably a fairly normal day. The exception - or maybe not as much of an exception - anymore is that I work from home.
So here's my workday.
- Log in - check on any e-mail that might move things up or down my priority list.
- E-mail first - is there an "emergency".
- Open my priority list. Verify that I'm mostly on track.
- Start with the most urgent and work my way backwards. Doing development, configuration, training or learning as I go. If I finish anything during the day, update specs and create testing documents.
- Meetings through out the day. Some for new projects, some for my boss, some with the consultants... and of course many more.
- Possible writing beginning specs.
- Questions through out the day.
- Quick fixes may be needed - it probably isn't the program - but debug. You never know..
- Finish up my day by with one of the two options:
- Looking at what I've got going tomorrow and getting ready for it.
- Quickly shutting down my computer before anything else happens.
If possible training is added here and there. If not, I train as I have to work on a project.
I think that's a pretty normal boring routine. Wake up the next day and repeat. So how do I keep motivated? It's a boring day right?
Being All Kinds of Interested
- All the NEW toys. SAP is great about adding new things we have to learn. I work with my boss on getting those programs / configuration / installation of things I don't normally do.. It keeps me challenged, happy, and pushes me to learn quickly to finish the job.
- Those interruptions - they could quickly become annoying, right? Not correct. It's all a balancing job. My favorite interruption is by a lady who needs reparative help because she doesn't have authority. Why? She thanks me. She truly appreciates working with me. I have great respect for here and I think it goes both ways.
- Meetings - OK yes, I do get frustrated sometimes. That's why I have mute. I also rarely have my camera on. Basically because it can cause issues with my system. Sometimes I like say out loud - while double checking I'm on mute - "we have talked this through 5 times". Maybe banging my head on the table. This makes them bearable. However, my best meetings are with my boss. My one on one meetings give me a strong idea of what's going on in the company.
- Documentation - I used to hate it. Now - I love it. I'm being serious. I am the only in house developer/configurator/WF Admin.... Well all of that. My documentation
helps me communicate what I'm going to do (Spec). But best of all someone else's documentation can save me hours looking for a problem.
Now I've gone through why my day isn't so boring most of the time. Now:
Motivates Me!
- New "stuff". Learning!!! YES! A little thing called Teched.
- Positive feedback.
- Sharing what is going on with our company as a whole.
- Being aware of the payoff in what you are doing.
- Knowing what I've developed/changed is being used.
- Rainy day, positive e-mail. (I save those)
- Going to SAP TechEd where I learn so much my head may just explode.
Those are my long lists. Have you thought about what motivates you? What makes you say, yes, I really do like my job most of the time?
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