Can Employee-passion Replace Motivation?

In these times of rising attrition rates and bludgeoning competition where the survival of the fittest is the motto, the ratio of good jobs to individuals is emphatically disproportionate. These times needless to say are harbingers of stress at the workplace. Professionals are only too familiar with the excitement and enthusiasm of joining into a new job and losing that same vigor and zest to perform well in the days later. There are many reasons for this phenomenon.
From closer observation, we are able to find out that that this phenomenon has a lifecycle and each stage is an inevitable step. To better understand how we can stop or delay this process, it is imperative that we are acquainted with the various phases of this process.

Stage 1: Happy Idealistic Stage

This is the stage where cherished ideals about how a jobs should be, take shape. The promise of opportunity along with the power to influence growth provides the ultimate drive to succeed in the new job.

Stage 2: The Routine Stage

This is the stage where the faces have become familiar, the work becomes an everyday job and the challenging aspects seem to be drying up.

Stage 3: The Saturation Stage

This stage is a byproduct of the first two stages and as such is inevitable. The pressures of being part of the routine coupled with the disillusionment of the expectations of the first stage lead here.

The question that arises now is how we can apply the brakes on this vicious cycle. The answer to this question is that the lifecycle can be effectively slowed or even be made dormant but not altogether non-existent. The trick is in getting things right at Stage 1 where the employer and the employee should take an active part in setting expectations for each other. The advantage of doing this is that the reasons for disillusionment the employee may suffer from after he begins work, is displaced. The other way in which we can slow this process down is by continuously reinventing the meaning and challenges of the job for the performer. The benefit here is that the stress that results from routine work and meeting expectations are quickly eased.

One such example will be to set personal milestones for top performers and rewards in the shape of vacations and bonuses to motivate them for more. Such recognition and acknowledgement will go a long way in fostering the hunger that employees experience for performing well at the beginning of their tenure with an organization. Once a personal relationship has been established between the employee and his/her work, personal goals that hunger for performance and achievement is naturally stoked. So the key secret ingredient here is to create a passion of sorts between an employee and his/her work to elicit the best out of them time and time again, and keeping them on their toes for more.