Tracking to Employee Engagement on the Road to Mastery

What Drives Employees? A look at how Purpose, Autonomy and Mastery at work leads to increased motivation and employee engagement - Part 4 of 4

By Chris Atkinson, HR Consultant, Organizational Strategy, CPS HR Consulting

In this series, we have been examining three factors at work that can lead to increased engagement and motivation: purpose, autonomy, and mastery. These factors, identified by Daniel Pink in his book Drive, also align with items in our nation-wide employee engagement survey. Check out the first three segments in the series here. In this segment, we will examine Pink’s third factor, mastery, which aligns with our survey item “I am sufficiently challenged by my work”. 

An important aspect of employee engagement is helping employees find their work interesting and challenging. Related to employees’ desire to be sufficiently challenged is the urge to master their work and improve their skills. As a means to support this objective, employers should create an environment where employees feel that they can pursue mastery. Pink suggests that there are three laws of mastery. These laws can help frame our understanding of mastery and how it relates to employees’ pursuit of mastery in the workplace.

The Three Laws of Mastery

Mastery is a Mindset
The first law is “Mastery is a Mindset.” Pink discusses the work of Carol Dweck who describes the differences between a “growth mindset” and a “fixed mindset.” People with “growth mindsets” believe that their intelligence can be increased with effort whereas those with “fixed mindsets” believe that their intelligence is fixed. People with “fixed mindsets” typically choose goals more easily achieved, since they believe that when they engage in “hard work”, the fact that the work is difficult for them is indication of their lack of intelligence. In contrast, people with a “growth mindset” believe they can improve if they work hard and achieve mastery. Not surprisingly, mastery is difficult to attain for those with a “fixed mindset.”

Mastery is Pain
The second law is “Mastery is a Pain.” Pink discusses a research study that examined why some cadets passed basic training and others did not at the United States Military Academy at West Point. The research revealed that “grit,” perseverance and passion for long-term goals, were the most important factors. “Grit” was also a stronger predictor of college grades than IQ or standardized test scores. Achieving mastery requires people to endure challenges. Employers can play a part in ensuring that employees feel challenged by allowing them to work on projects that are challenging enough to stretch their abilities. If employees feel that their work is too easy they may not feel the sufficient levels of challenge necessary to be engaged.

Mastery is an Asymptote
The third law is “Mastery is an Asymptote.”  An asymptote is a straight line that a curve approaches but never quite reaches. Mastery can never truly and finally be reached. The joy is in the pursuit of mastery rather than the attainment of mastery. Employees that are pursuing mastery of a skill, or their work in general, will be more likely to be engaged. The balance is in giving employees assignments that are challenging enough, but at the same time not overly challenging. 

Action Planning for Mastery

So, what specific steps could your organization take to meet employees’ needs for challenge and the pursuit of mastery in their work? We typically recommend our clients consider the following actions:

• Have conversations with employees about how they can best use and develop their knowledge and skills and then support them, even if it means transitioning them to other jobs or even to different work units.
• Help employees create development plans that focus on growth areas. Include specific time frames and milestones.
• Provide employees with opportunities to work on projects that align with their strengths and interests.
• Provide cross training opportunities for employees.

Conclusion
This is the last segment in the series examining how purpose, autonomy and mastery drive motivation and employee engagement. It’s important to remember that purpose, autonomy and mastery are just three factors that along with others, drive employee engagement. To develop, improve and leverage the many benefits of a well-engaged employee base, your organization should aim to conduct a survey to uncover the other key factors that may be driving engagement. Our recommended four step process that was outlined in part two of this series was:

1. Conduct an employee engagement survey so that you can accurately capture the level of employee engagement in your workforce.
2. Identify the questions that focus on factors that influence employee engagement the most in your organization through some type of statistical analysis, such as the key driver analysis mentioned in the first article in this series.
3. Have conversations with employees to uncover root causes behind the responses to survey questions identified in step two.
4. Create a plan of action to address and improve scores on the targeted questions.

High employee engagement is strongly linked to high organizational performance and a variety of positive specific outcomes. It’s important for organizations to create a culture that provides the necessary conditions employees to be engaged and remove barriers to employee engagement.