Discretionary Effort Is a ‘Gift’ – Don’t Take It for Granted!

Summary: Discretionary effort is an interaction in the workplace where individuals give more than is expected or required from them for the benefit of the organisation. This extra effort should be considered a ‘Gift’ from employees, and not just a happy accident. It does not happen because of any random factors, such as industry, company size, national culture, great benefits or a big paycheque. This ‘Gift’ exists as a direct consequence of management’s intentions and actions – it is the actual result of how they treat people!

“The highest reward for a man’s toil is not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it” (John Ruskin)

We all agree that engaged and motivated employees are important to organisations. Business leaders and HR professionals have debated extensively about the subject. Over time, they agree, it leads to lower turnover, more loyal customers, higher productivity, and of equal importance, a more fulfilling experience for managers and team members alike (Read more: Understanding Employee Engagement).

However, something that business leaders still don’t understand is that motivation and engagement are a ‘Gift’ given to them by employees. When employees decide to offer discretionary effort and go the extra mile in whatever form they do at work, this is something that is being given willingly, beyond payment, a free contribution of their talent, ability and skill… a valuable present indeed!

“Discretionary effort is the difference in the level of effort one is capable of bringing to a task, and the effort required only to get by or make do”

Unfortunately, this ‘Gift-Like’ frame of mind, this willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty, such as helping others with heavy workloads, constantly fixing problems and suggesting improvements, volunteering for additional duties and looking for ways to perform the job more efficiently, is a behaviour that is expected by most, if not all, employers, and many times it is taken for granted, and every so often, even forcibly requested from employees. Managers expect individual employees to give all they have in order to make the company more profitable. Most employers hire people with the anticipation that they will give their all and their very best every day. But, why should they?

Remember, employees do not need to put that extra effort in whatever they do for the sake of the organisation’s financial success. They could behave in a very transactional manner if they wished to, by simply doing the barely minimum necessary of whatever their contract or job description says, and even worse, possibly harm the organisation by underdelivering whenever they can. Organisations should not feel entitled to this ‘Gift’ just because of the monthly pay that they offer to their employees… remember, paycheques can’t buy passion! (Read more: Human Work is not a Commodity).

Is there ‘Gift-Culture’ in the UK?

‘Gift-Culture’ is different from ordinary work, which is more transactional, selling your labour and skills for money. Both cultures can simultaneously operate in the same organisation, so it is important to know what proportion of employees share ‘Gift-Culture’ and how many are simply performing ordinary work.

In a recent study by Great Place to Work UK, over 2,000 random UK employees were asked if they were willing to give extra effort to get their job done. Only 59% of participants answered this survey statement in a favourable way, which indicates there are over 40% of employees who are simply uninspired and don’t feel motivated to do their best and are not prepared to offer this precious ‘Gift’ to their employers.

Even worse, the same study revealed that 14% of participants were actively disengaged, more than not putting forth the extra effort, these employees don’t even care to achieve much more than the bare minimum (if that), and might even be so negative that their employment might be a detriment to the organisation’s overall performance.

It does not come as a surprise that similar results were found on their willingness to cooperate with colleagues. Nearly 40% felt they couldn’t count on people to cooperate. Respondents felt that when cooperation was needed they were not able to receive the support that was required by them, so they couldn’t rely on colleagues to support them at work.

When the same participants were asked if they felt management showed appreciation for their good work and extra effort, a staggering 54% of all sampled employees did not express favourable views on this matter. Participants did not feel appreciated for their professional accomplishments. They perceived management did not demonstrate thanks to all those who delivered quality work and performed above what was expected of them. Managers need to remember that showing gratitude is one of the simplest, yet most powerful things that they can do for employees.

So, would you agree these numbers reveal that there is a lot to be done to promote ‘Gift-Culture’ in our workplaces? The idea is to turn everyday activities into trust-building encounters that will change the way managers engage with their teams. ‘Gift-Culture’ refers to how great organisations apply a trust mindset into daily interactions that deepen employees’ relationships and experience at the workplace.

“When people go to work, they shouldn’t have to leave their hearts at home” (Betty Bender)

To improve workplaces, organisations need to be aware and understand what ‘Gift-Culture’ is, and why employees would be willing to offer it at work. Employers cannot expect to receive this goodhearted gift spontaneously - they need to earn it for themselves! Employees will decide when to offer this well-intentioned gift depending on how they are being treated by their employers, particularly their line-managers (Read more: The ‘Golden Rule’ for Managing People).

Are You Getting Gifts at Work?

Think of the last 7 days at work, did you get any gifts from any of your colleagues and team members? No? Think again! Didn’t you notice your team spending their free time perfecting that client presentation they were working on, not because it was a requirement, but because they wanted it to be better? What about that individual who sent you the final annual sales projections working over the weekend? Or that colleague of yours who kept on making suggestions on how to improve things? Do you remember that sales rep who cleaned and tidied up the whole office because of those clients who were visiting the next day? What about that individual who offered to act as host for visiting overseas colleagues during out-of-office hours? All these are just a few examples of gift-like behaviours.

In general, all those employees, looking for additional tasks, volunteering their strengths, sharing their knowledge, constantly asking for feedback and be willing to improve, display clear ‘Gift-Culture’ attitudes. These are the sort of gifts that you may be receiving on a daily/weekly basis but are not noticing. The uniqueness about these gifts is that the receiver has the power to acknowledge the gift or not. If you as a manager are not able to notice those gifts in your workplace, ‘Gift-Culture’ simply dies, and is replaced with commodity-like work transactions with a value. Employees simply stop loving what they do, they slowly stop giving suggestions, they slowly stop going the extra mile and avoid putting that extra effort into their daily activities.

“People may take a job for more money, but they often leave it for more recognition” (Bob Nelson)

What happens when you do recognise all those gifts being offered by your team members? It generates reciprocity, which is the most powerful outcome of ‘Gift-Culture’. This is one of the most basic laws of social psychology, the acceptance of a gift obligates the recipient to certain implied duties. Humans tend to return good deeds. In most work situations, we tend to pay back what we receive from others. So, how do you plan to reciprocate the gifts you receive from your team members?

Simple Ways to Inspire ‘Gift-Culture’

‘Trust’ is the main driver of ‘Gift-Culture’ and both are the foundation for creating Best Workplaces all around the world. In this respect, people managers need to understand the critical role they play in building trust and gift-like behaviours within their organisations. ‘Gift-Culture’ starts on the ground, with everyday quality interactions between frontline managers and their direct reports. These interactions include two-way communications, strong sense of generosity/reciprocity, respect, consideration, individual intention and inclusiveness.

Even a brief interaction can have a great impact on the way employees think about themselves, their managers, and the future of the organisation. Each of those many connections managers make have the potential to become a high point or a low point in an employees’ day and resulting motivation.

Every single manager-employee interaction is an opportunity to develop higher levels of engagement and trust. Unfortunately, these can also become occasions to damage, and in a worst-case scenario, completely and irreparably destroy trust for good (Read more: Eight Essential People Management Skills).

We agree that ‘Gift-Culture’ can make the difference between a great team, and an extraordinary team — but the transition of workplaces into ‘Gift-Culture’ doesn’t happen by chance. So, what does it take to inspire and support this sort of culture? What are the key manager behaviours and actions that inspire ‘Gift-Culture’ and encourage the creation of great workplaces? Consider the following:

• PURPOSE: Employees need to understand how they’re making a difference. You need to give them a good reason to commit themselves to expending extraordinary effort. Do this by aligning your different teams with your organisation’s vision, inspire them by offering greater purpose beyond the work they do. Truly successful organisations commit to corporate missions that are much bigger than making profits – they put the greater good ahead of self-interest. They ensure employees commit and concentrate on the actual vision and mission of the organisation and not just the wage and hours they are being paid for to do the job. The real challenge is for each of your direct reports to determine where they feel they can make the most impact (Read more: Employees’ Five Non-Negotiable Corporate Values).
• TRUST: Honesty and transparency build trust. If you follow these trust-building behaviours, your people will be far more likely to go the extra mile, respect your authority and appreciate you as their leader: (1) Be consistent in all you do, if you say you’ll do it, do it. Don’t push it onto someone else’s line of duty or try to get away with not doing it; (2) Share information openly and avoid office gossip. Explain your thought process, communicate your intentions and reasons for doing something, this gives people a grounding for trusting you; (3) People need to understand that you aren't hiding anything, admit when you don’t know something or are wrong, take responsibility for failures; (4) Give others a chance to express themselves, ask people questions, it gives them an opportunity to enter a two-way relationship, to feel respected, and to have the ability to share and trust. If you dominate the conversation or never ask questions, it suggests you don’t value / trust their opinions; (5) Listen with intent when you’re in a conversation, don’t just wait for your chance to talk. Seriously regard what the other person has to say, consider it, and maybe even ask another question. People will engage with you (and start to trust you) if they feel like you’re truly listening (Read more: Creating a culture of ‘Respect and Trust’).
• RECOGNITION: Employees work for money but go the extra mile for recognition and praise. In general people strive to be worthy of recognition. Do expect a string of repeat strong performances when your employees feel their work is truthfully recognised and appreciated. If you appreciate someone, don’t keep it a secret, and do not just recognise achievements, but more importantly, appreciate employees’ extraordinary effort, even if they don’t reach the expected goal. As we express our gratitude to employees, don’t forget that the highest appreciation is not simply to utter words, but to live by them. A few sincere words, offered at the right time, do have a great impact on an employee’s work life. Remember, people may take a job for more money, but they often leave it in search of more recognition.
• TEAMWORK: Teamwork and collaboration begin by building camaraderie: If you can’t laugh together, you can’t work together! The greater the loyalty of employees towards the team, the greater is the motivation to achieve the group’s goals. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in your team, but if you all can’t perform together, your team’s worth is nothing! Remember, a ‘gift-like’ individual works positively together with everyone to get the job done the best way possible. Effective teamwork begins and ends with communication, it inspires people to perform extraordinary feats! So don’t just tell your direct reports what you want, clearly explain to them why this is necessary. This will help them find common projects and activities that will bring them closer as individuals. Also highlight the impact each member’s contributions have on the group - empower and encourage everyone on the team to show their appreciation for the work of their peers. Don’t forget, when everyone moves forward together, people’s motivation and success tend to take care of itself.
• INSPIRATION: Leaders inspire people by the equality and inclusivity of their actions and the integrity of their intent. They live their values to the full, behave ethically, care for others, and act with compassion. Real inspirational leaders recognise that it is more about being humble and putting others first - it is about serving the people that they lead. Inspiring people is also about guiding them to success by ensuring that everyone is performing at their best. It is about instilling in them a hope for success and a belief in themselves, giving them a platform for spreading their ideas and empowering those with relevant core competencies to take leadership roles in specific situations. Workplace inspiration is determined by the mindset you choose to bring to work. For your team to exceed goals and give their best effort on a regular basis, you need to reinforce behaviours through positive outcomes. Negative reinforcement will generally only incentivise someone to do just enough to avoid further negative reinforcement. The key to successful leadership is influence, not authority (Read more: Understanding Employee Motivation).
• RECIPROCITY: Finally, follow the ‘Golden Rule’ at work: ‘Treat others as you would want them to treat you’. This is the most common ethical benchmark for human interactions. It is commonly used as a workplace standard for behaviour and can be applied to individuals and teams alike. It basically means: I help you, and you help someone else (paying it forward), and maybe that person will end up helping me (or someone else) sometime in the future. This sort of workplace reciprocity is a very positive emotion of gratitude which relies on our internal sense of obligation. When someone does something nice out of kindness for us, we feel indebted to that person and compelled to do something nice for him/her in return. Establishing an institutional culture of generalised reciprocity is an effective solution to unlocking hidden resources, increasing employee connectivity, and more effective problem solving. Companies with higher rates of helping behaviours have lower employee turnover, enjoy greater customer satisfaction, and are more profitable (Read more: Does the ‘Golden Rule’ Still Hold Up in our Modern Workplace?).

So, are your managers acting in a transactional manner with employees? Do they recognise and acknowledge employees’ gifts? Or do they simply take these for granted? If managers do not treat people with the respect they deserve, then don’t expect any kind of commitment to your company’s productivity goals and targets. Employees want to be appreciated, cared for, loved, trusted, and respected. But they also want to be understood.

Managers need to develop the necessary personal skills required to build an inspiring, productive workplace culture. They need to explore their underlying beliefs and attitudes about trusting others, and how they might choose to have more faith in people, the foundation of ‘Gift-Culture’. If your managers master the skills to achieve that, your ‘Gift-Like Culture’ will become truly exceptional.

Final Thoughts…

When it comes to implementation, first you need to ensure the full commitment and articulation of the special role that senior leaders play in the creation of a ‘Gift-like Culture’ – they need to lead by example. Then you need to identify potential obstacles that may keep managers from creating that thriving workplace we all want, for that we need to evaluate and obtain feedback from direct reports, perhaps with 360-degree feedback reviews, and create associated personal coaching plans for those managers with less positive feedback. Finally, involve and allow all employees to brainstorm ideas to take concrete actions to enhance workplace culture in a human and more engaging way.

Remember, success in business, and as a leader, is rooted in how deeply and broadly we trust our people. Successful leaders are always looking for opportunities to help others. Giving should not only be done with an expectation of reciprocation in mind, it should be done out of a genuine desire to help. Building ‘Trust’ and thus creating a ‘Gift-Culture’ is a worthwhile investment in your team and in your organisation as a whole.

Source: The content of this opinion blog has been mainly inspired by blogs, articles and research done by Great Place to Work Institute and its affiliates.

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Disclaimer: The author is making this ‘Opinion Blog’ available in his personal effort to advance the understanding of best practices in workplace related matters. The author assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions in the content of this ‘Opinion Blog’ or for the results obtained from the use of the information provided. The information is provided on an ‘as is’ basis with no guarantees of completeness, accuracy, usefulness or timeliness and without any warranties of any kind whatsoever, express or implied. The views expressed are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of any entity whatsoever with which the author has been, is now, or is to be affiliated in the future.