Anger, frustration, weariness… Between you and your job, it’s the great disaffection. But then, how to escape demotivation?
- CONSIDER YOUR JOB AS A FIELD OF EXPERIMENTATION
“By signing his employment contract, the safari worker accepts a relationship of subordination to his employer, who dictates his objectives and his way of working, explains the occupational psychologist. He then has two possibilities: to experience this situation as an alienating constraint, or as an opportunity to reflect on himself. Too many employees “forget” to question their relationship to work and expect the company to provide for their needs. Having difficulty recognizing themselves in their job, they struggle to be recognized there.” - THINK ABOUT YOUR “MISSION” “To be happy at work, you must not be satisfied with its concrete dimension, with being a simple executor,” assures Pierre-Éric Sutter. It’s all a matter of perspective: even if the meaning has been removed by the employer, it’s up to the worker to breathe it back into each of his daily actions, to remember how his mission is useful.
- EXPERIENCE YOUR CREATIVITY “An employee is not the creator of his work, however, he is always the author of it, reminds Pierre-Éric Sutter. He must therefore be able, to a certain extent, to personalize and resize his action in order to adapt it to his own specificities and to inscribe a trace of his personality. The feeling of autonomy indeed contributes to his intrinsic motivation, to his rise in skills and to his efficiency. It is therefore of prime importance that the worker takes initiatives or decisions that give him responsibility, without his employer being behind him all the time!”
- PUT YOURSELF IN A LITTLE DANGER Facing stimulating challenges is essential to prevent weariness. “Everyone must find the right balance between the expected level of performance and the level of demands to achieve it,” warns Pierre-Éric Sutter. “Too much “comfort” locks you into a routine; too much “discomfort” tips you into a zone of suffering.” The state you are looking for? Flow, a concept developed by American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, this feeling of fullness that you achieve when you are completely immersed in what you are doing, in tune with your skills, in a state of maximum concentration…
- INVEST IN OTHERS When you ask a worker what motivates them in their job, “having good relationships with colleagues and managers” comes out on top. “In an individualistic society where the advent of the Internet and emails has accentuated the disembodiment of human relationships, the need for exchanges with others is vital,” says Pierre-Éric Sutter. By fueling self-esteem, signals of recognition represent the fuel of our mental health.