Talking about motivation in business without understanding the meaning and reason for work in our modern societies is a beginner's mistake. It's a way of skewing the debate by simplifying reality by considering that work is a natural human state, just like eating, reproducing, and sleeping.
What's more, not to ask the question of work is to consider that work-employment-wage-earning is an indisputable social norm that must never be called into question.
This is why work motivation books are flourishing, denying the subordinate nature of salaried employment. And edifying editions tell us the same clichés about motivation based on the desire for voluntary, enjoyable, and rewarding work, a source of happiness and personal development.
If these books sell so well, it's because they defend a fantasized idea of a capitalist world where everyone is rewarded for their work.
If work has become what it is today, it's due to the effects of capitalism exercised like a dogma, like a religion. A religion that defends the happiness of the present, as it assures us: "afterward, it will be too late! A religion that defends immediacy, the "here and now,". And above all, a religion that idealizes meritocracy, "work more to earn more", the right to happiness, whatever the cost, and even the duty to be happy, whatever the cost.
The history of work shows us the extent to which capitalism, initiated by Adam Smith and evangelized by economists, has transformed a source of subsistence into a means of survival, turning the worker into a precarious employee. From the fields of the countryside to the factories of the city, from slavery to the exploitation of "free" men, assimilated to commodities and resources, represented by a number in an Excel spreadsheet.
It's also this new, godless religion that irresistibly pushes us to focus on ourselves, to protect ourselves, to create our own. In times of crisis, our success must come first.
Coaching is developing in the same spirit. There's a coach for everything we do, for everything we want. And this is undoubtedly one of the side effects of the gradual disappearance of employment. More and more people exiled from the workplace are forced to look for a rewarding use for their experience. Experience that is less and less valued within the company but that can find its place in one-off missions.
Here's another element that's come up for discussion: what will work look like in 20 years? Machines, computers, and technology will replace workers. Transport, management, catering, distribution. All sectors are affected. And if there's a shortage of IT technicians and programmer-developers, it's because there's a big replacement job on the way.
On this point, too, there is cause for concern. History will no doubt show us that, just as factory workers replaced slaves, factory workers will eventually be replaced by machines. But what will we do then? This question is part of the worker's anxiety about the persistence of his job and, therefore, about his livelihood.
Work is changing. Surprisingly, it looks more and more like before the industrial era. Self-employed workers, cooperatives, family-run mini-businesses. It's worth looking at yesterday’s models to understand tomorrow’s business.
So, it would have made no sense to write a book on motivation in business without considering the major place of work, its role, and the expectations that flow from it. And even more so, without highlighting the frustration of a large proportion of the population still waiting for that social elevator, or more amusingly, that trickle-down effect.
The 2008 crisis forced the public to bail out a series of "too big to fail" banks. Directors who failed in their mission were awarded a golden parachute. More than 20 million euros for Jean-Marie Messier when he left Vivendi Universal. And how much in dividends for the shareholders of a company in difficulty? Record dividends in 2021 and 2022 during the COVID crisis. And what can we say about the richest 1% when we know that since 2013, poverty reduction has been slowing down [1].
So it's in this atmosphere, in this context, that we need to consider motivation. It's not enough to look at your employees as if they lived on another planet. Each has a family, children to raise, a house to pay off, gifts to give, and vacations to take. Each of them also has values, beliefs, desires, and aspirations.
And finally, we need to consider the evolution of the type of workers to be managed in a company. Here, too, there is outsourcing and division of labor. Maintenance, security, transport, expertise, or technical project management. A manager is entrusted with increasingly different profiles, not all of which are subject to the rules of subordination.
A manager is entrusted with an increasingly diverse range of profiles, not all subject to the same subordination rules. > In the company, permanent and fixed-term contracts, interns, temporary staff, work-study students, consultants on secondment, or even suppliers on loan, as in the retail sector, all coexist. Who's in, and who's out? How can we guarantee motivation, commitment, and involvement in a cooperative dynamic when so many of these players are symbolically not included in the system?[2]
I insist so much on these dark aspects of work to emphasize a fact often overlooked in the discourse on motivation: most people don't work out of desire. They work out of need. And it's first and foremost the work context that helps mobilize employees.
Work can be a real source of individual and collective fulfillment. It is the opportunity society gives to discover, learn, meet, and share. It is the means offered to the greatest number of people to live a pleasant, surprising, and peaceful existence.
Work can be much more than a source of income. And while we can't promise everyone a job that lives up to their expectations, we can offer an environment where sources of motivation and opportunities for development are numerous and accessible.
[1] https://www.oxfamfrance.org/inegalites-et-justice-fiscale/les-1-pourcent-les-plus-riches/
[2] Scharnitzky, Patrick. Les paradoxes de la coopération: Comment rendre le collectif (vraiment) intelligente (French Edition) . Eyrolles.