Facts and Meaning

Contributing Columnist, Computerworld |

I oftentimes hear complaints about how unmotivated technical groups can be, just managers sometimes seem to miss some of the most important opportunities to create an environment in which motivation can grow.

As best I can tell, this is deeply rooted in our backgrounds as engineers. Most IT managers start out as technicians, so we are steeped in the world of facts. We search for them. Nosotros love them. We live and die by them. They are our bedrock. But we are and so enamored of the facts of our work that we sometimes forget to explicitly speak of its significant. We assume either that the facts of our work are the meaning or that the connexion is so self-axiomatic that we never need discuss information technology.

Merely the meaning of the work tin can be 1 of the almost of import sources of motivation for a group.

For example, a few years ago, I attended a meeting and listened to a presentation from the CIO of UNICEF, the Un Children's Fund. He was talking about the work his staff was doing, setting up satellite-network nodes in countries around the world. His description of the facts of the grouping'due south work seemed rather grim. I imagined what it might be like to exist part of his team.

The piece of work seemed pretty repetitive: setting upward the aforementioned network equipment over and over again. The pay was probably poor, since it was through the U.N. The travel sounded relentless: People were likely on the route for weeks or months at a time, and they weren't traveling to the garden spots of the world. In fact, many of these installations were being washed in state of war zones, then the work might occasionally entail being shot at.

The facts of this chore seemed remarkably unappealing: poor pay, boring work, isolation from family, and dangerous conditions. Why would anyone want to do it? Perhaps for every network node installed, 100,000 children accept a chance to swallow. If that's the answer, it's worth it.

In this case, the facts and the meaning of the work are completely dissimilar things. The facts seem like excellent de-motivators, while the meaning is extraordinarily compelling.

Of course, not every project offers such rich opportunity to explore meaning. If the goal of your projection is to reduce inventory costs by one-8th of a percentage point, don't expect people to weep in ecstasy during the rollout. Sometimes you lot have to look for motivation elsewhere.

So, how do yous know if y'all're thinking about the facts or the significant of your work? Hither's one manner to look at it:

Facts are simple points. They're cold and lifeless. They just lie on the page and limited some simple truth.

Meaning requires a more narrative structure. There are characters — people who inhabit the narrative. In that location's activity — things that happen to the characters, or could happen. There are settings — spaces where the action happens. And there'southward transformation, internal and external. The heroes struggle, and the villains suffer.

In the narrative form, facts come alive and are woven into the story line. They support the larger structure and are thereby imbued with meaning. Here, a project is no longer just a serial of tasks lying expressionless on a Gantt chart. Information technology's a heroic story with a theme and lessons.

And so next time you wonder why your group seems unmotivated, inquire whether people have a sense of more than than just the facts of their work. Ask what they think it means, and you may find that everyone has a different idea. But simply having them call up and talk about the significant can be a footstep toward deeper motivation and engagement.

Paul Glen is the founder of the GeekLeaders.com Web customs and writer of the award-winning book Leading Geeks: How to Manage and Lead People Who Deliver Technology (Jossey-Bass, 2003). Contact him at info@paulglen.com.

Paul Glen is the CEO of Leading Geeks, an instruction and consulting firm devoted to improving collaboration between technical and nontechnical groups and people.

Copyright © 2008 IDG Communications, Inc.