Why pride matters more in a job than money and how to instill it?

Pride relates to emotions and money is material, faced with a situation of competing priorities, pride will win almost every-time.

We hear many a times people talking about taking pride in what one does. The idea of pride which when manifests into something you do for a living, leads to living just for that cause. The cause becomes so important, everything seems so dwarf in front of it. That is one of the reasons people go to any length for the cause. No better example than the military of a country, their cause stays so dear to them, even death can't shake it. It is because of the pride of being the soldier of that country. The pride that they take in their job.

The level of competition these days in almost very sphere is top notch. While it helps to up the game by an increase in pay, it is certainly not what it takes to stay on top. To stay on top you need a constant hunger and drive to do something repeatedly, constantly without getting bored, tired or embarrassed. This trait only comes when you take a lot of pride in what you do. Without building up that sense of pride it is almost impossible to elevate the performance to levels that are higher than your competition. Commitment base on self-serving or materialistic gains like monetary incentives etc, is short-term and not permanent.

The pride factor is important across the value chain but is most important at the front line. People who are in direct touch with the customers for example. A lack of pride in such people can kill the brand but on the contrary they can also take the brand to new heights if they take pride in their job and the brand itself. There are many examples of this mostly in the retail brand and automobile space. The stark difference in the customer service of company owned company operated (COCO) stores and distributor or dealer managed stores amplifies that difference. An employee who identified with the brand and took pride in it was much better off than an employee at a distributor or a dealer.

It is an important question therefore as to how does one instill this sense of pride? An even important question that comes to mind, who is supposed to do it? The answer to that question is "The Employer". A person is never going to take pride in an institution that does not take pride in it's people. Pride is never a unidirectional concept or a one way traffic. It has to flow on both sides simultaneously. The employer needs to first of all remove the inhibition from employee's minds that they are working for an individual. The concept and companies where individual ownership clouds the purpose or the institution, will never be able to instill pride in it's people. Rather the company should focus on creating a climate where the employees believe they are a stakeholder in the institution and not merely serving an individual. The only way their inner potential can flow is by giving them a sense of ownership and purpose.

Employers need to make sure that employees feel valued and appreciated. They should feel the organisation they are working for takes the same pride in them as they take in the organisation. They should never be treated as replaceable commodity in high supply. They should be made a part of sorrow and celebration with regards to company performance. And most of all, should be given access to information. A company that conceals information from it's employees inadvertently stays in a make-belief world, where they think that the employees are not noticing anything. The truth remains employees notice every act of concealing or bending the information curve. They feel let down and never take pride in either their job or the organisation they work for.

We all talk of company culture and human resource policies. The first and most important goal of these policies should be to build that sense of trust which can facilitate a channel of interchanging emotional bonding between the company and it's employees and in the process instilling a sense of pride.

Conclusion:

Money can never replace the importance of an emotional bond a company and it's employees need to make the institution a success in this competitive world. Money can just take you so far, without the necessary sense of pride and belief within the company and it's employees, the finishing line in a race would look very far. Companies and organisation should find ways to tap into this inner mountain of resource and loyalty of their employees. It mostly just takes simple acts of passing a sense of ownership, trust and a sense of responsibility. Frankly it is just common sense on the part of employers to practice this mutual emotion called 'Pride', but as they say "common sense isn't very common".