NEW YORK (TheStreet)—We’ve got a fundamental premise wrong. We believe that making employees satisfied will make them successful. That’s not true. In fact, the relationship is reversed—make people successful and they will be happy. Employees, at least those you want to keep, don’t want to be indulged, they want to be successful.
Imagine that you are sitting in a room with 10 sales reps, none of whom are making quota. Feel the mood of the room. How can you change it?
You can try to make them happy ... maybe a company bowling night. Or, you can help them make quota. Which will have the biggest impact on job satisfaction? Causality flows from success to satisfaction. We’ve got it backward.
This is not a new discovery. Organization researchers have known this for decades. Continue Reading…