Eric Chester on the Problem with Entitlement

We’re continuing our conversation with Eric Chester, CSP, an expert on the Millenial Generation and Reviving the Work Ethic.

Beth: Why is it that younger workers are being described with the term ‘entitled?’ And why are having such a hard time acclimating to a traditional work environment?

Eric Chester: They’ve grown up in a world where most people work hard to find ways of avoiding hard work. They’ve heard stories telling how lottery winners, day traders, bloggers, dot-commers, and Internet marketers have managed to beat the system and derive a huge bounty with little or no effort. They’ve been inundated with reality television that turns talentless fools into millionaires in the blink of an eye and with the greatest of ease.

The impact of this value programming has created a mindset shift.  Work is no longer the primary source of personal pride, but rather something to disdain, to shortcut, or to elude altogether. In a perpetual quest to separate effort from reward, the average employee is less concerned about the value they can provide to their employers and more concerned about what they can get from them.

Beth: If you were speaking to a disengaged or disenfranchise worker, what advice would you give them to motivate them to give their best?

Eric: I’d tell them three things:

1. Do whatever is within your control to eliminate the things that demotivate you. Surround yourself with coworkers who enjoy their job as opposed to those “Debbie Downers” who always complain about the boss, the company, etc.  If the break room makes you feel like you are in a jail cell, volunteer to come in on your day off and repaint it or bring in some table games, or posters, or music, etc. In other words, take steps to create a more positive space for you to operate.

2. Get out of the mindset that ‘work sucks’ or that ‘you’re stuck’.  This is a free country and no one is making you work where you do. No matter who you are, what skills you currently have, or what you do to earn your daily bread, you have options. You can work harder and perform better in an attempt to get a promotion.

You can use your off work time to take classes or improve your skills to move up in your present company or to become more hire-able to another. You are in control of your career, so don’t allow yourself to develop a defeatist attitude or you will end up stuck, or worse, fired.

3.  Work like you’re showing off. Approach your next shift as if your every move is being video recorded for a worldwide audience and that your parents, kids, friends, and future employers are all tuned-in. If you perform your normal job as you would under these conditions for an entire day, it would be impossible to feel down and disengaged.  In fact, it will be impossible for your employers not to notice you. Very soon, you will be the very best at your job, and once you are, you will be promoted, you will see a dramatic increase in your pay, and you will be sought out by other employers.  When you are the best at your job, your future is unstoppable. 

When you are the best at your job, your future is unstoppable. 

Beth: That makes sense, but a lot of people hate their job. Is it possible to work hard under those circumstances?

Eric: Passion doesn’t fuel work ethic; work ethic fuels passion.

Most people want to go about it backwards. They want to let their passions propel their efforts. They want an emotion-driven life, but our emotions don’t always lead us where we need to go or keep us where we need to be.

You won’t produce heat in your fireplace by saying, “Once there’s a fire, I’ll put in some logs.”  You put the logs in and build a fire, and then you’ll see some heat. Likewise, the passion you have for a job is directly related to the initiative you put into it. Many highly successful people in all walks of life have discovered that because they put a great amount of effort into their job, their job eventually becomes their passion. They didn’t set out to be the world’s greatest carpet installer, data entry clerk, or fry cook; they just set out to be the best they could be while in their jobs, and the next thing they knew they were awesome at it!

If a young worker says, “I don’t have a passion for selling shoes,” the first thing he needs to do is show some initiative by making selling shoes a short-term passion. If he throws himself into it, does all he can to learn the business and make himself the best, and he still doesn’t develop a passion for the job, that’s fine. He has still improved his reputation for adding value to a job, made himself more hire-able, and developed his work ethic in the process. And then he can do his boss and himself a favor and quit. She’ll likely give him a good reference or help him find another position within the organization.

Beth: In your book you talk about the seven components of work ethic. What is the core truth you discovered in your research?

Eric: Over the past ten years, I’ve interacted with, listened to, and surveyed more than 1,500 employers (business owners, C-level executives, HR professionals, managers, supervisors, etc.) in an attempt to understand what work ethic looks like from their perspective. In each exchange, I listened to their various laments about that lack of work ethic and responded by asking this question:

“What do you expect from each and every employee?”

At the risk of sounding simplistic, I can summarize hundreds of responses in one sentence:

Employers are searching for positive, enthusiastic people who show up for work on time, who are dressed and prepared properly, who go out of their way to add value and do more than what’s required of them, who are honest, who will play by the rules, and who will give cheerful, friendly service regardless of the situation.

There are no negotiables in this summation. By that I mean that there isn’t any one of the seven core work ethic values represented above to which you, as a leader, don’t personally aspire and hold yourself accountable. Likewise, you expect these same core values to be evident in everyone you work for, work with, and oversee.

We can shorten the summation by defining each value with these seven terms: attitude, reliability, professionalism, initiative, respect, integrity, and gratitude.

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Eric Chester is an award winning keynote speaker and the author of Reviving Work Ethic: A Leader’s Guide to Ending Entitlement and Restoring Pride in the Emerging Workforce (Greenleaf 2012).  He is also the Founder and CEO of The Bring Your A Game to Work program. He can be reached at 303-239-9999 or through www.RevivingWorkEthic.com