Did you listen to the poet, Elizabeth Alexander, who wrote and presented the U.S. inaugural poem in January this year? Here is an excerpt from Praise Song for the Day:
Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others’ eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise. All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues. Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair. …
Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.
Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; the figuring it out at kitchen tables.
As I thought about what I wanted to share this week that is related to Positive Organizational Scholarship, I found myself thinking about a woman I will call Angela, a research participant in a study I conducted in the billing unit of a Midwestern community hospital. In an interview about her job as a medical biller, Angela told me something that struck me deeply and challenged my assumptions about her work. Looking in my eyes, she said: “I love my job. I fight for patients; I help them get the money they need to pay their medical bills.”
Angela is one of the many, mostly unnamed people who do the work that keeps organizations running day in and day out. Angela is one of those that Elizabeth Alexander calls up in praise—someone who takes up the struggle, who takes in the harvest, who does what needs doing honestly and well. When people like Angela take pride in their work, they not only feel better about themselves, they also work harder and give more to the organization.
As leaders, however, we can easily overlook the contributions of people like Angela. In her organization she is near the bottom of the organizational chart, paid at a wage just above the janitorial staff. Angela is lucky to have a manager who supports her interpretation of her work and who publically recognizes her accomplishments. And just as the contributions of people like Angela are easy for leaders to overlook, the pride that people like Angela take in what they do is all too often ignored. Recent research suggests, however, that leaders ignore the power of pride at their peril.
In his book on the power of pride, Jon Katzenbach suggests that in many cases the ability to take pride in work creates stronger and more lasting motivation than extra monetary rewards [1]. In a recent study of the effects of pride on perseverance, people who felt pride also worked harder and persevered longer on difficult mental tasks in a laboratory [2]. Pride is an emotion that shows up in facial expressions and in people’s posture [3], echoing the message in Lift that emotions reflect psychological states and have an impact in organizations. Pride is a strong social emotion. In a recent study of small group work, a member who was feeling pride while doing a group task was perceived by other group members as both dominant and likable, increasing their effectiveness [4].
Leaders can harness the power of pride by recognizing opportunities to connect people’s work to the overriding mission and vision of the organization. When people like Angela define their work in terms of the larger social or business mission of their organizations, they see more ways to feel proud of their accomplishments. In accomplishing her tasks, Angela isn’t just entering data or sorting paper—she is helping patients and contributing to the organization’s mission of creating community health.
Leaders can also use stories to convey ways that people can take pride in the organization. Even more powerfully, leaders can create situations where members of the organization meet with customers or clients and have the opportunity to see the impact of their work first-hand.
Public recognition of people’s accomplishments and abilities is also an important source of pride. With public recognition leaders can profoundly influence how and when people take pride in their work. With more authentic public recognition of jobs well done, leaders encourage more authentic pride throughout their organizations, pride that in turn sparks meaningful and lasting contributions to workplace communities.
References
[1] Katzenbach, J. (2003). Why Pride Matters More Than Money. New York, NY: Random House.
[2] Williams, L. A., & DeSteno, D. (2008). Pride and perseverance: The motivational role of pride. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(6), 1007-1017.
[3] Oosterwijk, S., Rottevell, M., Fischer, A. H., & Hess. U. (2009). Embodied emotion concepts: How generating words about pride and disappointment influences posture. European Journal of Social Psychology, 39(3), 457-466.
[4] Williams, L. A., & DeSteno, D. (2009). Pride: Adaptive social emotion or seventh sin? Psychological Science, 20(3), 284-288.
It would be great if we could gain a better understanding of the different dimensions of pride at organizations. Take your setting of health care; and consider, say, Doctors in emergency departments. From recent observation, I’ve seen them take pride in a very healthy way: Pride in stabilizing very sick patients; pride in mentoring junior Doctors; pride in creating a supportive environment for their teams of nurses and other health professionals. There is a multiplier effect associated with pride, as there is with gratitude: Taking pride in another gives one pride directly and indirectly through the pride experienced by the other which fuels a desire for socially oriented pride. Let’s not forget also the dark side of pride also commonly associated with hubris since I’ve also seen doctors gain pride from perceiving that they are ‘better’ than their colleagues. The cost is not only to relationships between Doctors and colleagues but also to patients. Leaders have the opportunity to forge pride, but must carefully understand and oversee what UBC psychologist Jessica Tracey calls its healthy or authentic form.
Mathew,
You are right to point out the potential link between pride and hubris – pushed to its extreme pride ceases to be a virtue. Not for nothing does the old saying suggest that “pride goeth before a fall.”
I wonder if you know specific ways that leaders can cultivate authentic pride while steering away from its more damaging forms?
Monica
Hi, cool post. I have been wondering about this topic,so thanks for writing.
hey this is a very interesting article!
Monica:
My book, Ego Check, has a framework to help leaders elicit authentic pride. It’s an approach that asks organizational members to more fully reflect on their motives (e.g. efforts towards meaningful change versus building one’s ego); their suitability to act in certain circumstances (e.g. knowing when to step aside and step back); their ability and willingness to act on relevant feedback; and their seriousness to create fall back or safe conditions for workers. A summary can be found at the following:
http://www.changethis.com/33.06.ExecutiveHubris/download
In addition, I’ve been working more specifically in conceptual work and with clients on performance evaluation systems and strategic directions conducive to authentic pride. More on this soon.
Hi, interest post. I’ll write you later about few questions!
Online Article…
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This was really interesting to me. I’d never put a lot of thought into the pride aspect, but I definitely see what you’re getting at. Having something that you are proud of ignored can really get to you on several different levels which will effect your work.