As with all emotional commitments, your rewards are typically also emotional and sometimes material, like when you share in your company’s profits or it has a scheme to incentivize you to get more involved.

Essentially, your employer needs to promote initiatives leading to better service to clients and creating more visibility for employees who go that extra mile. While you cannot be fooled into engagement, your company can reach out to you, transparently, to incentivize deeper commitment.

So, if you actively espouse your company’s mission and values and it has plans in place to recognize your commitment, then you can actually find a lot in it for you. More happiness at work. More visibility. New discussion forums and relationships. More visibility among management and peers. New career opportunities. Work becomes fun and rewarding.

More than “doing your job”
What I am suggesting is this: while it is great if you selflessly engage beyond the call of duty, your company cannot expect you to get involved (commit emotionally) unless they develop schemes to incentivize your engagement.

How you espouse your company’s goals has to match your personality and preferences and the people you work with, including management and corporate culture. Without this, you can move from one job to the other—looking for a place that offers more fulfilling projects than just “doing your job”.

Typically, you cannot control these factors, except by looking for another job in another company. But once you have made a choice, your company can further motivate you to show your commitment — through tools and incentives. This is true for all innovation initiatives.

I will soon share some management tools that have to be in place before your engagement can truly be rewarding.

Pedro do Carmo Costa, Exago’s director and co-founder
pcc@exago.com

READ MORE:
Is your company worth your engagement?
Management tools to make engagement truly rewarding