Status doesn’t have to mean titles and cachet

Today, I’d say that the key thing for me is taking pride in the company where I work. I don’t care if it’s the most famous company in the world, but I want to feel good about working there. Having a positive reputation goes beyond business performance and includes the employee experience, company values, and whether the company’s decisions reflect those values. Feeling any hesitance to tell someone where I worked would be a gut check for me—a clear sign that I’m not in the right place.

At various stages in my career, I would have said that it’s motivating for me to work toward promotions. A clear understanding of my targets helps me to focus my efforts. And I take pride in the achievement of reaching or exceeding the expectations for my role. Progress is also an important motivator for me, but I have a hard time acknowledging my improvement. Sometimes working toward a new title or credential helps me to track my professional growth in a way that brings me a lot of fulfillment.

However, there are other elements of the Status motivator that I find less important. For example, conveying social status through appearances or living in an elite neighborhood are not things that motivate me. That said, I acknowledge they are valid drivers, and see how such markers fit under the Status umbrella.

Start by asking people what this motivator means to them. Have them describe it in their own words or refer to the motivator cards to identify the parts that match them best. If they have a negative association with the motivator, discuss why that is. I confess that Status sounded snobby to me at first, partially because I worried what other people would think. Those concerns faded after I thought about the ways that this driver has positively impacted my work.

Next, ask how they think their top three motivators are related. For example, I mentioned that Status is tied to Progress for me when it comes to giving structure and mile markers to my professional growth. My third motivator, Competition, ties into this narrative too; it emphasizes measurable goal achievement, pushing boundaries, and finding success. Together these three motivators give shape to one of my values—continuous development. Reflecting on this increased my self-awareness and could also help other people understand me better.

Finally, discuss how these motivators apply to their current role. How do they experience Status in their work? What might be missing? What is most fulfilling? What can you do to help them activate this motivation? There’s no value in making assumptions about any of these things. And even if they don’t have a specific request at that moment, asking questions like this is the start of an ongoing conversation that makes work more meaningful.

For example, if your company offers more flexibility or access to additional resources after a certain level of promotion, then a new title could impact a person’s life well beyond the words in their email signature. Or perhaps the culture where you work emphasizes hierarchy and your title impacts unspoken protocols related to communication or social roles. And if working at a well-known company improves your chances of securing a mortgage, this reputation can affect your family as well.

If Status is a blindspot for you, then take a moment to consider the context you’re living and working in. It’s possible that you feel neutral about Status because you already have a senior title or have the resources to choose whatever neighborhood or style of dress you like. Sometimes when our work is meeting our needs for a motivator it can drop in importance—the bucket is already full.

In many ways, I’m grateful for that confronting moment when I saw Status as my first motivator. It allowed me to realize I was making judgments about which motivators are good or bad and, by extension, what needing to have those things meant about someone—even myself!

Remembering that these drivers are complex helped me slow down and get curious about what makes these intrinsic motivators important to someone and why. And this makes for more interesting and productive insight than an assumption any day.