Culture & Self Esteem

People draw the majority of their self-esteem from their job.

It’s a fact, no matter how hard we try to deny it, that as humans we create and base our self-esteem on outside influences. Every great motivational speaker from Napoleon Hill to Og Mandino to Denis Waitley taught us that we must take control of our self-esteem and what programs it if we are to be successful.

In order to have this discussion, we need a working definition of self-esteem. Our friends at the American Heritage Dictionary define it as ‘confidence.’ With this definition, we are not too impressed with our friends. We find it easier to understand if you deal with each side of the hyphen.

The word esteem, when used as a verb (as it is here), means ‘to hold in high regard.’ When we give something esteem, we hold it in high regard and give it great importance. When you put the two together your definition becomes “to hold one’s self in high regard.”

This is certainly easier said than done. Most troubled people are such because on the outside they profess to hold themselves in high regard, but on the inside they know the truth. You probably know a lot of these people. These are people who try to put on an outward display of their positive self-esteem. This effort actually induces more stress on them than if they would just face the truth.

As people we want to belong to something – a group, a team, a gang. We spend our whole lives trying to fit in. The programming we receive in life is what shapes who we are. Part of that programming is the impact of your company’s culture. There is a definite connection between what we do for a living and our self-esteem.

The problem is that we learn this connection between our self-esteem and our job very young in life and it becomes more than a connection to us – it becomes a definition of who we are. The important part for you to remember is that people draw the majority of their self-esteem from their job. This means the more fulfilling your employees feel their role is in your company, the higher their self-esteem. And we all know the connection between a high self-esteem and work productivity and quality.

It’s important to know about this connection for two reasons.

1. It helps you to understand why the culture cycle is so important. When you try to influence your people and your culture by coming into the middle of the culture cycle, you only make matters worse. You may have a temporary effect, but the patterns are developed already.

2. Studies have shown that people will protect their self-esteem at all costs. This does not mean they will keep a healthy self-esteem. People will put all of their energies into trying not to lose ground or, in essence, maintaining their current self-esteem rather than trying to raise it.

As people, we eventually accept the role we have in life and spend our days rationalizing it and convincing ourselves that this is the way life’s supposed to be. Psychologists call this our comfort zone. The hardest thing to do is push someone out of their comfort zone and get them to raise their performance. But this is exactly what you are doing. So if a person draws the majority of his or her self-esteem from his or her job and their job is really defined by your corporate culture, then their self-esteem is determined and impacted by your culture. As if you weren’t carrying enough weight on your shoulders, we have now added the self-esteem of every employee to the load!

We make this connection to help you understand where the employees are coming from. They will resist you in your efforts. Guarantee it. This helps you understand why.