Proactive Coping Techniques and Intrinsic Reward in the Workplace

 “The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” – William James

Most employees are asked to self-manage to a significant degree, to use their intelligence and experience to direct their work to accomplish important organizational purposes. This is how many of today’s workers give value to what they are doing by improvising, problem solving and innovating under stressful conditions to meet customers’ and business needs. [1]

How one handles stress can affect whether the result of this effort is charged positively or negatively. The key is to maintain a high level of positive charge in your company through developing proactive coping techniques. This skill is one that highly conscientious people tend to have mastered. In fact, conscientiousness has been consistently linked to performance and is considered the one personality trait that is the best predictor of job performance and career success across many different domains (Barrick & Mount, 1991;[2] Barrick et al., 1993;[3] Gray & Watson, 2002;[4] Judge et al., 1995;[5] Judge et al., 1999;[6] Mount & Barrick, 1995).[7]

Strategies of coping become a form of goal management and attainment, instead of risk management. The proactive individual at work strives for career improvement and builds up resources that assure progress and quality of performance. The importance of accumulating resources cannot be overstated. This is the number one method to proactively cope with difficult situations.

The potential benefit of proactive coping techniques is that they are not preceded by negative appraisals. In proactive coping, people have a vision. They see risks, demands and opportunities in the future, but they do not appraise them as a threatening, harmful or negative. Rather, they perceive demanding situations as personal challenges and avenues to succeed which, in turn, creates a positive emotional charge. Positive emotional charges are the intrinsic rewards that employees get from work. They are the reinforcements that keep employees actively self- managing and engaged in their work.

The following are descriptions of the four intrinsic rewards and how workers view them: [8]

Sense of meaningfulness. This reward involves the meaningfulness or importance of the purpose you are trying to fulfill. You feel that you have an opportunity to accomplish something of real value— something that matters in the larger scheme of things. You feel that you are on a path that is worth your time and energy, giving you a strong sense of purpose or direction.

Sense of choice. You feel free to choose how to accomplish your work — to use your best judgment to select those work activities that make the most sense to you and to perform them in ways that seem appropriate. You feel ownership of your work, believe in the approach you are taking, and feel responsible for making it work.

Sense of competence. You feel that you are handling your work activities well — that your performance of these activities meets or exceeds your personal standards, and that you are doing good, high-quality work. You feel a sense of satisfaction, pride, or even artistry in how well you handle these activities.

Sense of progress. You are encouraged that your efforts are really accomplishing something. You feel that your work is on track and moving in the right direction. You see convincing signs that things are working out, giving you confidence in the choices you have made and confidence in the future.

Read each of those descriptors and PULSARA instantly pops to mind. Just ask the employees. It’s infectious. Purpose, Ownership, Pride, Progress.

Understanding proactive coping techniques and intrinsic motivation should be the goal of every business and, if trained properly, translates into a better, more fulfilling workplace culture.

As our understanding of what motivates humans improves, so does our understanding of how we should approach stress management, structure rewards, use positive feedback, and encourage other beneficial employee interventions. Seek out the intrinsic motivations of your employees and you’ll create a better platform for them to succeed.

1. These descriptions are adapted from Kenneth Thomas and Walter Tymon, Jr., Work Engagement Profile, CPP, Inc.,
2. The Four Intrinsic Rewards that Drive Employee Engagement by Kenneth Tags: The Workplace. November/December 2009.
3. Barrick, R. & Mount, M.K. (1991). The Big Five personality dimensions and job performance: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 44, 1–26.
4. Barrick, R., Mount, M.K. & Strauss, J.P. (1993). Conscientiousness and performance of sales representatives. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 715–722.
5. Gray, E.K. & Watson, D. (2002). General and specific traits of personality and their relation to sleep and academic performance. Journal of Personality, 70(2), 177–206.
6. Judge, A., Cable, D.M., Boudreau, J.W. & Bretz, R.D. (1995). An empirical investigation of the predictors of executive career success. Personnel Psychology, 48, 485–519.
7. Judge, A., Higgins, C.A., Thoresen, C.J. & Barrick, M.R. (1999). The Big Five personality traits an career success across the life span. Personnel Psychology, 52, 621–652.
8. Mount, M.K. & Barrick, M.R. (1995). The Big Five personality dimensions. Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management, 13, 153–200.