“We need to feel valuable and that we are the heroes of our own world”.

         When you have healthy supervisors and good working conditions, what more do workers look for? One way to answer this question is to ask yourself: What do I want more than anything else out of my work? There is really one answer to this question. Recognition. Not just bonuses and plaques, privileged parking spaces or “worker of the week” announcements, though these are very important, but the type of recognition that affirms the value of your self at the deepest possible level.

           Why is this important? Because deep down every one of us suspects that we are not really valuable. Our culture does not do a good job of raising us to value the self. We are too competitive, too preoccupied with pleasing parents and too vulnerable to damage by rejection. So as we grow and our sense of self develops, it develops with a pervasive self-rejection that forms the basis for self-esteem problems. We all feel deficient. We all struggle to achieve a sense of value. And we naturally turn to our work to help us recapture the sense of value needed to keep us healthy and energized. Unless our work gives meaning to our existence and builds our worth as persons, we will not function at our best.

           This struggle to achieve a sense of our own worthwhile-ness is at the root of all motivation. It is also at the root of a lot of dysfunction in the workplace. When our work attacks or undermines our self-worth, it becomes toxic to our self-esteem and self-valuing. It robs us of the feedback we need to maintain any sense of value.

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           Recognition, then not just of our competency or our profit value to the company, but of our true value as persons, is what we need and want above everything else. It is a very basic need of all humans. We need to feel that we are objects of primary value. We need to feel that we are the heroes of our own world (and I mean this in a positive and healthy sense), and that we have something valuable to contribute.

          Unfortunately, we are seldom conscious of this need to be the hero of our own world. All we know is that we get angry or depressed when that need is thwarted. Ernest Baker suggests that if we all admitted this urge to be heroes, we would be freed to stop playing games and ask for what we really want, we would all be a lot healthier. We could ask for our freedom and human dignity without feeling guilty about it.

          What else do we want? We all want fair treatment and a square deal, job security, good working conditions, comfortable facilities, a chance to be heard, an opportunity to take pride in our work, clear direction, and unambiguous instructions, an opportunity to help guide our future, competent and respectful leadership, a chance to prove ourselves, a sense of belonging, a challenge to be the best we can be. Too much? I don’t believe so.