Good Employees Are Driven

The number one quality that employers want in an employee is DRIVE--whether they know it or not.

I recently read an article that stated that "drive" was the number one characteristic that companies look for in employees. This caused me to look back over my work experience. I realized that I was driven in some jobs, but not so driven in others. Analyzing why, I decided that personal interest in the work and confidence in my ability to do the job were my two determining factors for being driven at work. I can see from my own experience that when I showed drive, I was more successful and more satisfied with my job. Employers desire to see their employees driven to advance themselves and the company. If you are not satisfied at work or are not advancing in the job, examine your drive--you may need to step it up.

Psychologists define "drive" as an innate, biological determined urge to attain a goal or satisfy a need. Drive is often linked with characteristics such as passion, self-motivation, and the desire to compete. Opposite characteristics of drive are low energy, procrastination, and lazy. If your boss does not see you as driven, passionate, and motivated, he may see you as low energy, lazy, or "out to lunch." 

How to develop drive!

You may be wondering if you have "drive" toward your work. The better question is, does your employer feel that you have drive toward your work. Drive is reflected in your behavior toward your work. Do you go to work early and committed, or do you drag into work and just go through the paces. Employers want to see their employees come to work with energy and determination to excel. I am sure that you want to succeed and will make adjustments to ensure that you become more successful. Drive is an important determiner of success and should be at high levels. Drive comes from the desires to achieve a level of happiness. Low drive comes from an unrealistic definition of happiness--to get as much as possible with the least amount of work. People with this mentality are usually in debt and frustrated at their situation in life. A strong drive comes from the sense that working hard will accomplish or acquire the things we desire to be happy. People with strong drive don't stop to consider if the task is unpleasant or difficult, they are focused on its completion.

Developing Drive at Work

Passion and drive develops over time, it does not just emerge suddenly. Passion comes from a blend of having goals that you are willing to exert great effort to achieve with the history of past achievement with happy results and having enough confidence to believe that anything is possible. First, build upon that passion that you already have (few individuals are passionate about nothing) and figure out how achievement at work can help fulfill your passion. If you are passionate about spending time with family, then use work to build up time and money so that you can spend protracted amount of time with. Draw on past successes to drive you toward accomplishing goals at work. 

A good resource for developing passion is Covey's 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE and his THE 8TH HABIT.

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