b'THE HR HANDBOOKMotivation Isnt Broken. Our Jobs Are.MOST PEOPLE Italk with arent unmotivated.oping. Quadrant two is the learning phase. Skills are Theyre busy, capable and committed. What theyimproving, but confidence dips as the complexity of struggle with is sustaining energy when their work nothe work becomes clear. Purpose can feel less certain longer feels like its moving them forward. here as well.With so much written and spoken about technol- Quadrant three reflects emerging mastery. ogy and workforce disruption, Ive spent a lot of timeCompetence rises, purpose becomes clearer and con-in conversations and programs focused on stayingfidence begins to return. Quadrant four represents full motivated. What follows is a simple framework I oftenmastery. Skills are strong, confidence is high and the share in those discussions. purpose of the work is well understood.BY: JONATHANWhy Mastery Gets OverlookedSHAVER, Seed WorldAccording to Daniel Pink, three motivators driveMost people I talk with arent unmotivated. columnist human motivation: purpose, autonomy and mastery. Purpose connects daily work to something larger thanTheyre busy, capable and committed. What ourselves. Autonomy gives us the freedom to make decisions and act independently. Mastery comes fromthey struggle with is sustaining energy when learning, growing and gaining confidence in our skills.their work no longer feels like its moving When these motivators are present, productivity fol-lows. When theyre missing, work tends to drift towardthem forward.busy-work, micromanagement and disengagement.We can work on all three, but mastery is often the most overlooked and, importantly, the one individualsWhy Balance Keeps Work Motivatingcan influence most directly. Once everything is mapped, take time to review the overall distribution of your work. In my experience, A Simple Way to See Where Youre Growing most people are surprised by how concentrated their So how do you see mastery at work in your role? Oneresponsibilities are in one or two quadrants.useful approach is job flow mapping. Its a simple exer- This balance matters. If most of your work sits in cise, but a powerful one. quadrant one, youre likely overwhelmed. If everything Start by listing all of your workplace responsibilities.falls into quadrant four, boredom can creep in because Write down everything you believe youre accountabletheres not enough challenge. Healthy growth requires for. These can usually be clustered into eight to 10 pri- a mix. Over time, responsibilities should move from mary activities. Then invite feedback. Ask a supervisorquadrant one to quadrant four and then, ideally, onto or peer to review your list. What surprises them? Whatsomeone elses quadrant one. That transition is succes-might be missing? sion planning in action.Next, assess your confidence and competence forManagers can use this same framework to guide each responsibility. Ask two questions. How confi- role conversations. Encourage team members to dent am I that Im doing this work correctly? And howcreate and share their maps. Look for opportunities to skilled am I at this part of my role? redistribute responsibilities, provide coaching for quad-Now comes the visual step. Create a graph withrants one and two and create in-place development by confidence on the vertical axis and competence onhanding off quadrant-four work.the horizontal axis. Set zero at the origin and five atJob flow mapping isnt just an activity. Its a mind-the end of each axis, forming four quadrants. Plot eachset. It helps people see themselves growing in their responsibility into one of them. work, and that sense of progress is a powerful source Quadrant one typically includes newer responsibili- of motivation that leads to stronger engagement and a ties. Confidence is high, but competence is still devel- more change-ready workforce.SWFEBRUARY 2026SEEDWORLD.COM /35'