Productivity is a major preoccupation in the workplace. Not only are organisations constantly trying to increase productivity – or the rate of output per unit of input – but the pressure on people to deliver more with less is increasing all the time. This is no doubt a function of a broader commercial system that expects continual growth in revenue and profit but could it relate to a more profound human need? Why do we need to feel productive in the first place and why is it so painful to feel we are not productive enough?
If you are otherwise a diligent, hardworking person but sometimes feel guilty about procrastinating, taking the day off, having a long lunch, not checking your emails at the weekend, or not achieving your objectives, there is a possibility the need to feel productive links to something deeper than simply sticking to your contract, pleasing other people or avoiding disapproval.
Psychoanalytic theory suggests there is a fundamental reparative drive underlying all human productivity, creativity and caring. This stems from the need to reduce the guilt we felt in early life about hating the parents we also loved and depended on when we felt they let us down. As part of our development, we learn to make things better – repairing mistakes, being kind to the people we care about and feeling gratitude towards those we depend on – all of which helps to make up for our less positive feelings.
In childhood, this can translate into creative play, games, artistic and learning achievements – the first kinds of productivity where we make something of value that the people closest to us appreciate and reward. These activities can bring pleasure in their own right – through mastery and the satisfactions of discovery and completion – but they are also meaningful because of the positive response they elicit from those we care about. As we enter adulthood and seek greater independence, the need for money creates a new set of motivations for the same sorts of activities and satisfactions – collaborating with others, solving problems, helping people, making things – that the work environment provides.
So as well as earning a living, we go to work to be reparative.
Whilst the activities get more complex and the motivations and outcomes change as we get older, I think the emotional drive remains the same. We are still fundamentally seeking to be reparative in our productivity – when we work, we repair, and when we repair we feel less guilty.
But where is the evidence for this?
We often hear stories of people who retire and lose their sense of identity or become depressed. We all know the impulse to continue working on holiday, or check emails at home or work at the weekend. We all also recognise the discomfort of being underemployed or not busy enough in our jobs – even just temporarily. Inactivity, or even the appearance of inactivity, can make us very anxious. And this is perhaps because we feel more guilty when we are inactive.
Of course it’s true that work pressures bring anxieties of their own – deadlines, workloads, competition, meeting customer demands, dealing with problems and difficult people. The thing to watch out for is when we feel more anxious than the situation asks for. Which is a sure sign that we are trying to manage feelings that are deeper and more unconscious than we acknowledge. If it’s not about a repeated family dynamic, or the difficulties of being in a group, the chances are it’s about the need to reduce guilty feelings that significantly pre-date the situation.
If this sounds far-fetched, perhaps treat it as a starting point for your curiosity about why we feel so strongly about work and work situations that don’t seem to be fully explained by orthodox management theory.
This is the fourth in a series of articles about what work is for, focusing on meeting three needs that go beyond earning a living, and the problems it can cause. They are inspired by my education and training in systems psychodynamic consulting, leading and coaching and draw on the research and writing of thinkers in the Tavistock tradition as well as my own professional experience.
If you are interested in executive coaching that draws on this way of understanding our personal, role and organisational experience of work, please get in touch.
Tom Jukes-Adams - Executive Coach 