"A good novel tells us the truth about the hero;
but a bad novel tells us the truth about the author."
-- G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

People are like parts. They perform a function, require maintenance, and are a part of a greater whole. People should respond to directives and perform exceptionally in perpetuity. Their reward is salary and benefits. It is this mechanistic view of human capital that limits the attainment of business goals and objectives not to mention undermines the raw potential resident within every employee.

People are not like parts. They have a capacity to learn, to create synergy, and to become greater tomorrow than today. But nevertheless, without scheduled downtime much like scheduled maintenance, their neglect leads to the organization´s demise.

People are a part of the greater equation of risk and return. But the role that they play is much more than just pulling hard toward business goals and objectives. People, unlike parts, grow. Once their basic needs of security and safety are met, they seek to branch out even beyond developing new relationships, increasing performance, and taking home a paycheck toward the instinctive drive for learning and meaning. People are complex. This complexity requires more than numerical analysis of some increase in a performance metric. It requires asking the right questions. The answers to these questions form the basis for understanding human motivation in the workplace.

There is a natural balance in the risk/return equation. Much like the playground teeter-totter, the beam becomes unbalanced when one person moves father to the outside or outweighs the other. In the human capital risk/return equation the employer seeks the greatest return for the most reasonable risk of investment.

The employee, likewise, seeks balance and operates with his/her independent agenda, which I call agency. When the concept of individual agency is integrated into the human capital strategy, true motivation can be tapped. Once that employee discovers motivation on the job, the risk and return equation becomes unbalanced and naturally seeks to reset. Employees utilizing their own agency desire to perform better because it really means something to them.

As employees gain in levels of personal meaning, expression, creativity, or any other motivator, they perform better and begin to limit the risk exposure of the organization. The balance resets.

The key for the enterprising organizational leader is to fully understand the risk/return equation and its integration with human agency so as to not only embrace its reality, but also engage its potential.