Encouraging Greatness

Success or Significance?

I heard a word last night that really describes what drives me, significance. I've often felt that I was striving for success, wanting to be great at my job. I thought that meant I had to move up the "corporate ladder" and doing each job with ease. As I did this I didn't feel valuable, didn't like what I was doing that much and generally felt lost at work. As I continue to seek the path I most belong in my life, hearing this word, significance, brought meaning to my search. As I look back on my career I find the times that I felt most fulfilled in my work was when I felt significant. In an amazing, smack you upside the head, coincidence, those were also the times I was probably viewed as most successful by my peers and managers. I was chasing after success when I was great at something already. I was great because I was part of a great team and could apply my strengths and my skills to help my team be extraordinary. Really, when you look at most people at work, isn't that all they are searching for? Is that what makes you feel important and fulfilled at work?

I want to take this a step further and look at companies. Companies also strive for success, and more than ever they are trying to carve out their place in the marketplace, something that makes them significant. When you look at great companies the significance comes long before the success. It starts with a vision. Visions are what give companies a basis and meaning, and makes them significant. One of my favorite companies to look at is Disney. The values that the company was founded under by Walt Disney live on to this day. The company has significance in the lives of so many. As the father of two girls, I can tell you that Disney is significant, and the avid adoration by so many children and adults leads to its success.

So as an individual, do you feel significant? What is missing from your job to make it significant and make you feel significant? As a member of your company, are you significant to your customers? Will they notice if you go away? What makes you different than your competition? If you are a manager, what are you doing to help build significance in your employees and your company? I'm willing to bet that if you start at building significance, as an individual or a company, you will find success.

Generation X - Are They Happy?

Being a part of Generation X it is no surprise that this article caught my eye from Business Week: Ten Reasons Gen Xers Are Unhappy At Work. It was an intriguing look at those in their 30's and 40's and why they are so anti-corporation. I admit I feel that at times as well. I've known many people laid off by what seems to be good corporate decisions, why shouldn't I wonder if it might be me? As I was trying to figure out why I get frustrated at work, it isn't because of the issues that Business Week talked about. It isn't about a down economy or being in a small generational group. The problem is about vision.

What I'm looking for most from a company is the leadership to set a vision on what we are doing. What is it that our company expects to "be" in the marketplace? I often see large companies continue doing what they've always done, and why I get skeptical is that nothing seems to change even though everything is constantly changing. When you don't have a vision, everyone in your company doesn't know what they should be working for and how their job helps to achieve that vision. How do you establish a good job description when there is no vision? You don't, you probably just base it off what everyone else used to do. How do you expect people to make decisions in their job and take some initiative in what they do when they don't understand what the ultimate goal is? They don't. The vision of a company is the ultimate guide every person can work with in determining their own priorities. You ask yourself, "Which of my tasks most helps our company achieve that ultimate vision?" That should be your highest priority. Without a vision, what do you prioritize?

I know I'm just some Gen Xer that doesn't get how the real world works, but the more time I spend working and talking with people throughout all types of work, the keys I find are about vision and a good culture. If you have those two things, your company will be successful, I don't care what industry you are in. You can succeed without them, but I guarantee it won't be for long.

Reading Recommendation - The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

One of the greatest keys to a successful organization are the people. You obviously need to have talented people that can get you where you need to go. However, I would take a group of "average" skilled workers that work very well as a team over the top talent in every position if they can't get along. Teamwork is an underrated element in the success of a company. You hear about great leadership, strategic thinking, innovative products and a brand that sticks, but teamwork is often left out. I believe, if you look at great companies, they may have great products or great leadership, but that is more a byproduct of their culture that is created from teamwork.

Improving teamwork is at the heart of Patrick Lencioni's best selling book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. The concepts Patrick lays out are very enlightening, starting with the base of all dysfunctional teams, an absence of trust. If you don't trust the people that you work with obviously you are going to have a difficult time working with them and believing what they tell you.

You can see all 5 dysfunctions and how they can build off of one another, but I would recommend reading the book. It is an entertaining read as well as highly informative.

Fighting Mediocrity

How many times have you ever been frustrated with the people you work with because "they just don't get it"? You know what needs to be done but forces seem to act against you from actually accomplishing that which will make your company more successful. I've dealt with this often in my career, it is very clear to me what needs to be improved in order to help our business. Here is where it gets really frustrating, everyone agrees with me that is what we need to do. So why can't we improve things?

Seth Godin had a great post about the forces of mediocrity that described the dynamic in organizations where great ideas are met with endless resistance of all types. One part is encouraging to me that helps put the business world into perspective for me:

If it were any other way, it would be easy. And if it were any other way, everyone would do it and your work would ultimately be devalued. The yin and yang are clear: without people pushing against your quest to do something worth talking about, it's unlikely it would be worth the journey. Persist.

It really isn't easy, no matter what your job or industry you work in. Competition always gets smarter and everything moves faster than before. I suppose that is why they call it work, there is effort involved to make the changes needed in your work place.

So the next time you get frustrated with the state of mediocrity in your organization, don't complain and throw up your hands in defeat. Find another angle. Call a meeting with your biggest detractors and understand what their issues are. Overcome them, prove why their issues aren't real or what the reward is to taking a risk. That is what I'm going to do.

Keep Employees Busy

I found a great post about bored employees and their level of job satisfaction. This isn't meant to drive employees into the ground and give them more work then they could possibly handle, it is about giving them meaningful work that once accomplished they have a great sense of accomplishment. After all, isn't that what most humans want?

Part of most employees' "deal" is to feel valued. This has a personal and performance component. They want to certainly be treated fairly and with all the common courtesies (like management not ignoring them, not being treated as a second class citizen, etc.) as well as having their current and future development needs met (so they can achieve their own personal work-related goals – whatever they may be).

Employees who are bored (reporting "too little work") are often doing work for which they are ill-suited, or have jobs that are poorly designed. As a result, they have by far lower job satisfaction, sense of accomplishment, and pride in their employers compared to all other workers. All in all, they feel less valued.

Read the full article here

Have you had a job where you get bored? Watching the clock till the end of the day? Now think of a job or a time that your job was so engaging the day flew by and you voluntarily stayed late because you wanted to finish the task. Not because your boss made you or because you would get overtime, but just because you couldn't leave it undone? That is a tremendous feeling of value and satisfaction that we need to bring to ourselves and others we work with. There is no way that you will only have to deal with the fun things in your job, but everyone should be able to incorporate more of those tasks that help you leave at the end of the day saying how great it was. What would your workplace be like if more of your co-workers felt that way? What would you be able to accomplish?