“Why do you work?” is one of my favourite questions to ask employees whenever I conduct professional enrichment sessions. The typical answer is, “I work to pay bills.” My response is always, “Then you’re working for your bills, aren’t you?” What unfolds next, is a lively, sometimes life-altering discussion, on if “working to pay bills” belongs in a mental model, charged with producing meaning in an individual’s life.
It’s the most gratifying experience when I encounter businesses that invest in helping their employees to lead meaningful lives. This was the case recently, when a client exposed over three hundred of their employees to professional brand enrichment sessions that I facilitated. The intention behind the exposures was to provide key employees with the tools to accelerate their professional growth. Then ultimately, their lives. Of course, “Why do you work?” was a central fixture on the discussion circuit.
When employees own their responsibility for growth, their attitude to excellence scales and execution becomes more precise.
When employees are encouraged to have a grand vision for their lives, coming to work converts from working to pay bills, to “employment with a purpose.” When there’s a sense of purpose associated with one’s actions, activities either make sense, or they don’t. When effort becomes intentional and decisions fall in line with desired outcomes, over time, energy is no longer wasted on actions that yield diminishing returns.
Employees who grow themselves into brands that bring great value to the table, make a far more meaningful contribution than those who just work to pay bills. The former perspective drives momentum. The latter, a long winding road to stagnation and frustration.
It is for leaders who celebrate mental health, meaningful lives and the emotional sufficiency of employees, whilst maximizing business results.
Unleashing the next generation of leaders has to be a strategic pillar of every business that intends to thrive in this era of rapid change. Scaling employee commitment to their personal and professional growth, therefore, should be considered an investment, not an expense. It’s actually a performance improvement flex. When employees own their responsibility for growth, their attitude to excellence scales and execution becomes more precise.
Not only is it critical to unleash leaders in a business, it’s equally important to create the right leadership personas. We have enough leaders who are functionally efficient, yet human-centered deficient. This means that the mandate facing existing leaders, is to produce future leaders who are equipped to meet the needs of rapidly evolving, multi-generational workforces. The future is not for leaders who are driven by glory and ego. It is for leaders who celebrate mental health, meaningful lives and the emotional sufficiency of employees, whilst maximizing business results.
The more a business is entrusted to leaders who embrace purpose-driven models, the less transactional the business becomes.
This is a tall order and may I suggest, a mandate that should not to be deferred to the next business cycle. Our client found the time and space to address the need, without waiting until the need turned into a crisis.
The journey of talent competitiveness that goes beyond the possibilities associated with only technical and digital skill sets has begun. For businesses, capturing and keeping talent is now a function of moving from job-driven, to purpose-driven employment pipelines. These act as leadership incubators that anchor succession talent and fortify business environments to withstand external shocks.
The more a business is entrusted to leaders who embrace purpose-driven models, the less transactional the business becomes. This is the mission of a leadership incubator. In this enlightened environment, leaders are no longer title-obsessed. They become committed to promoting employment that transcends survival mode, and to transforming jobs into employment journeys.
Meaning and results should coexist.
The shift from creating money, to creating meaning alongside money, is underway. Meaning and results should coexist. Businesses will need to ensure that their leaders shift identity and become architects of meaning. Doing so, positions them as custodians of a larger cause that goes beyond revenue outcomes.
Leaders can only lead from their owned bandwidth of knowledge, experience and mental models. In light of the rapidity of change, permit me to suggest haste in accelerating their journeys to becoming architects of meaning.