Gary Scherling writes:
> If Joe is only saving towards retirement, and that is his dream - to
> retire with a good nest egg, and Joe hates what he does each day, by
> the time he retires at age 65, he will have spent 45 years hating his
> job, hating what he's doing for 8 hours a day. And at any point in
> that 45 years, something could happen that means his retirement never
> happens...the company goes bankrupt, he could become ill, he could
> have a major heart attack from stress and die!
To which Stephen responds:
> I do not equate "working to finance the rest of one's life" with "saving
> for retirement", and I would like to set up a slightly different straw
> man. Joe sees his mission in life in terms of goals having nothing to do
> with paid work or the social goodies available thereat. Let's say that his
> goals revolve around providing for, raising and interacting with his kids.
> Work is something that allows him to finance that, period. He doesn't want
> to become empowered, engage in team building, redesign his job, etc. He
> wants to perform in his present capacity competently for forty hours a
> week and then leave.
Both points of view, IMO, paint an ugly picture; unfortunately, it is a
picture too often painted on the walls of corporate America. One of the
things that I constantly struggle with, is helping those I work with find
a deeper sense of meaning in their work. We spend a large portion of our
lives working, and thus, I believe, that our personal happiness (not to
mention the happiness of our families) comes from using our work to
express who we are, and what we hope to become.
Over the last few weeks I've been facilitating "assumption luncheons"
where the engineers can come and get a free lunch, and have an opportunity
to discuss the assumptions upon which we are operating. It has been
interesting to note that nearly 75% of the people who have attended come
to work for a pay check, and that's it. The reasons are many, but among
the most common are: Need a pay check to buy a house; need a pay check to
save money for my children's education; need a pay check to by a boat or
wave runners.
After listening to this day after day, I finally asked: "Do you think that
you could find a deeper purpose, a stronger sense of meaning, in your
work?" This question was answered by another question: "Why?" I then broke
my own rule of acting as a facilitator -- which, in this context meant,
keeping people from making hostile attacks on one another and on
management -- and gave a short speech on expressing who we are in the work
we do. I told the story of Antonio Stradavari, and how he put himself in
every violin and cello he made, and how today a Stravdavarias instrument
is worth many times it weight in gold.
The response: Nothing. Blank stares. So what? What I do at work has
little meaning. Things change. My work is temporary. It won't be around in
a hundred years for anyone to look at, anyway. Stock prices are falling.
I'll probably be out of job within a year anyway. I can't make a
difference. I don't even want to try.
Ouch! That hurts. How can we remain competitive when people care so little
about the work they do? To me work is an adventure. It is something that
excites the mind, and allows me to grow, change, and develop my abilities;
it is place where friendships emerge, thinking matures, and experience is
gained.
Granted part of the reason I go to work is that I have a family to provide
for. But that is not the only reason. I choose to go to work because I
want to make a difference, I want to contribute to the success of the
organization. When I see those who come to work because "they have to" I
pity them, and hope that someday their work will hit the "hot button" so
they will aspire to be more than they are now, and that they'll help their
company achieve greater results than they do today.
--Benjamin B. Compton ("Ben") | email: bcompton@novell.com Novell, GroupWare Support Quality Manager | fax: (801) 222-6991
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>