They say there are three primary motivators: guilt, fear and greed. I think that’ a cynical view. It doesn’t reflect the yearning each of us feels to grow and expand – to be more, instead of have more; to make a contribution to something bigger than our individual selves…. But let me just test that out with you. Hands up if today you feel guilty about anything you may have said or done at work this month? Hands up if you would like to improve your position materially in some way: a raise in pay; a bonus, better car, holiday. Actually this is not a test of your greed but your honesty! Hands up if, you’re feeling a little anxious about something: job security, your pension, how you’ll pay that credit card bill, the price of oil, your children’s education, whatever. Hands up if, in one of those rare quite moments, you’re wondering what it’s all about – if you occasionally feel any internal unease as to whether you are living the life you’re meant to live; whether you’re in the right place, at the right time doing what you love? Or are you wondering where society is headed with all this technology, with what you hear on the news? Do you get depressed by the waste at work? Do you sometimes feel you can’t be yourself at work?
If you look at organizational heirarchies, there are only two ranks that are under pressure from two sides: supervisors and frontline staff. Executives are accountable to their shareholders as represented by their Board of Directors. As a consequence many of them spend most of their time “managing up” which is often a euphemism for controlling the Board. Senior management enjoy the authority and perks that accompany the accountability and the privilege of exercising their power over a large number of middle managers and supervisors. I’ve sympathy bit only so much. This group has had all the attention. This is the group that all the consultants flock to as they control the purse strings. The “real big squeeze” occurs at the supervisory level where all the signals get confused and often conflict as a result of contradictory demands. For example, when the company “values” placed on the wall in the reception talk about exemplary customer care but supervisors are expressly forbidden from applying a refund because of the negative effect on profit margins. But supervisors have one perk – it’s called the KA effect. They have the option to take out their frustration on the frontline employee who is on the coal face, as it were, dealing with the customer. And customers – well tough! They have no one to kick when they get mad – or even anyone to complain to because the endless automated telephone systems provide the perfect foil!
Here are two powerful, if not wildly attractive images of what it might be like to be trapped in a box. Similar poses – two completely different artists and techniques. Both subjects clearly look repressed in some way and, most definitely “boxed in”. . Perhaps they represent today’s managers and supervisors on whose shoulders so much seems now to depend. In the current and worsening war on talent, this is where the battle lines are drawn. Gallup is often quoted as saying that people join companies but leave supervisors. Now that’s easy to say but think of theimplications, think of the pressure it outs on middle management, exhausted by down sizing and often lacking either the guidance, resources or support to pull rabbits out of the hat day after day.
The dominant word here is MORE! We’re a growth oriented culture with a fixation on quantitative growth and measurement. It’s the opposite of dieting in that we want to get bigger and we measure our progress by pounds put on instead of lost. But I wonder whether throwing out the weighing scales might actually enhance rather than impede progress. I wonder whether our fixation with measurement might be getting in the way of common sense. What do you think?
In the western world and certainly in places of full employment, most people take a decent pay and benefits for granted. It’s essential but insufficient in itslef to attract, let alone retain mobile and sought after talent. These are the factors that research has shown in countless studies around the globe to be at the heart of the matter After remuneration, the vast majority of us want to be noticed; we thrive on recognition even more than rewards. Bonuses and incentives are nice – but so long as they appeal to me. Then there is the culture – often mentioned is the importance of being told what’s going on, of feeling and being involved. Of being inspected and trusted to make a decision that is in the company’s best interest. Sadly many companies are still run on military lines and information is dispensed on a “need to know” basis. There is unquestionable evidence – we know it in our own hearts, that a growing number of employees are looking to do something that makes sense, they want to make a contribution and find meaning and fulfiillment. Even the architect of re-engineering had this to say…..
There are enormous implications here for leaders. How can a leader be expected to deliver meaning and fulfillment if they haven’t found it themselves? How can leaders expect to control others if they have not controlled or mastered themselves? How can leaders achieve any level of self-mastery without self-awareness. That’s why we call this conscious leadership – it’s all about becoming awake, aware and alert to what is going on inside of you, in your relationships and the world “out there” so that you can make conscious choices; so that you can be your own person and bring your complete self to work. Only then will the bosses get what they need…. Here’s some recent research out of the UK….
Out of interest, in your work place, has any one really asked you what you really care about? Do you know how to find out what your colleagues care about in a non-invasive, threatening way? Do you know how to really pay attention?
We lurch from one fad to another….
To put it simply, we’re missing the mark because we’re aiming at the wrong target or analysing “the problem” wrongly. After nearly 100 years of scientific management that was based on Newton’s physics don’t you think it’s time to re-focus our attention. Especially in lights of the reams of research papers emerging from physiology, psychology and neuroscience that are revealing how miraculous the human body is. So-called “hard-nosed” business-types might argue that they haven’t time to bother with the soft stuff as they have to focus on the more manly task of generating the profits. But their arguments hold little water anymore as the research is overwhelming – those companies that pay attention to the soft stuff outperform those that just focus on processes, structures and technology. By the way, did you know that the heart sends more information to the brain than the brain sends to the heart? But we are making progress, companies like Gallup and others have got their message through in part – that people matter and that happy people work better than miserable people. But even so, this scientific legacy necessitates that we approach these soft subjects in a hard and measurable way.
Take engagement, for example. We prod and poke. Send around questionnaires to a distrustful audience. We try to measure everything and end up with pie charts and graphs that rarely convey the subtle mood. Worse still, we rely on third parties – consultants, men in white coats with clipboards to take the pulse when the simple act of poking a head around a door or cubicle and saying “how are you doing?” or is there anything I can do to help? Would work miracles Even our language is clinical and inadequate. What does engagement mean? It sounds more like a locking device than a state of mind and heart.Houston “ we have lift off” and then a few days later: “the module is engaged”. Why can’t we call it for what it is: oozy, juicy PASSION. You don’t need questionnaires to gauge passion at a football match and then announce over theloudspeakers that we have 60% engagement. You don’t mess with protesters at a peace rally – they know passionately why they are there. Greenpeace doesn’t need to regularly poll their activists to see if the juice of conviction is still flowing.
We talk about the need to motivate and obtain “buy in” – who on earth invented that phrase? And it had to be “on earth” because no one with any heavenly credentials could have dreamed it up. Obviously they felt shy about using the word sell. Again, the language reflects our state of mind. It’s clinical and mechanical.Makes you think of levers and cogs. It suggest that you are an object to be manipulated – to be moved in a direction you wouldn’t naturally go. I’m showing here the carrot on a string. I could have shown a rat in a maze investigating the cheese thrown through the trap door. Well I oculdn’t find a rat but this image reminded me of a time when I used to read my daughter a bed time story….. What about inspiration – when you are inspired, your whole body feels it. The hair goes up on the back of your head, you may start to perspire; your heart rate may increase. The word “inspire” means to breathe into – as a result, it’s all about life and enlivening. It’s the very stuff of life that’s involved here. Stop beathing and what happens? Full of inspiration we become like balloons capable of defying gravity and soaring high into the sky Here’s the rub: inspiration isn’t something we can learn to do; it is something we live. We cannot do inspiration. It’s something we express through being – it’s a question of character. To lead is to inspire; to inspire is to BE. It all starts with us and a journey within…..
How did Gandhi overthrow a regime, an empire that had been in place for over 300 years without initiating violence? He started with himself – he changed himself from a sickly boy afraid of the dark, afraid of his shadow; he overcame shyness and stammering to inspire millions of people then and since. He was able to do great things because of his integrity – he never compromised his values; because he was utterly dedicated to service and because he connected with the passions and aspirations of his people. He didn’t get “buy in” – he simply was. His leadership came fom his being and shone like a beacon that attracted others. This paragraph by Dr. Peter Dixon, a successful futurist in London sums it up for me “ Connect with the passions people have – for themselves, their families, their communities ad wider world – and they’ll follow you to the ends of the earth. They will spread goodwill about your business, work hard for you, and buy your products, services and stock with pride. You will attract the best people, form highly motivated teams, collect loyal customers, sell the strongest brands with the greatest purpose and highest values, promising a better future The secret lies in knowing how…”.
How did Gandhi overthrow a regime, an empire that had been in place for over 300 years without initiating violence? He started with himself – he changed himself from a sickly boy afraid of the dark, afraid of his shadow; he overcame shyness and stammering to inspire millions of people then and since. He was able to do great things because of his integrity – he never compromised his values; because he was utterly dedicated to service and because he connected with the passions and aspirations of his people. He didn’t get “buy in” – he simply was. His leadership came fom his being and shone like a beacon that attracted others. This paragraph by Dr. Peter Dixon, a successful futurist in London sums it up for me “ Connect with the passions people have – for themselves, their families, their communities ad wider world – and they’ll follow you to the ends of the earth. They will spread goodwill about your business, work hard for you, and buy your products, services and stock with pride. You will attract the best people, form highly motivated teams, collect loyal customers, sell the strongest brands with the greatest purpose and highest values, promising a better future The secret lies in knowing how…”.
Venture into any workplace and you’ll find three species I – that’s the “individual” - each one utterly unique and therefore, for all intents and purposes, utterly unique, unknown, unfathomable. But management has that uncertainty covered. They don’t need to think in terms of individuals because they have job descriptions – employee numbers and filing cabinets full of meaningless data that prove these smiling faces are merely assets to be shunted around a balance sheet. 2. Then there’s this phenomenon called the “we” – the sum total of all the relationships in the ecosystem called the “office”. To understand it it, you would be advised to watch one of those under water nature programs that show swarms of brightly coloured fish darting and weaving in response to light and shadows – especially sharks that lurk behind the coral . If individuals were unpredictable and hard to figure out, then “we’s” are worse….
Venture into any workplace and you’ll find three species I – that’s the “individual” - each one utterly unique and therefore, for all intents and purposes, utterly unique, unknown, unfathomable. But management has that uncertainty covered. They don’t need to think in terms of individuals because they have job descriptions – employee numbers and filing cabinets full of meaningless data that prove these smiling faces are merely assets to be shunted around a balance sheet. 2. Then there’s this phenomenon called the “we” – the sum total of all the relationships in the ecosystem called the “office”. To understand it it, you would be advised to watch one of those under water nature programs that show swarms of brightly coloured fish darting and weaving in response to light and shadows – especially sharks that lurk behind the coral . If individuals were unpredictable and hard to figure out, then “we’s” are worse….
Increasingly it’s up to you and me. John Naisbitt says it’s the age of the individual and Time magazine agrees This has to be the quote of the age. Back in 2003, there was hardly a reference to it. By now, it’s on everyone’s lips. If you wanted evidence of paradigm shifts, this is it. Watch the language. It’s like the die they give you to figure out if your digestive tracts are working or the die they put in the underground sewage pipes to check that they were flushing properly…...
Yes, it’s a repeat image! You noticed. Well I hope so/. There’s a reason. Peter Drucker – management guru of management gurus says “ Knowledge workers must be their own CEOs. It’s up to you to carve out your own place, to know when to change course, and to keep yourself engaged and productive during a work like that may span some 50 years. To do those things you’ll need to cultivate a deep understanding of yourself – not just your strengths and weaknesses but how you learn, how you work with others, what your values are and where you can make the greatest contribution. Only when you operate from your strengths can you achieve true excellence ”. And the implications of this are indeed staggering – companies are based on an outmoded premise that most organisations outlive workers and that most people stay put. In this decade the complete opposite is becoming true. We’re literally turning everything upside down.
The same metaphor applies to groups – be they companies, tribes, associations, countries. This group is forming its own invisible box and after 12 sessions and six months of sharing and working together we’ll have our own identity, culture, sense of possibility and limitation.
Conscious leaders have Have Clarity Are Capable of choice = able to respond = responsible. Remember the Sir Gawain story Ginger told at the beginning….. Captains of their own ship Authors of their own script. Hard because, one of the hardest things of self-honesty; having the ability to step outside one’s skin and see yourself as others see you – the so called “good” and so-called “bad” Even harder is the ability to accept oneself as one is, right now. Before we can do that, we need to spend time listening to ourselves – that often means shutting out he noise – ridding ourselves of the incessant “shoulds” and “if onlys”
To make it easy – there are only three questions that you have to address in your life and your organisation. Once you’ve sorted these three things out, everything else falls into place. If senior executives spent their time on this as opposed to managing their boards, they might have a chance of becoming great…
But is it a box? A “glob” of all everything we identify with What we identify with both enables and limits who we are We can change the shape – make it roomier by pushing up the pillars We can move around and occupy all of it or stay quietly in a corner, For many years, we thought we had to stay in the box and we not aware of what lay outside even though John Donne said “no man is an island” we acted as if he was barmy. How else could we manage to slaughter over 100 million fellow human beings over the last 100 years and commit horrendous atrocities towards our fellow man – let alone the other species that occupy the planet? Our ego – the name we give to the box – identified with the pillars, the floor and the ceiling and has a vested interest in keeping them all together. Science colluded and said that only the things we could touch, taste, see, hear and smell were real and only the things we could measure mattered. That was before the development of quantum physics and the discovery of multiple layers of reality – including the notion that the ego is not the only I in town. Our ego is floating on an infinite, universal sea of pure possibility out of which all matter and energy emerge. The fronteir that this generation is now about to explore is not outer space but inner space and that’s why is such an exciting time to be alive.
We hold the key The choice is ours The walls are paper thin There are exit signs pointing in two directions They both lead to the same place out by a focus on service and wholeness out by a focus on SELF, by a process of letting go
All enterprises and individuals would prefer to be better Even those that are labelled “evil” want a better world as they see it and can be driven to do some terrible things. On the mundane and individual level, we’re constantly trying to improve – lose weight, get fit, be healthier, increase earnings, fix up the house, improve our golf game…… Companies only succeed by promising that their services will make us feel better……. The universe is designed to expand and develop more and more complexity and beauty from previous stages. Max de Pree and leader said: “ It’s more important to reach our potential than to reach our goals” So back to where we started this monring. If you want to change things: Start with yourself and follow the heros’s path Show others how you can connect with their deepest passion – how to change the world and their lives for the better
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