When
we have meaning in our lives it can change everything about how we perceive our
world. For years I struggled to find
meaning in work, school, in relationships and at home. Because of this each of these aspects of my
life were not to the degree of quality I wanted them to be. In school I had no interest in my degree and
therefore had very little interest in learning the topics I was studying. I had very little interest in pursuing a
career in my field of study and therefore had little incentive to work hard in
my classes. It did not matter that I was
paying money for those classes, without meaning the desire to achieve good
grades did not exist. At work I found
very little meaning in what I did and found no reason to work hard or pursue
advancement in my career. In
relationships I found that they would come and go and not lead to anything
meaningful and had no desire to continue those relationships.
Meaning is a powerful driver of force in our lives and
the lack thereof can have a devastating effect on our daily progression. When we find meaning it can change everything
and help us to succeed in the face of great opposition. When I found a degree path I enjoyed, a
career that meant serving others and a greater purpose and a spouse and family
that meant the world to me I found meaning in places I never thought I
would. My life changed and my level of
happiness increased exponentially.
As leaders it is important that we help people to find
meaning in their work and their lives. While
we cannot force this upon them,
we can help them along the way and help them to search out and find meaning in places they may not have known existed. When people are able to find meaning in their
work they can often endure challenges and work conditions that otherwise would
have caused them to give up and walk away. In the article Getting Beyond Engagement to Creating Meaning at Work, Dave and
Wendy Ulrich explain more about meaning in the work place. They state, “Even in unfavorable circumstances, people can experience an
activity as meaningful when it resonates with chosen values, connects them with
people they like, raises their sense of competence, or gives them an “ah-ha”
moment of insight.” (Ulrich & Ulrich, 2010) . In leadership we can help employees
experience this meaning. This is done
through a number of ways.
Friendship and
relationship building can help those around us find meaning in their jobs. When I first joined the Air Force I did not
find a lot of meaning in the field of logistics. The idea of moving items from one place to
another was not that exciting to me.
However, over time I learned to understand the meaning of it and without
these items my fellow airmen would suffer and not be able to accomplish their
missions. Promoting a positive work
environment can help us to find meaning also.
When work is not enjoyable and people dread showing up the work output and
quality will suffer. We can facilitate
change by promoting open lines of communication, moral events and helping to
ease tensions when work gets a little crazy.
We can also help others in the workplace to see the big pictures. When we work we get focused on only the role
we play in the organization but if we can see how the stuff we do everyday affects
the greater machine that we are a part of we can understand the importance of
what we do. We can also encourage
employees to use their strengths to improve the workplace and their jobs. If we can find the strengths of each employee
and encourage them to use those to foster a positive environment we can help
them to find meaning. They see that they
are worth something to the company and have more to offer than just the menial
tasks they accomplish day in and day out.
In the article it states “From what we know about how the human brain
works, the ability to create meaning is also enhanced by challenge (solving a
problem that is not too hard or too easy), emotional safety (fostered by
friendship, fairness, and self-esteem), autonomy (structure but not
micromanagement), and, perhaps most importantly, learning from experienced
meaning-makers” (Ulrich & Ulrich, 2010) . If we can create intellectually stimulating,
positive and friendly environments we can help those we work with to find more
meaning in their professional lives.
Sometimes in order to be able to better the work lives
for our employees we need to change the way things are done at the company. Leading change can be difficult and often
times come with a lot of resistance.
This is usually met with phases that lead to change. These three phases are unfreezing, changing
and refreezing. In the unfreezing phase “people
come to realize that the old way of doing things are no longer adequate” (Yukl, 2013, p. 78) . This is when they start looking for ways to
improve their lives. If we can’t change
things during this phase they may look for other career options and leave the
company. At a company I used to work for
some new senior leadership was introduced.
They were so terrible and created an environment of hostility and
disrespect that employees started leaving the company in droves. Those that stayed tried to make changes and
when they realized it wasn't possible they to left the company. As leadership it’s important we don’t let
this happen and make the changes necessary before those we rely on decide to
leave.
The next phase is the change phase. This is when “people
look for new ways of doing things and select a promising approach” (Yukl, 2013, p. 78) . If we can open up discussions and look for
new ways to make changes from those that do the work every day we can vastly
improve the lives of our employees. Last
night I was able to sit and listen to a group of U.S. Air Force Chiefs discuss
ways we can improve our Air Force. One
suggestion was that we listen to our young airmen, listen to their expertise
and make the changes they suggest. They
are the ones that do the job every day and have the most insight into improving
processes.
The final phase is the refreezing phase. This is when “people look for new ways of
doing things and select a promising approach” (Yukl, 2013, p. 78) . In order to establish change we need a plan
to make the changes and stick to those changes.
Change is not always easy and often comes with growing pains. Once we can establish that change is needed
and are able to put those changes into effect it is important we stick to
it. It can be easy to revert back to the
more familiar inefficient methods. Doing
this leads to failure and a lack of progression. Implementing change can be difficult and can
come with resistance. In the text Yukl
establishes some key guidelines for easing this process. It’s important that we communicate a clear
vision of what benefits we can find in the change. We then build a coalition of supporters. These people will help to establish and
continue the process of making these changes.
We then fill key positions. If we
can establish competent managers that can help to push these changes others
will follow and see the benefits as they go through the processes. Communication is very important during this
process and we need to consistently explain the changes and how it will affect
both the work and the employees. As the
changes continue and time goes on we need to keep up the communication and
inform them of the progress and the benefits that are taking place because of
the changes being made. One of the most
important things we need to remember during this process is to always show an attitude
of optimism. We can’t always see the
positive effects of change until some time has passed. Keeping a positive attitude will help to ease
the process and show our employees we are willing to make the changes along
with them.
Change is not always easy but when implemented
correctly can have long lasting positive effects. We can make changes in companies and
organizations that can lead to increased quality of life, learning and
innovation. These can lead to stronger
companies with more loyal employees that are willing to work harder and smarter
to get the job done. When we make
changes and then show appreciation and positive reinforcement it shows
subordinates that we care and we are there for them. We need to help them understand that we can
learn from both successes and failure and as we do this failures happen less
often, the rate of success increases and the environment we work in becomes a
more positive, stimulating and encouraging environment for everyone.
Ulrich, D., & Ulrich, W. (2010, June 2). The
Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from blogs.hbr.org:
http://blogs.hbr.org/2010/06/getting-beyond-engagement-to-c/
Yukl, G. (2013). Leadership
in Organizations. Boston: Pearson.
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