The best companies focus on purpose. Patrick Lencioni in his book, The Truth About Employee Engagement: A Fable About Addressing the Three Root Causes of Job Misery, formerly called The Three Signs of a Miserable Job: A Fable for Managers (and their employees) (Jossey-Bass 2007), notes that people cannot be fulfilled in their work if they are not known. As he explains, everyone needs to know that their job matters to someone, and employees need to be able to gauge their progress and level of contribution for themselves.
I concur with his perspective, and given the last two years I believe we need to expand it. One of our challenges in the midst of these massive labor shortages is that leaders and managers need to help people discover or re-discover how to enjoy the work they are doing. This connects back to building on strengths and organizational health which I have written about earlier on this blog.
I believe there are three steps to helping leaders and managers with this level of work. First, we need to help them learn how to unpack the strategic nexus, namely the union of mission, vision and core values plus the strategic plan, with their direct reports. Typically, new leaders and managers are given this information, but rarely is it discussed and explored as to the meaning and the reason why they were written in that particular fashion.
During the last two years in the rush to quickly solve problems and remain operational in the midst of a global pandemic, the strategic nexus has been put on the proverbial back burner or completely set aside in the midst of unrelenting challenges. If we want to solve problems better and to make decisions better during the next two years, then the strategic nexus needs to be front and center in planning and execution. The challenge is that many leaders and managers do not know what the strategic nexus means, let alone how to leverage it as an important tool.
Next, in order for leaders and managers to better focus on purpose, I believe they need to sit down in a team meeting and discuss the answers to the following 3 questions: Why did you apply for this job? Why do you stay? What are your dreams and hopes for this job? This level of dialogue not only helps us learn each other’s strengths and motivation, it also helps us to create alignment between individual actions and the company’s goals. Remember: we want people to be more engaged rather than disengaged. When I, the follower, believe you, my leader, understand me, then I can explore better with you the link between planning for the future and executing in the present.
Third, the challenge for many leaders and managers is that they need to understand the differences between the following four terms, namely supervision, coaching, check-ins, and mentoring. Supervision is the process of observing, directing or overseeing the execution of a task, project or activity, Coaching, on the other hand, is a structured dialogue and a development process to improve the professional competence to execute goals and projects. Next, a check-in is “a frequent, one-on-one conversation about near-term future work between a team leader and a team member,” according to Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall in their book called Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World (Harvard Business Review Press, 2019). Here the focus is on defining priorities for the coming week and to figure out how the leader and manager can help them. Finally, a mentor is a friend, role model and/or able advisor who lends support in many different ways to pursuing specific life goals and one’s life journey, according to Shirley Peddy in her book, The Art of Mentoring: Lead, Follow and Get Out of the Way (Bullion Books, 1998. ). Each of these actions are important skill sets as we prepare for the next two years and beyond.
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