How often do you feel your talent is wasted where you are? Or how do you know someone who flourished upon a job change?
Recently, I visited a few colleagues of mine at their new place of employment. We all worked together in the past and I was struck by what I noticed and what I observed in my meeting with them. I have a deep admiration for all three folks to whom I am referring. They are rock stars at what they do. They are highly engaged, proactive professionals who amaze me constantly and they are simply great and kind people. But, when we all worked together in the past, it seemed that something was holding them back. They did their jobs well, had great attitudes…great employees. The difference became clear to me when I saw them together in this new place…a new job.
The past employer practiced highly specific role assignments. You fit into a specific job and your expectations were to do the job in a way that higher-level management conceived. If you worked outside the box, there were political consequences or you were not seen as a “team player.” Predefined processes were religion (which changed frequently) and part of being successful in this environment was simply your ability to navigate ambiguity of expectations and mapping to entrenched thinking. In people’s mind, your value was your role, not your ability and mind. And roles changed often and great people were let go or forced out. The cost of this was tremendous, but that is another post…
The funny thing is that we didn’t notice this enculturated repression until it was gone. It was just how things were; our present reality. We all adjusted to thrive the best we could in this world, but the true potential of any of us were not being tapped and leaving was the only way to find out.
What is different about this new job for them was that they were selected for their talents, their ideas and their ability to innovate in any capacity. New ideas are encouraged and challenge to status quo is expected–all ideas are met intellectually and debated accordingly. The senior management are intuitive and see the grey in all things seemingly binary. In this environment, my colleagues are working for more than a paycheck, they are there to win, there to be part of something great and more than short-term survival. And it shows in the speed and the uncommonly innovative solutions they have created.
I was so impressed by the changes in my friends, by the “air” in that office and the intense focus that appeared on the other employees’ faces that I had to share. This was clearly a great place to work and the output of the team will change the tech world forever…The senior management should be proud of what they have created.
I see more of the previous example than the latter in companies. Cultural tone is set from the top and developed from hiring great people with great talent, not just someone who does one thing (however well it might be). Having a unified mission is a great thing, but being open minded and hiring smart who think critically and exceedingly talented people is a must.
In order to come out of our economic recession better than we went in takes a change in course, mapping the success of others to your own management plan. But most importantly, it takes employers to be willing to take a deeper look into the qualities of there prospective employees, to consider the uncommon model of person and being open to others who might be better than you in certain areas. More importantly it going to take employers to see the vein of gold in the amazing talent sidelined by recession think layoffs.
~DK
As soon as you mentioned “religion”, I knew what was coming. I’ve seen this insidious directive from management degrade the whole atmosphere of the workplace and stifle individual initiative.