A Compelling Narrative

9/23/13...Today I led the first day of a week long Policy Deployment event for our plant. Policy Deployment is a strategic process which helps an organization select the "critical few" items amongst many possibilities. This is the fourth time I am leading this type of event. In years past, the energy level was high from the start. Not so this year. The leadership team seems "worn out." Why? There are plenty of potential narratives to work on for next year. However, I am going to argue there is no "compelling narrative."  

 

I think a video a co-worker shared with me last week may help explain some of what I am feeling and maybe what the leadership team is feeling. The video is from RSA, an organization seeking social change through shared ideas and actions. This particular ten minute video focused on what drives or motivates people. There were a number of findings; 1) monetary rewards drive motivation for tasks requiring no cognizant thinking, 2) monetary rewards are a dis-incentive when cognizant thinking comes into play, 3) as long as people are paid as they perceive "fairly", their motivation then focuses on autonomy, mastery, and purpose, and 4) when profits are divorced from purpose, bad things begin happening. To me, these findings make sense.

 

This is the crossroads. I shared this video with the leadership group today. It fell flat. Seemingly, no connection. And yet, Father, I am a seed. Indeed, I feel today was nothing more than planting a seed. The thing is, with some watering, even I have no idea if a plant will sprout or if the seed will remain in the ground for some time. Indeed, two years ago I wrote about purpose in teaming, and now I find some water pouring on the seed.

 

The plant within the seed is this. I must have a "compelling narrative" to find purpose in my life once my primal needs are met (including "pay" as no longer a driving issue). The "compelling narrative" of business only takes me so far. Does this hold true for others? For the first three years at my company, I found some compelling narratives, such as 1) empowering people so they can make their work lives better through teaming and activist committees, 2) reducing customer complaints so our customers (line workers and leaders) do not face the frustrations of dealing with poor product and thus in turn negatively affecting their families and neighbors, 3) learning lean versus traditional leadership methods in order to engage people and improve, 4) achieving SQF requirements so we retain business and our people have job security, and 5) achieving a 5 year contract with Coke so we help everyone attain job security. These are all noteworthy compelling narratives in a business environment. However, after three years, are these type of narratives starting to fall flat?

 

I believe the challenge ahead, as a business, is connecting purpose with profits. I fear our company may be losing sight of "compelling narratives." Over the last four of five years, our company is enjoying record profits. This in lieu of the Great Recession. But as the speaker via RSA shared, profits divided from purpose, is a minefield. All I hear from leadership is the need to drive, drive, drive sales, profits, and cost reduction. Where is the purpose beyond profits?

 

Only when we find our "compelling narrative" within the necessary profits, will we find purpose. Herein lies my continued challenge in the Toil. Grace is my "compelling narrative." However, as a business leader, weaving in Grace with the Toil in a secular business environment eludes me.

 

 

 

Team Based Empowerment, St. Augustine and My Brain Cell

9/17/13...Today I experienced, with the help of others, an epiphany of wisdom regarding team based empowerment. Later, I wondered where this came from. In my head, there are brain cells causing thought. Somehow these cell tissues create and capture a thought from nothing. Think about this.  There is no encyclopedia in my head. There is no internet device where I can google knowledge. Somehow wisdom forms in my flesh, in my cell tissues. When I die and a coroner examines my brain, this person will find no evidence this thought ever existed. There is nothing for them to read. There is nothing for them to google search. I find this a remarkable miracle and I am not even sure if you, the reader, can really appreciate the magnitude of this realization. St. Augustine, one of the pillars of Christianity, once wrote, "men go abroad, to wonder at the height of mountains, the huge waves of the sea, the long course of rivers, the vast compass of the oceans, the circular motion of the stars, but they pass by themselves and don't even notice." How true. Then I remembered reading a recent passage in the Book of Job. In the Book, God responds to Job's cries, "Who has put wisdom in the mind? Or who has given understanding to the heart?" Indeed. I am perplexed regarding why this is resonating with me so much today. I feel this strong compulsion to one, write the wisdom down, and two, acknowledge God.

Here is the wisdom. There  are three approaches in empowering work based teams; meeting based empowerment, event based empowerment and project based empowerment. Seemingly, a simple realization, but the depth within this realization is nothing less than monumental. Yesterday this wisdom eluded me. Today the parts coalesced in an epiphany of which I was able to verbally communicate to my boss and a peer. The threads of this thought came from others, but in my DNA, God planted the ability of Connectedness. According to Strengthsfinder, a firm who coined this word, anyone with a trait of Connectedness is able to see how all the parts connect. Once again, I think to the Book of Jeremiah where God speaks this truth, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you." God formed this trait in me and knew the purposes behind the trait, sometimes which seemingly elude me.

Indeed, I am a creature, a human being, known by God before I was born. My formation is nothing less than a miracle of life, of whom God is the ultimate mother and father. This trait bestowed upon me connected today in a toil realization. I started writing about this experience without acknowledging God in it. After writing a page and reading the words, I realized how hollow this wisdom was. Why? No where in the words did I acknowledge my Creator who bestowed this gift on me. My words were empty, and prideful. Most strikingly there was no depth in what I wrote. Realizing this, I scratched over an hour's worth of words. I then thought about God and started writing again. And suddenly I felt energized, appreciative, and grateful for this gift today. No longer do my words seem hollow, without depth nor prideful, instead they feel alive.