Consider
the following quotes and the associated HBR blog:
Dave
and Wendy Ulrich, co-authors of The Why of Work have said, “In organizations,
meaning and abundance are more about what we do with what we have than about
what we have to begin with.”
In
his famous book Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl posits that it "is
a peculiarity of man that he must have something significant yet to do in his
life, for that is what gives meaning to life" (2004, p. 56).
Kouzes
and Posner write in The Leadership Challenge: "The executive must find a
way to communicate the vision in a way that attracts and excites members of the
organization" (1987, p. 106).
See
the Harvard Business Review blog entitled Getting Beyond Engagement to Creating
Meaning at Work (Links to an external site.)
Now,
reflect on what you have read and viewed and what it means when we say that
leaders must create a “cause” or "meaning." Relate this to the theory
of leading change. Use examples and apply the work of others where necessary.
The
theory of leading change is so relevant in the world today. People used to get
a job, stay in it for 25 or 30 (or more) years, and retire with that gold watch
and pension. They did some version of the same job in the same industry the
entire time. Then came Generation X and our grunge music, plaid shirts, and slacker
attitudes. “Generation X was once thought to be a generation of 'slackers' as
the influence of multiple television stations, video games, and computers came
to be a large part of their cultural identity.” (McKay, 2003-2016) However, we
grew up with a more global view and when the Berlin wall fell in 1989, we saw
the possibilities of a world undivided. We (as I am a Gen Xer) didn’t get a job
and stick with it right away, yes, some of us served our country right after
high school and are now getting ready to retire but some of us took our time in
deciding how we wanted to contribute to the world. This made us more open to
change and the idea of reinventing ourselves became a normal thing (thank you
Madonna). Now that we are mostly in our late 30’s and 40’s we have the
opportunities to be the leaders in our chosen fields. Leading change is
something that takes a deep understanding of systemic issues as well as the
natural resistance to change most people have. “[Leading change] involves
guiding, encouraging, and facilitating the collective efforts of members to
adapt and survive in a sometimes hostile environment.” (Yukl, 2013)
My
generation grew up with change, heck, we saw the world as we knew it completely
change again and again. “Generation X leaders thrive on change; are fair,
competent and straightforward; are very adaptable, flexible; and hate being
micro-managed.” (Williams, 2010) We also know that to lead change, we have to
give that change meaning. Leaders have to not only help organizations
understand why they need the change but really understand and embody that
change themselves. It is important that those who lead change can succinctly
articulate this meaning and how this change will impact our lives and the
business. “People create the meaning of their work and their lives, and that
process requires skill and practice, not just luck.” (Ulrich, 2010) Leaders
today are faced with not just one generation of workers but three, the Baby
Boomers, Gen X, and the Millennials. We all have very different views about
what “being at work” means. In my organization, I work with a lot of Baby
Boomers who are still very ambitious and driven. They seem restless, like if
they aren’t busy then they aren’t really working. We do have some Boomers who
are masters of their universes and hold court at their desks bestowing all
kinds of wisdom upon anyone who happens by but these folks are the exception. (They
are great to learn from but not great in a meeting with a time constraint.
Ahem.) But those who seem restless, make me nervous. I’m still a bit of the
slacker mentality when it comes to work. Not that I don’t work hard or fast, it’s
just that I just don’t need to have everyone see me busy. I don’t need to
create work for myself to feel like I’m contributing. It makes me think of when
I was in marching band and we needed an extra trumpet player, the band director
would grab one of the flag girls and have her play the part. She wore the
uniform, knew the steps, held that trumpet like she was born with it, and even
moved her fingers…but she didn’t play a note…she wasn’t really doing anything
musical. Millennials come in as interns and expect to be my boss by the end of
the summer. Sigh.
I’ve
gotten so far off track what this blog entry was supposed to be about. My
apologies. Coincidentally, I started reading Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning”
during the Christmas holidays on my Mom’s recommendation. (According to my
Kindle, I’m 79% finished.) His book has really started to trickle into my daily
thoughts and how I react to things. He gave a perspective that I could never
even think of comprehending but his theory is meaningful in every aspect of
life. I can’t speak for my entire generation, but for the most part, we aren’t
as motivated by money and stature as the previous generations because we have
seen how fleeting it is. We are motivated to change by what that change means
to us and our values. If a leader can tell me why a change is meaningful, even
if it’s just meaningful on a level that isn’t on my list of values, then I want
to help them. If a leader can tell me why something is important, personally, professionally,
or both, then I can understand the scope and how my skill set fits into that
change. I know this post is already way too long but this is a real issue that
I’m dealing with at work. There are senior managers telling, not asking, telling us to remove days of flow from
their product lines. When we ask them why, we are “combative” and “surly” when
we just want to understand where this request is coming from so that we may
tackle it in the most meaningful way. To be completely honest, I don’t think
they know why. I don’t trust that the leadership in my organization understands
the processes and products we use every day and even worse, I don’t think they
care to. They hear about a “progressive” process in another business unit and
assume that it can be applied to our system just because they say it can. They
want us to make changes because they say to not because it has meaning or
impact on the systems. Back to my rant as a Gen Xer, I need to understand why I’m
doing what I’m doing. I’m going to ask why because I need meaning in my life, I
need to understand how I fit into the picture, why it should be important to
me. It feels like we are going backwards into a very autocratic leadership
style and people are not liking it at all. Leadership is not leading change in
our organization, they are forcing change. “Those who succeed at creating
meaning […] tend to work harder, more creatively, and with more tenacity,
giving the companies that employ them a leg up in the marketplace.” (Ulrich,
2010) Just prove to me, the worker, that you, the leader, understands why the
change is meaningful and we’ll move mountains together.
Resources:
Mckay, A. (2003 – 2016) Generation X:
Definition & Characteristics Chapter 9.Lesson 11. Study.com. http://study.com/academy/lesson/generation-x-definition-characteristics-quiz.html
Ulrich D., Ulrich W. (June 2, 2010) Getting
beyond engagement to creating meaning at work. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2010/06/getting-beyond-engagement-to-c
Williams. R. (July 4, 2010).Is it time for
Generation X to lead us? PsychologyToday.com 1991-2016 Sussex Publishers, LLC |
HealthProfs.com © 2002-2016 Sussex Directories, Inc. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201007/is-it-time-generation-x-lead-us
Yukl, G. A. (2013). Leadership in
organizations (8th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
No comments:
Post a Comment