What company can survive when the people within it have lost their passion and creativity?
I believe there is a brokenness in the way many our companies are being run – they live and die by the numbers and manage their teams the same way. Seems that too many are blinded by the fact that if you don’t live and die by the talent and growth or your team – the dollars will never be there. Working or living with a fight or flight mentality -with desperation trying to make another penny or do every last thing – depletes us of creativity, drive, passion and grit! No one will be successful when they approach anything in this fashion.
Revenue and goals are important in any company- of course – but the dollars won’t come if the people aren’t valued, mentored and encouraged. I Recently heard a stat that shocked me – When an employee feels undervalued or disrespected, their productivity decreases by 50%.
So think for a moment – your boss wants you to increase revenue so they show you how much you’re missing your goals by – Your failing, but you know that you’re working really hard Then to try to inspire you further they tell you that you need to get better and that this gap in sales/productivity isn’t acceptable. Feel inspired?
Most likely you don’t feel inspired, probably feel discouraged, because your effort is high, maybe a bit unappreciated. No manager or boss approaches a coaching session to hurt productivity – they have the honest intention of inspiring people to do more, but the approach – managing with fear -is the cause of many unproductive employees, companies, loss of creativity and loss of purpose. Of course, there are those who aren’t working hard for the mission, regardless of your coaching efforts, but then I question why you still have them on your team?
So, the problem isn’t our leadership, it’s that we forgot how valuable the people inside the companies are. We forgot what makes people get inspired and feel encouraged to do big things. We are all created to be part of something bigger than ourselves, that’s why companies have mission statements, in the first place. The development of our teams and hiring and firing of our staff should be rooted in our company mission. If more companies would stand firmly on their mission statement and help their employees develop personal mission statements, together they will walk forward as a team of passion and desire to do great things -This will lead to increased revenue and a lot of success. The companies that do walk this way, are the ones that people are striving to be part of and the ones that can bring in the best talent. These companies – care about their people and develop them – which inspires them to do what it takes to exceed expectations.
Regardless of your title or position – you have the ability to bring change into the workplace through your attitude, your qualities, your kindness…. You can add value to your colleagues by listen to understand, being a resource of support, you can inspire them to work their best and not be anxious about the detail. You can coach them to live with purpose and build them up when they feel discouraged. You can strongly influence those around you and make a difference to how your team represents themselves just by setting the example. (sometimes that’s all we can do) We are called to love one another, be forgiving, not fall into the temptations of gossip, be kind…We need to live this way, always, without ceasing and encourage others to do the same. A title at your workplace means nothing because all of us have the ability to lead exactly where we are. – so let’s step up and lead with encouragement – lead in a way that glorifies God.
1 Corinthians 10:31 “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”
