22 Keys to Creating a Meaningful Workplace -- Part 4
The Development Keys
| Challenge |
| Invention |
| Support |
| Personal Development |
Challenge
The lack of challenge tends to be a widespread problem.
What About You?
Taking Charge of Your Own Situation
Analyze First, Then Take Action
I Think I Can, I Think I Can
What Can We Do About It?
A conversation with colleagues is the best place to start.
| How do people want to be challenged? |
| Are they finding and taking advantage of these challenges in the workplace? |
| what can we do to improve the situation? |
Invention
Junk useless processes and create entirely new ones that add value.
The search is always on for newer, better, faster, smarter.
A Passion for Possibilities
When you see an opportunity, seize it.
Look around, pick and opportunity, and start inventing now.
Making Time for Invention
Put activities through the finger of five important relevance questions.
Is There Room to Create?
If there's an unused conference room consider making it the default place to go for anyone who wants to let their creativity breathe free.
Get More Brains Around the Table
Making Invention Your Real Work
There are many actions you and others can take to make invention more prominent in your workplace:
| Reach out and talk with someone |
| Learn from the innovation zealots |
| Promote it communicate a message that creativity is not just permitted but vital to the health of the organization. |
| Set A course for Creativity To brighten the spotlight on invention, write it in to at least one goal. |
Redefine "Failure"
As you and others pursue improvement and innovation, expect failure.
Support
When Support is Lacking
Many more possible reasons to explain a lack of support:
| People are too busy |
| they don't understand why it's needed |
| The workplace has a play-it-safe culture |
| the workplace is seriously fragmented |
| There's a strong strain of internal competition |
| People rarely engage in dialogue |
Building Your case
Regardless of how big the request is, be ready to explain why it's needed and how it will benefit you and the organization.
The Risk of Asking for Permission
Don't let your pursuit of support become an exercise in always asking for permission.
Support becomes ever more elusive as the bureaucracy grows.
To Give Support, First Open Your Mind
You also need to give support whenever and wherever you can.
Making Support Routine
The Vital Role of the Team Sponsor
Effective team sponsors don't have much of a hands-on role, but the few things they can do can make a big difference
The sponsor creates the team charter and then stands out of the way while the team goes about its work.
Team Check-Up
If you're a sponsor in the formal sense, get up-to-date information and provide what's needed.
Simple questions to get things rolling:
| What kinds of barriers are you running into? |
| What would help you and others make even more progress with this project? |
| How can I help you be successful on this? |
Putting Resources Within Reach
Limits constrain people's movement and thinking and send a message that people are not to be trusted.
Get Obsessed With Technology
Set up an ongoing dialogue group to focus entirely on technology.
This group would have a threefold mission:
Giving and Getting Enough Prep Time
As new assignment and projects get under way, avoid throwing people into situations without adequate time to prepare.
Invest In People
Have a clear, collective direction that everyone understands, coupled with a bias toward investment.
Personal Development
A meaningful workplace develops equally n all three areas:
| what is produced |
| how it's produced |
| who produces it |
Yes, It's Personal Development
The term professional development might be interpreted as something that is reserved for people with special credentials. Everyone should have opportunities to develop.
Have You Been Learning?
Take stock of your personal development here and now.
How will You Keep Learning?
Our personal development is often steered by our careers, our workplaces, and our jobs.
Be Wary of the Learning Paradigms
When is comes to learning, society seems locked into some self-defeating paradigms:
| We learn until the age of 18 or so |
| People are empty vessels who need to be filled with information |
Learning is a Means to an End
Learning sessions should be designed around using the information:
| Instead of trying to fill people's brains with as much information as possible, turn the presentation into a conversation. |
| Instead of having a one- or two-day session, break it into six or eight mini-sessions of two months. |
| Instead of having people come together for the session, only to return to their own corners of the work world when the session ends, try to organize people into small networks so they can stay in touch and keep learning together. |
So What Can You Do?
Taking charge of your development is your first challenge. Recognizing the dangers of those education paradigms is your second challenge. the third challenge is to do something about it.
Some practical ideas:
| Use it ASAP |
| Find the teacher beside you The colleague who's working next to you might have something to teach you. |
| Learn by doing |
| Reach beyond the organization |
| Bring in new know-how Bring in outside speakers who are experts in their areas |
| Turn technology into a learning tool Make maximum use of computer technology and the Internet to foster learning. |
Making Development a Group Endeavor
Many organizations make personal development a very private effort involving just the employee and the boss.
"Here Are Our Learning Needs"
Try to avoid the old approach of having a consultant conduct one-on-one interviews with a random sampling of employees.
Bring people together and have a conversation to uncover exactly what they need and want to learn.