The average individual seeks his identity based on the
organization for which he works. Large corporations spend substantial amounts
of money in aligning their employees to don the garb of organizational values.
Today, however, more and more individuals are out to seek their
real identity, their 'spirit' so to speak. People are questioning their goals
and are re-visiting their archetype of the word `career'. Career means a lot
more than the original reason why a man sought work - to satisfy the pangs of
hunger. An employee is driven by much stronger motives -- by passion, ambition,
competition, prestige, power. He is totally driven by the external world. This
has to some extent satisfied the needs of his ego, but yet, much to his
surprise, he is left with a nagging sense of hollowness, less than complete
satisfaction with his achievements.
What then could be the reason for this sense of dissatisfaction? It
is because he has forgotten or has allowed himself to get sidetracked from the
true purpose of His life. The new age man is in search of himself, be it though
his career or anything else that will introduce him to himself.
THE GE APPROACH
The new, more introspective trend may, in part, be a natural
reaction to the booming, possessions-oriented 90's. `Fortune' magazine speaks
of aging baby boomers starting to notice that something is missing in their
lives, that stock options and opulent lifestyles aren't as satisfying as they
thought it would be. Many are asking, "Is this all there is?" One successful
executive is quoted as saying, "You get to the top of the ladder and find that
maybe it's leaning against the wrong building."
"You get
to the top
of the ladder
and find that
maybe it's
leaning against
the wrong building."
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A new reality is rapidly setting in. The need to integrate what one
does at work with a larger purpose that has personal meaning has taken on a new
urgency, even among the twenties' and thirties' crowd who have never known
anything but good times.
At first glance, already overworked HR professionals may be
discouraged that another layer of employee need is coming down the pike. They
may think, "Isn't it enough that with an already overloaded schedule I now have
to deal with downsizing and the morale of those who aren't downsized? How can I
deal with people's spiritual needs, especially in a climate where most
organizational leaders feel uneasy and are at a loss to address their
employees' inner lives"?
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Stephen C Schoonover (MD) and Nicholas W Weiler have done much
work on the inner lives of the employess of large corporations like GE. Through
their work, they have been able to tap into and enable the higher aspirations
of employees in Fortune 500 companies. At GE's no-nonsense corporate
headquarters, Schoonover and Weiler introduced 'inner-needs focused career and
performance development programs' that proved to be so successful that
GE exported the programs to its businesses worldwide. Part of this practical
approach has included the development of models articulating the competencies
which distinguish successful people along with the tools for developing these
competencies. These competency-based tool kits have been applied successfully
across a full range of large Fortune 500 companies.
Schoonover and Weiler's roadmap for helping people find and
succeed in jobs they love got started years ago when they were asked to help a
large company deal with unexpected layoffs. While initial efforts to help
showed limited success, they noticed that some individuals were enormously
successful at helping themselves. While others fell apart, the successful
individuals "took charge" and negotiated themselves into new careers that were
far more rewarding than the jobs they had lost. It is a myth that there has to
be an irreparable split between spirituality and productivity at work. The
myth disappears, or possibly doesn't even surface, if a language addressing
both dimensions is used and if the tools and techniques proposed clearly
enhance both aspects.
CAREER MYTHS
An individual can find happiness in work if his career goals are
aligned with his spirit.
Unfortunately very often individuals forget that they are unique
and possess as much or as little as anyone else in the world. The dilemma of
the half full glass applies here. People who succeed see the water as
opportunity and the others as a lack, as a deficiency. This comes out of a lack
of understanding of the nature of water and an identification with the glass.
Career myths are among the landmines that each of us must avoid.
We must believe in ourselves and evaluate a theory and its application to our
lives before treading a much trodden path.
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To cite a common example of a myth: "As the organization improves,
my needs will be met." Even when there is no conflict in values, people
should not rely on any managerial hierarchy or human resource organization to
meet their needs. Even the best-intentioned organizational leaders may not have
good career counseling skills and generally can only offer advice based on
their own personal career paths and aspirations. It is much more productive to
have a process in place that helps people define their individual aspirations.
When held by an individual, these myths are often self-defeating.
When promulgated by an organization, however, they are Orwellian. Ask yourself:
Does your company really live by its values in its relations with employees?
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Rather than
manage human resource
piecemeal from outside in, career and performance development initiatives must
address the whole person.
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In the final analysis, will you feel that your work did more to
liberate people's spirits and help them grow in jobs where their energies
flowed naturally or to manipulate them into adapting to the corporate agenda?
Which approach do you think will have the highest ultimate payoff
for the organization?
PARADIGM SHIFT
What is called for is a paradigm shift in how many HR
organizations pursue the objective of aligning the workforce with business
goals. HR typically expresses a philosophy of fostering employee satisfaction
and fulfillment. However, the tools and processes used have often worked from
the outside in: The company needs certain qualifications, competencies, or
skills, and therefore is going to hire, train, or incentivize people to those
standards. Often, this unintentionally results in attempting to make a square
peg fit a round hole. Almost everyone would agree that this is not ultimately
productive.
Contrarily, the `Whole Person' approach has revealed that
challenging people to express and seek what they truly want in a career is
critical. This approach -- teaching people to march to their own drums
independent of their employer -- could indeed seem to be a daunting if
not outright risky proposition. In practice, however, individuals who seek
their own fulfilling paths tend to contribute more to the organization and are
less likely to leave in search of better prospects.
Similarly, the application of a clear process and practical
performance development tools not only has an enormous positive impact on
individual careers but also improves the bottomline. Individuals get
significantly increased satisfaction from their jobs because the tools help
them become more successful in whatever career paths they choose and their
success in turn makes them more productive for their employer.
It is important to note that we are not refereeing to a spiritual
or values-based program introduced by managements primarily to move employees
in directions the organization wants them to go. Instead, this viewpoint
emphasizes a program that stresses the importance of each individual getting
inside his or her own head, doing some systematic personal soul searching,
becoming very clear on their own unique values, and building a career around
their very personal criteria for success.
Spirituality and productivity need not be a paradox. The Art of
Living course of Sri Sri Ravishankar is a good example of how people who are
closer to their souls are able to contribute more effectively to themselves and
to society at large. Companies that foster employees' personal and spiritual
growth find it makes them tremendously more productive. The HR department's
role is to provide an enabling environment and the practical tools to encourage
continuous growth and learning. Rather than manage human resource piecemeal
from outside in, career and performance development initiatives must address
the whole person. This calls for moving from a 'solely' employee oriented
organization to a 'soul-ly' employee oriented organization.
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Dhirendra R