“In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out.
It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being.
We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.“
Recently, I was honored to be part of a group of four men who got together to examine their career futures. Each has worked most of their lives, supporting their families and making a contribution. Each came bruised from years of working relationships and working environments that were less than healthy. Each was reevaluating how they would spend their future working hours. They all believe that everyone has choices.
I could simply label this as part of The Great Resignation caused by recent events, but there is more to this story. It is about the times and the challenges we are experiencing.
Individuals of good character and competency are looking to change careers because their employers have not learned that force and fear are not tools of good management and competent leadership. The individuals in this group are looking to be treated fairly and respectfully. They want to learn, grow, and make a difference.
A few weeks ago, I shared the story of meeting Monte on a plane and learning about his work/life experience and choice to leave a stable but unappreciative employer so he could find a new way to contribute that was more aligned to his life goals. That interaction resulted in starting an old-school job club for individuals who — like Monte — are being swept up in all of the changes — some of their own making and some reflective of the times.
Finding, developing, and retaining talent has been a key theme of my work and has intensified in the last five years. I know the challenges of the employer side, but our first job club session really opened my eyes to the feelings of the good men and women seeking meaningful work.
Our intention was to start something that would grow organically, reach the people who needed assistance, and support individuals to find their next place to land for work. Five of us came together, shared openly, explored big questions, and aspirations; and when asked at the end of our time together, “What are you walking away with today?” I was touched by their comments.
One gentleman volunteered that he no longer felt alone.
Another offered feedback to one of the participants acknowledging his strengths.
My new friend Monte shared that his fear and stress are lifting.
Each person gave of themselves, helped each other, and started a community. It was that easy. None of us wanted it to end and all of us have acted on our commitments to the members of the group.
I enter today with the sense that if each day I take the time to ask and listen, engage and support another person on their work journey, this big issue starts to move in the direction we all seek. It gets easier when you don’t do it alone. Keep it simple and give individuals the time and tools they need. A small ripple of change is as powerful as a big splash.
Though my mind often wanders to big situations outside of my circle of influence or serious consequence, today I learned the lesson to work with what is right in front of me.
And the reward? I rediscovered there are good, generous, and well-intended people in our world who naturally want to help each other.
There is so much happening that holds my interest, concern, and desire to find a positive way to contribute. Some of it is in my own neighborhood, working relationships, and home base. Some are in places where I have people for whom I care deeply. Some are in the headlines of the news and world.
What are you keeping your eyes and ears tuned in to daily?
There are so many big changes happening. True shifts in what we know and how we have operated for years. It feels monumental; but when I put it into the context of the change my grandparents and parents experienced, it is really only more change. Though we as humans love to find a place to land, settle, and rest — always looking for the islands of permanence in the seas of transitions — we spend more time navigating change than we do standing still. We are well designed for change until the cumulative stress of many changes, large and small, contribute to our becoming fatigued, rigid, and even resistant to flowing with the natural way of the world and the change we create for ourselves.
Can you relate?
Are you able to change — yet tired?
In my own backyard, the conversation includes talking about talent, workforce, and meaningfulness in one’s career. I am reading the recently released book “Love+Work” by Marcus Buckingham, which shares new engagement research and fundamental lessons about our relationship with work and those with whom we work. Though there is nothing to surprise me in his findings, there is much to inspire me to continue to do what I do and how I do it. I highly recommend the read.
In my client work, we are striving to respond to our challenging environment, to find the path to growth and organizational well-being all while attending to the very human needs of the workforce. Daily, there are communication disconnects and missteps that if go unattended, fray relationships. Now is the time to pull together, not to allow the pulling apart to complicate the challenge of a tug of war, nor misalignment to sap the precious energy we need to navigate everything on our plate. We are being challenged to become better in all that we do together.
Talent is scarce. Individuals choose how they want to spend their working time. Whether we accept the labels being suggested— The Great Resignation, The Great Reset, The Great Reckoning — or not, it is clear — we are in the process of shifting, sorting, and shedding.
How is this affecting your work, your organization, your personal life?
Are you choosing to let it change you?
Leslie
“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
― George Bernard Shaw
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