1: Getting better at getting better is what RiseWithDrew is all about.
Monday through Thursday, we explore ideas from authors, thought leaders, and exemplary organizations. On Friday, I share something about myself or what we are working on at PCI.
Last Friday, we analyzed five factors that make our work meaningful, as Catherine Bailey and Adrian Madden outline in their article What Makes Work Meaningful — Or Meaningless in the MIT Sloan Management Review.
Today, we turn our attention to the other half of the equation. What do we do as leaders to reduce or even destroy meaning at work for the people on our teams or our organizations?
What are the top three things leaders do to create feelings of meaninglessness?
Factor #1: Disconnect people from their values.
“Although individuals did not talk much about value congruence as a promoter of meaningfulness,” Catherine and Adrian write, “they often talked about a disconnect between their own values and those of their employer or work group as the major cause of a sense of futility and meaninglessness.”
They found this to be the #1 source of meaninglessness at work.
“A recurring theme was the tension between an organizational focus on the bottom line and the individual’s focus on the quality or professionalism of work,” Catherine and Adrian write.
A stonemason shared that his organization’s sole focus on cost is “deeply depressing.”
“Academics,” the authors found, “spoke of their administrations being most interested in profits and the avoidance of litigation instead of intellectual integrity and the provision of the best possible education.
“Nurses spoke despairingly of being forced to send patients home before they were ready in order to free up bed space.
“Lawyers talked of a focus on profits rather than on helping clients.”
Factor #2: Taking team members for granted.
“Feeling unrecognized, unacknowledged, and unappreciated by line or senior managers was often cited in the interviews as a major reason people found their work pointless,” Catherine and Adrian write.
Lack of acknowledgment leads to feelings of resentment. “Academics,” the authors note, “talked about department heads who didn’t acknowledge their research or teaching successes; sales assistants and priests talked of bosses who did not thank them for taking on additional work.”
In other cases, managers ignored workers and did not even say “Good morning” to their team members.
Factor #3: Give people pointless work to do.
People have a strong sense of what their work should involve and how they should be spending their time. Feelings of meaninglessness arose when managers required them to perform tasks outside these areas.
Pointless bureaucratic tasks and filling out endless forms were significant sources of futility and pointlessness across many professions, including nurses, academics, artists, and clergy.
“Stonemasons and retail assistants cited poorly planned projects where they were left to ‘pick up the pieces,'” Catherine and Adrian write.
At PCI, we plan to have our leaders do an inventory of the work being done across the organization to reduce or eliminate areas of meaninglessness.
More next week.
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Reflection: What are the drivers of meaning and meaninglessness in my work?
Action: Discuss with my team or with a colleague.
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