The idea for this article came out of continuous conversations with many colleagues and friends. What is the conversation you ask? Well none other than this — the idea of having more meaning in our lives.
Countless conversation start out with, “I don’t believe my company really cares about anything but profits, I don’t want to be a part of that. I want to have a job where my values are more aligned, or we are doing good for the world.”
A lot of companies are investing in social and environmental responsibility and a lot more are having conversations about the subject. But the sense is that they are not moving fast enough for their employees.
The people I have engaged with work in industries from finance, to automotive, events, healthcare, and consumer products. So it is not just one company, nor one industry. Everyone wants more meaning in their work. And if their companies are not moving in the direction to provide that deeper meaning, that sense of giving back to the greater good, then these good people are not going to hang around.
Many studies have shown that a passionate, values aligned employee is going to be more productive, more engaged and a real ally to one’s business. So if your company does not have socially or environmentally based values, you probably don’t have engaged employees.
It makes sense to most – engaged employees are good for business. And yet it is still a topic that doesn’t get much attention, nor gets connected to a company’s social and environmental or sustainability strategy, objectives and goals. When we only look at quarterly returns, there isn’t much motivation to invest into shifting the business to be more values based. And that is where unfortunately too many businesses sit today. There is a point when we work so much, dedicate so much of ourselves to our work that after 10 – 20 years we say, “And for what?” After being able to meet one’s basic needs, more and more people are asking the question, “what do I really need to earn and how much happier would I be to work AND help improve communities or the planet in that pursuit.”
Values have evolved and we all have a better idea of how the companies we work for impact others all over the world. That desire is a valuable Social Capital of our employees.
We work within a pretty complex global system, so if a company were smart and wanted to not only hold onto, but leverage their social capital by aligning business values with those of their employees would show positive results to the business.
Step one in keeping your great employees around: Take a litmus test of where your current strategy and values are and where the values of your employees are. Conduct a gap analysis. It isn’t hard. Organized companies will have a business strategy probably already developed. This is the plan of where you want your business to go in the next 1 – 10 years and how you are going to get there. Look at this strategy, are social and environmental values called out?
Step two, gather anonymous feedback: Ask questions like – what are important values in your life? How would you integrate those values into your job if you had the flexibility to do so? How would you change the way you work if those values were integrated? Would you, or how might you feel differently about working for this company if we aligned with those values?
Step three, share this with your employees: A company maybe surprised to know the results and hear directly from people how wide the gap is and their ideas for closing it. As more and more people are asking themselves the question, “Is this worth it? Can I risk everything to have more meaning?” companies should remember money is important, but it isn’t everything. There are a lot of social enterprises popping up for a reason. People know that they can contribute more to their lives and want to use work as a tool to do that. Make sure that you’re creating a business that keeps their best talent in house.
This post was written in partnership with Kim Carpenter
The Change Agent’s Coach
Kim Carpenter is a professional marketing expert and business mentor for change makers who mean business. Over the past 20 years she’s helped businesses large and small, including the United Nations, non-profits and Fortune 500’s — to focus their efforts for maximum profitability and maximum positive impact in the world.
The people I have engaged with work in industries from finance, to automotive, events, healthcare, and consumer products. So it is not just one company, nor one industry. Everyone wants more meaning in their work. And if their companies are not moving in the direction to provide that deeper meaning, that sense of giving back to the greater good, then these good people are not going to hang around.
Many studies have shown that a passionate, values aligned employee is going to be more productive, more engaged and a real ally to one’s business. So if your company does not have socially or environmentally based values, you probably don’t have engaged employees.
It makes sense to most – engaged employees are good for business. And yet it is still a topic that doesn’t get much attention, nor gets connected to a company’s social and environmental or sustainability strategy, objectives and goals. When we only look at quarterly returns, there isn’t much motivation to invest into shifting the business to be more values based. And that is where unfortunately too many businesses sit today. There is a point when we work so much, dedicate so much of ourselves to our work that after 10 – 20 years we say, “And for what?” After being able to meet one’s basic needs, more and more people are asking the question, “what do I really need to earn and how much happier would I be to work AND help improve communities or the planet in that pursuit.”
Values have evolved and we all have a better idea of how the companies we work for impact others all over the world. That desire is a valuable Social Capital of our employees.
We work within a pretty complex global system, so if a company were smart and wanted to not only hold onto, but leverage their social capital by aligning business values with those of their employees would show positive results to the business.
Step one in keeping your great employees around: Take a litmus test of where your current strategy and values are and where the values of your employees are. Conduct a gap analysis. It isn’t hard. Organized companies will have a business strategy probably already developed. This is the plan of where you want your business to go in the next 1 – 10 years and how you are going to get there. Look at this strategy, are social and environmental values called out?
Step two, gather anonymous feedback: Ask questions like – what are important values in your life? How would you integrate those values into your job if you had the flexibility to do so? How would you change the way you work if those values were integrated? Would you, or how might you feel differently about working for this company if we aligned with those values?
Step three, share this with your employees: A company maybe surprised to know the results and hear directly from people how wide the gap is and their ideas for closing it. As more and more people are asking themselves the question, “Is this worth it? Can I risk everything to have more meaning?” companies should remember money is important, but it isn’t everything. There are a lot of social enterprises popping up for a reason. People know that they can contribute more to their lives and want to use work as a tool to do that. Make sure that you’re creating a business that keeps their best talent in house.
This post was written in partnership with Kim Carpenter
The Change Agent’s Coach
Kim Carpenter is a professional marketing expert and business mentor for change makers who mean business. Over the past 20 years she’s helped businesses large and small, including the United Nations, non-profits and Fortune 500’s — to focus their efforts for maximum profitability and maximum positive impact in the world.
