10 Areas
People join our organizations because they have come to a determination that we will be able to make their labor, efforts, talents, mental capacity, etc. worth more through our organization than anyplace else they could work. They believe that by joining us we will enable them to create more value (economic and other) than they would be able to create anywhere else. That is the understanding, the contract, between an individual and the organization s/he joins. Just as a business makes contracts with customers and then needs to live up to the obligations of that contract - not just barely meeting the minimum requirements but trying to exceed expectations and delight their customers - in the same way an organization providing employment needs to focus on living up to the employment contract, and work to make a person’s contributions of the highest value - not just barely meeting minimum requirements but working to make a person’s contributions of the highest value, delighting the members of the organization that they chose to join this group. Peoople, of course, are notoriously fickle and difficult to please - especially if you let on that your aim is to delight them. “I’m not delighted yet! Now you need to . . . .” Honestly and accurately framing expectations up front is important for so many human interactions, employment certainly being one of them. In our organization I often tell people, “If you want to be a ballet dancer or a professional football player, don’t join this organization. If you look around here, see what we do, and want to do that, by all means consider joining us.” In a formal leadership/authority role, you sign up to help an organization live up to this contract of employment - helping people increase the value of their labor, to the benefit of our Customers, the Individual, our Organization, and our larger Community. This is the core responsibility of leadership: we are here to serve people. We serve our customers by providing good and valuable offerings. We serve our fellow members of the organization, in part, by building up the value of their labor. These two aims are very much compatible with each other.
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