The Journey

by Don Harkey

A company has a long time performance appraisal system that is considered to be a benchmark for the industry. The appraisal system allows the employee to chart their own course and puts gives the employee the responsibility to design their own development plan. Employees are then measured on the success against their own plan and given raises accordingly.

One employee in particular truly struggled with this approach. While it is certainly appealing to set your own expectations and spend company time on self-discovery, there was something about this system that went against the core of this employee. As the employee developed his own development plan, he became more and more frustrated until finally he sent a note to his HR director asking for help.

The HR director and the employee met and the HR director carefully laid out the benefits of the appraisal system. The HR director encouraged the employee to develop a 1-year, 10-year, and 30-year career plan. "Where is it you want to go? What do you want to accomplish with your career?", asked the HR director.

A light went on inside the head of the employee. The clouds lifted and suddenly he understood why he had been struggling. "I have just 2 questions for you. Here is the first one. What if I don't meet my career objective?"

The HR director apparently took pity on the question and offered encouragement. "Oh, come now. That is the beauty of this system. If you lay out a clear path for yourself and work hard, you are almost assured of reaching your objective. You are a smart guy! You'll get there!".

"Well, thank you", replied the employee, "but I have one more question and this one is harder to answer."

"Go ahead. That's why I'm here.", answered the HR director confidently.

"What is I do meet my career objective?", asked the employee softly.

The HR director paused for a moment. "Then you have reached your objective. You have succeeded. I'm not sure what you mean."

"My point is this", replied the employee. "If I set an objective for myself and I never reach it, I will be disappointed that I have essentially failed in my career. If I set an objective for myself and I reach it, I will wonder if I should have aimed higher and will wonder what to do next. Neither alternative is very attractive."

The HR director was silent, so the employee continued. "This is what truly bothered me because this philosophy indicates that I will not have a rewarding career regardless of what I do. I knew this couldn't be true because I have already derived enjoyment from my work. It wasn't until we started talking that I realized the inherent flaw in the performance appraisal process. It focuses on results when life is really about the journey."

The HR director was stunned. After a few seconds of silence, the HR director spoke for 30 minutes admitting that her career objective had been met and that she had made so many sacrifices along the way to meet the objective and now found herself in a job she didn't particularly enjoy working within a system that her education told her should be great, but simply wasn't. She wasn't happy.

My point here is simple. Setting goals and objectives is not a bad practice, but the real joys in life happen on the road. It's not about getting the promotion, it's about making decisions, working toward a common vision, and using your strengths to succeed and to fail brilliantly. The true measure of the output of our lives is in the ways we utilize all of the moments we are given. This is true at work as well as at home or at play.

Same Goal, Same Passions

by Erica Harris
Lighthouse Child and Development Center
Springfield, MO

According to the most recent Community Report Card for Springfield, MO, more than 11% of the general population and at least 20% of Springfield children are living in poverty in our community. No one wants to think that young children are going without food, clothing, and shelter – but they are. In this tough economic time, more families will be moving into uncharted territory, struggling to make ends meet. Who wouldn’t want to change these statistics?

At Lighthouse Child & Family Development Center, we are changing this statistic. We’re working with a passion to increase self-sufficiency in the Springfield community. We are accomplishing this through holistic programming that includes intensive family case management, parent and child education, quality and affordable childcare, along with significant volunteerism. Lighthouse is changing lives.

When it comes down to the nitty-gritty, we run this non-profit like a successful business – the real difference: our desired outcomes. Most for-profit businesses are focused on a monetary profit; Lighthouse is passionate about profiting the community we serve. If we reach our goals, our community will reap the benefits. Like any business with a true vision, we are group of people that are working together toward a common purpose.

Lighthouse staff, board, families/clients, volunteers, and community supporters like those at Messiah Lutheran Church all understand that we are striving to enrich lives, and we’re in this together. Messiah will soon host their own Lighthouse program to educate and support 34 additional children and families in a journey toward self-sufficiency. When two organizations with a similar vision can join forces, the impact is exponentially greater.

We succeed and fail together. We celebrate and lament together. We are a Lighthouse family, and we believe we will reach our goals together. It’s amazing what a group of committed and motivated people can do when they are focused on the same goal. That’s true to for- or not-for-profit organizations.

Autonomy

by Don Harkey

The 3 needs that create motivation are competence, autonomy, and relatedness. In the last article ("I Think I Can, I Think I Can"), I talked about competence. Now I want to talk a little about autonomy. Its trickier than you think!

Autonomy is simply a person's ability to choose whether or not to do something. The ability to choose a course of action is a basic component of motivation. Someone who gets to choose how and whether to act will be more likely to act as long as they feel competent in the action and as long as they feel related to what they are doing. This seems very intuitive, but it presents supervisors with a challenge.

A supervisor must get their people to do a job. The easiest way to do this is to simply order the employees to do the job. However, as we just discussed, this can be demotivational. This is the challenge. How do you get someone to do something without telling them directly to do it?

The answer is complicated. Providing a vision on what to do does not necessarily mean giving details as to how to it. For example, I could tell my employees that a new client will be visiting the office at 3PM that afternoon and that I thought we should put our best foot forward. The employees will likely take steps to make sure the office is welcoming. They will take both expected and unexpected steps toward the mission. The trick is to answer the questions, "why are we doing this?" and then empower the people to find a way to get it done.

This is a real challenge, especially if you are working with someone who has been working in an unhealthy management environment for a long time. These people are used to getting orders and don't function well at first when they are empowered. However, it is well worth the investment of time it takes to show these people how rewarding their jobs can be.

Consider carefully the role autonomy plays in leadership and make sure to focus on the vision and goals rather than on the specific steps. Your people will take you places you never dreamed and they will love doing it!