A workman is not just a workman.
A laborer is not just a laborer.
An office worker is not just an office worker.
They are living, breathing, important pillars on which the entire structure of our civilization is erected. They are not cogs in a mighty machine.
They are the machine itself.— L. Ron Hubbard
On a regular basis I hear about toxic workplaces on my LinkedIn feed. They’re almost exclusively based on some executive team’s view that they are the sole creators of value, and that everyone else is just too stupid or incompetent to function without their guidance. Or some variation of that.
Whenever I have these conversations in person or I’m doing a workshop and this comes up, I reach into and take out a little plastic part that I carry in my toolbox. (What, you don’t have a toolbox?).
It’s a crankshaft position sensor. It costs about thirty bucks.
The idea for this prop came to me years ago….
I was sitting in an all company meeting and the SVP of Sales was telling a story. I couldn’t believe it as it unfolded. It started out very nicely, comparing the company to a tribe of individuals all working together. And then it turned sharply. He announced that there was one role in the tribe that was above all others — the Hunters.
The hunters were the sales people. And he described in graphic detail how it was the sales people who went out and got the meat, so everyone in the tribe could survive. Everyone else was suordinate. He ended by invoking the entire company to give a round of applause to our hunters! Because without them we would surely be homeless somewhere.
I turned to my sales friend at the table and I began to thank him profusely for being able to feed and clothe my kids. He rolled his eyes. And so I asked out loud to the table a few questions.
“What happens when the order entry clerks stop processing the orders?”
“What happens when the developers stop coding?”
“What happens when my trainers decide they just aren’t going to teach customers for a while?”
Of course, the company fails. It doesn’t matter how many deals you close if you can’t process and deliver you’re done.
Back to my prop…
I can put a blueprinted and balanced engine in my expensive performance sedan, but if that little crankshaft sensor isn’t working I can probably ride faster on my bicycle. It simply proves a point that those execs will never understand.
There are no “more important” roles. High performing companies are like performance cars — they are a function of every single part working together efficiently.
One of the things I teach in my leadership workshop is the critical importance of Impact on success. Each and every individual contributor must understand, from their leaders, how their efforts have a positive impact on the business and customers. Otherwise your talent is just going to go through the motions until they get bored and find another job.
The World Economic Forum in 2022 reported that 31% of people quitting did so simply because of perceived lack of meaningful work.
Note I use the term “perceived.” Very few real jobs are unnecessary, and yet are perceived as meaningless. I argue that is the fault of the leadership. I’ve done alignment workshops where each and every time I simply had to do some activities to show people in mundane jobs how important their work was to the overall success. It’s not rocket science.
All it takes from a leader is to spend more time looking “down” than “up” to have high performing teams.
Each and every individual contributor must understand, from their leaders, how their efforts have a positive impact on the business and customers.
Buck Bard is the founder and Chief Harbinger at Canary Works, a design thinking practice that promotes learning design, education, and innovation.
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