I am something of a Patrick Lencioni fan. I find his books on leadership and team-building to be very insightful. Some time ago I read his book, “The Three Signs Of A Miserable Job”. In that book Lencioni suggests that while many people find great enjoyment in their work, most do not. In fact, he says that in his experience ‘more people out there are miserable in their jobs than fulfilled by them’ (pg. 219).
Lencioni’s three signs are anonymity, irrelevance, and ‘immeasurement’. In his opinion if an employee is relatively unknown within their organization, if they do not see the importance of their work or see it contributing in any meaningful way to the success of the organization, and if they have no way of genuinely measuring whether or not they are personally succeeding or doing a good job, then they will be miserable at work. After exploring these three signs, Lencioni goes on to discuss how a ‘culture of job fulfillment’ can be created and the benefits of doing so.
Lencioni came to mind because over the past few months I have had a number of conversations with people about work and what they enjoy and do not enjoy about it. I have not kept a tally so I do not know how many of those people would say they are more on the ‘miserable’ side of the equation rather than the ‘fulfilled’ side, but work satisfaction does seem to be something of an issue. And I have found that there are a variety of reasons for dissatisfaction, including the three Lencioni suggests.
Because of these conversations I recently picked up a book entitled, “Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet.” The book was not exactly what I was looking for, but the opening comments were helpful. The authors offer that, “Doing good work feels good. Few things in life are as enjoyable as when we concentrate on a difficult task, using all our skills, knowing what has to be done”. And they go on to suggest that this level of enjoyment can happen at work “…as long as the job provides clear goals, immediate feedback, and a level of challenges matching our skills. When these conditions are present, we have a chance to experience work as ‘good’ – that is, something that allows the full expression of what is best in us…” (pg. 5).
The phrase, ‘the full expression of what is best in us’ caught my attention. It summarizes well what I aim to do in the training and consulting that I offer. Finding a connection between who we are at our core and how we spend our workday is a significant accomplishment. And I have found that on an organizational level, it is possible to create a workplace environment where, for the most part, people enjoy what they do. Work can be a fulfilling and meaningful experience. It does take effort on the part of the organization or company to help bring this about, but it is possible, and there are numerous rewards for doing so.
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Three Signs of A Miserable Job
Lencioni’s three signs are anonymity, irrelevance, and ‘immeasurement’. In his opinion if an employee is relatively unknown within their organization, if they do not see the importance of their work or see it contributing in any meaningful way to the success of the organization, and if they have no way of genuinely measuring whether or not they are personally succeeding or doing a good job, then they will be miserable at work. After exploring these three signs, Lencioni goes on to discuss how a ‘culture of job fulfillment’ can be created and the benefits of doing so.
Lencioni came to mind because over the past few months I have had a number of conversations with people about work and what they enjoy and do not enjoy about it. I have not kept a tally so I do not know how many of those people would say they are more on the ‘miserable’ side of the equation rather than the ‘fulfilled’ side, but work satisfaction does seem to be something of an issue. And I have found that there are a variety of reasons for dissatisfaction, including the three Lencioni suggests.
Because of these conversations I recently picked up a book entitled, “Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet.” The book was not exactly what I was looking for, but the opening comments were helpful. The authors offer that, “Doing good work feels good. Few things in life are as enjoyable as when we concentrate on a difficult task, using all our skills, knowing what has to be done”. And they go on to suggest that this level of enjoyment can happen at work “…as long as the job provides clear goals, immediate feedback, and a level of challenges matching our skills. When these conditions are present, we have a chance to experience work as ‘good’ – that is, something that allows the full expression of what is best in us…” (pg. 5).
The phrase, ‘the full expression of what is best in us’ caught my attention. It summarizes well what I aim to do in the training and consulting that I offer. Finding a connection between who we are at our core and how we spend our workday is a significant accomplishment. And I have found that on an organizational level, it is possible to create a workplace environment where, for the most part, people enjoy what they do. Work can be a fulfilling and meaningful experience. It does take effort on the part of the organization or company to help bring this about, but it is possible, and there are numerous rewards for doing so.
This entry was posted on Thursday, October 21st, 2010 at 12:18 pm and is filed under Comments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.