As I outlined last week, our consulting firm believes in creating robust organizational clarity by answering six “critical clarity questions” with your leadership team. (See linked article for the six questions with explanations. Thank you for this blessed framework, Patrick Lencioni.)
As I noted, our answer to the first of the six questions, “Why do we exist?”, is To make work great. As promised let me now unpack that, then equip you to create some of your own clarity.
“To make…
At KNC we want to influence people for good. God created us and endowed us with freedom and intelligence. He called us to cooperate with Him in shaping human history. We have the privilege of participating in His creative action in the world, which is a joy.
…work…
“Till the earth and subdue it.” Work is necessary. It’s also humanizing and noble. We’re however often sold a vision of work that minimizes its inherent value: get to retirement as soon as you can. No way. Work is far more significant than a mere means to an economic end. In working not only do we contribute to society, but we also shape our character, our families, and our societies.
Consider the math: if you sleep 8 hours a night, that leaves (16 hrs x 7 days =) 112 waking hours a week. If you work 40 hours, that’s 36% of your time not asleep; 50 hours, 45%; 60 hours—over half of your waking hours. Thus work takes up a lot of our time, a lot of our life. And that’s good. But sometimes work isn’t.
…great.”
What percentage of the workforce is miserable because organizations are dysfunctional. I have no idea, but I’m guessing it’s not negligible. And the good news is that dysfunction is fixable: work can be changed, it can improve. It can become great with some patient, persistent, courageous effort.
Let’s now talk about you and how you can create some meaningful clarity. If you don’t know your organization’s answer to “Why do we exist?” try this: take an hour with your leadership team and ask each person to write down a proposed answer. Goal: short, clear, simple, compelling phrases that get at the root of things. Then ask each person to read out their answer, someone writing them with different coloured markers on a wall or chart, then ask for brief explanations. Discuss the similarities and differences. Finally, work towards one common answer that makes sense, that motivates, and that everyone can get behind.
Try it, see what happens, and feel free to let us know how it goes. We are genuinely curious.
Clarity is beautiful and worth working towards; indeed fighting for. A lot is at stake. Clarity for the win.