Last year, I took the commuter rail into Boston to go to a conference. This is a trip which was very familiar to me as I used to take this train when I worked in the city, but this time it was different. Unlike my past trips, I was excited and looking forward to my day. I was going to the Great Places to Work Conference which was full of business leaders who loved where they worked and did all they could to create organizations where going to work is an extremely positive experience.
This was a stark contrast to what I saw around me. Most of my fellow commuters had drained looks on their faces and they trudged along as if they were on a death march to an internment camp. As I walked along with this crowd, I realized that not many of these people had jumped out of bed and said, "Hooray, I'm going to work today and boy will it be fun!"; at least not without a sarcastic tone in their voice.
Why are so many work places draining the life out of their people and what is the dysfunction of these organizations doing to the strength of these companies' brands?
I once knew someone who was deciding between two jobs: one that paid extremely well but would be a job he hated, and one job that paid barely enough for him to live on but he knew he would love. He told me of some advice a friend gave him. "Face it, all work sucks. I hate my job, everyone else hates their jobs, so why do you feel you should be able to like what you do? Therefore, you might as well take the job that pays the most because at least the money eases the pain."
With that kind of attitude do you think that person provides great customer service to his company's clients? Do you think he is constantly looking for innovative ways to improve the company's product or save the company money? Probably not. He punches his card, does what he "has to do" and gets the heck out of there as fast as he can at the end of the day. The sad thing is that a great number of workers feel the same way as him, yet most companies can't understand why their brands are losing dominance in the marketplace.
The Great Places to Work Institute develops the "100 Great Places to Work" lists and the conference I went to was full of companies that believe in creating extraordinary organizations. They all strive to develop a culture that breeds passionate advocates who share the company's vision, care about its success, strive to make the company's products truly the best and spread their passion for the brand to others both inside and outside the organization.
The results of creating extraordinary organizations were evident by all of the speakers from these Great Companies. Each one of the leaders talked about how they were the foremost brand in their particular marketplace, how their company had growth that significantly exceeded their competition as well as the stock market, but most importantly they how their people and the extraordinary culture of their organization was the cause of their brand's success.
Three days at this conference further reinforced the theory that extraordinary organizations create strong brands. So with that in mind I ask again, why are so many work places draining the life out of their people, what is the dysfunction of these organizations doing to the strength of these companies' brands, and most importantly, why does work have to suck?
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