September can signal a ‘new tear’ kind of feeling and for many, it can signify a psychological fresh beginning. Many of us are eager to break out of the bureaucratic way of doing business that weighs us down and holds us back from being as responsive and innovative as we’d like to be. With so many factors making up your organizational culture (how things get done), it can be frustrating to determine effective ways to help yourself, your employees, your leaders and your colleagues break free of some of the more stifling traditions. And a sense of inertia can result from pessimistic predictions about the economic landscape.
But take heart - evidence exists that there IS something that can be done to get and keep people engaged and motivated to innovate.
Studies show that when someone’s personal sense of purpose, values, work, organization and community are aligned with the organizational mission of their workplace, they will feel engaged. When people are engaged, they take pride in their work. When they see the link between objectives and goals at work and their personal mission and vision, it makes sense to them to change themselves and innovate n order to achieve those organizational goals.
It’s true that aligning your work with your firm’s mission and vision isn’t a new concept, it’s actually difficult to do. Difficult, but possible.
In a perfect world, it should start at the top, and requires observable leadership behaviors. Leaders can:
- Test assumptions and history (“We’ve always done it this way”)
- Encourage creativity
- Support experimentation
- Not punish people for failure
- Help people with their work
What does it look like and sound like when leader’s DO those things?
Even if an organizations’ leadership isn’t visionary, there is always something an individual can do.YOU could:
- Build consensus
- Sow the seeds of change
- Test out an idea (or create a trial to see how things go)
- Find people who are like-minded to create a solid foundation for innovation.
What does it look like and sound like when you do those things?
Change doesn’t always come from the top. It can come from any organizational level when people do things differently that results in effective progress. This is what can engage, empower. To fight apathy from taking hold where you work, take some active steps to foster innovation and engagement.
