Page 129 - How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win

THE WHY OF WORK

Arina, a supervisor in a large social service agency, noticed
that even though many of the employees were friendly and
connected, others seemed to operate on the sidelines. Many
of the latter were talented individuals whose work benefited
the agency, but Arina felt like they were not having a great
experience at work and wondered how long they would stay
once other opportunities opened up. She took time during a
training meeting to discuss the concept of bids, gave a play-
ful demonstration of making and receiving bids, and invited
discussion about what happens when bids are ignored. She
encouraged everyone to pay more attention to both mak-
ing and responding to bids and made sure she modeled the
changes she was hoping for. She continued to bring up the
concept of bids often, asked the less connected employees
about their experience with bidding and responding to oth-
ers’ bids, and deliberately set up time for people to connect
informally. The atmosphere at the agency began to warm
up, and at least some of the folks she had worried about los-
ing started to make better connections at work.
Think about a bid for attention you have made today.
What did you do? How did the other person receive your
bid? Did he or she keep the volley going? Who made a bid
for your attention today? Did you return the serve or let the
ball bounce off the court while you looked something up on
the Internet or rushed to meet a deadline? We have encour-
aged people to set a goal of having at least one meaningful
encounter with a person each day. While this sounds easy, it
often requires consciously making and receiving bids rather
than falling back into personal isolation.
How would you rate the confidence people in your orga-
nization feel to make and respond to bids? Do you make a

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