Page 188 - How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win

WHAT CHALLENGES INTEREST ME? (PERSONALIZED CONTRIBUTIONS)

4. Shaping Work Conditions to Offer
Abundance to Each Employee

Wendy likes one-on-one meetings with ongoing clients;
Dave finds abundance in working as a presenter with large
groups of strangers. Much of Wendy’s work has occurred
in a small office; Dave’s requires extensive travel and large
venues. Wendy’s work requires deep connections with a few
people; Dave’s requires looser connections with many. Both
Dave and Wendy are motivated by the purposes of insight
and impact, but their preferred work parameters vary con-
siderably. Leaders build abundance when they help each
employee discover and actualize the work conditions that
matter most to them. These specific work conditions vary
along four parameters:

• • What type of work am I doing?
• • Where do I work?
• • How do I work?
• • When do I work?

People will answer these questions differently. A friend
(Kathleen) wants to work as a toll booth operator. She imag-
ines a job without stress that at the end of the day she can
leave to pursue what really matters to her. Her skills of dis-
cipline, integrity, and comfort with routine make the toll
booth her ideal job. Another friend (Leslie) graduated from
a top university program. She enjoyed writing and found a
seemingly ideal job at a top publishing house. But the job
entailed less creative writing and more editing on a dead-
line. She wanted to create new ideas, not edit others’ work.
She was competent and hardworking, but the work did not

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