What is work and organisations really about?

2007-03-13T15:01:00.000-07:00

Is it just to satisfy a customer and make a profit so you can stay in business satisyfing customers?
Or is there something more profound that the truly successful organisations know?

What is the secret and
...why are grandfathers wiser than many organisation leaders?

I'll share the secret because it is "what works". really works; always. Anything less is short term, here today and gone tomorrow, and increasing many organisations are being sucked into this "black hole".

Here's the secret to staying out of the hole and, not only surviving, but thriving...going from strength to strength

Do you remember your grandfather in his garden?
He looked after his plants...watered them, kept the pests off, gave them compost that he had made.
He genuinely cared.
Those plants started off small but, as Spring became summer, they grew so large they were feeding him and your grandmother and you and your family.

"What's that go to do with my work and my organisation?" you ask

Everything.

First, lets take a close look at your grandfather and what was going on in his mind and heart.
He enjoyed what he was doing. We both know he could have saved hours, maybe weeks, if he popped down to the village and bought his vegetables.
The key is, he enjoyed his work. He really liked to see those plants grow. He knew what they needed because he genuinely cared.

Second: he genuinely cared.

That is what work and organisations (the genuine ones) are about. The ones that are truly successful.
The people working in them first and foremost are there because they care about "growing customers" just like your grandfather. He was focused on them becoming all they could be; growing to their full potential. He wasn't focused on the ROT....return on his time; or his ROL...return on his land,
"Genuine employees" and "genuine organisations" have the same aim:

Third: supporting their customers to become all they are capable of becoming.
That's why there people are working; that's why they are in business.
And the customers grow, the more they purchase and the more you grow.

And like your grandfather, this "growing relationship" goes beyond mere "trade"...of this for that.
For him it was an investment of his time and his care supporting each plant to grow according it its potential. For a long time it seemed as if he were making all the inputs, and then quite suddenly, there was the harvest.

If you are only focused on "what's in this for me?" very soon there is nothing for you.

One has to be FOCUSED ON CREATING VALUE. The ultimate value is enabling people, organisations and life itself to grow to their full potential. An ever increasing body of reseach, shows that organisations that are like this have growing sales, more in gross margin, more net profit, create more shareholder value and live longer.
Just a few days ago I was talking to a corporate giant which had suddenly become their realisation.
"Unless we can grow our customers there is no more business to be had!"
Anything less dies.

What's your pupose? What's the purpose of your organisation?

Christopher Evatt's blog

What is work and organisations really about?