Bill Jensen wrote a wonderful book – Work 2.0 – the new contract.
Bill talks about the new contact for work being how to use life’s precious assets. The book is a call to attention to the human dimension of getting things done. Bill states: “it is no longer acceptable to say that there’s work and there’s life and it’s up to employees to balance the two. The very act of using someone’s time assigns some accountability to you, me, and everyone in every workplace. (p 1 & 2)”
The key question for any organization or leader is:
Do I waste any of my people’s talent, time, attention, ideas, knowledge, passion, energy, or social networks.
If you do…don’t.
Photo Credit: Garbage Pile! by http://flickr.com/photos/matteo-mazzoni/1135487854/
Stop the waste indeed! With all due credit to Bill Jenson and Work 2.0 (the new contract), I believe the definitive text is Henry Ford’s first autobiography, My Life and Work (1922) written with Samuel Crowther.
The trendy concepts the “Toyota Production System,” “World Class Manufacturing,” “Japanese Management,” “Business Excellence,” and “Operational Excellence” were documented 85 years ago and support the contract for engaging the complete person (i.e., above and below the neck). Ford stated, “the invisible waste of time in misdirected human labor is extraordinarily expensive”. “Wasted time does not litter the floor like wasted material.”
Ford also noted, “There is a difference between working hard and hard work. The world does not pay for sweat. It pays for results.” Two key points outlined in that book that highlight this:
#1 – When you come right down to it, most jobs are repetitive. Drive the drudgery out of work by creating opportunities for people to do the most difficult work, thinking.
#2 – Make individual responsibility complete
These are the essential elements of adopting a “30-inch view of the workplace” instead of a 30,000 foot view which can keep your company from contributing to the human resource landfill.
Josh
As the old commercial asked: Have you driven a Ford lately? I have not but I do apprecicate this reference back to 1922 and Ford. Sometimes we lose touch with the origins and history of ideas about work and engagement. This was an excellent example of that.
Thank you.
David
David,
I agree with Bill Jensen that “it is no longer acceptable to say that there’s work and there’s life and it’s up to employees to balance the two”.
Overlooking for a moment the problem with the inference that work is opposite of life; as managers our “assigned accountability” becomes clear when we understand that worklife balance is two words not three.
Jim:
Yes the two words are fused together, my nagging question is why did work come before life in worklife. Without life there is no work yet without work their isn’t much life. I wrote more about this at my co-created site http://www.slackermanger.com: http://www.slackermanager.com/2008/01/lifework-balance-where-the-heck-am-i-part-1.html
David