work matters | Continuous Improvement Blog

Continuing with the theme of why “work matters,” the goal is to implement improvement initiatives in work at all levels every day.

Continuous Improvement in daily work helps organizations make improvement a way of life — a workplace culture rather than just a program or one-time event.

A few additional considerations for achieving this mind-set include:

Clear accountability for each person in each department or group
There must be agreed upon ways to measure performance
There must be consequences (good and bad) to reinforce accountability
Established and understood performance measures and targets
Confirm the purpose of each person’ work and each department’s work. As noted in our previous post, people perform best and maintain higher-levels of engagement when they know that their work matters. It is important that everyone understands the purpose
There must be clear priorities and goals, which creates alignment
People must be trained so that they have the skills to analyze and improve the work; leaders should be involved in these educational programs — in both a participatory and supportive role

A blog post by Dr. Dr. Alison Eyring, the founder and CEO of Organisation Solutions, a global consultancy specializing in organizational design, references the the degree to which so many world-renowned journalists are commitment to their work.

“Their work has meaning,” she writes. “It is important. It matters. They matter.”

Eyring goes on to discuss engagement, and how it can mean many things to many people. But overall, “it has to do with the degree to which people are willing to expend discretionary effort… to do great work, to stay in the company and to contribute to the community of employees around them.”

Yet despite the millions of dollars spent on various activities attempting to “engage” employees, many employers find the majority of their employees are disengaged (70% based on recent Gallup polls).

Eyring also states that “work motivates and satisfies us when it has meaning, offers autonomy, and leverages a variety of skills. If we want high levels of engagement, we have to go beyond leader behavior or employee characteristics and look to the way we structure work.”

This perspective is well-aligned with our Engagement Around the Work” white paper.

The simple truth is that people prefer to work in an environment where their work is important — where their work matters; and in an environment in which they can be productive.

In the end, working on things that matter to us and working productively are the key drivers of sustainable engagement.