Are You In Or Out?
The organizations that move our soul have a clear vision. A vision that elevates the mundane and repetitive into something exciting and life giving.
As a leader you’re entrusted with the care of that vision. It’s your responsibility to turn something ethereal and so full of emotion it’s hard to describe into reality.
You can only move an idea forward so much on your own. Employees are force multipliers that help bring that vision to life.
Looking at this in two dimensions it seems transactional. Simply paying someone to execute your ideas.
It seems transaction from the opposite side as well. An employee trades their time and energy simply to get a paycheck.
This is until we add the third dimension.
Belief
Belief is one of the key factors in cultural fit. Belief in a vision and trusting the person who holds that vision transforms work from a job into a cause. If your employees don’t believe in your vision, if your employees don’t believe in you — there’s a problem.
As a leader you have a problem because you’ll be constantly fighting against negative friction. Trying to get someone to participate in a vision they really don’t believe in, following the lead of a person they don’t believe in, is a losing battle. It’s frustrating, demotivating, and leaves you with that nagging feeling of “What the fuck?!”
As an employee you have a problem for the same reason. It’s painful to spend forty fours a week doing something you don’t care about, for someone you don’t trust, and participating in a culture that doesn’t feed your soul.
So each side spins its wheels trying to get what they want.
Clarity
Clarity is the power for an employee to say “this isn’t for me” or for an employer to say “this isn’t for you.”
That clarity is a statement about what’s best for each party, not a judgment against the character of the other.
“This isn’t for you” isn’t the same thing as “I don’t like you” or “You’re not a good person.”
The hard part is holding the line. Owning your values and principles as an organization and as a person.
I’ve been on both sides. I’ve tried exhaustively to bend organizations to my will only to become angry and frustrated. Looking back it’s clear that the only person I could blame for my unhappiness was myself. In the moment it felt highly charged, like a battle between good and evil, but in reality it was simply the case of square peg, round hole. I should have left a long time ago.
As a leader I’ve also tried exhaustively to convince people to believe in not only the vision I see in my head but in myself. I wanted to make my employees happy, to give them the space to contribute in a way that I never could, to give them freedom to create their own path. But I would inevitably get to a crossroads where I was faced with a choice: saying goodbye to the vision, or the person. After sometimes months of frustrating conversations the answer is always so clear even if it’s not easy. That person should have left a long time ago.
Responsibility
So each party has a responsibility. Not to the other but to themselves. To take the path that leads to their own happiness and highest contribution.
When we’re all on the same path that’s when our skills can really shine.
As an employee this alignment creates a situation where you can have freedom and autonomy to do your best work for something you believe in, to contribute in your own way to something that’s bigger than yourself.
As a leader this gives you the opportunity to spend your time teaching, connecting, and helping people grow instead of constantly wrangling misplaced intentions.
Things are more fun, more rewarding, and we get more shit done when we’re on the same path. The work isn’t always easy — things worth doing rarely are, but if you’re reading this you probably already know that easy is overrated.
We’re all spending energy. The journey is sweeter when we spend that energy in accordance with what we believe. Coaching is a part of leading, but time spent trying to convince a non-believer is better spent doubling down on people who already believe (they’ll attract more true believers in the long run). Time spent trying to make an organization something it's not is better spent finding an organization that fits your needs.
So get in, or get out. If a situation isn’t serving you there’s no glory in staying in, and there’s no shame in getting out.
It’s worth the initial sting of saying “this isn’t a good fit” to recapture the energy that comes with spending your days working towards a vision you believe in with people you believe in.