Spirit and Soul in our work – the great reward
What defines reward from our work? Is it the rush when we get something just the way we wanted? Perhaps it’s the great feeling when we fall back into our recliners, “as seen on TV”. Maybe a great reward from our work is resolution of conflict between a creative team or business relationship. Maybe it’s as simple as being part of a team and knowing that you have people around you that you can rely on. Some people have told me it’s just about the cash.
I don’t believe the folks who say it’s just the money. I believe real reward comes from maintaining purpose, fighting to fulfill a vision and incorporating some of your spirit and soul. If you think your work is a means to get to your real life, think again. We are working more hours and doing more jobs at one time than any generation in our short American history.
Are we coming out of a financial situation that has spanked our country because we failed to find real reward in our work? Did we look for shiny pennies, the silver bullet or good “burn rates”? I believe that we failed to build long-term, strong relationships, companies and communities while we looked for short term success. We got excited with drunken pleasure following confidence in our stock market and artificially inflated home values. If we had put more of our soul into decisions, and thought out plans with focus on long term value and quality, maybe our rewards would have taken longer to get, but they would have been part of a growing and strengthening foundation.
When I see people inject their soul and passion into work, no matter what their level on the corporate ladder, that honesty, commitment and ownership feeds the process and makes us happier and better at what we do. While I believe this injection works at all levels, it is our leaders who must drive business and politics with their good spirit and soul.
A few things we could do differently…..
We can listen to the next suggestion that we might have ignored in the past.
We can get a team of peers together and look for ways to improve a situation.
We can take a risk with someone who has earned our trust through their investment of time and long-term performance.
Maybe the most important thing we can do is lower our expectations for short term reward in corporate and personal goals, allowing us to focus down the road on meaningful growth.
Our country has nurtured and is home to some of the greatest knowledge in the world. With thousands of businesses and organizations representing expertise in every field, it is the responsibility of our leadership to leverage this undeveloped knowledge, invest in it and promote and share it with the world. Our intellectual property is one of our greatest untapped resources.
Our electronic media industry lacks the development of great knowledge that is within many of the brightest minds, companies and organizations. Our company works to capture and produce that content and get it on TV and the web. (Often with smaller budgets than in the past.) Our goal is to leverage this knowledge, capture and produce videos and interactive programs and then deliver to specific audiences worldwide. While there is often pressure to get something out the door fast, we never forget that our clients and viewers are looking for a long-term relationship.
For our company and clients, I am going to continue to invest time in getting our people connected to experts and opinion leaders, maintain my passion, stay disciplined, make some compromises and continue to be persistent when I see lack of movement. I too search for reward, but I’ve noticed that by developing long-term relationships, the rewards have been coming more often and are lasting longer. It is my hope that as we continue to inject spirit and soul in our work, we will see consistent growth and reward shared by our team, vendors and clients.
RDA
