Does It Matter If It's Not Your Career?

 

Over the last several months (if not the last year) I've expressed my concerns about the potential for a mass talent migration from organizations who have compelled the workforce to work and produce more for less. Anecdotally, I know of a number of people who are very frustrated at the hamster wheel the feel they are on. They complain that every day there is another crisis that requires them to work extra hours and feel extra stress. Although I agree (and support the notion) that there are times when it's important to put in some extra effort, when crunch time becomes all the time—I think there is something wrong.

In an article published on the Grapevine, Owen Morgan asks, "So why are so many employees currently thinking about changing employers—and at a time of such economic uncertainty?"

I don't know if you are seeing this in your organization or among the members of your project teams, but I predict that this could become a pretty big problem for many organizations who depend on their people to create and innovate. Which is why I ask the question, "Does it really matter if it's not your career?"

I think it does.

I work with a colleague who is a very talented and capable manager. One night last week as we were getting ready to leave the office, he commented that he felt like part of his responsibility as a leader was to help advance the career of those who worked on his team. Although I have never articulated it that way, I have to agree. In fact, some of the accomplishments I'm most proud of involve helping individuals on my team advance and succeed in their careers.

"Development is the key word here—while many employees will claim that another role offers greater rewards," writes Morgan. "In many cases these are unlikely to be solely of a financial nature. It's well known that people move roles for a variety of reasons, but the search for new experiences and challenges is often foremost among them—doubly so for those who are driven, innovate and unprepared to accept the status-quo—just the sort of people that organizations cannot afford to lose and who will be able to help their employer through the challenging times that lie ahead."

I'm convinced that people are less motivated by money than we might think. However, that doesn't mean that we can get away with poor pay and poor benefits. What it does mean is that if you're not the New York Yankees, you can still build a championship baseball team (without buying it).

In other words, according to Morgan, "Most forward-thinking organizations have identified their talent and even though some development opportunities are likely to have fallen along the wayside, effective and open conversations between line managers and their teams, articulating the importance of an individual to the future success of the organization can work wonders. Truly effective managers rise to the challenge here, and at the same time as ensuring that the team is deployed to achieve the short and medium-term organizational objectives that are set, they never lose sight of the longer term and how their individual team members might play a part in it."

Unfortunately, this type of behavior seems to the be the exception rather than the rule. Do the members of your project team know that you value what they do and that their contributions to the team are important to the success of your organization? If they don't, it might be time to do something about it.

In a nutshell, Morgan sums it up this way, "So telling people they have a career with their current employer and not just a job can reduce the instances of those looking to leave."

This doesn't mean that I'm advocating that we tell our team members that we expect them to treat what they do as more than a job. That will happen naturally when we treat them as something more than mindless employees compelled to do mindless tasks.

Does it matter if it's not your career? It absolutely does.