Meaning

After reviewing these quotes and the Harvard Business review article Getting Beyond Engagement to Creating Meaning at Work there is a lot that can be said about change and leadership.  First off in my personal opinion change is inevitable.  Anyone who goes into any organization and does not expect change to occur at some point is greatly mistaken.  I agree 100% with the Harvard Business Review article as it pertains to finding meaning in your work.  This is a difficult thing for some people to understand in today’s day and age because everything revolves around money.  To many people it does not matter what the job is as long as they are making enough money to finance the style life they want they feel they can put up with it.  This situation is not always the case.  I can give a good example of this idea.  This is a personal example as it pertains to my wife.  When we arrived at my current duty station she got a government job working on the base where I am stationed.  It was quite a lucrative position for us financially however, the job was very boring and did not require much effort on her part.  There were many days were she had to go out and find things to do.  This was very boring to her.  She is a licensed clinical councilor with a master’s degree in counseling and had recently been serving as a family counselor and had enjoyed the interaction and helping people aspect of the job.  To many people the job she was filling would be perfect she got paid a lot of money to do very little work.  This was not the case for her.  So after spending a year doing it she quit and got a job making quite a bit less money however, it was in her field of counseling.  The new change and ability for her to utilize the training and education she had worked for was very rewarding and beneficial for her.  I think this is a perfect example of what this article is trying to convey.  If you as a worker can find meaning to you work you will work harder, be more creative, work tenaciously, and hopefully help your organization succeed at whatever it does (Ulrich, D, W., 2010).  In my example it was my wife who found the meaning in her work by herself.  As a leader if you can inspire meaning for those who you lead in your organization you are determined to have success.  As a leader if you shape a vision, help people make sense of past ideas you can engage them and have them want to work for you and not feel like they have to do it.  I believe the three quotes given for this assignment also go hand in hand with this.  All three quotes deal with finding a meaning or desire for personnel.  They talk about motivation and what keeps you going. 

            As previously stated change is inevitable.  Those who do not realize this are in for a hard time within their organization.  However, I believe there are ways to successfully implement change throughout an organization.  The Yukl text discusses vision and the power that it has to influence change.  In my opinion this is where a good leader makes his or her money when it comes to change.  The Yukl text discusses how a vision should be simple and idealistic (Yukl, 2013).  It states that it should discuss the desirable future goals and not contain complex goals or detailed action steps.  If you want to get people on board with change your vision should appeal to their hopes, values, as well as the organizational ideals.  This will help ensure members and others who can affect the change support your end goal.  People are normally against change for a variety of reasons.  Some feel the change is not needed, others feel the change may not be feasible, and some may argue that the change is not cost effective and quite possibly the biggest reason people fear or are against change is the fear of personal loss.  As a leader it is your job and the success of your change rests solely on if you can convey a vision that aims to squash these fears.  As a leader discuss the change with your work force and get there anxiety over the change.  Explain why the change is needed and be truthful with them.  While there are always going to be people who fear and are against change as a leader if you can convey a vision and explain to your personnel why the change is needed and get their buy in you have a much better chance at success than the leader who decides on change and then just implements no questions asked. 

 

Ulrich, D., & W. (2010). Getting Beyond Engagement to Creating Meaning at Work. Harvard

Business Review. Retrieved from:   https://hbr.org/2010/06/getting-beyond-engagement-to-c

Yukl, G. (2013). Leadership in Organization (8^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:

Prentice Hall.