Work isn’t about showing up and sitting in one spot. It’s about getting something accomplished.

Why isn’t this true of our jobs? Why, for most of us, is attendance the factor that determines whether we were a “good” employee for the year?

Now don’t get me wrong. Some businesses need to have people working 9 to 5. I would be upset if I sent my daughter to school only to find out her teacher didn’t show up, because she didn’t want to conform to school hours. But does the marketing manager need to be at the office from 9 to 5? If so, why? What are the reasons?

Or would their time be better off practicing skills?

Too much of business is determined by habit and not science, reason, or even creative thinking.  So check out more of this on my latest Upmarket column: What Business Can Learn From the NFL Playoffs -

Q:  What do you call someone who plays in the NFL but doesn’t practice?

A:  Unemployed.

The NFL is not a multi-billion dollar industry by accident.  Sure it’s an exciting sport.  But at the heart of its success is the fact that everyone involved must practice to keep their job.  You must run efficient routes to be a great receiver.  Success as a quarterback means the ability to throw the ball with speed and accuracy.  Linemen must read blocking schemes and maintain a delicate balance of strength, weight, and agility.

The same is true of other sports.  To be a great golfer you must put in hours upon hours of practice.  If you want success in basketball you must spend hours practicing jump shots and free throws.

Sadly, where this is not true is in most of our jobs.  We can see the connection between success and practice in sports.  But we don’t make that connection as easily when it comes to accounting, leadership, or marketing.  Practice is for athletes.  Not white-collar jobs.  Or so the thinking goes.

image provided by flickr user spullara

As I look back I realize that my involvement in each volunteering opportunity was hit or miss.  I’d sign up for something to “give it a try.”  Maybe it would work. Maybe it wouldn’t.  There wasn’t a strategy in how I decided where to volunteer.  More importantly, however, organizations didn’t have a strategy for my volunteering.  (Surprisingly this was encouraged by most organizations, or at least not discouraged.)

Most organizations and people seem to have an “it’s the thought that counts” attitude when it comes to volunteers   Volunteering is judged not on whether it’s successful.  Or whether that volunteer is the right fit for the organization, or even if the volunteer has the right skill set to do the job.  It’s simply did the volunteer “get into the game.”

Of course as we all know, it’s never just the “thought that counts.”

Actions matter.  Even actions a volunteer takes.  Maybe especially the actions a volunteer takes.

When we volunteer haphazardly we’re running the risk of a revolving door of volunteering, where volunteers come and go, and organizations have no predictable pattern to guide decision making.

This attitude about volunteering leads to two major problems: Turnover and Engagement.

Turnover increases costs, slows down productivity, and hurts morale and satisfaction.  It makes it difficult to work as a team if part of your team is always changing.  So why do we encourage it when it comes from a volunteer?  Why do we allow a system that encourages some people to stick around only a few times?  Is it really giving volunteers the best experience possible?  Because it’s certainly not helping the organization!

The second area haphazard volunteering hurts organizations is in engagement.  If you’re not finding the right volunteer for the right position, good luck getting an engaged group of volunteers to work on your projects!  Also, good luck keeping them focused or wanting to come back for more!

So how can we fix this problem?  While there are no quick fixes (even on the interent) there are, however, two steps you can start taking today.

1.  Use some kind of “hiring” system.  I’m not suggesting some 8 hour grueling interview process, but we need something more than a “try it to see if you like it” approach.  Have volunteers fill out an application.  Interview them.  Find out if it makes sense for them to volunteer with you.  And while you do all of that, explain to them that you’re really just trying to make sure you get the right team together.  And if they get upset and leave, well, then you know they weren’t the right fit!

2.  Create a stronger mentoring / coaching process for our volunteers.  Once you start bringing in the right volunteers, make sure you keep them engaged by helping them to grow their skills.  The best way to do this is through coaching and mentoring programs.  They’ll not only stick around, but begin to display talents you might never have seen before.

Without a doubt I wouldn’t be volunteering in some of the roles I am if I didn’t have good volunteer leaders looking for hidden or underused talents that I had.  In fact, I probably wouldn’t be writing this blog (or releasing a volunteering book) if it hadn’t been for a volunteer leader seeing hidden talent a decade ago.

So let’s not encourage haphazard volunteering, instead, let’s make a better volunteer experience by finding the right volunteers for the right positions.

image provided by flickr user COD Newsroom

That’s what I explore in my new column for Seth Godin’s Upmarket Magazine.  Here’s a blurb:

Seven months ago my unborn son was diagnosed with Down syndrome.  Three months later he was diagnosed with a potentially fatal kidney condition.  Today he’s a happy, healthy boy free from Down syndrome or kidney problems.  In between those times there was a lot of doubt, fear, and celebration.

“Wait, what?  Celebration?”

That’s how a lot of people respond when I share this story.  But the truth is, my wife and I (and our friends) made a conscious effort to celebrate.  Even when it was the darkest we knew we needed to celebrate.  You see, in life there’s always something over the horizon.  There’s always something that is going wrong.  The same is true of work. (read more)

Check it out to find out just what celebration means for you and your team!

image provided by flickr user DCJohn

For starters, sandwich making robots are clearly the holy grail of science fiction.  Which means we’re one step closer to living in the future. A future with great sandwiches!

But more than that, this has practical implications for our work.  It impacts the type of jobs available, how people work with machines, customer service, and even how customers interact with organizations.

Now here is where most places jump into discussions about robot overlords, the evils of technology, or the economic implications of this move.  But that’s not what we do here at Meaning to Work.  What we’re interested in is how we unleash our potential, and how we can be freed to pursue our passions.  So can sandwich making robots be good for your career?

Ironically, I think the answer is “yes.”  Sandwich-Making-Robot-Overlords will help us because it puts the burden of your career / job / life back on your shoulders.  If you think you can get up, go to work, and mail it in, then you’re going to find yourself replaced with a robot-sandwich-making-device at some point.  Companies won’t have a choice, because you don’t provide them with any value.  While this has been true for years now, it will become even more important with robot competition.

Right now, we provide value to organizations simply because they need someone, anyone, standing there.  And organizations will settle for “terrible” over “no one.”  Or “average” for “perfect.”  We’ve all experienced this in fast food restaurants, where the person taking our order acts as if we’re putting them at a major inconvenience for forcing them to do their job.  Or we’ve called into customer service, and the last thing we receive is “service.”  These are often the result of having the wrong people in the wrong jobs.

But what happens when companies no longer have to settle?  What if they can just replace you with a robot who doesn’t complain, miss work, or waste the lettuce?  You see, it’s not that robots are cheaper, it’s that they are proving to be better at the jobs than their human counterparts, because we let them.

I know that being replaced by a robot is not exactly a comforting idea.  But let’s face it, whether this happens today or 10 years from now, it’s on its way.  It’s something we’re going to have to deal with.  And I think the way to deal with it is to apply more of your meaning to your work.  There will always be room for people to bring their meaning to work.  Even at a sandwich shop, if you make a great sandwich and provide great customer service you’re beating the robot in ways that it can’t compete.  If you’re an accountant who knows her numbers, and knows how to make a client laugh, then you’ll have a place in an organization that values those things.

Where I think robots will make the most difference is in eliminating the people who don’t want to be doing what they’re doing.  (And I’ve worked in enough fast food restaurants to know that’s just about everyone!)  They will replace the people who don’t want to be making hamburgers or cooking fries.

So back to the main question, can robots actually make sandwiches?  Well not quite yet.  They still have some ways to go.  Which means your career at Subway is safe for now.  But in the future, this is something we’re going to have to confront.  No longer can we sit back and just “do” our job.  We need to excel at our job.  Of course, why would you want to do anything other than excel is beyond me.

image provided by flickr user adactio

Hearing this tells me two things.

1. This must be an amazing hospital if people are willing to spend (literally) a lifetime working there.

2. These nurses love what they do.

It’s this second point I want to focus on.  To most of us working for one organization for 40 years sounds kind of shocking.  We cringe at eating the same food at lunch for a week.  We scoff at wearing last year’s fashion.  We drool over next year’s iPad’s.  We live in a society that loves change.  (And that’s not necessarily bad.  But it does mean that we don’t really value stability and longevity and often wisdom.)

The only way you can stand to last this long with one employer is if you bring your meaning to your work.  You have to love what you do in order to get up for 10,000 days worth of work.  You must bring meaning to your job if you’re going to put up with grumpy patients, terrible bosses, and annoying bureaucratic tape.

The nurse we spoke with certainly did. In fact, she said that since she was turning 70, she was feeling it was time to retire .  (Her original plan was to retire at 65, but she had cruised right on past it – she simply couldn’t bring herself to leave her job.)

How many of us avoid meaning in our work, or worse, look for our work to give us meaning, only to be disappointed day after day?  Maybe the reason you can’t imagine going to work for 10,000 days with one employer is simply because you aren’t doing what you’re meant to be doing.  Be honest with yourself.  Do you bring your meaning to work every day?  If not, why do you keep doing it?  Is it really worth it?  I mean, deep down, worth it?

We’re headed into a new year.  Maybe it’s time you make that change.  Maybe it’s time to go for that promotion, switch that career, or take that pay cut.  Because if you don’t, when you’re 70, what will your work say about you?

photo provided by flickr user otisarchives3

We often think of empathy as “feeling your pain.”  (Thanks Bill Clinton!)  But it’s actually more than that.  True empathy is the ability to recognize and relate to other people’s emotional states.  Both the good and bad emotional states.

So how does this relate to our work?

Well, all of us experience aches and pains in our daily lives.  Maybe we have a chronic illness.  Maybe we’re just sick.  Or maybe we didn’t sleep well the night before and we’re in pain from an uncomfortable mattress.  (Or because you have a 5 week old baby who refuses to sleep.)

When we experience these aches and pains, we have a need to emotionally unload those feelings.  This usually results in gossip, complaining, or just general lollygagging (which is a scientific measurement recognized in the Ukraine.)  In terms of productivity, though, our aches and pains create an obstacle in our path that derails our productivity.

Having an empathetic boss removes that obstacle by reducing the chance we’ll complain about those ailments.   Instead of trying to find a way to unload our frustrations, we have our need met by our empathetic boss, which in turn improves our work.

So the next time you’re feeling the aches and pains of life, instead of “venting” at the water cooler or to a random co-worker (or Facebook!), find someone with real empathy, and talk to them.  Not only will you feel better, but you’ll be more productive.

Scott, BA, Colquitt, JA, Paddock, EL, Judge, T  “A Daily Investigation of the Role of Manager Empathy on Employee Well-being.”  Organizational behavior and Human Decision Processes. (2009) 

photo provided by flickr user makelessnoise

For the second year in a row I managed to complete a 50,000 word book.  And yes, I did that in a month.  This is both impossibly harder, and wonderfully easier than it sounds.  Make no doubt about it, 50,000 words is a lot.  But at the same time, writing 1,667 words per day is actually pretty manageable if you’re willing to put in the work.  Which, of course, is like most things.

As I close up NaNoWriMo for the year, I realize that I’ve never really had writer’s block.  At least not since I became a blogger.  And as I thought about it, I think there are reasons for this lack of writer’s block.

1.  Practice Effect.  When you need to come up with content day in, or in the case of Meaning to Work, week-in, you have to keep at it whether you feel like it, or whether you are inspired.  So you write, write, and write some more.  Which means you end up practicing the things that make your writing better (i.e., writing.)  This practice effect is probably the single biggest reason I’ve been able to avoid writer’s block. 

2.  Jump to What Inspires.  If there’s one lesson that NaNoWriMo and Meaning to Work have taught me it’s that you should follow what inspires you.  The same goes for your writing.  When you begin to feel the first signs of true writer’s block, shift gears.  Write a different segment of your story.  Start a new chapter.  Go back to an old section.  Whatever you do, don’t just sit there staring at the same text.

3.  Have Goals.  Goals provide the structure for your inspiration.  If you just jump to what inspires, then all you do is have a bunch of spastic activity, and not progress.  Goals help you structure what inspires you into something meaningful.  Goals get you to where you need to be.

4.  Sticking With It.  It’s easy to do the first three steps, and then not follow through.  I used to do this in college.  I’d work my tail off for the first 90% of the semester, then come finals time I would be too tired to finish strong.  And I’d slack off.  As a result I never turned in my best work.  The older I get the more I understand pacing (and therefore avoiding procrastination).  But I also understand the need to finish strong.

While I use these techniques to write.  The truth is they also apply to other work.  You can use these four ideas to become a better chemist, a better project manager, or even as a way to brainstorm new ideas for your business.

So where can you apply these ideas in your life?

Take this example from the world of video games.  In short, a highly anticipated sequel (Deus Ex: Human Revolution) was released after a 10 year wait.  People loved it.  With one exception: the boss fights were terrible.  It was as if they were just crammed in there.  They broke the flow of the game, which in turn pulled players out of their immersion.

Gamers were left wondering what happened.

Well, it turns out the answer was pretty simple – the studio who developed the game had the wrong team.  While most of the game was developed “in house,” the boss fights were outsourced to a different company, who didn’t quite understand the vision of Deus Ex.  And because of this, he didn’t quite get the feel right.  (To the credit of the Deus Ex studio, they have recognized their mistake, and vowed to not make it next time.)

Choosing the right team matters.  Maybe you won’t have magazines covering your choices for your teams.  But you might have customers, clients, or products all counting on you to pick the right team.

So the next time you pick someone for a job based on their resume – ask yourself if they’re right for your team.  The next volunteer you select because of where they volunteered before – make sure it’s a fit for your ministry or opportunity.

The right team matters.

image provided by flickr user clearly ambiguous

There are many reasons this is the case.  One reason is simply our pride.  We’re proud creatures, who have a hard time asking for directions, let alone true help.  (Fortunately Google Maps has made it so we don’t need to ask for directions.)

Another reason is that at least in America, we have a culture that doesn’t value wisdom.  Americans (typically) value knowledge, success, creativity, enthusiasm, productivity – but not wisdom.  And the older I get, the more I realize this is a mistake.

When I look at my life, I’d say that most (if not all) of my major mistakes could have been avoided if I had listened to people with wisdom.  But I was proud, and assumed that I knew more than they did.  Ironically, in a purely technical sense I did know more.  I was up to date on the latest research.  I had more knowledge of a particular problem.  I could process the information more quickly.  Yet what I lacked was the perspective that wisdom provides.

This is why I’ve been thinking a lot about mentoring recently.  In an ideal world mentoring would be all about a transfer of wisdom.  But in my experience this hasn’t happened.  It seems that mentoring focuses more on teaching people that it’s all about productivity and knowledge.  But shouldn’t true mentoring, really be sharing both accumulated knowledge and wisdom?

So if you’re mentoring someone I would challenge you to find ways to meaningful share your wisdom, not just your technical knowledge.  And if you’re being mentored, then set aside your pride, and just assume that your mentor knows something you don’t – even if it doesn’t seem that way at first.

I know my life would have been much easier if I had taken that advice!

photo provided by flickr user FastPhive

But in today’s create on demand world, is that kind of structure necessary anymore?

I say no.  But more than that, my suspicion is that chaining someone to a desk from 9 to 5 actually decreases their motivation and output.

Now don’t get me wrong, this isn’t some kind of push to get out of 40 hour work weeks.  More often than not, I can’t even get my work done in 40 hours, let alone 35 hours.  But those 40 hours don’t need to be sandwiched between 9 and 5.

My wife and I are expecting a child and we’ve had some challenges with the pregnancy.  Which means my focus is divided.  I can’t work even close to an optimal level because I’m distracted.  Especially when I need to make calls to doctors, visit doctors, and just generally talking to doctors.  Only so much can be done.  And after visiting a doctor, my brain is often spent with stress and fatigue.  How is my productivity improved by being forced to not only sit at my desk, but also to sit at my desk longer?

Obviously the answer is, it isn’t a good use of my time.  I’m less productive in the long run because the more work I don’t get done, the more I build up psychological barriers to even starting that work.  What’s happening is that there are some projects that I’d love to work on, but I’m procrastinating because I’ve delayed too long.

Of course this isn’t unique to me.  You’re vulnerable too.  Maybe you’re excited by a date, the weekend or a vacation.  Maybe you’re distracted by a sick kid, a lack of sleep, or the general fatigue that sets in during the afternoon.

Work should be for getting work done.  And as long as you’re producing, why does it matter if you’re sitting at a desk from 9 to 5?

image provided by flickr user umjanedoan