Creating good work—commentary on the workplace and how to make it better

This blog is focused on my passion—helping people do a better job at work, feel good about their efforts, develop as individuals and produce results for the organization. When one’s skills and focus are on a set of shared goals and an inspiring vision– be it a roof over head or a new way to make cereal, there are few things more rewarding than working and accomplishing desired, positive and shared outcomes.

The workplace has been satirized and critiqued as long as there have been workers and bosses. There are those who believe work was better “back in the day”. I do not—though I admit that its changing nature can at times be tough to understand and work effectively in. Work like every aspect of our culture evolves and changes. It does so in response to changing technology and to meet new and different needs of customers. Innovation, more information and globalization create new needs and desires for more people as well as diverse and different ways of contributing and “working”. My goal is not to critique or lament what happens at work or to deplore the way the world is evolving, but rather to share what I believe makes for good work and increased personal and organizational productivity and satisfaction in these changing times.

For most people work is both a necessity and a way of being in the world. It is through work that most of us provide for those we love (selves included) and also where we contribute to the engine of progress or more profoundly, the evolution of the species. It is through our work, from working in a accounting to running divisions of organizations that we find ourselves challenged to balance our inputs and outputs, to contribute to the whole while producing for ourselves, and where we meet and interact with a diversity of people who for many of us would not be in our lives if not for work.

Good work, like a good friendship, a healthy strong body or a deep spiritual base is one small part luck (you had good genes, family that focused on athletics or a set of religious parents ) and a great many parts determination, persistence and effort—starting with choosing what we want and staying the course to get it. This blog will focus on how to maximize productive behavior at work, and maximize as well our own capacity to give of our gifts and use our intellect. I define “productive behavior” as that effort that contributes at the very least to one’s individual well being, but which also ideally helps others in some concrete way.

Productive behavior also respects the earth, other people and the well being of society. It is an outlet for our energy, a way to make life more worth living, and if at all possible helps us develop discipline and expertise to help us in our life’s broader journey. Work that is abusive, corrupted, focused on helping a few at the benefit of the many is not good work. It never was, and it never will be. The goal of work is not maximizing any one thing—it serves a host of needs and a number of constituencies. This is my core assumption and belief. As a consultant and a coach, it my privilege to help organizations and individuals understand how to more effectively work, focus their time and achieve the results they want to. If I can do this with integrity, knowing that my effort makes a positive contribution to organizations and individuals, then I have done good work.

Comments are welcomed but I certainly don’t expect or need them to keep me writing—and I plan to do that weekly or so. Likely your time is full and I want this to be a gift to you, NOT another thing for you to HAVE to respond to. It is my hope these entries will engage people in better defining and being part of good work. It is also my hope that reading and reflecting on these small pieces will create more focus on the importance of and benefit too many of good work. If you think work can be good, empowering, good for one and good for all . . . . Read on.