Reflect on what you have read and viewed and what it means when we say that leaders must create a “cause” or "meaning." Relate this to the theory of leading change. Use examples and apply the work of others where necessary.
"Finding meaning" is probably a misnomer, however. Meaning is not a dropped coin we pick up by chance. It is more like fine pottery we craft. People have to create the meaning of their work and their lives, and that process requires skills and practice, not just luck. It is important for leaders to understand what makes an employee experience meaningful and what role they can play in this process. Even in unfavorable circumstances, people can experience an activity as meaningful when it resonates with chosen values, connects them with people they like, raises their sense of competence, or gives them an "ah-ha" moment of insight. From what we know about how the human brain works, the ability to create meaning is also enhanced by challenge(solving a problem that is not hard or too easy), emotional safety (fostered by friendship, fairness, and self-esteem), autonomy (Structure but not micromanagement), and, perhaps most importantly, learning from experienced meaning — makers.
Dave and Wendy, (June 2, 2010),also added,seven drivers of meaning that leaders can leverage are identify as follows:
1. Help employee identify and creatively use the strengths, traits, and values (like integrity—, leadership, love of learning, kindness, etc.) with which they most identify. Leader can help people improve their mental models about the way things work in organizations and the reasons for success or failure. For collective learning to be successful, team members must be able to develop a shared mental that is accurate and use it to interpret performance feedback. By helping people to understand complex systems, a leader can increase their ability to learn and solve problems. In this way, the leader also helps people understand that they are not powerless and can collectively influence events in the organization Yukl, (2013, P.110).
2. Match the purpose (insight, achievement, connection, or empowerment) that motivate employees to the jobs they do. One way for leader to facilitate innovation is to recruit people who have the skill and enthusiasm to develop new ideas, and then empower them to pursue these ideas by providing necessary time and Yukl, (2013, P.109).
3. Foster friendships and key relationship-building skills-like making and receiving bids and apologizing effectively — to create high-performance, high-relating teams. Leaders find the common thread that weaves together the fabric of human needs into a colorful tapestry. They seek out the brewing consensus among those they would lead. In order to do this, they develop a deep understanding of the collective yearnings. They listen carefully for quiet whisperings in dark corners. They attend to the subtle cues. They sniff the air to get the scent. They watch the faces. They get a sense of what people want, what they value, what they dream about Kouzes and Posner (1987, P115).
4. Promote positive work environments through attention to characteristics like humility, selflessness, order, and openness. Active resistance indicates the presence of strong values, and emotions that could serve as a source of commitment if opponents are converted to supporters. It is essential to discuss a proposed change with the people who will be affected to learn about their concerns and their ideas about the best course of action Yukl, (2013, P.92).
5. Help people identify and work at the types of challenges that line up with their personal experience of engagement or flow. One way to built follower optimism about vision is to link it to their ability to collectively solve problems and overcome difficult obstacles. If people have been successful in past efforts to accomplish difficult objectives, the leader can use these success to build confidence in their ability to do it again Yukl, (2013, P.105).
6. Build in time for both individual and corporate-level self-reflection to help people discover lesson from setbacks and develop the resilience to get in front of the pace of challenge. Leader can help people improve their one form of collective learning is to analyze feedback about prior performance. How such feedback is interpreted depends on what assumptions are made about the causal relationships among variables and how much time is necessary for decisions and actions to have visible effects Yukl, (2013, P.110).
7. Encaurage civility and delight from little things that personalize and civilize the world of work(e.g. time to chat, friendly competitions, pictures,and humor). Top management should provide encouragement, support and necessary resources to facilitate change, but should not try to dictate the details of how to do it Yukl, (2013, P.94).
Conclusively, to paraphrase Nietche, "He who has a why to work can bear what almost any how". To get the most from their employees, leaders should do all they can to make this "why" clear. When it is necessary to make major changes in an organization, a vision of what the changes will do to achieve shared objectives and values is very helpful in gaining commitment for the change Yukl, (2013, P.96).
Reference:
Dave and Wendy Ulrich (June 2, 2010)
Getting Beyond Engagement to Creating Meaning at Work
Gary Yukl (2013)
Leadership Organization
Kouzes, J. M., and Posner, B.Z. (1987).
Credibility: How leaders gain and lose it, why people demand it. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
"Finding meaning" is probably a misnomer, however. Meaning is not a dropped coin we pick up by chance. It is more like fine pottery we craft. People have to create the meaning of their work and their lives, and that process requires skills and practice, not just luck. It is important for leaders to understand what makes an employee experience meaningful and what role they can play in this process. Even in unfavorable circumstances, people can experience an activity as meaningful when it resonates with chosen values, connects them with people they like, raises their sense of competence, or gives them an "ah-ha" moment of insight. From what we know about how the human brain works, the ability to create meaning is also enhanced by challenge(solving a problem that is not hard or too easy), emotional safety (fostered by friendship, fairness, and self-esteem), autonomy (Structure but not micromanagement), and, perhaps most importantly, learning from experienced meaning — makers.
Dave and Wendy, (June 2, 2010),also added,seven drivers of meaning that leaders can leverage are identify as follows:
1. Help employee identify and creatively use the strengths, traits, and values (like integrity—, leadership, love of learning, kindness, etc.) with which they most identify. Leader can help people improve their mental models about the way things work in organizations and the reasons for success or failure. For collective learning to be successful, team members must be able to develop a shared mental that is accurate and use it to interpret performance feedback. By helping people to understand complex systems, a leader can increase their ability to learn and solve problems. In this way, the leader also helps people understand that they are not powerless and can collectively influence events in the organization Yukl, (2013, P.110).
2. Match the purpose (insight, achievement, connection, or empowerment) that motivate employees to the jobs they do. One way for leader to facilitate innovation is to recruit people who have the skill and enthusiasm to develop new ideas, and then empower them to pursue these ideas by providing necessary time and Yukl, (2013, P.109).
3. Foster friendships and key relationship-building skills-like making and receiving bids and apologizing effectively — to create high-performance, high-relating teams. Leaders find the common thread that weaves together the fabric of human needs into a colorful tapestry. They seek out the brewing consensus among those they would lead. In order to do this, they develop a deep understanding of the collective yearnings. They listen carefully for quiet whisperings in dark corners. They attend to the subtle cues. They sniff the air to get the scent. They watch the faces. They get a sense of what people want, what they value, what they dream about Kouzes and Posner (1987, P115).
4. Promote positive work environments through attention to characteristics like humility, selflessness, order, and openness. Active resistance indicates the presence of strong values, and emotions that could serve as a source of commitment if opponents are converted to supporters. It is essential to discuss a proposed change with the people who will be affected to learn about their concerns and their ideas about the best course of action Yukl, (2013, P.92).
5. Help people identify and work at the types of challenges that line up with their personal experience of engagement or flow. One way to built follower optimism about vision is to link it to their ability to collectively solve problems and overcome difficult obstacles. If people have been successful in past efforts to accomplish difficult objectives, the leader can use these success to build confidence in their ability to do it again Yukl, (2013, P.105).
6. Build in time for both individual and corporate-level self-reflection to help people discover lesson from setbacks and develop the resilience to get in front of the pace of challenge. Leader can help people improve their one form of collective learning is to analyze feedback about prior performance. How such feedback is interpreted depends on what assumptions are made about the causal relationships among variables and how much time is necessary for decisions and actions to have visible effects Yukl, (2013, P.110).
7. Encaurage civility and delight from little things that personalize and civilize the world of work(e.g. time to chat, friendly competitions, pictures,and humor). Top management should provide encouragement, support and necessary resources to facilitate change, but should not try to dictate the details of how to do it Yukl, (2013, P.94).
Conclusively, to paraphrase Nietche, "He who has a why to work can bear what almost any how". To get the most from their employees, leaders should do all they can to make this "why" clear. When it is necessary to make major changes in an organization, a vision of what the changes will do to achieve shared objectives and values is very helpful in gaining commitment for the change Yukl, (2013, P.96).
Reference:
Dave and Wendy Ulrich (June 2, 2010)
Getting Beyond Engagement to Creating Meaning at Work
Gary Yukl (2013)
Leadership Organization
Kouzes, J. M., and Posner, B.Z. (1987).
Credibility: How leaders gain and lose it, why people demand it. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
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