What business, leadership, and management should learn from activism.

The ideal employee

I’m going to attempt to describe the ideal employee. Play along by considering if you agree with the characteristics I’ve listed below. In addition, if you think I’ve missed anything, then please add it to the comments, so we can grow this list together.

The clearer we can get on what characteristics create the ideal employee, the easier it will be for us to create the conditions in which these characteristics can flourish, and their opposites can be reduced or eliminated.

1. They energetically commit to continuously improving our organisation.
2. They use the organisation’s resources with care and consideration.
3. They positively contribute to a corporate culture that improves the motivation and performance of others.
4. They are enthusiastic about enabling our organisation to achieve its goals, mission, and vision.
5. They take considered, calculated, but bold risks in the pursuit of the betterment of our organisation.
6. They invest in continuous learning and growth, so that they develop their skills and knowledge and in turn increase their contribution on an ongoing basis.
7. They voluntarily participate in activities that help other stakeholders to improve (mentoring, coaching, passing on knowledge) even when these things are not in their job description, i.e., they go the extra mile.
8. They help our organisation to solve problems and innovate our products and services to better meet the needs of our stakeholders.
9. They offer support to other colleagues who are struggling.
10. They sacrifice personal gain for the greater gain of all stakeholders.
11. They speak enthusiastically and authentically about our organisation to help us attract talent and improve our reputation.
12. They approach their work with energy, focus, and skill to perform their roles effectively and efficiently.
13. They adapt and are flexible so they can continue to add value even if the context changes.
14. They behave ethically and point out unethical behaviours and choices of others to reduce the risks facing our organisation.
15. They behave professionally and act as a positive ambassador for the organisation.
16. When they become bored, under-challenged, or frustrated they seek-out growth opportunities either alone or with the support of their managers or others in the organisation.
17. They both feel comfortable and actively raise risks and concerns they have that may threaten the success of the organisation.
18. They gracefully leave their role or organisation when they no longer feel able to deliver the characteristics on this list in their current position, making way for fresh ideas and enthusiasm.
19. They are resistant to challenges and adversity, so these things don’t destroy the characteristics on this list.

Imagine how much more successful our organisations would be if every employee displayed these characteristics most of the time. How much would we save in unnecessary spend? How much more profitable would we be? To what degree would our competitive advantage be increased? How much more efficiently and effectively would we achieve our goals and mission? How much more enjoyable would work become, and what downstream value would that create?

These are the sorts of questions I ask myself every day because this topic fascinates me. As a result, I am passionate about helping organisations to make the prevalence and consistency of these characteristics more common. This passion leads me to look outside of the business world for inspiration.

What can activism teach us?

This week, I’ve been considering activism and what business can learn from it. Here are some definitions of activism to ensure we are all on the same page.

• The use of direct and public methods to try to bring about esp. social and political changes that you and others want.
• The policy or action of using vigorous campaigning to bring about political or social change.

There are some people who earn their living through activism, for them it is a career and frequently their passion. For many others, the majority in fact, they do it voluntary. They get no financial reward for their efforts; in fact, many use their own financial resources to progress their cause. And yet, despite this, they display many or all the characteristics explored above in pursuit of their chosen cause. They are in effect ‘the ideal employee’ of their cause. They work long, tiring, anti-social hours. They balance their work, family, and other commitments, and still show up. They go above and beyond, and seemingly have an endless amount of energy to deploy in the name of their cause. The take personal risks such as throwing themselves in front of a horse a car, sticking themselves to the road, protest even when there is a risk of arrest or harm.

So, what is it that drives people to deploy these heroic levels of energy, to display such unrelenting commitment to their cause, and to give their time, their resources, their energy, and sometimes their freedom in such a committed and boundless way?

On the flip side, why is it that in the world of work, where people ARE rewarded financially, that we are increasingly suffering from quiet quitting (apathy), the great resignation, as well as a lack of innovation, productivity, and progress? We are also seeing an increase in absenteeism, health insurance premiums, burnout, and employees initiating legal cases against their employers.

So, what’s going on here?

Based on my observations, there are two critical differences at play.

A Transactional Approach

The first is that the workplace has become too transactional. We give A to get B. From the top to the bottom and inside out, transaction dominates. In particular, it is financial transactions that dominate. Either through payment in exchange for goods, services, or labour, or through value exchange, which is still largely negotiated in financial terms. i.e., I’ll refit your bathroom if you rewire my kitchen, the perceived financial value of the two activities determines the exchange. The problem with this is that it removes any emotion (our humanness) from the interaction. It denies the principles of the results pyramid. Which makes delivering results much more difficult.

The Results Pyramid illustrates that results are produced by the actions people take. The actions people take are motivated by the beliefs they hold about what they should do and why. These beliefs are created by their experiences. You’ll maybe have noticed the absence of ‘carrots and sticks’ from the model.

Purpose and meaning

In activism, purpose and meaning are present in abundance. It isn’t a transaction in finite terms. People do not campaign on Tuesday because they are guaranteed a result by Friday. Instead, they campaign, sometimes for years, until the desired result is achieved. The feature that drives this unrelenting commitment, that allows them to overcome adversity and keep pushing, that enables innovation and creativity in their approach, is their sense of purpose, and the meaning and fulfilment they get from being part of the cause. This comes from their beliefs.

Summary

If we want to see better results in business and if we want the characteristics of the ideal employee to flourish, we need to be doing a much better job of connecting our employees on a more human level. Material extrinsic motivators and positional powers of influence will only get us so far. Moreover, as generations evolve, technology redistributes power, and values systems change, those previously familiar tactics are proving less and less effective.

Optimal wellbeing is the foundation of high-performance. Optimal and collective wellbeing is a driver of the characteristics we want to see in our employees. Unfortunately, in the main, our business environments are simply not creating the necessary conditions for wellbeing, performance, or results to thrive. Maybe the clues to solving this challenge lie in the unexpected world of activism to better understand what REALLY drives people to achieve incredible things?

Closing (and possibly uncomfortable) thought

If, as professionals, we are struggling to adapt to the new context, should we be considering how well we are performing against the list above, especially points 3, 5, 6, 10 and 13? And, if that isn't something we have the appetite for, maybe it's time to consider number 18.