Connective Dynamics: Connecting to “It” at Every Level

What does connective dynamics mean for the “daily grind?” A lot! It can answer the question of how to fully engage the people who do important work like entering data, crunching number and assembling products.

One of the reasons people in workplaces do NOT stay engaged is because of the way the ‘It’ gets defined for them and because of the information that is shared—or not shared—with them.  When ‘It’ is presented as a narrow task focus out of the context of the larger picture, then in and of itself, ‘It’ (or the task) is relatively meaningless and therefore not important to them. It doesn’t connect to the overall purpose. 

For example, suppose management creates a better payment system for customers that will make it easier and cheaper for them to purchase a needed product.  When presented to employees, they are simply told there is a new system: here’s how you do it, this is your job now.  For employees who are entering data, crunching numbers and sending out bills, perhaps not much has changed except a few minor differences at their end, which may or may not be more convenient for them. At best they make the changes and go on. At worst, they complain about meaningless changes made by management or extra work for no reason: they are less engaged, morale declines. The connective dynamics aren’t gathering momentum.

On the other hand, imagine management including these employees in the dialogue at the outset (creating an “I-We-It” dynamic) and asking: how can we make our payment system easier and cheaper for customers so they can purchase these needed items?  And how might we do it so it takes less effort internally as well?  They might end up with the same new design, or something even better.  The real benefit, however, is they will arrive at the change with employees fully engaged with the changes and with their effort to serve the customer.  They now see their work connected to happy customers, the importance of the changes, and the value they added to those changes.

On a daily basis, we could create greater engagement simply by spending more time on what we actually want to accomplish together. In planning meetings, we can ask: is everyone who is connected to this work present? What is at stake? What shared outcome do we want?

Question: How can you intentionally connect with 'It' as a daily activity so that you stay engaged with what is important for you and the larger ‘We’??