Work-life evolution
Perpetual uncertainty is forcing a revaluation. The global shutdown of 2020-22 made the world pause and in this slowing a great acceleration of change occurred. That change was just the start to a much needed evolution of work and life. For many it brought to light the importance of having personal purpose and passion in our lives, highlighting what is important. Giving people the opportunity to gain perspective on their “work” promoting a revaluation of their role and what is truly important to them.
Writer and Teacher Annie Dillard offers us to live “a life of concentration”, altering us that “how we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives”. That said, with over a lifetime a 1/3 of our time spent working our life is significantly defined by what we do each day.
The balance between "work" and "life" has been challenged to the extreme with seemingly no boundaries. Previous cognitive and monetary reward and winning no longer feel like satisfactory indicators of a life well-lived. In context of what people are experiencing the need for values and purpose rise to the surface and be enacted on seems evermore critical.
Creative thinking is a fulfilling and healthy part of the human experience.
An organisational shift to be future-fit.
Individuals can take charge and evolve their work and life interconnection, thinking outside the box to develop ways of working that deliver on meaning. Businesses can assist this by seeing how people are part of the system. This shift is perhaps a necessity for future-fit and future-worthy organisations.
Henry Ford changed the way people worked by establishing that a 8-hour day, 5-day week, was a more humane approach which protected people from the arduous conditions of that time. However two industrial revolutions on it's still the norm. Consider that as we move from the digital revolution into the fourth cyber physical systems, we should look at the human side of this huge change to evolve how we and why we "work" for the better health of business and humanity.
The need for personal purpose
It has long been known that purpose is important for human-kind yet a recent McKinsey Report indicates that that 70% of employees said that their sense of purpose is defined by their work. The 2019 world pause was chance for people to reflect on why they do what they do and for who, perhaps exposing a deep gap between front-line and leadership alignment on what personally matters.
The cultural response to these huge systems pressures is impacting all organisations as they experience the effects of what some have called the “Great Resignation". Perhaps the greatest societal demonstration of discontent. Consider that when the talents, abilities and the inner qualities of employees are not harnessed it removes purposeful action and meaning affecting performance and motivation. This creates an inner-void and it can be debilitating, occurring when actions and choices, especially those made at "work", are out-of-line with their values and purpose.
Beware the inner-void
Leading From the Emerging Future authors Otto Scharmer & Katrin Kaufer suggest our divides can exist in 3-relationship areas; ecology (gap between human and nature), universe (gap between Self and self) and society (gap between self and other). Critically, these divides can create internal voids, triggered when:
A personal essential quality is not lived.
There is living outside values.
There is a lost connection with nature and physiology.
Daily action and purpose aren't realised in "work".
Disconnected living can result in burn-out, depression, anxiety and mental ill-health. For healthy systems we need to transform the way we live and work, understanding they are interconnected. Observing and breaking the patterns that bind us transforms our blind-spots expanding our structure of relationships and ability to communicate with clarity. Business need systemic understanding if they wish to simplify, clarify and focus on what could accelerate growth.
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