Abundant Organizations

Have you ever asked yourself, "Why do I go to work?" Studies show that you, me, and most everybody else goes to work for the same reason (and it's not money). The reason we do what we do is for meaning.

In The Why of Work: How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win, Dave and Wendy Ulrich argue persuasively that through work, we seek "a sense of purpose, contribution, connection, value, and hope."

I am a frequent visitor of Triangle Organizational Developers Network events. At a recent meeting, husband and wife team, Dave and Wendy Ulrich, talked to about 40 professionals who primarily do for the corporate world what I do for public education. Dave is a highly-sought management expert. Wendy is an acclaimed psychologist.

The Ulrich's have talked to thousands of people, from frontline workers to C-suite executives. Combining fieldwork with an extensive review of the literature from multiple disciplines, they have synthesized in their 2010 book the "why" behind our most successful work experiences.

Using a model called "the abundant organization," the authors provide a seven-step process for creating workplace abundance, understanding your customer and employees' needs, personalizing work, and building a recession-proof business. As you might imagine, I'm excited to be about halfway through the book and look especially forward to learning the "secret"of the last chapter.

Secrets and silver bullets notwithstanding, I think public education has growing evidence that a school characterized by "organizational abundance" is a school where teachers, students, and parents want to belong. Five years of data from the North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Survey show, for example, that the same schools where teachers experience voice and choice, collegiality, and a supportive principal, are those schools where teacher retention and student performance tend to be highest.

It is no accident, then, that the upcoming Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation evaluation study of Triangle Leadership Academy and its precedent, Wake Leadership Academy, will draw on Teacher Working Conditions Survey data to determine, in part, the impact of the Academy over an eight-year period.

Let's think in the coming week about how you and I can create abundant organizations where ever we may be, however large or small, rich or poor, public or private the setting. After all, the bottom line is more influenced by leadership than it is the balance sheet. In fact, get the former right and the latter follows.