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journey of meaning at work, The

Group Facilitation, Spring 2003 by Epps, John

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The inspiring significance of "great moments" in the organization likewise tends to fade away. Maybe those were important contributions back then, but what's that got to do with us here and now?!? You begin to sense that conditions were so different in the past that comparisons are not really justified. You look back on the history, no longer as a corporate story of our past, but now as a curious set of alien events totally irrelevant to the present undertaking. Our "glorious history" has become "just one damn thing after another." You're caught up in a venture of never-ending tedium.

The Past - Phase Three

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Once your disillusionment with the past is complete, you sometimes get a sense that the work is nevertheless ongoing. It has not been sucked down the drain of history, but persists in all its imperfections, tedium, and downright perversity.

And you sense that this situation has never been different, that the organization and everyone in it is sustained by something that exceeds the capacity to understand or explain. Because it exists, it is significant, a contributor to the entire human enterprise. And your role in it, because it too exists, is worthy of every effort you can undertake: it's your life.

Meaning at work in the form of significance goes through the three phases outlined above as the past is first, a source of inspiration, second, an occasion for disgust, and third, evidence for appreciation".

B. Professionalism - The Present

The Present - Phase One

Meaning as professionalism involves skill or artistry, and relates to the present Some people really like what they're doing and would keep doing it regardless of the circumstances. There are musicians who find special gigs during breaks from their seasonal commitments, actors who do summer stock, accountants who volunteer to help friends with their income tax. A preschool teacher in a war zone, when her school was overrun and she became a refugee, set up a series of preschools in temporary refugee camps so the children would be cared for and the parents could get a break14.

For some people, there sometimes seems to be a "fit" between their personal talents and interests and their work. When this fit happens, the quality of work is superior, it reaches a level of artistry unattainable by the majority. You find it more than simply meaningful - you find it a "calling," a vocation. Finding this fit is the aim of vocational counselors and HRD professionals around the world.

The Present - Phase Two

The fascination, however strong, doesn't last. A unique manifestation of disillusionment occurs with professionals. You tend to lose perspective, to find performance flaws intolerable in yourself and unbearable in others. Instead of joyfully carrying out your professional responsibility, you find it burdensome in the extreme. Each miniscule part of the task seems to open itself to infinite possible flaws, and you are consumed by the need to address each one. Again, it's the particulars that get you. There still may be fascination with the profession, but its attractiveness has disappeared in a morass of flawed details, each demanding your attention15.

journey of meaning at work, The

Group Facilitation, Spring 2003 by Epps, John

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