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journey of meaning at work, The

Group Facilitation, Spring 2003 by Epps, John

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Frustration accelerates, because you know it can be done, even if not by you. Perfection is elusive, but anything less is unacceptable. Outsiders and admirers may counsel taking it easy or giving yourself a break, but those comments only add to the frustration. You know what is possible and begin to sense the time and effort required to approach it. You wonder why you ever chose something so demanding and begin to suspect that you're doomed to mediocre performance if you continue.

The Present - Phase Three

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It is a never-ending journey to master a craft, whether that craft is violin-making or golf or medicine or sweeping or consulting. You become identified with your profession and, in the eyes of others, appear blessed with extraordinary skill, commitment, and artistry. To you, it never seems quite like that. It seems more like an endless journey towards miniscule improvements that, if you ever stop, your performance drops.

On his 95th birthday, the famous cellist Pablo Cassals was asked why he still practiced six hours per day. "I think," he replied, "I'm getting better."

In your own eyes, you remain an apprentice.

Meaning at this level consists of living in the relationship between the ideal and your actual performance. "Pm getting better" is as good as it gets. Of course your performance, in the eyes of others, far surpasses any standards of acceptability, but at this stage, you are not playing to the crowd but to the art itself. It doesn't get easier, it just gets better. All it takes is all you have. And if you give any less, you know it.

C. Purpose - The Future

The Future. Phase One

Meaning as purpose relates to the future- When you think about the mission of your organization, you are proud to be part of that undertaking because it resonates with your own personal mission 16. A lot has been made of developing a "mission statement" for organizations, precisely because of this fact A good mission statement addresses staff pride more than the corporate sense of strategy. A good mission statement expresses the purpose of the organization, the "why" of its being, the cause to which it is devoted. When you have a clear sense of purpose, a definite cause to serve, you may not know what tomorrow will bring, but you know what you will be about, whatever happens. Disney, for example, is about "making people happy." Employees working for Disney may be called on to sweep the grounds, bit they understand that task to be in the service of making people happy, something they are committed to.

As this example shows, in this dimension of meaning, you derive meaning from the "macro-purpose" rather than the particular job. You may or may not be committed to the job of sweeping, but you are thoroughly devoted to making people happy, and if it takes sweeping, then so be it. The connection between the job and the purpose must be visible, obvious, and sustained. Once someone feels isolated from the purpose, demoralization sets in. When it is maintained, however, you may rightly be expected to perform a variety of necessary tasks, and will likely carry them out with no complaints.

journey of meaning at work, The

Group Facilitation, Spring 2003 by Epps, John

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