Connecting Monotony to Monumental; It ALL Matters!

A year or so before I left the manufacturing company I had worked with for nearly my entire adult life, the corporate office launched a campaign that segmented the organization into two distinct business units. Truth be told, this wasn’t anything new; it was more about branding than anything else… While the company had once been extremely diverse with the industries it operated in, the primary focus during my two decade stint was automotive parts; specifically emission control and ride control components that were either supplied directly to the automotive assembly plants (such as Ford, GM, Toyota, etc.) or to aftermarket retailers (like AutoZone, Advance Auto, NAPA, and so on). The facility I spent the bulk of my career in produced aftermarket exhaust products. As the “change” was rolled out in 2013, the emission control (exhaust) facilities fell under the “Clean Air” business unit and the ride control (shocks & struts) facilities were deemed the “Ride Performance” business unit.

Although none of this was really earth-shattering news to anyone within the organization at the time, the part I remember most about it all was the push to connect the overall public perception - primarily those folks buying and selling on Wall Street - with how climate friendly we were as a company, especially with an entire business unit dedicated to “Clean Air.” My point here isn’t to make a case for or against emission control regulation but I’ll share my simple stance briefly; I’m completely convinced that we should all be responsible stewards of the world we live in. I’m even more convinced that the vast majority of poliTICKS (the R’s and the D’s), and the gubermint entities they write legislation for that dictate so much of what you and I should be doing to be good stewards, are far more interested in how they can line their own pockets than they are in taking care of the actual environment around us - or anything else they stick their paws into for that matter. Before you throw stones at me for that stance, let me know how confident you are about sending your next mortgage payment in cash through the USPS or how excited you are about your next trip to the DMV… 

Now that I've climbed down from my soapbox, hopefully you’re still willing to catch why I bothered sharing anything about that organization’s changed branding of those business units. I know all too well the importance of gaining and keeping the confidence of the folks on Wall Street, and it was re-emphasized continuously when every quarter was the most important quarter in the history of the world, but I can’t tell you that I remember much from my entire career with that organization that made a direct connection from the work anyone did each day to stamp parts or assemble those mufflers, pipes, or catalytic converters to the impact the finished product would have on the world around us once installed on a vehicle. For perspective, I could routinely churn out thirty to forty THOUSAND parts per day off one of the presses I operated during my first few years with the company but I never really knew how the varying length, hole pattern, or diameter impacted anything other than the sound of the car - and that was just a general understanding at best.

If we, as leaders, want to have a reasonable shot of helping our team members find purpose in the work they do, while providing a clear picture of a purpose that really drives them, we need to become effective and efficient in connecting even the most monotonous tasks they may deal with on a daily basis to the impact those can have when coupled with other parts of our overall process. As we connect those seemingly small pieces with the bigger picture we’re working to achieve throughout our organization - and the purpose behind that - we can then work to tie it back to the things they’ve told us that get them out of bed each morning!

Make no mistake though, neither of these will be enough to achieve great results by itself; the clear understanding of how mundane work supports the company’s purpose or simply recognizing why any of our team members do the things they do… Further, we shouldn’t assume that either can be achieved - and definitely not sustained - without the other. With that in mind, let’s consider one of the best reasons I can think of for any of our team members to rally around the organization’s purpose…

Sustainability for Pursuing Their Purpose

To build a purpose driven organization and to provide our team members with clarity around purpose driven work, part of our leadership responsibility is indeed to become extremely effective at connecting the most monotonous work to something monumental! OK, I realize that likely seems a bit dramatic but you get my point… The reality is that when we can verbalize a purpose that drives each of our team members, they have a shot at putting all they’ve got into even the most mundane tasks. If we’ve really listened to what they’ve shared with us and we’ve invested the time to truly observe what they’re behavior is showing us, we have a strong shot at understanding what makes them tick, that purpose that creates a spark in their eye and fills their tank when they know they’re making progress toward achieving it. Like I mentioned as we started looking at the importance of helping our team members connect with a clear purpose, it ain’t just about the pay. All that said, purpose alone won’t completely replace pay - not for the individual and not for the company either!

If you think back to the internet trolls I mentioned earlier who were barking at one of the Shorts I posted on our YouTube channel, all bent out of shape because they somehow thought I was suggesting that companies should be paying people less than they deserve, you should remember that I was adamant about how much profitability an organization stands to gain when the best employees are paid extremely well. I even mapped out how much high turnover can cost when a business owner or manager chooses to skimp on wages…

Don’t misunderstand me here: I’m not suggesting that either of these things are easy, helping our team members connect with a purpose that drives them or providing best-in-class compensation for the work they do. In fact, I’ll make the point one more time that I believe there are very few easy things about leading a team well. Here’s where one figurative stone will allow us to target both birds. As we’re able to make a strong and definite connection between that definite purpose that drives each individual we lead and the purpose our organization is working to achieve, our bottom line should quickly reflect the increased discretionary effort as well as the improved productivity. When that happens, rewarding the folks responsible shouldn’t be too difficult.

Contrary to what the trolls thought, I absolutely believe that it’s in a business’s best interest to provide the best it possibly can for its employees. However, I still haven’t found those magic trees the gubermint seems to have where all the free stuff grows so that leaves most of us in a spot where we’ve actually got to be profitable to do this. I love seeing companies invest in the resources their team members need to grow in their roles. I’ve seen some organizations refuse to do this at all, some do it very sparingly, and some all but write blank checks. I’ve challenged many business owners - some from each of those scenarios - to task their team members with making a business case for whatever resource it is they’re asking for; how will it help them increase productivity while at least maintaining the existing level of safety and quality. Whether it’s a physical resource or some sort of training, they should be able to define the payback.

When we can connect a team member’s individual purpose to the one we’re working toward as an organization, the likelihood of maintaining (or even increasing) the profitability required to provide solid compensation and invest in developing them becomes sustainable. I’ve often seen employees view the company as a whole as some entity that exists and functions independently of everyone involved; it’s always been there, it has limitless resources, and it will be there indefinitely. When put in those terms, the idea is quite ridiculous, but I’d bet you can think of plenty of examples of times you’ve heard comments that allude to this. By drawing the line between what our companies need to achieve and what our team members want most in their lives, we should have a foundation for showing exactly why working to reach the organizational purpose is so important, then we can work just as hard to connect that right back to what each team member values most.

When we’re working to connect how an individual’s daily effort contributes to our organizational purpose, we’ll do well to be just as intentional to tie that back to how helping the team win does in fact help them achieve the things they want and need most. Although this may seem obvious, I’ve rarely seen employees provided with a solid understanding of how unnecessary costs impact overall profitability or how limited profitability prevents managers or owners from providing the extras that too many people today feel entitled to.

When I worked in manufacturing, I had a manager who explained that our facility made about a dollar for each muffler we produced. If I was attending a conference that would cost $1,500 (registration, airfare, lodging, meals), I was expected to be able to make a business case justifying how it would be worth what we’d make from 1,500 mufflers - close to a full shift of production for an entire assembly line - and I was held accountable to implement something I learned from the event that provided at least that much return on investment.

I recently worked with the president of a company to provide similar details for his team. One of his folks had taken a shortcut with the work he was doing that resulted in the organization incurring a $2,000 fee from an outside contractor. I challenged him to determine how much of the company’s products or services would need to be sold to cover that expense - not revenue, but profit since that’s what the fee cut directly into! Since he was very dialed in on their margins, it only took him a few seconds to provide me with an answer. That said, he was quick to admit that only a few others in the company saw those details. I then poked at him about changing that. Why not make sure everyone understands exactly where their pay, benefits, and bonuses come from? With that kind of clarity in place, it’s a lot easier for any of us to make good decisions in our work.

When we understand how giving it everything we’ve got to fulfill the organizational purpose provides the owners and managers with what they need to be able to help us reach our own purpose, especially when we can see how those things can co-exist, the fifty-seven percent additional discretionary effort I keep referring to isn’t all that hard to imagine - or to justify.

There is one caveat though: if we’re the leader that’s painting a wonderful picture of all the things we’ll be able to do for someone when we achieve the company’s goal and their only reward is being limited to two slices at the next pizza party, stuff will eventually hit the proverbial fan - and justifiably so! We can make great things happen when it’s win/win but attempting this approach for the sole purpose of manipulation will not yield positive results long term, if it ever does.

When we are able to connect these things well, we can then move our focus to helping each team member measure the progress they’re making toward their own purpose! I realize this sounds complicated but we’ll approach it just like we’d approach eating an elephant and we’ll take the first bite soon…