A plant supervisor who I coach told me a story that illustrates a great lesson for leaders everywhere.
This supervisor’s work occasionally took him on location with their customers in other parts of the country. Seeing the huge benefit local communities get from his company’s product gave him a sense of pride in the business.
We talked about his team, that they didn’t have that same opportunity to visit customers. They don’t get to see the product in action. We talked about how important it is for leaders to connect the work of the people they supervise to the difference their work makes in the real world.
It’s the concept of contribution. It’s something this supervisor got right away. He talked about how his team shares Facebook posts from a customer who uses their product and a recent newspaper article that mentioned the use of their product in disaster recovery.
It’s an especially important topic in a manufacturing facility like the one this supervisor works in. Most of the people who work in manufacturing don’t have the opportunity to see the difference their work makes for the end customer.
It’s the job of the leader to connect individual contributions to real world impact. That’s how you connect people to the mission of the company and make them understand that their work is making a difference in the lives of real people.
It’s what makes work meaningful, and it hardly needs to be said that people are more likely to stay in meaningful jobs.
So, if you lead people, and want to learn more about the concept of contribution in your work, drop me an email or book a call.
Talk soon.