By Tony Tiernan
Take a look around your home tonight after you have turned out the lights on your way to bed. Notice all those tiny glowing red LEDs everywhere? Things don’t fully turn off anymore, they just go to standby.
Now think about your work. Do you feel you need to be available pretty much 24/7? To respond to voicemails and emails after office hours? To spend a good chunk of Sunday evening preparing for Monday’s workload? To check voicemail and email and maybe take a conference call or two while on vacation?
That’s the tacit expectation in many professional workplaces today. We’re always on standby, and we expect our colleagues to be the same. But as work takes up more psychic space and more time, it squeezes out many of the things we used to do to make life meaningful.
The quid pro quo for requiring more commitment is providing more meaning. Organizations are increasingly in the business of making meaning. Ultimately, that’s how you attract and keep the exceptional talent and the rewarding clients that your business needs.
The most powerful strategic force for shaping and delivering that meaning is your organizational brand. How strong is yours?
