I am trying to find my words. They’re in there somewhere, tied up in the various synapses of my brain waiting for the brain to signal my fingers to hit the keys of the computer so these thoughts can coalesce into words that will find their way to the keyboard and onto the screen. Not finding them would mean staring at the blinking cursor on the blank page and not have anything worthwhile to say. I am starting over an hour late because I spent that time (almost 90 minutes) talking to my good friend Mary, one of my California friends with whom I haven’t spoken for a few months. It was good catching up with her, though much of what she had to tell me about was about some significant challenges she’s facing at her workplace (my former workplace…)
I realize as I reflect on this day just passed just how many conversations I’ve had in this day alone with people who are struggling with workplace issues. They are all hardworking and determined to bring excellence and quality to everything they do. This have less to do about how much they enjoy what they’re doing and everything about how they do what they do. It seems from talking to people, and from my own experience, that they are facing everything from workplace bullies who by force of will, threats and bad behavior get people to do what they want them to do to coworkers with limited skills and talent who connive, steal, and maneuver their way into positions of authority over creative, honest, hardworking people. There appears to be some imbalance, and while the statistician voice in my head says that my “n” is low (I’m hearing this from a handful of people) and that I perhaps need to get a larger sample size, I feel like what I’m hearing is not an aberration, but a trend.
I find myself thinking and talking about how we can go about creating spaces in our various workspaces where people trust and depend on one another as colleagues and coworkers and where collaboration and synergy, creativity and collective good thinking and effort all come together naturally. We spend most of our lives at work, if we’re fortunate we enjoy what we’re doing, who we’re working with, and where we’re doing it. Some people think this is a fantasy, but I wonder why this seems like the impossible dream.
I am grateful to work in a place where I am directly involved in helping to co-create a space in which people value one another as human beings and colleagues and in turn feel valued. We have definitely not arrived; there are a number of hiccups, false starts, and bumps in the road that give me pause at times. But these are to be expected when you have a large staff with a lot of strong personality dynamics and past history that has led to some of trust issues. And yet for some reason I remain undaunted: there’s so much potential in this group of people to do phenomenal things that we have to figure out how to create opportunities for these things to happen. We’ll get there.
This is a simple gratitude: for good, honest, hard work with good people. I have to believe that good things are in store for all of us who are suffering and struggling in employment situations that are challenging at best. Nevertheless, I bet we can look around not very far and find people who are doing great work and bringing their best to work every day in spite of a less-than-supportive environment. These are the people who give me hope, and why I get up in the morning and go to work myself. We have the ability to transform the world–I know, it sounds a little corny, but then most expressions of faith do. So my plan is to put my shoulder to the wheel and push.
