Why do we work? What does work mean to you?
Have you ever wondered why some people get so much satisfaction from their job while others never seem to be very engaged or motivated? Is it something that we have inside of us or are we influenced by external factors? If it’s within us, then how do we tap into this for our own benefit? Is there anything we can do as leaders to support this? If it is externally influenced then how do we as leaders or people managers use this knowledge to improve workplace engagement and the gains that arise from that to our organisations.
Liz Moody has for many years been interested in how to release the potential in people and the organisations they work in. She has variously tried to understand performance, effective team leadership and employee engagement. In looking at many of the ways organisations and managers seek to organise work, she has concluded that perhaps we are looking in the wrong places for answers to the wrong questions.
A book written 50 years ago by Studs Terkel about working people and how they think and feel about work prompted curiosity about how we derive meaning from work. In this briefing we explored where this meaning comes from and why it might be important. Liz also considered what it is that leaders do (and sometimes don’t) that has an impact on how people think and feel about work.
Watch the recording.
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