This post hit me square between the eyes today and popped them wide open. This succinctly encapsulates one primary reason that a number of my co-workers (myself included) do so much whining and complaining around my organization. We have very little stake in the outcome (i.e., As a communications director and graphic designer, I'm merely expected to take whatever [crap] emerges from the higher-ups and 'make it look pretty']. There is very little understanding of the value of someone like me in this position.

I get it now … and further confirms my suspicion that I should either stake a claim for myself, ask for more authority and use it, or find another opportunity elsewhere.

I always wondered why this happens but never even thought about the lack of having a stake in the company. Wow!

That WAS an eye opener.

But…what do you do if you work for a company that doesn’t get this and people are engaging in uh….bad behavior…like you were. What do you do?

Remaining Steadfast,
Dominique
http://anunlikelyperspective2.squarespace.com

P.S. I created an award for my new blog of the week award and I was able to add your pic and the name of your blog to it. Looks pretty professional!

Remaining Steadfast,
Dominique
http://anunlikelyperspective2.squarespace.com

This person had no stake in the project other than shooting. His attitude became, "What's in it for me? I'm a great cameraman, you're lucky you got me. I'm doing you a favor." I never worked with this person again, and they lost scores of potential production trips and freelance revenue. My next cameraman was like a breath of fresh air: no matter the circumstances, he worked his tail off, never complained, was funny, and a pure joy to work with, no matter good hotel or bad. I look back at our shoots across the world and I can't think of one bad moment, fight or disagreement. He is my friend to this day even though our paths have diverged over time.

Working in media is a lot like a foxhole in battle – you're all thrown in together by choice or circumstance. A lot of it is attitude. If you're a complainer, it becomes infectious. All of a sudden, everyone is complaining. But if you have a common goal where everyone has a stake – great or small – then teamwork starts to happen. And that usually leads to success (unless we're talking the Titanic.)

One of the things that has horrified me in recent years has been situations where companies compensate employees with their own stocks, and even prevent employees from ditching these stocks.  This can be a nightmare.  Basically, when the company tanks, the employees entire financial worth is lost.  They lose their retirement nest egg at the same time they lose their jobs.  Worse, the CEOs are busy dumping and diversifying, because they can.  It has always made me queasy to watch.  When folks tell me how happy they are to own stock in the company they work for, I never know quite what to say.  They seem to think this is a good thing, and it's not.

Another tragic circumstance is excessive personal identification with the corporate entity.  I've witnessed knock down drag outs between church members and the rest of a congregation over the direction of the church.  The individual believes it's his/her church, and by that I mean his/her way or else!!!  These individuals employ winner take all, no holds  barred strategies to make sure their will is done within the church.    It's their identity that is at stake when the church does something that veers from their ideal.   For these individuals, the stakes are very, very, high.  Too high, I think.

In general, it's good to make sure everyone feels responsible for mission achievement.  This is best done by making sure each person has a meaningful task, and that the value of their effort is recognized.  This is the kind of stake in the company Mr. Cooke advocates, and it's generally a good thing.  When it's overdone, coworkers will fight tooth and nail to make sure the mission is done right (their way).  Also, poor leaders will shift blame and harsh consequences onto subordinates, forgetting that assignment can be delegated but responsibility cannot. 

In this, as in many things, balance matters.

Chris Busch had a great comment months back I will hold with me till I die: "We value people." This speaks volumes about organizations, churches and ministries – We Value People. These two thoughts should be immensely intertwined in how a ministry and its leadership behaves and operates: "Doing the right thing + We value people." Aren't these precepts/tenets of the Gospel? Aren't these principles beyond just mere complaining and having a stake in the outcome?

Is this too much to ask?

This is so huge. Thank you for blogging about it.

I have been on all sides of this one. I have multiple times worked in Southern Sudan and the Darfur region of that country, carrying everything (video gear, food, survival stuff, tapes, clothes, tent, etc) in a backpack, sleeping outside, filtering water, getting malaria — because I had bought into the vision, and I believed in helping those people. I’ve worked in 65 nations and the people who took (or sent) me to those places would do it again because I never complained and saw everything as a challenge, and felt I had a stake in the lives of the people I was shooting — whether they were slaves in Sudan; had lost everything to hurricanes, earthquakes, typhoons or volcanos; dying of aids in Zambia; famines in Ethiopia; wars in Lebanon, Israel, Afghanistan; a few coups in Central America… you get the idea… plenty of opportunity to whine.

And then there were places where all the decisions were made by a triumvirate, there were more secrets than the CIA, staff didn’t know why anything happened and when they asked questions they never got a straight answer. There was so much complaining behind the scenes… it’s cancerous.

My advice: if you are a leader in an organization, open up and talk to your people and excite them with the vision that stirs you. If you are one of the masses within the organization, either get with the vision or leave. Do not try to change it. Do your very best work with the very best attitude while you look for a new job — don’t complain while you are still there, and do not complain about them after you leave. However, if this is a trend in your life and career, maybe the problem is with you, and you need some personal, spiritual or career counseling.

Complaining brings death.