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Why workplaces aren’t meaningful now “Where do you find people, our most important asset, on a balance sheet? Under expenses.” – Paul Herman, HIP Investor Business has long been focused on producing widgets, growing market share, managing costs, and delivering shareholder value. And, while employees are a very costly factor, both in terms of monetary and management time, the process-driven, measurement-hungry and org chart world of business has been lacking in human respect, empathy and meaning. As such, businesses have been far more focused on the “what”...

See the full gallery on Posterous With two powerhouse parent companies looking over its shoulders, MillerCoors makes a big leap in sustainable reporting with Success the Right Way. For their 2010 report, we helped bring a new level of transparency and depth, as the company established internal protocols and moved towards international standards. This report highlights employee contributions to sustainability efforts and takes an interesting look at MillerCoors’ nine 2015 goals with photographed product charts. Printed by Hemlock Printers using 100% recycled and 100% post-consumer waste...

Employees respond positively and actively to a meaningful workplace As the company transforms the way it reaches out to their employees, their employees change the way they respond back to the company.  Employees eagerly engage in the work at hand, align with the company strategies, collaborate with one another and contribute their energy and skills. They confidently deal with peers, prospects, customers, partners and suppliers. They proudly tell their family and friends about the company they work for. And all the other people vital to the business’s success (customers, partners,...

Toward the meaningful workplace Meaningful workplaces are built by companies that aim to produce a more meaningful outcome from, and for, their people. To become meaningful, these companies adopt a new stance vis-à-vis their relationship with their employees. They strive to reduce the distance that’s been imposed through organization structures and prevailing attitudes. They seek stronger emotional connections up and down and across their enterprise. They see their task as making their company fit for the future by making it fit for humans. They create a meaningful workplace...

Understanding what makes something “meaningful” In the course of a day, our senses open us up to millions of stimuli, each of which presents itself and demands our attention. To cope with the avalanche of input, our system quickly decides which stimuli are significant enough to be acknowledged and, which are so significant that they must be remembered. In other words, what matters…and what doesn’t. The stimuli we remember can be significant in two ways. On a primal level, some of our memories help us survive against danger. On a higher-order level, some of our...

Introduction This blog series introduces the “meaningful workplace”, an idea which seeks to address many of the pain points businesses are feeling as they try to get their enterprises fit for the future. It will explain the notion of “meaningful” and what it means in the context of creating a meaningful workplace.  This series will set out the advantages of building a purposeful, values-driven workplace with a meaningful culture that better balances the needs of both the employer and the employee.  It will explore how businesses can reach out to their...

Photo by @drmeaningful According to a recent Gallup Poll, Denmark once again has achieved the highest sense of well-being of any country in the world. In a world where typically only 21 percent of people consider themselves to be “thriving”, 72 percent of Danish people feel they are. Why is this? And what could employers learn from the nature of the world’s “happiest” people? A recent article in The Atlantic pinpointed several behavioral imperatives that contribute to the “thriving” Danish character: Do not tolerate abusive behavior...