I have a confession to make.
Throughout my career, and even recently, I’ve had trouble defining work.
There, it’s out; please don’t judge me.
Of course, for a professional, especially one charged with leading others, the irony is not lost on me.
While I’ve refined my understanding of work over time, it hasn’t become any easier to nail down. Even as my experience has grown, defining “work” remains challenging.
It would seem, I’m not the only one.
Is this work?
Does answering work email during a commute count as work? According to recent research it should. In fact, for some commuters, answering emails could add as much as 20 hours every week.
But that’s an easy example. Though dreaded, answering email is an accepted part of our work day.
What about activities that fall in a grayer area?
Listening to a podcast that covers Agile best practices; is that work? And that audiobook focused on modern leadership, does this count as work as well? What about that course focused on team building?
They do. One might even argue they are more productive representations of work.
Mind you, it’s interesting I even consider these other options as potential work, much less a higher form. It wasn’t always that way.
Work is not fun
Looking back to my first job, part time at a now-defunct US retailer, things were different. If something was fun, or enjoyable, I’d dismiss it as not work; the intention of work was to be boring, and repetitive. That actually sounds like email.
I kept that definition for a long time. Work represented a means. Beyond college and into a few of my first professional positions, this did not change. I suspect this is still true for much of our modern workforce.
Years later I’ve shifted this paradigm. Today I actually try to use fun and enjoyment as a metric for what work I should be doing. At least finding a balance in my workday is important. Some work, most, should be fun and enjoyable.
Despite this paradigm shift, I still possessed a myopic view of work. Work could, or should, only be something that had some product, something I could stare at. I wanted to have fun, to enjoy doing it. But I felt it still needed to represent some ends.
Thinking this way meant the means still did not matter. At least they didn’t matter outside specific tasks as long as they correlated to creation.
I’m the boss
This philosophy reached crescendo when I became a manager. Though it wasn’t clear at first, this definition devalued my potential contributions.
In many ways, leading others never felt like “real” work. Helping others succeed was fun. I enjoyed serving them. Yet, it was hard to find the tangible end. It seemed more continuous in nature, unending.
Once I was no longer creating anything, I felt useless.
Per my nature, I assumed I was doing it wrong. It must be that too many distractions clouded my ability to do real work. If I were a successful leader, I rationalized, I’d be able to shake these unknown distractions. With little effort I would soon navigate past roadblocks. Then I’d capture the end I desired. Then I would have discovered the real work a leader should be doing.
And I can’t express how dangerous this line of thinking was. By thinking that work required a tangible end minimized the fact that success is a journey. It translated to promoting a culture that only looks at deliverables and results. It ignores all the learning, a critical part of success. It took for granted all the experimentation. In essence it devalued a large piece of the hard work that goes into creating something.
At some point, before it was too late I saw my error. If we should be working, and working is never anything beyond the act of creation, how can anyone improve?
From this, I realized the deception in defining work as a successful creative event, or events. I had convinced myself work began with the first finger-to-key-interaction. In truth, it begins much earlier. It also includes the sum of everything before it.
The sum of parts
Still need convincing?
Think about the last project you took on. Where did you begin?
Did you start with an idea. How did you get that idea? Did you pull from previous experience? Was that experience a straight path of success?
I’ve yet to meet anyone that completed projects, pulling nothing from lessons learned.
Though likely disconnected, that previous effort was work. It was work that informed the current project, and will inform those in the future. Better yet, the more recent effort was a result of compounded effort that preceded it. In other words, it is the sum of all the knowledge, all the learning, that preceded it.
If you’re reading this, telling yourself, well of course this is all obvious, it wasn’t to me. Petitioning time to learn, a critical aspect of creation, tends to be an afterthought. Most view activity without some tangible product as an expense, not an investment. Teams budget time for creation, but rarely invest in learning and expanding skills.
Stephen Covey alluded to this with his recommendation to sharpen the saw. It’s much more than this. Instead of sharpening dull tools, make time to find better tools and processes.
Every act of creation is the result of all activity that has preceded it. Like the rules of physics, it’s not possible to manifest something from nothing.
This means that learning something new is work. It means building relationships is work. It means a host of things that do not appear to provide a direct contribution to the end state, are work. It even means experimenting and failing is work.
These intangible things are, in fact, more important. Though they may be enjoyable pursuits (not all are), they need careful consideration. And you should prepare yourself for the inevitable mental, wrestling match. A match likely to extend beyond the length of a typical workday if you desire to reap any benefit.
The journey ahead
So, what comes next?
If you’re already here, great. If not, here’s some thoughts on how to embrace this philosophy.
First, challenge your definition of work. Regardless of your position and responsibilities on a team, look at what you consider work to be.
Next, encourage others to appreciate that work encompasses a wide range of activities. That work includes the journey, and that learning is a critical aspect of that journey.
Finally, set an example for your team. Champion the importance found in the intangible aspects of work. A great place to start is by building strong(er) inter- and intra-team relationships. Invest time in others, and celebrate the relationships that emerge.
I’m convinced this provides the platform to make the tangible stuff even better. And making things better is some of the best work you can do.
