Bring Your Skills…But Not Your Agenda…To Work

How many times have we heard that employers ought to want employees to express their own individual and unique gifts at work?

Sure, the company and its customers need the skills and knowledge every employee brings to the table.

But somehow that message has been misinterpreted to mean “bring your issues, your pet peeves, your personal axes to grind, your social and political causes.”

No, it doesn’t mean that. There’s no time for it. Stated more bluntly, the employer is paying its people to focus full time on the challenges of the organization and its customers. Stated even more bluntly, there are more important things to do at work. It’s not the place for dealin’ with your stuff.

I think the confusion started when schools started encouraging kids to express themselves and, like many well-intentioned initiatives, it kind of got out of hand.

Here’s a picture of the school I attended from K through 12. Notice the stately columns and front entrance. The very structure of the building was intended to communicate one overriding message to all who entered: “There are important things going on here — matters that transcend the personal concerns of any one person. When you come here, we expect you to focus your full attention on the work of this school. Please leave your personal agendas at the door.”

Talking about schools, it’s interesting to note that while morning group recitations like the Pledge of Allegiance became problematic because of the inclusion of religious words, one purpose of that exercise was as a vehicle to call together the participants, and to set the tone as one of cooperation toward a group endeavor.

With or without important-looking buildings or group recitations, we still need daily reminders that the focus of our thinking and our efforts at both school and work should be about something bigger than ourselves.

Next time you cross the threshold of your workplace — even if that means just logging into its virtual worksite — think about it as a place with its own mission, concerns and challenges, where individual concerns have to take a back seat. Before you tackle the work of the day, ask yourself:

• Why is this company in business?
• What challenges do we face today?
• What can I do to help?

Then pass it on.