This is a little nugget from the July-August 2017 HBR p. 26.
The blurb (TALENT: INVESTING IN EMPLOYEES PAYS OFF) summarizes a research finding: companies that invest in employee EXPERIENCE outperformed others in terms of revenue and profit. What I found especially intriguing was the specificity around EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE. It defined these three categories: technology, physical surroundings, and culture.
Diving further into ‘culture’, the research defines this as ‘helping workers understand how their tasks contributed to the organization’. We’ve worked with HUNDREDS of organizations (for profit and not-for-profit) and I’ve never heard anyone talk about investing in culture — in this way.
How can we INVEST in helping talent understand how their (specific) work contributes to the organization?
Connecting the HOW to the WHY.
We can ‘cross-pollinate’ this question with philanthropy: How can we INVEST (time / story / resources) in helping team members understand how their tasks contributed to the organization (in terms of IMPACT and INCOME)?