Adam Grant:<\/strong> It\u2019s clear that the strongest driver of meaningful work is feeling like your job makes a difference in the lives of others. When you think about what gives people a sense of purpose, it\u2019s about feeling that your work has an impact on others and if your job didn\u2019t exist other people would be worse off. What\u2019s interesting is if you look at surveys since the early 1970s asking people to rank different features they want most in a job, around 2000 \u2018meaningful work\u2019 was number one. Yet, if you go back to the \u201870s and \u201880s, it was number one then, too.<\/p>\n 360: Teams trying to innovate have to be willing to fail. That takes trust. But, a lot of organizations go about building trust wrong. Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n AG:<\/strong> I talked to a crew of astronauts who have been to the International Space Station and the leadership experts who helped train them. They all told me the same thing: Trust is not about how much you like your crew. It\u2019s about how much you can count on your crew. We don\u2019t have to have many traits in common, come from the same place or believe in the same things, as long as I can count on you to do a good job and have my best interest or mission at heart.<\/p>\n In the case of this crew of astronauts, they had actually been enemies. Americans were flying to a Russian space station. Both astronauts and cosmonauts had been in the military. They\u2019d lived through the Cold War. Now, they\u2019re supposed to live together, work together and trust each other. That trust comes from clarity of mission. It comes from recognition of confidence. It comes from being a little bit vulnerable so that when you take a risk, the other person doesn\u2019t harm you.<\/p>\n 360: Are there things organizations do that make you say, \u2018That\u2019s not going to work?\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n AG:<\/strong> One of the things that drives me crazy is how many team building activities and exercises people do. It\u2019s all shallow. We\u2019re going to have a ping pong tournament, a mixer or a party. The problem is that people don\u2019t really mix at mixers. They mostly hang out with the people who are similar to them, who they already know. They also don\u2019t have to overcome any challenges Trust is not about how much you like your crew. It\u2019s about how much you can count on your crew.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n 360: If that\u2019s not the right approach, then how do you build trust?<\/strong><\/p>\n AG:<\/strong> If you want to build trust, you actually want to de-fun. Instead of doing something simple and lighthearted, you actually work with a group of people to solve hard problems that matter. Bonds of trust are forged, character is tested and you see who people really are when it\u2019s not necessarily the most pleasant experience. That happens when you\u2019re creating something or trying to solve a problem together.<\/p>\n 360: What message do you think the physical workplace communicates to employees?<\/strong><\/p>\n AG:<\/strong> Office design is huge when it comes to sending signals about hierarchy. I don\u2019t know about you, but if I\u2019m leading an organization I don\u2019t want to be hidden off in the corner in my own territory. I want to be in the center of it\u2014where the action is. When I walk into companies where there\u2019s a separate floor for executives and they all have their own offices, it\u2019s like you\u2019re in a labyrinth. If I have an idea, how do I get it to somebody who can do something about it?<\/p>\n That doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m a big fan of open plan offices which often wreak havoc for introverts. I think there\u2019s a middle ground. That means our leaders should sit in the same general territory as the people who work with them, but we should also give everybody a chance to close the door when they need to focus.<\/p>\n 360: People are seeking different places to work, but on the other hand, organizations are asking them to come together to solve big, wicked problems. How do you approach that tension?<\/strong><\/p>\n AG:<\/strong> I think balance is the key. There was a meta analysis of every study that looked at the impact of telecommuting. It found if people are able to come together for part of the week, it\u2019s fine for them to work independently for the rest of the week. I\u2019ve had some leaders say, \u2018How do I monitor them and make sure they\u2019re working?\u2019 My response is, \u2018If you need to do that you\u2019ve failed at leadership because they should find the work meaningful and motivating enough that they want to do it.\u2019<\/p>\n 360: Of all the organizations you\u2019ve worked with, what has surprised you?<\/strong><\/p>\n AG:<\/strong> One of the bigger surprises is related to status. Generally speaking, the people who cling to status cues are the ones who are the most insecure about their own status. Being in a corner office is not a signal that you\u2019ve achieved status. It\u2019s a signal that you still desperately seek status as opposed to feeling like you don\u2019t need it. I even see some of this in my own world in academia when a professor has their students call them Professor Last Name as opposed to their first name. Why do you have to rely on a title for status? Why can\u2019t you earn it through the way you command respect? We should talk to each other on a personal level as opposed to trying to create this awkward professional distance that seems to put someone on a pedestal who can\u2019t earn it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Adam Grant, author and host of TED\u2019s WorkLife podcast, shares what he\u2019s learning about how to make work not suck.\u201d Teaser alert: \u201cIf you want to build trust, you actually want to de-fun. Instead of doing something simple and lighthearted, you actually work with a group of people to solve hard problems that matter.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":28241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"topic":[14324,581],"class_list":["post-28239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","industry-workplace","topic-culture-talent","topic-wellbeing"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/steelcase-res.cloudinary.com\/image\/upload\/c_limit,dpr_auto,q_70,h_1024,w_1024\/v1557159374\/www.steelcase.com\/2019\/05\/06\/19-0119531.jpg\")
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\ntogether. What is it they\u2019re possibly going to learn about trusting each other when everything is easy and fun?<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/steelcase-res.cloudinary.com\/image\/upload\/c_limit,dpr_auto,q_70,h_1024,w_1024\/v1557160075\/www.steelcase.com\/2019\/05\/06\/19-0119532.jpg\")
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