When a veterinarian sets a dog's broken leg she's added value to a life. When an engineer designs a bridge to cross a river, she's added value by allowing people and goods to cross the river. When a small business owner creates jobs in her community, she's added value by helping her employees provide for themselves and their families. These are examples of value-added activities each of us can relate to and it's easy to see the improvements the vet, the engineer, and the entrepreneur bring to the table.
There are other ways value can be considered. For example, value can simply be delivered. Imagine the office assistant whose only job it is to do what she's told, "Get coffee for our guests," "Order lunch for our clients," "Run down to UPS and mail this package to our account in Omaha," "Call my 10:30 appointment and tell her I'll be 5 minutes early." The thinking and intention behind the action comes from someone else, probably the boss, and the assistant's only role is to deliver, not create value.
Value can also be destroyed. Can you remember a time when you were treated poorly at the Post Office, or in a retail store, or by someone in a call center supposedly helping you fix your computer? If you've ever been treated like a number, been taken for granted, or expected to spend an unreasonable amount of time on hold, the person you were working with was actually destroying value for their organization. The destruction occurs at the point you don't receive the service you require and it occurs again when you decide to never return.
In general, our jobs and careers tend to correlate to the amount of value we create, deliver, or destroy. Jobs that create a lot of value tend to be personally rewarding because they give us a sense of accomplishment and meaning--knowing that what we do is making a difference. In the private sector, they also tend to pay better. Jobs that simply deliver value don't tend to be as rewarding financially or emotionally. And, in our experience, any worker who destroys value has issues to work out whether they are personal or professional.
Professional hair stylists have the opportunity to add an enormous amount of value and the potential to be very satisfied emotionally and financially. If you are one of those, please share your thoughts. We'd love to learn how you create value and derive meaning from your work. If you are not one of those, please contact me. I'd love to help you on a path toward a richer career experience.
Jim
Lucavia
gojimlucas@lucavia.com
www.lucavia.com
© Copyright Jim Lucas 2009-2010 All Rights Reserved
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