Families or Coworkers?
In the book, “An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization” Robert Kegan and Lisa L. Lahey assert that today’s organizations can become a nurturing place for all employees by tapping into their highest motivation, to learn and grow as individuals. The workplace does not have to be a hostile environment of competitiveness where it is a zero-sum game. Rather, the company should take the developing of their employees just as seriously as they take their products and profits. This type of organization they call a Deliberately Developmental Organization (DDO) and it should be the aim of all organizations to attain the principles contained in this book.
“In short, this book is as much about realizing organizational potential as it is about realizing human potential.” It flows logically that if the employees are motivated to grow and be the best they can be, then that dynamic will trickle upwards and the company will be a better company. The book falls within the business-psychology-management-work place categories and was published this year. It is a timely offering by Kegan and Lahey, especially when we read headlines in business magazines about the disintegration of the workplace in America. This disintegration has been called the, “Great Resignation” due to the changes happening in working culture. Going to work used to be simple: show up at 8:00 or 9:00 am and leave at 5:00 or 6:00 pm. Not so anymore. Remote work because of the Covid pandemic has reshuffled the deck permanently. American workers used to adjust their life around the work but now it is the opposite: people adjust their work to their lives. Individualism has always been a hallmark for Americans and it shows no sign of slowing down. The brilliance of this book is that it is a call to workplace culture, community and finding meaning together. The book acts as a check against the extreme individualism of American workplace culture.
The book uses three good examples of companies that are already putting into practice the principles of a DDO. It is a helpful way to understand what the authors are saying, otherwise the book would be theory and academic. With modern, successful company’s beings described, the reader can see how the author’s insights can be put into practice. Their explanation seen out of the classroom and into the workplace where things tend to get messy. In their examination of these companies they ask, “What is the most powerful way to develop the capabilities of people at work?” (p.4) and then they trace out their answers with each company serving as a test case.
My main criticism of this book is that it tends to become unrealistic in its expectations of the workplace. The workplace is not a family nor is it the ultimate measure of an individual’s self-worth or ego. The authors frequently speak of co-workers as stand-ins for family relationships. Their last chapter is entitled, “Creating Home” and it pours it on thick. Their expectations of all that a workplace could and should be tips towards being unreasonable. A family is to have unconditional love and our relationships within our families will always be there. Brothers will always be brothers even if they don’t get along. A daughter and mother will always be so even if the relationship becomes strained. This is never the case with or our coworkers. The relationship is fundamentally different. There is no unconditional love, you have to perform well in your job or you will lose your job. And people change jobs all the times. Your coworkers one year might be completely different the next. There is a hard distinction to be made and the authors blur the lines because of their great hopes of what a workplace could be. It’s an error in their fundamental approach—but their hopes are admirable.
About the Author
Troy Rappold
B.A. Communication - University of Colorado M.Div. Theology - Cincinnati Christian University Currently enrolled in D. Min. program at George Fox University5 responses to “Families or Coworkers?”
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Troy, I enjoyed reading your post, especially your past paragraph of critique. It often feels to me like the vision cast by a book like this is wonderful, except everybody is starting somewhere and the transitions of “how do we get from here to there?” are covered less, if at all. Are there any ways your new role at church lives out one of the principles of this book?
Troy: Thank you for pointing out how the pandemic has changed the work environment and how people approach their work-life relationship. I know I’ve seen a drastic shift myself in how I had always imagined work, parenting and life to be pre-COVID versus the reality now. I appreciate your thoughtful critique of the book. I know at the beginning of that chapter they address that they are speaking directly to the top leaders of organization – I wonder if perhaps they tried to use the analogy/language of home as a way to get that positional level to be thinking differently about the people that work under them as there can often be such a drastic gap between the top and the rest.
Troy, thank you for your thoughtful post and engagement with Kegan and Lahey’s book. This sentence especially stood out to me: The book acts as a check against the extreme individualism of American workplace culture. I’m curious, in your current work setting, how do you encounter individualism? Are there any practices in place that pull people more to communal engagement with each other and one another’s work?
Troy thank you for your reflection and connection to the way of work in pandemic times.
I was struck by your statement, “The brilliance of this book is that it is a call to workplace culture, community and finding meaning together” because I believe that Meaning Making in community is very powerful and is the essence of our scripture. How does this undergirding “brilliance” challenge your critique?
Troy, well done on your summary! I would be curious to know more about your resistance to the author speaking of workplace as family. In what ways have you not experiences this in your place of work? Now that you are working for a church, in a church, do you find your work relationships to be different than when you had your business?