Her eyes are dimmed,
not without life,
but not filled with light.
She’s taking the money for my coffee,
wishing she wasn’t here.
Maybe this is the only work
she has
found.
It doesn’t make her heart pound.
Too many people
in their daily work
wish they weren’t there.
Whether it’s
golden handcuffs,
wrong thinking (“this is the only job I could ever get”),
poor management,
poor fit with the business’ culture,
or something else,
too many lives are being wasted
this way.
Businesses try to fix this with
lunch and learns,
online training,
better on-boarding,
exit interviews
and yet
dis-engagement is still high.
Why?
Employees have a sense
that nothing will really change
because there is little
followup
or
follow-thru.
And the light in people’s eyes grows dimmer.
We can do better.
We can stop wasting the
human capital
entrusted to us.
It starts when we quit
looking for a quick fix.
It starts when
we commit
to a continual
process
of developing
what are improperly called
soft skills.
It starts when we look
at developing the
whole person
not only the profitable parts.
It starts when we decide
we want the light in people’s eyes
to shine brightly
Every. Single. Day.