Lessons in IT Transformation: Technology Expert to Business Leader

Engaging the Whole Person

Tell me if you have experienced this scene before. Employees walk into their employer's building. You can almost see them take off their personalities and individualism and check them at the door. They walk into work, and for the next eight to ten hours, they act like drones. They do what they are told to do. They go through the motions working for people who neither recognize nor value their unique talents or attributes. At the end of the day, they punch the proverbial clock (like Fred Flintstone at the Slate Rock and Gravel Company), put their personalities back on, and go back to actually living their lives. What a waste!

For years, there has been a separation between what you do and who you are. As Sheryl Crow put it in her song “We Do What We Can,” you work for a living, but try not to confuse it with being alive: “These are the choices we make to survive; you do what you can.”² Wouldn't it be amazing if you could be yourself in every aspect of your life? What if work was just an extension of who you were and what you had to offer? Now don't get me wrong. Every job has a level of administrivia, and certain aspects to it that are less than exciting. However, the more we can tap into people's unique interests, talents, and energy, the greater value we can glean from their engagement. Oh and by the way, the happier, more productive, and more engaged they will be. This is the classic win-win scenario. Yet far too few organizations even attempt to learn ...