This week's Real Life Leadership column is online - Place personal meaning behind an event and invitees will attend.
Participation is a major problem. As people's lives become busier, filling the seats of an event becomes more difficult. The participation challenge is not resolved until organizations deal with it as both a personal and a relationship issue.
If you just treat it as a problem of communication - say communicating the idea of participation as a good thing - then you don't understand why people participate.
If you just think it is a problem of organization - say if we just handle the meeting agenda and event logistics - then you don't understand why people participate.
People participate for two reasons. Its personal and relational.
By personal, they find there is a personal stake in the outcome. They find personal meaning in participating. It means something, and they believe their participation will make a difference. If so, then they will get involved.
By relational, they find a social benefit to participation. If isn't just doing something with other people. It is havign a particular set of relationships that matter. They matter because their is something personal that they share together. There is a social bond that bridges their individuality, and makes them want to be together for this event.
The element of the personal and the relational is missing from most organizations. And it is one of the key competitive advantages. You master this, and you create a community that is committed to your organization's purpose, program and events.
This is what I call Impact Leadership and The Circle of Impact can help you focus on this missing dimension of organizational planning.
i think this topic getting people engaged in work is an interesting and tough one. I wrote it about it in a slightly different way on my blog.
Keep up the good work!
Posted by: gl hoffman | July 11, 2006 at 02:49 PM