The Abundant Organization

“Leaders are meaning makers… when leaders make work meaningful, they help create abundant organizations where employees operate on a value proposition based on meaning as well as money.” ~ Dave and Wendy Ulrich

According to Ulrich and Ulrich, “An abundant organization is a work setting in which individuals coordinate their aspirations and actions to create meaning for themselves, value for stakeholders, and hope for humanity at large.” The literature on abundant organizations suggest there are eight factors as a starting point in building an abundant organization. They are: Identity, purpose/meaning, relationships, challenging work, positive work environment, using resources, resilience and delight.

It takes a leader with heart and courage to consider each of these factors and how they are/are not happening in your organization. In this blog I will touch on a few of these factors.

Identity asks the question Who am I? In an abundant organization individuals are self aware, know their values and their strengths, and build on these to connect themselves to the organizations vision/mission/culture.

Purpose and Meaning asks the question Where am I going? In this factor employees are energized and engaged in aligning their work with meaning and feel that what they do matters.

Is the question Whom do I travel with? Research is clear that having meaningful relationships at work is tied to employee satisfaction and tenure. Positive relationships can provide people with a sense of community and connection.

The last one of the eight I will touch on is delight or ‘what enlivens me?’ This is a factor that we don’t often discuss in the field of leadership. It encompasses how we find joy at work. What do we do to laugh, to stop and appreciate moments, to see beauty or to just have fun?

The opposite of abundance thinking is deficit thinking. This is what we may inevitably fall into in times of challenge, loss or uncertainty. I think we all felt the pall of deficit thinking as we led our way through the COVID 19 pandemic. The challenge then and now is not to STAY there. Leaders must search for and speak to meaning in challenging times.

What are you doing to lead an abundant organization? How are you keeping the flame of meaning alive

“The crisis of meaning is always a crisis of leadership……Leaders have the task of creating a direction that is charged with meaning—one that resonates with not only the minds and hands but the hearts of those they lead.”  ~ Ulrich and Ulrich

[Note: Some of the ideas shared here came from the Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology and Work (2009).]