Comments on Pink: Be in the Right Mind, by Adrienne Fox in HR Magazine 2006, page 32
Daniel Pink is right on the money—so to speak. The author of Free Agent Nation believes we are already in a “thinking economy”, one where employees who actively think, process, and react accordingly are exponentially more valuable to their companies than those that robotically plug away.
Employees who think of their job not simply as the place they work, or the task they perform, but as their business are more productive, stay on the job longer, are viewed as leaders by peers and have a positive effect on customer loyalty.
It is our observation that these employees are often more emotionally and intellectuality connected to your business purpose and share the same goals as your business leaders do.
But how do you nurture this level of commitment? How do you recognize when it occurs? How do you encourage it across the enterprise?
Many firms have developed peer-peer recognition platforms that allow coworkers to recognize one another when they go the extra mile, own the outcome, or just help get each other through tough stretches.
In the process they are not only identifying and cultivating that most precious of all corporate commodities—leadership—they are also promoting best practices and attitudes across the workplace.
If there is one thing that I’ve leaned from reading Daniel’s book is that companies need to recruit their best employees over and over again. This low cost, high impact approach is indeed a prudent approach.
