Turning Work Into Art

The artistic experience is one of immersion. Getting lost in the act of creation. Not a painless or effortless activity but one that requires great focus and stamina. It is an intrinsically human experience and no two artistic expressions are the same. It is the opposite of a commodity. As we move towards a future where everything that can be automated will be, what will be left for humans to do? I believe it is to make art. Something very unique to humanity. 

So how can we turn work into art? 

It starts with a shift in thinking. Away from thinking about work as the thing I do against my will to get money. That is the current paradigm of work. I do it against my will and that is why I get paid. But what if the thing that creates value is also what I am most skilled at, most uniquely talented to do, what I love, the thing I would be doing if I wasn't getting paid? But instead of doing it for free I'm doing it within the structure of a business that allows me to be compensated for doing something I love.

Why art? Because making and viewing art has uniformly positive impacts on humans. It reduces stress and increases well being. It also makes us more empathetic, a critical need in the modern workplace. 

Turning work into art would be transformative. If we can experience work as we experience creating art – getting lost in the creation of something indelibly personal and profound – there would be far reaching impacts. Businesses would benefit from increased engagement, employees would be more engaged and fulfilled, even families and communities would benefit from workers that come home energized and not drained by the drudgery of their jobs. 

To begin we must rethink and broaden our definition of art. Beyond painting, drawing, playing an instrument, etc. How can you drive a bus artistically? Bag groceries artistically? Create an artistic customer experience? I believe every profession and task can be infused with art. Maybe even add a dash of gaming to really make it engaging.

This change would require businesses to fully shake the factory/industrial mindset that still haunts the workplace. A hierarchical model based on command and control, very militaristic and often inhumane. Instead of treating human beings as useful but frustrating meat machines that do your bidding, treat them as unique individuals with specific abilities that can be harmonized with the needs of the business. Sure, this is more complicated and requires really getting to know your employees and giving them a high degree of autonomy.

The upside is huge. With employee engagement hovering at 31% moving that number north may be the biggest opportunity for improved productivity and profit. The evidence is clear, engaged employees lead to higher profits.  There's your ROI. 

If we transform work into art we would create work experiences that are truly human. What a better world that would be! 

The Power Of Dropping Balls

Dropping balls has a bad rep. Football, business, life… "That guy drops a lot of balls" equals "He's unreliable". Understandably since we all learn to filter our friends and associates by their reliability. Do they answer email? Do they return calls? Do they show up? 

But I believe there is value in dropping balls. 

First, let's accept that we have limited time and focus. Our minds are like the RAM on computers, we can only hold so many things concurrently. Once we start to reach that capacity we slow down. Our stress levels shoot up and our effectiveness decreases. But we don't want to look unreliable so we continue to run at capacity. 

So here we are juggling all these balls and it's wearing us out. But there's a solution. Start dropping balls. 

This starts with identifying what's important, not kinda important but really important. Then starting dropping…

In my experience, one of three things will happen to a dropped ball:

1. It will break and essentially cease to exist. This could be a project you have been dragging out for months and needs to be let go.

2. It will fall, get damaged and someone will jump in to help. This could be an event you are planning and need help executing but struggling finding people to help. Essentially you are allowing the event to be wounded in order to save it. Think of a wounded bird compared to one that appears healthy- which one is more likely to get help?

3. Someone will catch the ball before it hits the ground. Imagine you have numerous deadlines converging and feel underwater. Instead of killing yourself you can let others jump in to help carry the load. 

Letting go is a scary thing, I get that and still struggle with it after years of practice. But consider this, you build up others when you let go. It may be a messy way to delegate but I have seen, time after time, that there are always people waiting for an opportunity to jump in and help. It creates meaning for them. So to all my crazy busy friends out there, let some balls drop and give others a chance to run with them.