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Identifying role is important for Tops, Middles and Bottoms

At lower levels of management and non management this issue is even more pronounced. These people often see themselves as 'paying the bills' or 'working the pay'. They see themselves as second rate and far less important than the front line. With these thoughts in their mind, especially when it's reinforced by senior managers, it's no wonder that many corporate service departments under perform.

I have found that the way to break out of this diminishing cycle is to use questions and challenges.

The questions involve asking "what would happen if you stopped doing this even for a day?". We also talk about the real assets in business today. Today information, relationships, time and emotions are far more important than the assets in the balance sheet. When we discussed: "Who in the organisation has most influence over these intangible assets?", the message became very clear and people start to see themselves in a different way.

The challenge involves getting people to realise that every group has a bigger role if they choose to accept it. I spoke about the grave diggers in Porirua who, when I asked them about how they made a difference to the world, said: "All we do is dig holes and bury people". With more questioning and challenging they started to realise that they were central to public health (no dead bodies festering in the streets). But the real breakthrough came when someone said: "You know, when you think about it, we are central to the way people remember their loved ones. If we do things well people will have wonderful memories. If we don't, they won't". With this thought in mind the grave diggers started having red balloon days which symbolised the souls going up to Heaven, they got name badges so they could greet people, they tended the gardens and grounds far more attentively.

Having a role in mind that is enabling and ennobling is really important to how they see themselves in the workplace. But more importantly, it's critical to what people do in the workplace.

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