Two Masters

“No man can serve two masters.”

~ Matthew 6:24

Does your company recruit folks who want to do the work – or folks who want to make the work work better? As an employee or potential new hire, where does your focus lie?

Most of the companies I work with focus on folks who want to do the work, almost to the exclusion of folks who want to make the work work better. So, unsurprisingly, they end up with a workforce focussed on BAU (Business as Usual), and with very few folks having any interest in or aptitude for improving the way the work works.

And when the question of the general effectiveness of the company comes up (if it ever does), there’s little enthusiasm for or engagement with the issue. Then the bosses lament their feckless workforce and their “resistance to change”.

Was Jesus right? Can any man serve two masters? Can anyone ever serve both business as usual, and continuous improvement of the way the work works?

If you think the answer is “no”, then that’s a bit of a bind right there – as most real-world experience shows that it’s the folks that do the work who are best placed, by far, to improve the way it works.

And if you think the answer is “yes”, does your company recruit with that consideration in mind?

– Bob