Intersecting Visions
Organizations mediate the relationship between our vision for our life and our vision for the world. Through organizations, we can both realize our purpose and change social conditions. Too often, organizations focus on the later at the expense of the former. In other words, the twin visions of the founders or current leadership does not intentionally include space for that of the majority of people who invest their time in the work of the organization. It is assumed that recruiting processes ensure alignment of vision; however, this does not allow for the organic emergence of new possibilities based on the passion and purpose of everyone who is involved. This was brought to light in a recent training and development class that I took as part of my Ph.D. studies. The authors of our textbook emphasized the achievement of organizational objectives but overlooked the engagement of employees and nurturing their gifts. Organizations, in this view, are more mechanistic than humanistic. Yet, it is the people who perform the work of the organization that are most critical to its success. Employees are not means to an end, they are people to be loved and celebrated.