Contributors ‘make things happen’ + the ‘right way’

Contributors have both human values as well as functional effectiveness – They get the job done, but also do it the ‘right way’. A person, who has values but no effectiveness, is not useful. A person, who is very effective but doesn’t have values, is a very dangerous person.

How are contributors effective? 

First, they have an attitude of ‘creating value’ in the job – “When I go there, what value am I creating? Am I just ‘doing’ or am I ‘creating value’?” That kind of question that comes to their mind.

Second, they are not instruction-oriented, but solution-oriented. They find solutions rather than simply take instructions or blindly follow processes. For example, if a boss sends his employee to do a job, and he comes back saying, “Sir, nobody was there”, it doesn’t work. He has to go there and get the job done. He has to find alternatives, and somehow do it. Every boss is looking for an assistant who will get the job done and not come back to him for instructions every half an hour. Such people are a pain to their boss, taking the boss’ time away from his own work into their work.

Third, whatever be their subject area, they aren’t superficial; they go deep into the subject to understand what is going on.

What human values do contributors demonstrate?

First is ‘trust’ – they have integrity in their actions. Integrity also includes being trustworthy. Saying that you will not be in time, you are communicating, “I am not trustworthy”, “I may not keep my word”. Trustworthiness doesn’t mean honesty alone, it also means being able to communicate that I will get the job done – “What I promise, I will do”. That is also part of trust.

Along with this trust, there is ‘win-win thinking’ – not only do I win, others also win. For example, some employees take leave just before a crucial assignment or project. This shows that they are interested in their ‘win’ alone, not in the ‘win’ for the organization as well. Contributors, have this ‘win-win’ orientation – they act such that they win, as well as others win.

Along with win-win thinking, contributors have concern for others – customers, team-mates, subordinates, people around, etc. Organizations lack this human concern – looking at things from the other’s point of view. One of the difficult conflicts in the organization is that one department in the organization doesn’t quite see what the other department is saying because there is no ‘imaginative sympathy’ – “His problem is ‘this’, can I solve it by looking at it from his point of view along with mine?” – this idea comes into their thinking.