Work is More Than the Work

One of the things I like about where I work, that is important for me to both model and encourage with our staff, is that we are civically involved.  Of course I would argue that just about all of our work, even as a for-profit business, has as an important audience and outcome that the public is educated on key issues.  But outside of our work, almost all of us do something else: sit on a board, volunteer in the community, participate in protests and other advocacy efforts.  To my delight, it’s become an important part of our reputation as a firm and our culture as an office. 

Cultivating this is borne of a desire to give people outlets in and outside of work to be their true selves, in terms of investing time and effort in things that matter to them.  But, because almost all we do is in the public realm, this sort of engagement makes people better at what they do.  And why is that?  Because what we do requires that we understand the kinds of things that can only be learned by participating: how does stuff really get done in the real world, what people are really thinking and doing on the issues, and what their stated (and hidden) motivations are.

I often say that though our work involves very tangible things like quantitative analysis and policy research and strategy content generation, we can only do those things if we keep track of the kinds of intangible things described above.  Which means that it is incorrect to draw a bright line between working on the work versus networking for the work versus even doing civic engagement tasks that don’t seem to be directly connected to the work.  All of it helps us help our clients and do our tasks better.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear this is also true of jobs that you might think are even more technical in nature.  A friend of mine in the video game business said that his unit – whose job is solely focused on coding – is only as good as its people are well-rounded and well-connected.  Well-rounded as it having some liberal arts background as well as interesting pursuits outside of the office (i.e. more than just computer science majors).  Well-connected as in having a large social network and being in close physical proximity to each other (i.e. no tele-commuting).

In an educational context, this point has relevance too.  We on the School Board here in Philadelphia are in the middle of a deep philosophical conversation about how to make sure that at the high school level, extra-curriculars are being safeguarded and that they are seen as part of the educational preparation for life after high school.  And, now that I myself have a high schooler living under my roof, I talk often with her about how to make the most out of these special years, and how there is so much more to gain beyond what you are learning in the classroom.

Ironically, those of us who have had the most education often have the most trouble understanding and actualizing this.  We’ve excelled in a system in which what matters is absorbing and processing a discrete amount of information in a controlled setting.  But the real world doesn’t operate like that.  Work is more than the work, school is more than the classroom, and the sooner we realize that the more we’ll thrive.