Work takes up a large portion of people’s lives and is an important part of the economy. It provides people with a way to earn money to live and the opportunity to achieve their goals. However, work is much more than a means to an end. It affects our self-image and our identity. It can provide a sense of stability and security, which can be helpful in stressful times. It can also provide a sense of meaning and purpose, which can help people feel more fulfilled.
But while many leaders and thought leaders are engaged in a rich conversation about the future of work, they seem to miss one important question: What is work?
Often, when companies talk about the future of work, they use a narrow definition that focuses on skills, such as the ability to identify and solve problems. This approach, while valuable in its own right, is limited and doesn’t capture the full potential of work. In order to truly transform the future of work, organizations must reimagine what work is and how it gets done. This will require a significant change in management systems, work environments, operations, leadership and management capabilities, performance management and compensation, and other human capital practices.
In physics, work is the amount of energy transferred to an object when a force causes a displacement of that object. This can be expressed mathematically as W = F
The work an object does is related to its mass and the distance it is displaced. The greater the mass of the object and the smaller the distance, the more work it does. For example, a 100-kg person pushing a can of soup 0.600 m down a slope does more work than a 20-kg person pushing the same can up a slope because the weight of the person is a greater proportion of the total distance travelled.
The work that an individual does can have many psychological and personal impacts, both good and bad. It can give a person a sense of meaning and purpose, which is particularly important in challenging times, or it can erode self-worth and leave them feeling unfulfilled. In the worst cases, it can snuff out passions, destroy relationships, and lead to feelings of cynicism. In the best, it can build discipline, wisdom, and skill. For all of these reasons, the question of what work is is worth asking not just for executives and think tanks, but for individuals as well.
