This past November, I attended a Humanizing Work conference in New York City.  Mark Crowley (well-known writer for Fast Company) gave a compelling and challenging talk regarding leadership in the workplace.   He commented that during the past few years, worker’s needs have changed, but their leaders have not.  This has resulted in workers being dissatisfied with their jobs.  And Crowley believes this is a leadership problem, not the worker’s problem.
As we welcome the New Year of 2014, as workers and leaders we must resolve to humanize our work.  What I mean by this is that as managers, we must listen to the needs of our workers.  And as workers, we must vocalize our needs to our managers.  Because the way you manage matters.  And the way you work also matters.
In his book, Lead From the Heart, Crowley lists the top five things that people look for in a job:

1. to work for a company they respect
2. to have a trustworthy and engaging boss that advocates for them and helps them with career growth
3. variety in their position to make use of their talents
4. to be valued and recognized
5. the pay (this doesn’t rank hire than 5^th anywhere in the world!)

If you want to humanize your workplace – simply look at your motives as well as what is motivating your workers.  It’s not as much about the  money as it is about believing in a common cause and respecting those around you.  May your 2014 involve more humanizing work than it does dehumanizing work.  Happy New Year, everyone!