do you work here?

In a recent post on his highly influential blog, Seth Godin made some insightful comments about our attitudes to where we work. You can read the whole thing here.

Here's a line from the post, quoting a member of an organisation who he was not to keen on helping after they'd let him down before:

"All I do is work here. They pay my salary, but I'm me, not them."

Hmm. While I'm not naive enough to think that I should be held accountable for the decisions of my managers & the senior executive if things go wrong - I'm not daft enough to think that i can take "their money" without having a responsibility to contribute to the organisation being run well. To be the best *me* I can be.

And it's made all the more interesting in such times of uncertainty and increasing calls for companies to be efficient, trim costs and do more with less. It could descent to survival of the fittest, everyone clamouring for survival - the ship is sinking, but I'll make sure that I'm alright Jack.

But it doesn't have to.

I think that organisations thrive as their people make the most of their talents and are given the room to be the best they can be. I have been impressed by the work done by my colleagues to bring a sense of togetherness to what we do. We're not perfect and I know we face our challenges, but if we face them together and with a share sense of responsibility - and trust - then I think we will be alright, Jack. And we'll probably enjoy being together too. A group of people with a common aim and purpose can achieve great things.

This has a challenge for those involved with church too. We are to live in the light of who we are in Christ, and also to share that experience with people around us - to be open, fragile and teachable in a group of people who share a common faith with us. We might not agree on everything - and that's probably healthy - but by being together we make more of who we are on our own. That's not to be at the expense of cultivating a personal relationship with God. Something I'm desperate to make more of.

So, thinking about the working day ahead, I guess I am challenging myself by asking "what am I doing today to being people together?".

What does this make you think about?