All work brings dignity because we are made to work. But there are levels to the goodness of work, and good work makes you more human. These three categories: purpose, possibility, and prosperity form a Venn diagram or concentric circles, and that diagram will move based on what’s most important to you. And what’s important may change over time too. Work-life balance may be more important when there’s small children in your home. And you may go through a season when creativity is more important to your flourishing. And hopefully, this framework will give you some tools to evaluate where you are and what you’re searching for. For now, we have come to the last episode in the series. The last category of our three P’s of good work is prosperity. And prosperity comes with three elements: compensation, reward, and nurture. Let’s start with compensation, everybody’s favorite part about work. Compensation is the cash and benefits you receive for working at a job. While this is probably everyone’s most important factor in deciding work, I would urge you to be careful about overvaluing it in your search for good work. Some people, money is their goal. Others, enjoying work is their goal.
Others, missional work is their goal. But regardless, you must be compensated. The next thing up is reward. Reward is the non-monetary compensation for working somewhere. This could come in a few ways, one of which is perks. Maybe your boss buys coffee or the company owns a Lakehouse they let employees use. Or at one of my early jobs, I managed an event space and one of my favorite parts was getting to take home leftovers from the events. This was a perk for sure. But then the second part of the reward is maybe the job is fun, cool, or brings status. It is fun working at a marketing firm and it would be cool to work for a Major League franchise. And there’s status associated with working for Congress, and that status can even set you up for future employment based on your status and experience as part of your work. Rewards can look a few different ways, but you will not see them on a balance sheet. Finally, the last element of this category, nurture. Simply put, do you have a company and people at that company that care about you as a person? Are you in an environment where you are nurtured and treated like a person, or are you treated like a machine?
With the amount of time we spend at work, having friends at work, a boss who knows your name and treats you well, and a culture that is nurturing, are keys to having good work. Why settle for less? At Adelsberger Marketing, it is literally part of our mission to value our team. And while we’re not perfect in all of these elements, it’s my goal to make our company the best place to work in West Tennessee. Hopefully, this tool, the three P’s of good work, has been helpful to you as you think about whether you have good work or not. If you have any feedback on the three categories, I would love to hear it. Send me an email at kevin@adelsbergermarketing.com. Thank you for listening to the Content Machine Podcast and we’re going to continue to produce thought provoking podcasts to help you be a better leader and marketer. Please subscribe.
