At the HRPS conference in Tucson, Tammy Erickson was one of the featured speakers.  I was fortunate to work for and with Tammy earlier in my career and I have always found her insights provocative and wise.  Her topic was innovation and she outlined several elements of a comprehensive approach to building a predictably innovative organization--as opposed to an organization that expects innovation to sort of magically appear from a brilliant mind or state-of-the-art lab.

There's one idea in particular from her talk that I've been reflecting on a lot.  Not surprisingly, a key cornerstone of innovative organizations is active, vital and energized employee engagement.  Tammy argued that the combination of the global recession, the different sensibilities of the post-boomer workforce, and the legacy concerns of the aging boomer workforce is changing the "rules of engagement" for our workforce, particularly in North America and Europe.  We have now entered an era where when it comes to engaging, motivating, and energizing our people, "meaning is the new money."

But working to infuse an organization with meaning is a tricky thing.  It has to be authentic, it has to be embodied and embraced by the top leadership, and it has to be credible.  Meaning--that sense that our work together serves a higher purpose and greater good--isn't something you can manufacture, or achieve through a campaign, slogans, vision statements or motivational speakers.  It comes from the moral fiber of the leadership, it comes from the humanity of the culture, and it comes from productivity and achievement of true collaboration.  And meaning isn't always about "changing the world"--in some organizations it's more about the the thrill of training hard and winning (Nike), the ethos of servant leadership (WL Gore), or the joy of recreation and play (REI). 

The idea that "meaning" is a powerful motivator isn't new--but I do think the view that meaning can do more than dollars to enliven, align, and galvanize our organizations is really compelling.  More and more of our work with clients is essentially helping them identify and distill their "purpose and story" and find the ways to meaningfully engage their employees in this common cause.  Fair compensation will always be a tablestake factor--but when the purpose is compelling, people will go above and beyond. 

To read more on Tammy's insights and findings, visit her website.