In order to transform a community rather than check off a good deed, we must address all facets of a community’s identity to engage true and lasting change.
Providing life-giving water to a community is imperative, but it does not give a community access to the ability to read or offer access to markets and industry needs. Providing small business loans for an entrepreneurial upstart multiplies opportunity, but alone it doesn’t teach the ethics of money management or offer justice to a history of child brides and youth pregnancies. Organizations may rescue trafficked women and children from the depth of peril, but as long as people are still viewed as commodities, the offenders will just nab the next and nearby vulnerable soul.
Every facet of a community is an important piece of the overall puzzle. Viable and resilient community transformation cannot occur with gaping holes that leave a greater need. We must give attention to all areas of development with a clear and strategic plan. Throughout 25 years of development work, 12 Areas of Transformation have been identified.
The Employee Parallel
Collectively, your employees are a living community of their own that needs a holistic approach in order to be resilient and viable. It should be a given that the actual existence of your company offers jobs, a living wage, and an economy to your community.
For decades we have known the need to address more in employment than only offering a living wage. Full-time employers offer medical, physical, and mental health access to care, and time off work for rest and rejuvenation or family care. Businesses now provide incentives and reimbursements for continuing education through workshops, certifications, or advanced degrees. Recent developments in a growing number of teams have brought in Marketplace Chaplains, or an equivalent, to tend to the spiritual needs of employees.
We recognize in children that even the most quality education cannot transform anyone into a resilient and viable student if there is underlying chaos or voids in the home. A whole-hearted employee transforms their work and your workplace into an integrated, resilient, and viable community who understands and values their position.
If you are looking to compete in the employer market or transform your workplace status in perception and rank, organizations cannot afford to ignore the innate need in every human to nurture their greater purpose in life. Explore, launch and implement the underlying purpose of your company by utilizing the very skills of your greatest assets…the employees. Adding greater purpose within the workplace elevates loyalty, production, and culture.
