In the well-known story, president Kennedy visits NASA for the first time. Upon touring the facilities, he stops to ask a man cleaning what he does at NASA. “I’m putting a man on the moon.”
This story, as oft-quoted it is (or as oft-quoted ones often are), may not be true, but it’s a harmless one. It’s used to illustrate how every single person working in an organization, no matter in which role, should feel connected to the grand mission and purpose.
I started to wonder if it’s that harmless, though. What if I’m not putting a man on the moon? What if I just work here?
When I got my first proper job, I took immense pride in the company. I was a cog in the machine, an employee number in a data base, but I felt the gravity of the trust that was placed on me to deliver. After all, they did pay me. And I think in my first job as a summer sales assistant, I did also feel that I contributed. My job was to sell, make money. It was easy to draw a line from my job to the balance sheet, and in a positive way. Whether I actually sold my salary’s worth, I don’t know – I was never shared such statistics. But at least I directly interacted with money, whether in charging a customer for what they were going to by anyway, or by selling them something they weren’t going to find on their own.
It’s different in a back office job. I wrote about needing to understand the business thoroughly to feel that I contribute, and it didn’t seem to resonate with many. Perhaps others predominantly work in industries they understand well and therefore didn’t relate; perhaps others still do not really care.
I think of the janitor in the story and how perfectly he answers the question. I think of the missions of the companies I’ve worked in. And I cannot say that I could whole-heartedly say that yes, I felt that I was contributing to each mission at hand.
I did try. I drew connections from updating the intranet to helping my engineering colleagues gain information quickly, allowing them to take that knowledge and implement it in their work. It’s usually at this stage that I lost my way. As I wrote in the above-mentioned LinkedIn post, I found it impossible to find any real contribution when I did not actually understand what the engineers were doing. ‘Engineering the heck out of something’ just didn’t cut it for me.
What can organizations do to help each employee connect their work to a higher purpose? Strategy is incredibly important, as is transparency and visibility, and promoting a sense of equal worth. I am aware that I may say this as an inexperienced, naïve person, but I don’t think any organization should employ someone who’s contribution is not needed. Work that’s not necessary should not be done. Turning that around: as a regular employee, you should rest assured (or at least assume and respect accordingly) that each of your colleagues is doing something the organization considers worthy of money.
The more people there are in a company, the harder it is for everyone to be the heroic janitor in Kennedy’s story. The farther removed from sales, product, and the customer you are, the less you feel the financial pressure. And that’s probably a desirable position for many. But perhaps the more likely you are to feel, “I just work here.” And maybe that’s okay, too.
Do you “just work” at your organization? Or are you motivated by its mission or purpose?
Sidetracked 
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