Sources & Resources

It's always gnawed at me that we call our teammates "resources", as if they are petroleum or potable water or clean coal (whatever that is). It's one of those little things that followed me around waiting to poke me in the ribs when I heard a leader use it, which we do, often. And when I used the term myself, my conscience gave me the hypocrite speech I carry around in a corner of my brain for just such occasions.

Then I had the opportunity to hear Steve Adler, mayor of Austin, speak at the annual Fatherhood Summit in Texas. He talked about his son, who I must say is a tough constituent. Mayor of Austin, with this particular future voter, is pretty challenging. Young Master Alder has posted a list on the fridge for his dad, the mayor. On top of the list is "Save the bats". Austin has the world's largest bat colony and Mayor Adler is expected to save it. It says so in his kitchen. But that's not all. A little lower on the list are "Save the Water" and "Save the Air". I don't remember the rest of the list, though there were something like fifteen expectations. Daunting.

Sometimes we hear about children being our most precious resource and it occurred to me that in this case, this child was the mayor's source, not his resource. And as that florescent light tube flickered and buzzed over my head like the beginnings of an idea, the light got brighter.

Source.

We've been almost right. Our teammates aren't mere resources, ready for us to use them up until they're obsolete. No, they're sources. They are the source of our great work; the source of so many intriguing innovations; the source of our agencies' successes.

Maybe it sounds trivial, and maybe our teammates don't care. But I believe that the words we use not only reflect our thoughts and feelings, they also influence and reinforce them. Perhaps a simple change in words will have a micro-effect on how we interact, what we ask, who we ask, and lead to even better employee engagement.

Maybe in a few years someone will be bugged enough to find a better word, but I'm pretty satisfied for the moment.