Success is up to the individual
I started reading some article on Medium by someone about something vaguely interesting when a single sentence stopped me in my tracks.
It is for each employee to invest what they think they need in order to be successful in their role.
I read this in the context of company culture and work/life balance, and to it said to me that it is for each person to choose how much time and effort they should put into their job, as long as they are working towards the success of the role and the company. This unorthodox and (to me) liberating approach to challenging the Industrial Revolution idea of ‘work’ being about bums-on-seats from 9 am to 5 pm is simply brilliant. It makes the individual take responsibility for the success of themselves and their role.
If one person wants to be creating complex spreadsheets that accurately measure the performance of a business at 1am (mentioning no names), then the company with this kind of culture would say, “It’s up to you to decide what you should be focusing your efforts on, how you organise your time, and when you do your work, just aim to be successful.”.
I think this idea also connects to my previous idea about achieving Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose at work, which said that Autonomy should come from management, and this idea takes it big step further.