The Passersby

In one of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes, The Passersby, a Confederate Army soldier is walking past a ruined antebellum mansion, where he stops to talk to a recently widowed wife of another Confederate soldier. From the porch, they watch as casualties of the war walk on the road in front of the house, bemoaning the pain of the war. Finally, the last person to walk past the house is president Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln’s passing embodies the end of an era. The country had to let go of whatever we thought we were, and turn our attention to the unknown, uncertain future, -the wilderness. 

The episode could be a metaphor of the pandemic and where organizations are today, our wounds, our efforts to adjust, and the meaning society will make of what we just went through.

Lincoln’s walk is analogous to the last pivot of organizations trying to come to terms with the transformation of organizational life as we knew it. Working long hours, sacrificing time with loved ones, enduring abuse and exploitation are quickly becoming relics of a bygone era. No one wants to go back to that. But where do we go from here?

The emerging question moves toward the Employee Value Proposition (EVP). Every C-Suite and HR/OD professional is asking, How does our organization offer something different or more than our competition that will draw employees to our doorsteps? How do we create a working environment, an inclusive and healthy culture, and a brand that retains employees, not just because we pay more, but because this organization is truly a great place to work? 

Robert Keegan wrote an interesting book a few years ago (An Everyone Culture), where he coined the term, a Deliberately Developmental Organization (DDO). Rather than organizational life taking a business as usual approach, the organizations of the future need to rethink the central role of people development within organizational life. 

“What if a company did everything within its power to create the conditions for individuals to overcome their own internal barriers to change, to take stock of and to transcend their own blind spots, and to see errors and weaknesses as prime opportunities for personal growth? What would it look like to “do work” in a way that enabled organizations and their employees to be partners in each other’s flourishing?”

Putting resources into learning and development is framed as a cost, it undermines the impact it has on the (difficult to quantify) culture, the brand, and attrition, but that might be changing. The question is whether organizations will recognize the remnants of the last era (the Passersby) and realize that a new workplace era is unfolding and waiting to be constructed.