A characteristic of humans is the need to live in company, to live in society. The philosopher Aristotle (384-322, BC) says: Human beings are a social being by nature, and the insocial by nature and not by chance or is human evil or more than human …. Society is by nature before the individual (…) the one who cannot live in society, or needs nothing for his own sufficiency, is not a member of society, but a beast or a god. This implies that we are born with the social characteristic and develop it throughout our lives, man cannot live isolated and without social contact, that is why we continue to invent new forms of coexistence in society and new ways of communicating, such is the case of the rapid expansion that social networks
have achieved.
This need to live in community, in society is presented in all areas of our daily work: family, school, work, political groups, religious, professionals, although we can find people who are very aware of this need for relationship and interaction, but they intend to live understanding this need as their own and not reciprocal, that is, they have been thinking “others must be there for me” , but don’t let anyone count on me,” nothing further from reality than this lifestyle. Human coexistence is a two-
way relationship and requires our free decision to cultivate and remain in these areas, it requires our commitment.
We understand as commitment an obligation contracted by agreement, promise or contract, is the word given and, on the contrary, the term “without commitment” indicates that there is no obligation, no responsibility. In the context of this issue, we will refer to labor commitment. What does work commitment mean?
In the workplace, expectations about the commitment of collaborators to the organization usually go beyond agreements, promises or contracts, signed or implied, it is expected that the collaborator will be willing to give more than he receives, although sometimes it is not defined in the same way in the opposite direction, from the organization to the collaborators, forgetting the two-way relationship that we mentioned at the beginning of this topic.
We may find leaders who wish to impose the commitment on their teams, without taking into account that the agreement or pact takes place by a free decision, so that the commitment is not demanded, it is obtained and if it is proposed to impose the commitment, the imposition is unilateral, it is only based on the desire of one of the parties.
A few days ago I saw the notice about an Organizational Commitment Training, the content included developing the skills of self-employment and organizational sensitivity, nothing to do with this course with commitment as a pact or agreement and we know why… because commitment is not taught, it is built between the parties involved: through humanist leadership that puts people at the center and promotes mutual interest, spend time, create bonds, develop co-responsibility or shared responsibility.
Millennials are now noted for their lack of commitment and stay in the workplace, a note confirmed by the EPyCE Report 2018: Most Demanded Positions and Competencies stated in one of their conclusions “commitment is the poorest competition among young people in 14% of cases…”. It also contrasts the report “among adults, on the other hand, this aspect (commitment) does no appear among the requirements they should have, because they are largely supposed to remain loyal to the firm in which they develop their careers”.
Pilar Llácer, PhD in research at EAE Business School, one of the promoters of the 5th EPyCE 2018 report project, says: “Instead, youngsters now have expectations that are different. They’re better prepared and they’ve lost their fear. If they don’t like the business project, they’re going to something else.”
So it is not that Millennials lack commitment, is that their interests and motivators are different from those of their predecessors, the question is: How to engage these younger collaborators?
- Strategies need to be built to build relationships through generational differences to create a culture that works together.
- Know the importance of Millennials and the drivers who attract and engage them.
- Discover and decipher millennial engagement needs.
- Build bridges between Millennials and their predecessors through training, development and communication.
- Understanding how they think, execute, and engage is critical to building dynamic and permanent work equipment over time.
In general, the lack or loss of commitment on the part of the members of an organization has consequences that directly impact the expected results of the company and we may not be able to specifically measure and translate into real figures that impact, because we could have collaborators who decide to leave their jobs and leave the organization, instead there will be other collaborators who continue on the payroll but still leave their jobs applying the principle of the minimum effort and spreading the virus of “lack of commitment” to those who see their behavior without it generating any consequences.
Each person may have a greater or lesser tendency to assume commitment, loyalty and responsibility, in all areas of coexistence, but it will always be key in interpersonal relationships, taking care of the elements that build it and the context in which they are developed.