>It's statements like this that drive me deep into despair. That bland, banal platitude of "value". That non-statement of inaction phrased as "we need a better vision".
The sad thing is, it isn't even that hard to do; creating value for workers, I mean; at the risk of intensifying your despair.
Keep workloads reasonable. Establish humane feedback loops so that your labor force can actually attempt to actualize themselves. At the end of the day, every human being in a workplace creates value, and the more you can make life simpler and more straightforward for those who work for you without hemming them in or pidgeonholing them, the safer they'll feel taking reasonable risks that may just pay off, and most importantly coming to you first for input, advice, and a courtesy heads up.
One of the biggest challenges I've had to face since getting actual reports, is de-programming the tyranny-of-the-manager in the whole lot of them. I need people questioning things, correcting misunderstandings, making me aware of things. It is my job to do what needs to be done to enable my team to succeed. My team's inexplicable or unanticipated sudden failure is my failure. I am the one ultimately responsible for ensuring the reliability and stability of the processes that effect those I am tasked with managing for.
As a nuts and bolts person, it's totally new to me. However, I had someone volunteer to take a paycut to stay on with me. I'm... Not sure whether that's ultimately a positive, or what. I wonder sometimes if I'm falling down into the abyss of narcisstic management/business tendencies I've fought against my entire career because the descent is more insidious than I ever imagined... Then I look at all the stuff I have to balance, and re-evaluate what I could do different, and well... It is what it is.
Management was never something you should do to others, rather you do it for them to in the end make the entire working unit more productive. It's all work and overhead that has to occur for any task to get done; somebody has to do it. I just try to do for them what I always wished mine would do for me. I have a hunch they may have productivity gains in their personal lives. (At least I hope so.) I figure that's for someone else to judge though.
I just don't understand treating people like machines.