The "LA" in "PLAY"

Lights on, nobody home

Having a fleet of planes on autopilot is - maybe - okay if you’re, say, bombing Libya. I think: I can’t say for sure, I have a lot of stars and badges on various games but I am not actually a general.

But if you’re running an organization and your captains are all just going through the motion, you’ve got a serious problem.

Well, according to this study by the Gallup Management Journal, that’s exactly what’s happening in America. And while I was not a business major (I was too busy not being an air force general), it seems to me this is red-alert, major danger behavior for businesses in general:

“Actively disengaged” workers are costing US businesses $300 billion a year in productivity losses.

22.5 million US workers… are not just unhappy in their work, but who are busy acting out their unhappiness by undermining what their engaged co-workers accomplish. Each one of these angry and alienated workers is causing their employers roughly $13k in yearly productivity losses on average.

Not engaged workers are defined as “checked out,” putting in time but not energy or passion into their work. Look around you. Chances are every other person you see is on autopilot. Only 29% of workers are estimated by Gallup to be truly “engaged” – i.e., employees that “work with passion and who feel a profound connection to their company.”

And what’s worse, this problem is unsolveable! There’s nothing that can be done! Uh - wait a second:

One root cause that creates and sustains bad managers is dysfunctional organizational cultures that often reflect the failings and foibles of the executives at the top. Many HR professionals and senior executives seem to want to ignore this reality. …Without changing the behaviors of the leaders of the organization that drives the rest of the culture, bad management practices will inevitably creep back. Yet  HR executives … do what they can to improve employee engagement and performance while working within the constraints imposed by the prevailing dysfunctional organizational culture.

Do me a favor: if you know a workplace that fits this description, please send them to us. The games we create aren’t just fun and recreational, though they deliver that in spades. We show where an organization is strong and where they are weak, we help the players appreciate one another for their diversity and humanity, instead of just resenting them as obstacles to getting their work done. This is a problem. We can help. I hope we get to play with you soon. Before it’s too late. I’m talking to you, Qadafi.