Understanding the purpose of work energizes and engages employees
Chip Lindgren is Founder and CEO of A.G. Scientific, a leading San Diego based biochemical supplier for the life science marketplace. He has implemented a process of helping his team understand the FOR WHOM and and the WHY of the work they perform, giving them greater satisfaction and developing passion within the workplace.
A.G. Scientific delivers core reagents to life science customers. The company has built a reputation on personalized customer service and rapid, accurate delivery, which is crucial to the clients they serve.
Members of the operations team spend much of their work days weighing out, packaging and shipping chemical substances. Then the customer service team tracks the shipments and ensures, for instance, that international consignments don't get stuck in customs. Delayed shipments can mean not only missing a customer's deadlines but also the product spoiling in transit.
Instilling Purpose
To ensure this work never becomes mundane, Chip educates his team each week about one of the clients they are serving. For example:
- Qlabs, a testing laboratory in Ohio which uses the antibiotic supplied by A.G. Scientific to test water samples for e-coli contamination, ensuring thousands of people are safe from potentially deadly e-coli poisoning.
- Eloxx, an Israeli pharmaceutical company at the forefront of CRISPR technology - a technology that can snip out genetic errors like a scalpel. Thus genetic diseases like Cystic fibrosis can now be potentially cured, not just treated therapeutically. A.G. Scientific supplies an antibiotic to Eloxx who uses the antibiotic to create an Active pharmaceutical candidate to perform CRISPR technology and hopefully treat/cure cystic fibrosis.
Result
As a result A.G. Scientific personnel appreciate what they ship can and does matter. As Chip has found, keeping the FOR WHOM and the WHY in the forefront of everybody's minds leads to a more engaged and committed team, better customer service, and an energized workplace.