Workplace Elections

Vote for Me!

Tonight is election night in my town. Of course like most towns that have local elections, not many people run for office. It can be a pretty thankless job and a horrible process of declaring what you would do given the chance. 50% of the people like what you would do and 50% wouldn’t. It got me thinking.

What if we had to run to win our jobs?

What if we had to run for our jobs every year?

No more appraisals, just the support of our co-workers and records to run on. New prospects could apply to run against us. Everyone would be able to participate in the process. So you would know exactly who your competition is and what their skill set is.

We would need to add some rules like keeping money out of the election, in other words, no buying fancy dinners and gifts. This is based solely on merits.

Of course, you would need to show your worth all year long and how you fit into the culture. If you did, you wouldn’t have any problem winning re-election and if you didn’t it would be time to move on.

Imagine if you had 2 or 3 people who declare publicly what they would do to help the organization.  Then throughout the year, you either do what you say or someone who will comes in and replaces you.

What better to drive competition and skills than knowing what your peers would do in the same situation you are in? This would drive results for the organization and would drive you to learn more, do more and be a better employee.

I know it’s a silly idea or is it?

What do you think?