Sinnhaftigkeit /sɪnᐧhafᐧtiᐧkaɪt/*

For each change we make, and each tool, method and measure we install in our organizations, we need to ask ourselves, “Is it meaningful, useful, reasonable and appropriate?”

There are a lot more English words used in everyday German life than the other way around, but sometimes there is a German word that expresses a concept so concisely that it is adopted into English.

Examples that come to my mind are angst, zeitgeist, weltschmerz, ersatz … and, hmm, Fahrvergnügen.

I would like to propose “Sinnhaftigkeit” as one such word. Possible translations are “meaningfulness,” “usefulness,” “reasonableness” and “appropriateness” — and I mean all of these when I use the word here:

In all that we do in organizations, with each change we make, and every tool, method and measure we install, we need to ask ourselves the question of “Sinnhaftigkeit.”

Some examples:

Transparency. What is the usefulness of transparency? Is transparency a value that is always good? If that is the case, we should just open up everything. But that is not the case, and I see that when I realize that the disclosure of some information may be harmful to some people. Or if it is not harmful in and of itself, it may be misleading or hard to understand at the current time. Perhaps there is some education necessary or there needs to be more preparation of the information and its context before it can be understood. And perhaps much of the information we have is just not helpful for everyone and needlessly consumes people’s time and energy.

Therefore we can ask ourselves: is it appropriate/reasonable/meaningful/useful that everyone knows this? Does providing this information have a “Sinnhaftigkeit,” for example, by enabling people to make better and more informed decisions? What do I need to do, how do I need to prepare individuals, teams or the information itself, so that it provides that usefulness I desire?

Remote work. Is the ability to work remotely a privilege? Is it a gift to an employee? Is it a benefit? Or does it have the “Sinnhaftigkeit” of allowing more flexibility, better concentration or a more inspiring working environment at times in which flexibility, concentration or inspiration is needed?

An example of flexibility could be needing to have a plumber in the home without the necessity of taking off from work for it. A case for concentration could be needing a break from a noisy office in order to work on a concept or to write that code. And maybe the “Sinnhaftigkeit” can be found in just having the opportunity to get into flow in the morning without having to get to the bus, or — in my case, at the time of first writing this — getting out of the house and the office for a few days to work on writing a book in a holiday house overlooking the Baltic sea.

And if the type of job I do can not be done at home or remotely? Then remote working has no “Sinnhaftigkeit” in that context. Is that a disadvantage for the employee? No! Sorry, just no. This is no more a disadvantage than the fact that some people get to work outside and some inside, some on ships, in airplanes and others on land, some work with kids and others with computers.

Is it then meaningful/appropriate/useful that companies refuse remote work for some employees because others can not do it? Is it meaningful/appropriate/useful for companies to allow for remote work only for employees that live a certain distance from the office? Or only allow a certain number of days of working from home? Or is there any “Sinnhaftigkeit” in a government creating a law that all employees everywhere have the right to 24 days of working from home a year?

We need to ask ourselves the question of “Sinnhaftigkeit” constantly.

A good way to begin would be by no longer regarding tools and instruments as privileges, goodies or rewards but rather as means for creating more value.

Also we can ask ourselves: What is the benefit of what I want to do? Are we doing this because it is fashionable, because others are doing it, because it is the way things are done — or does it have meaning and usefulness and if so, how can we do it according to the full potential of this “Sinnhaftigkeit?”

I fear, I might have overdone it with a new loan-word for English — but even if we don’t adopt it, I hope the questioning of what we want to accomplish and the usefulness and meaningfulness of our measures and actions will take place more often — no matter which language we happen to be using.

*the fake phonetic representation of Sinnhaftigkeit in the title is not intended to be the German pronunciation of the word (something more like /zɪnᐧhaftᐧikᐧkaɪt/), but rather how I imagine it would end up being pronounced in English based on how we say “Gesundheit!” (when someone sneezes) where I grew up (something like /gəᐧzunᐧtaɪt/).