Archive for job satisfaction
Work for a Jerk?
Posted by: | CommentsAt one point or another, we have all worked for a jerk. Trending analysis, client feedback and underground communication clearly indicate that mismanaged employees and boundary violations are on the rise. Managing through tough times and poor leaders is often time more difficult than the work itself. Poor leadership can range from an immediate supervisor to poor HR leadership. Noone is exempt.
Taking charge of your career and disengaging from negative forces, including a jerk of a boss is within your reach. As a Career Strategist with an organic and practiced track record of problem solving, I am focusing this weeks blog on the employee relations aspect of managing poor leadership, self preservation and maintaining your sanity.
5 Strategies to Activate NOW
#1 Document…Document…Document
Venting is short lived whereas documenting is soothing, has long range positive effects and will set you up for a chronicle of events if you need to take legal action.. Hand write your discontent in a strategy journal. This is a journal specifically dedicated to you, your work, your accomplishments and your discontent. Keep it is a safe place and use it daily. Date, time stamp and openly journal details of what is occurring. Always be sure to credit yourself for one or two accomplishments per writing. When leadership is lacking, you need to start truly leading yourself. This means crediting your daily accomplishments and cheering for yourself!
#2 Keep the Personal Out of Professional
Remind yourself that you accepted your position to offer professional skills in lieu of pay. That is it! Nothing more! While it is a bonus if you make a friend or two in the workplace, your primary focus must be on your skills and honing them. If you have a jerk as a boss or a leader who leads you to feel uncomfortable, steer clear. You are under no obligation to take part. If you think you can out maneuver the person…perhaps you can but you will be far better served if you develop a strategy focusing on your accomplishments and becoming successful than trying to “play the game”.
#3 Remove Fear from your Vocabulary
There is a reason the famous quote “there is nothing to fear but fear itself” has stood the test of time. Use it. Get out from behind your fears and exercise your courage. This does not mean randomly acting out, but rather, put a plan in place on making your move to either sustain the existing workplace dysfunction OR exit the company. Planning your work and working your plan is powerful. Have dedicated hobbies outside of work. This will give you something positive and productive to look forward to and feed your focus on you.
#4 Stop living above your means NOW
If you cannot quit your job due to financial restraints, start cutting back on your luxury spending and live beneath your means. Start paying yourself first by banking as much as you can. Make a game out of stashing away extra money. You will gain power over yourself which will bring a heightened sense of confidence into the workplace. Your boss may be curious about seeing a change in your however, never needs to know why the change. Remember Rule #2??? Keep personal to yourself.
#5 Take Action.
If you have been spoken to inappropriately, asked to divulge personal information, felt emotionally violated to the point of crying or coerced to conform in what may be perceived as a borderline “touchy feely, cultish” environment, stand your ground and exercise your voice. The EEOC is always available to file charges especially if on the job allegations are not being dealt with. Environmental harassment is NEVER ok. Once you speak up, you are protected by the law from any further wrongdoing. Get Moving!
For more information: www.eeoc.gov.
Get over it! (…the fear of being your own boss, that is)
Posted by: | CommentsLately I’ve been experiencing higher than normal anxiety, the fear that maybe it won’t all work out and heavy reliance on emotional support from friends and family. The reason for acting this way, and being totally uncool, is that I have finally decided to follow my dream of being my own boss.
That’s right, after several years of working for others while wishing I was working for myself, I have taken the plunge into the entrepreneurial pool. At times a bit overwhelming (i.e. when creating my logo, designing my website, starting the business plan, etc. ) but at other times it is highly rewarding (i.e. when you sit down with a client and get some highly creative work done).
My business is fairly new but I remain optimistic. The key to staying positive when working for yourself is to plan, plan, plan! So I have some tips for how to stay organized and motivated, and therefore, not to be fearful of having your own business.
1) Plan your day from the night before. Write down all the important things that need to be done and do them one by one. Master the art of “mono-tasking”.
2) Mono-task! I heard about this new concept from an article from Forbes.com that a client of mine sent to me. The art of mono-tasking means to spend an allotted amount of time on one task at a time. What a concept! In a world where we are told to strut our multi-tasking abilities, mono-tasking tells us that it is okay to do one task at a time – you’ll get more quality work done! So put away your BlackBerry and stop checking your e-mail for the next hour, it’s time to mono-task!
3) Start your morning with a nice cup of coffee and read something motivational. Whether it’s an article from an entrepreneurial magazine re: a success story, an e-mail from a friend telling you how proud they are of you starting your own business, or if it’s just a motivational Tweet. Whatever it is, find it, read it and stay motivated!
4) Don’t be lazy. Wake up early and remember your goals and where you want to be in a year to five years from now. Work towards those goals each day.
5) Exercise and eat right. I kept reading about this and how important it is for your mind and body and didn’t really give it much thought until I started my business. It makes a huge difference when I eat right and have time to squeeze in a trip to the gym – you feel re-energized and motivated. So if you’re too tired to get to the gym, at the risk of sounding like a slogan for a famous sportswear company, just do it!
Until next week, stay motivated.
Employee Brand Differentiation
Posted by: | CommentsDifferentiating oneself in the workforce today may hold the key for many employees who are keenly interested and highly motivated to survive downsizing. While it may take extra effort, the payoff can be exponentially greater both short and long range; for the employee and the company. With discipline, determination, and drive, employees can make their mark strategically, fashionably and with ingenuity.
Why Differentiate?
Much like a business, brand awareness, credibility, and association of product are important. Human capital in the workforce can benefit by applying her own brand to her professional self.
In an experience educating employees on professional branding, I shared my most closely guarded daily motivational strategy. “My day begins by going to work for Kashlak, Inc.” Chuckles and curious grins gleaned my way and silence fell upon the room of leadership.
Explaining my line of thinking further, the room quickly realized the value of having a professional brand. For the visionaries and innovators, enthusiasm and buzz elevated the room for the remainder of the session.
It was in that three syllable comment, Kashlak, Inc. that my brand was established amongst 85 clients. They “got it”! Innovation, risk, and commodity were just a few of the immediate perceptions.
As human resources professionals take on more than ever, risk mitigation, healthy human capital psyche, and strategic innovation are all consuming.
Asking employees to identify their brand is as simple as developing a brand for a business. What do you want to be known for? What are your best attributes? What is your greatest brag?
The Payoff.
Helping employees understand professional brand differentiation in the workplace will lead to an overall healthy psyche of employees as long as the brands are exercised on a regular basis. The three D’s are crucial during the first 30 days of this exercise and must be reinforced by the department head.
The benefits of differentiating include:
- No cost to the company as the exercise can be set up simply during a standard meeting.
- Increased self esteem, covetable skills, and increased productivity.
- A focus on natural strengths and talents.
- Individualization and self worth.
- Appreciation of strengths in others.
- Elevated internal resource identification by employee for special projects or expert advice.
- Retention of top talent.
- Leveraging talent strengths which are visible and respected in functioning teams.
- Many more!
Do not wait…Differentiate!!
Get Moving!!
Happiness in the Workplace
Posted by: | CommentsIn this current recession, one would think that anyone who has a job at this point would be happy to be gainfully employed. Research tells us that this in not the case. In fact, in a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, author Sue Shellenbarger speaks of a growing need and trend for “happiness coaching” in the workplace.
Shellenbarger says, “Employee satisfaction has hit the lowest level in the 22 year history of the Conference Board’s annual survey on the topic. Only 45% of U.S. workers are satisfied with their jobs, down from 52% in 2005 and 61% in 1987, says this 5,000 household study.”
The recent emphasis on “happiness coaching” at work is supported with business cases that show employees’ positive attitudes are good for business. Companies with more satisfied employees earn higher profit and better customer satisfaction ratings and their employees miss less work.
According to Shellenbarger, “A 2001 study at the University of Michigan says people who are experiencing joy or contentment are able to think more broadly and creatively, accepting a wider variety of possible actions…..”
Let’s face it. We all experience some degree of dissatisfaction with our employment at one time or another; that’s reality. The focus of this current trend of “happiness coaching” is to create your own contentment and joy from within. The premise is that if you are happy with yourself, you are less likely to be affected dramatically by negative influences. Your inner peace creates a shield in a way from any external negative forces.
Any activity or practice that helps you achieve this inner contentment and joy is recommended; exercise, yoga, meditation, daily success or gratitude journals. All of these contribute to a positive state of mind.
For women, it is especially important to learn to “let go” of the negative influences at work whether they be conflict with a co-worker or your boss. “Letting go” of negative emotions and conflict is often a challenge for women. This affects their job satisfaction.
Focus on what is meaningful about your work. Look for ways to infuse your life with positivity. If there is too much dissatisfaction with your current position that it is impossible to find anything positive, it’s time to move on. Life is too short.
Just make sure that you don’t bring your negative frame of mind with you to your next job!
Leadership and “Process till you Puke”!
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In every business, in every life, it is vital to process all information and even emotional content to make sure that you are making the best decisions you can make. Yet, there are extremes and when you get caught at one end point of the spectrum or the other, there is a tendency to either deny what is going on, or indulge in over-thinking the process.
One of our best consultants at Creative Energy Options, Inc. (CEO), Dianne Moore, who covers the Midwest for us, had an amazing “aha” moment about too much process time and what it does to us. An eloquent writer, she talks for so many of us, especially women who do tend to be the queens of analyzing and looking over and over again at what life holds, both at home and in the business world.
I’d love your comments on what you do when you get stuck in a place where you begin to over think what you are doing.
“The Pity Pot”
Let’s hear it for process! Yes, let’s give it some well-deserved, rousing applause….clap……..clap………..clap……..clap.
I am sick of process.
Process grinds you down, beats you up, gives you the run around, wrings you out, slaps you sideways, and pulls you under.
Process halts life, sidetracks dreams, curbs joy, and blocks creativity.
Process addles the brain, amplifies pain, and arrests gain.
Process destroys, dumbfounds, and demolishes. Process disconnects, disturbs, discourages and disengages.
Plain and simple….PROCESS SUCKS.
I am sick of the journey. I am fed-up with faith, have had it with hope and checked out of charity ten days ago. I feel like molasses and look like shit. I am bored with my whining, irritated by everyone, and sick to death of living in brain fog.
I am plagued by idiots, pained by idealists and just plain out of idioms (thank goodness).
I want a process-free life. Where is the potion, the pill, the process to be process-free? (Now that is just plain silly.)
It is time to give this pity pot A ROYAL FLUSH!
Leadership and a Cup of Tea
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The next six weeks of winter are the challenging ones with the flu, colds, and general challenges for all of us until those first green shoots of spring brighten the day.
A vital question for all of us, and especially women in business who tend to be caretakers and pleasers is “What do you do to renew your spirit?” I’d love to hear responses that can give all of us some new ideas or even underline what we already know. Some I’ve asked say a long soak in a tub at night helps, others are runners and bikers, still others put on hot music, close the door and dance till they fall in a heap on the floor.
The New England Journal of Medicine found that those who engaged in social dancing at least several times a week had a 76 percent lower risk of dementia than those who did not. So, find a partner and get to it!
For me a cup of tea is a powerful stress reliever. A recent study in Britain had groups either drink water or tea and then were measured on stress related tests. Those who had a warm cup of tea were less prone to give in to anxiety than those who merely drank a glass of water.
The research indicated that drinking tea was less about the nutritional value and more about being part of a long standing ritual, thousands of years old. Interesting thought; I know when I take a cup of tea in my hands the first sip makes me feel calm and surprisingly content.
Years ago my husband and I were fortunate enough to travel to China with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hahn who was being permitted to bring his Buddhist teachings to the people in Beijing and various outer monasteries. One of the most endearing memories I harbor was sitting on the floor of the airport waiting for a flight between cities. We were all tired and the tendency was to be crabby and complain.
Instead, we all sat in small groups, all 180 of us and sipped tea. We cradled the cups like precious bowls, modeling the way this beautiful Zen Master sat; calm and still. The Vietnamese name for teacher is Thay, and that moment of having “Tea with Thay” is still comforting when the business of the day begins to overtake me.
Leadership is about being a model of behaving in ways that create cooperation and collaboration. Please share some of your best practices for reducing stress and renewing your spirit. We can all learn from each other while waiting for spring.
