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Happy at Work: 60 Simple Ways to Stay Engaged and Be Successful - Softcover

Donovan, Jim

 
9781608682508: Happy at Work: 60 Simple Ways to Stay Engaged and Be Successful
Softcover
ISBN 10: 1608682501 ISBN 13: 9781608682508
Verlag: New World Library, 2014

Inhaltsangabe

Reap the rewards of a job well — and happily — done

Even in a tight economy, job satisfaction isn’t a luxury; fulfilled, happy employees are productive, innovative, and loyal. And workplace fulfillment spills over into happier families and better communities. Jim Donovan, a small-business owner, consultant, and speaker, has worked with employees and employers for twenty-five years. In that time he has tested and honed these shift-producing strategies on everything from managing time, making decisions, and marking milestones to breaking patterns, bouncing back, and becoming exceptional. Each tip’s method and rationale are clearly explained. Real workplace vignettes demonstrate the benefits and results that can be gleaned from simple shifts and actions. These tools will empower you with the knowledge that no matter the circumstance, you can think, act, and feel in ways that create purpose, success, and, yes, happiness.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Jim Donovan speaks regularly to employees and executives at small businesses and large corporations. He is a frequent media guest and expert source on personal development, business success, and the spiritual laws that develop both. His previous books include Handbook to a Happier Life and What Are You Waiting For? It’s Your Life.

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1. Reward Yourself and Others

Have you ever noticed how easily we criticize ourselves and others for even the most minor mistakes? Most people have no problem finding fault, especially with themselves. In many cases, unfortunately, managers see this as a way to embarrasses people into performing better.

Verbally berating someone expecting them to perform better, is like hitting your computer with a hammer expecting it to run faster. It doesn’t work. I doubt that it ever did but it certainly does not work in our present society and, if you do this with certain generations, you’ll soon see your workforce walking out the door.

Managing by “bossing people around” was a popular practice back in the Industrial Age, however, we’ve learned over time that there are much more effective ways to manage people.

If you must criticize an employee’s performance be sure to do it in private. Correcting someone’s behavior publicly can cause, not only the person in question to suffer, but have a negative effect on those within earshot. Criticizing someone while there are customers nearby, as I have witnessed several times in retail establishments, reflects poorly on the entire organization. The old adage, “Praise people in public, correct them in private,” still holds true today.

If you want to improve productivity and well-being in both yourself and your company, become a “good finder.” Catch people doing things right and praise them for it. When you do something really well or complete a task efficiently and on time, reward yourself.

Create some simple way that you can reward yourself for reaching a milestone. This could be anything from a simple cookie break, for a small accomplishment, to a week-long vacation for accomplishing a major task.

Organizations with large sales forces know the value of reward programs and use everything from books and gift cards to exotic trips as ways to motivate and reward their people for excellent performance.

Develop some creative ways you can reward yourself and, if appropriate, your team for reaching and exceeding goals.

A simple compliment and saying, “good job” to someone goes a long way toward showing them that you are recognizing their accomplishments. Use personal rewards to help you overcome reluctance and embrace the task at hand. Focusing on the reward enables us to get through the work faster and easier.

2. Put your problems to work for you

It his book “Illusions” Richard Bach wrote, “There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for us in its hands. We seek problems because we need their gifts.”

Whether or not we seek out problems is not nearly as important as how we handle them when they do appear in our lives. For starters, a great technique I learned many years ago is to reframe the word “problem” and change it to “challenge.” I realize this may seem to be a matter of semantics but hear me out.

Problems tend to be things that we try to avoid while challenges are something we step up to and fix. This seemingly insignificant change in vocabulary can have a big impact on how you deal with a given situation.

If you view it, as Bach suggests, as having a gift for you or at least containing an opportunity for you within it, your “challenge or problem” could be turned to your advantage.

A challenge in the work place, while representing an obstacle for some, can actually present you with an opportunity to showcase your talents.

The next time a challenge presents itself, rather than trying to avoid it, welcome it.

Ask yourself what you might do to turn this into an opportunity. Explore how you might best use it to your advantage.

A case in point is what happened when Domino’s Pizza asked their customers how they like the company’s pizza. What they learned was that people didn’t like their pizza, they thought it was terrible and told the company so, by the thousands.

This must have hurt the folks at Domino’s but, rather than bury their heads in the sand, as some companies to, they chose to embrace it. They made major changes to their product line and, from all indications, have transformed the company and won back customers with their newly improved pizza.

Making necessary changes can be difficult for many companies, as I’m sure it was for Domino’s but it generally pays off. When you and your team are faced with what appears to be a problem, try approaching it differently. Ask a better question. We’ll explore the idea of “Powerful Questions” in a later chapter but, for now, simply change the way you typically handle those less-than-desirable occurrences at work and, for that matter, in your life.

3. Break your patterns

It always amazes me how little people know about their company, coworkers, or the world around them. Many otherwise intelligent people become stuck in the rut of their daily life, doing the same things each day, driving the same route to work, eating the same breakfast, and so on, rarely deviating from their patterns. If you think about it, you are most likely frequent the same five or ten restaurants even though in most communities have fifty or more.

Most of us tend to eat the same five or six vegetables although there are ten times that to choose from. We drive the same roads to and from work, school and home, hang out with the same friends, and engage in the same social events. We listen to the same music typically made up of less than hundred songs, watch the same TV shows, and on and on. It’s no wonder people are bored.

If you want to have a happier, more interesting life, at work and at home, start breaking your patterns. An added benefit is that you will be stimulating your creativity as a result. By changing your everyday patterns and habitual processes, you will be creating new neural connections in your brain.

For example, simply changing your route to and from work will expose you to new visual and auditory stimulus. As you drive, ride, or walk past new sights you will see things you had not noticed before. This is why so many creative people, Steven Spielberg among them, go for long drives in their cars to stimulate ideas.

4. Become curious

“Discovery is the fuel of competitive advantage” Jay Abraham

If you want to be happier both at work and in your personal life, cultivate your curiosity. Become a curious person. Learning about the world and people around you will not only make your job more interesting, but will likely increase your value to the company.

The more you know about your company and its products and services, the more effectively and efficiently you can perform your work. This will lead to increase productivity and eventually to a better position within the organization. By cultivating your curiosity, you will be more engaged with your work and as a result, feel more a part of the organization.

Do you know the history of your company? Do you know who the CEO is or the top management? Depending upon the size of your organization, these people may be across the corridor or around the world. Nevertheless, you can still know about them. Similarly, depending upon the length of time your company has been in existence, there may or may not be a rich or fascinating story behind it.
It astonishes me how little most people know about the company they spend a third of their lives working for. Many people I’ve met, especially in large organizations, do not even know the name of the chief executive.

If you want to be happier and more successful in your career learn what you can about your present company. Make a point of learning something about...

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Verlag
New World Library
Erscheinungsdatum
2014
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
1608682501
ISBN 13 
9781608682508
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
176
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
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