Shouldn’t your job help you unfold? Darn right it should. Never let a job keep you from your potential. I wrote the following while at a job I used to have: I Know What It’s Like Now They say having autonomy in one’s job increases motivation. I understand why that’s true more deeply now, because I know what it’s like to have that taken away. I was trusted to notice when there were needs at…
Managers often try to motivate employees for a reason that’s de-motivating – so you’ll work harder – not because they care about you or your potential. When a leader does care about those things, it’s motivating. Only a good leader cares about your needs as well as their own. Just wanting you to work harder, even if it’s for the company’s sake, is a self-interested motivation. It’s not a balance that includes your needs. It’s…
Some bosses are not great at listening. They’re busy; they’re pressured; and they believe their way is best. If your boss is like this, or you just need a confidence boost, here are 12 things to help you communicate effectively. Reframe Your Message Sometimes the way we deliver messages results in defensiveness, resistance and a negative answer. Reframing means re-wording so your message lands better. Brainstorm different wording, using the points below, and think about…
Are You Happy At Work? Have you been having a positive experience at work? Has your job increased your confidence and capacity to contribute, as a healthy workplace should? If your answer is no, then you are not alone. According to a recent Gallup report, only 18 per cent of current managers possess the talent required for their role, meaning upwards of 80 percent of employees are working in poorly run workplaces. Career *Happiness* Strategies Many…
They say when one door closes, another opens. Life is filled with cycles of death and rebirth. Holding onto things fixes them in the deadened part of the cycle and keeps new birth from happening. We can learn to live in a way where we always let go of the old and open to the new. This makes it easier to decide what we need to do next, including whether to leave a job or…
Confidence Crisis I haven’t blogged for a few weeks. I’ve been going through a chasm about my sense of confidence. But I’m starting to transform it. I’ve had this kind of ‘pit’ in myself my whole life. It puzzles the people I know. To them I’m intelligent, creative, and have great ideas about helping employees; but when I try to go forward with them, I get blocked by a ‘pit’ of low self-confidence. Low self-confidence…
A Great Resource for Employees I came across a great article today by Susan M. Heathfield. She is About.com’s HR Specialist and she writes interesting articles – some with a great understanding of the employees’ perspective. I recommend looking at her stuff if you’re dealing with challenging work situations. (I’ll blog about more of her stuff later!) In Susan’s article Bad to the Bone: Dealing with a Bad Boss, she makes several suggestions for what you can…
Boredom is something I wish fewer employees had to live with at work. Managers sometimes think that boredom is just the way a job is, and that employees should “suck it up.” I think there are better options. For example, boredom can be related to the way we structure organizations. Unhealthy hierarchy keeps challenging tasks unnecessarily divided by level in the organization. Managers can easily (though falsely) perceive that it’s in their own interest to…
What Can Employees Do? One of the things that has sometimes challenged me about bringing this project forward, has been getting overwhelmed by the question: “But what can employees really do about their situations at work?!” I know firsthand the feeling of powerlessness we can have when it seems like we’re trapped in an unpleasant job, where the powers that be aren’t interested, willing or able to do things to create a healthy work environment.…
I know there are lots of others out there who feel like I do – that there’s something wrong when people don’t feel their potential is engaged at work. When I was setting up Employee Point, one of the other names I considered using was Employee Life. I found someone else had that twitter name. And wouldn’t you know it, here’s what they tweeted: “doing same thing five days a week….. what a life” “…all…