Archive for June, 2008
Great Managers Care About Their Employees
Every employee wants to work happy. I don’t know anyone that believes that they enjoy their job more when they are sad or angry. It’s up to managers and supervisors to create an atmosphere that supports happiness and productivity.
In my early stages of managing people I ran projects that clunked through to the finish line. It was perturbing and eye opening. I was so worried about myself that I forgot to be a leader.
This confession was inspired by Penelope Trunk’s post How to be a good manager: Be generous. I was afraid to help others while I was struggling. The problem with this attitude is its lack of foresight. When a good manager listens to his/her employees and empowers them to do great work, they will help the manager succeed.
“A good manager pops up all the time, just to check in. Not because you are micromanaging and you don’t trust anyone around you. But because you can’t know how to help people if you don’t know how they are doing. And take time to chat when things are going fine, because that’s when it’s clear that you’re just talking because you care as much about the person as the work they’re doing.”
- Penelope Trunk
Not every manager will be good at the personal stuff, but in today’s business environment these skills must be developed. The managers that get great work out of their staff are the ones that care about who they are. It will take practice and stubborn discipline to make this a habit, but once you do you can create a team that will walk through fire for you and you for them. That’s the type of relationships that a manager can build a career on.
Every manager must find his or her own way to learn to encourage employees and help them through difficult spots. It’s not easy to give away time and energy, but it will help you and your staff work happier and become more productive. If you are managing right now, what techniques are you using to become a better manager?
Does your supervisor or manager check in with you on a regular basis?
Related Articles on Becoming a Better Manager:
- Active Managers Win the Race
- Working Unhappy in Retail
- 8 Great Leadership Tips from the Dallas Cowboys Assistant Head Coach
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Image courtesy of aloofdork
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Tell One Friend About Work Happy Now!
Let’s spread the word. Say it loud and say it proud, Working happy is a right we all deserve!
When you come to this site, it’s free. All of this carefully constructed information to help you maximize your work happiness is available for free! Believe me, it takes up a lot of my time. So all I’m asking in return is a small favor. Tell one friend about working happy. That’s it.
All you have to do is casually, maybe over lunch or cup of coffee, tell them about the great work we are doing together. Believe me, some of my commenters are better writers than me, so they are as much a part of this site as I am.
By telling your friends about this site you’ll be helping them enjoy their working days just a little more. The perk is they won’t just meet up with you to complain. They will actually tell you about all the cool stuff that is happening to them because they are maximizing their work happiness, instead of letting work dictate how much fun they have.
And don’t forget to tell them about the RSS feed so they can get their daily Work Happy Now tips in regular intervals.
Thanks and I appreciate your support.
Related Articles:
- Mini Sabbaticals Should Be Mandatory
- 5 Smurf-tastic Tips to Work Like a Great Team
- Inside-out Shirt Day
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Image courtesy of Cybjorg
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7 Awesome Lessons from Bill Gates – Love Him or Hate Him, He is a Genius
Love or hate Bill Gates, it’s up to you, but no one can deny the impact he has had on business. Microsoft was setting the standards of working happy before most of Silicon Valley got on board. They have a career development compensation program as well as health care investment programs. They also do little things like free drinks (anything you like), on-site services (dry-cleaning/laundry service and grocery deliveries), professional counseling, office ergonomic consultations, and paid health-club membership.
Bill Gates understood the value in paying well, giving great perks, and investing in his employee’s future. He has probably made more people wealthy than any other CEO alive. He also understands what it takes to motivate his employees so they were engaged and excited about their work. Bill Gates is a leader that we can all learn from. Here are 7 quotes from Bill Gates that will help you understand his ability to work so successfully.
1. Failure Teaches Resiliency
“It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.”
The employee deserves recognition for great work, but mistakes should be recognized. and when an employee or co-worker makes a mistake. It may be a small failure, but it must also be acknowledged, not swept under the rug, so it can be turned into a gain. Microsoft has made countless mistakes. They’ve put out software that wasn’t ready or that was fragile against hackers, but they learn from their mistakes and do their best to make the software better.
I own Vista and it’s not a great operating system, but it hasn’t crashed or been attacked by a virus. I’m a huge fan of the Microsoft Office products. They are still the best office based programs available to companies, and they constantly being improved.
Microsoft understands what a person needs and then they try to over deliver. They don’t always hit the mark, but neither will you, so try to use each mistake to improve your company.
2. Understand Your Ego
“Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.”
If I don’t keep delivering value, all of you will stop reading this blog. I can’t just push out a bunch of recycled material from someone else’s blog and expect my readership to grow.
Take a look at how you might be coasting. Some bands make a whole career out of just one hit. One hit wonders. They think that they can just ride out the wave and not come up with anything else new. If you want to separate from the pack and become the success that your mother had hoped for, then stop believing your own hype and keep those ideas coming.
3. Unhappy Customers Help You Improve
“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”
The customers that don’t complain are ones that don’t care enough about the company to come back and buy again. They will just take their money to someone else that listens.
I’ve dealt with this when I ran my own wild mushroom mongering business when I was in college. I didn’t take enough care to throw away the mushrooms that were riddled with tiny worms. I thought that I didn’t have enough time to worry about it. I got up at 6am and picked wild mushrooms until 1pm, just as the lunch rush ended. I took a quick shower and was at the first restaurant by 1:45, then I rushed until 6pm trying to peddle my mushrooms to the various chefs at each restaurant. I thought that the sous chefs could deal with the mushrooms that weren’t good enough to serve their customers.
Well…I learned quickly. The chefs stopped dealing with me. I learned this because one chef told me that I was giving him crap. He told me to come back when I had better mushrooms. I made sure that the next batch that I picked was of higher quality, which meant less money since I was paid by the weight. It worked. The head chefs started buying from me again.
Make sure you listen to your customers at every stage of the process. If you ignore what they have to say, they will soon ignore you.
4. Leadership isn’t about Control; It’s about Trusting Others
“As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.”
I love companies that empower their employees to make the company better. Toyota is the company that has almost perfected this technique. They give rewards to any suggestion that is implemented into the company’s processes. Even if it’s a small suggestion such as a new type of cleaner for the oily floor, they will give the employee a monetary reward.
Toyota understands that every employee must be involved in improving the company, otherwise you’ll have managers making all the decisions. Managers are sometimes so far out of the loop that they can’t make informed decisions that help with day to day operations.
Being empowered makes an employee feel proud. A proud employee feels appreciated. That’s what most employees want more than anything else: to contribute to a company that appreciates them.
5. Treat Everyone with Respect
“Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.”
Be nice to nerds, your secretary, the supervisor in the next building, and the co-worker that just doesn’t know when to shut-up. Whoever you are dealing with, they could one day become your superior. If you were a jerk to them, they won’t do you any favors when you need them the most.
I worked with someone that treated me like crap. When I moved up he suddenly wanted to be my best friend. I knew that he was only out for himself. I was nice, but never bent over backwards to help him. My boss could see this and one day we had a discussion about this employee. I vented my frustrations. He was gone by the end of the month.
I’m not proud of this and didn’t expect him to be fired, but if you don’t give more than you get you won’t be successful at your job.
6. Action Creates Results
“We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don’t let yourself be lulled into inaction.”
Listen to everyone because they just might have a great idea that might bring in a lot of revenue. Howard Shultz, the CEO of Starbucks, didn’t like the idea of the Frappuccino. He was a coffee purist. He finally relented when he saw how his partner (Starbucks likes to call their employees partners) was so adamant in wanting to serve a drink to her customers that was cold, creamy and sweet. After telling her to stop trying to make her anti-pure coffee drink, she ignored him and made it anyway. He finally listened and took action, letting her come up with a concoction that her customers would like. Through this process they saw the potential. They eventually perfected the idea and it was an instant hit.
Starbucks now bottles Frappuccino and sells it in grocery stores and convenience stores throughout the world. They are pushing the Starbucks brand to new people every day.
What if Howard stuck to his guns and stayed the course with what he thought was best? If he didn’t listen to his coffee partner that wanted to give her customers what they really wanted, they might not be the strongest coffee powerhouse in the world.
7. Step Back and Look at the Bigger Picture
“Until we’re educating every kid in a fantastic way, until every inner city is cleaned up, there is no shortage of things to do.”
Work is great, especially when we have a good year and the boss loves our production, but work in itself shouldn’t be our whole lives. Bill Gates understands that he may be the richest man in the world, but if he doesn’t help others lift themselves out of tough circumstances, he hasn’t lived to his full potential.
We need to give back to the people that are less fortunate than us. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the largest donators to underprivileged people in the world.
Because there is no shortage of people who need help, Bill was able to help Microsoft become stronger and he will continue to work happy because he is isn’t afraid to set new goals.
Bill Gates is a controversial figure, but he is making history. No one can deny his influence on business and charity. He is working to his full potential. Bill is not perfect, but he does care about the choices he makes. When I think of Bill Gates I think of many descriptions, but lazy is not one of them.
When you use the resources that you have to take action, you are creating a work happy mindset. Whether you are a marketing assistant or the CEO of a fortune 500 company, make sure you are engaged in every decision you make. The work happiness will come when you allow yourself to be involved.
Related Posts:
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Image courtesy of Esparta
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Be the Change You Wish to See in Others
Do you wish other people at your job wouldn’t be so gossipy? Would you like your co-workers to recycle?
“Be the change you want to see in the world.”
- Mahatma Gandhi
All of these problems that we see in others we also see in ourselves; a lot of the things that annoy us stem from an internal attack on our own person. I’ve noticed the people who are most at peace with themselves are most compassionate toward other people. They understand that improving their outlook is more important than changing other people’s habits.
I always wanted to be more relaxed when I commuted to work, but I couldn’t find a perspective to help me be compassionate toward other people. I wanted them to drive like me. I found myself getting mad at each driver who took their good old time making a turn or they stopped at a yellow light and this needed to change.
When a driver in front of me didn’t make that yellow light, I let the anger in and accepted these feelings. Eventually they stopped taking hold of my mood because
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I acknowledged these feelings
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Relaxed with them
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Redirected my thoughts toward something positive
Now when I’m making a turn I take my time and enjoy the shift in force from the car’s speed. When I come out of a turn I take the time to notice a tree that I pass or a person walking on the sidewalk. My attention is not about getting to work it’s finding the cool little things that I’ve never took the time to notice before. I’ve created a new me when I drive, redirecting my thoughts to encourage happiness.
I’m changing my life one habit at a time. I don’t require as much from others. I just make the change in myself and it allows me to have more compassion.
You can make changes in your own life to reflect what you want to see in others. Please remember that you will never be perfect, but as long as you keep adding new positive habits to your life, you’ll improve your happiness.
Other cool “Emotional Tools for Better Working” articles:
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Image courtesy of Rigmarole
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Should Your Company Hire an Ombudsman to Rein in the Complaining?
An Oom-buds-what? An Ombudsman is a person who listens to a group’s complaints, processes them, then helps to figure out a way that an organization can solve problems.
Quite often there is no solution and this must be conveyed to the group. This is not an easy job, but at least the group is getting their answer. Usually the group just wants to understand the reasoning behind the answer and make sure that they approve of the decision making process. Other times the group may not like the answer and may want a different response. It’s up to the Ombudsman to try to solve the issue to the best of his/her ability.
Wikipedia’s description serves as a good reason why every company could use an Ombudsman:
“One particularly important function is to pick up “new things” — that is, issues new to the organization. This is particularly important if the “new thing” is “disruptive” in the sense of requiring the organization to review and possibly improve its policies, procedures and/or structures.”
I’ve talked about the benefits of hiring a Work Happy Manager, and an Ombudsman would be just as beneficial. The Work Happy Manager could be proactive in creating an enjoyable environment and the Ombudsman could be reactive in making sure that the employees are happy with the decisions that are taking place within the organization.
An Ombudsman could help a company see mistakes from the employees’ point of view. Let’s say a company tries to restructure the organization, and perhaps an employee sees a potential problem, but they are afraid to tell management. Employees are more likely to see a different type of problem because they are closer to the day to day operations. For instance they might recognize that a group of customers could become neglected by the restructuring. This employee could voice his opinion to the Ombudsman without fear of being fired or discovered for his dissenting views.
One of the most important roles of an Ombudsman is to be completely private about all matters. This is crucial to gaining trust between both management and their employees.
I know that I would love to have an Ombudsman at my company. How about you?
Related Articles:
- Why Your Company Should Budget for a Fun Work Environment
- Create the Work Atmosphere You Want
- How You Are Silently Signaling Your Co-workers to Treat You
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Image courtesy of b_d_solis
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Just Be Cool Like a Little Fanzie
I’ve been Netflixing the TV show Scrubs on DVD. What a great show! My wife and I finished season one and we were watching the bonus material. Donald Faison (Chris Turk) was being interviewed about the show and he said that the set only had one rule…
Don’t be an A**hole.
“When someone says that if you are an a**hole you are not going to be here for very much longer, you’d be surprised how much nicer people will be.”
I think we need to implement this rule at every company.
Anyone who has worked in human resources knows that the people who stay with a company are usually happy, communicate well and are liked by most of their co-workers. They don’t cause trouble, they encourage teamwork.
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Use Failure as Your Slingshot
The greatest business people, actors, politicians, athletes, and scientists all persevere through failure in their careers before they reach a high level of success. When they do reach that point, there comes a great calm. They realize that their disappointments were some of the best moments of their careers because they used them to improve on their next move.
Life is a beautiful struggle, and the great people of our history used each failure as a slingshot to create a better life. One of the greatest of them was Abraham Lincoln. His failures were numerous and would have crushed a weaker willed person.
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Failed in business in 1831
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Defeated for the legislature in 1832
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Failed in business again in 1834
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Ann Rutledge, the love of his life died in 1835
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Nervous breakdown in 1836
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Defeated in an election in 1838
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Defeated for Congress in 1843, 1846, and a third time in 1848
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Defeated for Senate in 1855
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Defeated for Vice President in 1856
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Defeated for Senate in 1858
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1860 he was finally elected President!
Every living thing struggles to live. Famous actors struggle with the paparazzi, I struggle with my career, everyone struggles with their relationships, rich people struggle with illness, and everyone struggles with the possibility of death. Every struggle creates new places for joy. The truly great people understand that failure isn’t the measure of a person, but it is what they do with that failure that decides how successful they become.
It is a mistake to suppose that men succeed through success; they much oftener succeed through failures. Precept, study, advice, and example could never have taught them so well as failure has done.
- Samuel Smiles
It’s using that struggle to help improve your life that makes the difference between success and accepting defeat. Use your difficulties to make yourself stronger. Use you failure as a slingshot toward happiness and you’ll succeed.
Related Articles
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Photo courtesy of pingnews
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Design Friendly Atmosphere for Employees and Clients
Here is my first video for the Work Happy Now audience. The video is only five minutes and gives you valuable information on what to do and what not to do with your workspace.
Leave a comment to let me know what you think. I’m trying to give you as much value as I can, and I could use the feedback. Thanks for watching.
Related Articles:
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- Why Your Company Should Budget for a Fun Work Environment
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Video on Work Happy Now
No one has time to do it all and I’m no different, but I want to keep improving this site’s value for employees as well as employers. That’s what working happy is all about: developing new ideas and running with them. I had to figure out the best way to create dynamic content that would really help my visitors. What to do? MP3s or video?
There is enough business development audio to make your mind spin. What I don’t find a lot of is… video. There are people who are shooting their seminars and putting small cuts on YouTube, but most of them are commercials for their information.
I wanted to create small videos that people can watch at work or at home without having to filter through an ocean of articles. We live in the age of the iPhone, so I may as well take advantage of all my outlets. If I could create something that people can watch on their phones, I’ve reached a new segment of the population.
I shot two short videos. The first is about workplace design and the second is about relaxing at work. Both are very important topics for working happier.
The first one will be up tomorrow.
It’s a little scary putting myself out there for everyone to judge me, but I figured I would ignore all that and go for it. It’s not perfect, but it is interesting.
Challenging myself to give all of you something new that can help you at work really makes me happy. The video may not be perfect, but it does give good value. When you watch it, don’t be afraid to give me some feedback.
I want to thank my friend KJ and my wife for helping me through this learning process. KJ helped me shoot the video and my wife edited the content. I couldn’t have done this without them. Check back here tomorrow to see my first Work Happy Now video on creating a design friendly workplace for customers and employees.
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Here is a cool shot from a man tricking out his cubicle. The found this photo at Escape From Cubicle Nation and the original photo is at Jared D. Nielsen’s website.
Related Articles:
- Put People in a Design-Friendly Atmosphere to Inspire Excellent Work
- How You Are Silently Signaling Your Co-workers to Treat You
- Create the Work Atmosphere You Want
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1st photo courtesy of derekdavis. The 2nd photo courtesy of Jared D. Nielsen.
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25 Lessons on Working Happy From My German Father
My father owns an electrical contracting business. He built a strong company that has lasted for over 40 years. He has never advertised in his life. He went out and proved he was good and his customers referred him to other friends and contractors all over eastern Pennsylvania. Seth Godin would have been proud.
I worked for him in the summers when I was out of school. Working with him was a pleasure and a pain. He was born German and insists on everything to be perfect. He always set the bar higher than I could reach.
I look back on it now and realize how much I’ve learned. I was lucky to have a father who owned his own business and wanted his son to tag along. I was probably more work then a help, especially in the early years.
As you read this list try to picture a German man with a graying black beard, a tool belt on and a pair of dirty jeans as he says each one. It makes it more fun.
1. Never worry about the time, all it will do is make work go slow.
2. Take time to hang out with co-workers, it makes work interesting.
3. Be able to laugh at yourself because people like to be around someone that doesn’t take himself too seriously.
4. A good cup of coffee is worth the price it costs.
5. Do it right the first time.
6. Why take a longer break then you really need?
7. If it works then you did well. If it works and looks good then you did great.
8. Be able to explain how you made the mistake. No one wants to hear how you’re not sure.
9. The earlier you wake up the earlier you can get home.
10. Nothing wrong with daydreaming as long as you pick the right spots.
11. Don’t worry about how a customer looks, just worry about their ability to pay on time.
12. Always lend a hand to another contractor because you are going to need them to help you before the job is done.
13. Set the bar higher then you can presently reach because one day you’ll reach it if you keep trying.
14. Buy coffee for everyone every once in a while. We all need to spread good will.
15. Can’t force a person to care about their work. It’s really up to them to make that decision.
16. It’s only money. The real joy is in the accomplishment.
17. The customer doesn’t always know what he wants. Sometimes they need to be enticed with good ideas.
18. Don’t walk too fast and don’t walk too slow because you’ll either wear yourself out or you’ll look like a slacker.
19. Even if you don’t know how to do it, give it a try because you may surprise yourself.
20. Eat lightly during the day because you’ll weigh yourself down if you eat too much.
21. Always have a system for each task because then you can do it without too much thinking, which frees your mind up for planning the next task.
22. Never be afraid to walk away. Not every relationship will work.
23. You can enjoy your work or you can think about going out tonight. It’s up to you.
24. Don’t do what I do unless you really love it.
25. Hard work may make you tired, but it’s a good tired.
Happy Father’s Day!
I love you Baba (German name for Dad). My friends always made fun of me for calling him that and now they ask, “How is Baba?” It’s cool how unique things stick in people’s heads.
What is one lesson you’ve learned from your father?
Related Articles:
- 8 Mental Boosts that Never Fail
- All Employees Deserve Respect
- Renew Your Thoughts to Improve Your Work Outlook
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Image courtesy of Nikki Staib. It’s an image of my father holding his grandson (My nephew Kris).
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