Editor’s note: This is a guest post Mike King of Learn This.

Talent is an interesting topic and one that is SO critical in the workforce.  Talent makes the difference between the top performers poor performers.  It can be cultivated and enhanced. Unfortunately the biggest problem is that talent is not always recognized by those who can see a use for it and individuals do not always see or even know how they can use it.  Luckily sometimes talents are obvious and people do utilize them in their life and work, but more often than not, talent is lost because it is difficult to recognize.  Here are 5 specific ways to recognize and utilize talent!

1. Talents Are Often Masked by Imbalance

Talents are not always recognized and one of the reasons for that is because they can be easily masked by imbalance. The imbalance of skills or lack of skills in a person’s life can easily mask talent because of so much disproportionate other ’stuff’.  In the workplace this can be someone in the wrong role and doing things they simply don’t have any talents in and it could be in life, where people are so busy or distracted by circumstances they don’t ever explore and develop their talents so they are never known.  And then even if they are known, often talents are masked away by decisions in life to pursue a different career, live a certain type of lifestyle or hang around with specific friends that can not only draw a person away from their own talents but literally push those talents out of their life so they can’t ever be recognized.

One great example of this is from the book, “Outliers” by Gladwell where he explores research finding how many sports athletes (specifically with hockey in North America) have an advantage if they are in a school year and born early in the year instead of late since this extra months of maturity gives them many advantages.  Since there are specific dates for cutoffs into programs and the older athletes (relative to each other since they are all young athletes) can have a significant advantage.  This advantage to some is exactly what masks out much of the talent in the other athletes born late in each year.  The talents of many of lost or never discovered fairly because of this. (Karl’s note: We must break through these barriers to bring out the talent, happiness, and success for as many people as possible.)

Many people mask their talents in many other ways as well such as lifestyle imbalance or skill imbalance. People with amazing talents might suffer in other fundamental areas such as social skills, or school skills where they are then quickly stereotypes or ‘labeled’ as a slow learner or put into special programs, often focusing on what they don’t have natural skills for and focusing on that imbalance instead of ever really developing the talent hiding behind that mask.  Social imbalance is a classic example as people quickly disregard or ignore socially inept people and their talents don’t get the attention or development as other people’s might, even though the talents can easily be as great or greater in comparison.

Recognizing talent can only be done if it is objective without prejudice or comparison to others.

Managerial Takeaway: Explore your people’s interests and hobbies to discover hidden talent that may not reveal itself in the workplace.  Let people try new things and explore new work so that you may uncover or develop a talent that is masked by the mundane or repetitive tasks.  You can easily be surprised at who or how real talent might be hiding right under your nose!

2. Passion, the Sure Sign?

Passion is another great way to recognize talent as they often go hand in hand.  Having passion for something can quickly expose or develop a talent and often the talent is what creates the passion in the first place.  Another simple test is to look at passion and how long it lasts or in what circumstances it exposes itself?  Is passion present only with certain activities or skills another person is using?  Or is passion on its own and existing regardless of what that person is doing?  Its much more likely a talent being exposed if they are more passionate about a certain activity or skill than on a topic, for instance.  Always look a little deeper into passions to see the root of it and this will hopefully lead you to more easily recognize talents that relate to that passion. (Karl’s note: Passion is one of the core components of a superpower.)

Managerial Takeaway: You need to really enable people to do things they enjoy and get excited about.  It’s often a sure way to discover a person’s superpower ability when you encourage them to act on their passions and apply it in their work!

3. Instinctive Skills – A Sign of Talent

Instinctive skills are something that is often a great sign of talent but that isn’t always easily recognized.  A talent can lay just out of sight yet related to a skill or action that someone takes or does without ever having been trained or prepared for it.  When this occurs, and they can repeat it, it is definitely a sign of a potential talent.  Musical skills, dexterity, sports, math, etc. can all be somewhat ‘natural’ or ‘instinctive’ to people and when it is, look for that as a talent.  Many of these instinctive skills or traits may actually be related to the talent of the individual, not always that direct skill itself.

Instinctive skills are often discussed around leadership as well, where some individuals are quick to recognize the need for teamwork and cooperation in a challenging situation.  That leadership is often instinctive to a person and is quite likely, a talent.  Is it easy to recognize and develop them if you look at instinctive and natural skills?

Managerial Takeaway: Make sure that you develop natural instinct when you have people who have good gut instinct for decisions, leadership and communication.  If you train and further assess areas of instinctive talent, you will discover talent that you’ll otherwise have to live without!

4. Remove Your Selfish Blinders

Recognizing the talents of other people can often be most difficult since we so quickly make comparisons and judgments based on our own wants and desires.  We must learn to remove and disconnect those selfish blinders though and look more objectively for talent in others.  A colleague up for the same promotion as you, or a competitor in a sport or contest often drives us to disregard their talents in order to push our own egotistical minds above them.  It blocks us from seeing talent and creates fears instead of encouragement.  If you want to be successful at recognizing talent, you must learn to be objective and separate talents from your own desires and see everyone equally.  Quite likely, this is the hardest things of all these 5 ways to recognize talent! (Karl’s note: Jealousy creates a lose-lose situation.)

Managerial Takeaway: As a manager, you must rate yourself by what talents you discover and develop in your team.  If you want to be a great manager, you must look at your teams accomplishments and development as the main metric for considering your own success.  This will enable you to bring many talents from your team to the table instead of only the ones you think you may have yourself, but actually don’t!!!

5. Get Out of the Way of Talent

Recognizing talent goes beyond what you see yourself and more to what others are able to recognize and evaluate as well.  For this to occur, you sometimes have to get out to of the way of talent and let it surface.  This might have its own sacrifices when it comes to competition or even personally in your own lifestyle or relationships, but if you truly want talent recognized, you have to stop holding it back, whether on yourself or others.  Jobs with strict responsibilities and descriptions are often limiting, rules and guidelines in school, tight regulations or policies and even family boundaries about who does what and how you should behave can be incredibly limiting instead of exposing talent.  Talent being exposed and recognized is typically not the normal behaviors of people and so there are almost always things that get in the way.  Talent is unleashed through creativity and people have to be given some creative freedom to expose their talents and it’s the only way to recognize talent in others.

Managerial Takeaway: You have to let go of control and influence as a manager and let your team operate in their own ways if you ever hope to discover the true talent that exists.  Micromanagement and reports that depend on your every approval and decision is like a noose around your talent.  Let it go, support your team to make their own suggestions and decisions and you’ll be amazed at how quickly you see talents that you were constantly in the way of earlier!

Your Turn

How do you leverage other people’s talents to help people become happier and more successful at work?

Mike is the author of Learn This , a productivity blog for self-learning career, leadership and life improvement tips. He’s written many articles about finding your passion in life, goal setting and many other ideas around learning to have a better and more positive life and workplace. Please subscribe to his RSS feed here or by email to read more of his articles!

* Join us at Party Biz Connect. We throw these Twitter parties (click here to find out what a Twitter party is) to help people launch their cool stuff that they’re putting out into the world. You can win cool prizes at every party. One person won a 3 day workshop worth $1,999. You also get member only access to audio interviews that teach you how to build relationships to level up your business.

All photos are license free from http://sxc.hu

Download the Free eBook Work Happy the Google Way * Post from: Work Happy Now!

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Adrienne Carlson.

If life could be split into two general parts, work would take up one compartment and personal life the other. While we tend to put our personal relationships on a higher rung, work too is significant in the larger scheme of things because it puts food on our table and provides us with the money we need to lead a comfortable life.

So when your work life is not satisfactory, your personal life suffers too, because as much as we may try to keep the two like parallel lines that never meet, the fact is that they are like train tracks that tend to cross over and merge once in a while. So if you have the misfortune of working with a boss who is difficult, your work tensions may spill over into and ruin your personal life, which is why you must know how to deal with superiors who make your work life a heavy cross to bear.

A few ways to deal with a difficult boss are to:

1. Keep a low profile

If you feel your boss is picking on you for no reason at all, the best thing to do is keep a low profile and stay out of his/her hair. Give them fewer chances to take off on you by keeping to yourself and letting their ire subside before you run into them again. Most bosses go through phases where they tend to pick on employees for a certain period of time. A friend of mine ran into some trouble with his boss even though he was not at fault. The problem arose because a few people who were against him at the office bad-mouthed him and their boss was biased enough to believe them without giving my friend the benefit of the doubt. Instead of arguing his case (which was a pointless exercise as his boss was a jerk), my friend chose to avoid getting in his way, and in a few weeks, this issue was forgotten. So if enough time goes by and you deliberately avoid adding to their irritation, something else invariably crops up and you find that you’re off the hook.

2. Don’t neglect your work

If you’ve been doing your job effectively and continue to prove yourself, you don’t give your boss additional reasons to be difficult towards you. There was a problem at work recently that arose because of payment issues – my boss felt I was taking too much time off and also demanding a higher salary. I felt that I was entitled to raise because my work proved it, and my time off was due to mitigating circumstances. Instead if arguing my point, I dedicated myself to proving my worth through my work so that my boss would not grudge having to pay me more. Some superiors tend to pile work on those who they know are capable of getting it done (even when it is beyond the call of duty) and who they know cannot refuse to comply to an order. Instead of stressing yourself out because you’re not able to complete all this extra work, explain to your boss firmly but politely why it is not possible to take on more work than you have at the moment.

3. Know when to stay silent

Very often, superiors hate being proved wrong, especially if it is in the company of people who work under them. So in situations where you know you’re right and your boss is wrong, it’s ok to be magnanimous and stay silent instead of risking your boss’s ire and fire. Even if you’re being taken to task for no fault of your own, sometimes it’s better to just apologize and get on with your work. You save yourself further harassment from your boss if you restrain yourself from arguing with him/her. None of us like to be proved wrong, especially if we’re in a position of considerable power. So putting yourself in your boss’s shoes (no matter how distasteful that must be), could help you understand and accept this situation.

4. Leave the office at work

No matter how difficult your boss is, you must learn to leave the office behind after your work day is done. If you carry all the tensions and stress associated with the job back home, your personal life is going to suffer too, so if things are really bad, it’s better to ask to be transferred or search for a new job and quit once you’ve found one. Your health is important and if your relationship with your boss is affecting it adversely, you must not hesitate to quit.

This guest article was written by Adrienne Carlson, who regularly writes on the topic of accelerated online degrees . Adrienne welcomes your comments and questions at her email address: adrienne.carlson1@gmail.com.

* Need a boost to your work happiness? Then check out the Happy at Work Project and start one yourself.

* Evita over at Evolve Beings has a really amazing guest post called Redefining Success: Why I Quit My Job.

If you enjoyed this post then you will probably like this one too:

- Day 1of 30 – No complaining

* Image courtesy of Symic

Download the Free eBook Work Happy the Google Way * Post from: Work Happy Now!

I shared a drink with a friend who manages a team of five people. He was wondering how people’s moods can fluctuate in such a broad range, which affects the quality of their work. One of his employees is always up and down. He is engaged with his work one week and then he seems to lose interest. His interest fluctuates and he isn’t sure why.

We all have this problem it’s just that most of us force ourselves to stay focused. My friend told me that he has tried giving this employee various kinds of work to see what interests him, but that didn’t work either.

I asked him if he ever sits down with his staff to explain the reasoning behind the work.

He said he didn’t. He never really thought of that because it’s pretty obvious to him. They need to design websites that exceed the customer’s expectations.

He was losing out on a huge opportunity. People often stop looking at the larger picture because they get comfortable. This comfortable feeling reduces their desire to go above and beyond the normal effort.

A study at the University of Alberta showed that people need a sense of purpose in order to feel engaged with their work. A ‘Spirit at Work’ intervention program for a group of long-term health-care workers boosted morale and job retention. This program urged employees to rethink their job, which reduced absenteeism by 60% and turnover by 75%.

“We discovered that people who are able to find meaning and purpose in their work, and can see how they make a difference through that work, are healthier, happier and more productive employees,” said Val Kinjerski, a University of Alberta PhD graduate who co-authored the study.
- E-science news gathered this information from the Journal of Gerontological Nursing.

By helping your people understand why they do what they do – you can increase happiness and productivity.

I’m going to give you a few ideas that might help your employees/coworkers to connect with their work.

Create Your Own Spirit at Work Intervention Program

1. Talk about positive stories
2. Have people share positive stories to be compiled for other employees
3. Listen to customer feedback
4. Find out what improvements your people would like to implement
5. Ask your employees how they want to celebrate great results

Your organization has an opportunity to create happier and more engaged workers with these easy to apply secrets that everyone should know, but many aren’t willing to try.

1. Talk about positive stories

Your organization has many stories of how employees solved problems, helped others in need, and other ways in which they went above and beyond to make someone happy. However, a lot of us like to play the modesty card. We hesitate to flaunt our achievements.

Wrong. So wrong. You need to flaunt your greatness; it’s a must.

A client recently told me about how I helped her feel happier. She explained that drugs that she took to keep her emotionally balanced didn’t help, but my site did. She thanked me profusely. (I put her quote on my hire me – coaching page.) I sent the email to my wife. I think Nikki got a better understanding of what I’m trying to do with this blog. Since she edits all of my writing I need her to feel engaged with the work, so we keep putting out the best content to help the readers of this blog.

You have to share similar stories with each other. Talk about how a customer gushed over your attention to detail. It shows the rest of your co-workers why you do what you do. Most of you aren’t working just for the paycheck. You are also working because you make a difference in people’s lives.

2. Have people share positive stories to be compiled for other employees

So now that you have all these positive stories, you should compile them in a central location. That means keeping emails from customers/clients and that also means writing down stories from employees.

I keep every positive email from my readers. Whenever I feel like my mood is low, I can always go into the archives and remind myself why I need to stay motivated.

The more stories an organization can compile the more powerful it becomes. If your organization is huge, then break it down into departments. Even departments such as marketing and accounting need to compile stories. These stories may be more internal, but it’s still important to document what is happening so you can link to why you do what you do.

3. Listen to Customer Feedback

In order to stay engaged in our work, we have to recognize our mistakes and understand how to fix them. By listening to customer feedback, an organization is taking the time to understand their mistakes and correct them.

I have known many people who like to solve problems. They get an energy boost from making a solution happen. I used to work at K-Mart, and one day a woman came into the store asking for a patio umbrella that wasn’t in stock. The salesperson called 4 different stores before she found the lady’s umbrella.

I remember when the lady came into the store to pick up the umbrella. She was gushing because it was the only one that fit her patio furniture.

You could see the manager beaming with pride.

You need to give your people a chance to create solutions so they can feel like they are a super hero.

4. Find out what improvements your people would like to implement

If you can listen to customers’ needs then it’s time to listen to employees’ needs. Your employees are at their most creative when they are trying to fix problems.

I worked for a company in which the employees had so many good ideas, but the manager never listened. We would be sitting in the lunch room and three different people would share ideas that sounded great to me. I asked them if they tried to talk to Alex about it and they said yes, but he told them to email him. They did and they never heard about the idea again. They got so disheartened that they stopped trying.

Your organization employs smart people, otherwise they probably wouldn’t hold the positions that they do. They just need a chance to unleash that creativity and wow the customer.

5. Ask your employees how they want to celebrate great results

Every company is capable of achieving great results, especially if they’ve been around for more than a few years. If your organization is ho hum about the results that do occur, your people may stop trying.

People want to know that what they do matters. That means celebrating all the good things.

This should be done in large and small groups. The larger gatherings can occur about 1-4 times a year, while the smaller groups (celebrations by department) should be done more often.

When you allow your people to dictate how they want to celebrate, they are less likely to find fault with the celebration.

Making your celebration a regular routine is the key, because you want to make a habit out of celebrating your successes. For the first month, try celebrating every week. Then have a celebration only once a month to keep things from getting stale. If you overload people and celebrate too often, they will get bored and also be unable to find reasons to rejoice in their hard work.

To avoid allowing this practice to fall away, it’s important to make the celebration fun. That might mean bringing food, letting people joke around, and finding other ideas that get people excited about attending.

Why It Works

After implementing these secrets for about a year, assess how these changes affect your organization. You will probably notice that people are more engaged and willing to try a little harder to meet each other’s needs as well as the needs of the customer.

These techniques will work for most companies. The companies that do fail usually do so because they don’t make this practice a habit. It needs to become part of the culture, so when something difficult happens there are techniques to fall back on. And when something great happens everyone dances on their desks, feeling proud of their effort.

Are you on Twitter? Then check me out at @workhappynow. I give stress relief tips, happiness ideas, and cool quotes that save the day.

***

As many of you know I’m a recent father and I’m not a big fan of father blogs, but I am a big fan of Sean’s Writer Dad. I love his writing style and flair for a story. Check out one of my recent favorites, The Mothers and Fathers of Tomorrow.

If you enjoyed this post then I think you’ll like this one too:

• The Greatest Compliment of My Life and Compliments to Give Your Co-workers

Image courtesy of (cup)cake_eater

Download the Free eBook Work Happy the Google Way * Post from: Work Happy Now!

Netflix believes in creating a culture that supports Freedom and Responsibility. They don’t promote to placate or keep people around out of loyalty. They know they have to make people happy and in order to do that they need to challenge and engage their employees.

Seven Aspects of Netflix Culture:

• Values are what we Value
• High Performance
• Freedom & Responsibility
• Context, not Control
• Highly Aligned, Loosely Coupled
• Pay Top of the Market
• Promotions & Development

(Sorry about the formatting of these next few sentences. This slide has some weird code in it)

Check out the Happy at Work Project and see how your views align with you company’s views. The closer your values align with the company’s, the more enjoyable it is to work with them.

***

Stephen of the Rat Race Trap talks about work and personal development on his site. It’s a must-read for someone seeking something better in their life.

If you liked this article then check out these articles:

• Does Your Company Need an Extreme Makeover?
• How do I make my people happy?
• Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It, Book Review

Download the Free eBook Work Happy the Google Way * Post from: Work Happy Now!

So you want an atmosphere that encourages great work? Don’t we all. Most bosses and managers talk a good game, but they don’t create a plan to make it happen.

Almost every CEO I worked for always talked about the importance of their people, but their actions did not coincide with their words. They were always more worried about the bottom line.

I know how important it is to make money, but if the employees are happy then believe me, the money will come. That is if you have a good product/service.

It’s why Southwest airlines is the only consistent money generator in the USA airline industry. They believe in creating a culture that encourages happiness.

As a leader of people you need to encourage happiness in every facet of your business. I’ve created 10 techniques that will help your company be happy and successful.

1. Be happy yourself.
2. Know your people.
3. Make time for your people.
4. Show people the autonomy that they already have.
5. Help them find meaning in their work.
6. Listen and respond to their emotions, not their problems.
7. Stop letting assholes dictate the company culture.
8. Encourage friendships.
9. Recognize hard work.
10. Find out why people leave.

These are concepts that are easy to understand, but may be hard to apply to your company’s culture. I’ll break them down so you can use them in your company.

1. Be Happy Yourself

Being happy yourself can sometimes be more difficult than making someone else happy. If you don’t know how to make yourself happy, it will be very difficult to help the people you manage to be happier.

You have to find what makes you happy at work and try to do more of it. If you are a manager and miss a certain aspect of your old job (i.e. more customer interaction), then try to do more of the customer interaction projects and give a part of your job that you dislike to an employee who enjoys the type of work that you don’t.

I struggled with my own work happiness because I didn’t take responsibility for my own emotions. I would let my emotions run rampant, causing me much more pain than I needed to endure. Read my What Do I Do If I’m Unhappy at Work? to get a better idea of how to be happier at your job.

2. Know Your People

You must know your employees’ strengths and weaknesses. If you keep giving PR work to an employee who hates it, they won’t be sticking around very long.

When you assign work to an employee who enjoys the task, they respect and appreciate you. The happier you make them, the higher quality their output will be. It’s a simple concept, but one many managers ignore.

You must spend time with your employees in order to understand them. Do you know what they do in their spare time? What type of food do they like?

The more you know about the people you manage, the easier it will be to lead them.

3. Make Time for Your People

Are you taking the time to listen to their problems and helping them come up with solutions? I know most of my superiors never did this for me.

At most of my jobs, I felt like I was on the outside looking in. I know a lot of people feel this way. They feel like they are the last to know what is going on with in a company.

Every leader needs to make time for his or her people.

You can do this by:

• Talking to employees about decisions.
• Asking them about their own issues.
• Hanging out with them outside of work.
• Asking them for their opinions.
• Chatting with them about their personal lives.

Making time for your people might sometimes feel like a time suck, but it’s worth your effort. They will show more loyalty and become more engaged. Zappos, the employee happiness juggernauts, encourage their managers to spend roughly 15% of their day with their staff. They know that it works.

4. Show People the Autonomy That They Already Have

Many employees don’t like working within a certain organization because of the lack of freedom. They feel chained to their cubicle.

What many employees don’t realize is that they do have autonomy.

You need to let your employees know about the perks that they might not be using. Make them aware of the breaks that they can take because it will help them reduce stress and increase productivity. Inform them about anything the company provides that could make them happier.

If the company is too strict then make some changes. We live in a different world compared to just ten years ago. If you want to retain great employees, then you should consider allowing them more freedom and flexibility as long as they get results.

5. Help Them Find Meaning in Their Work

People need to believe that the work they do is worth doing. Otherwise they see no point in putting in extra effort.

A great way to help your employees find meaning is to tell stories that they can connect with. A good story can show a perspective that the employee hadn’t yet seen.

My father is an electrician and has owned Staib Electrical for 40 years. I worked with him through high school and college. I was always baffled by his need to form the wires so perfectly. My dad made sure his electrical panels were like little pieces of engineering art work. One day, after he fixed my work (again), I asked him why it was so important to him to make the wires look perfect.

He explained how he recently received two phone calls from potential clients. They had both heard from a previous customer about the great work he did. He asked them who referred him, and they both named a neighbor of theirs, Mr. Hanken. My father told me about Mr. Hanken’s delighted expression when he showed him his work. Mr. Hanken then bragged to his neighbors, and they too wanted an electrician that cared as much as my father does.

I understood why my dad’s presentation was so important. If he didn’t apply a bit of art to his craft, everyone would think he was just like every other electrician. It separated him from the crowd and as a result people talked him up to people they knew. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising.

From that point on, I applied a little art to every wire I formed.

6. Listen and Respond to Their Emotions, Not Their Problems

People often complain just so they will be heard. They don’t necessarily want solutions; they want empathy.

The next time an employee comes to talk to you about another employee, give them what they need emotionally. Let them know that it can be tough work with (fill in difficult coworker here). Allow them to vent.

If they ask for a solution then you can try to find one together, but most of the time they just need an emotional boost, rather than a fix to their problem.

7. Stop Letting Assholes Dictate the Company Culture

One asshole can wreak havoc on a whole department or organization. They are miserable and they want everyone else to be miserable too.

The job of any leader is to stop these people from bringing everyone else down. That may mean helping this person recognize their issues and figuring out a way to become happy. If that doesn’t work, you may need to let them go.

The only way the company culture will support great work is if everyone treats each other with respect.

8. Encourage Friendships

People need to have friends at work. If they don’t, they are much less likely to stay at a job, feel happy, and be creative.

“Among the 3 in 10 workers who strongly agree that they have a best friend at work, 56% are engaged, 33% are not engaged and 11% are actively disengaged to the point of poisoning the atmosphere with their negativity. Those who don’t have a best friend have slim 1-in-12 odds of being among the engaged. Worse, the best-friendless stand a one in three chance of being actively disengaged. That means they may threaten sabotage or otherwise become a serious drag on the company’s success.” – Del Jones of USA Today Best friends good for business

A manager should encourage his or her staff to hang out with each other. The more people hang out with each other, the more likely they are to find ways to like each other.

It’s helpful if you create opportunities for people to gather outside of work so they can bond. If you are their superior then they may not be able to relax when you’re there, so gather them and take off. Yes, they may complain about you after you leave, but it’s important that they find common ground, even if it’s making jokes at your expense.

Believe me, they will be more supportive, happier and a stronger team as a result.

9. Recognize Hard Work

A boss who appreciates hard work, not just the end result is a better boss. The psychology behind it is simple. If you show people that you are grateful when they work hard they are more likely to enjoy the process.

Many bosses only appreciate the end result. If the end result is bad, then the employee confidence and morale takes a hit.

Show people that you care about their effort, not just the results, and you’ll see an improvement in productivity.

10. Find Out Why People Leave

People usually leave a company because they aren’t happy. Try to find out why they are leaving and what you can do to solve the issue.

I’ve never had an exit interview, but I had a friend who did. They kept asking the question “why” until they got to the heart of the problem. They didn’t want some patsy answer that wouldn’t help them.

Most employees will just want to get out of there, but if you take the time to listen, you may be able to figure out a solution that will help future employees. You may have lost this employee, but you can improve other employees’ happiness so they stick around and do great work.

Wrap-Up

The environment at work doesn’t need to be boring or strict. In fact, Southwest, Google, and Zappos are proof that happy employees improve the bottom line.

Bosses, managers, or supervisors have so many tools at their disposal. The research in Inc. Magazine, Alex’s blog The Chief Happiness Officer, Psychology Today, and WorldBlu (to list just a few) proves that people who are happy at work are more productive and engaged.

Start by implementing these concepts, but don’t stop there. There are many ways to encourage happiness. Just remember that every organization and group of people are different. Sometimes it takes a few tries to see some progress.

***

* Target Turned Tigress had this to add in the comment section. I wanted to paste it here, so it’s not missed.

I’d add one caveat to item #6 and three more items to make it a “baker’s dozen”–lucky 13.  Under item number 6, I’d add the caveat that while it’s fine to offer some empathy when employees come and complain about each other (either out of a genuine concern or from pettiness/petulance/some other bizarre personal grudge), the head of a department also needs to make it really clear that person A needs to talk to person B directly.  Encouraging a practice of triangulating (going through a third person instead of communicating directly)is really dysfunctional and ultimately creates an atmosphere of distrust and suspicion. A really good manager might help person A to clearly articulate the  issue and come up with a script to problem solve the issue with Person B in a friendly, collegial manner, and then check back in with person A to see how things went.  I’m sure there are any number of managers out there who might roll their eyes and exclaim in exasperation that they were not hired to do counselling, but setting a good example around healthy communication and empowering one’s supervisees to strengthen their interpersonal skills will go a long way toward eliminating unresolved conflicts, toxic workplaces and the stress related illnesses that arise out of them.

The three additional practices by managers that would greatly contribute to happiness, harmony and productivity in their departments:

11. Good Managers are Aware of their Limitations as Well as Strengths.

If they know they don’t handle conflict well and lean toward avoidance, then hopefully they have the integrity and courage to recognize their limitations and make dealing with their stuff a priority by learning conflict resolution and healthy communications skills as part of their professional development. Better yet, they might organize a department wide workshop on positive/assertive communications skills (preferably non-violent communications)so everyone can be empowered by learning those skills. Workshops on understanding how different personality/temperament types function at work would also be great ways of increasing understanding and reducing  frustrations.

12. Follow Through Promptly on Policy Issues

(especially factors that affect working conditions–nothing kills a department morale faster than neglecting to attend to comfort factors like temperature control, air quality, ergonomics or anything else that might lead to health problems that could have been avoided), promotion and performance considerations right away.

Procrastinating on getting back to employees about possible promotions, pay raises or performance evaluations in a timely manner does not do much for the respect or trust factor. Good managers, don’t cop out with the “I’ve been too busy with other stuff”, nor do they dump the responsibility for being “proactive” about the issue back onto the employee: they recognize it is THEIR responsibility as the person with the power to hire, fire or promote their people–not the employees’–to have the professionalism and courtesy to respond in a timely manner, whether it’s good news or bad news or otherwise.

13. Set the Example and the Tone

Managers who are really interested in fostering and maintaining an environment that is happy, productive and where employees conduct themselves professionally do this by setting the example and the tone–especially in how they handle stress and frustrations.

Managers who consistently back bite other employees in the company, express frustration at others using violent imagery* or other inappropriate language/stress management techniques create a really toxic environment in one of two ways. First, by modeling such behavior, managers are indicating that they approve of such behavior, and many of their employees will adopt the same attitudes to “fit in” or earn brownie points with the boss. (It’s really scary to see this in action!) Second, such behavior does absolutely nothing to earn the loyalty or respect of one’s employees (except maybe to their face) and everything to create an atmosphere of distrust and fear.

*While “imaginary” violence may not actually physically harm a person, the malice/intent to harm is still there even though the action hasn’t actually occurred. It’s both a little scary and traumatizing for employees to be subjected to these kinds of behaviors on a regular basis. Recent social psychology research has shown that blowing off steam this way actually leads to more anger and a tendency to depersonalize/dehumanize the object of one’s imaginary violence.

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Whether starting a business or building your career, most likely you are going to have to start from the bottom and work your way up. Obama is a man who has worked his way up by optimizing his resources.

I’m not going to give you the history of all his accomplishments because you can read it right here.

Obama ran a fantastic campaign that put him in a position to win. He is a black man running in an industry dominated by white men. Nothing was handed to him. He made the best of what he had and now he’s the President of the United States.

1. Don’t be Reactionary

Obama understood the message that he wanted to send and kept delivering it every step of his campaign. McCain attacked Obama to try to gain lost ground. McCain attacked his character, religion, and love for America. Obama stuck to his message of change. I’m not saying he didn’t cave and attack McCain’s ties to big oil, but this didn’t last long. He showed the public that McCain wasn’t perfect, but then went right back to delivering a positive message.

Obama could have attacked McCain’s age and his lack of control, but he chose to talk about the issues. This showed that he had the awareness to not get dragged down by other people’s tactics.

People at our jobs may say bad things about us when they are jealous, afraid or bored. It has happened to me and I’m really a nice guy – most of the time. When we get sucked into office politics, sometimes we lose control of how we want to create our career. The best thing we can do is trust our gut and do what is best for ourselves.

2. Stick to Your Beliefs

Obama could have wavered on taxing the rich or wanting to give healthcare to everyone (now we’ll see how true he is to his word), but he stuck to what he thought was right. When you have as many people whispering in your ear as Obama you’ll find it tough to stick to your beliefs. I know that when I have too many people telling me what to do it actually locks up my decision making ability.

Side note: This is actually a weakness and strength of mine. I waver easily because I can usually see other people’s point of view. I’m learning to take people’s opinions into consideration, but not let them dictate my choices. I’m the youngest child and most of the time youngest children tend to be too empathetic towards other people’s ideas. Knowing this about myself has forced me to strengthen my own beliefs and learn to stick with them.

You must have a solid understanding of what you want out of a situation. You must listen to that little voice inside your head and make the best choice. The book, E-myth Revisited, discusses the importance of aim. If you know what you are trying to achieve then you’ll exponentially increase your odds of success. Read the Mens With Pens review of the E-myth Revisited.

3. Family is More Important Than Anything Else

Grandma was a vital influence throughout Obama’s life. He took time in a crucial part of his campaign to be with the woman who has helped mold him into a strong leader. He could have justified that she was older and the campaign was more important, but he didn’t. He flew all the way to Hawaii to be with her.

Family and friends should be put ahead of our careers. It’s these people who have supported us through depressions, conflicts and pain. Obama didn’t stay with his Grandma until her last breath because he understood that he had to get back out on the campaign trail. He spent time with her, probably thanking her for all her love, then told her he was going to win the presidency.

You have to have balance between your career and family. If your child or parent needs you then put everything aside and help them. Then when you are ready to get back to work, go and do great things to help make this world a more prosperous place.

4. Sacrifice for the Good of the Whole

Obama didn’t tell us what we all wanted to hear. He laid out his economic plan and stuck with it. He wants to raise taxes for people making more than $250,000.

McCain talked about lowering everyone’s taxes, telling everyone what they wanted to hear. How can we lower everyone’s taxes and pay off a $10,000,000,000,000 in debt? Most of you have or had debt at some point. You know that there is a price to pay when you owe someone else money – interest. Lots of interest. Just think of all the interest we are paying to other countries on 10 Trillion dollars. It’s killing our economy.

Obama asked the American people to understand this concept and expect to give back through higher taxes. The rich have prospered from this country just as much as everyone else, so why not give back and help put this country back on its feet? Is it too much to ask for more taxes to help pay down our debt? I think not.

If you have kids then you understand the sacrifices a parent makes so his kid gets the best things in life. We need to sacrifice now so our children aren’t saddled with debt that will wreck our country.

You need to sacrifice your time and money to get your dream career off the ground. If you need more knowledge to leverage your ability to earn more money then you must make sacrifices. That may mean not going out on weekends to create an at home business or going back to school to get a different degree. Whatever you need to do to make your future happiness a reality then sacrifice now and reap the rewards later.

5. Plan According to the Big Picture then Adjust

Obama was down in the polls against Clinton at the beginning of the Democratic primaries. He knew where to put his money and how to gain the confidence of the right leaders. He managed up. He won a few states and the tide kept rolling. He gained Oprah’s endorsement and the endorsements kept coming in.

Then when campaigning against McCain he knew where the weak spots for McCain were and went to work. He knows his strengths. He is a great speaker and probably won thousands of votes every time he spoke. He was able to do this in states that previously always voted republican.

Obama is able to look at the big picture and plan accordingly. He knew that he would have more money coming in than McCain because he is excellent at raising funds for his campaign. He refused to take tax payers money which allowed him to raise as much money as he wanted (Yah! Money that goes towards real programs). He was able to outspend McCain in a lot of key states. This kind of strategic thinking is what all presidents should be great at. Strategic thinking is basically all they do while they are in office, so it looks like America made a solid choice.

You need to see your career as a link to a larger goal. When you gain the right endorsements from the right people within your organization then you have created stepping stones to move up. When you are in a position of power it’s up to you to adjust your resources to get the most out of your people; planning and adjusting your tactics at every level will help anyone succeed.

6. Surround Yourself With Great People

Obama picked an intelligent Vice President who could help him solve issues in the White House. He also picked great people to run his campaign. They never forced him to be something he wasn’t and they helped the “Obama train” get into the White House. You can’t win a presidential election without great people around you.

The friends that you surround yourself with must be intelligent and kind, otherwise they will drag you down. I’ve made bad choices in the past when choosing my friends, but as I’ve developed I’ve learned to let bad friends go and bring in friends who will support my needs.

Side note: Most writers, like Stephen King,  will swear up and down that they wouldn’t be where they are without a great editor. An editor keeps the writer in check, but can also optimize his voice to get the message across to the reader.

The best way to improve your career is to associate with the right people. Business is not about who can do the work. Any rich man can hire someone to do work for them. Business is about surrounding yourself with great people who can do the stuff that you aren’t so good at, so you can do the stuff that you are good at.

7. Never Listen to the Masses

If I were a betting man in the beginning of this election process I would never have thought that Obama would be in this position (President). He was way down in the polls against Clinton and running against a war hero, but Obama didn’t listen to the naysayers. He trusted himself. He aimed high and won.

Your career is in your hands. Never once for any moment believe that life is all luck. You have to put yourself in a position to win. Obama could have lost, but he maximized his resources and got the job done. He was able to do this because he wasn’t afraid.

You should never be afraid to shake hands with great people and try to get them to help you. If you believe in yourself so will they.

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• Your 3 Careers – Are You Ready?
• How Transitions Can Dramatically Improve Your Productivity
• Active Relaxation 

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You’re leisurely jogging toward the finish line in your khakis and button down shirt when you look back and all the other managers from your various competitors are on your heels. You thought you were leading the pack by a good distance, but they caught up. You look forward again and the finish line got pushed so far away that you can’t even see it. 12 swear words pop into your head, you ease up and everyone passes you by.

This attitude has struck down the greatest companies because they stop pushing for innovative ways to separate themselves from the pack. The best way managers can help a company flourish is by dedicating themselves to professional growth. We all need to keep moving or we become a bucket infested with mosquitoes, attacking others to stay alive. The only way to avoid the blood suckers is to keep moving.

Complacency will wreck any company, especially one that relies on the same tactics that they used last year and the year before that. If marketing companies kept putting out the same ads then the audience would learn to tune them out. If managers keep using the same techniques their voices will fall on deaf ears. That’s where continual learning fits in. Whether it be classes, conferences, meetings, or consulting companies, there are ways for a manager and his employees to learn new tactics that rock the world of their customers. It’s the only way to stay alive in this hyper competitive working world.

Chris Bailey wrote Four Professional Growth Issues For Managers (And How To Address Them). My favorite line was:

If you are a leader, know that a key responsibility of leaders is to produce more leaders.

Managers should be creating people that can help a company grow. They should never fear that they are producing someone more capable than them. If that does happen then the manager should be happy. The company will only prosper if it beats out the competition. The only way to do that is to have great people around you. Every master should be ready for the day that his pupil surpasses his abilities. If you taught them right, they will respect this relationship and treat the company and the manager with respect.

Chris wrote four reasons why managers don’t further their professional development as well at their staff’s. It’s a good read for any manager wanting to overcome obstacles that might be preventing them from growing.

My biggest obstacle to continual learning was convincing upper management to buy into the idea. They don’t want to spend money when they think they are doing fine without it. If they were having a bad quarter they sure as hell didn’t want to spend money on professional development. They wanted to cut back on every extra expense. The only thing I can say to this is to keep trying. Most sales people get rejected between 8 and 16 times before a client agrees to do business. Consider yourself a salesman and keep after your bosses. If you keep trying, they will start believing.

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