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A happy manager and cheerful workers are a winning combination for boosting profits. With the support of a happy manager, employees are more likely to remain enthusiastic about their work, go out of their way to satisfy customers, accomplish higher quality work in less time and generate new ideas.
Take a look at your own work environment. Does it fit that description? Is everyone happy in his or her job? Is your workplace somewhere everyone, including your customers, enjoys being? Do your workers project a positive image out on the job site? Ideally, your answer to these questions is a resounding "yes." Yet, chances are,your answer is non-committal at best. So why is a happy workplace too often such an unattainable goal?
If you're like most employers, griping customers, troublesome co-workers, unpleasant supervisors and boredom with the daily routine top the list of problems that inhibit a positive work environment. In large part, the solution to overcoming these obstacles lies with you, the manager: Your own attitude toward work is "catching" with your staff.
"If you want an environment that produces the best in people, you need to set the example," says Glen Van Ekeren, an Omaha-based workplace performance trainer. "You can't light afire without a match."
Following are five vital techniques for recharging your own battery and re-igniting the fire in your team:
Emphasize the value of your job
Rather than viewing your job as a moneymaking activity, look at it as a mission to help other people. "Sometimes we get so caught up in our work we forget its purpose," says Kathie Hightower, president of Hightower Resources, a consulting firm in Tacoma, Wash. "We need to acknowledge the huge impact we have on people's lives."
True, it's easy to lose sight of the value of your job when your daily schedule is crammed with appointments, paperwork and other uninspiring activities. The secret is to consider these sometimes-menial tasks as small-but-necessary steps to reach your real goal: meeting customer needs.
"Our work activities can be quite mundane, but it's the value, or the interpretation, we put on them that makes the difference," says Beverly Potter, a trainer and speaker on motivation based in Berkeley, Calif. "Happiness results from having a sense you are doing something great, that you're doing more than processing orders and shuffling paper."
Absent a sense of mission, many of us fall back on salary as the reward of work. That can lead to feelings of being trapped in our jobs, helpless to improve our situations.
"If your attitude is predicated on climbing the job ladder, jumping over others and getting higher salaries, you are glossing over what you are doing and why you are doing it," says Michael Fogler, a Lexington, Ky.-based workshop trainer on career and job fulfillment.
Get back on track with your mission by recalling the purpose of your specific job. Try imagining what would happen to the business if no one were doing your job. Then, develop your personal work mission around what you see yourself accomplishing with your team.
For your staff: Encourage employees to concentrate on the value of theirwork by reminding them of the impact they have on customers' lives.
Break your work into parts
The complexity of modern work can overwhelm any employee's sense of mission. Hightower suggests breaking down your job into components, then analyzing each. "Ask which parts are raising and draining your energy level," she suggests. "For each task in the latter group, ask if there is a way you can hire it out, delegate it or transform the procedure in a way that makes it less stressful."
Sometimes, making a task more enjoyable is simply a matter of playing music in the background, enjoying your favorite snack while working, or scheduling walk or work breaks. Out of ideas? Ask children. "Kids are good at making things fun," Hightower says.
Avoid focusing on aspects of your work environment you cannot control,such as company politics or a difficult individual. "If you focus on what you can control, the other things will seem less significant. Lighten up on the things you can't," says Kim Goad, a Westminster, Md.-based seminar leader who specializes in workplace issues.
For your staff: Encourage your personnel to suggest—and put into effect—improvements in the procedures they employ to accomplish their tasks.
Deal creatively with people problems
When other people cause problems,the resulting stress can zap your happiness level. Here's how proactive problem solving can help you to:
• Deal with your employees
Communication skills can reduce unpleasant performance surprises.
"Set clear expectations in terms of the goals you expect your staff to achieve," Goad says. "Make sure you don't assume a lot of things. This alone can make your life a lot less stressful."
Conversely, beware of what Goad calls "the hero syndrome"—thinking you can be everything to everyone,solving all of your staff's problems.
"If you fall into that trap, you end up being overwhelmed when you can't meet everyone's expectations," Goad says. "Learn how to delegate and hold people accountable for their own jobs. Say 'no' to requests for changes that would impact your team performance."
Finally, acknowledge good work,Goad says. Especially effective are performance-centered accolades such as:"I like the way you handled that particular interaction with the customer." In addition, put your praise in writing—employees often save the notes and re-read them.
• Deal with your immediate supervisor
What can you do if you report to a supervisor who tends to exert power through manipulation, humiliation and anger? It's an important question. Left uncontrolled, your reactions to your bad boss drain your energy and destroy any ability to inspire your team.
"You need to find a way to get control of the situation, without resorting to a reaction such as bossing your own people around," says Potter. "One solution is to adjust your mental state." This can be simply a matter of perspective.
When looking at your boss, Potter says, don't think, "You are a bad person," but rather, "You are my teacher—you are teaching me to put up with a person who is the worst boss in the world." This returns you to a position of personal power that is the foundation for happiness.
• Deal with your customers
Got problem customers? Who doesn't? They also need addressing because they can sap your happiness and put you into a funk that impacts your performance. To deal with problem customers, Potter suggests making each problem customer "a challenge to turnaround or help."
"Tell yourself, 'I'll practice on this person to solve their problems, and the experience will help me deal with more customers,'" Potter says.
For your staff: Encourage your team members to confront one another—using constructive communication skills—to resolve simmering conflicts.
Introduce humor at work
A sense of humor goes a long way toward reducing the tensions that can otherwise reduce the energy of you and your staff. "It's so important today to maintain a sense of humor and play at work," says Goad. "One woman I know started wearing Groucho glasses to meetings to add spark to a routine day. The people at another workplace dress up for Halloween."
For your staff: Goad recommends establishing a "joy box" to which all staff members are free to contribute trinkets that will make everyone smile. These can be silly toys, chocolates,positive affirmation notes, or anything else that will add fun to the workplace.
Find fulfillment outside work
Look at the way you are spending your time outside of work. Do you have an outside interest in which you find joy? There's probably something wrong if you just go home every night and do chores.
"Sometimes we expect work to do everything in our life, and then we wonder why it doesn't," says Hightower. "If you spend every waking hour working, you are missing out on daily joys." Your outside activities affect your work performance.
"If you schedule time in the week for an enjoyable activity, it will not only add happiness and joy to your life right then, but will also carry over into your work," Hightower says. "People often say they don't have time. But we all make conscious choices on how we schedule our lives. Perhaps you need to cut back on a meeting or a group to which you feel an obligation."
For your staff: To encourage your staff to schedule their own outside activities, emphasize that you value their interests outside of the workplace. This will help them be more creative and valuable staff members.
Throughout this article, the common theme has been the power of the individual to create happiness. "Whether we are supervisors or staff, we all face the same challenges, encouragements and boredom," Van Ekeren says. "Position doesn't matter. What does is the realization that happiness in our work is a conscious choice. It's not an automatic response."
Neither is it a one-time commitment. You need to constantly redirect yourself onto the happiness track. "I give myself a mental reminder every hour, with a statement such as 'I'm going to be excited about today, and I will make all go well,'" Van Ekerensays.
Customers will return time after time to a helpful organization where the staff is happy to serve. But, as a leader, remember that everyone's attitude begins with you.
Read This!
For more guidance on how to reinvigorate your work life, pick up the following books:
Care Packages for the Workplaceby Barbara A. GlanzDozens of little things you can do to regenerate spirit at work. Ideas andstories can be adapted to any work situation.(McGraw-Hill 1996, Paperback $14.95, Phone: 708/246-8594, Web site: www.barbaraglanz.com/products/)
12 Simple Secrets of Happiness at Workby Glen Van EkerenRethinking the approach to work through ability, attitude and behavior.(Prentice Hall Press 2001, Paperback $11, Phone: 800/501-8801 Web site: www.phdirect.com/)
Happiness Is a Choiceby Barry Neil KaufmanCultivating personality traits to increase inner happiness.(Fawcett Columbine 1991, Paperback $10.95, Web site: www.randomhouse.com/)
The NWFA also offers an 90-minute audio tape, “People Don’t Quit Companies, They Quit Managers,” available for $10. Call 800/422-4556 (U.S.), 800/848-8824 (Canada), or 636/391-5161 (local/international).