Rules of Workplace Engagement [DreamJobCoaching]

The title of this newsletter tells you how important the concept of fulfillment in the workplace is to me. As a coach, I talk with plenty of people who stay in jobs they dislike or find boring just to keep the paychecks rolling in. But merely earning a living doesn't make them happy. They want more. Some of my clients are able to leave a job that doesn't measure up for work they love, but others feel stuck...at least for the time being.

Those clients embody the situation that most employers dread: unhappy and, therefore, unproductive employees. The good news is that there are steps employers can take to help their workforce find value beyond the paychecks. This week's article offers several ways companies can help employees become more fulfilled at work.

But you don't have to be an employer to benefit from the information. If your company falls short when it comes to providing opportunities for fulfillment, consider taking the first step. Offer management a few constructive suggestions for retaining good employees and see where it leads.

Even if your company isn't receptive to your ideas, there are things you can do on your own to make your job more tolerable...and perhaps more enjoyable. You can use these ideas as a springboard for creating a more fulfilling work experience.

Joel

Dream Job Coaching May be the Answer

If you've found it difficult, if not impossible, to find the work you were meant to do, you don't have to continue to go it alone. The Dream Job Coaching process has helped hundreds of people in the same situation you're facing. They've found their dream jobs and you can, too.

Recent research from Towers Perrin reveals that U.S. workers remain focused on their jobs despite the tough economic climate, job layoffs, and other business challenges. On the surface, this may seem positive to employers who are concerned about retaining key talent or reducing the costly effects of employee turnover. However, the study also revealed that relatively few of the surveyed employees exhibited high levels of engagement or personal attachment to their jobs.

In short, what this study underscores is that there exists an ever-growing "rational endurance" within the corporate world in which key employees base their desire to stay at a non-engaging or non-fulfilling job they know they should leave solely on the safety, comfort, or security of being employed.

Ultimately, these very contagious feelings of being stuck, paralyzed, or unable to leave their jobs because of a limited job market result in a disengaged or disenchanted workforce focused on doing the absolute minimum in order to collect a paycheck. That leads to the question more and more employers are asking (or should be asking): How can you motivate or re-energize employees so they don’t leave you high and dry the next time the employment market shifts or there is an up-turn in the economy?

Whether you’re a newly established entrepreneur or president of a Fortunate 500, here are three "creative rules of engagement" that virtually any employer can apply to make the workplace an incubator for greater employee fulfillment, increased satisfaction, and unprecedented productivity:

1. Create fulfillment by identifying exactly what brings your employees career fulfillment and finding ways to use their diverse skills or interests as opportunities for them to shine. At the same time, encourage them to focus more on what’s right with their jobs than what’s wrong, and never forget to give constant praise. This may sound extremely simple but with reduced staffs, increased workloads, and compressed time schedules, it is easy to forget compliments. People need to know that their efforts for the company are recognized and appreciated. After all, you can’t be proud of yourself until somebody’s been proud of you.
   
   
2. Create choice by offering fringe benefits or Quality Life Programs such as family leave, flexible hours, and telecommuting options...or even concierge services like massage sessions, dry cleaning services, emergency baby-sitters, and take-out meals. If none of these options work for your daily operating procedures or bank account, consider offering skills training or continuous learning as incentives to stay.
   
   
3. Create involvement by finding ways to improve your employees’ overall relationship with their jobs and daily responsibilities by including them in decision-making and other company-wide initiatives that allow them to make a difference. Be sure to explain what’s required for your employees to move forward in your organization or department based on your plans for the next one to five years. Without a clear-cut understanding of what they have to do to advance or succeed, people quickly become de-motivated. At that point they begin looking for "better" opportunities.

"The reward of a thing well done is to have done it."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"You must always work not just within but below your means. If you can handle three elements, handle only two. If you can handle ten, then handle only five. In that way the ones you do handle, you handle with more ease, more mastery, and you create a feeling of strength in reserve."
-- Pablo Picasso

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I've worked with creative people, entrepreneurs, high-tech and corporate professionals, and people in many other jobs to help them define and land their dream jobs or to find more satisfaction in their current jobs. For more information contact:

Dream Job Coaching ~ Joel Garfinkle ~ (510) 339-3201 Office

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Copyright 2005, Joel Garfinkle, all rights reserved.
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