Tag: workplace

Categories
motivation

Finding Joy at Work

Finding Joy at Work

Yesterday was the third Sunday of Advent. This week’s Advent theme is joy. Now comes Monday! It is easy to think about joy when we are singing Christmas carols and contemplating the season that brings good news of great joy. But what about the rest of the week?

Yes, it is possible to find joy at work! A Harvard Business Review article, entitled Making Joy a Priority at Work, talks about why joy is an important part of the workplace. But often workplace culture gets in the way. We can be so focused on meeting sales goals, staying in our comfort zones, and resisting new ways of connecting, that we forget our emotions play a big part in success.

The writer goes on to say, “In any team environment, joy arises from a combination of harmony, impact, and, acknowledgment — all of which business leaders can engender in their organizations.” Yes, these are all qualities each of us would value and love to have in our workplaces.

Harmony

How we interact with each other brings harmony. When we are respectful, professional, and look out for each other, everyone benefits. If you ever had a child that has just started playing a musical instrument, you know how hard on the ears it is when they are just starting to play in a band. An elementary school band that hasn’t learned to play together in harmony can wreck a concert.

When we look out for our coworkers, are helpful, and destroy silos, we can work together in a harmony that brings an unbeatable competitive advantage.

Impact

Everyone wants to feel their part at work makes an impact. We want to know that what we do matters. We want to know that our idea has made a positive difference to the bottom line.

Harmony makes teams work. Impact comes both as team members and individuals. When we see that our part of the business is a valued part of the company’s success, it makes a big difference.

Acknowledgment

Everyone wants to feel acknowledged. We want to know that we are seen. If we feel we are just a number in a mindless bureaucracy, we tend to wonder if there is a point to it all. We may even make a little disharmony just to see if anyone notices. Perhaps, we stop seeing that we are making an impact.

Acknowledgment needs to come in a positive way. No one wants only to be acknowledged when they messed up. We forget that we tend to get the behavior that gets attention. If an employee only gets acknowledged for bad behavior, that is what the company will get more of.

Yes, it’s possible to have joy at work. As we get closer to Christmas, may we experience joy in our workplaces. May you receive some joy and be the giver of joy to those around you this week.

Categories
motivation

Cranky + Caffeine = Comforting Cheer

Illustration of a man with his coffee. His cat is sitting atop his head.

Yesterday, I read an article about my favorite hot beverage, or at least the prime drug that is in my favorite beverage; caffeine. It has been around for centuries, and according to the article, changed the course of history. Yet he maintains it also comes with a cost.

Washington Post article on Caffeine by Michael Pollan

Here’s the Audible link to the book

As I write this, I am enjoying some coffee and considering what caffeine has done for my creative juices.

Photo of Kevin Spear enjoying a mug of coffee
Enjoying some coffee with the “All Things Possible” mug.

Should I be concerned that I like my coffee? A stat in the article says up to ninety percent of adults ingest caffeine regularly. It’s a drug that businesses favor because it boosts productivity. Almost every office has coffee brewing. Creatives rely on coffee to get going in the morning. This is especially true considering how creatives like to be night owls. What would the world look like with a caffeine and coffee ban? I shudder to think.

The only thing I’m sure of is it would allow cats to take over the world. My illustration shows what I believe my cat would’ve done to me without that morning perk.

Illustration of a man with his coffee. His cat is sitting atop his head.

Could I quit coffee anytime I want? Sure I could. Just don’t give the cat a heads up if I ever decided to attempt this horror.

Categories
motivation

Reacting versus Responding

Cartoon of mother, son and teacher

“A culture of reactivity alone insures that we have time to do little else but fight fires.”

Scott Ellis in Changed People Change Process

I once heard Zig Ziglar talk about the difference between reacting and responding. He urged the audience to think about going to the doctor because you have an illness. What if the doctor prescribes medication and you come back the next week?

If the doctor says you’ve had a reaction to the medication, that doesn’t sound good. That means you have broken out in hives or worse. The medicine isn’t helping.

But if you return and the doctor says you have responded to the medication, that means it is working and you are on the road to recovery.

It can be very easy to react to a situation. Frequently, a flurry of emails comes in with scores of very hot jobs. If you are servicing twenty different customers in a day, you can have twenty different hot jobs. The next thing you know, you spend the whole day putting out fires.

But what if we trained ourselves to respond instead of react? Instead of jumping at every hot job that comes in, what if we prioritized and looked at the big picture of the workload instead of attempt to put out twenty different fires?

It can be as tempting to react like the Sunday school teacher is in my cartoon. But if the teacher in this example reacts in a way that prevents her from the lesson and highjacks the rest of the time in class, it can be wasted time in class. That’s what reaction does. It creates waste.

Our challenge is to minimize a culture of reactivity and transform it into a responsive culture. Scott Ellis’ book has already given me some great insights on how to do that. Stay tuned and I’ll let you know how things progress.

Cartoon of mother, son and teacher
Categories
motivation

The Powerful Tool of Forgiveness

Cartoon of a man and elephant about forgiving and forgetting

We are imperfect people working with imperfect coworkers and serving imperfect customers. over the course of the day, someone may say something that is either going to frustrate, offend or discourage us. It could be intentional or totally innocent. It may be because we can see the same facts and come to different conclusions. Oh, there are so many chances to forgive!

Forgiveness allows us to move on. True, there must be accountability. If someone is breaking an established rule or a law, they must be held to it. But most of the time, the things that get us tripped up in are minor offenses that require us to let go.

Forgive and it will be much easier for the other person to forgive you. Let go of those minor offenses that can become major if we let them fester. After all, a bunch of imperfect people do imperfect, annoying, aggravating things. And you are certainly not immune from doing an imperfect, annoying aggravating thing.

Categories
Book Review

Creativity in the Young and the Old

"Creativity is not the sole province of the young." Rich Kaarlgard
From "Late Bloomers" by Rich Karlgaard

When I heard of this book, I had to check it out. In the beginning section, Rich Karlgaard makes the case society places too much of an emphasis on achievement at too early of an age. Not only does it devalue older people but places extreme pressure on the young.

I love this quote in page 43 of the book:

Creativity is not the sole province of the young. Some of us simply need more time.

Rich Karlgaard

When I took art lessons as a teen, one of my best memories was watching retirees paint beautiful paintings. Karlgaard gives many examples of people that achieved success later in life. One I didn’t see was Grandma Moses. Here was a woman who didn’t begin her painting career until she was 78 years old.

Whether it is work or the arts, never count someone out because they appear too old, or even too young. This book is a reminder patience and perseverance are more important in a productive, creative life than a person’s age.