Imagine this........
You work for a large energy company here in CT. Could it be Northeast Utilities? Or United Illuminating? Perhaps ATT? Verizon? Perhaps someone else?
Your workday starts at 8:00 AM. Each day at 8:30 AM you are invited into a status meeting by your plant manager. The meeting basically goes like this:
· Revenues are down; we need to do something about this
· Overtime is too high; we need to do something about this
· Our partners are not happy with us
· We have several new requests from the corporate office; we need to complete them and we are getting no additional manpower to accomplish the tasks
· There will be mandatory overtime to get the work done
· We should be thankful we have jobs
· See you tomorrow morning
Every day. That is how your day starts. Never a “good job folks.” Never an “I feel your pain.” Just doom and gloom; morning after morning. Business sucks. Your job sucks, Life sucks. You count the days until Friday and get sick to your stomach on Sunday evening.
Now this just happens to be the experience of one employee here in CT, but this not only could be, but most likely is happening all over the United States, perhaps even all over the globe. At least I hope it is happening in all those countries where US companies sent their outsourced work.
Imagine if by 8:50 AM each day your morale was shot to hell. Imagine if by 8:50 AM every day you felt as if you were beaten, battered and bruised worse than an Ultimate Fight Club contestant. Imagine if your only solace is knowing that the people who work alongside you are just as miserable – and hopefully more miserable.
It really doesn’t have to be this way.
While everyone seems to be working harder, longer, and faster these days it seems to be frowned upon to acknowledge it. You’re a complainer, a problem child or not a team player if you even mutter a word of discontent.
Times are tough, people will say. Times suck! So let’s talk about it – but in a positive light.
Why not get together for coffee or cookies and milk at 3:00 PM and laugh about it. Let’s talk about how we can help, not only one another, but help the organization come up with solutions – no matter what your level or role is in the organization. There’s a big elephant in the room these days; it’s called disengaged employees; and for some reason people don’t want to acknowledge it. Reminds me of some of my past relationships; let’s not talk about things and they’ll go away. They didn’t go away; the person went away.
And that’s what is happening in a workplace near you…..employees are going away. But they’re not physically going away; they’re emotionally and mentally going away. They show up every day and continue the process of being not engaged or disengaged from their work, workplace and co-workers. Then they go home and disengage from their families, friends and assorted other loved ones.
We don’t need to engage employees. We need to engage people. We need to get people laughing again. We need to get people comfortable with sharing their true thoughts and feelings without it being earmarked in some file. We need to get people talking about the things that excite them and turning those thoughts into new and innovative ideas. Forget employee engagement. Let’s start talking about people engagement. Let’s stop tossing around terms like work/life balance and come up with, once and for all, solutions that are not cookie cutter, but individual.
Or you can go back to your desk, shut up and do your work!
Challenging thinking, creating better work environments, building stronger work teams, and advancing relationships with customers and peers are why Fortune 500, small business, and professional association clients work with Rich DiGirolamo. Using the long lost art of Play, while tapping into the humorous and fun side of people, he reminds us that the crazy stressful place we call work offers so much opportunity to become better people. You can reach him at http://richdigirolamo.com
Comments
I couldn't agree with you more. Good communication is key to maintaining healthy relationships, both at work and at home. And if the lines of communication are crossed in either sphere, you will feel the effects in both. It's easy to forget in this fast-paced, digital world that "people skills" are still skills worth maintaining...and using.
For more great articles on leadership / delegation, work-life balance, and much more, visit the Day-Timer Blog at www.daytimer.wordpress.com
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