It's Labor Day, and I think I am the only one laboring today. Thus far, I am the only Decadian not out warming up the barbeque. Instead, I am in the office, warming up to a Harvard Business Review interview with one of my favorite business authors, Patrick Lencioni. Pat is making the rounds, promoting his new book, The Three Signs of a Miserable Job—a business fable that shows managers how to let employees know how important they are in day to day operations—and why that is important to any organization.
The Three reasons Pat says employees hate their jobs...
1. Anonymity: People cannot be fulfilled in their work if they are not known—at least by their own managers.
2. Irrelevance: Everyone needs to know that their job matters to someone. Without seeing a connection between your work and the satisfaction of another person or group of people, you will not find lasting fulfillment.
3. Immeasurement: Employees need to be able to gauge their progress and level of contribution for themselves, not simply based on the whims and opinions of their manager or other influential people.
As obvious as these points may seem, few managers take a deliberate approach to tackling these. Why? Pat says this is due to a lack of focus and priorities.
"I know what you're supposed to do to be a great parent, but do I do it every day? The same goes for managers. The challenge is to keep remembering to do it."
If you read this blog regularly, you know how important teamwork is to the success of any company. We've proven it here at Decade, but not all employees in all offices enjoy coming to work. Even in my department, we're not perfect—but we're improving every day.
If I could add a fourth to Pat's list, it would be...
4. Employee Evaluations: Managers make employees feel less important by not completing evaluations on time. This makes employees feel less important than everything else on a manager's task list.
As Pat says, we know what is important, be we don't always do it—Busted.
That's the real reason I am working on a holiday. I am trying to catch-up on employee reviews. I'm guilty—but I'm working to make it right.
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