It's Finally Friday...

This week went fast, then slow, then fast, then slow...didn't know what's up with it, but was happy to see Friday arrive in all it's glory.  Still haven't don't any stitching this week, was going to start on it tonight, but hubby is sleeping on the couch.....so I decided to blog instead.

My presentation went pretty well, not as good as the last one :(  but well enough.  I found the perfect t-shirt to wear.  At work our Manta is "I've got your back"....so I started my presentation showing my staff I embraced the manta :) ..I had really wanted to give each of the participants a yellow cup or mug, but couldn't find any that were reasonably priced.   What does a yellow mug or cup have to do with my talk?  Well it was the opening of the talk, and I know I've mentioned this before, but my grandma always said if she started the day drinking her coffee from a yellow mug the day would start out sunny...sooo my theory is no matter what the day brings if I believe it's going to be a good day I can weather the storms that may come because I know they are only blowing through and not here to stay.

So here was the end of my talk on the 3 Signs of a Miserable Job

The three signs are: 

Anonymity – People can’t feel appreciated if they believe no one knows who they are and what they do.  To feel valued you can’t go through your career being invisible, generic or anonymous. 

Irrelevance – People need to know that what they do is important, that it makes a difference.  If you say “I’m in reimbursement” and your response is – “oh”, or “huh?”

Immeasurement – If we can’t determine how well we are doing, then we can’t determine if we are doing our jobs right.  While some of this needs to come from external sources, bosses, customers, spouses/significant others/family; some of it needs to be based on our own assessment.

If we can avoid the 3 signs above, then we as an organization can reap the benefits:

Ø  Increased Productivity – if we love what we do, we will do it with more passion, enthusiasm and attention to the quality of work we do.

Ø  Greater Retention – if our employees are happy, they are less likely to leave for other jobs which means lower costs

Ø  Cultural Differentiation – Employees helping employees, making sure everyone finds a way to measure their own success.

While your manager can help to make the work environment pleasant, at the end of the day it’s what we do that determines if we enjoy our job or not.  Most people are not doing their dream job, but I really need to ask myself if they really put forth the effort to achieve their dream job?  Just because I’m not doing my dream job doesn’t mean you can’t be happy doing the job you have and do it to the best of your ability.  I do what I do because I like it, it was a career that I chose, where I do it can be the icing on the cake or the cross I have to bare based on how I decide to start my day.  If I decide to start my day by looking at the positives, dealing with the negatives and knowing that in the end I’m the only one that can truly make myself unhappy, then I’m starting my day with my yellow mug J

I ended the presentation by showing that we all have to interact with each other - not only within our department, but within our company.  And asked when they interact that they should leave their finger print, i.e. don't be let people know who you are and how you an help and that they would be surprised how those same people will be there to help them when needed.  

Sappy I know, but when you spend 8 plus hours a day with your co-workers, you really need to know when push comes to shove they will be there for you.  That will only happen if they know you are there for them.

"If you can dream it, you can achieve it. You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want." -Zig Ziglar

Happy stitching!!  next post with include something stitched :)

Sandy