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Happywork TV Episode 15: Your Job is Not a Right, So Stop Acting Like It Is

Posted on November 20, 2014 // 4 Comments

In Episode 15 of Happywork TV, I present the next commitment in my work code of conduct called “The Happywork Agreement.”

This one is made by employees to their employers. It goes like this: “I understand my job is not a right, nor a privilege.”

For me, this is a matter of employee attitude. If your employer came to you and said, “You know, you’re lucky to have a job here at my company,” you’d be like “GTFO of here!” That’s not the lever of persuasion that an employer should be pulling!

So, when employees strut around with the attitude that the company is lucky to have them … that, without them, everything would fall apart and who would do their job and “I’m irreplaceable…” Well, you’re wrong. No one is irreplaceable, and the sooner you realize that, the better your attitude might get.

I was once removed from a job, and I thought to myself, “How are they gonna do this without me?” And, “Don’t they even want to know the password to my computer and the online banking and…” Guess what? They managed. It probably took a couple of uncomfortable phone calls and a few late nights, but they survived without me.

My biggest problem with this attitude of “My employer is lucky to have me” is the potential damage it can do to our work relationships. If an employer can piss off her people by copping a bad attitude, an employee can tweak their employer doing the exact same thing. AND that is a terrible foundation on which to build a team.

So that’s my issue – you can’t build great teams if you have employers acting like jerks, and you certainly can’t build a great team if you have employees strutting around like they’re entitled to their jobs.

This is about attitude.

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Watch Episode 14 here!

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Happywork is available for pre-order on Amazon – HERE!

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Happywork TV Episode 8: Give Your Employees Variety in Their Work Day

Posted on October 28, 2014 // 1 Comment

p.s. Really sorry about the sound on this one. I was using my shotgun mic, but it was quite windy. Some gusts of wind really cut into the audio quality a few times. My bad!

In Episode 8 of Happywork TV, I discuss the sixth of 46 commitments in my upcoming book “Happywork.”

Here it is: “I will try to provide some variety in my employees’ work days. Working at Vunorri does not have to be like some Henry Ford assembly line. Cross-training would be helpful. I respect my employees’ curiosity to know how things work, even in other departments.”

If you’re running a company and you’re not giving your employees a little variety in their work day, or you’re not cross-training them, I don’t think you’re committing one of the cardinal sins of management. You’re not firing someone because they’re the wrong color, or sexually harassing them, or threatening them, or sabotaging their work. As I say in the video, providing some variety to your employees isn’t completely necessary. Let’s admit that.

By the same token, let’s also admit that, if we want to cut down on turnover — keep our good employees — and have a workforce working to excel on our behalf, we might do well to keep those employees engaged and interested in what they’re doing. If you don’t care about this, and you just want to keep hammering the square peg into the round hole, you can do that. But please don’t! Boredom is one of the big reasons good people leave their jobs.

So consider the notion that we can build a more cohesive workforce by keeping our best employees, and we can do that by respecting their desire to learn and grow.

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Watch Episode 7 here!

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Happywork is available for pre-order on Amazon – HERE!

Please SUBSCRIBE to my email newsletter! Pretty please – you’ll get these blog posts delivered to you automatically. Merci!

And subscribe on YouTube!

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Happywork TV Episode 4: Give Your Employees Direction

Posted on October 20, 2014 // Leave a Comment

In Episode 4 of Happywork TV, I discuss the third of 46 work commitments in my new book, “Happywork.”

Here it is: “I will give my employees direction … I do not want my employees to have to wonder what is most important to me.”

As I say in the video, I think it’s great when companies are looking to hire “self-starters.” I think what they really mean is, “I want an employee I don’t have to harass to have them get their job done.” But here’s what employees need: at least SOME direction. I have worked jobs with NO job description. I have received employment reviews from bosses when they started getting on my case regarding tasks I didn’t even know I was supposed to be doing. (now I ask lots of questions – lots and lots of dumb questions, to be honest. It’s how I learn).

I like clear communication, and teamwork. I like when bosses tell me HOW they like to work, how they like to communicate, and I love when they inform me what is most important to them. No, I don’t think employees need their hand held, but as an employee, management’s vision is rather important (especially to those managers). So please create a wide open line of communication, and use it!

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Click here to watch Episode 3!

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Happywork is available for sale on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Happywork-Business-Parable-Journey-Teamwork/dp/0768405319/

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Happywork TV Episode 2: Don’t Take Credit for the Hard Work of Others

Posted on October 16, 2014 // Leave a Comment

In Episode 2 of Happywork TV, I discuss the second of the 46 commitments in my upcoming book, “Happywork – A Business Parable About the Journey to Teamwork, Profit, and Purpose.”

Number 2 is as follows: “I will not publicly take credit for my employees’ great ideas and hard work. This destroys employee morale even faster. I hired the talent here; there is my opportunity to take some credit.”

Ever had this happen to you? (When I ask this of you regarding these 46 commitments in my book, the answer is almost always going to be “yes”). This drives me up a wall, and is damaging to one’s confidence. Yes, it is possible to find purpose solely in the completion of tasks. But most of the time, we like to be recognized for our good deeds. We like to feel both a sense of significance and contribution when we’ve done well. Almost worse than being ignored is having someone steal your thunder and the credit for your hard work.

Let’s face it – we feel a surge of tingly happy feelings when a superior publicly compliments us. These are the kind of feelings every boss should work to engender in their people. So this would seem to be a great strategy. When a boss takes the credit and gives you none, it just kills your self-confidence (and often makes you think it’s time to move on).

Of course, when you’re working with an equal (not your boss), perhaps there’s even more incentive to steal the credit. You’re often competing with that person for raises and promotions. And when someone does unfairly steal the limelight from you and you speak up about it, you look like a sour grapes knucklehead. You look like the crazy one.

A brave manager is the one that hires great talent and lets them spread their wings, and then compliments them when they do.

A few requests of you:

1. Please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel. You’ll be able to see all Happywork TV episodes there.

2. Please consider subscribing to my blog’s email list. I’ve spent years making friends on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, but completely neglected my email list.

3. Finally, please pre-order Happywork. I think you’re going to enjoy it, and I’ll really need everyone’s support to spread this message far and wide. Hook a brother up!

CLICK HERE to watch Episode 1!

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Welcome to the World of Happywork TV

Posted on October 12, 2014 // Leave a Comment

Consider this video above to be an announcement that I’m going to make a whole bunch more videos! If you hadn’t yet heard, my first-ever book, Happywork, hits the streets on February 17, 2015. I’m excited, nervous, scared, humbled, but mostly just eager to get it in your hands. Pre-order here on Amazon.

In Happywork, I write about a company called Vunorri Inc., which is on the brink of foreclosure. As a last ditch effort, the President of Vunorri brings in a turnaround specialist, Sam Maslow. Sam is utterly talented; he never fails, and among the tools in his toolbox are layoffs. However, Vunorri Inc. is a different kind of company – perhaps the worst company in the world to work for. The place is a nightmare – terrible people, apathy, evil management, three rounds of layoffs in the last five years, and a few surprises I don’t want to give away. Trust me, I had to use every ounce of my imagination to make this place as horrible as it is.

While my book is a fictional account, almost all of you are going to read it and say, “Oh yeah, I had a job like that once.” That’s the problem. We all have! My goal is to show my readers what happens when you put good people into toxic environments. And I hope to make the point that happiness at work really does matter, so much so that we should make it our number one priority.

Vunorri, Inc. needs to make some changes very quickly in order to survive, and perhaps the most important change is to make it a kinder, nicer place to work. That way, the good ones will stay, the knuckleheads will leave, and they’ll have a chance to create a powerful, cohesive team. To shoehorn happiness into the business, they create a sort of work code of conduct – a list of commitments that employers are going to make to their employees, a list of commitments that employees are going to make back to their employers, and a list of commitments that they will make together. There are 46 commitments in all.

Their hope (and mine as well) is that by committing to each other, walls can be broken down. Old biases and bottlenecks can be eliminated. And we can find a way to respect each other, get along with each other, and team up to make great things happen. Our shared purpose can be one of being happy together. THEN, we can go create new products, open new stores, sell more stuff, improve our margins … all of those awesome business tactics are as important as ever, and they’ll all be waiting for us once we’ve constructed a respectful, happy place to work.

So I’m starting what I’ll call Happywork TV. To begin with, I’m going to record 46 videos, one for each commitment in the book. I’ve noticed that, for me, the most robust conversations happen on Facebook, so I’ll be posting these videos on Facebook in the hope that you’ll chime in with your thoughts, and perhaps work stories of your own. After those 46 videos, I’ll be shifting gears and creating videos thanking the people who helped make this book possible. And if I’m still having fun making videos, I’ll make more. From what I’ve noticed, the corporate world provides a never-ending stream of unfortunate business and employment news to illuminate and discuss.

As I mention in the video, I am going to need ALL of your support in order to spread this message far and wide. Selfishly, I have many books to sell, but more than anything, I hope we can change the way business works. I hope you’ll tune in to this video series. Thank you for watching, and thank you for ordering your copy of Happywork!

p.s. Consider subscribing to my YouTube channel <-----

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