Archives

Maintaining a positive outlook in a downturn is incredibly important to individuals whose jobs have evaporated or to businesses whose work has dwindled. It’s not as easy as it sounds, as the many who’ve lost their jobs in the past year know. Workers and home-office inhabitants alike have seen their golden parachutes turn bronze, and watched employee severance packages shrivel. Venture capital and small business financing have also dried up. Regardless of whether you use a euphemistic adjective to describe the economy – soft, sluggish – or actually say the R-word, the bottom line remains the same. A business closes every three minutes, according to D&B, and we’re still nowhere near out of the woods.

There is overwhelming evidence for the economic benefits for organisations which have happy employees. Often places where people are unhappy are places where the leaders are unhappy too – or at least, wouldn’t describe themselves as ‘happy’. Many leaders would say they’re ‘OK’ or ‘fine’, their criteria being the number and importance of the ‘issues’ or ‘problems’ they’re currently trying to sort out. But happy? Rarely.

Once a company, or business unit grows beyond a certain point, (about 40 people, depending on the personalities and location of people) culture becomes a critical factor. If you are running a business when it gets to this size, it is likely that you have plenty on your mind other than culture. The suggestion that you need to focus on culture is usually met with some level of scepticism.

The problem of workplace bullying is more widespread than you might think. Research both here and in the US suggests that it’s pretty common, and some occupations, such as medical ones, are especially bad. A 2003 study of 461 nurses found that in the month before it was conducted, 91% had experienced verbal abuse, defined as mistreatment, that left them feeling attacked, devalued or humiliated. Physicians were the most frequent abusers.

Do you live two lives? Why do you work? Is it simply to make money or does your job help your community and society? You might very well split your time between “working” and “providing service” to your community. But you might not be able to see how your day-to-day work provides a great service …

Do you believe that the training courses you’ve done have been truly valuable? Do you use what you’ve learned in your everyday working life? Often people are dubious, if not negative, about the training they’ve done and the benefit to them. It is possible to make training stick, and have a lasting benefit.

The January-February 2012 issue of the Harvard Business Review was dedicated to exploring the value of happiness and wellbeing to organisations. And the evidence supporting the economic benefits for organisations with happy employees is overwhelming. However, many people we meet work in not-very-happy organisations whose leaders are invariably not described as ‘happy’! Many leaders describe themselves as “OK” or “fine”, their criteria being the number and importance of the issues or problems they’re currently trying to sort out. But happy? Rarely. But if you have a choice of being happy and working in a happy environment, why shouldn’t you choose to do so rather than a stressful, bullying, snappy work environment?

In an economic squeeze, businesses naturally focus on driving revenue and reducing costs. But there’s plenty of evidence to demonstrate a strong link between high performance and a positive working environment.

Do you think you’re open-minded in business – or are you stuck in a certain mindset? One thing about mindsets is that it’s easy to see them in others but very hard to see them in yourself. For sure, you have opinions (based on experience) and you have certain ways you think you should run your business. But you’re definitely not stuck in any mindsets. Or are you?

What, you might think, does ‘Zero Tolerance’ – policing that allows no crime or anti-social behaviour to be overlooked – have to do with my business? There are a number of ways in which the principle can be helpful when you’re managing change. As your company develops, you will face a moment when you choose between what you’ve done before and what you might achieve in the future. The easy route is to ‘stay the same’ – but in fact no business ever stays the same, and if you don’t make positive changes at the right moment, the prognosis for your business won’t be good.