Happy Life

I am flying back from doing a 4-hour workshop for TechSelect Canada members in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  What a great group of people!

Inc. Magazine, May 2010 starts with a quick interview of Tom Rath, a Gallup researcher (Happiness Begins at the Office).  Here are some key points to ponder as the economy heats-up and it becomes harder to hire and retain good people.

1.  Part of the secret to a happy life is based on your job, or more specifically your relationship with coworkers and your boss.  This is not news, but as a leader are you taking relationships with your people for granted?

2.  When your people feel you care about them then they want to spend time with you rather than avoid you.  Key areas to care about:  Them personally, without crossing any legal or ethical lines, and their career development.

3.  Make certain you are developing managers throughout your company, not just in the areas where you are most comfortable.  For instance, the sales group may not be full of people you thoroughly relate to, but if you lose them or key players it can really hurt.  Spread the professional love around.

4.  How do you define a good manager.  Tom and I can give you a list of attributes, but let me give you just one to work on:  Great managers develop their people.  Do you start each day first thinking about how you are going to develop your people today?  Think of the impact this one action would have if you planned and followed through each day on developing your people for one year.

5.  Employees are more loyal and productive when they have friends at work IF, and Tom did not mention this, IF they are managed well.  If not, then these friends tend to waste a lot of time in my experience.

MEETING IDEAS

HAPPY LIFE is about confirming - not assuming - your people are enjoying working for your company.  If they like working for you, then they are more likely to be productive and stay around for many years. 

Consider asking your people these questions at your next staff meeting to confirm their job satisfaction:

1.  Microsoft, HP, IBM and most of the top vendors in the industry do a confidential employee survey to determine how employees feel about their company.  They do this to improve trust, loyalty, productivity and retention of employees - could we be better in any of these areas?  They then learn from the results how to better engage their people based on coaching from the company providing the survey.

2.  Although you may consider all coworkers as friends, are there a few that you consider close friends?

3.  Specifically what has your boss done that makes you believe they are helping you develop your career towards a specific role in the company or skill level?

4.  In what areas could our managers improve?

5.  Describe how your manager celebrated a recent success of yours.