What does work mean to you? Does your work align with your abilities and deepest interests? Is your work simply a way to earn a living? Do you enjoy your work so much you could do this work forever? Is Monday your best day of the week and Friday the worst because you...
1. Micro-manage (People will do exactly what is requested and monitored and no more) 2. Give people challenging assignments when they don’t have the skills for the work (This will lead to burn-out and poor morale after the thrill of the new assignment wears off) 3....
What is happiness? In many ways happiness is very subjective and judged differently by each person. My observation is that people are most happy when they feel in control of their life. Much of one’s life occurs at work thus happiness at work is an important factor to...
Labels at work It can be easy as a manager to label people as bad or good performers. This performance labeling tends to be a convenient way to quickly categorize people. It is efficient for human resources. Once labeled, people can be given promotions or demotions,...
Why the search for perfect work is important! First, because no one will ever walk up to you in your current job and ask you! Your family members won’t ask you because change can be threatening. This is a question you must ask yourself. Work impacts our sense of self,...
1. Give feedback just before the next time the person needs it. (People will not make long term behavior change when evaluated,especially directly after a poor performance) 2. Let people know that you care about them. (When people see that their manager cares, they...
Wouldn’t it be great if we all get along well? Have you ever met people at work with whom you really got along well? Have you ever met people at work with whom you wished never meet again? What causes these great differences? Too often, we are expecting others to be...
The mid-life crisis occurs for a reason Up until about 40, we spend our lives building, collecting, acquiring. We do our best despite in some cases our upbringing, society pressures and our economic conditions. Around 40, however, life starts to take on new meaning....
Employee recognition Does this sound familiar? It’s a Friday and another day at the office. Today is employee recognition day. As usual once a month the department manager gathers the whole group for a one hour meeting. Employees come to the faceless conference room...
It’s not that complex In the last ten years of working with mid-life adults on finding the right work which aligns interests and abilities, I have come to the conclusion that the criteria for the RIGHT work is very similar. Make a living and make it interesting...
