So, it’s that dreaded time again – Monday morning. Your eyes are as heavy as your heart as you drag your feet across the floor. You don’t want to go in today, but you resist the urge to fake cough your way through yet another call to your boss, because you know there’s a pile of work waiting for you on your desk.
If you don’t go in today, that work will still be there tomorrow – along with your boss’s miserable attitude. You’ve worked incredibly hard over the years to get to where you are, and now you find yourself stuck with a boss who simply doesn’t understand how long your daily tasks take or appreciate what you do. You feel undervalued, unappreciated, and above all, disengaged.
So what do you do? Most of us have found ourselves us this position at one point or another. These experiences are often the reason that people become passionate about employee engagement – because we’ve realised that your working life shouldn’t be a depressing one. You spend a huge proportion of your life time working, so why would you allow yourself to take so little enjoyment from it?
It’s often the case that bad bosses get the blame for disengagement. They’re the scape goats of companies the world over – how many times have you overheard (or thought) “I hate my job because I hate my boss?” More often than not, poor managers don’t realise what they’re doing wrong, or think that outdated management techniques are still the way forward. If you don’t tell your manager or a neutral employee of your organisation that you’re unhappy, it’s fairly unlikely that the people in question will realise on their own.
Employee engagement starts with you. Yes, there are hundreds of other factors that come into play when it comes to engagement, but the key to getting your own engagement right is you. At People Lab, we’re passionate about changing that Monday morning feeling that so many people suffer from. We want you to love your jobs as much as we love what we do at the lab – because life really is too short to hate your job.
One of the most important elements of engagement is knowing your worth. Ask yourself these questions today:
How important am I?
What difference do I make in my organisation?
What can I do to make 2014 MY year at work?
If you don’t value your knowledge and the unique skills you bring to your role, it’s pretty much a certainty that others will start to undervalue your offering too. If your manager doesn’t understand your skill set or is overloading you with work, speak up.
Nothing changes until you do.
To speak to us today about engagement in your organisation, give us a call or send us an email.
