There are some things you cannot ignore if you want your workplace to meet the requirements of a global workforce that becomes increasingly aware of the necessity of “feeling at home while at work.” Meaning is something that increasingly matters. Financial rewards will follow if people are happy where they work. Remember: people are the only assets in any organization that multiply their output if given a little understanding, recognition, and care.
Want to know what works at work? Here goes:
Adaptability: Being able to familiarize yourself with the circumstances at work, as long as they don’t interfere with your personal values, is a winning recipe of its own. It may take some time to get yourself there, depending on the people and processes involved, but it will be rewarding. Not in the least for you.
Boundaryless structures: This is the increasing trend whereby workplaces eliminate hierarchies, closed circuits, poor technology, and inflexibility: Teams are formed by people throughout the organization without the limitation of location, job title, or job description. The focus is on customers, worker’s skill
development, and productivity. Intransigence is out, impermanence is in. Teams are formed on basis of the need at hand. Meetings are held in every way possible: face-to-face or virtual. Boundaries are history.
Collaboration: Making sure that people work together and that problems are rapidly eliminated through proper communication. It is vital here that everyone’s concerns are considered, so that workers stay motivated. Conflicts are resolved in the win-win mode: all issues are raised and discussed, and the end result leads to mutual benefit of all parties involved.
Diversity: What is more attractive to customers than the ability to recognize themselves in one or more members of your organization? What is more profitable to an organization than people from different backgrounds working as a team, and therefore being able to solve problems more creatively? And what is more fulfilling for workers than the ability to enrich their insights through working with people they can learn from?
Empowerment: the process of enabling workers to gain power and achieve influence in the organization. People need involvement, responsibility, ownership and trust, in order to feel that they are valued. This is how they become more committed and astonish their superiors with the increasing quality of their output.
Flexibility: Workers feel more mature in a workplace where part of the decisions are left up to them to fill in. This can happen in various areas. For instance: Flexible working hours–many organizations create a flextime system nowadays, in which workers are given a number of work schedules to choose from, so that they will be able to meet their non-work responsibilities without affecting their work performance. Flexible manufacturing processes–this is an increasingly adopted trend whereby companies enable customers to order specific sizes or features to products, and implement modifications as requested. Flexible benefits–which allows workers to choose from a range of benefits. This will give them the opportunity to go for whatever is most convenient in their specific circumstances.
Guidance: Not everyone is a quick starter. Some people need more handholding than others. But if they are given appropriate guidance, which can be done through either coaching (providing advice), mentoring (senior employees guiding early-career ones), or modeling (demonstrating “how-to” through excellence in daily performance), they will catch up and get inspired to prove themselves.
Humor: Don’t underestimate this one! There is nothing healthier than a good laugh at the right time. It breaks the ice and makes people feel more comfortable. Humor belongs just as well in the workplace as anywhere else! Besides, you can get more done from people who feel that it’s fun to be at work.
Intuition: Not all problems that arise at work can be solved in a systematic way. Oftentimes intuition is the key to implementing the most rewarding solution. Fortunately, this too is a phenomenon that has increased in value lately. It’s also good to encourage co-workers to express their intuition when sharing information about plans or processes.
Job satisfaction: It is important to make sure that the people at work feel positively about job aspects such as tasks assigned, relationships with colleagues, and the work setting at large.
Knowledge: This is what the world turns on, and what turns the world on! If your workforce is encouraged to obtain education, they will progressively become knowledge workers, and therefore provide creative and inventive suggestions to increase the organization’s competitive advantage.
Listening: I was almost tempted to fill out leadership here, but then I realized that there is no success and no leadership without listening. Meet with the people at work, and listen to their complaints, suggestions, or general comments. Listen to the spoken and the unspoken words. Follow the body language. It pays more off in the value of interpersonal contacts than anything else!
Motivation: There are numerous ways to get people motivated. The most important thing to keep in mind here is that not everyone gets motivated in the same way. There is no one-size-fits-all recipe possible here. Tailor your rewards responsibly to the person who deserves them, and the payback will be tremendous!
Negotiation: This is where parties with different preferences meet to make joint decisions. When salary, raises, job performance evaluations, job assignments, work schedules, benefits, locations, privileges or other group issues are at stake, it is essential to focus on:
1) quality–an outcome that satisfies all stakeholders,
2) cost–finding a solution without wasting time or resources, and
3) harmony–communicating in a way that encourages interpersonal relationships rather than harm them!
Objectives: Formulate the goals well, and make sure everyone in the process is aware of them. Seeing the big picture and being familiar with the ultimate goal of their efforts, gives workers a sense of importance and a boost of energy toward achieving these objectives!
Planning: Having goals is one thing. Figuring out the right way to achieve these goals is another. Use all available mental skills in formulating the right plans toward goal achievement. And don’t forget to give everybody a part to play!
Quality: This is a multi-facetted phenomenon. Of course there needs to be quality in the product we deliver to our customers. But there needs to be quality of life as well in the work environment. Make “work” an enjoyable experience. Establish quality in every segment.
Responsibility: Workers feel mature and recognized if they are given responsibility for certain tasks. This is what encourages them to take their job more serious, and feel better about themselves. It enhances dignity. Providing someone with responsibility can therefore be perceived as having a positive impact in all areas of that person’s life.
Synergy: the idea of a whole that is greater than the sum of its individual parts. People and departments that work in a synergistic way will bring the organization to greater heights than when they perform as islands.
Teamwork: Establishing teams – especially cross-functional ones – is a way of giving recognition to workers. It also enhances inter-organizational networking, respect, and a feeling of belonging within the team members.
Understanding: Working on this aspect surely pays off. It will take more time to learn how to understand each other in a diverse work environment, but the long-term rewards will be worth the effort.
Vision: Every organization should have a clear vision, and every worker in that organization should be familiar with it. It’s intertwined with the statements made under “objectives:” When people know the big picture they get inspired.
Work-life balance: If any organization wants to exist -and grow- for a long time, the workers will have to be able to create a soundly operating work-life balance. The flexible work-schedule is a way of working toward that. Making sure people don’t get overworked and having an open ear for their personal issues will provide the finishing touch here.
Xeno-adaptability: Xeno represents everything that is strange or different. In business that’s where our attention needs to be: finding new ways and processes to obtain a lead position in our market. Teaching your workforce to be xeno-adaptive also entails making them familiar with change. And what else is more required than change-receptiveness?
Yielding: In this perspective, yielding pertains to a flexible and cooperative attitude toward coworkers. It entails giving way at times when a greater advantage needs to be served with understanding and collaboration: Ceasing unyieldingness, and welcoming flexibility.
Zeal: Design programs to enhance creativity, eagerness, and enthusiasm among your workforce! A revolutionary workforce will reinvent itself regularly, and show passion when all others hang their head.
The alphabet for a successful work environment is nothing new. Rather, it is an enumeration of ingredients that pertain to the organization as a performing unit, as well as the individuals that make this unit stand out from others. It can be used as an encouragement and a reminder toward performance excellence at all time. Good luck!
Joan Marques emigrated from Suriname, South America, to California, U.S., in 1998. She holds a doctorate in Organizational Leadership, a Master’s in Business Administration, and is currently a university instructor in Business and Management in Burbank, California. Look for her books “:Empower the Leader in You” and “The Global Village” in bookstores online or on her website: http://www.joanmarques.com
