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One-half of US employees are dissatisfied with their jobs, up from two-fifths 10 years ago. Are you one of them?

If you are seriously dissatisfied, it’s going to affect your attitude. And that may show up in your performance. It could also put you at risk of losing out to others who are more satisfied with what they do.

But are you really in the wrong job or business? Or is it just a case of the grass being greener on the other side of the fence? Are you dissatisfied or unfulfilled for little or no reason? How can you tell?

Here are some steps to help you figure out if you’re in the right job and some recommendations on what to do about it.

Think of yourself as a business. Would you back yourself? Would you invest in You, Inc? If the answer is no, you’re in the wrong job. To invest in a business, or in this case, in yourself, you need to be comfortable on three main fronts: that market demand for your services is buoyant, that competition is not too tough, and that you are reasonably well placed to succeed.

Consider market demand for You, Inc. You need to be sure that demand for you is not about to fall off a cliff. If you worked as a travel agent before the dot-com era, long-term demand for your services would not have looked promising, given the looming threat from e-booking and e-ticketing. Is there something happening in your industry that could affect future demand for your services?

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Archives for Coaching

Whether you’re working at home, overseas, or all over the world at once, the surefire way to become a success is to first be a great worker. No matter if you’re self-employed, CEO of a multi-national corporation, assistant manager, or a laborer, when you pre-pave your work experience you’re putting your focus on the “now” and choosing what kind of worker you want to be — and what successes you will have.

A pre-pave is a statement or command that you think, say, or write that describes what you want. Your command becomes your intention. The moment you pre-pave a command, the Universe begins to “line up the energy” to make it happen for you. Here are a few pre-paves that will make you a great worker:

I arrive early for work and mentally prepare for the day.

Just by arriving a little early to mentally prepare, your whole day changes, because the energy and thought you put into your vibration is different. It makes you feel good inside, and it creates an environment that helps you to enjoy your job. When you enjoy what you do, you will want to arrive in time to prepare to have an awesome day.

I am valued for what I do.

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Archives for Coaching

Not all executives are leaders.  Not all managers are executives.  Not all career people are professional.

Top company management usually comes from the ranks of those who sell the core business product-service, not from those on the firing line who deliver it.   That’s why in media, programming and news people rarely become management.  Since advertising sales is the primary product of media, the sales people become the managers.  In education, good teachers stay in the classroom.  In the energy industry, engineers dominate. Engineers steadfastly believe that they’re in the energy exploration and production business.  The companies themselves are in the energy marketing business.    Restaurants are in the business of marketing atmosphere and service.  Yet, they put food preparers (representing 20% of the pie) in charge.  Decisions are always food driven, explaining in part the high failure rate of restaurants.  Other reasons include poor planning, substandard customer service, low capitalization and inappropriate marketing.

A major problem with companies stems from the fact that management and company leadership come from one small piece of the organizational pie.  Filling all management slots with financial people, for example, serves to limit the organizational strategy and focus.  They all hire like-minded people and frame every business decision from their micro perspective.

The ideal executive has strong leadership skills first.  He or she develops organizational vision and sets strategies.  Leaders should reflect a diversity of focus, guaranteeing that a balance is achieved. The best management team looks at the macro, rather than just the niche micro.

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Archives for Coaching

“If you see a fork in the road, take it,” and “You can observe a lot by watching” are some of the many one-line quips of baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra.  Yogi’s comments are both fun and a blinding flash of the obvious that often draw us back to simple truths.  My favorite is “The future ain’t what it used to be.”

One blinding flash of the obvious that is often missed, and that could be extremely pertinent in the age of employee engagement, is “Engagement requires thinking.”  In my experience, many employee engagement approaches are still one-way communication efforts on steroids that fail to tap into the ability of employees to think and act differently.  At a time when study after study confirms that only about 20% of employees are engaged in their current work, it’s hard not to conclude that something’s not working!  Maybe “having a best friend at work” isn’t the determining factor.  Why are so many employees simply checked out at the place where they spend 40% of their waking lives…at work?

Let’s start with a key premise that’s often missed in engagement efforts – that we want to solve problems ourselves.  From Sudoku to mystery novels to crosswords, we all love the challenge of solving a puzzle.  Obviously, we could just turn to the back of the book and get the answer or read the final page.  But what’s engaging about that?  We want the intellectual and emotional experience of finding a sense of achievement in our own thinking.  When people get a chance to solve their own puzzles, they own the result.  And owners think, act, and engage differently from non-owners.  They’re vested, they’re passionate, they won’t take no for an answer, and they’re willing to put in more effort than is required. Read More

Archives for Coaching

Graphic designer Milton Glaser started this ball rolling for me. Even if you’ve never heard of him, you probably know his most famous creation: I LOVE NEW YORK.

His book Art is Work is mainly a collection of his design work, but he opens it with a curious and powerful insight. He says everything we do falls into three basic categories: Bad Work • Good Work • Great Work.

You Already Know What These Categories Mean

Over the years, I’ve asked thousands of people at hundreds of different organizations what these categories mean to them. Intuitively, they know—and their answers can be summed up like this:

Bad Work

Bad Work is a waste of time, energy, and life. Doing it once is one time too many. This is not something to be polite about. It’s not something to be resigned to. This is work that is pointless.

Sadly, organizations have a gift for generating Bad Work. It shows up as bureaucracy, interminable meetings, outdated processes that waste everyone’s time, and other ways of doing things that squelch you rather than help you grow.

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Archives for Coaching

When looking for a new job, we all know that making a positive first impression is essential.  However, few of us realize the key to making that first impression successful is our personal image.

Within the first two to 30 seconds that it takes to create that first impression, you may not have even said a word. More likely in those initial moments, you, the job seeker, are simply standing up to greet the interviewer and your entire first impression relies solely on your nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication is everything from your body language, facial expressions, tone of voice when you are speaking, and of course your personal image.

So how do you go about using your personal image to intentionally create a strong first impression?  First off, do a bit of research. Investigate the company, see what they stand for, find out the details out about their mission, their values, and how the company is structured. Some companies even put a short video on their website, describing to potential employees what they expect in the way of dress and how candidates should present themselves.

Once you know about the company, research the area. Is the job you’re applying for in New York City or is it in Kansas City?  Or perhaps you’re considering a position overseas. In that case, it’s crucial to understand the country’s culture before you jump on a plane or onto Skype for that interview.

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Archives for Coaching

These days, a lot of news stories about the economy and job market are filled with doom and gloom. But there are people who do well in their careers and launch successful businesses in a down economy.

In fact, GE, Hewlett-Packard and Burger King all started in a down economy.

General Electric Co. was established in 1876 by famed American inventor Thomas Edison. In the middle of the Panic of 1873, a six-year recession, Edison created one of the best-known inventions of all time – the incandescent light bulb. In terms of market capitalization, GE is now the third largest company in the world. GE has evolved from a strong manufacturing business to an enterprise earning more than 50 percent of its revenue from its financial services division.

Hewlett-Packard Development Co. was inauspiciously born in a Palo Alto garage at the end of the Great Depression. The electronic company, initially supported by a mere $538 investment, has grown into the first technology business to exceed $100 billion in revenue, earning $104 billion in 2007. It now operates in nearly every country in the world.

Burger King Corp. began in 1954 when James McLamore and David Edgerton opened a Burger King restaurant in Miami, Fla. During another recession in 1957, the company introduced its successful signature burger – the Whopper. Today, the company operates more than 11,100 locations in 65 countries.

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