How Secure Is My Job?

We have been asked repeatedly, “How do I know if my job is secure?”

While there are no ironclad guarantees, assuming that your organization is relatively healthy, ask yourself the following questions to get a good idea:

• Is my position crucial to the organization’s purpose and mission?
• Do key people within the organization know the contribution and magnitude of my work?
• Can I do anyone else’s job along with my own?
• Would it be more expensive in time or money to outsource my position?
• Have I acquired the training, knowledge, and experience necessary to keep pace in a changing environment?
• Have I kept up with the changes in technology?

If you can answer ‘yes’ to most of these questions, then your job is relatively secure. So put on that positive attitude and get back to work!

Five Tips for Keeping Your Job

“The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.” -John Ruskin

Winning has become another word for survival in today’s economy. People are worried about being terminated, but hard work rarely goes unnoticed. Fear and doubt can be your own worst enemy. If you have doubts about keeping your job, so will your boss.

Here are some helpful hints that will make it hard for your boss to make that dreadful decision when he or she comes to your name:

• When everyone else is having a case of the Mondays, walk in with a smile ready to focus on the future. Make the best of the situation in front of you.
• Be visible. Volunteer and do things so your boss will know you. It is easier to fire a name on a list than a visibly positive go-getter.
• Build your network with people who will look out for you as a person.
• Finally, be loyal to your boss. To be a credible and respected employee you must be trustworthy and competent. Treat your gained trust with the upmost care because it is easy to lose.

Dealing with a Toxic Boss?

1. Don’t take it personally. You are a person first and an employee second. If they start screaming or in some other way acting inappropriately, be polite but make a choice to not buy into it.

2. Don’t compromise your ethics. If you are asked to do something, you know is wrong, speak up, ask questions and politely decline.

3. Don’t seek revenge. Remember, success is the best revenge. Do not stoop to their level, as it will only make the problem worse.

4. Don’t play the victim. Victims lose control and get dumped on more. Choose to the have the personal power and toughness needed to succeed.

Are these things easier said than done? Of course, but it sure beats crawling into a hole and sucking your thumb!

Keeping Your People Committed

Keeping your good people is important, but keeping them committed is even more important.

Employees begin a new job with excitement and putting their best foot forward. But if they receive no support or praise from their boss, their enthusiasm and loyalty slowly begins to falter as does their productivity and this lack of full commitment is frightfully contagious and soon you have more employees with less commitment.

Bosses need to show support and encouragement on a daily basis ... even in this economy. Saying, “You really worked hard on that,” or “I appreciate what you did,” or even a simple “Thanks” increases commitment.

These simple words show concern and respect ... and employees are committed when they feel respected.

Five Key Change Management Roles:

When instituting change, it is important that people understand their roles and responsibilities. Here are the five most prevalent roles to ease the change management process.

1. Change management resource/team role -Formulates a strategy and plan for the team and determines how big the change is and who will be impacted. They also have to develop an effective training plan to pass on their knowledge to future team members.

2. Executives and senior managers role -Employees have to see and hear the executives’ commitment and support to the change. Executives should participate aggressively and noticeably during the project and manage any confrontation. It is imperative that they communicate directly with employees.

3. Middle managers and supervisors –In any business there are two types of change regularly happening; senior leaders launching proposals and reactions to everyday demands from clients and employees. Middle managers and supervisors are crucial conduits for communication.

4. Project team -Has the duty of running the procedural side of the change. They are the people who propose how things will be done differently. Without a proper plan and training, the practical side of the project will not advance.

5. Project support functions –Project support functions have skills in a specialized area. These subject matter experts may include people from outside the organization as well as Operations, Human Resources, IT, Training, Communication, etc. These project support functions may also work as the change management team or resource. When roles are clear, change happens faster and easier!

Stop Being Annoying!

No one likes working next to an irritating coworker and no one starts out the day saying, “How annoying can I be to my fellow coworker?” but yet, you can be.

Do you get personal calls at work? If so, keep them short and quiet. People talk louder on cell phones than landline phones. Be aware of how loud you are talking even on business calls. Your voice may carry much further than you think.

People do not want to smell you. So ...Be aware of how strong your perfume, cologne or deodorant is (it shouldn’t be overwhelming). What smells great to one person, really can irritate another. Keep it to a minimum.

Same goes for your lunch: if you eat at your desk, bring something that doesn’t smell. Eat cheese, not spicy buffalo wings, which are both messy and smelly.
Do your feet tend to smell? Keep your shoes on!

A complaint we often hear is that people do not clean up after themselves.
How messy is your desk? Yes, it is your desk but it can be a turn off to anyone who needs to talk with you in your office.

How about the break room? Before you leave the break room, be sure your stuff is not contributing to the mess. Also, check out the refrigerator and remove any old food items that you don’t plan to eat this week.

If you are a splasher in the bathroom, take the extra minute to wipe up after yourself.

By doing these things, you will not be the annoying person that everyone whispers about.

Corporate Couch

Q: I must work among the most noncreative people on the planet. At brainstorming meetings, everyone just sits and looks at each other. How can we get participants to be more active?
-Looking for Some Action

A: Don’t give up! You can actively encourage creative thinking and innovation. Try these techniques:

1. Make it safe to have new ideas. New to unfamiliar ideas are often “wrong” initially. An immediate negative evaluation of the idea (however warranted) will kill it.

2. Cross-pollinate groups. Idea generation works best when you have difference in perspective, knowledge, and background. A creativity team should consist of experts, as well as newbie’s. Newbie’s are great because they don’t know what doesn’t work!

3. Use and outside facilitator to conduct creativity sessions. A good facilitator keeps the process moving and protects the ideas and the people offering them – two of your greatest assets.

4. Support employees for engaging in the process. Recognize the efforts of generating ideas, even if you don’t produce an applicable concept or solution. Properly encouraged, individuals will engage in the creative process again, perhaps coming up with the next big breakthrough!

5. Evaluate and develop new ides. Unless you explore some ideas with follow-up assignments and timetables, what’s the point in encouraging creativity in the first place? Creative thinking is fun, but it gets old quickly if ideas don’t go anywhere.

Try these ideas and experience the power of imagination!
– Dr. Mimi