Blog
Negative feedback is important in the office
but perhaps even more so is positive feedback. Positive feedback boosts morale, workplace productivity, employee loyalty, and employee happiness.
Businesses have long tried to implement positive feedback in their offices, but they generally do so in monetary measures: Christmas bonuses, pay raises, office raffles, etc. However, positive feedback that comes in the form of words means much more than positive feedback that comes in dollars.
A good way to begin implementing positive feedback in the office is with an “appreciation bag.” Sit in a circle with your team and throw an appreciation bag—a tiny bean bag, nerf ball, whatever you choose—around the room. With each toss, share an appreciation with a co-worker. Do you appreciate your team member’s attention to detail? Her positive attitude? Her sense of humor? Whatever you appreciate, share it with them! There truly is something to appreciate in every co-worker, so share these appreciations freely and often.
Appreciations do more than boost people’s egos. It lets them know that hard work is noticed and rewarded in their office, which makes them want to continue working hard.
Even if an “appreciation bag” is not feasible in your office, you can still share your appreciations simply by being thankful and thoughtful. If someone goes out of their way to help you complete a project, thank them for their efforts, and tell them you appreciate your hard work. It won’t be long before appreciations become a common part of your office routine!
When things go wrong at work, it is easy to pass the buck.
For every mistake we make in the office, we can think of a million excuses: There was an error in the portfolio because your team member didn’t do her share in the project. You missed a meeting because someone didn’t email you a reminder. You are sad because your co-worker was mean to you. You are angry because your client insulted you. With all of the excuses in the world, we need never take responsibility for any of our own actions or feelings.
Unfortunately, when we live our lives like this, improvement can never occur. We can never improve our relationships, our self-esteem, or our well-being unless we take 100% responsibility for our actions. The questions we should always ask ourselves are:
• What am I doing to make myself feel this way?
• How has my behavior contributed to this situation?
These are difficult questions to answer at first. Most of us don’t want to take responsibility for our mistakes or emotions. It does not seem fair to have to take responsibility for our sadness, anger, or fear.
After all, aren’t we crying because someone made us sad? Aren’t we angry because someone made us angry?
No.
Someone cannot “make” you feel any certain way. I am not asking you take the blame for everything that goes wrong in the office, or to feel responsible when you are treated badly. However, in every situation you must own your 100%.
You are in charge of your emotions, for better or worse. Own your 100% - no more and no less - and ask the same from your clients, peers, and co-workers. Once everyone owns their part of any given struggle, the struggle can begin to cease and happiness will reign in your office.
Work/Life Balance
Rat race. The daily grind. Survival of the fittest. The battle of life. Drudgery. Burning the candle at both ends.
If any of these descriptions bring to mind an image of you at work, you are definitely lacking a work/life balance. When compared to workers in other countries, Americans take the least vacation days, the shortest vacations, and work the longest hours per week. While other societies encourage a work/life balance that includes play, travel, sleep, and fun, America tends to focus on the bottom line. Whoever works the hardest makes the most money and is therefore the happiest.
Right? Not exactly.
A recent stress study performed by NASA found that tennis players who take breaks between sets were more likely to win games than tennis players who were unable to relax and detach from the game. We need time to pull away from the game and recharge our batteries—and when we do, we experience greater creativity, greater success, and yes, greater monetary profit. So how can you reap the benefits of rest without seeming like you are laying down on the job?
When the work day is over, leave your work at home. Turn off Blackberries, work phones, or pagers, unless your job description requires you to be on-call. Don’t bring home a messy file of papers to read on the train or peruse on the bus. Enjoy your time away from work by engaging in activities that actually fulfill you—whether it is reading, sports, music, etc.
While at work, construct your day under the theory of “sprint and recover.” According to this model, employees should work very hard for a specified amount of time—say two hours. Then, they should take 10 minutes to disengage from work completely. This could include closing their eyes, lying on the floor of their office, taking a walk around the building, or simply enjoying a cup of coffee. Whatever the case, be sure that you are using your time to actually disconnect from work. Thus, no obsessive email checking, gossiping, etc. allowed!
And most importantly, use those vacation days!