7 Keys To New Levels Of Satisfaction From Your Business

The average office environment has changed in the last decade, driven by an influx of new global competitors, new customer demands, and the recent pandemic. As a long-time participant, and more recently a consultant, I often hear and see professionals unhappy and unengaged at work, with a low sense of commitment. For both you and your business to thrive, this has to change.

Rather than wait for a real crisis or leadership from someone else, I believe there are many practical initiatives that any office worker can and should commence immediately. With these, I believe you can all feel a greater sense of stimulation and accomplishment at work, as well as prepare for future career opportunities and new changes in the marketplace.

I’m also convinced that these initiatives will increase your business engagement and productivity, as well as your satisfaction from work. According to one of the latest Gallup surveys, engagement at work has slipped to an all-time low of around thirty percent. This means that two out of three employees today are not happy in their jobs and not giving their all to the business.

Here are my recommendations as the way to start creating a more positive level of engagement and satisfaction:

1. Challenge yourself to learn some new tools. Many powerful new technology tools, including Zoom, Slack, and Asana, provide additional flexibility, integration, and communication in flexible and remote working environments. These will make you more productive and satisfied with your own career development, as well as day-to-day work.

2. Develop an open attitude to new ideas and change. Use this approach and your natural creativity to show leadership in your team or organization. Interact with management and customers to actively promote change instead of always being in react mode. Proactively pursue new projects that coincide with your skills or career interests.

3. Highlight examples on social media of customer value. Use customer positive feedback to better understand the value your business brings to real people and take satisfaction for your contribution. Also use this channel to better understand changes you are being asked to make, and give you positive incentives to make a greater contribution.

4. Find a personal mentor and take time to coach others. Realize that your experience offers you an opportunity to help new people get more productive and enjoy the satisfaction of fewer failures and early success. At the same time, you can learn from someone with more experience, to avoid pitfalls ahead and hone your own roadmap.

5. Adopt a new mindset of having fun at work. Look around you at work to find peers who are open to the same mindset and seek to create or join a new culture of emotional commitment and engagement. Time will pass much more quickly, and you will find yourself looking forward to the workday and your interactions with the business.

6. Prioritize high-level positive impacts of your work. Many business professionals and leaders, including those from Patagonia and TOMs Shoes, have found satisfaction from a renewed role focus on improving society and the environment. Make your job more than just maximizing profits and closing transactions. Make a real difference in your world.

7. Capitalize on the new focus on diversity in the workplace. We can all learn from and enjoy the new worldwide talent pool and focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, whether they be local employees, freelancers, or contractors. They all bring unique views and creativity, which can broaden your mind, feed your curiosity, and make work interesting.

Of course, business managers can also increase worker engagement by providing better working conditions, more flexibility, higher pay, and better training. Yet, overall I believe we are all responsible for our own careers and satisfaction, so now is the time to take a hard look at your own work situation.

I encourage you to start some new initiatives today to break old habits and make work and fun interchangeable.