Misery Will Mess Up Your Company

February 15, 2013

One of my favorite writers is Patrick Lencioni Patrick Lencioni. His leadership fables have served to help form much of my philosophy of leadership in the workplace.

In Patrick’s book, Three Signs of a Miserable JobThree Signs of a Miserable Job, he reveals that people shrivel up and die at work when they: 1 – Live in anonymity feeling like a number and not a person, 2 – Suspect that their work is irrelevant and doesn’t matter, and 3 – Have no idea if they are doing a good job because there is no measurement or feedback.

Take a look around in your organization or on your team and ask yourself if people are miserable. Studies show that about two-thirds of your team probably hates coming to work. 69% to be exact. According to Gallop, this mindset of misery costs the US economy $350 billion per year. How much is misery costing you and your organization? Something to think about.

Lencioni says, “Spending eight hours a day feeling cynical, unhappy and frustrated can erode the self-confidence of even the strongest people, which in turn affects their spouses, children and friends in subtle but profound ways.”

In other words, being fulfilled and engaged at work matters and spills over into every other area of life.

As a leader, are you focused on the morale and the well-being of your team? If not, chances are you have lost them or will in the near future.

Lencioni teaches that the one person who is most able to create a work culture that is engaging and fulfilling is not the employee, rather the leader.

If you want to have a better team, perhaps you should focus on being more relational, valuing and affirming the work of others, and creating realistic and measurable expectations.

i2i,

Randy