Dissatisfied with Work? Get a Hobby!

We all experience frustration and a sense of dissatisfaction with our work from time to time. However, when we find that those become the pervasive feelings we experience on the job, we may find those feelings spilling over into other aspects of our life leaving us feeling disheartened and perhaps even depressed.

We may feel that the answer is to move to a new job but are frustrated by the lack of opportunities available, or feel trapped because we can't afford to walk away from the salary or benefits we have, or even perhaps because we've trained and studied to do what we're doing and are reluctant to call it quits and move on to something else.

However, the solution may not require us to change our jobs or switch companies. Often the problem with what we are experiencing rests far more with our perspective than it does with the job itself. Too many people expect their work to satisfy too many aspects of their needs. When we are not feeling fully satisfied with our lives we put the blame on our work not being challenging or fulfilling enough. I can't count the number of people I've met that shift jobs every 2 years on the search for the 'right' role, never stopping to consider that their search will be fruitless if they don't first shift their thinking.

The important mental shift to make is to stop thinking that your 'work' must be 100% responsible for your level of satisfaction with your life.  I will often get my coaching clients to complete a satisfaction exercise that you can complete quite easily on your own.

• Take a piece of paper and draw a chart with three columns.  
• In column one list everything that matters to you in life.  Start by listing all of the things that a 'perfect' job would provide or contain (financial requirements, achievement, learning, etc.) but go on to include other 'life' elements that matter to you also that might not arise when you think of work (Spirituality, community, adventure, etc.)
• In the top of Column 2 write the word Work and then go down the list of elements in Column 1 indicating how well Work is currently satisfying each element for you.  Use a 1 to 10 scale with 1 being not at all and 10 indicating you are fully satisfied.
• In the top of Column 3 write the work Personal and do exactly the same thing assessing (using the 1 to 10 scale) how well your non-work life satisfies each of the dimensions.
• Review the results... look for elements that score high at either work or in your personal sphere. These are elements where you are being satisfied either in one sphere or another.  Recognise that work isn't meant to satisfy all dimensions all the time.  The key is to build in satisfaction somewhere.  These high scores indicate you are doing that. Celebrate that rather than berating work for perhaps not doing it enough.  
• Look for elements that have low scores within both spheres.  This indicates an area that you could benefit from improving. Put on your creativity hat and begin brainstorming ideas and ways that you could improve this score but ensure that you consider ways and means both inside and outside of work.
• Look for elements that matter to you most and, regardless of your score, brainstorm some ideas for building in even greater levels of satisfaction.  If it's an element that matters a great deal to you then even a small shift upward in your levels, even if they aren't bad to start with, will go a long way to heightening your overall level of satisfaction.
• Review your list of generated ideas, highlight the one or two that really resonate with you and implement those.

What this exercise does is to force you to recognise and acknowledge that dissatisfaction with our work is sometimes a reflection of just an overall sense of dissatisfaction. All too often we expect our 'work' to make us happy without considering that it cannot possibly satisfy us in all aspects of our lives.  Looking for ways we can strengthen our out-of-work activities and experiences can serve to heighten our overall sense of satisfaction and lead us to feeling much more positively about our job.

So, rather than cursing the job you have or feeling that you need to find a 'better' one, maybe you need to consider boosting your outside-of-work activities. If you are feeling a lack of engagement, satisfaction and energy then look to your hobbies.  If they are comprised primarily of watching television and scrolling through social media then you can definitely use a boost!.  

A true hobby is one that requires active and mindful engagement, an activity that serves to heighten your mood and build your skills. Any hobby can do this; explore which ones will serve you.  From biking or hiking, to ballroom or hip hop dance, to quilting or painting, to woodworking or rebuilding cars. All that matters is that it is something that interests and engages you.

The moment you stop looking for work to serve as the sole source of satisfaction in your life, and find other outside sources of satisfaction, the happier you are going to find yourself at work. Outside interests can go a long way to cultivating your interest in the work you are doing.

Maybe the next time you are thinking you need a new job, stop and think about whether you need a new hobby!

Complexity is Killing us!

In most companies today, productivity levels at the employee-by-employee level are disappointing, despite
many of the technological advances made espousing to increase productivity.  Research finds that more people are feeling disengaged and disenfranchised at work than ever before, despite all of the leadership development initiatives, motivational attempts and reward systems created. The very complexity of our systems is killing our motivation, engagement and productivity

The issue, as described by Yves Morieux and his team, is that as companies identify new strategic initiatives and directions, they reorganize and restructure to accommodate these new directions. As much as this seems to make a logical and intuitive sense on the surface, Morieux has found that doing so simply adds a new layer of complexity over the top of existing complexity.  Every time we restructure and create new processes and systems, we serve to heighten the confusion and disillusionment of employees, leading to disengagement.

We have checkboxes, scorecards, productivity matrices... all of which are designed to supposedly make things clearer, to make it easier to understand 'what' to do and 'how' to do it.  However, we take people further from the 'why', making it impossible for them to operate outside of the structure we created. Unfortunately for the organization though,  Morieux has found that it is the cooperation between people, not their systems, that truly makes the difference. Adaptive resilience and intelligence are the key.  Whenever people cooperate they use fewer resources and they increase effectiveness. Our increased reliance on systems though, takes us further from this.

The true issue therefore is that in over-structuring our approaches, in creating systems and processes and checklists for everything, we prevent the very thing that truly would help make a difference.  People don't have the flexibility or option to cooperate.  Instead, the lack of cooperation built into our systems, requires individuals to contribute more, to work harder for no bigger gain, leading to increased stress and burnout and an overall lack of awareness of the impact of their efforts.  Which, of course, leads to that sense of disengagement.

Instead, Morieux suggests the introduction of Smart Simplicity, which starts by understanding what your colleagues actually do.

• You must understand what their real work is, not their tasks but their purpose, in order to integrate your work with theirs more successfully.  
• Managers should exist to assist with this integration, to help create cooperative pathways. 
• The power to make concessions to one another, to heighten cooperation, must be pushed to the lowest levels.   
• Feedback loops need to be created so that employees can 'see' the impact and consequences of their decisions and actions, helping them to make better and more effective choices in the future
• You must reward those who cooperate

It appears that the key to increased employee's sense of engagement is to truly engage them and to push them to engage with others.  It occurs to me that although Morieux's suggestions are directed at the Corporate level, we also have the ability to heighten our sense of engagement in what we do each day...

• Ask colleagues 'why' they need something from you.  Coming to understand their function and requirements not only helps you to serve them better (and perhaps more efficiently in future) but it also extends your understanding of the value you provide
• Look for ways to streamline the integration between overlapping 'systems' to make it easier for you and your colleague to connect your needs in the future
• Seek out feedback on how your action served the other party.  Determine what worked and what didn't in order to refine your future actions.  Look to do what works and not waste time doing those that don't, even if you thought otherwise.
• Reward those around you for cooperating with you.  Ensure that you reward and thank those that engage in the behaviours that serve you if you want more of them in future.  In a world that fails to recognise the contributions of the 'individual', your recognition of theirs will go a long way to ensuring that you get the cooperation you need in future.

In reviewing the ideas and suggestions above, it occurs to me that this list of action steps might not just simply be a way to feel more engagement on the job, but in your life.  Despite all of the focus of people on fulfilling the needs of 'me' over the past years, it may just seem that Cooperation proves to be the best way to get more of what 'we' want after all.