Imagine getting in trouble at work. Imagine that your project failed or imagine that someone is always opposing you. Are you pointing fingers? Will that solve anything for you? Think about the difference between these two small words, who and what.

How would you react if Paul Projectmanager always disagree with you and makes your day miserable by being negative and destructive? Is Paul a problem? Are your ideas better if you get rid of Paul and fire him?

Stop thinking about who is causing the problem; start thinking about what to do to solve the problem.

By removing the person behind the “who”, you might just get a new problem as a new alpha member of the tribe steps up and becomes the new head of annoyment and source of all evil around the office.

What is causing the problem might give you a total different answer. It might end up with a who, but at least you are displaying ability to think first. Paul Projectmanager might just feel ignored; maybe you are being a bad manager? It might be an Andy Accountant that is being the problem because he smells and this is so annoying to all the other co-workers and nobody can fathom why you’re not doing anything about it. Or you might just need a candy bar vending machine to get the sugar levels rising?

I figure you have gotten the point by now.

Are you currently reading my blog, while being at work? Chances are that 1 out of 4 other employees are goofing off as well right now. 25 % of office time is wasted doing personal stuff like checking personal e-mail, chatting, using Facebook or reading news, according to several questionnaires. Since you are reading my blog, you are not wasting office hours; you are currently investing in future employee productivity enhancements, time well spent.

My conclusion is simple; you will with this knowledge get an easy head start of winning at the office, and creates a momentum that will get your results to the top in no time.
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I have been reading again, this time about sports psychology. And I have been watching the TV-show “Air Crash Investigations”. So I have been thinking lately about what I am getting out of this. My mind is continuously returning to two things that keep grabbing the attention of my cortex, visualization and checklists. How can I use this in my job? And can you benefit from this in your job?
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We are currently re-profiling our company and I love the new package. I have decided to take up the challenge of one of our new values to take on a social responsibility. This could be anything from keeping the sidewalk clean, helping less fortunate, volunteer or anything that makes you take a stand. So I did. I have currently been going to political meetings for a couple of weeks and I feel home. That is why I want to share this experience with you as I think it is relevant to this blog.
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I understand that Mondays can be a dread. And you might think that the weekend is a far far away place that seems impossible to reach. I am going to provide you with a day to day guide on how to make your week more fun and interesting. Start by looking in the mirror in the morning and decide that this week is going to be great!
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(Short comment from me: I needed to re-post this as I managed to delete it, do not ask me how…)
I can’t say it too often. You are hired to provide value at work. You are not hired to make money or to have an relaxing life. You are hired because the top management can’t make all the money by them selves. So here is the deal. I will pay you to make more money for me. At least make more value than I invest in you. That is the basic reason why anyone hire anybody.

So this brings me to how you can provide value at work.
I do believe that most people like to work hard, feel appreciated and they like to feel like a part of something bigger. The problem is that you will not be part of anything unless you give something in return. I have two small illustrations that I use over and over again when I try to make people understand how to provide value at work.

As you can see from this illustration even doing a good job, might not provide value to the company, or growth for you and your fellow co-workers. A lot of people work in this way today. “I won’t work harder until I get more pay”. “I do a lot more around here than Pete, why is he making more money?” “Finally five of clock. I am going home” – Sorry lads, I am not impressed.

How to really make a difference
So what is a hard working Homo Cubicle Sapiens need to do around here to get some attention? To be adding some value you need to add and share. Take a look at the illustration below

You need to refuel with new knowledge, new abilities and skills, you need to get inspiration from somewhere. You need to insert some goals into your “mind-drive”. When you have learned something you will be able to do one of the most meaningful things in the world, you can share and teach others. You can mentor, you can inspire. You have the power to influence other people. Imagine that you learn how to motivate people to increase productivity, and you increase productivity 5 % among all your 20-40 co-workers? You can produce 10 % less, and still make more money for the company because you increase the productivity among the others. That is why Pete gets more pay than you. Yes he completes less tasks, but he makes everybody else produce more. And when you do share, teach, inspire and want to make the best out of people, you suddenly care about others.

The best way to lose weight is to help other people lose weight. You might fail to diet on your own, but if you decide to help someone else diet, you will feel more committed. You will more likely succeed. At work it is just as simple, become an engaged employee, help others and experience that you will start to love your job.

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