There are key ingredients to a successful business. First, treat your employees correctly; provide them with support, growth opportunities and benefits. Second, actually care about them. When I say this, I mean don’t just look at them as a number and as replaceable. As humans we want to feel important and needed, and looking at an employee in any other way is disgraceful.
We can not expect anyone to work with their whole heart when we attach a stipulation that anyone can do their job. Instead, encourage workers that their work matters to the company, to the fellow workers and to the overall success of the operations.
I see so many unhappy people everyday. Looking around, you can tell these people are so sick and tired of giving everything their all and getting nothing in return. Most of this unhappiness starts at the workplace. People are overwhelmed, stressed out and come home to more problems that affect their mood.
Even at the workplace there is an uncomfortable feeling. It’s a pressure that the “boss” has placed on you. It’s almost as if they are saying, we expect one hundred and ten percent while we offer you the bare minimum.
This negativity continues to circle, dragging others with it. It’s not hard to pinpoint what someone has done wrong. But it is much nicer to hear what someone has done right. Sure, the mistake can be mentioned, but why not add some positive reinforcement in with it? It’s common sense, after all. It’s common courtesy.
When this courtesy is eliminated in the workplace it is near impossible to be genuinely happy with the work you are producing. It’s almost as if this cycle exists— an endless cycle manufacturing continual disappointment.
Then, you go off to your second job—a job that treats you the same way, a job that picks out your flaws before addressing your positive attributes. Ensure to the workers that you notice the work they have done. Let’s start building some self-esteem and stop deflating it.
There is an inherent need that everyone craves, a desire for security. Unfortunately, right now many people are feeling less and less secure at the workplace. The Affordable Healthcare Act has weighed heavily on businesses and large corporations. Many of these businesses and corporations have expressed pressure to restructure their worker’s benefits. This pressure has businesses and corporations hiring more staff, cutting back employee’s hours and paying them less with no benefits. The act is putting a strain on businesses financially. The workers that have devoted their time and energy to the success of the business are having benefits such as health insurance taken away from them. Along with that, the workers are being treated poorly by management’s lack of knowledge and proper management skills.
These are the managers that discourage you. Not to say there aren’t great managers out there, but it takes a certain type of person to be able to deal with everyone else and achieve united happiness for the worker and business. This person can be anyone—however they need to have a common respect for everyone they work with. This is where many businesses go wrong.
The people in these power- driven positions should be role models for what the business stands for.
A great leader is a great leader—there is no way around it. However, when you have someone in a position of authority, some people take that authority and use it negatively.
This could create a threatening environment where the workers are intimidated. For many years, businesses have used this tactic, the tactic of intimidation.
What intimidation creates is a lack of respect for the individual. When we feel disrespected the negative energy breeds.
If you’re treating your employees terribly, the product that they’re producing will turn out the way they feel. Passion and heart are everything, and they command loyalty and respect. It is when our lack of self-worth disappears that more problems appear in our life. Problems that correlate between work and home and problems that affect your relationships with your family and yourself.
We have become this working machine that questions nothing because of the intense amount of anxiety environmental factors have placed on us. The lesson of karma teaches us that what we put into the world is what we get back. However, we are allowing businesses and large corporations to put out negativity that continues to breed. We need to start taking care of one another and considering others needs before our own.
Happiness is the key ingredient to a successful business. Look at today as a new opportunity to be happy. Start first by fixing what makes you unhappy. Say what you feel and mean what you say. As long as each individual feels respected and shows respect to one another, the workplace will start to become a healthier and happier environment for all.
Brittany Murphy can be contacted at bmurphy@keene-equinox.com