You got the degrees, accumulated the credentials, acquired all the hard technical skills and read up on and practiced the soft skills needed to succeed in your career. You’ve earned your stripes and the going’s been good but you constantly ask yourself if there is still room to get that extra edge.
What is the ultimate secret to sustainable success you wonder? Is there some intangible formula or secret ingredient you can still pick up somewhere? The answer may well be, love. Yes, love counts. In the workplace and out, it really matters how you choose to feel about your career; and ultimately your feelings and attitude really are a choice you make yourself every single day; a choice that can largely determine your career altitude.
When asked what they feel most passionate about in their career, 21.4% of professionals expressed that they are passionate about their current job and another 21.4% said it was their current industry. 15.6% felt that their existing team and environment was an intrinsic factor, 8.3% said their current company was what motivated them to stay on and 5.1% indicated they didn’t want to leave because they appreciated working for their current manager as per Bayt.com's Career Reinvention and the MENA Workplace poll. Here are a few tips from Bayt.com to harness the power of love in the workplace.
You have heard it said umpteen times before that a role is what you make of it so we will just reiterate that here. Use your imagination, creativity and initiative to proactively find new, improved solutions to old problems if you find your job monotonous and the routine dull. No matter how confined you think your role is there is always room to maneuver, improve and innovate. Remember job descriptions and processes and procedures are there to guide you not to limit your career advancement and stifle your growth. Identify how you can best put your skills to use to maximize performance and brush up on skills that need polishing so you can feel more confident and more in control. According to a Bayt.com poll, 83% of MENA professionals say they feel challenged on their job. Being challenged on your job can help you boost your engagement levels at work. Often it is fear of failing or lack of ownership that prevent one from loving one’s job so take failure in your stride, keep the end goal in sight and take calculated creative risks to get there that make the path more interesting and also make it ultimately uniquely yours.
If you don’t love the company you work in, you are probably doing them and yourself a disservice. Ask yourself what type of professionals you would like to hire if you owned a company – loyalty and love for the company would probably feature very high on your list. Instead of shortchanging the company and yourself of a love agenda try to understand what comes between you and loving the company and address these issues head on. Be the kind of employee you would want as an owner; begin by understanding the company’s agenda, your role in it and what it would take for you to carry the company banner with love, loyalty and pride.
Before waxing lyrical about how unprofessional your team mates are ask yourself if it is your own insecurity and competitiveness that is causing your discomfort. In the long run, your ability to get along with people will be one of the single most important determinants of your success so if you think your attitude is a permanently negative one, best change it now. Learning to love your boss and team mates begins with understanding where they are coming from and what their own agendas are. If your colleagues are unfair, unethical or unprofessional it will be very hard to stay in the role but if after some deep soul searching you realize your own character is at fault in causing your discomfort, then transforming your outlook and attitude to a loving one will be hugely beneficial. Better relationship will diminish stress, improve your mental health and ultimately increase your productivity and success. Based on a Bayt.com poll, 73.2% of MENA professionals say they get along extremely well with their coworkers; and in a separate poll 18% of professionals polled indicate what they like the most about their current job is their management or their team and another 13.5% say the work culture.
A bad workman blames his tools they say and a bad employee will be passively disgruntled in any office environment. Take it upon yourself to propose changes and see them through. Whether it is company recycling that will make you happy, company intramural sports activities, better lighting, a better stocked pantry, better space management or more office communications, find what will make you happier in the workplace and propose the changes that will improve the environment for everyone. Always bear in mind that a well-functioning environment is a product of well-functioning teams and take it upon yourself to make the office environment a nurturing one that you love and can be loved by all.
You may not be front line staff but a company’s most prized asset are its people and they rely on their entire teams to promote a product and protect and preserve its brand image. If you don’t genuinely love the products and service your company sells sit with the product teams and try to explain where you see room for improvement and for growth. If you cannot see yourself loving the company’s wares at all this is likely manifesting itself in less than optimal productivity and a negative attitude which is probably felt by all – including your clients. Nothing is more contagious or detrimental to a company’s bottom line than a bad or lukewarm attitude to a product being sold. If you cannot genuinely see the beauty of what your company is selling and feel passionate about the products’ value, features and benefits, you need to get some training and realign your values with the company’s values fast. If you don’t love the product, you can be sure the clients won’t either.
When was the last time you asked yourself what your values are and what it would take for them to be reflected and respected in the workplace? If you are happy with yourself it will be a lot easier to be happy with the world. Take stock today of what it would take to make you more at peace with yourself and start taking measures to get there – perhaps its more training, more exercise, more reading, a better work-life balance, more socializing with friends and family. As per the Bayt.com Employee Motivation Survey, although recognition is a top motivation driver at work, training and development and opportunities for career advancement are close contenders. Make sure you are investing in yourself regularly and let that inner peace that comes with achieving self fulfillment manifest itself in more loving relationships everywhere in your life, including the workplace.
