Gail Golden is a psychologist that lived in London, now Chicago. I really liked this blog and wanted to share it with you. Just to keep the records straight, "I LOVE MY REALESTATE JOB/WORK!" " The referral of your friends and family is the greatest compliment you can give me. Thank you for your trust!" The Cautious Optimist August 2013 Welcome to The Cautious Optimist by Gail Golden Consulting, an occasional newsletter for business leaders focusing on effective leadership. We share ideas we gather from colleagues, clients, the media, and any other productive sources. We welcome your thoughts and contributions. Job satisfaction and employee engagement are popular topics among business leaders. Savvy business leaders know that employee engagement is related to productivity, employee retention, and other positive business outcomes. Yet research consistently shows approximately 70% of workers in any company report job satisfaction. So what makes the difference between highly successful companies and the so-so ones? In a recent presentation at an APA Conference on Work and Well-Being, psychologist Kevin Kelloway proposed that just focusing on employee satisfaction is setting the bar too low. Think about how we talk about feelings in our intimate relationships. What if you asked your spouse or partner, “Are you happy in our relationship?” and he or she said, “I’m satisfied.” Would that be good enough for you? For most people, that would be a really disappointing response. And what about that word “engagement?” Once again, if we think about it in the context of intimate relationships, it means something very different from how we use it in the workplace. As Kelloway points out, we usually fall in love before we get engaged. So maybe we shouldn’t be talking about job satisfaction and employee engagement. Instead, we should be talking about loving your job. Steve Jobs said, “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” How many of us love our work? How do you know? Robert Sternberg, another psychologist, developed a model of love between people that involves three components: passion, intimacy, and commitment. Without all three, says Sternberg, you don’t have love. Kelloway proposes we use the same framework to understand love of your work: · Passion – Does your work have meaning? Do you find it challenging? Are you driven to learn more and to do the best job you can? Is it fun? · Intimacy – Do you have close relationships with others at work? Is your sense of identify connected to the work you do? · Commitment – Do you want to keep doing the work you are doing? Do you bring your best self to your work? When you love your job, the results benefit both you and your organization. Imagine what would happen if business leaders didn’t settle for job satisfaction but instead built companies that inspired people to love their jobs. If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy my recent blog post about finding meaning at work. I welcome your thoughts. Gail Golden
Posted on: Thu, 29 Aug 2013 12:21:11 +0000