Why Our Approach to Happiness is Flawed

The Importance Of Loving How You Do What You Do

While working on some rather run-of-the-mill admin tasks today, I was reminded of the old saying, that ‘It does matter if you don’t like what you do, as long as you love the way you do it‘. And I feel this proverb gets more powerful and relevant, the more salaries come under pressure, and hours stretch longer.

Let’s face it. It doesn’t matter whether you sell Harley Davidson accessories online, or bake bread for Hovis, you have one thing in common: you want to enjoy your job. Like the folks at Surdyke.com, you may be passionate about motorbikes, or you may love the smell of warm bread, but your day job will still leave you with a list of repetitive or admin-based chores that you would rather not do. Again, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a salesman or a baker, you’ll experience the same problem. What’s more, the solution is universal also!

The easy remedy for dull or repetitive tasks is to love the way you do a task. Focus on excellence, focus on speedy deliveries, focus on being an uplifting member of staff, or focus on the sensations you feel as you perform your work. Take your mind away from the ‘boredom’ and the negative thoughts, and positively orientate yourself in a different perspective while you work. Try it today and share your results with us by leaving a comment below!

How to Get a Pay Rise

While Leadership Expert Blog mainly discusses modern leadership issues, I think that if there is a demand for information on a different topic that affects the working lives of readers, then it also deserves a dedicated post. Pay rises or salary increases are one of these topics. I receive at least 2 unsolicited queries a week from visitors asking for tips on how they can bump up their pay packet. This article attempts to answer these questions!

Why do you go to Work in the Morning?

Before we jump straight into a range of techniques, let’s step back and take a look at why you are where you are. No, this isn’t padding, this is important. I want you to think deeply about why you are working for your current employer. Are you working there because you like the environment, love the people you work with, enjoy the job? Or alternatively, is the good salary the only thing holding you to that business? The answer to this question will put you into one of two categories of people. You should implement wage-increasing strategies that is relevant to your situation only, don’t pick and choose from both.

Type A: The Diversified Employee.

A diversified employee finds many elements of their job satisfying and sees pay as only one part of the reason why they work for their employer.  It will take a significant increase in pay (20%+) to lure this employee away from the company. Other sources of satisfaction could include relationships with collegues, a sense of purpose within the organisation, good working hours, other perks of the job or a cosy sense of familiarity.

Type B: The Ship Jumper

A ship jumper finds that their wage is without doubt the domineering reason why they choose to remain at their employer. The ship jumper is either largely unattached to their company, or has perhaps slowly grown weary of one place and feels like a change of working environment is in order. The ship jumper is not necessarily disloyal, but it is fair to say that quitting their job crosses their mind far more often than a diversified employee.

To put it in other words, a diversified employee feels routed into the organisation and would need considerable motivation to leave, while a ship jumper wonders whether there are sufficient reasons for them to stay.

A Brief Introduction to Wages

To outline a common context here, let’s produce a quick framework of what drives the level of wages you receive. The exact state of these factors will result in the output (your wage level). Some of these factors are controllable (and will be the subject of several of our techniques later), while others are largely uncontrollable and will always impact upon your salary, either continually depressing or uplifting your salary.

Uncontrollable Factor 1: Profitability of the Company/industry

Lets assume that you are not the CEO of your company, and are otherwise not single-handedly capable of shaping the profitability of the industry it inhabits. While shareholders and top management will enjoy the majority of bumped profits from a good decade of business, it’s employees will indirectly enjoy these too. A company with higher margins will be prepared to pay more to retain key members of staff, or can afford to embark on employment policies as mentioned below. On the other hand, a company in severe financial difficulty will not entertain requests for salary increases while the bankers are loudly rapping their knuckles at the door.

Uncontrollable Factor 2: Employment Policies

Industry-leading companies in today’s world seek to ‘attract and retain the top talent’ in order to boost their competitive advantage. This can sometimes lead to higher wages being offered. A good example is Aldi’s recent graduate job offerings which promise a £40k salary plus company car. Such a package is above and beyond the standard retail manager’s salary, however Aldi are making a clear effort to attract the best in candidates.

Controllable Factor 1: Profit Generation

How much profit do you generate as an employee? For example, average lawyer in Magic Circle law firm Allen & Overy generates on average, £370,370 in fees for the firm. Of  this figure, at least £150,000 will be bottom-line profit. Against this backdrop of profitability, law firms will be encouraged to pay their employees a higher wage. Why? Because any of their employees could leave to setup a rival law firm and obtain 100% of those profits if they so wished.

Controllable Factor 2: Perceived Broadness of Role:

Does management see a role as very narrow, fixed, and easy to define? The easier a role is to pin down, the easier management will find it to pay the minimum amount that still remains “competitive” against similar businesses. The more blurry the lines between several roles, the more room there is to earn a ‘premium’ on what you do.

Controllable Factor 3: Productivity & Competence

Naturally, a company tends to pay employees higher for producing higher quality work. An employee that slaughters sales pitches and aggravates customers will find the search for a pay rise very difficult, as they have apparently done little to deserve it. With this in mind, the techniques below assume that you are a reasonably competent employee.

Controllable Factor 4: Level of Training

Training doesn’t just create skills, it creates scarcity. A cohort of qualified accountants leaving their professional examinations are now in an exclusive group. The exclusivity of their skills restricts the supply of employees to the market, and ensures that employers must pay a generous salary to fulfill their all-too-necessary accounting function.

Controllable Factor 5: Years of Service

While it cannot be said that in today’s world, all companies reward the loyalty of employees, some companies still employ this old fashioned but ever-appreciated courtesy.

Controllable Factor 6: Inside Knowledge

Employees with inside information or commercially sensitive knowledge are an asset to a company. However, disgruntled leavers with such insights are a significant liability. With this in mind, businesses react more sensitively to the needs and requests of employees that hold such experience.

Controllable Factor 7: Relationships with clients and suppliers

It isn’t just collegues that sorely miss employees when they’re gone, but customers, suppliers and even regulators too! The relationships an employee can build within their role literally create value for their business, and this will often be reflected in the wage of the worker. From a different point of view, professional organisations also fear that employees will take clients with them if they were to leave, and this also increases wages.

Controllable Factor 8:Popularity and Networking

Merit is certainly an important element in your ‘worth’ as an employee, but being friends with the person who must place a price on your head is even more effective! An employee’s network will also help boost several other factors indirectly. For example, being on good terms with management means that an employee is more likely to hear about new training that head office is offering, or will give them an opportunity to broaden their role by suggesting initiatives to bosses.

Pay Rise Techniques: For Type A (Diversified) Employees

Type A employees enjoy their jobs, and wish to obtain a pay rise without damaging the benefits they already enjoy. If you believe you’re a diversified employee (read ‘Why do you go to Work in the Morning?’ above if you don’t know what I’m talking about), you may wish to employ the following ‘softer’ strategies.

Technique 1 (Easy): Training

Now, I want you to imagine the training elements of your CV. Have a think about how long would it take someone, starting from scratch at the age of 16, to achieve the level of training and experience you have. The longer it will take, the higher the premium you may command. This in part describes why surveyors, architects, doctors, lawyers and accountants receive good salaries. All of these careers involve a minimum of 3 years intensive training under contract, and rigorous exams, taken after further education in school and obtaining a good degree classification. This in all will require a minimum of 8 years to achieve, including several successful interviews and a sequence of exam passes.

Of course, training doesn’t stop the moment you achieve a qualification. Leadership training from leadership classes or other leadership courses will also count towards such a factor, so long as it yielded tangible and observable results.

Action Point: Proactively request training. Many large organisations run training sessions each month that you don’t even realise happen, but would be happy to take you on if you only asked. Perhaps you could become the office expert on planning or design software, or perhaps become the health and safety officer. Both of which will likely lead to a marginal increase in your salary as well as your future prospects. If you ask often enough, your manager may even begin looking for training on your behalf. If you belong to a small company, you may want to look into training courses provided by external companies, and put forward the idea of you attending, alongside a solid business case for you doing so.

Technique 2 (Advanced): Blurring Roles

Blurring the lines between your (standard) role and other roles to create a ‘hybrid’ job is a subtle and effective technique. While promotions are not always within easy reach, management will not hesitate in giving you extra micro-responsibilities if you ask for them. After a couple of years of volunteering in such a way, you will have a job role so ingrained in many different areas, that it will be very hard to pin down your job title. Distinguishing your job title from other colleagues is an essential part of this strategy.

Step 1: Identify cross departmental or other roles that can be added to your list of responsibilities. Perhaps leading the weekly meeting between accounting and marketing is a good example. It is important you choose roles that are important business-centric roles, and not too administrative in nature. Administrator style employees naturally build a list of extra responsibilities (buying the milk, organising the Christmas party, cleaning the office, running health & safety campaigns) that further ingrain their role as an administrator, and do not effectively accomplish the task of blurring. Tasks that involve leading, or at least supporting a critically important process are perfect.

Step 2: If you particularly enjoy one of these tasks, then attempt to widen your responsibilities in this area, while moving responsibilities for your earlier tasks to assistants or other staff. This is to be done formally, through discussion with your line manager, who will expect such pro-active behaviour from career-orientated individuals.

Step 3: Request a change of job title. At this stage, do not present the idea as a promotion, as this is not what you are doing. You are merely trying to distinguish your official role from that of your former colleagues. Hence, you should merely request for a change of title in the interests of properness and accuracy. “I’m not really just a bookkeeper anymore, as I split my time between accounting and preparing sales letters, so I think my official job title should reflect this“.

At this point you are probably expecting me to recommend you ask for a pay rise. Well, simply asking is not necessarily going to achieve any results in this case. In fact I think the blurring of roles, despite its complexity, is more of a facilitating technique that improves the effectiveness of all the other techniques. As an ‘individual’ employee, managers will be much happier to negotiate with you, safe in the knowledge that the decision will not create a precedent which will multiply the effect several-fold. This on its own will have a dramatic effect upon the success you achieve through the other methods. It will also help you build a more varied working experience, and give you a real chance to prove your abilities in areas other than your core responsibility. See ‘Getting Noticed‘ below.

Technique 3 (Moderate) : Getting Noticed

As we mentioned above as controllable factor 3: productivity and competence has a significant effect on your pay grade. In some companies, this process is clearly visible and formalised through set pay rises for certain gradings of performance. In other organisations, this effect may be more indirect, and come in the form of promotion or infrequent & individual pay rises.

If you haven’t quite spotted it yet, performing well, and being rewarded under the above systems, are not the same thing. The latter requires management to actually acknowledge your high levels of performance, and is not simply solved through exerting plenty of effort into your role. I could write an entire article about ‘getting noticed’ in your company (which I’m sure I will one day!), but I’ll include my favourite tip in this segment.

The biggest mistake people make when trying to be noticed, is to spend too much time perfecting the little tasks, down to every detail. In reality, what catches the eye of your manager is if you proactively work on new projects, improve the way you carry out an existing task, or generate ideas to help others do the same. These activities are never very pressing, and this is why so many hard working employees fail to do them. Whereas the pressure from a phone call, a deadline or a meeting is immediate, there is little pressing need to do so ‘out of the box thinking’ or start side-projects. This is why you need to be very clear and stern to yourself. At the start of the month, set yourself a goal. Perhaps you’d like to create a ‘getting started’ guide to help new employees settle in faster. If this is your goal, then ensure that you set some time aside to work at it at least once per week. While the deadlines and meetings will ensue, if you have blocked off some time in your calendar, you have a much better chance of completing these attention-grabbing and value-creating projects.

Pay Rise Techniques: For Type B (Ship Jumper) Employees

As a ship jumper employee, you are in two minds as to whether you future is with your current employer. Try using these techniques to push for a pay rise and give your employer that extra chance at retaining you!

Technique 1 (Moderate): Asking for a Pay Rise

It’s cheeky, it’s ballsy, and in many cases, it’s common. Asking for a pay rise may be the most obvious method of boosting your salary, but in most cases it probably isn’t as effective as it could be.

The real key point to remember when asking for a pay rise, is to ensure your case is backed up by a solid business case. Managers, especially in tough economic climates, will not lightly hand out extra wages simply to keep employees happy. The days of purely motivating through the wage packet are over, and companies now prefer to grow an attractive and retentive culture, provide cheap perks and offer the promise of a good career, rather than simply increase your wage. Doing so is cheaper, and creates a more fulfilling place to work, and asking for a pay rise is challenging this new status quo. Hence, the most successor askers will be those who highlight how much value they have created for the company above and beyond what was expected of them.

Technique 2 (Hardcore): Demanding a Pay Rise

Demanding a pay rise can take many forms, but the type I’m discussing today is where the following ultimatum is thrown to the employer; ‘Deliver a pay rise, or I’m leaving the company‘.

This is a very extreme method to use in the search for a pay rise, and I’d warn you to not to engage with it lightly. Some readers may be thinking ‘It’s not that extreme, as you could always decide to stay with the company if they say no, so you can’t loose out.’ However the problem with revealing a bluff in this sense, is that you have practically destroyed your credibility within the organisation, and you may be seen as a ‘taker’ or someone who takes advantage of companies to squeeze the most out of them.

So, on the assumption that you are only using this technique if you indeed are indifferent about leaving the company, here are a few tips to help improve your chances of success:

Have a job offer from elsewhere to wave in front of management’s face.

Be armed with the facts. Research wage levels paid by other companies for similar roles. Are you underpaid in comparison?

And finally…

Be ready to list reasons why you’d prefer to stay with your existing company at a higher wage level, than leave the company for another job. This at first seems intuitive, but you have to remember that as soon as you talk of leaving the company, management may be rather offended. Therefore while you are trying to convince the company that you are valuable and worth paying a premium to retain, you also have to convince them why it is still sensible to have trust and faith in you. Otherwise, the relationship may be damaged irrevocably.

Conclusion

So, I hope that in this article, I have not only given you a few ideas for techniques to try yourself, but that I’ve also given you a framework to use to think about what other strategies would improve your chances of earning a pay rise. A technique that improves any of the controllable factors will yield benefits, but some factors will be much easier to change that others!

Dr Randy Pausch’s Inspiring ‘Last Lecture’

Below, you’ll find one of the most inspirational videos ever to come out of Youtube. Randy Pausch, a respected professor at Carnegie Mellon University in the USA, had only 2-6 months left to live at the time of giving his now famous ‘last lecture’. Watch the whole thing below!

A Handy Guide to ‘Management Bull’

Some Terrible Real-Life Examples:

Your Experiences:

Capello’s success lauded by management experts

23rd June

Following England’s victory against Slovenia this afternoon, Ruth Spellman, chief executive of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) provides a post-match analysis of the manager the nation doubted:

“England’s all-important win today is testament to Capello’s proven track record as one of the world’s best football managers. His record at club level is exemplary and, when it comes to taking charge of our national team, we mustn’t forget that it was under Capello’s stewardship that England got through the qualifying stages in the first place. Despite recent speculation about his ability, and two disappointing draws, Capello has rallied his team and pulled England back from the brink of following France and South Africa into an early exit.

“A recent survey of UK workers revealed that, despite his fierce reputation, Capello is the manager one in five of us would most like to be managed by (second only to Sir Alex Ferguson). It is Capello’s ability to command respect that has undoubtedly enabled him to put criticism and media speculation aside and lead the England team to victory, averting a shameful early exit from World Cup 2010.

“Capello may have earned himself a reputation as disciplinarian, aloof and detached from his players but, in truth, it’s evident to us that his primary management strength is his ability to provide direction and communicate his vision to the team – he’s a born leader and it shows.

“The four foundation stones of good management are strong leadership, getting results, working with people and managing yourself, and the resources at your disposal, well. The last few days have proven that Capello is a master at all of these.

“But what can managers, leaders and employers across the country learn from his approach? Capello understands how to utilise the strengths of his particular management style in order to deliver the best results from his coaching. Whether you want to work for Capello, or just be a bit more like him, the key to improving your management technique and becoming a better all-round manager is knowing what you’re good at and how to develop any weaker areas. To learn more about your primary management strengths and whether you manage like Capello visit www.comparethemanager.com.”

Lower Financial Reward = Better Employee Motivation?

Hi everyone,

I’d like to draw your attention to this video released rather recently by the RSA that challenges our modern perceptions about what motivates employees.

Let’s hear your comments on this debate that could hold the key to improving employee engagement in our small or large companies.

5 Top Ways To Introduce The Culture of ‘Fun’ To The Workplace

“Fun” Workplaces are one of the biggest magnets for graduates looking for a bright place to launch their career. Early twenty-somethings, also known as Generation Y, aren’t just interested in a generous salary or promotion potential – they want to apply to companies that have a lively culture and accept that professionalism doesn’t necessarily mean boredom.

So how can you, as a manager, go about injecting a bit of fun into the daily working routine of your employees? Read on for our 6 favourite methods that have emerged in the past few years.

1. Pranks

Everyone enjoys a good laugh, and provided the victim gets to keep a fraction of their dignity – they will too. Having a atmosphere of quirky pranks will gel your team together as a more cohesive bunch. The more stories they can tell about each other, the more they’ll enjoy spending time together. Some suggested pranks:

• Computer Malfunction. This one is a classic prank, which is very annoying for the victim. First take a screen shot of the victim’s desktop. Now set this screen shot as the background and make it a point to hide all the icons and the task bar and lock them. Now if the victim tries to click anything nothing will work. They will think their computer is frozen and will try to reboot and do any and everything to get their computer to work.

• Post-it Prank. You will have to stay back late after your victim leaves the office or come to the office well in advance to play this prank. All you have to do is cover your co-workers desk and the entire cubicle with post-its. In case you want to make it seem more annoying, put funny messages on each of the post-it notes.

• Telephone Mania. You will need an accomplice for this one. All you need to do is get a co-workers phone, and your own phone and dial the phone numbers of two other co-workers you wish to harass. When the phones ring, switch on the speaker phones of both the phones and hold the phones together so that the two victims can hear each other. Once they start talking, just listen to the confused conversation and have the last laugh!

Find more fun prank ideas here. (External website)

2. Special Lunches/Trips

Once, every month – take your team out for a cinema trip and lunch combination. Being together outside of work will really help new teams to bond, and provide a fresh distraction for veteran employees. I have visited over 20 work places in the past 6 months, and when talking to the staff during their day to day business – they sound the proudest when discussing various perks or activities that management arrange on a weekly or monthly basis.

“Every Tuesday, they pop over the road and buy us all Fish & Chips!” they proudly exclaim. My jealousy only makes their smile widen.

Its amazing how buying a simple lunch can sometimes do more wonders for the motivation of employees when compared with an expensive leadership development programmes or other leadership training.

3. Sweets

Buy sweets spontaneously and leave them in the office or workplace. Never underestimate the power of sweets to lift up moods and turn the harshest boss back into a school child as their face lights up.

4.  Humourous Awards

Whether at the Christmas party – or better – every month or quarter, dish out humourous awards to your staff for various funny qualities or achievements. Here are some examples:

• “Change of Address” - For the staff member who never leaves.

• “The Lochness Award” – Staff member least likely to be found.

• “The Torvill and Dean Award” – For skating round the issues

• “The Selective Hearing Impairment Award” – For only hearing what you want to hear

• “The Clock Watcher” – For being out never later than a minute past 5!

• “The Professional Surfer” – For most time spent on the internet.

• “The Bermuda Triangle Award” – For the desk where things go in and never come out!

5. Allow fun!

The most important element of this list is that in order for your employees to have a good time – you have to really let them! Show leadership in playing pranks yourself and having fun everyday. Officially tweaking company policy to incoporate ‘fun’ into the culture will have as much effect as including it in the small print of their contract – unless you show them that you’re truely commited to them having a good time, and that you won’t frown upon workers for trying to do so.

I hope you enjoyed this guide on how to have a more fun office environment. Fun is the greater motivator, so go out and create some!

Author – Simon Oates – leadership-expert.co.uk

Do Leaders and Credit Cards Mix?

If a CEO is flashing the plastic, is he improving morale?

When I speak of leaders and credit cards, I am of course talking about the way in which senior managers rack up expenses during the course of business, paid for by the ever popular business credit cards, whether they’re an Amex, Mastercard or VISA, the affect is the same.

Why are company credit cards used?

Credit Cards are often offered to senior managers because they allow them to get on with their job without having to worry about using up their own cash (or having cash difficulties) in paying for business expenses that will be ultimately paid back by the company. These pieces of plastic also give prospective clients the impression that the company is very generous and willing to spend whatever it takes to win their custom. It comes as now surprise then, that these credit cards are associated with the wining and dining of clients, and smoozing in general. Not a brilliant image from the point of view of employees.

Are There Downsides?

Especially employees who would have their own applications for a credit card flatly rejected based on their position and rank. As a result, company credit cards can, and often do, become the source of tension between lower and upper management, further crystalising a ‘them versus us’ culture.

The credit cards also encourage over-indulgence. The same greed that is often cited as the cause of the credit crisis and late recession – a topic that is still on the minds of the public, your employees, and even your clients. To be using a company credit card in a luxurious or indulgent manner is to make the statement that ‘We are financially strong even in a recession’, which could have both positive and negative effects.

The positive signalling effect is clear – clients wish to place their business with providers whom they believe with still be around next year. However employees who may have survived a recent round of redundancies may be shocked and disgusted if they see a manager paying for a 4 or even 5 star hotel with their company credit card. While many business indulgences are actually necessary to create a brand image and encourage a client or customer to buy; excess can lead to a mis-balance of the priority of brand image, versus the raw budgetary restrictions of a company.

What’s The Solution?

An extremely professional approach should be taken with credit cards. It can be very difficult to remain formal and strict with senior managers, because of the company’s desire to keep them happy. But in tough times, everyone must bare sacrifices, and the flamboyance with VISAs should be curtailed as part of an overall re-evaluation. All expenses should be subject to audit, and the threshold for audits should be at an amount no greater than £20. Even £15 items purchased by credit card, can, in reality be wasteful and sending out the wrong message.

 

50% Of Workers Leave Due To Their Boss

You’ve probably heard of the phrase, “An employee doesn’t leave their job, they leave their manager.” Well, research commissioned by the Chartered Management Institute has now confirmed that belief.

The CMI commissioned a survey by OnePoll, and the results are in. Out of 3,000 individuals surveyed, 47% have previously left a job because of bad management.

The survey also concluded that 50% of employees thought they could do a better job than their manager, and 49% would willingly take a pay cut in order to work with a better manager.

Read the full press release here.

I find these findings a disturbing reflection of how poorly managers are currently serving their subordinates. What do you make of these results?

Leave your comment below!

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