8 Checkpoints for a Good Work Culture
Because your work is important
Work is part of our everyday lives. It doesn’t matter whether it’s office work, or if you’re working remotely from home. You work with colleagues and clients and managers. There is responsibility on all ends. And, usually, there are occasional shortcomings in all ends. That’s just how it goes!
Instead of striving for perfection, and expecting it from others (and later being disappointed) it’s useful to nurture the work relationships you have and make sure that they are healthy relationships, which are mutually fruitful and enjoyable.
So without further ado, these are the 8 factors for a good workplace:
1. Lack of suspicion or resentment
There is good communication and bad communication. There is no inbetween. You know when you are getting along with a friend and are having a good time and you know when you are wasting your time. Make sure that you communicate clearly and don’t miss out things that other people are interested in. Keep people updated on your work. Make yourself approachable. It may not seem like your job to de-tensify situations, but those situations are your problem as well. Do it for your own sake and peace of mind, if not for someone else. It’s easier to give your best and see whether you are in the right place or not, than just trying to get by unnoticed. The latter leads to nowhere and even worse, it blocks your own progress!
I believe that all problems are communication problems. Sometimes people misinterpret things you say and they feel offended without any good reason. Other times, you may feel offended by other people’s lack of sensitivity or well-manners. Even though you know they didn’t mean any harm, you feel it’s unfair to you to be treated in a way you wouldn’t treat others.\
Keeping a grudge is consuming. You only hurt yourself by doing that! If you can’t get over some incident then reflect upon it and make sure you know where you stand. Keeping resentment inside you is not only bad for your peace of mind and well-being, but with time, if you still hold on to it, the resentment is going to change you into that person who offended you. You see it all the time, i’m sure: people who act like “if it happened to them, it OK to happen to others”.
Resentment turns people into mindless haters, because they are still hurt. If you can’t forgive that easily, talk about it. Bring it up with somebody you trust. Let the person know that he/she hurt you. But whatever you do, don’t let unimportant things affect important things like your peace of mind. You’ll be doing everyone a service if you take care of yourself and don’t let things just pass.
2. Not Living in the Past
You know what hoarders do?
They try to collect EVERYTHING, in case they will need it for later on.
It’s a good thing to keep what is useful, but if it’s not useful in any way, it will just create clutter and keep you unfocused.
How do you feel when your desk is messy? Or when you have 20, 30 or 50 browser tabs open? Or when your desktop screen is filled with files and folders (with unclear titles as well)?
If you want work to be easy and productive, you have to keep it simple! If you tried something and it failed, move on! It’s easier to try 10 things and choose 1 or 2 which actually work, than trying to “kick a dead horse”. It’s just weight that doesn’t allow you to move further and progress. Dead weight. Being overwhelmed will only complicate your work flow, and eventually block it.
Skim through those empty tabs, keep the most important one and discard the rest. Clean your desk. Think about this week, today and tomorrow. The past is in the past. Your responsibility is the present (and the future if you can prepare for it).
3. Not Wasting Time & Energy on Things You Cannot Change
Life dealt you a hand of cards. Are you going to do what you can from where you are, or are you going to sail against the wind?
Think about the potential outcomes. You can definitely create a great outcome from putting effort into things that are within your grasp and that you can control. The advantage from doing that is the feedback that you get. You can use that feedback to improve your approach, and to find mistakes.
By trying to change things that are impossible to change (like changing someone elses point of view or decision) you get nowhere. You might even feel powerless when you realise that you can’t do anything about it. And there are so many things that you can do! Why not focus on those things instead? Are they not important? (they are)
Some little things that you can do can mean a lot for other people. You are not the best judge of your own work.
All that you can do is put yourself out there, and respond to feedback. Everybody does exactly that. There is literally no other option.
So, don’t squander your potential!
4. Stay Involved with the Living World
“Times, they are a-changing” — Bob Dylan
There are new trends popping up almost every day. With each new trend arises a new opportunity. Some other trends diminuate and eventually die out.
Everybody is interested in new things that can be useful to them. That is why people read the news. Society is a living, breathing organism. Are you going to keep pace, or use the same old tools until they don’t work anymore.
If you know what you are doing, then that’s great. NOT EVERYTHING that’s new is better. But some things are, so make sure you don’t miss out on those. We are in an era where industries are disrupted overnight. Just look at companies like Uber or Airbnb. They change the way the world used to work.
Also, keep updated with friends and family. No one is frozen in time. When a new day starts, it starts for everybody, anywhere on the planet. The time delay is at maximum 23 hours, and the internet enabled information to travel instantly. Most books and stories are outdated and illustrate a very slow and costly world. Nowadays a lot of things are free and access is almost everywhere. Make use of that!
5. Refuse to Indulge in Self-Pity
Self-pity is like a drug that only aggravates the symptoms. If you can focus and work towards solving you problems or creating even more problems, which one should you choose?
The correct answer: solving your problems.
Yes, tragedies happen, especially nowadays. But what I’m saying is don’t give up! Even more unfair things are going to happen. But that doesn’t mean that unexpected advantages aren’t going to come into your life as well. Don’t close out to them!
However, where you steer your life towards is going to dictate that. Make time to accept and grief your losses. Until you’re ready. But at one point you will need to be ready.
If things aren’t going well, then you have to bring change. The most important thing is you future. Your present should be ok IF you took care of it in the past, when you could. If you didn’t it’s time to start! Mistakes happen. They aren’t a reason to give up, they are part of the journey.
Self-pity puts you in a powerless position. Don’t get into that position. It’s a trap! There is nothing good that can come out of it. Self-care is something different. Self-care is important! Self-pity is the opposite of self-care (because it will only harm you).
6. Cultivate Old-Fashioned Virtues
You know what I’m talking about!
Love your close ones, cultivate appreciation, be patient, be kind (not just polite… kind!), be compassionate and sensitive, work towards your goals, etc.
They are the moral of any Disney movie! If you’re not sure how to go about “virtues”, just watch a Disney movie. Or read some story and find the moral of it.
Life is not about gain. Life is a very complex experience. Sometimes (i’m pretty sure most times) we can’t articulate into words how we feel. Our “gut-feeling” is sending us some signals. People get angry, they cry, and they have desires for good reasons. Listen to your heart and develop your knowledge. But be aware that the heart guides the brain. Some people might disagree with this statement I made. That’s ok. I’m sure we all agree that doing things that are against your value-systems and against your principles feels bad and becomes more and more difficult the more you persist.
Again, it’s ok to make mistakes. But only if you learn from them.
7. Don’t set impossible Expectations
Sometimes we are delightfully surprised with our capabilities and the outcomes they produce. But other times, we just don’t hit our goal. You put the effort in, you struggle, and sometimes you fall short. Maybe because of mistakes you made. Maybe because of an arbitrary reason.
The thing is, every mistake carries a lesson. If the effort you put in wasn’t worth the outcome, maybe it was at least worth the learning experience. A lot of valuable lessons that I have learnt came from failures. Success doesn’t taste as sweet you if you succeeded by pure luck. And pure luck is not reliable.
Setting too many unreachable expectations leads to burning out, and in consequence, there’s the risk of lowering expectations too much.
People need small wins. We need the encouragement that comes from victories. We need the dopamine boosts. If we can’t run, we can at least walk. If we can’t walk we can at least crawl. The point is to move forward!
It’s too risky to set impossible expectations. Maybe you feel like giving up, when you built so much and developed your skills!
Go for small wins. Small wins are easy! You don’t have to strain yourself if it’s not necessary! Don’t be afraid of underachieving. If you get there you will know, and you will change direction. You have to trust yourself!
“Just do it!”
8. Find Something Bigger than Yourself to Believe in!
There’s a scene in the movie Bad Teacher (sorry, I couldn’t find a better example) where the coach tells a boy who is about to throw a ball to not shoot at his goal, but to shoot through it. That is kinda how following your “purpose” works.
Your purpose drives you through your goals like a hot knife through butter. With no purpose and no vision what-so-ever, you end up carrying out your tasks as if they were chores, and you have to ask yourself why are you doing them in the first place.
No bueno!
The one thing that enables achieving goals relentlessly one after the other, each one giving more energy and hype for the next one is knowing the Purpose. With a capital “P”.
You don’t even question the purpose! You know it’s worth it. Otherwise you wouldn’t have chosen it.
Nor would you want it to end. Like a great movie, that you would rather it never ended. Or your favourite TV series, which you’d want it to never be cancelled.
And even though the purpose usually can never be perfectly fulfilled it drives you through the obstacles encountered and keeps you on track. We would all accomplish much more (and feel more accomplished) if we’d do things that are meaningful to us and follow a purpose
Conclusion
So there you have it. 8 things that you should take into consideration in order to work and collaborate better. How many of the above could you improve on? Are you satisfied with how you stand on all of them?
Do try to be more balanced and improve where you can! Nobody can tell you what’s right and what’s wrong, only you can feel it within you. We are all different, but still, we are all human.
