News, Tips & Insights
When you think of purpose, what comes to mind? For most people, it is meaning, importance, or significance. However, I would like to challenge you to see purpose as a tool that helps you succeed as a leader and in life. It is your strength that will help you to effectively utilize your talents and gifts. Imagine running a race without knowing where the finish line is or putting together a puzzle without a picture of the finished product. In both situations, you may have great intentions to finish, but getting there will be frustrating and difficult…if you finish at all. Think of your purpose as the cheat sheet. You know all the answers because it’s your purpose, you know where the finish line is, and you know what the puzzle should look like. Knowing your purpose gives you the direction you need to move forward with confidence and capability. Thus, allowing you to perform more efficiently.
Being a productive employee means knowing when to invest back into yourself. Taking small breaks is fine, but sometimes it is not enough. In those moments, the best way to rejuvenate yourself is to take a few days off and decompress.
As motivated as we are to become great leaders and employees, we should be just as motivated to prioritize our own personal well-being. Otherwise, we can begin to experience signs of burnout, which can negatively impact our performance and health. When employees are consistently exposed to workplace stress, they are at risk of becoming burned out. If you experience constant exhaustion just by thinking of your work before you even get to the office, feelings of cynicism related to your job, or reduced personal effectiveness, you may be encountering burnout. Burnout will rob you of your joy, passion, and motivation. Therefore, to be the best version of ourselves personally and professionally, we must take steps to manage workplace stress. Many programs and models will help you accomplish this. However, you can also do three things on your own to increase your well-being and decrease burnout: (1) Identify the source, (2) Intervene promptly, and (3) Improve the environment going forward.
As an employee, you get to choose where you work, but you do not get to choose who you work with. That is why organizations are full of people with varying opinions, backgrounds, upbringing, education, morals, values, and beliefs. Within these organizations, we encourage leaders to promote diversity. However, we also need to establish a positive way to engage with others when faced with diversity of thought. That is why SHRM is promoting their campaign for 1 Million Civil Conversations . Fostering civility at work can lead to a better employee experience, improved well-being, fewer employee relations issues, and increased innovation, among many other benefits. I believe there are two interpersonal skills we can all work on to help us drive those civil conversations: consideration and courage.
