Take Ownership of Your Job
By F. John Reh, About.com Guide
Any job you do is going to "have your fingerprints all over it." That is why it is so important to take ownership of your job, any job you do, and really own it. Do it the best you can; do it the best it can be done. That is how you succeed.
Passion for the Job
The article Passion Pays notes "when you are passionate about what you do, you do better and you enjoy it more" and explains how that pays off in increased success. Sometimes you can't be passionate about a job, but you can still take ownership. You can still own the job and do it well.
Making A Difference
The people who get promoted are those who make a difference. If there is no difference between what happens when you come to work and when you don't, why would anyone want to pay you?
One simple way to make a difference is to do any job you tackle the best it can be done. That is what taking ownership means. You may not be the best choice for a particular job, but once it is given to you it is up to you to get it done the best way possible.
If you do that, people will notice. And when they see you take ownership of every job you do, they will start to give you the jobs that are important to them. The more you do jobs that matter to your superiors, and do them well, the faster you will move ahead.
Passion, Energy, Pride
When you are passionate about what you do, you have more energy. You care more about what you do. When you care more about what you do, you do it better and you can take pride in what you have done. When you are proud of what you have done, you are passionate about it. It is a cycle that feeds on itself and increases your capability.
On the Other Hand
Try this. Don't take ownership of some job. Just slide through it. Take the easy way out. Let others do the work and sit back and take all the credit when it is done.
Do you think that job will be done well? Do you think upper management is going to be looking for the person who did that job so they can put him/her in charge of the next job? Or when the next layoff comes will that person be on the list of expendable people?
Don't kid yourself. Every job you do has your "signature" on it. People know who did it.
Bottom Line
You want the work you do to be something to be proud of. You want the jobs you take on to help your career, not hold you back. So go above and beyond and really take ownership of every job you do. You will feel better for having done that. And others will notice.
You don't want the Vice President to tell Human Resources, "We can let (your name here) go. He/she never does much anyway." Instead, at the next company meeting, you want the CEO to stand up and say "and special thanks to (your name here) for that great job on the xx project." That is a big step on the way from first time manager to CEO.
MY THOUGHTS
Passion is great! Ownership of your job is all that your boss should ask for. But first, you need to look for an organization whose culture is all about ownership and passion. If you have passion and you work like it's your own company and you find yourself working for an organization where ownership is for the owners and passionate people is a threat to them - then you'll be like a duck in the desert. But then, who cares. At the end of the day, even if it didn't work and you know you gave all the passion you have - that's still something to be happy about.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Haapiness at Work Means Job Satisfaction
Happiness at Work Isn’t Soft, It’s Smart
By Margaret Heffernan | August 19, 2010
You can’t have any more staff; you can’t have any more money. So what are you supposed to do to get more out of the resources you have?
Cheer up your workforce.
“Yeah right,” I hear you say. “We’re still in recession, everyone’s fried — and you’re telling me that in these conditions an effective leader goes around entertaining the troops?”
Yes.
That’s what the economist Andrew Oswald found in a recent experiment. Two groups of volunteers were asked to do some math questions. The task wasn’t tremendously hard but was taxing under pressure. “It might be thought of as representing in a highly stylized way an iconic white-collar job: both intellectual ability and effort are rewarded,” Oswald wrote. The more correct answers each volunteer provided, the higher the pay they would receive.
The difference between the two groups was simple: half got to watch British comedy routines, and the other half did not. Which group do you suppose worked better? The volunteers who’d had a good laugh before they started work, the ‘happier workers’, were 12 percent more productive, and the unhappy ones were 10 percent less productive.
But surely the state of mind of the volunteers played a part, regardless of the film clip? Of course it did. Those who started the experiment depressed by a death or major illness in the family performed 10 percent worse than their peers.
On one level, this could all be dismissed as blindingly obvious. Happy people work better? Of course they do. What’s perhaps more important is that, under the imprimatur of academic research, the economists have validated what all good CEOs know: that emotion and work are deeply connected. This doesn’t mean you have to turn into an office entertainer. It does mean you have to pay attention to how your employees feel and what’s making them feel that way. It also means that the CEOs who’ve always done that aren’t soft, they’re smart. You can study those spreadsheets as much as you like, but you won’t shift your bottom line if the happiness and wellbeing of your employees isn’t a top priority.
MY THOUGHTS
i'm a firm believer that humor in the workplace is important. we need tolearn how to laugh at our bloopers, irritating co-workers, demanding bosses, slow internet connection, lack of funds, etc. despite all of these hassles, work can really be fun. especially when you're enjoying it with others.
By Margaret Heffernan | August 19, 2010
You can’t have any more staff; you can’t have any more money. So what are you supposed to do to get more out of the resources you have?
Cheer up your workforce.
“Yeah right,” I hear you say. “We’re still in recession, everyone’s fried — and you’re telling me that in these conditions an effective leader goes around entertaining the troops?”
Yes.
That’s what the economist Andrew Oswald found in a recent experiment. Two groups of volunteers were asked to do some math questions. The task wasn’t tremendously hard but was taxing under pressure. “It might be thought of as representing in a highly stylized way an iconic white-collar job: both intellectual ability and effort are rewarded,” Oswald wrote. The more correct answers each volunteer provided, the higher the pay they would receive.
The difference between the two groups was simple: half got to watch British comedy routines, and the other half did not. Which group do you suppose worked better? The volunteers who’d had a good laugh before they started work, the ‘happier workers’, were 12 percent more productive, and the unhappy ones were 10 percent less productive.
But surely the state of mind of the volunteers played a part, regardless of the film clip? Of course it did. Those who started the experiment depressed by a death or major illness in the family performed 10 percent worse than their peers.
On one level, this could all be dismissed as blindingly obvious. Happy people work better? Of course they do. What’s perhaps more important is that, under the imprimatur of academic research, the economists have validated what all good CEOs know: that emotion and work are deeply connected. This doesn’t mean you have to turn into an office entertainer. It does mean you have to pay attention to how your employees feel and what’s making them feel that way. It also means that the CEOs who’ve always done that aren’t soft, they’re smart. You can study those spreadsheets as much as you like, but you won’t shift your bottom line if the happiness and wellbeing of your employees isn’t a top priority.
MY THOUGHTS
i'm a firm believer that humor in the workplace is important. we need tolearn how to laugh at our bloopers, irritating co-workers, demanding bosses, slow internet connection, lack of funds, etc. despite all of these hassles, work can really be fun. especially when you're enjoying it with others.
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