I have written about efficiency
(here and here) because I think it is very important to
clarify the ways employees can deliver their tasks, obtaining not only the
delivery of them but also not feeling a lot of professional frustration while
performing them.
Well, all of my
recommendations gather under only one umbrella – a positive work environment.
What is a positive work
environment?
Firstly, a
positive work environment is an environment where one is respected and
respects. It may sound outdated, but I do believe that without respect nothing
can be built. Absolutely nothing. For it is the base for understanding,
empathy, and willing to help colleagues/ managers deliver a project.
Elements of a
positive work environment
To my mind, these
are the most important elements of a positive work environment:
1. Clarity of tasks
When one knows who does what there is
no room for interpretations or misunderstandings. And, if I may, no room for
playing the to and fro game with the tasks.
2. The flow of information
Miscommunication. When
it comes to failure of delivery of projects or misunderstandings within the
company/ within the team, everybody points to miscommunication as the main
reason. Thus, the flow of information from executant to manager and the other
way around is paramount.
3. Established and clear procedures
Whether one is new
or not in a company, one must deliver tasks according to procedures. If they
are not documented somewhere at everybody’s reach, chaos descends. I recommend
also documenting internal procedures for delivery of tasks within a department. We are human and we
can forget or make mistakes, and this is why it’s golden to have a document that
one can consult to make sure one follows the correct procedure. I have created
a Communication Handbook that my team and I use and we make sure to update it any
time a change in a procedure appears or new procedures appear.
4. Feedback flow
Any work relationship
has at least two parties – manager and executant. Like any normal relationship,
both parties contribute with recommendations or they raise concerns to make the
relation work on the long term. Is the same case with professional
relationships, if feedback does not flow both ways, we fail to recognize what
we should improve. I know it’s hard for an executant to provide feedback to a manager, but if a manager understands the importance of bringing efficiency
into the relationship this should be encouraged. No one needs a yes-man if one
wants a working relationship.
5. Accountability and trust
I think there’s none
without the other. When an employee engages to deliver a task and for various
reasons that are under her/ his influence this task cannot be delivered, the
employee has several possibilities to manage the situation (inform in due time
about the delay so a solution can be agreed upon by the parties, use other resources,
skip some steps to finish in due time, etc.) – and this is accountability. When
someone is accountable, they show trust and will to find solutions, and this
is a long-term assurance for the management (and a definite con to continue to
micromanage).
6. Flexibility
This is not about
remote or hybrid work. Even though employers have realized in the past few
years that they have more to gain if they show more flexibility regarding this
aspect. This is in regards to flexibility when finding solutions, delivering
tasks and making compromises so that the parties can deliver.
7. Safe environment
At the start of my
career, I thought that I, as an executant, was not to ask questions because I
might disturb the manager. But with failures coming after not clarifying some
aspects, I understood that it is far better to bother/ annoy the managers with
questions so that I can clarify everything I needed, instead of delivering
something that can hurt us both or the company. A safe environment is where one
is not afraid to ask questions (because one knows that the manager understands that
this shows respect and the will to accurately deliver the tasks) or to address
concerns regarding aspects one considers that should be changed because they
have proven their inefficiency.
8. Growth mindset
Every day we learn
something. Even the ones that do not go to trainings. Nowadays society is built
this way, given all the technical developments. But aside from this, one must
keep oneself up to date with what happens new in one’s domain, and also learn
about changes in the related fields. When we learn something new, dopamine is
released in our brain, and this makes us more optimistic and have more trust in
ourselves and the future.
According to a video I recently saw about the reasons why young talents tend to leave
faster than experienced talents, the conclusion is this – remember: if they don’t
grow, they go!
I do believe in my
very core that people are always searching to improve things (see what happens
in technology, and in the other sectors). All of the above are the result of
the conclusions I have drawn during my professional experience, corroborated
with ideas, conclusions, questions received from like-minded people that also
feel the need for change and want to support the perpetuation of the positive work environment. Only
together we can become strong enough to make this change come true.
If you have read
this far, I want to thank you. And make you a gift consisting of a couple of questions. I
invite you to answer them below or to simply ponder on them. Either way, talk
about this with your friends, family, colleagues and find out what does a
positive work environment mean to you. And they, in their own turn, can speak
to others. And this is how change happens, because it is not enough to only
talk about it, we must also act upon it.
Later addition
The other day, I spoke to a lady
that used to work for an agency that I used to collaborate with while I was
working somewhere else and that used to create visuals for us. The manager
would only give one indication – it must be wow! Apparently, one would be tempted
into believing that there’s a lot of creative spirit into this interjection. I
beg to differ for an interjection cannot clarify what a person wants. And
because the manager did not know what the final result should look like, the
agency used to remake the visuals a lot. Until one day when the people from the
agency realized how many resources they used in vain and how much time and
effort was put into the remakes. So they added a new clause to the contract,
stating that the first two remakes were free of charge, but starting with
the third one the employer had to pay.
I remembered this aspect because,
unfortunately, an employee cannot protect herself/ himself as an external
collaborator can when it comes to rework. Or, how a dear friend calls it, the
work-in-vain cooperative. As a general rule, managers display the attitude ‘all
the remakes are contained within your salary’ because employees are captive and
being part of the manager’s team they will remake something as many times as
the manager wants, with no explanations whatsoever, most of the times. And so I
turn again to the idea of a positive work environment and to the fact that a
manager must see to their executants and keep their frustration at low levels. When
one works in vain and everything is directed to a big black hole, one feels
frustrated and loses the sense that their job can bring. I can’t stress enough
how essential it is for an employee not to feel like this.
What elements
would you add to the list above?
What elements
would you add to your work environment (from the list above, but also others)
to make it (more) positive?
Who/ what impedes
your work environment to become (more) positive?
