How to Boost Job Satisfaction and Meaning at Work
One of the key elements required for satisfaction in life is meaning. It’s not only required for personal satisfaction, but it’s also required for well-being and engagement at work.
The subject of engagement in workplaces has started to be seen and talked about more and more, by big and small companies, but the implementation is still a very grey area.
A report from Deloitte in Talents 2020 Series identified ‘meaningful work’ as one of the main pressing challenges for businesses.
Learning what motivates people, what drives their actions and how this translates into productivity, performance, and loyalty to the company is the first step in acting towards employee engagement, rather than just talking about it.
As a coach, it’s not uncommon to hear my clients say “I Don’t feel as connected to my work as I used to…” or “I’m not sure what’s happening, but I’ve lost the spark for my job…”, “I dread going to work every day…”, or even “ I think I’m in the wrong job, but I don’t know what to do…”
This is not surprising!
85% of employees feel disengaged and uninspired by their work. Especially troubling for high-performing professionals such as business leaders and senior executives, a staggering 18% are actively disengaged at work – they are present at work by dreading every minute of it because they feel a disconnect from their work.
When you are disconnected from your work, you lose your ‘edge’, and your energy and motivation fade. You become impatient and frustrated. You start feeling guilty and resentful towards yourself and your colleagues. You become more irritable, and as a consequence, you start making more errors because it’s difficult to stay focused on the task at hand.
Some early signs of disconnection from your work include:
- Spending an excessive amount of time browsing the internet and social media feeds at work
- Feeling like time has slowed down immensely and finding yourself counting the hours and minutes until it’s 5.00 pm and home time
- Feeling constantly tired and lacking the motivation to get out of bed in the morning
- Making more mistakes doing simple things that you know very well
- Caring more about the news and gossips than your work and your results
Tackling engagement at work is not an easy fix, and there is no magic bullet. However, it is important to nip it in the bud and tackle it as soon as possible before it becomes ‘chronic’ and spreads throughout the organisation like an epidemic… (people tend to act like each other, and that’s why it can spread from one person to a whole organisation, like wildfire).
Job Satisfaction & Engagement surveys have revealed three major drivers of employee engagement:
- Management /leadership – 62% of employees who plan to stay with their current employer reported high levels of trust in their leadership team. Employees mentioned “The leaders of this organisation are committed to making a great place to work” or “I trust the leaders to set the right course”
- Meaningful work – 42% of people considering leaving their organisation would do so because they believe their job does not make good use of their skills and abilities. In other words, engage employees with meaningful work, or watch them walk out the door…
- Relationships with co-workers – 40% of employees feel that good relationships with co-worked are essential in the workplace and contribute significantly to job satisfaction. Some people even stay in their career just because of co-workers and a sense of belonging…
Interestingly, the meaningfulness of the job was identified by 76% of respondents in a 2016 Employee Job Satisfaction & Engagement Report.
So, if doing meaningful work is that important, how can we increase the meaningfulness of our work?
In order to do this, it’s important to first be clear on what is really most important and meaningful to us.
In other words, be clear on our personal values.
- Our values are a unique set of priorities (organised in a hierarchy from the highest priority to the lowest one) that is specific for each one of us. In fact, no two individuals have exactly the same set of values.
- Our values are demonstrated in our lives, meaning that if we look carefully at what is going on, we can identify what is truly most important and meaningful to us.
Although that seems quite easy to do, it is actually not! Most people that come to me for professional coaching do not have clarity of their values.
So, the first thing we do together is to get clear on their values because everything that ‘really’ matters is centred around their values.
Your personal values determine:
- Your sense of purpose
- Your level of satisfaction in life and at work
- Your motivation
- Your vitality
- Your sense of accomplishment and confidence
- Your problem-solving abilities and leadership capabilities
to cite only a few…
Once you have clarity of your personal values, finding your work meaningful is a matter of ‘connecting’ your work and the various activities you do there with your values.
To tell the truth, your work and your values are already connected, otherwise, you wouldn’t be working where you are. But you might have ‘lost sight’ of that connection…
Often finding your work more meaningful is simply a matter of revisiting that ‘connection’.
I have written a short guide for business leaders and senior executives to help them boost their people’s engagement. In it, you’ll find 5 powerful questions to reconnect with your work and increase your engagement at work.
If you’re feeling blah about your work… If you’re slowly drifting away… or if you’re just curious to find out, download this guide. It’s a great way to increase the meaningfulness of your work and your satisfaction in life. You can use it for yourself and/or with your team.
Check it out, and let me know what you observe after going through these 5 questions. I’d love to hear from you. Any feedback, comments, or insights will be much appreciated.
5 Questions to Help You Find More Meaning at Work
Discover 5 powerful questions you can use for yourself and with your employees to boost engagement at work.
In Nutshell:
Satisfaction in life is deeply linked to our job satisfaction. Think about it, we spent a large part of our lives working for someone or for ourselves as business owners and entrepreneurs.
Job satisfaction and engagement are strongly impacted by doing meaningful work.
If you’d like to operate as a high-performing professional or boost your people’s engagement at work (if you run a business or a team), download 5 Questions To Help You Boost Your People’s Engagement. Taking the time to answer those questions will help you find new levels of meaning in work and get more joy out of life.
Remember, Employee experience (EX) drives customer satisfaction…
If not, it’s OK, it’s your choice… Just don’t blame others for your ‘misery’.
ABOUT US
Drs. Marcia & Olivier Becherel are Personal Leadership Specialists, Life & Business Strategists, Executive Coaches, and the founders of Mastery to Success.
Our mission is to help you activate your personal leadership and tap into your unique design so you can create a clear path forward and enjoy a rewarding, fulfilling, and meaningful life and career.
We help high-achieving professionals, business owners, and emerging leaders to break through to the next level of their life and career by creating a clear path forward.
With more than two decades of experience, our coaching experience and skillsets have set new standards in tuning the human mind, body, and behaviour to achieve greater success, fulfilment, and impact by mastering the science of personal leadership.
Combining our coaching experience and expertise in neuroscience, human behaviour, leadership, the mind-body connection, and business, we work as a powerful team to deliver real-life results fast for our clients.
FIND OUT MORE 👩💻
Want to know more about how we might be able to help you, please visit our websites:
✅ Step Up To The Next Level with a Clear Path Forward with Drs. Marcia & Olivier Becherel
https://MasteryToSuccess.com.au
✅ Activate Your Personal Leadership to Accelerate Your Career & Success with Dr. Olivier Becherel
✅ Break Through Mental & Emotional Roadblocks To Reclaim Your Personal Power with Dr. Marcia Becherel
CHAT WITH US 📩
Want to have a quick chat with us to get more clarity on yourself and on the way forward?
☎️ Schedule an obligation-free call at https://masterytosuccess.as.me
FOLLOW US & CONNECT WITH US
➡️ Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/drolivierbecherel/
https://www.instagram.com/drmarciabecherel/
➡️ Facebook
https://facebook.com/masterytosuccess
➡️ Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivierbecherel/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marciabecherel/
📺 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel for more tips and wisdom! 👍🏻
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVENNApNuo1Zk8iAW4OCKmQ