The Truth About Employee Engagement was originally published as The Three Signs of a Miserable Job.
A bestselling author and business guru tells how to improve job satisfaction and performance.
In his sixth fable bestselling author Patrick Lencioni takes on a topic that almost everyone can relate to: job misery. Millions of workers even those who have carefully chosen careers based on true passions and interests dread going to work suffering each day as they trudge to jobs that make them cynical weary and frustrated. It is a simple fact of business life that any job from investment banker to dishwasher can become miserable. Through the story of a CEO turned pizzeria manager Lencioni reveals the three elements that make work miserable -- irrelevance immeasurability and anonymity -- and gives managers and their employees the keys to make any job more engaging.
As with all of Lencionis books this one is filled with actionable advice you can put into effect immediately. In addition to the fable the book includes a detailed model examining the three root causes of job misery and how they can be remedied. It covers the benefits of managing for job engagement within organizations -- increased productivity?? greater retention?? and competitive advantage -- and offers examples of how managers can use the applications in the book to deal with specific jobs and situations.
Patrick Lencioni is President of The Table Group?? a management consulting firm specializing in executive team development and organizational health. As a consultant and keynote speaker?? he has worked with thousands of senior executives and executive teams in organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to high-tech startups to universities and nonprofits. His clients include. AT&T?? Direct TV?? JCPenney?? Microsoft?? Nestle?? Northwestern Mutual?? Southwest Airlines and St. Jude Chilren??s Research Hospital. ?Lencioni is the author of ten bestselling books?? including The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and The Advantage. He previously worked for Oracle?? Sybase?? and the management consulting firm Bain & Company.
Amazon.com Re"atrick Lencioni?? renowned business consultant and bestselling author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team?? is on a critical mission: create widespread job satisfaction in a world full of workplace misery. His latest book?? The Three Signs of a Miserable Job: A Fable for Managers (And Their Employees)?? tells the inspiring tale a high-flying?? but deeply dissatisfied Chief Executive Officer who ditches the power and perks for career bliss as the manager of a pizzeria! In this unusual and inspiring story?? Lencioni convincingly demonstrates how career happiness (or misery) is the direct result of the manager--employee relationship. Patrick Lencioni took the time to tell us about his life-long "ion" with job misery?? shatter some myths about workplace satisfaction and offer some real advice on how to turn that daily grind into daily fulfillment. --Lauren Nemroff
Q: Why did you decide to write this book? A: As a kid I watched my dad trudge off to work each day and became somewhat obsessed with the notion of job misery. Somewhere along the line I came to the frightening realization that people spend so much time at work yet so many of them were unfulfilled and frustrated in their jobs. As I got older I came to another realization--that job misery was having a devastating impact on individuals and on society at large. It seemed to me that understanding the cause of the problem and finding a solution for it was a worthy focus for my career.
Q: What exactly is a miserable job?
A:A miserable job is not the same as a bad one. A bad job lies in the eye of the beholder. One persons dream job might be another persons nightmare. But a miserable job is universal. It is one that makes a person cynical and frustrated and demoralized when they go home at night. It drains them of their energy their enthusiasm and their self-esteem. Miserable jobs can be found in every industry and at every level. Professional athletes?? CEOs and actors can be--and often are-- as miserable as ditch diggers?? janitors and fast food workers.
Q: How prevalent is job misery?
A: Attend any kind of social gathering?? anywhere in the country?? and talk about work. The stories and anecdotal evidence confirming job misery are overwhelming. Misery spans all income levels?? ages and geography. A recent Gallup poll found that 77% of people hate their jobs. Gallup also contends that this ailing workforce is costing employers more than $350 billion dollars in lost productivity.
Q: What is the root cause of job misery?
A: The primary source of job misery and the potential cure for that misery resides in the hands of one individual--the direct manager. There are countless studies confirming this statement?? including both Gallup and The Blanchard Companies. Both organizations have found that an employee??s relation"h their direct manager is the most important determinant to employee satisfaction (over pay?? benefits?? perks?? work-life balance etc).
Even employees who are well paid?? do interesting work and have great autonomy?? cannot feel fulfilled in a job if their managers are not providing them with what they need on a daily or weekly basis.
Q: What are the three signs?
The first is anonymity?? which is the feeling that employees get when they realize that their manager has little interest in them a human being and that they know little about their lives?? their aspirations and their interests.
The second sign is irrelevance?? which takes root when employees cannot see how their job makes a difference in the lives of others. Every employee needs to know that the work they do impacts someone??s life--a customer?? a co-worker?? even a supervisor--in one way or another.
The third sign is something I call "nt??"which is the inability of employees to assess for themselves their contribution or success. Employees who have no means of measuring how well they are doing on a given day or in a given week must rely on the subjective opinions of others usually their managers to gauge their progress or contribution.
Q: Why dont managers do these things?
A: As simple as the three signs are the fact remains that few managers take a genuine interest in their people remind them of the impact that their work has on others and help them establish creative ways to measure and assess their performance.
There are a number of reasons. First many managers think they are too busy. Of course the real problem is that most of those managers see themselves primarily as individual contributors who happen to have direct reports. They fail to realize that the most important part of their jobs is providing their people with what they need to be productive and fulfilled (a.k.a. not miserable) in their jobs.
The second reason that managers dont provide their employees with the three things they need is that they simply forget what is was like when they were a little lower on the food chain. They somehow forget how important it was to them when a supervisor took an interest in them?? talked to them about why their work really mattered and gave them a means for evaluating their progress.
Finally?? many managers don??t do this because they are embarrassed or afraid to try. They fear that their employees will see them as being disingenuous or manipulative?? or that by taking an interest in th"ersonal lives they will be stepping into inappropriate territory. It??s almost as though they fail to understand the difference between the interview process (no personal questions allowed!) and the actual work experience (treat people like a full human being).
Q: What can a miserable employee do to improve his or her situation?
A: The first thing they can do is assess whether their manager is interested in and capable of addressing the three things that are required. And they have to realize that most managers really do want to impr