In a post for one of my online classes I teach, the subject of multitasking came up to which I responded to a comment about the ‘myth’ of multitasking and what happens to our brains when we do too much forced and sustained work. It gets depleted, leading to the perils of errors and low performance.
I was quite surprised when another student commented that, while he recognized this himself, he did not believe his company understood as workers are expected to multitask – doing several projects at once, moving from one area to another, while working an 8 hour-shift. He indicated that this was a norm in his industry (IT) and that they have adapted to these intense shifts.
This got me thinking about his leadership and if they really know how much their employees are actually working and spending time in their work tasks. I think of his upline and their awareness, as well as conveyance, that employees need to do multiple tasks at the same time if they want to keep their job. This speaks of the old way, back in the day, when we were caught in the recession and employers having a plethora of applicants to choose from, so the motto became “do or perish.” But, now?
I also wonder if the up-line talks to employees or observes what is going on and how work is being done. Is this a product of a customer who has high demands, or is this due to the perception that work needs to be done faster in order to get and retain customers by satisfying them with quick turn-around? Could it be that workers put pressure on themselves to show their worth so they get noticed, or even still worry if they will have their jobs? Or is this an ego-fed result from the boss who wants a promotion or is driven by his own interpretation of directions he or she has been given?
As a leader, it is your job to be aware of the daily work-life of those you oversee and ensure they have appropriate systems and resources to do the work, to understand with clarity the work goals needing to be accomplished, and to give them support while they are working to get them completed. These are very easy responsibilities to handle. It means being the silent observer, the listening ear, and the motivator to your people. Having conversations with them is the way to get to know them, their needs, and help them to be more inclusive into daily work life.
It’s being aware of the effects the workplace has on workers, both positively or negatively, as well as the long-term impacts that too much sustained work can have on both the mind and the body. And it’s about doing as much as you can to make it one that employees are happy to go to their jobs and do work involved – it starts by being aware to how, and how much, your workers are doing daily.
Creating Collaborative Spaces
When looking at fostering creativity in the work environment, one ‘too’ that leaders can offer their members is to allow collaborative spaces. These are meeting areas, or work spaces, where member can go to either meet as a group, or for individual time, and be in creative mode. The two types of modes that I think of are brainstorming and freethinking; brainstorming is where you have to come up with ideas, while freethinking is any and all thoughts or ideas that arise. Personally, I prefer freethinking – the more I try not to control the process the easier I find the ideas flowing.
When creating collaborative spaces, an organization can designate offices or certain areas, liked a game room or den area; these spaces are not constrained and are arranged to enhance mood, which enhances creativity. Colors, pictures and the like are considered. Leadership needs to support the idea and encourage their workers to utilize these areas as often as possible; this will help to improve processes, systems, products and the like. Making improvements within an organization should be high on the priority list, to not become stagnant; creating collaborative spaces is one solution to prevent this from happening.
The Top 10 Work Values
During self-assessment, which is a crucial step in one’s career management process, an area of importance to understand is one’s values. Values are “the beliefs about the qualities of human life or the types of behavior that an individual wants to attain” (Greenhaus & Callanan, 2006). Values usually develop early on and can be learned behaviors or patterns that one esteems in their life. In regards to a career, values include the preferences one has about the rewards, payoffs, policies, or leadership of their working life. Schwartz (1999) identified the 10 top values that are relevant to the world of work. It is important that you identify the value(s) that are important to you so that your job or profession will meet your value-orientation and help you be more engaged in your work and for higher job satisfaction. See which of these top 10 are important to you:
- Power
- Achievement
- Hedonism (pleasure)
- Stimulation
- Self-direction
- Universalism (applies to all)
- Benevolence (kindness for the good of others)
- Tradition
- Conformity
- Security
Not aligning your values with your work can cause you a lot of stress and distress in both your personal and work life. Are there any values that are not on the list that have high relevance to work?
