My partner Luke works for a local council. He spends most of the day listening to members of the public fretting, complaining, protesting or 'trying to cut a deal' over Council Tax payments. Not exactly top 10 in one's list of dream jobs. Yet we've come up with a way to make his average job into a Dream Job.
In a way, so many of us end up in that less-than-perfect job. Even if we finally landed a spot in our dream company (the one with the pool table in the canteen and handcream in the loos), reality quickly bites when the routine grind of repetitive work hits in. I've known a number of bubbly idealists who joined ethical companies that should've been 'the one,' yet eighteen months down the line they're looking again for something... better.
So what's going wrong here? Is it that our managers don't know how to design jobs that are fulfilling? Could be. Or it could be that we don't know how to find fulfilment in our job? If we blame our managers, there's not much we can do but shift jobs and complain about the next boss. But if we take responsibility, it really is possible to make any job our dream job. Here's how.
A few weeks ago Luke and I developed a technique that has radically changed the way he faces his customers. We call it the Customer Award of the Day.
The Concept: Every day Luke hunts out candidates for his Customer of the Day. For each person he speaks to, he notes down the positive (and only the positive) qualities that he notices in them. The Customer of the Day is then given the fine award of, well, nothing, apart from Luke picking them as his favourite person for that day.
Meaning that the guy Luke had previously see as the "petulant business man" becomes "diligent, focused and an excellent communicator," and the "disorganised, emotional woman with three children who's shouting at me" becomes "caring, nurturing, protective mother who is passionate and expressive."
You get the idea. By focusing on the positive qualities of those around you, their positive side is exactly what you experience. Just think about the difference it makes if you pick up the phone and hold your breath for the first good quality to shine, rather than holding your breath in anticipation of a fight.
"But isn't that just deluding yourself?" a number of Luke's colleagues have asked. I suppose you could see it like that. But if like me you see truth as more dynamic than objective, you'll realise that in life you see what you want to see in people. And the qualities you chose to focus on are the ones that will stick in your memory.
More than just positive thinking, this a way to learn. Every time you recognise a quality in someone else, you can implicitly compare your actions to theres and think - "Am I being as generous today as customer #3? Or as straightforward as customer #7?" If you're surrounded by good examples your own development becomes easier.
Even if your job is not as repetitive as Luke's, you can still keep a lookout for your Person of the Day. What qualities did you admire in your colleagues, clients or people in the street? What did you learn today from people around you? Who struck you as inspirational, unique, clever, peaceful, and so on.
The choice really is yours. And in this way, it's your choice whether you have an drab job or a Dream Job. Ask yourself this: would you prefer to focus on people's 'bad' qualities, or would you prefer to work with an endless supply of exciting, impressive people that you can learn from?
Happiness lessons from the world of social entreprise.
Having spent the best part of a year working in the Hub Islington; a fabulous work space for micro social enterprises & other do-gooders, I came to notice a strange phenomenon. By most professional standards the wages these guys bring in are small indeed, yet somehow their job - and life - satisfaction is much higher than your typical work environment.
Take the number of voiced complaints per minute as a good anecdotal indicator of how happy a workplace is. Be it a "damn, stupid computer," a subtle 'tut' at a colleague as they walk away, or a colleagiate grumble about how slow the morning's going; complaints form the background mumble of most offices.
Yet at the Hub, the atmosphere is different. It's 4 degrees outside (and therefore the same inside), the recycled wood chip heater's just packed in and now it's started raining onto someone's computer. Yet, still there's no sign of cynicism or complaint, just an "oops!" and the sound of a social entrepreneur scuttling to get a bowl to catch the drip.
According to our chosen economic model, there's something seriously wrong here. Money = happiness, right? Or if that doesn't convince you, then surely money = stuff = happiness will tempt you? (Don't you want that new Ikea sofa?) According to Coca-Cola, MacDonalds and, let's face it, even producers of fair trade products, shouldn't it be those with lower wages who are grumpy and those who can afford more 'stuff' who are cheerful and happy? Under this model, how can it be that those with less money and less 'stuff' appear happier?
"Alright, they might be happy-but-empoverished idealists for now," a typical career sort might argue, "but look a few years down the line when our high earners have paid off their mortgages, got their new car and have luxury holidays every year, and then you'll see who's happy." Still the idealists, I'm afraid to say, if research emerging over the past 10 years is to be believed. We know from various studies that people that people who are more materially orientated have lower levels of life satisfaction (see, for example, this study on business students, materialism & wellbeing). We also know that once your personal wealth (the value of your personal assets) has reached of $12k, an increase in wealth no longer affects your happiness.
So if it's not money, what is making our social entrepreneurs so happy with life? Here are my ideas;
1) The choice to forget about consumption
There are a lot of eco-aware sorts in the social enterprise scene, who have made the choice that they want to consume less for the sake of the environment. This doesn't just mean buying organic, but also buying second-hand clothing, or even swapping it. By not playing the consumption game, they're not stuck in the use-more, want-more, work-more, buy-more cycle (see http://www.storyofstuff.com for a wonderful, lighthearted video on this)
2) The choice of a higher purpose
It comes down to simple maths. I = 1. You = lots more than 1. If you focus your efforts at work on a higher purpose you see that there are many people who suffer more than yourself, many people who need help. In devoting yourself to a cause you'll naturally fail to see the minor agitations you face on the way - they're just not worth complaining about.
3) The choice of community
The Hub provides London a haven of much needed community. People sit & work together, collaborate on projects, often for free and even (cover your eyes if you're a Pret lunch fan) cook and eat together. We know instinctively that we're happiest when we're in a social environment, yet due to Hofstede's famous cross-cultural studies we have known for decades that as GDP rises, we become more focused on ourselves. At The Hub people chose togetherness rather than isolation.The crucial point here is that these individuals chose their consumption patterns, their purpose and their community. These are choices we all make, every day.
Is it as simple as a choice between wealth and happiness? I'd love to hear your thoughts...
My partner Luke works for a local council. He spends most of the day listening to members of the public fretting, complaining, protesting or 'trying to cut a deal' over Council Tax payments. Not exactly top 10 in one's list of dream jobs. Yet we've come up with a way to make his average job into a Dream Job.
