What's Wrong with Work? E-Book

Blaire Palmer

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 345

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

Work isn't working. 

We all love to hate our jobs.  Everyone moans about the same things:  we're not listened to; we're not trusted; we spend our time in pointless meetings; we’re weighed down by bureaucracy; we hate our boss; we're overloaded and work saps time and energy from the rest of our lives. 

It shouldn't be like this.  Work ought to be, and can be meaningful and fulfilling. 

In What's Wrong with Work?  Blaire Palmer shows how work can change.  Confronting all the big problems head-on, the book shows what you can do about each one, to make work better for you and those around you, now. 

Packed with case studies and tips, What's Wrong with Work? is essential reading for the modern office.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Praise

Title Page

Copyright Page

Acknowledgements

Introduction

A TYPICAL DAY AT THE OFFICE …

THE FRUSTRATIONS OF WORK

THE TIMES, THEY ARE A CHANGING …

THE BOW TIE EFFECT

5 AREAS OF FOCUS

FROM THE MANAGER’S MOUTH

When Work Works

THE ARGUMENT AGAINST A “HAPPY” WORKFORCE

THE FLAWED ASSUMPTION

THE ARGUMENT FOR A “HAPPY” WORKFORCE

THE TROUBLE WITH “THE MIDDLE”... AND THE OPPORTUNITY

IT’S ALL ABOUT YOU

BACK TO THE 5 FRUSTRATIONS

Frustration 1: Waste-of-Time Meetings

THE COST OF BAD MEETINGS

THE PROBLEM WITH MEETINGS …

WHY DO PEOPLE PUT UP WITH BAD MEETINGS?

WHAT KIND OF MEETINGS ARE THERE?

WHAT SHOULD THE GROUND RULES OF MEETINGS BE?

WHY DO CERTAIN PEOPLE DOMINATE AND OTHERS HOLD BACK?

MISSING MEETINGS

THE POLITICS OF MEETINGS

HOW TO MAKE A DECISION

WHAT CAN YOU DO WHEN YOU DON’T RUN THE MEETING?

MEETINGS - FINAL THOUGHTS

Frustration 2: Mis-Leadership

WHAT IS LEADERSHIP? AND WHAT IS MANAGEMENT?

WHY ARE THERE SO FEW GREAT LEADER-MANAGERS?

BE YOURSELF AND GET BETTER AT IT

UNDERSTAND WHAT DRIVES OTHER PEOPLE

WHAT SHOULD A LEADER-MANAGER DO ALL DAY?

THE ROLE OF EMOTIONS

MIS-LEADERSHIP - FINAL THOUGHTS

Frustration 3: Blurred Vision

WHY DO COMPANIES (AND TEAMS … AND THEREFORE MANAGERS) NEED A DIRECTION?

WHAT IS A VISION?

VISION MINUS COMMUNICATION EQUALS DANGER

WHAT CAN A REAL VISION DO?

CAN A TEAM HAVE ITS OWN VISION, MISSION AND VALUES?

TEAM VISION AND THE ART OF COMMUNICATION

TURNING VISION INTO ACTION

NATURAL RESISTANCE TO CHANGE

BLURRED VISION - FINAL THOUGHTS

Frustration 4: Silo Mentality

WHY SILOS WORK

THE LOST OPPORTUNITY

START WHERE YOU WILL GET THE BIGGEST RETURN

GO TO THE SOURCE

CREATE AN INFLUENCE PLAN

END THE GOSSIP

CREATE OPPORTUNITIES FOR CROSS-FUNCTIONAL WORKING

SILO MENTALITY - FINAL THOUGHTS

Frustration 5: Unfairness

THAT’S NOT FAIR

BMWS

CHALLENGE WHAT IS UNFAIR

CHALLENGE YOUR ASSUMPTIONS

START SMALL

OVERWORKED, UNDERSTAFFED

UNFAIRNESS - FINAL THOUGHTS

Final Thoughts: The Real Work

FIGHT OR FLIGHT

WORST-CASE SCENARIO

IT TAKES TIME

THE LEARNING CONTINUES

Notes

About the Interviewees

About the Author

Index

Praise for What’s Wrong with Work?

“The message is clear - what’s right for people is right for the business.”

John Timpson, Chairman, Timpson Ltd and author ofUpside Down Management

“An excellent, practical guide to finding fulfilment at work. With the basic premise that the only person who can make you happy at work is yourself, and a focus on believing that change is possible, managers and anyone who works would do well to read this book.”

Guy Clapperton, author ofThe Joy of Work?andThis is Social Media

“If it is fast and lasting change you want, this is the book for you.”

David Taylor, author ofThe Naked Leaderbooks

“ Insightful, smart and witty. Keep this book on your desk and refer to it daily.”

Neil Mullarkey, founder of The Comedy Store Players

This edition first published 2010

Copyright © 2010 Blaire Palmer

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-0-470-66097-3 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-470-97615-9 (ebk), ISBN 978-0-470-97536-7 (ebk), ISBN 978-0-470-97537-4 (ebk)

Set in 11.5/17pt Jenson Pro by Toppan Best-set Premedia Ltd (HK), Hong Kong

Acknowledgements

It is wonderful to be able to publicly thank the people who have helped me write this book. I always wanted to be in the acknowledgements of someone else’s book, thinking it would make me sound like I moved in artistic circles. I hope the people I am genuinely thanking here know how much I appreciate their hard work, their friendship and their advice, and that I really could not have done it without them. I also hope they get a little thrill from seeing their name in print.

Thank you to the managers who gave their time and their best tips for inclusion in What’s Wrong with Work?- John Barnes, Paul Currah, Ian Hill, Belinda, Graham Massey, Karen Mellor and Jane Ginnever. Your combined 150 years of management experience was fascinating to hear about and, I am sure, will reassure and inspire managers who want to influence how their companies are run.

Thanks to my team at Taming Tigers - Jim Lawless, Aly Pendlebury, Julia Blower and Ros Munton, who have encouraged me, carved out time in my diary and left me alone when I needed to concentrate. Thanks also to the coaches and facilitators who inspire me and our clients - Pete Bernard, Ginny Baillie, Caroline Gourlay, Sandra Lee, Dexter Moscow, David Pride, Katie Rowland, Rachel Turner and Neil Urquhart.

There are a few other people who have listened to me rage about what is wrong with work and, when I stopped for breath, offered helpful insights. They include Mike and Wendy Wilsher of the Executive Foundation, Ian Hughes of Consumer Intelligence, Ellen Hallsworth (my fabulous editor at John Wiley & Sons), Charlotte Howard (my brilliant agent), David Harris of Acorns 2 Oaks, Sam and Mike Harbord (my friends and opticians) and Catherine French of Revelation Events.

It is customary to thank your parents, but in my case it is particularly important as I wrote much of this book in their attic where I would not be disturbed, being refuelled occasionally with cups of Earl Grey and bowls of homemade soup. Thanks also to my sister Lindsey, who is also my best friend, for taking my calls and returning my voicemail messages at any time of the day or night.

Writing takes a great deal of time. I couldn’t have found enough of that without the ongoing help and friendship of my au pair, Stephie Schliecker. And of course, lots of huggies and kisses to my daughter Ivy Belle who stops me taking myself too seriously.

Introduction: The 5 Frustrations of Work and How to Fix them for Good

A TYPICAL DAY AT THE OFFICE …

It was five o’clock and we were all gathering for our meeting with the Editor. This meeting was crucial to the production of Today, BBC Radio 4’s flagship news programme. It was always held very secretly so that none of the other BBC news programmes, produced out of the same large newsroom, could hear what we had planned for the next day’s programme. Losing a top story to a competitor news organization was one thing. Losing a top story to a competitor programme in your own organization was unforgivable.

We had even, when we had a particularly juicy scoop, gone so far as to mislead other programmes about what our lead story was going to be by writing a total fabrication on our office whiteboard where we worked out the running order of the items on the show.

On this particular day, about 12 or 13 years ago, I had tried but failed to substantiate a series of stories I was working on. The job of a News Researcher in radio includes generating story ideas for the next day’s programme and then trying to get someone in authority to come on the air, live, and speak about that story. Fingers crossed they get themselves in a pickle and say something inadvisable, which can then be repeated on the news bulletins throughout the day. That’s how you really make your reputation and get promoted to Producer.

However, on this day, every story I was working on turned out to be untrue or the individual concerned was not convinced of the benefit of discussing it further with us. (I had heard some rumours and wanted to take them up directly with the people concerned, giving them a chance to set the record straight on live radio … at least, that’s how I sold the idea to potential guests when the reality was more like “Come on the radio and be badgered by one of our presenters for five minutes whilst a nation listens on”. As a journalist, it is always very frustrating when the story turns out to be true but the individual concerned is a little too savvy to open themselves up to public ridicule, even when you’ve worked your tried and tested techniques on them for a good twenty or thirty minutes.)