Infallible Technique to Improve The Working Environment. EN

Carmen López

Psychologist. Master in Human Resources.

Looking for talent doesn't mean that you have to read a lot of curriculums, but to follow the trace it leaves: An excellent work. Because the most important thing is not what you learn, or the companies in which you have worked in. The most important thing is what you do.

You need five things to make your work exceptional: Energy, focus, time, creativity and an total commitment to quality.

Behind these five pillars there's just one thing: Motivation. Motivation is the difference between the world champion and the second classified. Motivation makes a runner run to the finish line when he has no more stamina left, a climber reach an impossible summit, a creator fight against himself until his work is perfect. With motivation you find time where there's no more time, motivation keeps your energy level and your focus at the highest level, and makes you see the world differently. When you are motivated you are capable of throwing away an almost finished work and starting it again until it is excellent.

The motivation is generated by the necessity. It's clear: If someone is hungry, no doubt he will put all his mental, physical and time resources to satisfy that necessity. The necessity is the motive; the necessity shoots the motivation up. This isn´t new. In the 1930's, Abraham Maslow proposed a theory about the human needs. According to it, the people who mobilize their resources do it on account of a necessity: Eating, sex, money, belonging, acknowledgement or self-realization.

But to find the source of Talent we have to look beyond the necessity. There´s no doubt that the physical needs subjugate the rest: Hunger, thirst, to avoid pain... but in developed economies, these needs are very often covered. Most of the people are motivated by the superior needs in the Maslow Pyramid: Money, power, belonging, freedom, acknowledgement or self-realization. And how the marketing experts and the sales people know very well, the needs can be created, changed or slanted. You just need to control one thing: the beliefs. If someone is absolute convinced about something he becomes unstoppable.

The beliefs are the origin of everything else.

Are you a CEO or manager? Do you want to improve the working environment in your office in just one month?

Establish the following policy:

Each employee should have five kind gestures to other co-workers each month.

It can be anything:

-bringing someone coffee

-Congratulating them on a job well done

-Helping them finish a job, taking a personal interest in someone (and really listening!!!)

-Baking a cake for everyone

-Putting flowers in the office to brighten everyone's eyes... whatever.

The rules are as follows:

1. Everyone should freely choose the kind gesture and the person to whom it is addressed, but it is necessary to vary.

2. The boss has to lead this movement by example!

3. Each person keeps a record of the kind gestures he or she has received.

4. At the end of each month each one writes down how the atmosphere in the company has changed for him. In a meeting, experiences are shared.

In an experiment in 2018 ("Everyday Prosociality in the Workplace", von Kanzler, Margolis and others) the result of this procedure was measured. Those who gave, felt less depressed and happier with their life and work. Those who received were infected and went after the experiment almost 300% more generous.

Friendliness is contagious and the working environment is undoubtedly improved. But you have to be proactive to get it going and make it work.

Put this policy into practice in your company and send me an email telling me about your experience!