Joshua
What should one do to remain active in their career and set an example for the coworkers?
Often times many people grow bored of their job and lose interest, due to their routine, however, it is important that we stay active. I was wondering what are certain things we can do to help our concentration and effort to improve. #business #management #entrepreneurship #manager #anthropology
7 answers
Julien Schleret
Julien’s Answer
Hi Joshua,
Interesting question you have here! I definitely understand the concern.
I think the most important thing is to always try to challenge yourself, it's not easy but it's something that I have tried doing and it's been working quite well. If my work gets boring (it rarely does, but I know that I'm pretty lucky) or that I don't feel challenged, I try to take a step back and think about what are the things that I'm doing that are low value added and get me frustrated and I try to improve them. To give you an concrete an example, I do a lot of data analysis and at some point I was spending hours in spreadsheets trying to get a specific number and it was getting very painful so I decided to take 2 hours of my time and automate the creation of a dashboard that eventually saved me a lot of time!
Also, I think that there are tons of soft skills that anyone can improve like communication, presentation, writing skills etc. that will allow you to improve yourself.
I also did a quick search in some of the articles I read in the past and here are some links you will probably find useful that talk about this topic
- 42 Practical Ways To Improve Yourself
- What 10 Things Should You Do Every Day To Improve Your Life?
- How to Improve Your Character Stats and Level Up in Real Life
Hope that helps!
Julien
Jennifer Phelps
Jennifer’s Answer
Great question! The simple fact that you asked this shows you have initiative!
I would have to say when you reach a point in your career or job where you feel stuck, unhappy, or under utilized, you've already allowed it to go too far. Jump into new projects, do projects that force you outside of your comfort zone this expands your bandwidth. Also, continue to take courses and trainings offered by the company as self improvement. These will give you tools to be more confident in taking on new projects and becoming a more well rounded asset.
Terence Cheung
Terence’s Answer
My example of this was 2 strong team members I had in identical roles. They both came up at the same time, joined my team and excelled in the key metrics, both were given more responsibility and excelled. During reviews and 1:1 meetings, their motivations became much more clear. The first team member was like "I've done this, this and this...what else can I do to help?", the second said something to the effect of, "I've done this, this, and this.... what do I get?".
The first team member was interested in how he could continue to do more and what else he could do to help the team. The second was in it for his own recognition and rewards. As a peer, you wouldn't have known the difference between them, but as their manager, I had clarity on who I valued more as a proper example for the team - the first agent who was interested in what he could do to better the team. Again, both were overachievers and went on to their next roles with plenty of recognition. As their manager, I promoted and backed the first team member more as I felt he was a more valued asset to the company.
This interest in helping the team has a multiplying effect. As you get stronger and help others around you, the teammates get stronger and the entire team thrives. I describe it as "working for each other", not just "with each other". In other words, the teammates were vested in each other, forming an even stronger unit.
Jordan Frank
Jordan’s Answer
Tyler Pace
Tyler’s Answer
1. Low Motivation
Motivation is a constant challenge for every professional. There's always a project, task, conversation, email, etc. that we're not very motivated to deal with, but sometimes this lack of motivation can grow and become systemic and start impacting every task and every activity. The tricky part about motivation is that low motivation can be caused by many different factors. I regularly talk with my team about their motivation and try understand what factors might cause them to lose motivation.
In fact, I just sent this article to my team last week to kick start a conversation on motivation and how we can better understand the cause of lack of motivation.
https://advice.shinetext.com/articles/10-things-that-steal-our-motivation-and-how-to-get-it-back/
2. Poor Goal Setting
It is very hard to remain motivated for long periods of time if you don't have goals in place and a way to track progress towards those goals. When employees start to feel like they're just spinning their wheels and not accomplishing anything, then motivation and interest in their work is going to suffer. There is a rich literature on goal setting, but the GROW model is a classic and worth reading about.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GROW_model
Thus, to combat disinterest in a profession, I recommend that you learn to recognize the signs of low motivation and try to be honest with yourself about the cause of low motivation. Talk to trusted peers and managers who can help you figure out strategies for recapturing your motivation. And, set and track progress towards goals. Be ambitious and work with your manager to set goals that will put you on the career path that you want and will keep you interested in your profession.
Shana Sharan
Shana’s Answer
It's important every few months to set goals for yourself, and think about where you want to grow, and what you can do to stretch yourself. As a manager, you need to lead by example and think about what you can take off your plate, to give to other team members, so they can learn and grow as well. This allows you to increase your scope of work and take on more for yourself, and stretch yourself as well.
I also think keeping yourself current with industry/market trends is good, so attend online conferences, webinars, etc. and network with others to learn what other organizations are doing, so you can have a point of view on what is good for the organization you are working in.
