What Seems Impossible to You?

Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.
- said by the White Queen in Alice through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

Change Challenged people like to point out the flaws in people’s ideas

A Change Artist, on the other hand, is like the White Queen and believes in impossible things.  Now there is a distinction between foolishly ignoring challenges on your path and planning for them while staying focused on a positive outcome. Change Challenged people tend to write off ideas much too early, whereas Change Artists take time to explore their top ideas more thoroughly. All the great leaders, inventors, scientists and artists of all time have had to keep going in the face of naysayers, self-doubt, set backs, and cynicism.

Famous naysayers

Here are some well-respected authorities who ended up being wrong:

So what are we saying to ourselves, within our organizations, or in our societies that is impossible that actually is very possible?  Think back 10 or 20 years (to 1999 or 1989), could you have ever imagined some of the inventions or social changes in the world today? Now think ahead 5, 10, 20 years, imagine the impossible things that will come to pass.

Tip 3.    Re-structure the work

This idea is more complicated to implement, but can have the most powerful effect. Many times people don’t enjoy a task because they know in their hearts that it’s a waste of resources.

Often re-examining the structure, flow and delegation of the work itself can dramatically alter people’s experience of the job. For example, at a consulting firm each consultant had to fill in a multitude of forms about each client. Often they didn’t fill in the forms correctly or even at all, causing plenty of anguish and chaos all around. Several consultants said that they hated this task the most, that it took up precious time that they could be selling their services or working with a client and wished they could delegate it.

The company took 30 minutes of a staff meeting to focus on re-structuring the work. They decided to hire a database expert to design a system that allowed information on one customer to magically appear on all forms related to that person. This meant much less time spent on inputting the same information over and over again.

Secondly, they gave the task of initially inputting the information to the admin assistant who actually enjoyed filling out forms and was the most accurate. It sounds like an obvious and simple solution, but amazingly even the most sophisticated workplaces are full of redundant tasks that could be re-organized.

Do you have a tip to share?

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For more tips, programs and other resources go to http://www.artistryofchange.com/. If you have a tip to share about how to enjoy challenging or tiresome kinds of jobs, email Carla@artistryofchange.com

The second thing that can help you find more enjoyment at work, seems at first like an obvious one. However, most people in their hectic day-to-day schedule, don’t take time out to generate new ideas about how to make their work environment more pleasurable.

Tip 2.  Brainstorm on how to make work more enjoyable

Do this with more than one person, if possible. Customer Service reps in the complaint department of a major airline did this. Their job is to deal with angry people who have lost their luggage or had their flight delayed, etc. They took 10 minutes during a regular staff meeting. They took the first 4 minutes to think outside the box and made a long list of anything and everything possible that would make their job more enjoyable.

Their list included obvious things like choosing to ‘partner’ with the customer so that together they would solve the problem (rather than taking their accusations personally).  The list also included crazy ideas such as hanging a punching bag near the counter for customers to “emote” onto.

Then they took 1 minute to go through the list and together chose one idea from the list of 17 that seemed doable which, in this case, was to put up a “Dealing with Angry Customers” bulletin board in the staff room. Then they took the last 5 minutes of the brainstorm to design an action plan to implement the idea. In this case, they decided that each week a different staff member would search online for tips on how to deal with angry customers. That person would post the “tip” on the bulletin board and at each staff meeting the employee would summarize the tip.

When people do not have their hearts at work, their heads and hands are probably not there either. We spend too much time at work not to enjoy ourselves while we are there. Yet, it’s easy to start forcing yourself through the work instead of allowing it to flow, especially when the task at hand is something unappealing.

Organizations that support a joyful approach to work tend to have fewer problems like absenteeism, lateness, using work time for personal tasks, lack of productivity and even employee theft.  According to research done by Dr. David Abramis at the University of Southern California of 342 employees from a variety of organizations, those who found joy in their work also tended to be more resourceful when faced with problems and were better decision-makers.

But how do you inspire others, or even yourself, to actually enjoy a loathsome work task?

This week I will be offering some ideas that have been working in organizations all around the world in revitalizing people’s work experience.

Idea 1.      Start a gratitude journal at work

Many people now make it a daily practice to focus on what they appreciate about their life and their work. This amazingly simple and short task can do wonders to shift your attitude. One overwhelmed tax accountant took 3 minutes each morning, during the month of April, to make a list about what he appreciated about his work.

His list included basic things like “I have a job that earns me money” to “I enjoy the puzzle of helping people save money” and even “I help the government receive the tax dollars they need to support the roads and schools”.

Jan Whiting’s Fun at Work Photo Contest entry won the Grand Prize (an iPod Shuffle) Jan is from Continental Western Group – Rocky Mountain Region

Congratulations to Jan and her team!

“We are the regional office of a Commercial Insurance Company with a staff of 68 people.  We did some “Christmas Challenges” for fun during the holidays.  Employees were to check their e-mail at certain times during the day to find out what that day’s challenge would be.

One of these challenges was to build a “snowman” using only items from your desk.  The rules were, you had 10 minutes to create your snowman and bring it to the breakroom.  You were not allowed to get up from your desk to get supplies from other desks or the supply cabinet, and you were not allowed to use any Christmas decorations that you might already have at your desk for the holidays.

We had a small panel of “judges” and gave small prizes for the most creative snowmen.  Attached are a couple of photos that show a few of these creations. “