Author: admin

What are the values you hold dear for a happy life? Maybe to be fair to people, work hard and keep learning? How do you uphold these values on a daily basis and how do you pass them on to your children, or share them with your partner?

With my Transactional Analysis training poking me in the ribs to be Ok-Ok with people, I find that my values have shifted a bit since I was in my 20’s. For example, I was asked once if TA was a gift or a commodity? ‘That’s easy’, I answered brightly, ‘it’s a commodity – I paid for my own training and now I charge people for my organisational work.’ Now though I would say both – I can choose to give gifts to people, and have done so many times. The concept of Okness has helped to shape my values and I applaud that.

This value of giving gifts has percolated into my business and we’ll come back to that next week when thinking of CSR (not a new crime show, you’re thinking of CSI Miami).

So then, what values does your organisation hold dear? Equality for male and female workers? Promotion based on merit, and not on being the MD’s daughter? An equal share of the bonus pool, or one that recognises attendance levels? Do you uphold honest conversations and promote dialogue, or do you like to hire people ‘for their brains’ and then whinge when you catch them thinking (clearly they are being lazy….no?).

The reason that I’m asking if you value your values to encourage us all to take a fresh look at the values we have at the centre of our organisation. Do we know what they are? Does everyone else know them? And crucially, what do we do to uphold them on a daily basis and not just once a year at a strategy review meeting?

A modern, competitive organisation that is good to work for has sincere, meaningful values at their core and they live them every day. What does your organisation really do with their values, and what do you do at home? What is one thing that can be changed for the better?

Enjoy valuing these questions!

Next week: CSR Norfolk (Like CSI Miami, but with less bodies and more crabs)

PS. Thank you to those kind souls who tuned in to my TA Tuesday last week. We had a great time – with me talking about TA and life and business for 60mins. If you missed it and would like a FREE ticket to watch it within the next few days please email me and I will send you the link.

Do you have a business strategy? Does it focus on sales, marketing and production targets? And also….does it account for the well-being of yourself and your colleagues?

Well-being is all about our physical and mental health. Do we have a good diet? Do we have a lunch break at work? Are our working conditions such that they foster health? Do we have a supportive and thoughtful line manager? Is our workload at an acceptable level?

These are obvious questions for sure, and yet how many organisations really have well-being at the heart of their staff policies and working practices?

I was chatting with a senior HR Director the other week and she commented that since the introduction of an annual well-being week and a continual focus on the health and welfare of their employees, the organisation has seen:

1) Sickness levels drop

2) Absentee levels drop

3) Staff turnover drop

4) Applications for new posts increase

5) Employee satisfaction levels increase

This clearly has resulted in a more stable and more productive organisation and now that the programme has been running for several years the Director has the statistics to validate the Board’s approach to their staff.

So, this week think about your staff and ask yourself if you are doing enough to promote well-being in your organisation. What could you do more of? How can you help people to cope with stress and to have a pleasant, caring and supportive work environment?

Then add well-being to your top-level corporate strategy. It’s good for people and it’s good for business.

Next week: Do You Value Your Values?