WOW! How important it is that we are concerned about the well-being of our employees, even showing an effort can make a difference. The slightest change can make a world of difference in productivity of our companies. IF productivity is low in your organization, look for ways to make a change. Measure results prior to and after the change…. see if productivity has altered.

–Dionne

Many places attempt to create an atmosphere to avoid such a situation. They attempt to create a positive culture within the organization or even more intimately within teams. There are reward systems (when there is budget for such) that help to keep a team on track. Sometimes this works, sometimes this does not.

What about when there is a conflict and the conflict is so large that it is fueling a negative culture? What to do then? Most places have set up a grievance process that takes weeks to work through… there is the filing of a EEOC… there is leaving and taking others along with them. If unions are involved, there is a whole separate process, again taking weeks to sort through.

What if there was a process that would put everyone at the table to work things out, to decide which positive direction each party was going to take, to have ownership of such, and take approx. two days? Would this be something worthwhile to build into an organization’s system to deter employee motivation? You tell me.

– Dionne

So, is employee motivation important? From this one definition I would say the answer is YES. Yes, if you want your company, team, organization to thrive. Yes, if you are invested in your employee’s happiness. Yes, if you want to be a sought after employer.

You might question whether your employees’ are motivated……? One indicator is to know what the goals are for your team, company, or organization; then ask your employees if they know what the goals are, if these goals are obtainable, if the goals are worth-their-while. Questions along these lines, plus other indicators, should help you determine if they are motivated.

If you still question their level of motivation, or if you feel that the motivation is low, I would encourage you to take action. Motivation is important to a organization’s, team’s, or company’s health and degree of success.

– Dionne Eddy

So the softer side would be everything else, along the lines of increasing productivity, decreasing employee turnover, increasing employee satisfaction, improving reputation, being a sought after employer, having high job-satisfaction… etc.

You really can’t have one without the other, both sides co-exist. Some companies ignore the softer-side only to find that everything that goes on with the “harder” side of business starts to fail. When the softer-side is functioning well, is on the “up-and-up”, everything on the harder side increases as well.

How would you rate your company’s softer side? Are employees happy to work in your company or do they dreed coming to work? Is the culture a positive or negative? Are there changes that need to happen to make your softer side more productive?

If you depend on these strategies too much, you may not learn to express your true feelings. Make time to take regular stock in yourself. If you’re going through a difficult/emotional time, ask yourself how you’re handling the situation. Be true to yourself, make goals, set a plan to accomplish those goals for yourself in dealing with your emotions or a situation. In a workplace setting it may be necessary to call in a third party to assist in an emotional situation; do what you need to in order to allow for your work place to be conflict free.

- Dionne Eddy

You see this often at work as well. When someone finds their true job that fits with their personality. For someone who has a social phobia, a job that requires very little conversation is ideal. For someone who has negative feelings when they’re not the center of attention, can find a career path for this as well.

Sublimation has the most long lasting coping strategy of negative feelings. The underlying feelings are still there, but when channelled in the right direction they can build a whole new person. If you have some underlying negative feelings, get creative in how you can use them to your advantage: write, serve others, make a plan, try things out, use those feelings for your better.

… conclusion to come and end the series. 

For example, a colleague is upset about their low sales and more upset about the success of their counterparts sales. Instead of being encouraged by their colleague to obtain more sales, they pout, throw things in the office, or even start rumors about their counterpart.  This behavior is deemed rather juvenile, but I’m sure that you’ve seen such behaviors or heard of such actions by adults.

This strategy holds very very temporary relief of negative feelings. Soon after the realization of their actions, their negative feelings are followed by even more negative feelings. Thus one begins a downward spiral of negative feelings.

To counter this strategy it’s like with most strategies: accept reality. Take reality by the horns and challenge yourself to overcome whatever negative feelings you’re experiencing. If that means to step things up in the workplace – do so. If it means accepting that you cannot purchase a car that you want at this time – make a plan to save and set a date for when you can purchase that car. Reality is truly in your hands, you can regress or you can accept.

… last coping skill coming – it’s the best one.

Reaction Formation is when someone acts strongly in one direction to distract from and cover up something unwanted in the other direction. So in the work force someone despises their boss, acts really nice to him/ her to cover it up. It’s not only acting extremely nice, but going overboard and can even get distracted by the actions. It becomes obsessive to the point that their work is neglected. They have a temporary relief from the anger he/she has towards his/her boss, but the suppressed feelings build up and conflicts start to brew.

One is better to acknowledge their true feelings and work out the conflict they have with their boss, or any other relationship. Often this is helpful with the assistance of a mediator or therapist (depending on the extent of the situation).

… more coping strategies to come.

Displacing can also go from one environment to another. It is often unrealized by the displacer when this is occurring. For example, let’s say that a spouse is having a strained relationship with their partner. The spouse goes to work and displaces anger or passive-aggressiveness onto their boss. The spouse feels some relief and even feels better about going home at the end of the day. However, the anger that was displayed in the office can lead to many other problems down the road…. the spouse may then displace their anger towards their partner due to strained work environment… thus creating a never ending circle.

Displacement is an interesting coping strategy, in that it is often not realized that this is what is being utilized. It usually comes out through therapy or a third party that is privy to information in all environments. It can be quite harmful if someone displaces often. It harms current relationships and keeps potential relationships at a distance. We can only imagine what could happen to the spouse in the example above.

If you find that you release your emotions onto another after having a rough day, argument, or experiencing a stressful event take stock of your emotions and make things right. Acknowledge to yourself and other parties involved that your interactions were due to outside situations; an apology also helps. 

Displacement can also be a positive, in that you have a great day, a wonderful experience and you displace your love, your happiness, and good fortune onto others (wisely); this is a rewarding experience that will improve relationships and bring other relationships closer. That is, if you practice positive displacement without negative displacement.

…more coping strategies to come.

In this coping skill, one is not taking ownership of their actions. They have a temporary relief of not being at fault; however deep inside they know that they are to blame/ or to take credit for their actions. Another example, in the work place (let’s say a sales position) can be when a person’s sales are down. They start to point fingers at the customers or at the manufacturer, or their boss; one who projects rarely looks inward to see that maybe there is something they are doing or not doing that is holding their sales down and holding them back from climbing the success ladder.

An interesting test you can do with yourself is to stop and think about the areas in your life that you either complain about or are not happy with the status of. Examples could be a relationship, a business, a status, or even a level of productivity. Start to ask yourself what role you hold in this complaint or unhappiness. Look inward, instead of outward (projecting)… make a decision to be proactive and make changes with your new insight.

Projection can work well…. again like with most strategies – it is a temporary fix to a long term situation.

….. more coping strategies to come.