(Re-post - Recovering from #shrm13 - great time!)
So, it's early morning. You are groggy from working late the night before. As you make your way from the bedroom to the bathroom, you stub your toe. After you share your thoughts aloud on that incident, you stumble to the shower. The water is cold and it is staying that way. Great, the pilot light went out on the water heater. So, you text your boss to say you'll be a few minutes late. Just after the send button is hit, you bobble the phone and into the toilet it goes. Um, okay. This day has to get better, right?
I feel like screaming even just reading back what I just wrote. What a frustrating start to the day! Unfortunately, while the circumstances may be different (I hope!) each day, many experience that desperate frustration, but not at home. It's usually the place of employment that causes angst for us. As you walk in the door, those "oh no" issues hit you like Chase Utley up to bat. Haven't you had those days where after 20 minutes of being at work, you reach for your keys and debate making a break for it?
If you find that you are not alone in your workplace in having this perspective more often than should be, then there is a problem. So, what do you do? Simple, take action.
Seek out your manager and ask him/her to lunch. Let's face it, if you want a willing ear, a meal is a great way to do it. If your manager is the problem, then ask for the superior above that person to grab coffee with you. Try to do it outside of the office. Find neutral territory.
Make a decision not to complain but to be constructive. The fact that you want to make work better shows that you care. Embrace that perspective, but choose your words carefully. Share your heart with your supervisor, which means both negative and positive. You are addressing with your boss how you are feeling; this is different than saying, "everyone feels that work stinks." Don't raise barriers but work to build a bridge.
These words are not meant to be trite. There is a great benefit to being humble in presentation. You want things to be different. Processes and procedures need help, so share what you see. You are doing it to make things better; don't just wait for change to happen somehow.
A miracle doesn't happen everyday. Haven't you closed your eyes after another issue passes your desk in the hopes that when you re-open them, there would be a difference in what you see? Man, that disappointment is real, isn't it? So, you be the miracle. Make a difference in the growth of your company today.
