Commit To Being Happy At Work In 2020

I hope you have enjoyed a good Holiday season. They say December is supposed to be the season of joy, and I hope that rang true for you and your families.

This year over the Holidays, my family and I took part in the ‘Adopt A Soldier’ program through St. John’s Academy. 

We invited two cadets to our holiday who are currently in the final stages of their time at St John’s, and are preparing to deploy overseas. 

While we’re all moving into a new season with the new year, these cadets are getting ready to completely uproot their lives and begin an entirely new chapter.

I asked them if this was something that they were anxious or worried about, and both said that their preparation and training gave them the confidence to proceed into the unknown without fear. 

This got me thinking: When the planning is right, and you can trust in your preparation, it makes it that much easier to successfully execute your plan.

Without a plan, things tend to fall apart quickly. 

This ties in with my theme for this month’s newsletter, and while we’re not preparing to enter into an environment as stressful as these two soldiers, going into the new year you need a plan that can be executed. 

A plan that results in you being happy at work, and where you work.

It could start with something as simple as planning a team outing once a quarter to bring everyone closer together and help everyone cross the bridge from “coworkers” to “team”

Or it could be something much more drastic like beginning to establish and communicate the culture you want to set for your team by rewriting your company values and making them a public fixture of your team.

This year, before you return to work in the New Year, commit to being happy at work, and where you work. 

We hear so much emphasis on New Year’s Resolutions, and while improving work performance is often a focus of many New Year Resolutions, many people don’t think to focus on improving their moodat work.

I’m not saying to lie to yourself, or trick yourself into being a fake happy at work. I mean make a concrete plan to make positive changes within your team that will in turn make you happier at work.

Not too long ago I wrote about the health of the culture in your office starting at the top, and how you need to set the tone for the changes you want to make within your organization? The same is true in regards to improving the mood and morale of everyone in your team.

It starts with you being fired up for work every day.

Renowned artist Andy Warhol once said, “They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” 

While making changes to improve the culture and mood within your team will certainly improve morale, more importantly, it will also improve performance and create a domino-like effect that continues throughout the year and sees your team grow and improve through this newly established culture.

You as a leader have to make the changes that will set the standard for your team at the start of the new year, and set them up for the best year possible.

• Set the tone for your organization.
• Lead by example.
• Begin to make the changes to your office that you’ve been planning for longer than you remember. 

If you want something to change, you as a leader must take charge and make the change yourself. From the idea phase, all the way through implementation and finally the follow-up phase. 

It starts with you.

Again, before getting too far into the new year I want to challenge you to assess your culture within your workplace. Identify where you feel things could be improved, and where you feel things should be changed. 

Most importantly, make a tangible plan for how you intend to go about making these changes within your team to set everyone up to enjoy coming in to work every day.

As I've said before: "We live too much life at work to be unhappy there."

As always, if you need guidance in making the vision for your team a reality, don’t hesitate to reach out to me via email.

I hope you’ve been seeing value in my weekly blog. I look forward to continuing to help grow and develop your office culture, and wish you and your families a great start to 2020.