From TGIF to TGIM

Congratulations it’s Friday. You made it through the workweek. We find that many professionals are excited about Friday, heck there is even a phrase “TGIF” (Thank God It’s Friday) that is used widely around the world. Friday brings a celebration of sorts that your workweek is over, and you have two days to “recharge”.

Yet, what we find is that rarely do people truly spend the weekend recharging and come Sunday, many of us dread  the thought of heading into the office Monday morning. We are burned out, tired and honestly, disengaged from the work we are doing. It’s a recipe of disaster.
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This was the case for me, Tom Perry, a member of the Thinking People Consulting Collective. I spent years in corporate loving my job, until one day I didn’t. My disengagement snuck up on me and yet, looking back there were signs that I missed that were red flags for my engagement turning to disengagement.

Fighting my own professional disengagement, I left my corporate gig to focus on helping others create and maintain their own professional engagement. I have 20-years’ experience working with global teams across Fortune 50 organizations and I now find energy and engagement through working with others. Do I dare admit that come Friday, I am a little sad that I won’t be working with my clients for two days. I find myself Sunday night, looking forward to the coming week.

Yet, I have also found that this isn’t the case for many. For a lot of you, most of you, come Sunday, you dread going to work the next day. The reality is that the vast majority of Americans hate Monday not because it’s the beginning of the work-week, but because their lack of enthusiasm at their j-o-b.
I know that employee engagement has become the holy grail of culture design for many companies. Each year, Gallop (the gatekeepers of employee engagement): releases a survey around professional engagement on the job, and year-after-year the results are staggering

70% of those surveyed say they are unhappy on the job – they’re either disengaged (not giving their all) or actively disengaged (consciously not contributing) employees.

I spend my time working 1:1 with professionals to help them stay out of this 70% statistic. When working with me, I offer several pieces of advice to my clients, and I would like to share some of this advice with you.

 When thinking of your professional story and engagement, I encourage you to:

• Know your “Professional Story” What’s that you might ask?  You can think about it in a couple ways. It’s not only your elevator pitch highlighting your strengths/interests, but it’s really knowing (and articulating) what makes you “tick” professionally.  The most commonly asked question in any interview (from the informational to the intense in-person) is “So tell me about yourself?”  The VAST majority of professionals don’t know how to answer this simple question in an inspiring, confident, and impactful way. 

I recommend you paint-a-picture of who you are professionally, highlighting your previous paths, your home runs, your style and your intent for the future. This should take about two mins of time, not even touching the specifics of your resume. 

• Network, Network, Network.  If you’re looking for something new, 90% of the time a more engaging role will come through direct connections, peers, previous managers or friends-of-friends. To date, none of my clients (zero!) have secured a better gig by applying through a corporate career/job-portal (even though that’s where the vast majority start). All found something new through networking. The most effective work I do with my clients is on the art of networking, as it actually takes a ton of work to be successful – especially for those who aren’t comfortable in this type of experience (or never done it in the first place). 

 I believe YOU have to own every single element of the networking experience. No more “Keep your eyes out for a position that I might like!” From the initial sit-down request, to creating a clear picture of what’s desired, to managing the contact’s next-steps, to making it super-easy to say “yes” at every step of the way, it’s the job of the candidate to do all of this work. It takes time and practice but the      investment is worth it.

• Own the relationship with your boss. You’ve probably heard it time-and-time again – the manager/employee relationship is a major contributor to employee engagement and one of the main reasons why professionals leave and/or start looking for something new. This partnership is crucial; however, I believe individuals are not taking enough ownership of this relationship. As a former people manager, I found it frustrating when team members would come to me asking “for more opportunities” or wondering what they needed to do to get a promotion. I encouraged employees to tell me what they were good at and what they wanted to work on next.

I encourage everyone to TELL your manager what kind of experience you’re going to create for yourself (in the parameters of your job description, of course), TELL your manager how you’re going to onboard yourself if you’re starting something new, TELL your manager how you want to utilize your strengths to maximize long-term impact, TELL your manager your ideas around getting that promotion to the next level and TELL your manager how they can most effectively manage you/your style. Having intent around this relationship is crucial – try it!

My hope in sharing this advice, is that you will see that you can turn "Thank God It's Friday" into "Thank God It's Monday". Truly you have the choice.

When working with clients my employment engagement point of view and advice focus not on providing employee perks but focusing on how you can empower your own career journey.
If you are reading this on Friday feeling relief that it’s the weekend. And, already dread Sunday because you know you will be thinking, “Oh great, I have 1 day before I have to head back to the office.” It may be time to think how you can empower yourself to be more engaged in your career. If you are stuck, I would love to help you find your engaged pursuit.

Learn more about Tom Perry and the Thinking People Consulting Collective. 

Schedule a consultation with Tom today!