Bad Hires Costs Big Bucks…

Check out Mindflash’s infographic on the Staggering Cost of a Bad Hire based on a CareerBuilder survey… Failure to Work Well with Others and Negative Attitudes were listed as characteristics were apart of their behavior… Has your company had any bad hires over the last year? If so, how have you handled it?

http://www.mindflash.com/blog/2012/01/infographic-the-staggering-cost-of-a-bad-hire/

7 New Year’s Resolutions for the Workplace

Happy 2012! You’ve made it, not it’s time to get back to work! I’m sure by now you may have resolved to lose weight, become more organized, spend more time with family, get your financial house in order, etc. These are all great! However, have you thought about some of the interpersonal issues in the workplace that might also be good resolutions?

Here are 7 resolutions for your workplace to make this year far better than the last:

1. Improved communication with staff & co-workers

2. Making the effort to effectively resolve conflict

3. Reducing the amount of gossip I engage in

4. Confronting others in an assertive, respectful, non-threatening manner

5. Attempting to understand those who have different personalities or views than I do

6. Developing realistic expectations of others as well as of my current circumstances

7. Managing my on-the-job stress more effectively

Pick one of these resolutions as they are sure to get you  started on the right track! Do you have any other workplace resolutions that you would like to share? Please comment and let us know!

Work, Live and BE Well!

Mood Minding…Part 1

Has this ever happened to you?

You come into the office in a great mood! You’ve had a good weekend: you relaxed with friends and family, had your favorite meal at one of your favorite restaurants and you’ve decided that this week is going an awesome week! The first person you encounter is the receptionist, who has a has huge smile on her face and exchanges pleasantries with you. You make a few more “Good Mornings”, with a little pep in your step. Then you see your co-worker who already has a grimace on his face. You say “Good Morning” and he says, “I guess…” and then launches into how horrible his weekend was and how terrible his kids were and why he didn’t even want to come into work this morning. In just two minutes, you begin to feel your great mood dwindling- it’s been contaminated by your co-workers negative mood. Your great weekend feeling has melted away and now you just want to get the day over with rather than get it started.

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”false” link=”term=bad+mood&iid=58931″ src=”http://view1.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/58931/exasperated-woman/exasperated-woman.jpg?size=500&imageId=58931″ width=”234″ height=”156″ /]

That was a long way of describing how our moods can not only change quickly but how are moods are contagious. The actual term is Emotional Contagion. Emotional Contagion is defined as the tendency to express and experience emotions similar to and influenced by others. In other words, it is when your mood affected by some one else’s mood. Often our negative moods in the workplace can be those that spread like wildfire. That’s why it is important to be mindful of them.

Emotional contagion can not only be spread verbally but also through non-verbals such as facial expressions, body language, gestures, etc. We often don’t put much thought in to our non-verbals (or our “verbals” for that matter) but they play an integral part of expressing how we think and feel without saying anything.

In a 2002 study of emotional contagion in groups, the researchers found that the positive mood of a group leader positively influenced a group with the opposite result for the group leader with a negative mood. That seems to make a lot sense in the workplace as well. Compare organizations where those who lead are calm and composed versus those that are agitated and chaotic. It’s a huge difference in how the people at these companies respond to those leaders and to one another. When there is positive emotional contagion productivity is more consistent and team work is more harmonized.

3 Hour Experiment

So now that you have a little more information about why it is imperative to mind your mood, here is a little experiment for you to try to see how aware you are of your mood and it’s effects on others.

1. For the next three hours check in with yourself to see what kind of mood you are in. During each hour, check to see if your mood has changed and why or why not.

2. Think about three people within the three hour time frame whose mood YOU might be influencing. How would you change your mood to make sure it has a positive effect?

3. Be attentive to the body language and facial expressions that you are displaying to others during this time.

Happy Mood Minding today! You could make someone else’s day just because of your intention to be in change your mood! I’d love to hear the results from your own Mood Minding Experiment!

The Office Grouch!

Are you the “Office Grouch”?  You know the person at work who never smiles or never has a good thing to say even when they’re being rewarded????  How would you know if you were? Well, here are a few ways that might help you assess yourself and your grouchy-ness!

 

1. You don’t say “Good Morning” (or evening or afternoon) when you enter the workplace, you wait for others to say it first.

2. Instead of telling others they did a good job on a project (and they actually did), you normally respond with, “…it was okay, but I would have done it this way…”.

3. When people are talking to you, you give them no eye contact and say, “I hear you”.

4. You often say words like, “stupid”, “dumb”, “waste”, “ridiculous”, etc.

5. The mood changes from all smiles and giggles when you enter the room to somberness and excuses to leave the room. 

Okay, this is really poking fun but hopefully this isn’t you! But if it is, try to change at least one aspect of your attitude, you’ll begin to feel better once you do!

Thanks for reading the Workplace Anger Blog brought to you by AidevO People Consulting!