Do you work in a 'vibrant workplace?'
The 12 Questions That Matter
Marcus Buckingham’s research revealed that a “vibrant workplace” requires that people within an organization or work unit can provide compelling answer to the following 12 questions. These 12 questions are important in determining whether people are engaged, not engaged, or actively disengaged at work.1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?
2. Do I have the materials and equipment that I need in order to do my work right?
3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
4. In the past seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?
8. Does the mission or purpose of my company make me feel that my job is important?
9. Are my coworkers committed to doing quality work?
10. Do I have a best friend at work?
11. In the past six months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress?
12. This past year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?
Reference
Your Boss Has an Attitude Problem, The Practice of Leadership blog
First, Break All The Rules: What The Worlds Greatest Managers Do Differently, Marcus Buckingham
Breaks Are Good
Do you want to be more productive at work? Use breaks to your advantage! (Good advice, right? ;-))
Seriously, I heard this a number of times already (I talked about it as part of the review for The Power Of Full Engagement book). I actually started taking brakes every 90 to 120 minutes at work and I think they're helping me. I know that sometimes I don't take them because something that I'm working on is urgent (ie, I have a bug to fix), but I suffer as a result, because it takes me longer to find the bug (fatigue almost always kicks in).
Breaks really work. Take a 5-10 minute break at least every two hours.
There is even more support for breaks now, I just discovered. Researchers at MIT found that regular breaks are key to better memory. While testing rats, they found that your brain will replay the information that it recently gathered during break time. "This repeated rewind gives other parts of the brain time to process and store the information."
Reference
Coffee Break Brain, ScienCentral News
