Are you adding value?

There was lots of press this weekend about job stability in the UK. Many people working in the service industry (public and private sector) are concerned about losing the jobs or not having their contracts renewed. It has made me think about the criteria I use for continuing to use contractor resources.

The harsh reality is that doing your job is not enough. Fulfilling the job description is just the minimum requirement that I expect from everyone, it’s what I am paying for. It's the added value that makes you indispensable. To me, added value means delivering new ideas, improvements to existing processes and the way in which business is conducted. It’s an attitude of continual improvement of what you deliver and how you deliver it. It implies a forward momentum in the role, and a commitment to the future.

These innovations and improvements are delivered via projects, so alongside the skills and experience for which you were originally hired, there is an implied demand for project management skills. Your ability to deliver improvements on time, on or under budget and in a way that meets or exceeds requirements makes you an invaluable resource. If you want to keep yourself up to date on what is happening in project management, have a look at the white papers on www.mavencapability.co.uk/resources.html - I hope you find the information helpful, and please email me your comments and views.

Beating boredom at work

Here at Maven we always make sure that staff are not bored with what their doing – we believe in constant challenge and innovation! So it was not a surprise to us to learn from this month’s issue of Professional Manager Magazine that bored, disengaged and disenchanted employees can cause serious consequences to the organisation.

Organisations that don’t offer opportunities for control by their workers are putting themselves at risk of their staff feeling, well, bored and tired.

Contrary to popular belief, boredom is NOT the result of having nothing to do – it stems from a situation where none of the possible things a person can realistically do appeals to them. Research suggests that the most boredom-inducing parts of a job are those that are repetitive and routine or that under utilise the skills or abilities of an individual.

How can an organisation beat boredom, then?

Some simple steps can go a long way. Giving employees control and autonomy over their work will help them feel more responsible for it, more trusted by the organisation and, therefore, more appreciated – and it’s a well-known fact that people like to make their superiors proud, so they’ll work with more excitement and be less prone to not caring about what their doing. Avoiding or minimising ‘scripted’ repetitive work also helps – allowing creativity to flow will help keep your staff motivated! Long, pointless meetings can also be exhausting – keep your get-togethers to a necessary minimum, stick to the planned agenda, work on pragmatic briefings and make sure everyone understands what you expect from them. Allowing better work conditions also works a treat: background music and the ability to schedule one’s priorities have been ranked high by employees in search of a nicer office life.