Job misery takes many forms - Second Military Careers - Military Times

Job misery takes many forms

For 40 years, Patrick Lencioni’s father came home from work complaining about his job and the “ridiculous” management practices he was forced to endure.

The younger Lencioni became fascinated by the world of work that seemed to so dominate his father’s life. The dysfunction and chaos would lead, remarkably, to the younger Lencioni dedicating his own life to helping those in the workplace, advocating better management practices.

His latest effort to educate leaders about developing healthier and more successful workplaces is “The Three Signs of A Miserable Job” (Jossey-Bass, $24.95), which he says addresses the “job misery epidemic” in this country.

“I got the idea sitting in an airport watching this barbecue chicken place where these people were just asking, ‘Can I help you?’ and looking like they hated being there. Then, this one guy came to work and he was so enthusiastic, compared to the other people working there,” Lencioni says. “And I just thought, ‘What happens so that in a matter of weeks, a job beats the life out of you?”’

Lencioni came up with three things he believes make a job miserable:

• Managers who don’t know you or care about you.

• Not understanding how your job matters to others.

• Inability to assess how you’re doing in your job.

It sounds fairly simple, and Lencioni is the first to admit that while the premise is pretty basic, getting managers to correct these problems is not always easy. That’s one of the reasons he wrote the book in a “fable” form, calling on his screenwriting experience to tell a fictional story of how these three things can impact individuals and their managers.

“Most managers actually want to be better managers,” Lencioni says. “My hope is that managers will realize they can make their employees’ world better.”

He stresses that even highly trained or educated individuals who choose their careers based on their passions can be in miserable jobs. Lencioni says that if people remain in these jobs that make them so unhappy, company productivity will be affected and the individuals can suffer from physical ailments and problems at home.

“It’s important to understand that being miserable has nothing to do with the actual work a job involves,” he says.

For example, a professional basketball player may be miserable in his job, while a janitor cleaning that athlete’s locker room may find fulfillment in his work. “That’s the thing about misery at work,” Lencioni says. “It makes little sense and knows no bounds. No one is immune.”

At the end of his book, Lencioni provides some things an employee, job hunter or recent college graduate can do to increase the odds that a job will be fulfilling. Some ideas:

• Talk to the boss. Let him or her know that you really want to do a great job, and would do even better if “I were able to get a few things from you,” he says. Explain that you want the boss to know who you are, your interests and aspirations and how your job impacts someone you know. Add that you’d like to know how you can better measure your success or progress.

“If your manager isn’t interested in providing those things, you can smile nicely and say it’s not a problem,” Lencioni says. “Then go dust your résumé off and start looking for a non-miserable job.”

• Ask hiring managers who interview you if they typically take an interest in employees, how the job they’re discussing has an impact on people inside or outside the firm and how you will be measured.

If you’re hearing answers that indicate you will be just another body to warm a chair with little understanding of how the job impacts others or no indication of how you will be measured, then the chances of job fulfillment are low.

(Anita Bruzzese is author of “45 Things You Do That Drive Your Boss Crazy ... and How to Avoid Them.” Contact her at: anita@anitabruzzese.com.)