WorkPuzzle

Job Satisfaction Is Down: What This Means For You - Part 2

On Monday, I presented data which sadly revealed job satisfaction among Americans to be at an all time low, with a steady downward trend over the past 20 years.

I theorized that much of that decline isn’t so much a result of fewer interesting jobs, as it is the result of higher levels of emphasis upon individualism, and an increased focus on self-gratification...rather than on earning respect through contributions to something greater than oneself.

Now, as promised, today I plan to discuss why you need not necessarily give up hope.  Although an increased number of people in our culture are following the mantra of: "Let’s find ways to increase the duration and frequency of individual pleasurable experiences," you don’t have to cater to this philosophy to hire the best people.

In fact, if you do try to adopt your environment to cater to these people, they will likely end up among the most dissatisfied with their work environment, and never really engage helpfully in work for your company.

If you’ve read WorkPuzzle for long, you know that true happiness is built on hard work, specific goals, and focused attention on reaching those goals built around adding meaning to one’s life and the lives of others.  Happiness is NOT achieved through personal pleasure, until one has earned it... Then of course, pleasure can be extremely rewarding.

So, how does one build a company that is founded on principles that will attract the most innovative, hard working people...people of character?
 
The answer involves two very important ingredients:  (1) Building a culture of standards, and (2) Having recruiters and managers of character. 

(1)  Building a culture that is based on the right standards will attract the best people.  Have you ever thought about the word culture?  It comes from the same Latin root word “cultura” that also gives us the word "cult."  No, I’m not recommending you develop a cult, but they both mean “to cultivate."
 
Central to this root word is the idea of a specific set of beliefs and behaviors built on those beliefs.  There are historians who believe that the greatest societies have fallen when they lost these central belief systems and instead began to live by the idea of "anything goes."  Losing beliefs and standards- losing the expectation that everyone will contribute their best toward the greater good for their families and their society, will eventually lead to decay, and YES, lead to dissatisfaction.

Catering to meet the needs of a self-serving generation will leave you competing against perks and commission, and neglecting the focus of providing the intangible and very attractive sound culture that's becoming more and more difficult to find. 

The companies who will raise the bar of job satisfaction will be those who consider how to cultivate an environment that nourishes and rewards people for hard work and extraordinary effort toward the greater good of the entire organization and others.  It’s been my experience that people are starving for these standards, and thrive when you provide them.

I’ve seen this first hand in several organizations, including the fastest growing church in the Seattle area, that for the past ten years has attracted thousands of people in their 20’s.  These young people are hungry for someone to speak to them about responsibility, selflessness, contribution, helping others, parenting well, and railing against self-preoccupation.

By providing a company that is built on sound principles regarding the source of true happiness, you’ll attract the best talent and inspire others to change.  Only then will job satisfaction improve.

In the next edition, I'll focus on the importance of having people of character as your first point of contact when recruiting new candidates.

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Job Satisfaction Is Down: What This Means For You

We all remember the Rolling Stones song Satisfaction, which is about getting NO satisfaction.  Well it appears that U.S. workers are getting "no satisfaction" from their jobs, and at the highest rate ever recorded. 

According to a new survey recently released by The Conference Board, only 45 percent of Americans are satisfied with their work.

In a follow-up article titled, Americans' Job Satisfaction Falls To Record Low, Economics Writer, Jeannine Aversa, of the Seattle Times reports:

"That was the lowest level ever recorded by the Conference Board research group in more than 22 years of studying the issue.  In 2008, 49 percent of those surveyed reported satisfaction with their jobs," and goes on to add: "Worker dissatisfaction has been on the rise for more than two decades."

Linda Barrington, Managing Director of Human Capital at the Conference Board, who helped write the report states:

"It says something troubling about work in America."

Lynn Franco, another author of the report and Director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research Center elaborates:

"What's really disturbing about growing job dissatisfaction is the way it can play into the competitive nature of the U.S. workforce down the road and on the growth of the U.S. economy - all in a negative way."

What's frightening is that if this downward trend in poor job satisfaction isn't reversed, many economists say it could "stifle innovation and hurt America's competitiveness and productivity." (Jeannine Aversa)

Several theories have surfaced regarding why this trend exists.  Aversa theorizes:

"The drop in workers' happiness can be partly blamed on the worst recession since the 1930s, which made it difficult for some people to find challenging and suitable jobs." 

Some blame it on the availability of interesting jobs:

"Workers who find their jobs interesting are more likely to be innovative and to take the calculated risks and the initiative that drive productivity and contribute to economic growth." (Barrington)

Based on my own professional experience, and far more consistent with the research in Positive Psychology, these theories are completely backwards. The research shows that the inverse of that statement is more likely the case:  That workers who are more likely to take calculated risks and initiative are more likely to find an interesting job, and subsequently drive productivity and economic growth.  To say it more bluntly:  More workers now have that "sense of entitlement" attitude, demanding that others make their jobs more interesting, rather than feeling any responsibility to do so themselves.

As we've shared with you in WorkPuzzle, there is a growing movement away from teamwork, hard work, and delayed gratification-- and toward the belief that happiness comes through increasing one's frequency and duration of pleasure.  This way of thinking has been at work since the 60's, and that first generation of the self-obsessed, have now raised their children under the flag of "individual freedom and self-gratification."

As long as our culture promotes this type of thinking and neglects finding our way back to teaching a set of standards that begin with contributing to the group and earning respect through hard work and good character, job dissatisfaction numbers will continue to escalate.

All is not hopeless however.  Over the next two blogs I'll let you know how you and your company can help reverse this trend and attract those who will be the hardest workers and the next generation of innovators.

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

New Years Lessons From Last Year's Blogs - Part 2

Earlier this week I began building a list of my favorite learning from last year's blog entries.  Picking up from where I left off:

6.  Ben Hess wrote that he had attended the funeral of a good friend, Roger Shaeffer, who had passed away at the age of 88, after a short bout with cancer.  Here is what he learned from Roger (The Benefits of Success, June 2009):

a) Success means making those around you better individuals. 

b) Success means encouraging those around you. 

c) Success means being generous and thankful. 

7.  Your brain can't grow without failure (The Benefits of Failure - Part 2, June 2009):  In The Talent Code, Daniel Coyle provides multiple examples of this, and describes the neuroscience of brain growth.  He has convinced me that I must seek out new challenges where I will fail...if I want to grow.

8.  Do less talking and more listening (Following Up With Candidates In Your TalentPipeline, June 2009).  Dale Carnegie once recognized:

"You can make more friends in two months by becoming really interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you."

9.  Develop The Confidence Formula (The Confidence Formula, Oct 2009): 

Confidence = Self-efficacy (the belief you can reach your goals) + Optimism. 

10.  Remember... your best customers are your agents.  They are the ones who will bring in the revenue.  So, from the time a prospective candidate first calls, through the interview process, and long past their hire date, each agent should be treated like a valued customer and partner. 

11.  Always question assumptions...they may be flawed (Lessons Learned in Moneyball, November 2009).  Measure everything.  Taken from Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael M. Lewis.

12.  Loyalty to customers and clients will improve your happiness and theirs (The Case For Loyalty, November 2009):

“Fulfillment only comes when we give of ourselves to others. Loyalty, like love, is not something you get but something you give. But, like love, giving loyalty, over time, through difficulties and trials, leads to mutual loyalty.  And it leads to relationships that are a profound source of satisfaction and happiness that cannot be built in any other way.”  (Why Loyalty Matters, a recent book written by Timothy Keiningham and Lerzan Aksoy)

The last two entries in WorkPuzzle have been intentionally brief, so that you can take the time to reread past entries if necessary, and make plans to improve in some of these areas.  I have already promised myself greater attention to a few of these items in the coming year.

We look forward to learning, along with you, in 2010.

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

New Years Lessons From Last Year's Blogs

I trust you all have recovered from your New Years celebration and are back in the office, looking forward to a strong 2010.  If you haven't already, it's important to take time to reflect on what you've learned from last year and discipline yourself to make improvements in the upcoming year.

Allow me to make your reflections much easier by summarizing some of my favorite learning from this past year- As presented in WorkPuzzle, 2009:

1.  Surround yourself with resilient people.  Dr. Kerry Sulkowicz says:

“Psychologists consider [resilience] a key component of emotional health.  Resilient people, they have observed, are naturally better at containing their anxiety.  And that enables them to see in hardship the seeds of opportunity.  What would emotional resilience entail in the face of the current crisis?  The ability to resist being swept up in the global state of panic and to adapt as creatively as possible to one's setbacks and losses.”  (Resilience Revisited: Avoiding Anxiety Paralysis, Jan 2009)

2.  Although we at Tidemark source a very large volume of candidates for our clients through the use of technology, it should not substitute for the human work that follows:

"Personal connections produce results.  Work hard at making personal connections and becoming relevant, helpful, and engaged with the network of people you already know."  (Ben Hess, Feb 2009)

3. Work on developing the characteristics of survivors.  As learned from Laurence Gonzales in "Deep Survival":

a)  Move on quickly:  Resilient survivors have an uncanny way of moving through the stages of grief (denial, anger, depression, and acceptance) more quickly. They stop blaming, wishing and bargaining early on in the process, so as to focus their energy on a solution.

b)  Think, analyze, and plan:  Survivors quickly organize, set up routines, institute discipline at take correct, decisive action. 

c)  Celebrate minor successes:  Survivors take great joy in the smallest successes.  This provides relief from unspeakable stress, and helps create hope.

d)  Believe in a successful outcome:  Survivors admonish themselves to do their very best all of the time and convince themselves (despite what appears to be hopeless odds) that they will succeed if they continue to execute their systematic plan.

e)  Never give up:  Survivors are not easily frustrated and are not greatly discouraged by setbacks.
(Advice For Job Seekers Part 2, Feb. 2009)

4.  Look for people with grit:  Stick to rewarding effort in you and in others and you'll be on top of the next economic wave.  The data shows that if we praise talent and accomplishments, we get stagnation, and even failure.  However, in studies where "effort" was rewarded, the result was growth and greater success. 

Thomas Edison once said:

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up"  (Psychology Today)

Success comes to those who work harder... (Choosing Grit Over Talent, March 2009)

5.  Optimism is much more than a Zig Ziglar recommendation.  It not only will help boost your confidence, but will also improve your health.  (Why Optimism Matters, May 2009)

Spend some time rereading and reflecting on the depth of information and insight, and I'll follow up with more later this week...

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Recruiting Women: What Do Women Really Want?

Earlier this year, Michael Silverstein and Kate Sayre, two Boston Consulting Group Partners, released their findings regarding some interesting research on the impact women have had on the economy.  Part of the research involved the launching of a survey website called What Do Women Want? The responses of thousands of women across the globe were analyzed.
 
You can read some of the early results on the survey website, or read a recent Harvard Business Review article on the topic.  As I looked through the results of this research, I was surprised by the overwhelming impact that woman have on the economy.  HBR puts it this way:

“Women now drive the world economy.  Globally, they control about $20 trillion in annual consumer spending, and that figure could climb as high as $28 trillion in the next five years.  Their $13 trillion in total yearly earnings could reach $18 trillion in the same period.  In aggregate, women represent a growth market bigger than China and India combined—more than twice as big, in fact.  Given those numbers, it would be foolish to ignore or underestimate the female consumer.  And yet many companies do just that, even ones that are confident they have a winning strategy when it comes to women.”

You would think that with this much opportunity at stake, more companies would focus their marketing efforts on reaching women. And, it turns out that many have given it a try.  However, most companies have failed miserably.  Why?  Because they don’t understand the needs and intricacies of women.  These failures are important to understand if you are selling any sort of product or service (including real estate), but they can also teach us a lot about recruiting.  Unless you’re able to craft your recruiting message in a way that resonates and impacts woman, you’ll be missing a significant opportunity.

The research on this topic is too extensive to try to summarize in this article, but it may be helpful to highlight one idea that really impacted my thinking:  When marketing to women, it is important to recognize the “stage of life” they are currently occupying.  This concept is summarized in the following graphic:

The research defines each of these segments, including how much of the population and income potential comprise each category.  Here is a summary of each segment:

FAST-TRACKER
24% of population; 34% of earned income
Economic and educational elite
Seeks adventure and learning

Subsegments:
STRIVING FOR ACHIEVMENT
15% of population; 19% of earned income
Job and recognition are priorities

INDEPENDENT WOMEN
9% of population; 15% of earned income
Works the most
Prizes autonomy

PRESSURE COOKER
22% of population; 23% of earned income
Married with children
Feels ignored and stereotyped

Subsegments:
SUCCESSFUL MULIT-TASKER
10% of population; 14% of earned income
Feels in control

STRUGGLING FOR STABILITY
12% of population; 9% of earned income
Constantly battles chaos

RELATIONSHIP FOCUSED
16% of population; 13% of earned income
Content and optimistic
Isn’t pressed for time
Has ample discretionary income
Focuses on experiences, not products

MANAGING ON HER OWN
10% of population; 9% of earned income
Single again (divorced or widowed)
Seeks ways to form connections

FULFILLED EMPTY NESTER
15% of population; 16% of earned income
Largely ignored by marketers
Concerned about health and aging gracefully
Focused on travel, exercise, and leisure

MAKING ENDS MEET
12% of population; 5% of earned income
No money for beauty or exercise
Majority lack college education
Seeks credit, value, and small luxuries

From a recruiting perspective, here are some important questions to ask yourself:

1. Which group of women are most successful in your organization today? Will the same group be successful in the future?
2. Do you know of women who are at one stage today, who could be inspired to move to a more desirable stage by building a career inside your organization?
3. Would it behoove you to spend less time focusing on particular groups of women in your recruiting efforts, so that you can increase your focus on the groups that have the highest potential return?
4. Can your messaging to candidates (advertising, phone screening, interviews) be customized to tap the interests and needs of the group with which your communicating?

As any guy will tell you, this is not as easy as it looks!  There is much more to learn and it may be frustrating, but the opportunities warrant the effort.  Happy New Year! 

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Ben Hess.  Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Merry Christmas From WorkPuzzle: Og Mandino's Christmas Story

I'm going to republish an article we wrote last December that seems to have impacted many of our readers. I hope you enjoy it and find some new hope and inspiration during this holiday season.   Merry Christmas!

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In 1968, a recovering alcoholic and failed insurance salesman named Og Mandino wrote a Christmas story called The Greatest Salesman in the World.  This book was the result of several years of self-study and a single night of inspiration. 

Although the book was written 40 years ago, you can still walk into any Barnes and Noble and pick up a copy.  The book launched Og Mandino’s career, and he went on to write many more books, selling more than 50 million copies and became a very prominent public speaker.   

He died in 1996, but his legacy lives on.  If you’ve never read this story, pick it up over the Christmas holiday.  You don’t have to be a salesman to enjoy it.  In fact, I’m reading it to my kids in the evenings this week, and last night they said, “Dad, don’t stop reading now, we want to know what happens next!” 

I won’t spoil the story, but the basic premise is that a “lowly camel boy” named Hafid gets exposed to the ancient wisdom contained in ten secret scrolls.  By applying this wisdom, the boy goes on to build the greatest trading company of all time in the Middle East. 

The purpose of the book is to share the ten business/life principles contained in the secret scrolls. I’ve read this book several times over the last decade, and two of the ten principles have had particular impact on my life.   I’ll share those today, and hopefully you’ll be curious enough to read more on your own.

The Principle of Love:  purposing in your mind to show love to the people you meet and interact with on a daily basis.

"For [love] is the greatest secret of success in all ventures. Muscle can split a shield and even destroy life but only the unseen power of love can open the hearts of men and until I master this art I will remain no more than a peddler in the market place. I will make love my greatest weapon and none on whom I call can defend against its force.   My reasoning they may counter; my speech they may distrust; my apparel they may disapprove; my face they may reject; and even my bargains may cause them suspicion; yet my love will melt all hearts liken to the sun whose rays soften the coldest day.

…And, how will I confront each whom I meet?"   In only one way -- in silence, and to myself, I will address him and say, "I love you!" Though spoken in silence these words will shine in my eyes, unwrinkle my brow, bring a smile to my lips, and echo in my voice; and his heart will be opened. And, who is there who will say ‘Nay’ to my goods when his heart feels my love?"

The Principle of Perseverance:  purposing to focus on the long term, push through obstacles, and see difficulties and setbacks as necessary ingredients for  a successful life.

“In the Orient,young bulls are tested for the fight arena in a certain manner. Each is brought to the ring and allowed to attack a picador who pricks them with a lance. The bravery of each bull is then rated with care according to the number of times he demonstrates his willingness to charge in spite of the sting of the blade. Henceforth will I recognize that each day I am tested by life in like manner. If I persist, if I continue to try, if I continue to charge forward, I will succeed.

…The prizes of life are at the end of each journey, not near the beginning; and it is not given to me to know how many steps are necessary in order to reach my goal. Failure I may still encounter at the thousandth step, yet success hides behind the next bend in the road. Never will I know how close it lies unless I turn the corner. Always will I take another step. If that is of no avail, I will take another, and yet another. In truth, one step at a time is not too difficult.

…I will be liken to the rain drop which washes away the mountain; the ant who devours a tiger; the star which brightens the earth; the slave who builds a pyramid. I will build my castle one brick at a time for I know that small attempts, repeated, will complete any undertaking.  I will persist until I succeed.”

In the end, you’ll learn how Og Mandino masterfully weaves these principles into the familiar Christmas narrative, but you’ll also get the opportunity to view it from a new perspective.  No doubt you’ll enjoy the story, but you may find some inspiration for the New Year as well.

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Ben Hess.  Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Looking For ZEO Recruits?

Have you heard about The ZEO Personal Sleep Coach?  Regardless of your answer, you're probably wondering what it has to do with recruiting.

First, some words about The ZEO: It is a bedside contraption that monitors and charts sleep states (such as REM sleep) for a better understanding of when and for how long one experiences certain sleep states.  In addition, this company has developed and marketed a personal sleep coaching service which allows users to learn to improve these analyzed sleep patterns.

This product is capturing national attention, having been featured on NBC's Today Show and in The Wall Street Journal.  The product is a huge hit.

Now, let's move on to the information about this product that pertains to your business:  In 2004, a few students at Brown University were sitting around talking about the natural interest that most people have around the topic of getting a good night's sleep.  Sleep medications were on the rise as the fastest growing prescription medication, and sleep study clinics were developed in nearly every major city.

This group of young people (college age!) had the time, creativity and motivation to consider the possibility of developing a way for people to change their sleep habits for the better, driven and supported by the latest technology.

Have you ever noticed that young people are usually the ones who come up with ways of addressing old problems with new technology?  There is something contained in younger hearts and minds- some strange, elusive recipe of creativity, high tolerance for risk, little need for relaxation, abundant energy and competitiveness... that gives young people an edge in developing the next wave of innovative development in almost any field.

When is the last time that you've heard new strains of music genres begun by anyone over 40?  A study of history tells us that it rarely happens.

For example, I remember hearing Bob Dylan (one of the most important innovators of music, bringing the lyrical genius and deep meaning of folk together with the hard hitting melodies of rock and roll), interviewed by 60 Minutes when he was over 60 years old.  In this interview he was asked how he wrote some of his earlier work that everyone predicted would become so timeless.  His answer is at the heart of my point: 

"I have no idea how I wrote those great songs, but I can't do it anymore.. I've tried and I just can't do it."

If one of your goals is for your company to be recognized as an innovator in your industry, then you have to attract those who will creatively experiment their way into discovering new ways to sell, position, market, communicate and integrate new technologies for your services.

There is no question that in any industry, including real estate, those companies who recruit, listen to, and unleash the creativity of young people, will be the ones leading the way to better methods of conducting business in the 21st century. 
 
Allow me to remind you of the ages of some of the greatest innovators of the 20th century:

• Ransom E. Olds (Age 36):  Created the assembly line in 1901 
• Willis Haviland Carrier (Age 25):  Inventor of the air conditioner in 1902
• Marie Curie (Age 35):  Pioneered the study of radioactivity in 1903
• Albert Einstein (Age 26):  Invented The Theory of Relativity
• Orville and Wilbur Wright (Age at first flight 32):  Inventors of the airplane
• Gideon Sundback (Age 33):  Invented the zipper
• John Hammond (Age 23):  Invented radio remote control
• Philo Farnsworth (Age 21!):  Inventor of Television in 1927
• Walter Diemerm (Age 24):  Inventor of bubble gum in 1928
• Chester Carlson (Age 32):  Inventor of Xerography in 1938
• Jack Kilby (Age 35):  Inventor of Integrated Circuits in 1958
• Nolan Bushnell (Age 29):  Inventor of the Pong Video Game in 1972
• Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak (Ages 21 and 27): Inventors of the Personal Computer in 1976
• Bill Gates (Age 22):  Founded Microsoft and struck a deal with IBM
• Tim Berners-Lee (Age at concept 25):  Inventor of the World Wide Web (NO, not Al Gore)
• Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Ages 24 and 25):  Google founder

So next time that a 21 year old expresses an interest in giving Real Estate a try...

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

A Season For Meaning: More on Happiness...

Do you know anyone who has to numb themselves with excessive television, alcohol or other self-medicating vices when they return from work?  Chances are, the person is neglecting to build meaning into their work or into their life in general.

We’ve spent a great deal of time discussing the research around "happiness," and if you’ve been following along, you're aware that happiness and work are intimately tied in several ways.

Some recent research by Marshall Goldsmith's group sheds even more light on this fascinating topic.  His group surveyed over 3,000 well-educated (more than 60% have graduate degrees) managers, entrepreneurs, and professionals (split almost evenly between the sexes).  Their findings are worth a look, and offer insight into whether you will likely experience happiness or languish in your future.

“There is an incredibly high correlation between people's happiness and meaning at work and at home.  In other words, those who experience happiness and meaning at work tend also to experience them outside of work. Those who are miserable on the job are usually miserable at home.

The implication is unmistakable.  Since work and home are very different environments, our experience of happiness and meaning in life appears to have more to do with who we are than where we are.  Rather than blaming our jobs, our managers, and our customers—or our friends, family members, and communities—for our negative worklife experience, we might be better served by looking in the mirror.

One commonly expressed excuse for not getting more happiness and meaning out of life is: 'I'm working too many hours.'  But our results show that the number of hours worked had no significant correlation with happiness or meaning experienced at work or at home.  So much for that excuse.”

I am especially impressed with what the researchers found regarding people who seek short-term pleasure outside of work:

“We had (mistakenly) guessed that those who spent more time outside of work in activities that produced more short-term satisfaction might score higher on overall satisfaction.  After all, we assumed, people don't go home to find meaning; they want to relax.  We were wrong.  The correlations between happiness, meaning, and overall satisfaction at work and home were very similar.  Those who were more satisfied with life outside of work were the respondents who reported spending more time on activities that produced both happiness and meaning.”

I’m not sure if Marshall is familiar with Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, who has found all of the above and below to be true, but their findings clearly mesh.  The below advice from Goldsmith can help you set some sound New Years resolutions:

“These links between how we spend our time and how we feel may seem confusing, but specific patterns arose—some commonsensical, some not.  Here are a few quick takeaways from our initial research:

• Reduce TV watching.  It's stimulating but doesn't increase overall satisfaction with life—at work or home.
• Cut back on surfing the Web for non-professional reasons.  It's negatively correlated with the experience of both happiness and meaning.
• Spend time exercising and with people you love (respondents who did this had more satisfaction with life at work and at home).
• Feeling challenged is linked to greater satisfaction, so challenge yourself.

What can companies do differently?  They might stop asking, 'What can the company do to increase employees' experience of happiness and meaning at work?' which encourages dependency.  Instead, managers can encourage employees to ask themselves, 'What can I do to increase my experience of happiness and meaning at work?'  This strategy may produce a higher return in employee commitment—and do so at a lower cost.”

It’s quite satisfying to see so much attention directed toward this misunderstood subject of happiness.  Especially when we learn that those who are focused on building meaning at home and at work will not only achieve it, but as I've mentioned in past articles...can "infect" others.  'Tis the Season!

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

What You’re Saying and What Your Candidates Are Hearing May Be Two Different Things.

How can a group of companies spend $5 billion each year on advertisements that focus on one message, but be remembered for something totally different?  A recent marketing study has pharmaceutical companies wondering the same thing.  The lessons being learned through this research go beyond pharmaceutical sales, and can be applied to your communication efforts with candidates.

The study was highlighted in Business Week and conducted by a company called Verilogue.  The researchers set out to learn if consumers were able to remember the marketing messages of various drug companies who were advertising on television.

“Does it seem like you hear the phrase 'ask your doctor' every time you turn on the TV?  There's a reason.  Drug companies spend about $5 billion a year in the U.S. on ads imploring people to talk to their physicians if they think a pill they've read about or seen on TV might help them.  Such ads are so pervasive one might assume viewers are heading to the doctor knowing which drugs they want.  But new research based on recordings of conversations in physicians' offices suggests most patients aren't asking for drugs by name.  Or they're only asking about scary side effects, which drugmakers have to include in ads, often in stomach-turning detail.

Market researcher Verilogue recorded 12,500 patient-doctor conversations in 2008 and found only 23 requests for specific drugs.  And according to the new study, … the most expensive ad campaigns did not prompt the greatest number of inquiries.  Eli Lilly spent $179 million on ads promoting its depression drug Cymbalta in 2008, making it the year's most pricey pharma campaign.  But the most frequently cited drug by patients was Boniva, for osteoporosis, which GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Roche co-marketed.  The Boniva campaign, starring actress Sally Field, cost half as much as the Cymbalta blitz.”

It is easy to chuckle at the drug companies for being so naive, but is it possible that you’re doing the same thing in your candidate interviews?  Let’s face it—being a real estate agent can have some very scary side effects, such as working on full commission, going without a steady income, giving up the safety net of company-provided benefits, competing under difficult economic circumstances, etc.  And when a hiring manager attempts to optimistically sell the benefits of working as a real estate agent, these side effects take on a life of their own and may drown out your intended message.

How can you avoid this from happening during your interviews?  The Verilogue study may give some insight here as well:

“Companies can also adopt another proven strategy:  promoting drugs using real patients who also happen to be famous.  It worked for Boniva.  According to researcher IMS Health (RX), prescriptions for the osteoporosis drug were up 11% last year, and sales of the drug grew 25%, to $675.6 million.  Sally Field, who played the Flying Nun on TV, as well as Norma Rae on film, happily tells everyone Boniva halted and reversed her bone loss.  'The term you hear across the board in advertising is authenticity,' says Richard 'Erik' M. Gordon, assistant professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business.  'People want to believe a celebrity isn't just doing this because they were paid a pile of money.'

Now most of us can’t hire celebrities to help us during interviews, but we can use third parties to help us communicate the benefits of a career change.  As a hiring manager, think of a person on your team who is similar to the candidate you’re interviewing.  Have that person share their story....and become your Sally Field.  What did Sally do to overcome the fear of making a change?  What unexpected obstacles did Sally face in the first year of her new position?  What are the benefits and side effects that Sally can articulate regarding her experience?

As the article mentions, the key to this dialog is authenticity.  The more a person can connect their experience with a real life example, the more authentic the process will feel.  This minimizes the risks of the forementioned "side effects," and helps the candidate see the benefits with more hope and excitement.

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Ben Hess.  Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

New Research On Multi-Tasking

I recently came across some new research out of the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, assessing the best conditions for successful multi-tasking.

We all have multiple tasks to execute daily in order to be successful.  Whether you're an owner, C-level executive, realtor or manager of realtors, without a good strategy for multi-tasking, you're performance will suffer.

The results of this research will not surprise the best performers, as they have probably been utilizing the following strategy intuitively.  The findings, however, serve as a great reminder for all of us.

Two separate experiments both found the following two points to be the most critical with regard to successful multitasking:

1. While the best performance is found when people stop thinking about one task and fully transition their attention to the next task, it is difficult for people to transition their attention away from an unfinished task.  As a result, their subsequent task performance suffers.  Being able to finish one task before switching to another is, however, not enough to enable effective task transitions.
2. Time pressure (or a time limit) when approaching a task is needed in order to help disengage from the first task and thus move to the next task.  This time-constrained approach to switching tasks contributes to higher performance on the next task.

Most of us can relate to these findings - Most successful people have done this at some point, if not currently.  Personally, my best performance almost always comes when I begin the day by listing the most important tasks to be completed, estimate the time to complete each task, hold myself to it, and then move, one by one, through the list of tasks.

Ask your best performers and those who are lagging what they do to plan their day - You may find the above strategy to be the differentiating factor between them.

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.