The age of burnout

“Burnout is what happens when you try to avoid being human for too long.” – Michael Gungor

Welcome to the age of burnout

Isn’t it funny that in the age of AI we totally forgot how to be human? Let’s go back to the basics and lets look at the pyramid of the human needs. If work is everything, we start to compromise even the most basic needs. Burnout is a way of your body to tell you to stop and to callibrate yourself before it’s too late.

What is burnout?

Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and often physical exhaustion brought on by prolonged or repeated stress. Though it’s most often caused by problems at work, it can also appear in other areas of life, such as parenting, caretaking, or romantic relationships. From Psychology today

Why so many of us and at such young ages are getting burnt out?

1 – Social media and the age of “you can have it all”.

Spoiler alert: no you can’t! We all have 24h and as per the basic pyramid of needs, we need rest. The brain doesn’t function properly without proper rest. If you go to bed thinking about work and the kids and all the things you haven’t done, you are not allowing yourself to decompress and actually rest.

We see all this self-made millionaires in silicon valley who advocate just a few hours sleep if you want to be successful. Well, what does success mean to you? If it’s burn out, you are on the right path.

2 – High expectations

Expectations have never been higher than before, not just those from society on you, but those you hold on yourself (oh boy, am I guilty of this one!). You have to be the acing your career, you have to be the best husband / wife, the best parent and attend everything your kids do at school and volunteer at school and in your local community and and and.

I remember my parents going to work and never bringing any work home. They did what was in the contract, no more, no less. Then we were told if you go to university you will get a good job and feel something you feel proud of. We mold our identity on the job title we have. Our ego’s feel amazing about it. You continuously compare yourself to others and your expectations keep on going higher and higher.

3 – The biggest lie of the century: multi-tasking

We have devices all over, 24/7 notifications demanding our attention, at the same time as emails keep on coming at the speed of light, and meetings because we have teams around the globe, and the kids can’t open the cooking jar and your other half doesn’t know where the car keys are. Our brains are not geared for this. If you keep on jumping from one task to the next and back again you are just burning yourself. There is nothing more restorative than a few hours of mindful focus. Focus on 1 thing and get it done. Is this how we function? Hell no.

I could add so many other reasons, so many in fact I could write a whole book about it.

What can we do about it?

Spoiler: The below lines are just a bunch of common sense but I still feel like adding them to remind ourselves.

Just say no

Practice with me: No. Not maybe, No. If your kid wants the 10th chocolate what do you say? No. That’s the no I’m after. No

Say no to everything which is not priority for you. Say no to your boss, say no to your colleagues, say no to your partners, say no to your kids. Prioritize where you say yes. And the first yes you need to use is for yourself. Yes am I going to take care of myself. Yes my rest is priority and I’m going to drop everything else during this slot which is not rest. (I wrote quite a lot about this in the “frog & the pan“)

Let the small fires burn, someone else can deal with them or they will burn and not need any action on them. You might even be more respected for having said No.

If you burn out there is no going back to your old self. What will you get from work? A pat in your back? They will move on without you, but you ruined your life. These days there are some leaders who really believe that the work you do is the reward you seek, that you feel fulfilled in doing what you do. And a lot of us might actually believe it! Remember this, if you get seriously ill there will be no going back.

Find ways to decompress

We are not made to be sitting with our butts for 12h in a row. We need to keep active and in contact with nature. So get out there and go for a quick walk in your local park. Join a class, whatever rocks your boat and works for you! There is a point where the brain is not productive anymore, so you will just be spending more hours to do something you could do in less than 1h if you had a well-rested mind. Stress is also a killer of creativity, which all companies need anyway (I wrote about it here). Find a slot that works for you and use it to restore some energy back in your brain. Book a meeting with yourself and do what you need to do.

Connect with others

We evolved close to others, it’s core to our survival throughout history. So you need to prioritize meaningful connections, either with your family, your friends, or those that you relate to (e.g. common interests). Talk with someone on how you feel, this might help you gain the clarity of mind to understand how deep in a hole you actually are (others might see it more clearly than ourselves).

Be the example you seek

Well someone has to stop it, especially if you have at least 1 person you are responsible for in your job, be the example. Lead with empathy, encourage others to turn off and unplug when they need to unplug and have their back. Wouldn’t it be amazing if at least every 1 person looked after just another person in the company?

Further reading:

Burnout

https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/mental-health-issues/stress/

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/jun/08/a-career-change-saved-my-life-the-people-who-built-better-lives-after-burnout

And before I end, a great video that sums it all.

Quiet quitting

After the last 1 year ish of great resignation, we are reaching the phase of quiet quitting.

What is quiet quitting?

Well in few words is doing just the bare minimum expected of your role to keep afloat. No more chasing the carrot and no putting of extra hours.

sourced from: https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/slang/what-does-quiet-quitting-mean

Is quiet quitting good or bad?

Well, as everything in life depends on the perspective.

From the employee angle

Again depends on the perspective. What is the reason behind it? Is it to search a more balanced life and be able to focus on other important milestones outside work? I don’t think this would be a bad thing. In fact I do believe we should all search for a more balanced life. In the last few years most of us were unable to really turn off from work as work and home merged together as under the same roof. We tended to work much longer hours and reach a special burnout, where we felt overwhelmed by the whole circunstances, not knowing when it would be allowed or safe to have “normal life” again, plus ending up longer meetings, longer hours. Is it bad to reassess that maybe enough is enough and establish some boundaries? I personally don’t think so.

However, if this is coming from an angle of disappointment in one’s role or career, well not so good. The reality is we need motivation to pack those hours, even the expected 8h. For most of us, there is a really high insecurity about the next few years ahead and don’t even attempt to look into your energy bill. For those that didn’t took advantage of the great resignation now it’s starts to become too late. Too late to risk to go into a new role when security is all that matters: can I pay my mortagage? Can I afford to warm up my house? Can I buy the food we need for the family? In the balance of it all, people will be more willing to face another Monday (or dragging through it) than risk becoming unemployed.

From the companies point of view

Why is your team quiet quitting? Why don’t they feel energized to come to work? Are you giving them opportunities for development and growth? Do you actually care if they succeed? The reality is while there were a lot of people moving about, it’s quite expensive to train new people and get them up to speed. If your existing team on the ground is just ticking the boxes just to go by another day, you will soon enough face a loss in terms of creativity and new ideas which you will need to face upcoming times of uncertainty. The cost of not doing anything will be much higher than try to fix the problems at the source. You might not win the first battle, but you might be able to win the war.

Food for thought

Ultimately I’m a firm believes that most companies would benefit of a good “Marie Kondo” round of decluttering. There are processes and technologies which could be improved, meetings that could be cut. With people returning to the office – at least on a hybrid basis – there is also opportunity to foster those energizing opportunities and get them to think about ways to improve the team’s performance. Leave them room to think and raise their ideas.

Also revisit how accomplishments are being done at your company. Raise your hand if there’s always an element of: “these team was amazing because they worked every single weekend to get this done.”

Why did they had to work on the weekend to get it done? What’s failing? Those are the pressing questions to be asked. It should be: “this team did an amazing job and they managed to logoff at 17h00 to be with their families.”

Whereas some positive stress is needed I think we’ve passed beyond all of that. There is quite something quiet quitting is telling us, and that is perhaps is time to think once and for all how we work together. As leaders you are responsible to ensure you have a healthy team that feels energized to contribute their best ideas for the company to continue to develop. After all, companies are nothing more than a collective of employees, if all of them start to quiet quit there will be no bonus for anyone either. Long term we’re all dead.

Here’s a good article: https://www.bamboohr.com/blog/working-less-more-productive

How to stay sane while WFH

Welcome to the world of working from home. We should all be experts by now given it’s been more than 1 year right? Some people are looking forward to be back in the office and have human interactions again while others are more than happy to continue like this.

From my side, I had already worked from home quite a lot in the past prior to becoming the new normal, especially as I used to travel weekly so the Friday was from home and sometimes I would try to squeeze in a whole week of working from home. After having my daughter I felt the need even more but I was in a project where I had to come up with a million reasons why that day I needed to work from home and let me say that was extremely frustrating. I see the world more goal oriented, either you deliver or you don’t. For all I care people could be working from the beach as long as the goals are met. I know a lot of people will totally disagree with me on this.

Ok, I really want to eleborate a bit more here. I do believe if companies give you flexibility – e.g. if you need to work from home providing your goals and those of your team are not impacted, then you can – then you will also end up giving flexibility back to the company – e.g. cram in weekend work due to a very important deadline. They can’t be one sided only otherwise you’ll just end up with frustration. If you don’t trust the people on your team to be working while at home, then they shouldn’t be in the team, should they? (scrap this point if the employement laws make it next to impossible to get rid of someone even with valid reasons).

Anyway, no matter if you had experience working from home, if you prefer to be in the office or at home, when suddendly all of us were home it impacted us all big time (and for those with kids at home: you guys are superheroes).

Before I carry on and because I love memes, here’s another one

For more memes check here

So how do you keep sane if you’re working from home?

Idea 1 – Maintain a routine. You would have one if you were going to the office right? You would live the house give or take at the same time, and return back home at the same time. So the same rules are valid at home as well. Decide what you want to do with your commute time in the morning, e.g. you might want to sleep all of it like I do now, you could do half / half and wake up earlier to have time to enjoy a morning walk so you are by your desk when you would normally be in the office. You should reverse the slot to have your food – you would eat in the office wouldn’t you? So ensure you block your calendar for eating – refer to my show to your calendar who’s the boss for more tips on this – and also define when you will stop your working day.

I think it’s the stopping most people struggle because they don’t have to commute back home and then home and work just blend in as one and the same where you are still constantly checking emails. Well, don’t. Just define a time when you will be stopping – except emergencies – and stop it.

Idea 2 – Find ways to make a clear cut between when you’re in working mode vs at home – It’s so easy to just roll from bed and start working immediately but this means your brain doesn’t have the time to shift from resting time into completely work mode.

You can always do like this guy here (now a meme)

Note: I’ve googled this one, but don’t know who owns the original picture and it’s so good!

Ok, maybe not like this one, but the idea if you do something that allows your brain to move between states (the state where you were sleeping so well and now you have to face work). If you could get dressed and go for a quick walk around the block before turning on the pc that would be great, but it can be as simple as having a quick shower and getting dressed, then stopping by your local coffee machine (in your kitchen) and make your favourite coffee and then turn on the pc. On Lockdown 1.0 I was doing morning yoga before starting my working day, by lockdown 2.0 (given it was winter) I had given up all my energy so just do the coffee bit. Before I start working I also open all the curtains and windows to let the light in before turning on the pc. I check a few emails and then will have breakfast before coming back to meetings as this is something I did a few times in the office – arrive at 07, check emails, and get breakfast at 07h30 downstairs.

Once you stop working the same is necessary. I stop far too late so I can no longer go for a walk outside (I do the walk to take my daughter to school in the morning), but I just shut the lid of the pc and go to the kitchen. The moment I live my desk I know I’m done and I won’t be coming back to this desk until next day. On the weekend I put my personal laptop on top of the work one so I know even if I’m sitting on the same desk, I’m doing non work stuff (like writing this post).

Idea 3 – Do breaks! You would do breaks to speak with your colleagues or to get another coffee, so why not do the same at home? I do reserve slots on my day to chit chat with my colleagues, sometimes we even do camera content. The current favourite is to show who has the funniest background. I can’t recommend this enough, but try to connect to people and reach out to them to ensure they are ok.

Idea 4 – Find “a space” that will be your working area – When lockdown started, I didn’t had a desk. My husband already worked from home for a few years so he had the office and no space for me so sit and place my pc. So my office for a good 4 months was my daughters IKEA chair and I would have the laptop on my legs.

Eventually I ended up buying a small desk and moving some furniture around so it would fit in the living room. I know the concept of having an office in your home it’s something which most of us can’t really accomodate, so just find a corner in the house where you can fit a small desk and a comfy chair so you can work. If it’s the kitchen table (because no space for even the tiniest desk) then ensure you get a comfortable chair for your back. I currently have a corner of the living room which has my desk and a frame on top of the desk and I have a plant too. But if you’re spending so many hours, make it comfortable and accessorize it to your taste. You can even put some shoes around like you would in the office (or not).

Idea 5 – Make the most of it! – If you are not in meetings you can have your favourite songs playing in the background and you won’t be disturbing your colleagues and no need for headsets, you might even squeeze in a quick dance! Do you need to make the laundry? Then just go for it. Comfy clothing? Yes bring it on.

Idea 6 – Let go of any perfectionist idea – There’s no time for it and you’ll have to compromise somewhere, so just accept what is key and what needs to stay behind and not be done, because no one can have it all, no matter how many books say “here’s 5 leaders that have it all”, they don’t.

Finally I would take the time to think about what you believe the new normal will be and what you would like to maintain even when we return to normal life. For me it was already clear I wanted to work regularly from home a few days (prior to know this was going to be happening) and now I’m convinced this is what I would like to do so I can take my little one to school and can help out with dinner (which I never did in the past during the week).

Also, I used to use my commutes to read books, so I’ve decided to shift that to the evenings before falling asleep and quite happy to have done 17 books already from January to now.

So what’s your new normal? Whatever it is, stay sane.

Finishing with some home office ideas

Sourced from https://kaylasimonehome.com/blog/tiny-home-offices-that-rock-and-my-own-home-office-space

Sourced from: https://www.digsdigs.com/33-cool-small-home-office-ideas/

Sourced from: https://www.digsdigs.com/33-cool-small-home-office-ideas/

Below the stairs office, Idea by Grillo Designs

When it’s time to make a change

Inspired by the change of seasons, was thinking about when it’s time to move on. Most people just think that moving on means that what we had before was bad, like a failed relationship and time to move on, a tiny house? time to move on. But does it really have to be just about leaving bad things behind? Well, not always.

Thinking of my own career, I have been quite lucky over the years that I never left because I was in a bad place or a in a bad team, but mostly because another opportunity popped up. This is certainly true for the biggest changes I had:

• Was contacted by a London company when I was still in my home country and the first question that popped in my mind was: well, why not? So I’ve packed my bags and just moved. Was it easy? No way! Not to mention it was quite expensive to move. All the savings I had accummulated up until that moment were simply gone with paying hotel rooms, deposit for the house, flights and other moving expenses. Also my other half moved with me without having a job. It was really hard but honestely the best decision I ever did.
• Then I moved because a friend sent my cv as he was hoping I would be flying less, working from London more and working less hours. I did stop flying indeed but not really the travel. I will confess I did regret this move quite a lot. I really liked where I was but looking back I knew I was in a breaking point. It was a matter of time, I had to change.
• The last time I moved, and it’s almost been 4 years now, was because on my first day back from my maternity leave I did a coffee stop to chat with my to be new boss. This was the moment I’ve said goodbye to consultancy firms and went to industry instead.

So indeed for me there was always a pattern which was always about opportunities popping up and me saying yes. This is a very priviledged position to be in, I have to recognize that. However it got me thinking a lot about the topic.

What is the point you start to feel comfortable in your seat? I mean we all like to be cozy and know the people you work with, it brings a sense of belonging and stability but sometimes from a career perspective it means you are no longer doing new stuff which is key to your own development.

Maybe worth saying I’m writing this with the view of personal development and not necessarily thinking about the career growth. Following from the previous post, this is a different angle of exploring Ikigai, Where else could you be thinking about using your skills to bring you a new angle into your work life (and maybe even personal) and where you could also bring a fresh mind to a different team?

Recently in a coffee chat, one of our senior leaders said that she was trying to speak with different people (at her peer level) working in completely different teams to have a better view of what else is done within the organization and for herself to have a better view of what she could be doing and what else she could learn. And I thought, this is actually a really good idea!

I do remember when I was still graduating from uni and I had no idea what I wanted to do. My first internship was at the HR department but because I was good with technology I’ve ended up helping to implement the internal sharepoint. At the time I really wanted to explore marketing and I applied for a few positions, but where I’ve landed was in customer relationship development in a huge technology firm. My boss back then told me I would be a great fit for consultancy, so that’s what I did. I’ve sent my cv to one of the big 4 to see where it would take me. Given my past background in technology I ended up in the technology arm of the firm. Even there, on my first year I was helping the team to produce user guides for all the different areas, as part of that I’ve ended up doing testing and ultimately it gave me a good view within that area of what I could be doing. I think I was the only one of my peer group who ended up having a choice of what I wanted to do next! After that I’ve managed to never do the same thing twice and I guess that’s why I never really abandoned consultancy because each project is different.

But now I’m missing back the days where I could just experiment completely different things to have a better sense of what I wanted to do. I’ll be totally honest, I still don’t know! Yes that’s right, because I know there are so many things I haven’t yet tried I don’t know what else is out there I can try and maybe end up liking.

So really the question you should be asking yourself, maybe for a smaller step, is what are other teams doing in your company? Is there anything you could try? Could even be as simple as speaking with your line manager and find a few hours to help a completely different team so you can grow a particular skillset. I keep on telling my own team, if there’s anything you want to try just let me know and we’ll work together to ensure you get a few hours so you can do it. I don’t think they take me seriously though. But if you don’t try how do you know? I just seriously can’t understand people that stay 20 years or more doing exactly the same day after day. Yes, it’s comfortable I know, so is my sofa and I don’t spend 24h there.

Just because the office is the office, it doesn’t mean you can’t make it fun for you, and surely learning something new and prooving you can do it is a good healthy challenge. If it goes wrong you can always go back to what you were doing before.

Ikigai @ The Office

First let me start by saying I’m a huge fan of Japanese culture, from Kaizen (continuous improvement), to the great sense of community where everyone feels proud of what they do because it’s all important to the community (not just yourself). If I’m feeling stressed out I always try to close my eyes and return to the place I felt most at peace, and that was a Zen garden in the outskirts of Kyoto.

There have been many trends and inspirations from Japandi to japanese food and Marie Kondo. I was chatting with my team this week and I’ve said a few times that I believe the western world has lost a sense of purpose and even mastery (and my mastery I mean purposefully wanting to continue to improve a particular skillset). Do you wonder why the japanese people live for so long? A possible explanation (along with lifestyle choices) is related to Ikigai.

I first discovered Ikigai 1 or 2 years ago (I completely lose track of time these days) through the book below.

This book is available at Amazon here, at Watersontes here and at Foyles here

The book mainly focus on how they apply Ikigai – or one’s purpose – to live better and longer and the more I think about it the more I believe this is very relevant for the our office live as well. Not just for us as human beings but for the organization as a whole.

Because I’m a firm believe a picture is better than words (and same as the kids I focus on the pictures first and if I don’t get it I will read the text after) see below.

In summary Ikigai is about finding that sweet spot on what you love, you are good at (or with some training and mastery you can improve) and that the world needs. It’s all about what makes you wake up in the morning and feel this is what you want to be doing because it has a purpose, not just for you but as a contribution to society. It’s what would make you love Mondays (if such a thing is possible).

Most people – and again please note I’m contextualizing people working in offices – go to work to get money. Let’s face it, we need it. But when is the point where we say I have what I need, I’m contended therefore I can focus on what I trully enjoy doing and maybe dedicating some of my time contributing to a bigger purpose. We get carried away that we need more money to buy more stuff, because stuff gives us status and likes, but once you get them you have to work get harder to get more, more and more. How do you end up? Most of us, just plain miserable.

See this concept of me me me, look at me I’m a special snow flake is recently new and very western. We evolved by being part of a group and I think that’s where the magic of Ikigai begins.

How do you believe that, if you as an individual worked out what you’re good and can do, but also thought about how you and your team can continue to evolve together to make things better for everyone? It could be organizing everyone to tackle a small charitable project (e.g. painting a local school, arranging a garden outside) and then applying your learnings back into the office? You would feel more connected, you would feel you have a purpose, that the company you work for genuinely wants to make things better. Wouldn’t that be better? Would you feel less moody on a Monday morning?

What we get is this sense that you and you alone have to work harder to be noticed, to then get promotion and then it doesn’t even matter if you feel it has a purpose, as the purpose if to fulfill your own ego. I can’t believe for a second that in the end this is even beneficial for the organization. Soon enough people burn out and at some point they leave and with every person that leaves is a small portion of the companies reputation that gets damaged. As I’ve written a few times, one day you are the employee next day you might be the client.

The question we should all be asking is do you want to wait until retirement to be doing the things you love doing and that make you smile? Is there anything you can do right now in the role you have at your company to make life easier for you and those around you? If you are totally miserable with your job, I would seriously consider living and reassess why you’ve stayed for so long and I would sit down and try to find what else you could do to reuse the skills you have and find a new job where you will be able to continue to pay your bills but do something more fulfilling.

No company will ever benefit from an employee who’s miserable, this person cannot be at their best no matter how many hours you put on. No company will benefit from an environment where everyone is stabbing each other to grow up in the hierarchy.

And no, not advocating everyone to resign right here right now because I’m sure there are things you can implement now. For instance I take a great sense of fulfillment by ensuring my team enjoys working together and that everyone feels respected and that their voice is being listen to. I enjoy when I am able to share my own personal experiences to someone more junior than me so they can relate and take their own lessons out of it (some would call it mentoring). If you are into sports then why not create a sports team in your group? Arts? Same thing. Don’t restrict what your work is to the deliverables you have to achieve day in and day out or what your oulook tells you that you need to be doing. Find what you can implement right now to make you part of something bigger where all of you will benefit from it, find your own ikigai.

: The marriage :

More than the name and product, companies are made by the employees they have. Where you have people you have relationships and the complexities linked to it. So I guess it won’t feel as a surprise if I say an employment contract isn’t that different from marriage. The obvious part is that both have a contract to bind them together. But I’m jumping ahead.

Analysing prospect candidates
A bit like tinder and swiping until you find the right candidates. You do some online search, you find the characteristics that attract you and then you book a date. The candidates also have their own preferences and expectations out of you, so they also need that first dating to understand if the relationship can go any further of if it’s better not even to start. So candidates will research the companies, will talk with the ex or the friends to try to get more information ahead.

The first dating
Ah, the most awkward moment of any dating, what to say on the first date. Even before anyone says anything, a lot of analysis already took place: how does the candidate look? Does it seem confident? Does it seem to transpire the same values as the company? Does it seem clever? Worth of the job? But the candidate is doing some analysis too: how does the office look like? Is it the type of place they can see themselves working? Then the interviewer, could I see myself working with this person?

Conversation will eventually start and questions from both sides are made. It’s a very short slot to decide if it’s worth proceeding ahead or not. Some companies offer assessment centres / case studies to try to assess how the candidates behave in a group and how they react in certain situations, others have a long row of interviews.

It’s a highly costly process
As anyone out there having the joys of dating, you will know it is expensive! From the first date to the next ones, it takes time and money. All the restaurants, all the wine, the meals and in the end the candidate might just say no at any point in time!

The proposal
Eventually for the most successful candidate(s) a proposal will be made. Quite a critical moment! For the company, they want to ensure they do the proposal to the right candidate, one that will stay and help the company nourish, that will fit with the company values and principles and ultimately will do a good job. From one hand they don’t want to lose the candidate by making a too low proposal, on the other hand they don’t want to offer a lot more than the market average either. So finding the right balance is key. For the candidate, this is the point where they feel it’s like a marriage. You don’t want to tie up the knot with the wrong company, where you might end up hating your job, not adapting, not liking the team. The other critical point is the starting pack. Most candidates know this is really important, as once they are in, their chances of salary increase would be really hard. Interestingly enough it’s a lot easier to get a divorce and get back to get a better package than be a good partner and wait for some compensation. Just the way it works.

So what’s the problem then?
The problem is that like any marriage (or any relationship), once they are in, they stop committing. Romance dies, no more fancy dinners, no extra effort in trying to please the other. The contract was signed so you’re part of the house now. Companies stop looking into the employees that are in and continue focus on the overall company goals and even defining recruitment targets. Employees end up being trapped into roles that didn’t fit their expectations, that are not as exciting as they would expect when they’ve got into the relationship or they don’t have the progression they were expecting. Suddenly everything feels like routine and they start fantasising how’s life on the other side of the fence. To make matters worst, there’s new people coming in with better roles and better salaries and that’s when motivation goes down the pipe and the option for a divorce starts to materialise in their head: “Does the company not love me anymore? What am I doing wrong in this relationship”? Probably the question is nothing is wrong, but for some reason once you’re in the expectation is that you are happy to be there. You might have something called performance management or motivational programmes but ultimately the effort is not the same. You are routine, you are expected to always be there, to prepare dinner and take the kids to school and if you’re lucky get to the cinema once in a while. Where companies lose, is that the other side stops challenging, stops giving new ideas and new advice and ultimately might ask for a divorce and move some place else, leaving recruitment with the pressure of getting back to tinder.

The Carrot

Maybe because it’s Easter time I’m inspired to talk about The Carrot.

Yes, The Carrot, with capital letters. We all know it’s there. Many of us will say: “I won’t bite it!” Well, I’m afraid to say we all do one way or another. Clever organisations will understand the power of a good placed carrot. But it’s also valid for employees alike, good employees will recognise the existence of The Carrot and try to make the best use of it.

But how does The Carrot actually works? From a company perspective, it represents a great tool to drive employees of making more effort to achieve better results, typically it’s used under the shape of a salary increase and/or a promotion.

“If you continue with a good performance, we’ll recommend you for promotion next year.”

“John was doing the same role as you are now, and look at him, now he’s a manager.”

 

And then you may question: is this correct from a company perspective? Absolutely, as long as the carrot is not only a mirage that never comes. The power of the Carrot will dilute away if the employees stop believing in it. The Carrot needs to feel reachable. And if you think about it, there are many Carrots, little things we throw at ourselves to try to run the extra mile.

When I was flying every week, my mini Carrot was the flight back. Every Monday I would think short term and think about how I would feel relaxed as soon as I would go back home. If someone would have told me that I would fly every week for almost 3 years in a row I would have given up, but because it was a bit at a time and I managed to find my own carrots along the way I kept on going.

It can also be because you really want to achieve something, either be the employee of the month, publish an article in a well-know magazine in your field of expertise. It can really be anything as long as it works.

Though the Carrot can also be dangerous if not used properly.

The Company assumes everyone bites the same carrots: typically money & promotion. If the company fails to recognise there’s more Carrots out there such as more regular recognition, it will soon start to lose employees. Big companies nowadays are becoming clever with their Carrots. Some encourage all line managers from all different levels to give mini-awards to employees. Either recognise them in the next team meeting, in the next newsletter or even giving them recognition points that can be traded by vouchers in stores or some items.

Still I find that more could be done in this field. It’s possible that some employees don’t want a career, that some are actually happy being experts in their field, but still they want to feel recognised, valued and listened. The employee will stop caring as soon as he feels there’s no carrot he can eat. If he’s advise is not taken into consideration, if the improvements he provides are never implemented he will lose interest and potentially go away.

Also, a dangerous mistake is to throw a prospect of reaching something that never comes. I had friends who were promised a salary increase for years! Yes, years! Obviously they don’t believe in it anymore. If they don’t have other things which they value, if they don’t feel fulfilled, it’s very easy to go back to the market and find a better opportunity.

Hence a company that knows how to use Carrots in different formats and shapes that will suit different styles of employees is likely to me more successful and retain them, but this company needs to be prepared to give the carrot away if the employee deserved it. It can even be just by trying to listen to what the employees have to say. Most of the times if you ask them they’ll reply! I would say it’s better to be proactive and try to ask rather than wait for them to tell you when it’s too late.

But how can the employees use the carrots on their behalf? Well knowing the company is likely to want more commitment and productivity, the employee can also ask for their own carrots:

“I’m trying to get ready for promotion next year therefore I believe this role would help me get there. I’m willing to put a lot of effort on it”

“I’m actually an expert in this area therefore I would love to use my knowledge to develop on this role.”

You know what? Be creative and don’t be afraid of trying to throw Carrots at your line-managers as well. Many times they don’t even know how to motivate people (well, they have to in order to be good leaders, but it’s hard to find what motivates each of us). You are the owner of your own career, especially these days. So if you want to do something just ask and tell your line-manager what he will achieve if he gives you your Carrot.

Enjoy your Carrots!