The Not-So-Secret Formula for Job Security

Always give a hundred percent, and you'll never have to second-guess yourself - Tommy John

This past weekend, my mom ecstatically shared some very good news with me.  Her company had just given her a 5% raise which was much more than the 3% given to the other employees.  Her boss shared that "insider" news with her because he wanted her to know how much he appreciated her doing her job AND anything else that needed to be done.  The interesting thing was that this 5% raise only came out to 60 cents more an hour but it was all the small company could afford.  For my mom, who used to pull down a big salary working in HR at a large defense contractor, the raise was very small but for her, the recognition made all the difference in the world.

While some say our Great Recession is coming to an end, there are still a ton of people out of work and others who still fear the dreaded pink slip.  What if I told you the secret to keeping that job or showing you're qualified for a better one was a simple formula?  Would you implement it?  I hope so.  Here it is:

Do the job you were hired to do to 100% completion and then look for something else to do.

Simple isn't it?  Then why don't more people do it?

Most people I speak with view work as an entitlement.  When something is an entitlement, it also becomes something that we take for granted.  When something is taken for granted, our attitudes toward it change to one of expectation.  Before we know it, we look at our job or employer as our adversary and it's our job to do as little as possible to get by and then live for weekends and holidays, only to dread the aftermath of returning to the job.

Before we know it, work is a politically-charged environment where a subjective boss rewards everyone else but us (and of course nobody works as hard as we do right?) so that now we do even less - just enough to get by.

How do I know this?  It used to be the way I looked at work.  It's also what I see as I travel around the country, working with lots of different organizations in both the public and private sector.  It's depressing listening to all the stories, but seldom do I hear anything but whining.

Maybe it would help to focus on the things we can change and not on those we can't. 

• We can't control what our boss does, but we can work as hard as we can.
• We can't control the reward systems, but we can work as hard as we can.
• We can't help that others slack off and get rewarded, but we can work as hard as we can.
• We can't change subjective performance management systems, but we can work as hard as we can.

Do you notice a theme?

We're only a couple of weeks into the new year.  Why don't we all make a resolution to give 100% in everything we do.  At worst, we can sleep better at night.  At best, we'll be rewarded for our effort.  I'm in...are you?

Comments

[Janet Spates]

I'm in - I'm all in for my job! We are 30 days out from live sales and I am excited, challenged and rewarded each day by my part. Thanks so much for this site, Malcolm, I get something good out of each posting