5 Ways to Transform Your Work Environment

First I need to explain that when I say ‘transform’, I’m not talking about re-decorating or anything in  the physical/literal sense. I’m talking about adjusting your ‘filter’, the way you’ve become used to seeing things. There’s a big payoff, by the way, as this type of work can not only relieve stress, it can save jobs, time and money.

1. Commit to the process. Get everyone together and say, ‘Let’s take this on together: so that everyone will feel respected, challenged and feel like they make a difference. Let’s make this company a great place to work’. Be warned though that as soon as you make a statement like this what usually happens is that all of the ways your company is NOT those things will immediately rise to the surface, and you might be immediately discouraged. That’s OK; the process begins with ‘saying so’ and the option of doing nothing at all will probably leave you with . . .
2. Meet weekly, and in the meetings ask for goals that are hard and soft. Make sure to post these goals where everyone will see them throughout the work week. For example: This week we want to ship $100,000 worth of product (hard) and give each other, internally, great customer service (soft). Great customer service internally means responding to emails, offering support, finding solutions, delivering on requests.
3. Compartmentalize your upsets. One true way to transform your life is to practice keeping work issues at work, home issues at home, and to register breakdowns or upsets as events, not as  a chance for blame directed at people or as evidence-gathering to support your self-serving and negative belief that ‘no one around here cares but me’ (remedial assistance available for this topic here). For instance, if you have a terrible trip to work and are ready to blow up because of traffic, weather, a fight with your spouse, etc., take a pause before you open the door to the office and breathe deep. Leave it on the doorstep and don’t take it out on your co-workers.
4. Look for the good as thoroughly as you’ve looked for the bad. I personally ‘wrote off’ a co-worker for years. My coach challenged me to look for some value in that person and prepped me with some simple tools. Not only did I eventually realize I’d been missing the one good idea they had (out of 100), I was much calmer in meetings and other managers, who were also upset by this person, started to come to me for help with difficult situations of all types. 
5. Commit to a continuing learning environment. Select a book on management best practices, or collect great ideas from other successful companies, or magazines about corporate culture and assign readings to people in your office on a rotating basis. Talking about these great ideas in a group gives  a chance that one of them might ‘stick’. If you have the budget to bring someone in, that’s great, but even a small company can afford a few copies of a book to pass around. Training is an investment that can pay off well beyond the investment dollars.

So, why ‘transform’ your office or workplace? Because if you try the ‘surgical approach’ of firing old and hiring new, or quitting, selling, or any other form of ‘quick fix’, you could end up with the ‘same stew in a different pot’. Keep in mind that lives, finances, self-esteem, and your corporate culture are all at risk if you make unconsidered, reactionary decisions. 

Of course I recommend hiring a professional but, if you can’t afford one, start with these five ideas and let me know how it works out for you.