Written by: Sarah Needham, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Not happy at work? It’s time to re-design your work environment!
You have more influence to change your working environment than you realise.
We often cannot see what is in our power & therefore feel powerless to make the changes we can make, those things within our control.
When we feel unhappy or uncomfortable at work one of our basic needs to enable us to thrive are not being met.
A basic need should be fairly easy to solve since we all have them...right?
Perhaps?
Identifying the need is often the tricky bit since we do not get taught this in school. It is one of those uncomfortable things which is often difficult to put words around.
The top six enablers to help you to re-design your work environment starting TODAY are:
1. Identify what is missing or what makes you feel uncomfortable at work & permit yourself to talk about it.
Start by noting down for yourself when you feel uncomfortable at work & look for patterns. Also note down when you feel engaged, motivated, excited & again look for the patterns.
If you do not know what you need to ask for to enable you to thrive how can you expect your boss, your colleagues or anyone else to be able to see it clearly for you, let alone make it happen?! Always start the sentence with ‘I’ own what it is you are talking about.
For example: “ I have been feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the situation on Project x. Can we create some time together to discuss my ideas & brainstorm together how we move forward?” Or “I feel uncomfortable with how the team is working together right now, I would like to understand how you see it.”
2. Learn to talk about what you can do!
Know your strengths well & talk about them. Ask others for feedback. Give others appreciation & feedback on their strengths.
Start the next conversation with your boss with the sentence, ‘How could I create more value for the team using my strengths of… (fill in your strengths here)...?’ See what happens.
3. Re-design your work relationships so that you can thrive.
Get clear on which are your key relationships at work & invest time in building the relationship intentionally with that person or group. Tell them about what is important to you, tell them about how you want to work together & ask them what they need from you.
For example: “How can we support each other better?”
4. Create clear boundaries to work within & stick to them.
Sometimes the boundaries we need to enable us to perform at our best are called non-negotiables. Often we end up working longer & longer hours, not saying NO to things we know we should or compromising on our health & well-being to get stuff done.
To be seen by others as… (reliable, trustworthy etc... fill in the blank)... There is always a valid reason for doing more & more but no one else has the responsibility to look after yourself. Only you can choose to do it.
So what are the boundaries you want to put in place so you can thrive?
5. Look for tweaks to your role to have more fun.
You can always find small ways to redefine your role to have more fun. Be clear if a new project interests you & WHY. Talk about what you are passionate about, ask questions about topics that interest you, even if they are currently outside of your scope.
“I am interested in Project X is there any chance I can bring value to the project with my perspectives or skills?”
Or if you are passionate about equality, for example, then set up internal networks which support you & others like you. Ask for the capacity to do it & look for opportunities for the network which will give you personally opportunities you may not have had in your role otherwise.
6. Find your trusted inner circle.
Often with employee NDAs in place, you may not be able to share openly about everything you’re your partner or family so it is important to create your inner circle of trusted colleagues. This may be a couple of friends or it may be a group and this will not necessarily be the same people year in year out. Look for others with similar interests or something which connects you. Share your struggles & your achievements! This is a place to talk about you… to talk through the enablers in this list!
We all must learn to understand ourselves & ask for what we need to create the working environment in which we can thrive. Thriving is related to what we are doing, how we are being treated & how we are showing up.
These enablers will help you to create more from your working environment than you have today if you are working in a supportive culture, so try them.
If you cannot implement these enablers then the harsh truth is something more fundamentally ultimately needs to change if you are serious about wanting to thrive!
I would love to know which of these enablers helps you most!
Sarah Needham, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Sarah Needham is a coach with an extraordinary vision: “To create a world where everyone feels they can stand up and engage in discussion about what matters most.” She wants us all to take off our invisibility cloaks and share courageously what we think and feel. Sarah believes that we are all unique for a reason, and we should challenge ourselves to step proudly into our uniqueness, our own SUPERPOWER!
As a coach, she challenges herself to inspire people by holding regular sessions on this topic. Sarah’s work brings together her three core values: technology, sustainability, and challenging others to embrace their uniqueness. She helps tech founders and leaders unleash their impact in creating a more sustainable life on earth whilst prioritizing their own self-care, and in doing so, creating a more sustainable business.
Sarah is an engineer with many years as a leader at one of the world's leading global engineering corporations. She is British, living in Potsdam, Germany, with her husband, two adopted daughters and two cats.
