If you stay in the same job for more than 10 years, is this loyalty or a liability? It depends on whether the company you work for is a good one or not. What do we mean when we say that you are in a good company? Here are 10 changes you should actually undergo which will make the definition clear. Loyalty would certainly pay off.
1. You accept bigger challenges.
Let us imagine giving up on hard work and challenging goals. Why would you do that? If the company culture was hostile or boring, then you would certainly avoid a challenge or move on. But the hallmark of great company culture is where employees are happy and there is an excellent atmosphere of collaboration, transparency and employee freedom. Once you realize that, you will be happy to face more challenges because it is so stimulating and rewarding.
“Better moods = better performance. Hostile or even boring working environments are not sustainable. Poor work product and attrition result.” – Jim Benson, founder of Personal kanaban
2. You are happier when representing your company.
This is a test of your loyalty and you would change your attitude about this. Look at the old scenario where you did not feel that you were really part of the organization. You were unhappy and this came across whenever you mentioned the company’s name, whether it was on social media, attending conferences or networking in general.
But since you are now working with a good company, you resonate with their values and their culture and you are more than happy to be a good ambassador. You now understand what makes a great company and this will guide you in future job searches.
3. You know that learning from failure is important.
“It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.”- Bill Gates
Do you remember the dreaded question, “What was your greatest failure?” at job interviews? Better companies ask this question because they are more keenly aware that not all careers follow the same path. They are also more likely to have performance assessment, strong training programs and encourage their employees to mentor and be mentored. Now that you see failure as a valuable learning experience you are much more relaxed and enjoy being supervised, rather than dreading it.
4. You are more involved in decision making.
Can you remember working for companies where decisions were taken exclusively by the managing board of directors and filtered down to the humble employees like you? The result was that you did not care or were not even interested in deciding policy, procedures or staff performance.
A good company will encourage its workers to come forward with suggestions, ideas, ways to improve customer relations, office procedures and also policy. You automatically feel much more involved and welcome being a part of the decision making process. You feel proud when your ideas are sometimes adopted and your motivation reaches stellar levels.
5. You have changed your mindset about teamwork.
You may have believed teamwork was just an added extra which prevented you from working as an individual. You may have had your own agenda to work on, your own little projects and of course, your precious career path to follow.
Working with a good company changes all that and you know that when you offer to do some of the grunt work like everyone else on the team, it can make the difference when meeting the deadline. This is what happened to a manager of a large IT project when she drove the van delivering the computers.
In a good company, you get to work in a dream team where everyone pitches in, there is real communication and everyone works together despite their different specialties.
6. You have a clearer idea about customer service.
“Customer service is about making customers happy, and the culture is about making employees happy. So, really, we’re about trying to deliver happiness, whether it’s to customers or employees, and we apply that same philosophy to vendors as well.”- Tony Hsieh CEO Zappos
Many a company has failed because they have not managed to juggle satisfying their employees, customer service and keeping their suppliers happy. Customer service is not just about getting great goods delivered on time. It is also closely linked with the reputation the company has in the way it treats its employees when outsourcing around the world.
You now understand why Amazon bought Zappos for $1.2 billion in 2009. You also know that you are just one of the faces of your company brand and why it is so important to build trust among customers. When customers are not satisfied, the business fails.
7. You appreciate your colleagues more.
In many companies, it is so competitive that everyone is a little bit wary about sharing ideas and there is very little collaboration between departments. Combine that with office gossip when communication channels are a bit opaque and you get a very mediocre work atmosphere. You cannot escape the time wasters, the whiners and the cynics and at times, this can be suffocating.
In a good company that all changes dramatically. You have really talented people at your beck and call. They help out with resources, data and information when you need it. You do the same for them now that you have experienced, diligent and hard working colleagues.
8. You are prepared now to go the extra mile.
In many companies, you are besieged with requests for doing extra time which may or may not be compensated. When that happened, you resented it and your work life balance suffered. You may even have been hounded by management on weekends with emails and pestering phone calls.
In a good company, you are much more likely to be passionately involved in the team and the project. There is absolutely no problem with doing extra hours because you are really committed, so it pays handsome dividends in job satisfaction which many people never or rarely experience.
9. You understand your role in the company.
In a good company, the mission is very clearly stated and everyone is working towards the same goal. Not only that but everyone knows what role they play in making it all happen. You feel fully engaged and motivated. Google employees know which cog they are in organizing the world’s information.
Facebook workers know how all the various teams work in keeping the world connected. You also are proud of your company’s record in being committed to reducing its carbon footprint and making the world a better place.
10. You can see your career taking off.
The great thing about working for a good company is that work is now interesting, rewarding and motivating. You actually look forward to going to work every morning because there are projects to finish and you can see your career developing. You are pleased that your skill set is being constantly enriched, the colleagues are collaborative and there is a great team spirit in the office.
You thank your lucky stars that you are no longer one of 33% of American workers who are dissatisfied with their work and want to move on.
Featured photo credit: Happy Birthday Center for Total Health 40176/Ted Eytan via flickr.com
