Benefiting at work from Brain Based Insights

Over time you may have stopped noticing those things said or done that damage morale or pick away at productivity where you work. If toxins taint your organization … you are not alone.

According to The Conference Board … more than 50 percent of workers are dissatisfied at their jobs. Even more of the 20-something-year-olds dislike where they work. A full eight out of ten workers don’t see themselves at the same workplace ten years from now.  

Over 25 years of working with leaders … I’ve often observed far too many people who settle for toxins as fair exchange for a salary that pays the mortgage. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Research by Cooper now allows people to rate their own job satisfaction by rating 22 items as honestly as you can … and receive a score back.
 
Here are 10 toxins that erode people and performance at work:

1. Communication  toxins tend to surface when people set expectations that go unmet by others. Have you noticed how people who build goodwill with others … especially those who disagree … often lift morale?

2. Sluggish toxins come from boring routines. Why not start work today with the question … “What could I invent?”

3. Panic toxins add cortisol so new ideas that fly by to fast to get implemented. Research suggests that people apply new ideas more … if they hook these onto something familiar.

4. Cranky toxins add problems in heaps. Recognize moodiness for what it really is … or ignore it … and people often begin to offer solutions to problems encountered.

5. Overwork toxins prevent goals from being reached. Target to win by listing all key goals in the morning and checking these off as they are completed.

6. Accident toxins come from sleep deprivation … and people worry that they’ve blown it. Another look will often show how the brain benefits from mistakes … when people simply build stepping stones with lessons learned.

7. Procrastination toxins hamper progress as projects pile up and people fall behind and feel trapped. Reboot your brain past procrastination that stalls progress and leads to job dissatisfaction.

8. Criticism toxins can lower your levels of dopamine. Instead consider how people who produce more natural brain chemicals … become highly enthused by what they do.

9. Anxiety toxins can steal satisfaction … and block simple pleasures from any ordinary day at work. While stress shrinks the human brain and shuts it down, people who bank serotonin, tend take control of that out-of-sorts feeling..

10. Bullying toxins fellow workers and blame clients for poor productivity. Try brain based tone tactics to reach new finish lines and watch what that does to improve your own performance and adventures at work.

Does your organization tackle poisons with serotonin sprays? Or do fellow workers stir up cortisol hormones that deliver dangerous pollutants?

See related articles:

http://www.brainbasedbusiness.com/2006/07/what_is_cortisol_and_why_shoul.html
http://www.brainbasedbusiness.com/2006/07/what_is_serotonin_and_why_shou.html
http://www.brainbasedbusiness.com/2007/05/bank_any_serotonin_today.html
http://www.brainbasedbusiness.com/2007/05/the_magic_dose_of_serotonin.html
http://www.brainbasedbusiness.com/2006/10/seritonin_builders_for_better.html
http://www.brainbasedbusiness.com/2007/07/chemicals_to_refuel_when_work.html
http://www.brainbasedbusiness.com/2007/08/tone_to_the_finish_line.html
http://www.brainbasedbusiness.com/2006/08/stick_a_neuron_in_your_head_an.html
http://www.brainbasedbusiness.com/2006/10/i_just_needed_to_vent.html
http://www.brainbasedbusiness.com/2006/07/problems_that_spark_solutions.html
http://www.brainbasedbusiness.com/2006/09/10_practices_that_boost_your_b.html
http://www.brainbasedbusiness.com/2007/10/ten_distinctives_in_a_brain_ba.html