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Here we are, getting close to the end of the summer and if you are a parent, I am sure you have heard the words "I'm bored" muttered at least once in the past couple of weeks. I bet you also remember back to when you were a kid and what happened when your mother or father heard those words come out of your mouth. If your parents were like mine, what inevitably ensued was, "Well if you are bored, you could always (insert some suitably terrifying chore)." It worked. It immediately stop me from complaining further (although did nothing to stop the boredom). As adults most of us keep our mouth shut when it comes to being bored. It is something we rarely talk about, however it does and is happening. There are certainly varying levels of boredom and for some people, they might not even label it as such. It could be they are disengaged, stuck, unmotivated, etc. For this purpose, we will consider it to be the emotional state, when someone is in between activities and nothing seems to be all that exciting. Be Aware of the Signs Regardless of how great your organization is to work for, there is going to be times when your employees are bored. Here are a few tell tale signs: - Talk As A Distraction – If you find your employees wanting to engage in long drawn out discussions, either about a work topic or about something non-work related, it could be they are using the discussion as a means of avoiding doing something far less appealing. - Internet Surfing – The internet is a treasure trove of potential excitement. Surfing guised as “research” could be an indicator that your employees are simply looking to fill time with something that has the potential to be more exciting. - Finding Fault – If you find an employee over complaining about little things in the work environment, if could be their frustration is spilling out into other areas. - Going Away – If you find an employee taking a lot of time away from their work…vacation, sick time, taking on work or projects in other areas, appointments, it could be they are trying to find some different kind of excitement, somewhere else. What Should I Do In reading through the list, I am sure you might have identified a few people around you that could be bored, so now the question is, “What do I do?” You already know engaged employees are more productive, provide superior customer service, and execute better quality, etc., so of course this is a problem that needs to be solved. So what do you do? You might be looking for something profound, however what I recommend is…simply ask them if they are bored. I know it is not earth shattering on the surface, yet in fact it really is. Traditionally managers fight to control the symptoms of boredom, rather than dealing with the real issue. In asking this simple question, then together you and your employees will be able to come up with solutions that are far more exciting than what you currently maybe doing. Give it a try!
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