I recently attended the HR Florida Conference in Orlando. While attending, I visited the SHRM Bookstore and found a series of card decks. Each deck covered a particular topic; one on recruiting, one on leadership, one on team building and one on managing people. In each deck were 52 cards with questions on the topic. I knew that they could be used and so I purchased all four decks and shared one with each of my staff. I thought it would be interesting to allow each of them to take their deck and create educational moments with them. I kept the deck on managing people. Today I chose the question “What three things do you need in a job to be satisfied?”
As I ponder over this question, my thoughts go in many directions but here is my initial instinct:
- A supportive team that believes in the company’s values
- A company that has clear and concise goals and objectives
- A job that challenges me and enables me to see continued growth
Here’s why I chose each of these items that I believe would satisfy me:
A supportive team that believes in the company’s values:
The core values of People First are:
P = People – We care about people; we strive to help individuals reach their full potential; we ensure fair treatment of people.
E = Entrepreneurial – We are open to and initiate new ideas; we are committed to being responsive to workplace trends; we are future focused.
O = Opportunity – We seek opportunities to grow and advance.
P = Performance – We are high performers and serve our clients with prompt, accurate, high-quality service.
L = Leaders – We are leaders and catalysts for change; we anticipate the effects of changes in law and act positively to ensure a smooth transition for our clients.
E = Ethical- We apply the highest ethical standards to ourselves and our clients
When I look at how each of our team members live their lives, they believe in these values and when issues arise, they revert back to our values and make decisions based on our values. This is a win-win for the team and is a definite satisfier for me.
A company that has clear and concise goals and objectives:
Again, People First has established both long and short-term goals. Each team member is part of a quarterly meeting where individual goals are established that are in line with the company goals. We are all contributing to the ultimate success of the company goals and again we are in a win-win environment. We are succeeding both individually and from the company perspective. Again, a satisfier for me.
A job that challenges me and enables me to see continued growth:
As the CEO of People First, I see my role as “the buck stops here”. What I mean by that is I am the person the team turns to when they are stuck. In many cases, that mean, I am the one who has to “figure it out” or “make an unprecedented decision”. Because of that role, I am constantly having to learn knew concepts, techniques which means research and questioning. I am fortunate that I have resources I can turn to and also have been blessed with an inquisitive mind that is always looking to figure out a better way. So yes, I have a job that constantly challenges me and with those challenges come learning opportunities. My third thing that satisfies me.
To sum up my thoughts, I believe my instincts did not steer me wrong. I am living in an environment that gives me these three satisfiers. Am I happy? Yes. Do I love my job? Yes. Do I want to share with you the thought of what satisfies you? Yes. I can’t wait to hear your answers.
Barbara Flynn, MSHR, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
