Don Roulo is the chief encouragement officer of Life Quest. He is a life, career and business coach as well as a Certified 48 Days Workshop Facilitator. He travels nationally and internationally to conduct business and career training as well as marriage and family workshops.

By DON ROULO

I don’t think there is anyone who doesn’t value the idea of having a positive workplace. Most people work at least 40-50 hours per week. They often spend more time with co-workers than they do their own families.

What makes people unhappy about work is not how hard or how long they work, but rather the relationships they experience while at work. Relationships with bosses, co-workers and staff often determine whether we enjoy work or not.

How do you have a positive work place? Here are five keys.

1. Communicate Openly. Communication truly is the foundation to our relationships. This is true whether we are talking about our family, friends or co-workers. Communication is a two way street. In other words, communication flows both ways. It should not only be a boss giving direction, but an employee giving feedback, thoughts and ideas to the boss.

It should also be sharing ideas between co-workers. Open communication means being truthful and honest. As a boss it means sharing as much as you can about the good and the bad. As a co-worker and an employee it means working together to fulfill the goals of the boss, while not being a ‘yes man.’ Communication needs to be authentic and genuine as we interact in one another’s lives.

2. Expect The Best From Others. No doubt, we have all heard the phrase, ‘You get what you expect.’ Over the years I have read several studies and seen these studies proved out. One such study involves the expectations of struggling students. When the teacher talks and acts like the students are all ‘A’ students, the grades drastically go up accordingly. They may not all end up with straight A’s, but every student’s grades improve remarkably.

This same principal certainly can be applied to your workplace. You need to talk and act like all co-workers are straight ‘A’ students. When you start to expect the best from those around you at work, you will start to see the change

3. Give Credit and Take Responsibility. Notice I said, ‘Give credit and take responsibility.’ I did not say, take credit and give responsibility. Taking credit for things you had little to do with does not build a sense of team or trust. Even if you ‘deserve’ credit for success – share it and publicly give others credit for their contributions.

Delegation and enlisting the help of others is a must. However, you cannot pawn your work off on someone else to lessen your responsibility.

4. Build Trust. Building trust does take some time. It really is the culmination of doing one through three in this list first and doing them consistently. As you communicate openly and honestly with those around you they will begin to understand how and why you think the way you do – this breeds confidence and trust. When you expect the best from fellow workers you become an encourager. People can sense your genuine caring and interest in their success. Again, this leads to trust. When you publicly give credit to others for their contributions and take responsibility for your own, people can’t help but trust you.

5. Make It Fun. Work is something we should take seriously while giving it our best. Work is not only a place to use our gifts, but work itself is a gift. It may seem foreign to some people, but we should be doing work we actually enjoy. If we enjoy our work it should translate into being fun as well.

About the Author

Don Roulo is a life, career and business coach as well as a Certified 48 Days Workshop Facilitator. He travels nationally and internationally to conduct business and career training as well as marriage and family workshops.

One of his most requested workshops is called, Master’s Millionheirs, which trains and equips budding entrepreneurs to make sure they follow sound foundational principles to ensure success in life and business. He believes to achieve true success it is vital to “make a life, not just a living.”
As a business consultant, he has written business plans and worked to market products or services as well as organizing financial statements for investors. Because of his success in the sales and business arena, Don has been blessed with the opportunity to train, motivate and inspire others. His passion is to motivate and equip people to find their passion and achieve their goals and God given destiny.