Is there a doom goblin in your life?

Are they bringing you or your organization down?

To start off with I should give you some definitions according to Webster’s dictionary. Doom is a judicial condemnation or sentence or unhappy destiny. Goblin is an ugly or grotesque sprite that is usually mischievous and sometimes evil and malicious. So, when you combine the two definitions for the purpose of this blog a ‘doom goblin’ is judging condemnation that is usually mischievous and sometimes evil. The actions of a ‘doom goblin’ usually taking the attitudes of the people involved to a negative state of mind.

Recently I read an article by Liggy Webb, a workplace wellness expert called ‘What-are-you-doing-about-the-doom-goblins-in-your-organisation’ The article speaks loudly about what the lack of engagement by many organizations staff. I was taken back by the terminology used by the speaker in the title of her talk. The title was; ‘How to maximise human capital through effective engagement’. To me this seems rather degrading of people. I state that because it sounds as if this is an accountant’s jargon. I state that because I am a firm believer that any employees are assets, not liabilities in an organization. But sadly, many accountants don’t see it my way.

As the article states; there are three dimensions of people engagement to explore:

• Intellectual engagement – thinking hard about the job and how it could be done better.
• Affective engagement – feeling positive about doing a good job.
• Social engagement – actively taking opportunities to discuss work-related improvements with others at work.

I really liked the way the engagement dimensions were explained. This is because every employee does not contribute or become engaged in the same way. For example; ‘intellectual engagement’ is when a person is deeply dedicated and is doing all they can to become better or help the organization become better by offering suggestions. With ‘affective engagement’ they just feel very good about the job and it is rubbing off on many members of their team. Finally, with ‘social engagement’ they are very interested in others and want to talk to them about how they can make their work situation better.

The article continues about talking about assessing your staff and that they will generally fall into one of these three categories of engagement:

• Engaged – employees with high potential who demonstrate a keen desire to support the organizations vision and values. They are positive and flexible about their work, and will actively go the extra mile.
• Compliant – employees who come to work, don’t rock the boat too much and are competent at what they do.
• Actively disengaged – employees who are not only disengaged but who are also intent on disengaging others. They are a toxic presence in your workforce and can have a profound effect on contaminating others with their negative attitudes.

To me this understanding is key for those of you who are reading this article, which leads to this question; What are you doing to improve and develop your staff, in other words get them more engaged?

I know that some of you may be saying; ‘I can’t do anything!’ Well, you are the one that either hired them or are employing them. If you don’t believe that you can do anything about their attitude – it is on you. You have to become more resilient; you have to become more open to possibilities. Take for example the following quote from the article;

 “The very knowledge that we can completely change our experiences if we address our attitudes and take personal responsibility is not only extremely empowering, but is also liberating and exciting.”

What small step can you take today to help your staff become more engaged?