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The Optimistic Workplace

Creating an Environment That Energizes Everyone

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

While you can't personally transform the corporate culture, you can influence the workplace climate and create meaningful and lasting change. Supported by the latest research, this eye-opening book argues that our best work is the product of a positive environment.

When it comes to work these days, we're expected to do more with less—but is this nose-to-the-grindstone philosophy the best way to run a business? Alarmingly low employee engagement numbers indicate otherwise. So, if pushing everyone harder isn't the path to productivity, what is? Advocating a steward model of management, The Optimistic Workplace reveals how to:

  • Explore personal and organizational purpose—and align them for astonishing results
  • Overcome resistance and skepticism
  • Build camaraderie and deepen loyalty
  • Increase intrinsic motivation
  • Help your team find meaning in their work
  • Identify goals collaboratively and track progress
  • Examples from companies large and small demonstrate how this people-centric focus ignites employee potential, increases innovation, and catapults the organization to new levels of performance. The Optimistic Workplace presents an array of surprisingly simple strategies as well as practical 30-, 60-, and 90-day plans designed to focus your actions and make employee optimism not just a worthy goal—but a real and measurable result.

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      • Library Journal

        Starred review from October 1, 2015

        Eschewing the "m" word (manager) in favor of "coach," "mentor," "leader," "guide," and "steward," and setting aside the quasi-military concept of command and control, Murphy sets traditional motivational and management theory on its ear. A consultant with decades of experience, the author is solidly in the camp of practitioners emphasizing the human side of organizations as a reliable path to higher motivation and greater innovation; this emphasis, he says, also means bottom-line benefits in enhanced productivity and profits. Urging departure from time-honored but ineffective financial motivators, Murphy advocates overlaying traditional management skills with the subtleties of stewardship behaviors, citing examples from businesses such as Luck Companies and Menlo Innovations. He convincingly argues for values-based leadership that taps into employees' desire to make a difference and to connect through work to some existential higher purpose--a powerful mindset for motivating the entire workforce and one expected by the younger contingent. This thesis echoes Neel Doshi and Lindsay McGregor in Primed To Perform, as does the focus on skills a leader must develop in order to move toward a positive environment aligning personal goals with organizational priorities. VERDICT Including the appendix's 12-week actionable plan for transitioning to an optimistic workplace, progressive managers will find this fascinating book an insightful basis for reexamining heirloom beliefs and evolving toward enlightened practices.--Elizabeth Wood, Bowling Green State Univ. Libs., OH

        Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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    • English

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