Rethinking Your Work

Healthy employees are absent less often, have higher morale, are more productive, and have lower healthcare costs. The result: happier more engaged employees, a better bottom line for the business and a higher level of customer satisfaction. 

Recent newspaper headlines paint an unhealthy picture for both employees and their employers. Take a look:

Health costs linked to overwork and stress. Stress and illness caused by work overload is adding an extra $6 billion a year to Canadian health-care costs.  The biggest pressure is role overload—the overwhelming feeling that there’s never enough time to get things done.  About 60 % of working Canadians say they can’t balance their jobs and family lives, and this conflict is increasing physician visits by 25 % a year, in-patient hospital stays by 17 %, and use of emergency rooms by 23%.

Employers fail to respond to work-related stress concerns. Employers identify work-related stress as the biggest threat to their employees’ well-being, with more than 78% reporting it as their “top health risk concerns.”

Job strain can contribute to heart attacks. On-the-job stress can increase your blood pressure, adding to your risk of having a heart attack or stroke. 

Downsizing bad for health. Downsizing may boost company profits, but people who survive major job cuts are twice as likely to take sick leave, have a five-fold increase in backaches and muscle problems, and are five times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease within the next four years than those who lost none.    

Workaholism evenly distributed across socio-economic spectrum. Almost one-third of Canadians call themselves workaholics. Workaholics are more likely to report fair or poor health, trouble sleeping, and less satisfaction in life in general. 

35-50 per cent of disability insurance claims are stress-related. The link between overall health and workplace stress is clear. This trend has pushed more alternative work arrangements into business culture, such as remote work, contract workers and job sharing. 

At any one time between 8 and 10 per cent of the workforce is off work on stress leave. Between 30-40 per cent of short-term disability leaves are related to stress and mental health. 

Pessimism associated with heart health. People who constantly blame themselves for things that go wrong and believe that nothing good will come their way are more likely to develop heart disease than people with a positive attitude.  Optimistic men are half as likely to develop heart disease as pessimistic men. 

Electronic dependence divorces us from family and society. Family breakdown and deteriorating civility have been blamed on fragmented and stressed lifestyles. As we increase our dependence on technology, there is a crisis of “meaning and accountability” that threatens to paralyze society.   

Employees struggling with work-life balance. We’re going faster and faster and there are no boundaries; even if your work is intoxicating in the best sense, it takes over as the meaning in one’s life, and that leads to… feelings of guilt that you’re not getting to your family or to other things.

• 47% reported they participated in “family time” (sharing a meal, doing things with your kids around the house, or going out) only once a week; 27 % said they “rarely” engaged in these activities.
• American parents spend an average of 5.5 minutes a day (38.5 min. per week) in “meaningful conversation” with their kids. 

Do you see yourself in any of these messages? I suspect that you do. We are going faster and faster; in many cases, working harder; and our cup is getting emptier. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to feel fired up about our work when we are running on empty. Even those of us who love our work will feel depleted if we don’t take the time for replenishment.

Some of you might be asking, “What about the company’s or the organization’s responsibility? And you are absolutely right. Just like with the creation of spirit at work, employee health and wellbeing is a shared responsibility – shared between the employer and the employee. But what are you going to do if your company is not upholding their part of the deal? In the survey where more than 78% of employers identified work-related stress as their “top health risk concerns,” only 32.3 per cent of organizations surveyed offered stress management programs to employees. So yes, do what you can to make your employer accountable. At the same time, make self-care a priority. After all, you and your loved ones have the most to gain. So what can you do?

Want to learn more? Sign up for our monthly newsletter where we will explore this topic in more detail. Read the book Rethinking Your Work and learn how to create spirit at work.

Val Kinjerski, PhD, is a leading authority in the field of employee engagement and on the topic of “spirit at work.” A consultant, agent of change and professional speaker, she helps companies and organizations increase employee retention and boost productivity by reigniting employees’ love for their work. Check out her Spirit at Work Program and Inspired Leadership training at www.kaizensolutions.org. Val is the author of Rethinking Your Work and Rethinking Your Work Guidebook. Available now at www.rethinkingyourwork.com.

My last two blogs (Can mindfulness training protect us from high stress,challenging work situations?  The Art of Being Mindful) about being mindful were so well received that I decided to share another excerpt from my book: Rethinking Your Work: Getting to the Heart of What Matters.

Pausing and paying attention is another simple way to enjoy the benefits of mindfulness. Here is the excerpt:

Pause and Pay Attention

Take a five-minute walk. Inside or outside. Your task is to observe. To be mindful. To notice. To pause and pay attention. Sights. Smells. Sounds. Touch. Taste. Feelings. As you walk around, see these things through the eyes of a child, as if you were seeing them for the first time. See with wonder, delight and absorption. This is mindfulness, or moment-by-moment, non-judgmental awareness. Come back and jot down what the experience was like and what you noticed.

I find that people are often very surprised at what they observe, especially if they apply the exercise in a familiar territory like their workplace. One group of employees was shocked to notice pictures on walls they had been walking past for years! Others were surprised to actually observe the route they took to work. They could not believe the scenery they had been missing. Rather than view the drive to work as drudgery, one person began to look forward to the changing fall colors. One woman had never before noticed a scent in her workplace. 

All this because they took the time to notice. To be mindful. 

Whenever you have a moment, pause and pay attention. Practice mindful eating. As you eat your meal, become fully conscious of the smell and taste of your food. Be aware of the color. Feel the texture. Notice what happens as you chew the food, feel it move from your mouth down through your throat to your stomach. 

Take time to pause and pay attention to everyday tasks like gardening, grocery shopping, washing dishes. Use the opportunity of being stuck in traffic to breathe and notice your surroundings. What is the scenery? What colors are new vehicles? What songs are playing on the radio? Think of it — you don’t have anything to do but be. Enjoy the moment. 

If you phone someone and are put on hold, close your eyes and become aware of your body. Notice any tension you might be holding and release it. Observe your breath. Choose to use the few minutes that on-hold status has given you. Give thanks for the opportunity to pause and pay attention.

Want to learn more? Sign up for our monthly newsletter where we will explore this topic in more detail. Read the book Rethinking Your Work and learn how to create spirit at work.

Val Kinjerski, PhD, is a leading authority in the field of employee engagement and on the topic of “spirit at work.” A consultant, agent of change and professional speaker, she helps companies and organizations increase employee retention and boost productivity by reigniting employees’ love for their work. Check out her Spirit at Work Program and Inspired Leadership training at www.kaizensolutions.org. Val is the author of Rethinking Your Work and Rethinking Your Work Guidebook. Available now at www.rethinkingyourwork.com.

In my recent blog Can mindfulness training protect us from high-stress, challenging work situations? I promised an excerpt from my book regarding being mindful. Here it is:

Being Mindful

We frequently go through our day-to-day actions on autopilot. Not thinking. Not being aware of what is happening around us. Zoning out or not paying attention. Shutting down the inputs because we have reached our capacity. We often lose the present moment because we are thinking about the future or worrying about something that happened in the past. In doing so, we miss the gifts of the present — a smile, the beauty of a flower, the warmth of a touch or the gift of kindness.

When we are caught up in thoughts or worries, we are effectively absent from our body. No one is home. We might be walking by a beautiful garden, but we cannot see the flowers. We can be served a delicious meal, but we do not taste it. Our loved ones may be sending us strong cues, but we do not hear them. We are preoccupied. But by shifting our attention to the present moment — to our breathing, walking and surroundings — we come back into our body and become aware.

Mindfulness is about paying attention on purpose. Noticing in a non-judgmental way. Being present. Living in the moment. Being aware. Giving 100 percent attention to what we are doing. It is about tasting the food we eat, smelling the scents of the out-of-doors, seeing the beauty in the everyday. It is about being present with our customers, clients, colleagues, friends and family members. Being in touch with their needs.

Being mindful involves quieting the mind and practicing stillness in order to create space for a deeper way of knowing, and increasing awareness of self and what matters. Thus, to be mindful is to observe self or as Wayne Dyer calls it, to witness one’s life. As we become an observer, we gain clarity about our unique purpose.

Being mindful is a way to access our own resources for growing, healing and self-compassion. Mindfulness provides access to the inner wisdom required to create the kind of life we wish to lead. Moreover, it is a practical way to get in touch with our authentic self. It involves self-observation and self-inquiry.

So, we want to shift our attention to the present moment and the nuances around us. We want to use all our senses, taking time to taste and smell, hear and see, touch and feel. We want to take the time to feel our connectedness with all things.

Mindfulness reflection. In what ways have you been mindful? Examples might include paying attention to the taste and texture of the foods you eat, being present and fully listening to a colleague or friend as they talk, or thinking carefully before speaking so that your message will be heard. Maybe it is listening to sounds, smelling smells and seeing the sights around you. We’ve all experienced mindfulness. Take a moment to remind yourself how it felt to be present, open and aware. What could you do to be more mindful?

I would love to hear about how you have been mindful at work and what difference that made.

Want to learn more? Sign up for our monthly newsletter where we will explore this topic in more detail. Read the book Rethinking Your Work and learn how to create spirit at work.

Val Kinjerski, PhD, is a leading authority in the field of employee engagement and on the topic of “spirit at work.” A consultant, agent of change and professional speaker, she helps companies and organizations increase employee retention and boost productivity by reigniting employees’ love for their work. Check out her Spirit at Work Program and Inspired Leadership training at www.kaizensolutions.org. Val is the author of Rethinking Your Work and Rethinking Your Work Guidebook. Available now at www.rethinkingyourwork.com.

When it comes to wellbeing and work performance, we all know about the value of physical fitness, but what about fitness of the mind? University of Pennsylvania researchers tested the effectiveness of a mindfulness program with a U.S. military group preparing for deployment to Iraq. They found a positive link between mindfulness training and improvements in mood and working memory. Sounds like something we can all benefit from.

The aim of the eight-week program was to cultivate greater psychological resilience by bolstering mindfulness – the ability to be aware and attentive of the present moment without emotional volatility.

Covering topics relevant to the Marines, the program blended mindfulness skills training with concrete applications for their operational environment. It emphasized integrating regular mindfulness exercises, like focused attention on the breath and mindful movement.

The study, published in the journal Emotion, found that the more time participants spent engaging in daily mindfulness exercises the better their mood and ability to engage in complex thought processes, problem solving and manage their emotions (something they call working memory). The study also suggests that sufficient mindfulness practice may protect against becoming ill due to high-stress, challenging situations.

Given the high rate of post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental-health disturbances suffered by those returning from war, providing such training prior to deployment may buffer against potential lifelong psychological illness by bolstering mood and working memory capacity. But employees in the military are not the only ones who can benefit.

Amishi Jha, cognitive neuroscientist and lead researcher, Department of Psychology and Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Penn said,

“Our findings suggest that, just as daily physical exercise leads to physical fitness, engaging in mindfulness exercises on a regular basis may improve mind-fitness. Building mind-fitness with mindfulness training may help anyone who must maintain peak performance in the face of extremely stressful circumstances, from first responders, relief workers and trauma surgeons, to professional and Olympic athletes.”

And I would add: social workers, teachers, health care workers, public servants . . .

Mindfulness is about paying attention on purpose. Noticing in a non-judgmental way. Being present. Living in the moment. Being aware. In my next blog, I will share an excerpt about being mindful from my book: Rethinking Your Work: Getting to the Heart of What Matters.

Want to learn more? Sign up for our monthly newsletter where we will explore this topic in more detail. Read the book Rethinking Your Work and learn how to create spirit at work.

Val Kinjerski, PhD, is a leading authority in the field of employee engagement and on the topic of “spirit at work.” A consultant, agent of change and professional speaker, she helps companies and organizations increase employee retention and boost productivity by reigniting employees’ love for their work. Check out her Spirit at Work Program and Inspired Leadership training at www.kaizensolutions.org. Val is the author of Rethinking Your Work and Rethinking Your Work Guidebook. Available now at www.rethinkingyourwork.com.

Public health workers, including nurses, police, teachers, military, and bureaucrats at all levels of government, are suffering from depression at unprecedented rates. So much so, that mental health expert, Bill Wilkerson of Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Mental Health, says that depression has become the country’s biggest “public health crisis.”

Fatigue, stress and burnout are evident in all workplaces. Depression is becoming more obvious, especially in these difficult economic times. But nowhere is the problem greater than in the public service where the impact of mental distress has been called an epidemic.

Mental illness will strike one in every five Canadians at some point in their lives. Depression and anxiety represent up to 90 per cent of such illnesses and cause up to 35 million lost workdays a year in Canada. Experts claim that mental illness costs Canadian employers $51-billion a year (chiefly in lost productivity). It is the leading disability claim for insurers.

In Canada, between 30 to 40% of disability claims are for depression. Among public servants, mental health claims have doubled between 1991 and 2007 and now account for 45% of all disability claims. Given the impact of the recession, I cannot imagine what the numbers would be today.

Leaders such as Michael Kirby, first chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, predict that work overload, job insecurity and financial fears will spark a fresh wave of depression and other disorders. Psychiatrists across Canada are already reporting heavier caseloads. Studies show that about 75 per cent of federal executives feel they are on the verge of burnout or extreme fatigue.  

In my own work, I have found a relationship between depression and spirit at work. As spirit at work (that sense that our work is meaningful, we are able to make a contribution and we feel good about what we are doing) goes up, depression goes down. Emotional exhaustion also decreases.

The good news is that we can increase spirit at work!  Simply by rethinking your work.

Read an earlier blog about how to increase spirit at work: Happy at Home, Happy at Work.

Val Kinjerski, PhD, is a leading authority in the field of employee engagement and on the topic of “spirit at work.” A consultant, agent of change and professional speaker, she helps companies and organizations increase employee retention and boost productivity by reigniting employees’ love for their work. Check out her Spirit at Work Program and Inspired Leadership training at www.kaizensolutions.org. Val is the author of Rethinking Your Work and Rethinking Your Work Guidebook. Available now at www.rethinkingyourwork.com. 

As another year comes to close, we are given an opportunity to reflect over the past 365 days.  What has been your greatest achievement this year? What are you most proud of? How have others benefited from your work?

Before you look forward to a new year with new goals, take time to reflect where you have been, what you have learned and what you have contributed. Far too often we push forward before taking the time to pause, reflect and celebrate. To feel good about ourselves and our contribution.

I often make the mistake of listing what I haven’t done or not yet finished, rather than celebrating what I have achieved or started. Too often I finish a project and instead of taking the time to appreciate my accomplishment, turn to the next assignment.

In a recent blog “Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time,” I talked about how too much energy expenditure and insufficient recovery leads to burnout and breakdown. Taking time to reflect and celebrate helps balance our energy expenditure with recovery time.

It also gives us an opportunity to recommit to projects, and if need be, let things go and change direction.  

In 2009, my biggest achievement has been getting my book published. Rethinking Your Work: Getting to the Heart of What Matters is based on almost a decade of research. It shows how, by simply rethinking work, we can have a profound sense of wellbeing, renewed enthusiasm for work and increased job satisfaction.  Helping others become engaged so that they can experience or create spirit at work is my life’s work, so I feel very good about incorporating this research and experience in a book.

What has been your greatest achievement this year? Please share so that we can celebrate together.

Val Kinjerski, PhD, is a leading authority in the field of employee engagement and on the topic of “spirit at work.” A consultant, agent of change and inspirational speaker, she helps companies and organizations increase employee retention and boost productivity by reigniting employees’ love for their work. Check out her Spirit at Work Program and Inspired Leadership training at www.kaizensolutions.org. Val is the author of Rethinking Your Work and Rethinking Your Work Guidebook. Available now at www.rethinkingyourwork.com.

Tags: job satisfaction, meaningful work, rethinking work, spirit at work, managing energy, Val Kinjerski,

For the longest time we were counselled to keep work and home separate. Leave work at work and home at home. We thought that we could just shut down parts of ourselves as we moved back and forth between the two.

Research is showing us that it doesn’t work that way. A study by Marshall and Kelly Goldsmith has shown an “incredibly high correlation between people’s happiness and meaning at work (something I call spirit at work) and happiness and meaning at home.”

Because work and home are such different environments, the researchers concluded that whether we experience happiness and meaning tends to depend more on who we are than where we are. So they suggest that if we are going through a negative work life experience, that we ought to be looking within rather than blaming others, our jobs or our communities.

In my own research, I have found that it is not so much what we do, but how we do it and how we view it that leads to spirit at work. This is where the “rethinking” part comes into play. As we start to think about whom we are serving and how our work makes a difference in the lives of others, our experience of work and how we feel about ourselves changes. The more we contribute, the deeper meaning and fulfillment we experience and that leads to an increased sense of wellbeing.

Somewhat different from the Goldsmiths, I have found that people who experience spirit at work see its creation as a shared responsibility. Shared between the employee and the employer. Tapping into their personal power, they take responsibility for creating a positive work experience. At the same time, they hold the organization accountable to create the conditions that foster spirit at work.

The Goldsmith’s research had another finding worthy of report. “Overall satisfaction at work increased only if both the amount of happiness and meaning experienced by employees simultaneously increased.”  They needed to experience meaning and fun – both at home and at work – to feel satisfied.

At first glance, I was surprised by this finding. Until I thought about people in the helping professions like nurses, teachers, and social workers; employees exposed to difficult situations (e.g. police, medical emergency teams); others with great decision making responsibility (e.g., CEOs, Deputy Ministers, emergency doctors) or advocates. It became so clear that while their work was meaningful and had potential for long-term benefit, they needed opportunities to lighten up. To have fun. To enjoy short-term satisfaction. To re-energize.

Similarly, employees who are in jobs that appear meaningless need an opportunity to see how they are making a contribution. The focus on high short-term satisfaction quickly loses its lustre. That is why in my work, I help employees, regardless of position, uncover the deeper meaning of their work.

I am not surprised about the high correlation between our experience at work and home. We are only fooling ourselves if we believe that we can separate work and home or community. It takes an extraordinary amount of energy to keep them separate and even more so if we are experiencing difficulties.

What can we apply from this research to the workplace?

1. Uncover the meaning in your work and in your life. Seek alignment between the two.
2. Manage your energy. Refill your cup.
3. Have fun. Celebrate successes.
4. See your work as an act of service. Who are you serving and how is it contributing?
5. Develop a sense of community at work. Encourage teams. Promote purpose and fun.
6. Get interested in your colleagues. Take time to know them.
7. As an employee, take responsibility for your own wellbeing and spirit at work.
8. As an employer, create the conditions for employee well being and to foster spirit at work.
9. Accept that work impacts home and vice versa and do what you can to support both.
10. As an organization, be clear about the deeper purpose of the organization.
11. Rethink your work. Get to the heart of what matters about your work.

 Val Kinjerski, PhD, is a leading authority in the field of employee engagement and on the topic of “spirit at work.” A consultant, agent of change and inspirational speaker, she helps companies and organizations increase employee retention and boost productivity by reigniting employees’ love for their work. Check out her Spirit at Work Program and Inspired Leadership training at www.kaizensolutions.org. Val is the author of Rethinking Your Work and Rethinking Your Work Guidebook. Available now at www.rethinkingyourwork.com. 

Remember the days when we were all sent to time management courses? We were under the impression that all we had to do to be effective was better manage our time. Today, the message is managing your energy, not time is key to high performance and renewal.

The impact of the recession has resulted in most organizations expecting higher performance, but with fewer employees. The usual method – working harder and putting in more time – is no longer working. Many of us are exhausted, disenchanted and disengaged. And we are getting sick.

It is time to rethink work and how we do it.

Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz wrote an excellent book: The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal. Although it was written in 2003, the concepts are still valid today – maybe even more so.

The central thesis is that performance, health and happiness are grounded in the skillful management of energy. The authors remind us that managing time efficiently is no guarantee that we will bring sufficient energy to whatever it is we are doing.

To be fully engaged – and I would say to have spirit at work – we must be physically energized, emotionally connected, mentally focused, and spiritually aligned with a purpose beyond our immediate self-interest.

We know that energy diminishes with overuse. Too much energy expenditure and insufficient recovery leads to burnout and breakdown. The authors remind us that, “It is not the intensity of energy expenditure that produces burnout, impaired performance and physical breakdown, but rather the duration of expenditure without recovery.” We need to balance our energy expenditure with recovery time.

Here are a dozen tips to help you manage your energy:

Physical energy

1. Take a recovery break every 90 to 120 minutes.
2. Enhance your sleep by going to bed early and waking up early.
3. Notice signs of energy flagging: restlessness, yawning, hunger and difficulty focusing and concentrating.

Emotional energy

1. Use deep abdominal breathing to diffuse negative emotions such as impatience, anxiety, frustration, and irritability.
2. Express appreciation and gratitude to yourself and others on a regular basis.
3. Access pleasant and positive emotions such as enjoyment, adventure and opportunity.

Mental energy

1. Perform high-concentration tasks away from the phone and email and respond to emails and phone messages at designated times during the day.
2. Incorporate visualization and positive self-talk into your daily living.
3. Give your conscious thinking mind a rest.

Spiritual energy

1. Reconnect to your sense of purpose and live your deeper values.
2. Find ways to do more of what you are passionate about and brings you intrinsic reward.
3. See your work as an act of service. Remind yourself that work is not about you, but about the people you are serving.

Everything we do – thinking, interacting with others, making decisions – requires energy. It is time to rethink how we manage our energy and not just our time. Balancing our energy expenditure and energy recovery is key to our wellbeing and spirit at work.

What are the things you do to manage your energy? If you changed one thing, what would it be?

Val Kinjerski, PhD, is a leading authority in the field of employee engagement and on the topic of “spirit at work.” A consultant, agent of change and inspirational speaker, she helps companies and organizations increase employee retention and boost productivity by reigniting employees’ love for their work. Check out her Spirit at Work Program and Inspired Leadership training at www.kaizensolutions.org. Val is the author of Rethinking Your Work and Rethinking Your Work Guidebook. Available now at www.rethinkingyourwork.com and www.amazon.com .

Nowhere is it more important to find meaning in one’s work than in health care. The emotional stress experienced by health care employees to provide quality of care during times of staff shortages and administrative demands to perform with fewer resources is taking its toll. The demands of the health care environment have resulted in the need for nurses to find coping mechanisms to decrease the stresses of their work. One such way is to find meaning and fulfillment in their work.

The literature suggests that nurses are most fulfilled when they feel they are making a difference in the lives of others, when they are able to complete a job to the best of their ability, and when they are helping other people learn.

I have found that not only does finding meaning and fulfillment in one’s work – something I call spirit at work – take the bite out of stress, it contributes to a sense of well-being, increases job satisfaction and commitment to one’s work and organization. At the same time, absenteeism and turnover goes down. All of which are good for the employee, the patient, and the bottom line.

The research of Rhonda Bell, PhD, Health Care Management Consultant provides additional support. Rhonda examined the relationship between spirituality and job satisfaction among registered nurses and licensed practical nurses. She had hoped to gain an understanding of the relationship between the elements of spirituality (purpose and meaning in life, innerness or inner resources, unifying interconnectedness, and transcendence) and job satisfaction (general job satisfaction, intrinsic satisfaction, and extrinsic satisfaction) levels among nursing professionals.         

As expected, Dr. Bell’s research showed a significant correlation between spirituality and job satisfaction. The more nursing staff felt that they had purpose and meaning in their life, had inner resources to draw upon, and experienced a sense of connection and transcendence, the more satisfied they were with their work.  

The relationship between spirituality and intrinsic job satisfaction was even stronger which suggests that nurses may be more satisfied with the intrinsic factors of job satisfaction when they are more spiritually oriented.

So how can we apply these findings in health care?

Employee retention is key to resolving the nursing shortage issue. Introducing a spirit-at-work program will go a long way to reconnecting nurses to their work, the patient, their colleagues, and their organizations. How? We take employees through a process of rethinking their work. The program helps them to find meaning and fulfillment by getting to the deeper purpose of their work. Discovering how they make a difference in the lives of others. Developing a sense of community with their colleagues where they feel that they belong and share a common purpose. Connecting to something larger than self.  That is spirit at work and when we experience it, everything changes.

Val Kinjerski, PhD, is a leading authority in the field of employee engagement and on the topic of “spirit at work.” A consultant, agent of change and inspirational speaker, she helps companies and organizations increase employee retention and boost productivity by reigniting employees’ love for their work. Check out her Spirit at Work Program and Inspired Leadership training at http://www.kaizensolutions.org/. Val is the author of Rethinking Your Work and Rethinking Your Work Guidebook. Available now at http://www.rethinkingyourwork.com/.

Writing a book where seeing your work as an act of service is a central theme has a way of bringing one’s attention to customer service. I really lucked out when I chose Hignell Printing from Winnipeg, Manitoba.  

Hignell Printing is a small Canadian company that has been in business for over 100 years.  I suspect that they have been in business for this length of time because they know something about being of service. So what did they do?

1. Provided a personal touch. I submitted several requests by email for quotes on printing my book. Herb Krushel, the Account Manager, immediately phoned me to talk about my books and the printing process. Only Hignell and one other printing company contacted me by phone.

 2. They walk the talk. Many companies speak about the value of service in their literature or in their mission statement, but are incongruent in their behaviour. Highnell walks the talk. As part of the footer, Hignell writes:

 At Hignell we offer the best in service and quality work at competitive prices. We are caring and responsive and have hundreds of satisfied customers throughout N. America. 

 Herb closes his correspondence with,

Thank you, and please do not hesitate to call with questions. I look forward to being of service to you.

And I experienced that to be true. Given that this is my first time self-publishing, I had many questions. Not once did I feel that my questions were silly.

 3. It takes a whole company to provide service. When Herb was away on holidays, Dave Friesen, Client Services, took over in order to keep the process going. Rather than just cover off for Herb, Dave also called and developed a relationship with me.

 4. They demonstrate flexibility. My father-in-law passed away during this process and his memorial was held during the same time that I was getting my book ready for print. I also committed to having the book ready for Amazon by October 1^st. Talk about  competing priorities. When I shared this with Cori Jones, the Customer Service Rep, she said,

I will try and make this as easy as possible for you.  . . . .
Let me know if you need anything further.

Rather than having to send everything back by courier, I was able to send my changes and approval via email.

5. Everyone is interested. Even though my project was transferred to Cori for production, today, I received the following email from Dave.

I happened to walk by the printed covers for your book a couple of days ago, and I read the back cover. WOW, looks like this will be a great book ! Congrats !

 So what can we learn about service from this printing company?

1. Provide a personal touch. Take time to reach out by phone.
2. Get interested in your clients or customers.
3. Demonstrate alignment between what your company says you believe in and how you deliver services.
4. Give employees the flexibility to respond to customers’ needs.
5. Help all members of your company or organization see how they contribute to excellent customer service.

It is time to rethink our work and how we are serving others through our work.

Val Kinjerski, PhD, is a leading authority in the field of employee engagement and on the topic of “spirit at work.” An inspirational speaker, consultant and writer, she helps companies and organizations increase employee retention and boost productivity by reigniting employees’ love for their work. She is the author of Rethinking Your Work and Rethinking Your Work Guidebook.