I’m Employee of the Month – again!
Enjoy yourself (it’s later than you think). That’s what the lyrics say in a song that was made famous by a big band in the 1950s and then covered by manner of artists from The Specials to Doris Day. It’s a favourite for Jules Holland to perform at his annual Hootenanny. I remember watching this version at the end of 2019, as plans for finally starting my own business were coming together in my head.
A year later, I wrote a jokey post about being Employee of the Month. There was only me in my business wearing all the hats and it gave me a chance to use an image from the 2006/2007 (depending on which side of the pond you are) film, Employee of the Month. It doesn’t have amazing ratings on Rotten Tomatoes but I quite liked it.
There’s a whole load of businesses that I work with where they’re in the same situation. They are always going to be Employee of the Month. There’s no one else working there to win it.
People start their own businesses for all kinds of reasons but I’m convinced that there’s always an element that they find fun involved. That might be that they love solving problems or they really enjoy practising a particular skill. There’s an interesting side discussion here about whether we’re good at things we enjoy or enjoy things we’re good at. Also probably another about whether you should do what you’re passionate about or what makes money (see also ikigai).
Fun at work
You led me to people who gave me the confidence to be me. To have a website that showed who I really was instead of hiding behind bland corporate colours.
So back to work being fun. If running your own business isn’t fun (or at least more fun than working for someone else) then I want to know why. What’s killing the fun?
It might be worries about money or clients. That’s a big bit of the self-employment thing but could it possibly be the culture? Yes, your one-person business has a culture and you get to choose it because you can set the rules. Want the working day to start at 11 am? You can decide on that. Want to make every Friday a day to wear pink shoes? Go for it. Believe that a mid-morning walk helps you to think better? Who’s stopping you?
You get to choose what your company culture is and what the beliefs that go with it are.
If you’ve been working in a corporate role for a while it can be hard to break the mindset that things have to be done a certain way. I was the same. I felt that I should be wearing smart clothes to sit in my home office (even during the pandemic). My first website was very grey and dull and safe because I thought that was what my clients wanted – and because I didn’t trust myself to do it differently and make the business a success.
Changing the culture in your workspace
Here’s how I changed my mindset and came at working culture a little differently – I looked at what I celebrated.
Think of it this way: Employee of the Month is about celebrating success. Rewarding people who embody the culture (whatever that may be). So if you had a colleague working with you what would make them Employee of the Month? Look at what you’d celebrate in someone else and you’re on your way to finding what you might want your own culture to be. You don’t have to resolve it overnight. It might even be better if some of it develops organically over time. The most important thing is to avoid doing stuff because you think you have to.
Here’s a menu of ideas to break away from continuing to comply with someone else’s culture.
- Write down everything you hated about working for someone else and explore doing the reverse.
- Recall all the things you said you would do when you ran your own business and start trying them out.
- At the end of each week, look back at what felt good and right and what felt like you were following a set of invisible rules.
- If you feel like you have to do something, get in the habit of asking why. Sometimes there’s a good reason. Sometimes not.
- Develop your own success factors and review them every month. Drop the ones that aren’t you and replace them.
- Look carefully at your working hours and boundaries. Are they right for you and your life?
- Shift your routine around and see what happens. Did it make you more creative? Or was it annoying and confusing?
- Do regular Stop, Start, Continue checks (my free guide is available to download) to let things go and embrace the new.
There’s no point in being Employee of the Month unless you are upholding and exemplifying values you believe in. Make it a true celebration of your unique approach to business.
