Isn't it strange how sometimes days seem to have a theme? I had one of those days today - the theme: back to work (or school) after the holidays.
It started first thing this morning with my 10 year old daughter telling me how excited she was about going back to school. Somewhat surprised, I asked her why and she explained that "I'm getting a bit bored at home all the time and it'll be good to see my teacher and friends again." Reassuring affirmation of the quality of the school she attends.
A little later, as I was getting into my car, I got into a conversation with my next door neighbour. When I asked him if he was back to work today he sighed and said something like: "Unfortunately yes, back on the chain gang.....".
Subsequently I rang a client and after exchanging the obligatory happy New Year sentiments I asked if today was her first day back in the office. Her response: "Yes, new year but same old challenges!" Later this afternoon, a similar exchange with another client who used very similar words "Same old problems though, nothing bloody changes!"
And then, whilst driving home, the DJ on the Drivetime programme on Radio 2 said he was playing 'Same old, same old' themed songs to reflect the numbers of people back to work / school today.
What struck me most about all this was that most people (my daughter excluded!) seemed genuinely fed-up about going back, their words summarising how they felt and the underlying meaning of the key phrases perhaps being particularly telling:
'Same old same old': an idiom for when a situation remains the same, especially when it is boring or annoying;
'Chain gang': phrase describing when convicts were chained together for outdoor labour.
It's a sad state of affairs if that's really how people feel about returning to work. And the evidence suggests it is. Depending on which statistics you trust, levels of engagement have been at best stagnant over the last three or four years and less than one in three employees is truly engaged with their employer. The approach most companies are following clearly isn't consistently producing the results they want. So what's the problem and what do practitioners need to do about it?
I'll cover this in my blog this Friday (January 11th)......
By the way, I know this is going off at a bit of a tangent but I've had two songs in my head all evening, both fitting the theme. They're here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmZdvVnMXCc
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK3uf5V0pDA
Two great songs from different decades, at least in my opinion. Enjoy!
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
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