Reinventing work
“Hacking work” is about reinventing work. There are a lot of interesting books about work, the meaning of work, controlling your destiny and all that. Even the Dalai Lama wrote a book about happiness at work.
Are you happy at work?
Why is that important? There is a strong economic rationale behind being happy at work. Happy workers are 10-25% more effective (from “Emotionomics”). I wrote earlier articles about the importance of happy workers from a social media and marketing perspective (read “Engage,” “Workplace 2020” or ‘Marketing 3.0”).
Hacking work
“Hacking work” is about organisations being out of control while trying to be in control. Corporate big brother. The problem is that Big Brother uses outdated systems that are no longer relevant. It does not allow for meaningful dialogue with your staff, let alone with your customers. It does not allow staff to do great work (as distinct from mediocre work). “Hacking work” preaches quiet revolution. Personnel is taking control back, are creating their own systems and ensuring their personal return on investment as well as the ROI of the business.
CEOs should take note
The book is written from the perspective of the worker. As CEO or owner-manager you should take note. The power is shifting towards the workers (Marx is back!). If you don’t allow for the quiet revolution in your workplace, your competitor will. With the consequent a negative impact on staff and customer retention.
A few tips:
- Presume all your workers have ADD (attention deficit disorder). Presume your customers have the same disorder.
- Give your staff a few hours a week to spend on Facebook, LinkedIn, etc..
- Embrace a policy of radical transparency
- Engage in dialogue with your staff (using social media the same way you would use it for dialogue with customers).
- Visit https://www.healthyplacetowork.com
The design of work is the next transformation. Go beyond digital.