The Secret to Being Valued in the Workplace | Linda Stacy | TEDxBentleyU

foreign to be two places I could be on a chair lift going up the side of a mountain in Lake Tahoe California and a year where they've had more snow than they've had in 40 or I could be here on a stage with you at Bentley University delivering a message worth spreading and I found myself asking is it going to be worth it and I wonder if you all ever have that question you're working on something for a long time maybe days weeks months maybe even years invested a lot of time Sweat Equity and you're asking yourself is it gonna be worth it as I was asking myself this question it occurred to me well maybe if I got a thunderous Applause from this audience maybe then I would know it was worth it or maybe maybe if I got other opportunities to speak as a result of this event maybe then it would be worth it or maybe the best maybe if a book contract came from this event then then I would know that it was worth it and then the irony hit me because this very talk is about the secret to being valued in the workplace and my premise is that it's the complete opposite of these external things I had become so obsessed with this question is it worth it is rooted in what we get and the secret to being valued in the workplace is in fact rooted in what we bring and today I am taking the option to enthusiastically bring you a message worth spreading three other things that I want to share is context for this talk one is that I have a podcast the second is that I've had a side speaking gig for about 10 years and the third is that I've been in the same corporate job for 20 years and a theme that the three things have in common is around workplace satisfaction why this theme well as I Was preparing for the workforce for one thing it took me a long time even to get out of undergrad when I finally decided on what I wanted to do the graduate program moving across the country the money the debt all of that investment I wanted my work to matter and when I landed in the corporate workspace my experience was the complete opposite I found the work to be very repetitive I felt like I was working in a vacuum and to be honest especially in those early years I was really bored it was the complete opposite of all of the things I had hoped and prepared for for my work life so about 10 years into this I chose to start studying what makes good work is there such a thing can we get underneath this what are the ingredients to satisfying work and as I learned those things I would share them I joined the National Speakers Association locally I would share those tips with people interactive presentations and such and now the podcast the podcast where you can really get into the nitty-gritty you can have long conversations this messy middle between what we hope work could be and what it actually is and an idea that comes up a lot is this around you deserve to be valued in the workplace you deserve to be valued Linda and I would ask like deserve like is that the right word it it felt a little Pollyanna to be do I deserve to be valued in the workplace do you deserve to be valued in the workplace does every human on the planet deserve to be valued in the workplace is it even possible so I started to ask my guests this question what does it mean to be valued in the workplace how has it changed over the years how does it show up how do you know it's happening and the answers that I got fell into three big buckets one is around recognition just someone noticing that you're there and noticing the work that you do sometimes it's more public recognition or recognition by the right person the second category is around money promotion financial compensation and the third category is around voice specifically around sharing voice and being asked to share a voice knowing that your perspectives the things that you bring are important to important meetings initiatives things that are happening in the workplace but here's the catch just like my book contract those three things the accolades the money the being asked to share a voice they're all signs of the external validation they're all distributed and controlled by people outside of yourself so imagine you are offered the perfect job it's exactly what you want whatever factors those are as Kyle was mentioning they're unique to you maybe it's the right money the right description but there's a clause in the contract and the Clause says essentially that you're going to owe your entire sense of self value and self-worth is now on the hands of your boss your boss is 100 can charge of your sense of self value so a note about bosses the research shows that most employees quit their job because of a situation with a boss and I'd argue that most bosses are in fact doing the best they can they've been promoted because of some technical proficiency maybe they're a fantastic individual contributor but the chances that they've gotten good managerial training are pretty slim if your boss hasn't had training if they haven't had breakfast please do not rely on this individual for your sense of self-value and self-worth there is folly there there's risk in looking to signs outside of yourself for your sense of worthiness in people and in circumstances that are just inherently messy no the value is not in the things that you get it's in the things that you bring and I call this our core value so what am I talking about here I'm talking about yes our values but also our beliefs our background our experiences all the things that fuel who we are when we are our best when we are infusing our best energy into any work that we are doing for me I identify with the theme of educator I'm not in the education space it's not the profession it's more the energy that I bring when I'm operating and showing up in my best and this is a result of a couple of things when I was in high school I had some fantastic teachers but I actually had a pretty poor elementary school education High School sophomore year I was taking a geometry class not doing that well But the teacher was pregnant she went on maternity leave and retired Mr Thorne came in to take her place Mr Thorne was scary I had heard about him from my older siblings but he was effective and my grades changed immediately he had a way to connect with me as a student in a way that the previous teacher had not been able to and he had been doing this math his entire life that ability to connect with me as a student would made a major impact on me and when I'm doing my best when I'm showing up my best that's the energy that I'm fueling email conversation any type of communication training anything that I'm doing at work is fueled by that but was even more awesome was what I could see in Mr Thorne he absolutely knew that he was having an impact on me there was a mutual exchange happening there he could see the light bulbs going on and he knew that it was a result of his ability to connect with me it's fantastic it's lived with me my entire life so I'm not saying that external validation is important it's extremely important in this large satisfaction puzzle it's very important but when you're operating from the core and then this is the plot twist when you're operating from your core you actually get more of those external things you get more Kudos you get more promotion you get more opportunities to share voice so talks like this long-form podcasts they're often educational sometimes inspirational and the best ones for me aren't necessarily the ones that are wrapped up with a beautiful bow at the end the best ones for me are those were the noodling continues in my head and the days the weeks following the event conversations continue as I connect things that I've heard here today already this morning with things that are actually happening in my life I come up with a new aha a new learning and that's my invitation for you today as you're proceeding in your days and weeks following this event look for where the content impacts you and your life what are your new ahas your new learnings and while you're doing that consider your core who is it that you are when you're showing up in that best energy maybe it's educator like mine maybe it's maker creator innovator entrepreneur it's anything any word that kind of encapsulates who you are when you're showing up in your best energy who is that and how can you infuse that in any work that you Endeavor to do so next week whether you're on a chair lift in Lake Tahoe California or you're in the office or you're in the classroom and you find yourself asking is this worth it I invite you to flip that conversation consider your core consider what you can bring foreign

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 756

Keywords: Career, Education, English, Individualism, Life, TEDxTalks, Value, Work, [TEDxEID:53806]

Id: 30Pzaf4ifcA

Length: 10min 4sec (604 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 07 2023