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The Advantage Of Personal Interests In The Workplace

This article is more than 9 years old.

What if you could expand profitability potential, increase productivity, and boost employee morale just by starting a conversation with your employees? By investing some time in listening to the outside interests of your employees, you may discover talents that provide unexpected benefits to your business.

Expand Profitability Potential

By creating a work atmosphere that welcomes conversation about personal interests and creative thinking that may benefit the workplace, you will encourage employees to open up outside the stream of day-to-day work. You can really get to know an employee at lunch or a Jazz game much better than in the office.

For example, a casual employee lunch may unearth an avid golfer on your team. It seems there are just as many deals made with a driver in hand as there are talking on the telephone or sitting around a conference table. Capitalizing on the interests of your in-house golfer, mountain biker, or pro-basketball fan opens up new opportunities for building and sustaining client relationships through regular meetings on the green, trail, or courtside.

At Outbox Systems, we regularly combine our efforts, as a company, in support of local charitable causes by facilitating large-scale events. As a result of these activities, I have witnessed untapped abilities emerge in many of my employees that have become an asset to our mission. Furthermore, my employees have discovered talents that they are now motivated to pursue outside of the office.

“In many organizations, new ideas and initiatives are actually discouraged,” explained Carole Spiers in her published article, Discovering the Unsung Talents at the Workplace.“This is particularly true in organizations established years ago, where methods of working are cast in concrete and where there is no space or opportunity to modernize and exploit new technologies and methods of working. But it doesn’t have to be like this. There are ways to access that hidden resource and to increase motivation and creativity from the very people who already work for you.”

Welcoming creative thinking and looking at new ways to do one’s job is something I support in all of my employees at all levels.  They are the ones who do the job every day, so if they have input on improving a pathway, I am always interested in hearing what they have to say. So, I was thrilled when I recently went to lunch with an employee who taught me a lot about change management. His knowledge inspired a few changes in the way we now run the business.

Increase Productivity

It’s simply a matter of getting more bang for your payroll buck. What resources can a member of your team share? What can your employees train others to do? An IT enthusiast can offer insight on current software that could improve time efficiency or be more cost effective.  Just imagine how smoothly operations could run if a qualified computer hobbyist could handle troubleshooting issues in-house?

“Most people just turn up for work and do the job they are paid to do—and little encouragement is given for them to think outside the box,” writes Spiers. But if we can identify and encourage the latent talent within our organization, our resources instantly increase.

When I was with PcCareSupport, I had lunch with an entry-level technician. During our visit, I realized he possessed the talents to excel as an operations manager. So we moved his position, and he rocked it.  Another friend of mine saved a healthcare company over $50,000 per year just by reaching beyond her job description and archiving latent emails. This task was beyond the skill set of the in-house team, and the outsourced IT company refused to do it. She was soon after placed in charge of all company emails. Time after time, employees save their companies money when they are given the chance to shine.

Boost Employee Morale

People like to be recognized and valued for what they contribute to the workplace.  Whether it involves incorporating personal interests or expanding the perimeters of their job descriptions, people generally enjoy the opportunity to personalize the job in a way that enhances their work performance.

“We all have the capability to do more than we think we can,” wrote Spiers.  “But sometimes we need someone, or something, to be the catalyst to make it happen. We also need to be open to exploiting our natural abilities to the full.”

Even if these conversations don’t bring to light immediate resources for the company, the interaction, itself, has value.  Your employees will react positively to the interest you conveyed in their hobbies.

I think it's important for employers to know what each employee ultimately wants to accomplish in his or her career.  Then I can keep those goals in mind as we grow that business and face new opportunities that could align with our employees’ goals.

At a time when startup entrepreneurs are looking for a competitive edge, one of the first places to explore is your employee base.  Just listen—and you’ll start down a path leading to increased profitability, productivity, and empowerment that will surely produce great results.