Stop trying to be great, be good!

Let’s sharpen our focus on work in the New Employee Engagement.

I simplified employee engagement into an 8 word definition: good work done well with others every day.

There is a lot of meaning packed into each word in the eight word definition so I will take the next four blog posts to examine two words at a time.

Today the two words are good work. My first book, Zengage: How to Get More Into Your Work to Get More Out of Your Work, was focused on the work of engagement and engagement with work.

Here are two pages from this pithy book to set the stage for 13 Zingers about good work:

Here are 13 Zingers for good work:

1. Good work feels real and genuine and full of grit while great work often seems like management consultant hype and euphemism.
2. I believe daily good work is believable and sustainable while great work is something ephemeral and occasional.
3. Great days at work are to be treasured while good days at work can be relished daily.
4. Good work oozes with inherent goodness in the work itself — work infused with meaning, significance, and contribution.
5. Good work implies an ethical approach to our labour.
6. It is a fine compliment to say about someone else, “she does good work” or “he does good work.”
7. It is easier each day to set out to do good work than to set out with great in mind – when we encounter setbacks that diminish great we can still generate good responses to those setbacks.
8. It is literally impossible to give 110% because the most we can actually ever give is 100% and I believe giving 80% (which I consider good) often results in better performance. To use a quick golf analogy, Ernie Els, a fluid yet powerful golfer, said he only swung the club at 80% in golf and that generated more accuracy and power.
9. Good is frequently good enough, I have written previously about finding GEMO (good enough move on). GEMO helps me navigate through the myriad of work I engage with each day
10. Notice the second word in the eight word definition is work, you would be amazed how many definitions of employee engagement fail to mention work.
11. We are each personally responsible for engagement and focusing on work puts it more in our hands than surveys involving vague levels of satisfaction with how the organization is treating us.
12. Academics, who are often ahead of organizations and consultancies, have been using work engagement more than employee engagement, it is time for the rest of us to catch up.
13. Although many seem to believe that work is a living hell, work itself has potential to make us well, especially good work.

David Zinger is a global employee engagement speaker and expert. He has devoted over 18,000 hours to employee engagement in the pursuit of engagement for the benefit of all. David also founded and has hosted the 7000 member global employee engagement network for over 8 years.