Greeneville, TN – Today, TEVET took a voluntary timeout for our monthly Third Thursday meeting. The Third Thursday meeting is a designated time that TEVET created to focus on what and how employees would like to learn, develop, and grow. This can be with internal or external presenters, videos, online learning, and more.
This month, we wanted to focus on the approach to a better workplace from a personality and psychology perspective. We turned to a TED Talk by Shawn Anchor, titled “The Happy Secret To Better Work.” In it, he focuses on “positive psychology” which perceives differences amongst people as a positive and a strength. When looking at happiness in the workplace, Shawn states that “75% is based on support networks, positivity, and the ability to perceive stress as a challenge.” Success does create immediate happiness, but as with human nature, we are always pushing to do better or more with the next challenge presented.
We decided to focus on this topic in particular to refresh our approach to a very busy (and somewhat stressful) part of our year. As we ramp up, we need to remember that it is all in perception on how happy or stressed we might become. True, workloads can increase, but our approach to checking off all our tasks is what makes the difference to ourselves, our teammates, and our customers.
At the end, the TEVET team was able to reflect on how they were approaching and reacting to recent situations (both at work and in their personal lives). This reflection, and momentary breath, was enough to enable and renew the team’s effort toward paying attention to how they are approaching a task, challenge, or workday. Some even took on Shawn’s challenge to write down 3 things you are grateful for, to perform random acts of kindness, and to start a meditation routine.
Our voluntary timeout helped prepare our approach for ourselves and our customers as we enter high gear for the next few months. And we encourage other companies to do the same. Take the time, the opportunity, and the available resources to make sure that your team is prepared for your next opportunity or continually developing themselves as individuals. It is worth ten-fold in the end for the individual, the company, and the culture.
“The Happy Secret to Better Work” – TED Talk by Shawn Anchors
TEVET is a certified HUBZone and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned small business. With 2018 sales projected at $200M; TEVET is a successful, safe, small business. There are 480 small businesses with the combined SDVOSB and HUBZone classification. There is only one small business with revenues that exceed $25 million; which puts TEVET in a class all of its own. TEVET takes the HUBZone classification seriously, for every dollar spent with TEVET, we take a portion of it and put it to meaningful use through our multiple socioeconomic engagements. Strengthening families, employees, and the communities we serve is at the very core of TEVET’s mission.