Does Your Boss Trust You?

By Dan Miller
48days.com

CBN.com – Last Friday we had about 70 people here at the Sanctuary for an event we called Fantastic Friday. Every quarter we invite a few of our 212ºConnection members out here to share their ideas and plans. It’s an exhausting day – but the exploding energy is contagious. I am constantly amazed at the new ideas that people are seeing and developing, and at what we can accomplish together.

The concept of “synergy” is one you should be taking advantage of in some form. Synergy is the term for working together where the final outcome is greater than the total of what could be done individually. We’re told a 2,000-pound Belgian horse can pull about 6,000 pounds of weight. But at the National Western Stock Show in Denver recently, two Belgian horses combined as a team pulled 17,000 pounds to win their class. That’s 40% more than their individual results would have totaled.

Who are you working with in a way that gives that kind of leverage to your individual efforts?

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"Good ideas are only given to you for a limited amount of time. If you don’t act on them, they belong to someone else." —Steven Spielberg

Of Course We Trust You, But...

Remember the obnoxious manager who used to sneak up behind you in your cubicle to try to catch you checking your e-mail or putting in that last minute bid on eBay? Then you elected to take the company option to work from home. Thank goodness, no longer do you have to worry about Mister Nosey watching your every move at your desk. Guess what – he’s back. Electronic monitoring of home workers is an exploding trend.

Latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that America has 28.7 million telecommuters, or “distributed workers” – those people who work for traditional companies but aren’t confined to traditional offices. That number is up from 10.9 million in 2000. Thirty percent of managers and professionals now work at home at least part of the time. At IBM, 40 percent of the workforce has no official office; at AT&T, a third of managers can work from anywhere they choose. Sun Microsystems calculates that it’s saved $400 million over six years in real estate costs by allowing nearly half of all employees to work anywhere they want.

But at oDesk.com, the system for linking 90,000 freelance programmers, network administrators, graphic designers, and writers with 10,000 client companies includes taking random snapshots of workers’ computer screens six times an hour, recording keystrokes and mouse clicks and taking Web cam photos at any time. Home office phone calls are monitored to instantaneously detect anger, raised voices, or children or pets making noise in the background. At call center Arise.com, they keep their 8,000 home agents so tightly scheduled to their phones that the agents have to schedule unpaid time off to go to the bathroom. (And just a sidenote: Arise.com’s trademarked company slogan is "Work. Freedom. Trust. Results"®.)

Now let me ask you this: When do you do your best work? When someone obviously trusts you and has given you the responsibility for completing an important task – or when you are being watched like a first-grader who gets his hand slapped if he colors outside the line? It’s been shown clearly that “distributed workers” are more productive, not less. They save the company real estate and utility expenses; less gasoline is burned and food and wardrobe costs drop. Everyone wins!

But without trust, the whole system breaks down. If you don’t trust your workers, then keep them in cubicles, watch their every move, give them limited time to get up and move around, ration their food and water, and decide when they can leave the premises. But wait – doesn’t that sound remarkably like prison?

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Other Changes: Opportunities

Utah will be the first state to move its 17,000 state workers to a mandated four-day work week. Governor Jon Huntsman says he’s making the change to reduce the state’s carbon footprint, increase energy efficiency, improve customer service, and provide workers more flexibility. Would you chose a four-day week if given the option?

Encore Careers is the new category of work for baby boomers. Encore careers are defined as those that combine income, meaning, and social purpose. They include jobs in the medical, education, and non-profit sectors, such as teachers, social entrepreneurs, and nurses. We all recognize that the healthiest, best educated generation in history is not going to just go to the beach and hang out for 30 years waiting to die. Does your work combine “income, meaning, and social purpose?”

Enter through the Intern door. Companies may be trimming their employee payrolls, but they are eager to enlist interns as a way of screening the brightest for permanent positions. Yes, interns are cheap labor, but they also are expected to bring fresh ideas and innovation. Could you propose the same benefits to get started with a great company?

48 Days Radio

Each week I create a new online radio podcast—that you can hear in iTunes or at the 48 Days Online Radio Show .

I make no pretenses about being a theologian or a pastor. Yes, I think we have to include our spiritual framework into doing meaningful work. And, yes, I’ve written about how to find God’s purpose and live it out in your work. My responses are freely given – just remember; I’m a fellow traveler on this exciting spiritual journey.

1. I'm struggling with something and hope you might have some insight. I'm wrestling with how much I seek God for His will and what He wants vs. doing what I want for my life's work. Does it just not matter to God what we do, as long as we walk with Him in it?

2. OK, Dan, I've listed my skills, interests, and personality characteristics on paper. It was a great exercise. But now how do I integrate this information to come up with the right business ideas?

3. Any advice for a mom of four kids (who has been a stay-at-home Mom for 10 years) to prepare for eventual employment in the next three years when the baby starts school full time? What can I do now to be prepared?

4. In my pursuits of purpose and increase in income, I have a hard time with tithing. I've tithed for years, and in this last year, it has been a hard struggle. What do you do? This is my money. I truly care about God's Kingdom, but I also have pursuits that I care about and want to invest in. It always seems that after you tithe, you don't have enough and then you're expecting to "hold on".

5. I have been a metal fabricator for over 15 years. I am stuck at $39k a year. I love what I do for a living, just not the wages. What direction can I go with all that I know that can place me in the $65k to $90k income range?

6. I noticed in your most recent newsletter that you would advise someone whose spouse is not on board with anything "revolutionary" to just go ahead and get a regular job. Did I read that correctly? My spouse is not supportive either, but I have every intention of doing something extraordinary and proving to her that I can do it.

If you have a question, just click on the 48 Days Online Radio link below and you can ask about starting your own business, getting a better job, or finding your purpose in life.

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212ºConnection
How would you like your own business...in 90 Days? How would you like your own great looking Web site in a matter of days? And how about personal coaching and mentoring from Dan Miller and his Leadership Team to make it not just happen but happen right? You can read all about it here – and see the growing number who are turning their ideas into time, freedom, and income. 212ºConnection

How to Raise a Teenage Millionaire
Billie Rae Wells is a 212 member who has created a Web site and book around her passion for teens and finances. She took action and wrote the book titled How to Raise a Teenage Millionaire. Now she's getting great coverage in the media and is busy shipping books. You can find it at 12WinningSecrets. You can sign up for her newsletter, and as a 212 member – only through July 31– you can receive 50 percent off her book by using this coupon code: 212MEMBER. Check it out. You’ll also get the electronic version immediately upon ordering the physical book.

Chuck Bowen Coaching - Financial, Career & Business
Need to do better (maybe a lot better?) with your personal finances? Is your business as profitable or enjoyable as you'd like it to be? Seeking your calling in your career? Contact Chuck Bowen Coaching. If you want to transform your life permanently for the better, he's your guy. Dave Ramsey trusts Chuck to train his financial coaches, and he serves as president of Dan Miller’s 212 Connection. What better proof is there? Contact Chuck Bowen Coaching now!

More Recommended Resources

Are You in the Right Job?
The most popular product in the 48 Days arsenal continues to be the Computerized Personality Report. Before you begin seeking a better job or self-employment, you need to be sure you are pursuing opportunities that match your personality style and will fulfill and reward you for a lifetime!

Stay up to date, add your comments, and share your successes at my No More Mondays Blog.

Quotes on Trust

"It is impossible to go through life without trust: That is to be imprisoned in the worst cell of all, oneself." —Graham Greene

"Trust is the easiest thing in the world to loose, and the hardest thing in the world to get back." —R. Williams

"Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him, and to let him know that you trust him."—Booker T. Washington

"A man who doesn't trust himself can never really trust anyone else." —Cardinal De Retz

"To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved."—George MacDonald

"The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship." —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Dan Miller is the bestselling author of 48 Days To The Work You Love and a renowned Life Coach specializing in career fulfillment. His weekly newsletter reaches 70,000 subscribers. Dan’s articles are featured here at CBN every Tuesday, and you can find out more about Dan at www.48days.com.