According to a MSNBC study, Americans hate their jobs more than ever before in the past 20 years, with fewer than half saying they are satisfied.  Furthermore, the Herman Group Found that at least 30% to as much as 40% have already "checked-out" - showing up for work every day, but focusing on where their next job will be.

Do any of these sound like you or someone that you know?

I recently finished reading The Three Signs of a Miserable Job by Patrick Lencioni, the author of The Five Dysfunctions of A Team, Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars, and Death by Meeting.

Written as a fable of a man trying to improve a small Italian restaurant, Lencioni outlines what makes people so unhappy in their work.  Do any of these resemble your job?

    1)  anonymity - people need to know that someone cares about them, especially their manager
    2)  irrelevance - people need to feel that their job is benefiting someone else in at least some small way
    3)  immeasurement - people need to be able to measure for themselves whether or not they are doing a good job. 

There is a large body of evidence that suggests that a person's relationship with his or her manager is the biggest factor in whether or not that person stays in their current role.  Likewise, the manager has a very important role in ensuring that their subordinates are not miserable.  For instance, if the employees feel that they are making a difference in the lives of someone else, that the company cares about them, and that they are being productive, they are likely to stay at that organization for a long time, regardless of their amount of pay.

Lencioni ended with the thought that management is ministry, in that the way that you treat your employees will impact how they treat the other people around them.  It will impact their marriages, their families and their friends. Other than immediate family, the manager impacts their subordinates in ways that no one else can.  Thus, the role of manager is a very powerful role that should be taken seriously.