5 Pesky Work Realities and Unique Strategies to Overcome Them

You can overcome almost any financial quandary or fiscal issue when you stick your great finance mind to it.

But many pesky work realities bubble up that make finance pros feel hand-tied to fix.

Even AI doesn’t have all the answers when you feel stuck on solutions. In fact, it often just regurgitates the same old ways to get out of the same old ruts.

Conquering Pesky Work Realities

While we aren’t often wired to think too far out of the box in finance, ruts call for “This might sound crazy, but …” thinking.

So let’s look at five of the peskiest work realities that show up over and over again. From there, we have some unique ideas that can help jump-start the fixes you need.

1. To Dig Out From a Rut, Rethink Jobs

Is the work, roles or just overall feel of your team starting to get redundant? If so, it might be time to rethink titles, protocols and silos within your group (and those groups that you work with most closely and have some control over).

It might sound scary to think about eliminating or shifting how things get done. But when was the last time you looked at who does what and how it’s all done?

It might help if you consider this success: A decade ago, Adidas was losing market share to Nike and Under Armour, and it pulled off an impressive turnaround when it tried an internal reorganization. It laid out a five-year plan that included a reset of its operating model, partly eliminating redundant roles and tasks.

That radical step was obvious to employees and was instantly effective. Eliminating some hierarchy reduced internal politics and let people speak and work with more confidence.

2. To Reboot Morale, REALLY Give Employees Time Off

Morale suffers everywhere, and people push through it, but not to great results. So consider … sabbaticals.

Typically, we think of a paid sabbatical as something professors with tenure do to take time off to research or write a book.

But it’s gained traction in the business and corporate world as a perk for veteran employees.

Clif Bar, the energy-bar company, uses paid sabbaticals to reward employees and maintain low turnover. After every seven years of service, employees become eligible for a six-to-eight week paid sabbatical, which they can use to spend time with their families, travel or whatever.

It’s an attractive benefit, especially to keep your top employees loyal. The length of the leave, and the point at which employees would earn it, would vary depending on your company.

A less drastic but still effective move you could take: Enforce vacation time so your hardest-working employees get out of the office.

3. To Get a New Project Started, Hold a Contest

We’ve all struggled to come up with new approaches to a recurring project, such as annual budgeting.

Try this: Rather than just brainstorming for ideas, tell everyone to come up with the single best idea they can think of and position the results as a contest.

People want to contribute to something bigger in creative ways. When you acknowledge employees’ contributions, they feel their efforts are more meaningful, and that encourages a higher level of commitment and more innovative thinking.

Entrepreneur idea site Grasshopper.com hosts an annual Startup Competition Guide: A Giant List of The Best Business Contests by allowing winning entrants to make their small business dreams a reality. By creating a contest atmosphere, participants know they need to come up with more than just a simple idea.

4. To Get Honest Employee Feedback, Hold a ‘Press Conference’

You want real feedback? Invite employees to be journalists.

Field questions for a set amount of time. Stress that nothing is off-limits; you’ll try to answer each as openly as possible. Avoid company sloganeering.

Topics can range from how the company is doing in general to specific problems. The point of the exercise is communication and an open and frank discussion.

Studies show this technique goes a long way toward employee satisfaction. A lack of transparency at the top often feeds discontent at the bottom.

Consider the results of a federal workplace satisfaction survey: It included agencies such as NASA, the State Department, Homeland Security and the Transportation Department. Barely half of the 212,000 employees polled said they were satisfied with the quality and consistency of information they received from management.

But one stood out – the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It had the happiest employees, who attributed its success to senior leaders’ communication skills.

5. To Shake Up Dull Meetings, Take it Outside

Does your team watch the clock or their phones in a conference room? Then just say no to chairs and consider a walk around the office instead.

Studies say getting off your duff and moving around stimulates the mind, so it makes sense to apply it to meetings where we need to be able to think best.

One organization called Feet First promotes ways to get people walking more often, and they’ll actually come out and teach your company the best ways to use walking meetings. They’ve heard from CEOs who’ve taken prospective employees out on walking interviews that it’s a great way to break the ice and increase creativity.