Three Signs of a Miserable Job

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"The THREE SIGNS of a Miserable Job: A Fable for Managers"
(and their employees)

By Patrick Lencioni

Published by Jossey-Bass, 2007--ISBN 978-0-7879-9531-7

Reviewed by: Matt M. Starcevich, Ph.D.

Using a fable the author presents a very engaging and readable story of an bored ex CEO who self selects out of retirement to take on the challenge of building employee commitment and yes increased organization effectiveness/profitability in a very mundane job setting--a local Italian fast-food drive-thru. Sound like miserable jobs: cashier, waitperson, short order cook, busing tables and cleaning up washrooms?

Yes but don't lose site of the basic premise of this book:

miserable jobs are found everywhere from consulting firms, banks, schools, churches,
professional sports teams and at all levels from executive suite to the reception desk
to the mail room--no one is immune.

Brian Bailey rediscovers some simple and common knowledge albeit not applied principles to overcome the three underlying factors that make a job (not the work) miserable:

Immeasurement--employees need to be able to gauge their success or failure for themselves. They cannot be fulfilled if their success depending on the options of another person. The challenge for the manager is to help employees define the "right" things to measure--what and how.

Irrelevance--the feeling that what you do has no impact on the lives of others, even if it just the boss. Yet few managers take the time to help employees understand that their jobs matter to someone and fail to admit to their employees that they are the person whose life is most impacted.

Anonymity--employees, people, need to be known for their individual uniqueness by their manager; both on and off the job uniqueness. People who see themselves as invisible, generic, or anonymous cannot love their jobs, no matter what they are doing.

The first two hundred and thirteen pages narrates Brian's trials, errors, and frustrations of reversing these three misery creating factors in a "you want fries with that" setting. This is a fast read which effectively makes the point that even within this environment a manager can make a difference and increase the level of employee satisfaction and organization effectiveness. The last forty three pages are a more tradition book, reviewing the Miserable Job Model, causes, obstacles and examples of how to reverse the three culprits in six vastly different jobs.

Although the principles are simple and apparent, the book does a good job of causing the reader to reflect on why they are not being applied in our world of work. Managers, on your next business trip or vacation hold off on buying another airport novel, read this book, a well crafted story that may cause you to reevaluate how you can improve the level of your employee's satisfaction.

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