Ashley Grey

Tag Archives: work

Real experiences: how to create your happy workplace
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people, work

Looking to create a happy workplace? We need more than ever to learn how to create a happy workspace in order to be more productive, and what better way to learn than from real stories of people at work? The workplace can be both a dream workplace and a productive one too, right? Like me do you wonder why some people work at a place for so many years? Some as long as 15 or more years. Pretty long, huh? Perhaps, they learned to recognize a potentially toxic environment like the one described here. Hmm! Let’s dive into the subject of this post, shall we? Real experiences to help create a happy workspace Manny says “Friendly colleagues, stop to smile and say hi! My input counts. Successes are acknowledged, and even when something goes south, there isn’t any yelling or unpleasantness. These make me look forward to going to work.…

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by 12
lifestyle, work

Easy does it, insert name. This expression, is a way of asking that a person proceeds carefully or take their time with something. Sort of like make haste slowly. Steadily complete a task with care and minimum injury. Hasty climbers have sudden falls, nor so? Easy does it! Could we apply this principle to work? A work culture of fewer work hours, high productivity and no burnouts? This may be a more sustainable way to work, I might add! It is worth noting too that less is more! EASY DOES IT, ‘ERE! Perpetual Guardian, an organization based in New Zealand, cut down working hours on a trial basis. Soon, the management observed a boost in productivity. Employees learned to prioritize and focus on tasks much better. They were happier because they could spend time away from work or with their families. Electricity cost reduced. A win-win situation. So the trial…

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by 5
living, nurture

Really this post should be about food, thoughts about food, but it is not. Instead it is about things to chew on and think about.  More a mental nourishment. Okay, maybe I can find a way to chip in something about food at the end. We’ll see! Sarah is one of a kind. Just give her a date and she can tell you what she was wearing, what she ate or did on that day. Genius! Blessed with a photographic memory. These are details we tend to forget because nothing eventful happened to trigger our brains to store and resuscitate such specifics. Have you met anyone like this? Hopefully, people like Sarah should inspire us to make an effort to recall names of people we have met, right? I mean, it’s the least we can do. Oh, the loud silence when we run into them and can’t make introductions! Experts,…

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by 7
work

I hope that you would you leave a message for Maya to help her next steps after reading her story. She will be reading and learning. Maya couldn’t wait to start and felt lucky to be joining the workforce of this conglomerate. She knew she looked great in her new clothes as she entered the premises. Quite a few co-workers looked unhappy. Why? She wondered. This was the dream job. Plush finishing. Not to mention the contract that offered a sizable remuneration. A message to Maya The required two-month training was over. She was ready. There were team meetings and mentoring from senior people. It was interesting that everyone was expected to address others by their first name, no matter the age or position. It was different for her! Sometimes she heard comments about office politics and unfair reward systems. Still everything was great for now. One coworker had a…

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by 3
qualities of leaderships that last

Hector (not real name) was a resourceful and charismatic leader. His story of courage is inspiring. What qualities do leaders like him have that make them unforgettable? What might we learn from them? Albert Einstein in his earliest years, hardly spoke a word. People thought he would end up retarded. Many years later, we remember him for his great contributions to science and humanity. Makes me think how ordinary people do extraordinary things! Even when they are first dismissed! Leaders put in work. For women in a male dominated field, like Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, it can be twice as hard to get ahead. Ultimately, her efforts at reconciling warring factions in Liberia is not soon forgotten. “The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them. If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf What qualities might leaders who…

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by 6
work

Work is not simply fulfilling duties, is it? There seems to be more. Ivan is a famous chef. He thought he might share his culinary passion with his young son, who seemed to delight in his dad’s cordon bleu cooking. It would be a good bonding experience, he thought, and his son might learn about work at the same time. Then, one day, they had several men over for beers and a sandwich. Ivan gave his son Pete strict instructions, adding that a line cook is like a robot. Meals are to be perfect each time. Well, Pete slipped up. One of the sandwiches was burned. Asked how he could have allowed that slip up, Pete replied that the food was free. Why did it matter? Taking his son aside, Ivan told him that he is great at this- cooking, and touched lives simultaneously on the job. So he could…

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by 0
excursions

Silver lining, is a phrase to describe a situation in which good can occur in harsh circumstances. Venue is Accra Mall. A couple of women entrepreneurs meet up for an excursion to Blue Skies. Yes, the famed company noted for making mouth-watering gelatos that people are nuts about. What’s not to love about this trip! Except it gets cancelled and at such short notice too. Sigh! That was difficult to understand. We had to make the most of the day and soon introduce one another over coffee at one of the mall’s cafés. We share business experiences. Naturally! We also discuss product packaging and visit packaging factories in the city. It was a good learning and networking experience. Some factories impress with huge machinery in well-maintained, clean spaces, with boxes and bags neatly put away on shelves. Others, not quite. Who dropped the ball? I met Aku-Shika. She is the…

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by 2
work

The eleventh hour is the nick of time, just before it is too late to complete a task or make an appointment. It is a yearning to use time judiciously especially when there’s some compensation. A master went out early in the morning to hire workers and arranged to pay an agreed some for the day’s work. Much later in the day, he went out and found others standing idle and hired them. At the eleventh hour, he goes out again and finding some hanging about, he asks why they waited idle. No one has hired us is their reply. So, they were looking? He hires them too. At the end of the day’s work, everyone gets their wages. The first group had worked longer hours of course, and thought they’d receive more for their time. They grumbled about receiving the same sum as the last set of hired hands.…

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