Enough is enough
Where has the love gone at the workplace?
The workplace makes you more pertinent than you think.
My name is Rabea Bennis. My reason for starting Rabea Talks is that there is a lot to be said about what can be changed at the workplace, especially concerning how to deal with your staff. A lot has already been written about it… I know, a lot has been said about it and still is being said about it…. I know. However, I feel the most important part is still missing. It is neither my intention to use terminology or fancy words nor to work in processes. As I do believe in the power of simplicity! And to be perfectly honest: it isn’t that hard at all. Unfortunately, that is often the train of thought of a human: for something to work, it needs to be difficult. Really? I’ve attended many workshops, heise emissions & teambuilding sessions, that made me sleepier than they touched me. Is that my fault? Could be, but I believe many people recognise these situations and are triggered by them. Whether you are an entrepreneur with a small or big company, or even an employee, someone looking for a job or someone that recently lost his job… They are all the same to me, I see a human being. That is key as far as I am concerned, the human aspect, something that has vanished into the background at the workplace, whereas figures, education, targets, job titles, ranks etc. rule the workplace. Meanwhile management asks itself why it is so hard to find good staff members and more importantly, retain them. And why do employees leave? I call it the revolving door effect.
I have been working for more than 25 years now. During a big benchmark study for a customer, where this question constantly came forward, it dawned on me why it is so hard for entrepreneurs to find quality staff and more importantly retain it.
I thought: I am going to do something with this. That is why I am saying: Enough is enough! Change is needed for an entrepreneur to function ideally internally and stimulate growth of your enterprise this way. Just think about it, growth has nothing to do with the size of your customer base, although many people might think differently about that.
Am doing this due to frustration? No, because I finally have the guts to come out for it and name it, without doubt or fear of how people will react to it. Maybe you can call it frustration after all, but with a thick layer of passion and eagerness. My name is Rabea.
You are probably thinking, what do you mean by love? That should not be part of the corporate life, right? Shouldn’t it? I know the Netherlands is a wonderful sober country and please do not mention feelings, because those are supposed to be kept inside. But let’s be honest, is that the right way?
This is exactly the reason why people are turning their backs to their employers, call in sick, suffer from burn-outs, engage in conflicts (both between employer and employee as well as members of staff amongst themselves).
Nine out of ten people just state they have a burn-out in order not to appear at work for a long period. The problem is not the burn-out itself, but the lack of love at the workplace, where one must pretend to be someone one is not, gets entangled in misunderstandings, anger and loneliness. Briefly, one does not feel concerned.
When this escapes your attention as an entrepreneur or you deny it, you might still have a big customer base. However, you are tearing down the foundation of your company, which is your staff. This is one of the key elements that most entrepreneurs underestimate or choose not to see, as they naively think that paying salary does the trick. Money is not the motivator.
Lack of love, dear people.
Lack of respect, lack of emotions, lack of genuine interest in each other, lack of ethics, lack of adaptation capacity, lack of trust. Personality is hard to find. By far the biggest is lack of empathy!
Do you know everything that is going down at the workplace? How do your staff members interact? How do you train your people to see the signs? Instead of purely focussing on targets, in other words external affairs and customers. Did you know your staff are customers too? (Internal customers)
But that is not the only subject that Rabea Talks addresses. I will also discuss alternate subjects, that surely also have an impact at the workplace. How to recognise them, how to deal with them? Because, let’s be honest, there is no separation between work and private life.
I can hear you think: “Come on do it, isn’t it your work after all?” Exactly because it is your work. How much time does one spend at the office, in a store or at a restaurant?
That is why I want to offer a platform to investigate this subject further and to make the human aspect shine brighter than ever before. Regardless of your level of education, regardless of your background or culture. And regardless your job role. Did you know that people with a “primary function” are the most important people, much more important than people with a “higher post”? How many times do people forget that?
When you open up together and show each other your true emotions, miracles do happen. And then working becomes fun, much more fun than before even! That will make you happy and that is exactly what RabeaTalks would like to achieve. A positive change, for both the entrepreneur, the employee and the job seeker. Finally, let’s make the person who has just lost his job look differently at a company and vice versa!
How do I want to achieve this?
Through giving lectures, for both companies as well as schools. As schools are the future for the corporate world. Make no mistake about that! Lower or higher education should not determine everything. I don’t want lower educated people to feel they have no chance of success, due to their lower education. This has nothing to do with intelligence. Unfortunately, the outside world tends to look more often at the package (what you own, who you know, are your parents rich and successful or poor, what degree do you have?) than at who you are as a human being.
Therewithal I don’t want the higher educated people to think that they don’t need to do anything anymore or have a big lead because they have a higher education or are of rich lineage.
Unfortunately, you often see people at the workplace looking down upon and talking down lower educated colleagues, not being able to see the added value they can bring to each other and the company.
Feel triggered, recognise yourself in this? Feel free to contact me and continue following me via my website, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
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