Q. I'm really happy to have a job right now as the "jobless" recovery continues, but I'm bored. My team has been asked to keep the programs we have running but my company is struggling to survive. I can see new approaches that could potentially save the company. Would it be a problem to propose these ideas to my boss?
A. It would be a problem not to propose your ideas to your boss. One of the upsides to this frightening economy is anyone with a good idea may get listened to. Many management teams and boards know the old approaches aren't working but they don't know what will fix these problems.
The worst thing that can happen is no one will listen to you, your company will fail, and your good ideas will give you a leg up with your next employer.
If you speak up and there are flaws in your good ideas, you'll have the opportunity to learn how to improve your problem solving. You will still feel more engaged at work than if you say nothing.
Your best-case scenario is that your boss and management team listen and put you in charge of implementing your good ideas. You have now potentially solved your problem of boredom and your company's problem of survival.
When I was in my doctoral program, I wondered how Freud and other great psychologists had hit upon their brilliant theories of human behavior. As I pondered this question, I realized these great thinkers had simply made theories up. As I pondered this question more, I realized how reluctant I and many others are to take the risks to make up theories that make sense to us.
Today's economy needs people willing to make up new theories about how to fix what is broken in our workplaces. If we wait for someone else who is smarter, wiser or more experienced to tell us the answers, many corporate ships may continue to sink.
The French philosopher Voltaire, who gave a lot of thought to the social problems of the 18th century, concluded, "No problem can stand the assault of sustained thinking." Voltaire's point still stands two and a half centuries later.
If you and many of my readers give themselves more permission to use sustained thinking about each of the problems facing them on the job, many of you dear readers may create the breakthroughs so badly needed to turn our economy (and maybe even our world around).
If you want to help yourself or your company, think, propose and experiment. You'll lose your boredom and may find solutions that turn around your job, your team and even your company.
The last word
Q. When I'm really frustrated in team meetings, I tend to put my foot in my mouth. Is there a way I can deliver my message more effectively?