Guest blog by Sonia Aste

A new illness is sweeping through the corporate world causing havoc and creating what experts call ‘angry job desertion’:

‘Here’s my resignation! Roll it up and put it where you see fit!’ 

Known as TPSD (Team Player Stress Disorder), symptoms include shortness of breath, racing heart, sense of terror or impending doom and an urge to laugh and cry hysterically whenever you’re in the presence of fellow team members.  

Like many TPSD sufferers, I kept my condition hidden for many years, afraid of being found out and forced to work with the living dead (Finance) or in the company’s mental health unit (Human Resources).  

I lived a dual life, a private one and a public one. To the outside world I was the perfect team player: I went to the office parties (as fun as a root canal), signed ‘Good Luck’ cards for colleagues I had never met and donated hundreds of pounds to team members who supported charities by doing impossible feats like windsurfing, sunbathing and alpine skiing. 

The Team was good like that. One time we collected £300 for Freddie’s charity and then found out he’d quit and vanished with the money. Guess he ‘took it for the team’.

As for me? I took it all in stride. My screen saver was the team photo with caption ‘There’s no I in Team’. My boss would smile and say ‘I wish everyone had your attitude Sarah’. Never mind my name is Sonia.

As for the much anticipated ‘Team Outings’, they were mainly geared to pacify the team’s gorilla grunters wild Cro-Magnon urges. Take the ‘GO-CART Outing’, which was like a Mad Max Movie without Mel Gibson for eye candy. The air had so much testosterone I was worried I’d grow an Adam’s apple.

When the ‘Paint Ball Outing’ came around I walked into a corporate ambush and was shot in the back by the assistant director. Regarded with pity and contempt by the team – I was forced to sit out the rest of the bloodbath. Best team outing of my life.

It all came to a head when George was named ‘Team Player of the Year’. That’s when TPSD really hit me – I just could not believe it! If anyone deserved the prize it was me! OK maybe George was the only team member that actually WORKED … but he enjoyed it! And wasn’t it ME that kept him nourished with Snickers and Red Bulls to keep him going?
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I followed ALL TEAM PLAYER rules:!

1. Smile and applaud when boss takes credit for the team’s work (in this case George’s).

2. Never voice your opinions. Unless they coincide with your boss’s opinion.

3. If you have an idea tell your boss first. It might be a good one! Go to point 1.

4. If you have a problem with a team member, never confront them directly. Be a sneak and tell your boss first. Then pretend you know nothing.

5. Create rumours about team members who have been nasty to you.   

6. Create rumours about team members who have been nice to you.

7. Spread the truth about who slept with who – especially if both of them are married. 

8. If asked to cover for someone while they are on holiday accept graciously and then forget about it.

Soon after George received his prize I decided to seek help. 

I am now self-employed and in remission from TPSD.

If you have been affected by this blog please go have a drink.

By yourself.


Many thanks to our guest blogger Sonia Aste @ http://soniaaste.com/

Whether you run, swim, sew, knit, walk, paint, watch birds, cycle, sail, jump from planes, make scrap books, take photos or hot baths, challenge crocodiles or chess champions, show dogs or aubergines, raise money for charities or churches, ride horses or shopping trolleys – your cause matters!
 
To feel like you are achieving in life, you need to feel satisfied, to feel satisfied, you need to give something back; your cause. We’ll call this; The Contribution Factor.
 
The Contribution Factor is a clever little thing, see it can be repeated in various scenarios. Such as marketing, sales, buying, explaining, justifying – even in starting up. We; as people like to feel like we are contributing, that feeling of helping someone or something is a little injection of endorphins, which we all love!
 
So how can we utilise these free endorphins to their maximum potential? Well, in our private lives & time; we can capitalize on our interests and hobbies, injecting them into our daily activities & routines. In Business, we can support what we love through the work that we do, we can even go as far as providing the facility for our staff & clients to do the same…
 
An insurance broker in Wallington, Surrey have a scheme; #GIVEBACK. This scheme allows their clients to select a church or charity of their choice to receive a donation directly from the profits of said insurance policy*. Okay, so I might be biased on the basis that I set up this scheme alongside 1Stop Insurance, but it does give our clients that feel good, Contribution Factor. Better still, we get to share the Contribution Factor with our clients and their chosen causes too!
 
Some other ways to inject The Contribution Factor into your business…

• Hold an annual poll with your staff/clients to come up with 1 or 2 charities to raise money
• Ask neighbouring businesses if you can hold joint events, donating your proceeds
• Organise a sponsored run/swim/knit… whatever you are good at
• Give your staff time off for them to give back to their community or volunteer
• Use your skills/talents to make or do something to help others, or sell for a donation

 
Where will the Contribution Factor get you? Well, this is mostly down to your intentions. If genuine, I would go some way in saying you will have a more satisfactory work-life balance, your staff will feel more enthused and those events will boost morale, your clients will have more cause to support you which in turn will assist your retention and return. Your business will have more excuse for organic marketing and the causes that you have assisted will benefit from your help and that is where the Contribution Factor starts all over again!
 
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Thank you to our guest blogger Anna Wilkinson.

*see terms and conditions for feel details @ 1 Stop Insurance  

Guest blog by Anna Wilkinson

Suits you sir; that work life balance that you’ve got going on! Keeping the house tidy and getting yourself ready for work, remembering to set the alarm, kissing your other half goodbye before singing along to your 80’s sound track in the car as you roll through the traffic. You rock into the office, swinging your packed lunch into the fridge and spinning on your chair at least twice whilst your PC signs in. Phone rings and you are the cheeriest person to pick up that call and greet like a pro! Yeah, You’re in control! You’ve got this.

Until… That Monday morning, when it’s raining, the cat woke you up early, you’re out of food for lunch, you spill your legal caffeine fix down your shirt… Then you jump in the car, you need fuel, your music isn’t giving you the buzz you need & you’re in a messy fluster of late and dissatisfied. There’s a queue for the lift and your PC is updating as you finally unceremoniously plonk yourself at your desk. Not good. Not happy. Stinky tone for the day ahead has been set.
 
So this is a familiar thing right – but sure, you have very little control over how your day starts, right?? Or wrong (kind of). See, you might not be able to control how your day starts, but you do have control of how you deal with your day, as I will explain.
 
What you’re trying to do here is balance only your work and your life. If you’re doing this, and only this – You’re missing out on something. Satisfaction.
 
See, as people, we need more than just work and life – that makes for a delicate see-saw and can only take a couple of minor things to unbalance your flow. So, what is the trick?
 
Well…. You’re missing your cause. Your cause might be:

• A sport
• A charity
• A belief
• A hobby

And, if you’re not making time for any of the above, your balance is set up to fail, because you are instantly missing *Satisfaction*!
 
“But I don’t have time” I hear you cry… I saw that one coming. You simply need to make time. What can you outsource; like admin to a virtual assistant, or feeding the cat to a pet sitter, or networking to a brand ambassador. If there is something in your day that you do not enjoy & you have the option to outsource it, then utilise that. Speak to your networks, who can help you?
 
If funds are a preventative then you need to become more organised, forgetting the bread or not putting fuel in your car can not be excusable. Come up with a schedule to ensure you can still do all of the things you need & want, then factor in down time & time to pick up the things that are forgotten.
 
Busy lives are part of today, but everything you do & enjoy doing forms part of your portfolio, your portfolio makes you who you are. Prioritise that!
 

Many thanks to our guest blogger Anna Wilkinson  @ 1stopinsurance