When B.B. King, the King of the Blues, wrote these lyrics, “When my heart starts beating like a hammer, and my eyes get full of tears,”  he wasn’t writing about his job but many hard working Americans feel this way on Sunday evening each week.  According to research, getting ready for Monday can be a real bummer.

Have you ever had that feeling of dread come over you on Sunday evening as your mind begins to prepare for the work week ahead? Does your heart start beating like a hammer? Do your eyes fill with tears? Is the thought of Monday - the start of a new work week - so daunting that you begin worrying about work on Sunday?

This type of worry and dread cuts into your weekend.  It feels like Monday starts on Sunday. This phenomenon has been termed the “Sunday Evening Blues.”

It is a real phenomenon. For some people there is much to worry about. In fact, more heart attacks occur on Monday mornings in the workplace than any other day of the week.  When the sun rises on Monday mornings so does the blood pressure of many hard working Americans.  What is the cause of the Sunday Evening Blues?  The cause could be related to your morning commute, sleep deprivation from the weekend, abuse of alcohol, poor family relationships, or the act of returning to a toxic work environment.

When surveying employees regarding their satisfaction with work, I think it is a good idea to ask this question: “Do you experience the Sunday Evening Blues when thinking about returning to work on Monday?”  The results will be a good indicator of the health of your workplace.

As business leaders we should do what we can to make the workplace a welcoming and inviting place.  The environment should help employees perform at their highest levels.  Below are a few ideas on how to create a warm and inviting workplace and beat down the Sunday Evening Blues:

• Drive Out Fear in the Workplace - Fear stifles creativity, productivity and quality. Fear seizes up the organization’s ability to freely produce results because employees are afraid of being reprimanded.  Drive out fear by ridding your organization of supervisors who are overbearing, micromanaging, nitpicking, fire-breathing Neanderthals.
• Model Servant Leadership - The most productive teams are motivated by servant leaders. When leaders realize their job is to help others succeed, work/life begins to make more sense.  When everything and everyone has to accommodate the leader, he/she is not a servant leader but a dictator.
• Throw Out Rigidity and Embrace Flexibility - Our personal and professional lives have never been more complicated.  Many times the competing demands of our family and work intersect and create enormous pressure.  When the company forces employees to choose between work and family, the company will always lose in the end. Even if the employee chooses company over family, the company will eventually lose when the employee’s family falls apart.  It is best to work things out through flexible leadership.  In other words, focus on results not face time.
• Provide Lessons on Etiquette and Civility - Our country severely lacks some basic lessons on etiquette and civility. If a driver does not speed off at a green light within one second, hoards of cars will start honking their horns, shouting obscenities and shoving crude finger gestures at you.  These ruthless, impatient, vulgar people are driving to work too and you likely work with many of them.  It is a good idea to provide mandatory etiquette and civility training to help smooth out the major and minor irritants that cause friction in the workplace. If there is friction in the workplace it is manifesting itself at the customer level as well.
• Leaders Should Be Nice - It is amazing what will happen in an organization if the top leader and his/her executive team are simply nice people.  You do not have to be mean and nasty to get work done. That is myth not reality.  Leaders who are nice, cordial, pleasant, focused, determined, objective and fair will lead their company to greatness.  When nice starts at the top it will cascade down the organization.

Note: Please take a moment and respond to the poll question on our website regarding this subject.  We are very interested in reader responses.

This past weekend a rough looking middle-aged woman deliberately threw a rather large plastic cup full of soda out of her car window onto a retail store parking lot as we walked by. Realizing the unkempt woman littered on purpose, my wife said to her, “you dropped your cup.”  In a very hateful tone the litterbug shot back, “come over here and pick it up!”  A trash can was simply four or five steps away from the rude woman’s car door but she refused to do the right thing, trashed our environment with her uncleanliness and her unsightly rudeness.

What has happened to basic courtesy? When did it become okay to simply throw your trash out the car window while driving down the highway. When did it become okay to yell, scream and curse at other drivers on the road?  This same lack of courtesy has crept into the workplace as well.

Why do some managers find it acceptable to yell or curse at employees?  Why do some organizations allow fear and intimidation to be used as a management tool? Even non-profit groups, churches and Christian organizations have not been immune to the disease of mean.

One time I observed a blustery executive respond to a subordinate who simply asked a good question, “I am not telling you again because I didn’t stutter the first time,” the impatient executive stated to the employee who was visibly shaken by the rude response.  How creative and innovative do you think that supervisor’s employees were?

A majority of professionals will display trust, dignity and respect among subordinates, peers and leaders.  However, there are those difficult ones who create toxic work environments due to their refusal to treat people nicely.  They litter the workplace with their toxic behavioral trash. Their behavior and demeanor smells and makes people sick.

The Power of Nice is a great book written by advertising executives Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval showing “how to conquer the business world with kindness.”  I highly recommend the brief 119 page book to all my clients, leaders and future leaders. We have all heard the adage “nice guys finish last.” Actually, this is far from the truth.  Sure, mean managers get significant press time.  But according to the authors, “The Power of Nice shows that ‘nice’ companies have lower employee turnover, lower recruitment costs, and higher productivity.  Nice people live longer, are healthier, and make more money.”

The authors Thaler and Koval go on to say, “companies and people with a reputation for cooperation and fair play forge the kind of relationships that lead to bigger and better opportunities, both in business and life.  But nice doesn’t mean acting wimpy. In fact, nice may be the toughest four-letter word you’ll ever experience,” say the authors.

Building great workplaces is not complicated work. Treating employees with dignity, trust and respect is not rocket science. Being nice, respectful and caring is powerful. These qualities are not the tools of a wimpy leader.  These are the qualities of a focused and successful leader who does not need to ruin lives while climbing the corporate ladder or building a successful company.

Will you join The People Group in making a commitment to create a trusting, respectful and caring work environment where you work?  It makes sense.  It’s the right thing to do.  And you will be financially better for it.

There is an erroneous business idea that one must be edgy, short-tempered and tough to get things done. Here’s a news flash for those who have operated under this paradigm; jerks are out - nice people are in. Toxic workplaces are out - great places to work are in.

For a business to enjoy long-term financial success, leaders and employees must restrict their inner evil desire to beat people down in order to lift their egos up. Long-term success is derived from treating people kindly and respectfully. Work with others the way in which you want to be treated. We have known this truth since grade school but some difficult personality types have suppressed this right way to live and work.

I won’t return to a hotel where the staff is rude. Although I usually stay at a hotel for only one or two nights, I will not go back if one employee is rude to me. Yes, one employee!

A restaurant can have the best food in the city but if their employees are edgy or rude, I won’t go back. I don’t need the aggravation.

We avoid cranky people in the service business. How about when you are looking for an employer? When you are interviewing, researching and selecting a new employer, you may work for the company ten years! You want to know if that place is filled with friendly or angry people, don’t you?

In the very near future, it will be common for employees to avoid companies whose leaders and/or staff are rude. Toxic work environments will be measured and reported online. The dirty secrets that companies used to conceal will soon become public knowledge.

The work climate is changing in a positive manner because great workplaces are part of a healthy workplace component. Employee productivity is directly tied to environmental factors, including the toxicity of the culture. In the near future, jerks will find themselves out of business or unemployed.

Before going on vacation, my wife researches hotels and resorts by utilizing www.tripadvisor.com. This valuable site rates a destination’s hotels, from best to worst. The site provides actual guest photos and comments. The site has saved us from bad properties a number of times. It prevents us from selecting the wrong hotel. In many cases, TripAdvisor.com has helped us select the best hotel.

Similarly, in the distant future, job applicants will likely be granted access to a website that rates employers from best to worst. Why? The best employers need a place where their excellent qualities can be showcased. Companies who employ bullies and tyrants need to be made public so the best people don’t take positions in toxic work environments.

This will be a win-win situation. Great workplaces will win by showcasing the actual work experience of their employees. Employees will win by having the tools to prevent a job change to a toxic work environment.