Benefits of a service focus and how to get them
Last week, we discussed how we can reframe our work by pivoting towards a service oriented mindset. We looked at how being helpful to others brings a different perspective to our work, a perspective more in line with what our work is supposed to bring into our lives.
Today I’d like to offer a few additional benefits from a service focus, and a few practical ways we can work on shifting our mindset.
4 benefits from focusing on service:
Positive feelings from helping someone
It’s more in your control - You can help someone every day - vs. extrinsic rewards like compensation which may only be paid biweekly or change annually
Easier to get feedback - You can ask directly or observe your performance, allowing you the satisfaction of improving your performance in something
Pathways to growth - solving one problem may lead you to solve other problems for your client.
If those benefits sound appealing - how do you work to make the mental shift required? Especially if your work is busy..
4 ways to shift your mindset:
Do you clearly know what problem your clients approach you to solve? Is this the problem you think you solve? Do you find this problem compelling enough to care about it?
Do you know when you have solved the problem? Is there a sense of the service being finished/accomplished/complete? If not, can you structure some sort of a completion ritual into your workflow?
If you are super busy, can you slow your mind enough to recognize the human that you are helping? Can you build in a moment, even if brief, to see others in their need?
Can you get good enough at accomplishing your specific tasks so you can think about the overall experience? Once you can become unconsciously competent at something, you will often have the cognitive capacity to consider how to improve it.