"Awful," "dreary," and "miserable¹" are adjectives that many people use to describe their jobs at one time or another. Dissatisfaction on the job is common and often temporary. But not many people take time to analyze² what makes a job miserable, and how to fix it.

“糟糕”、“沉闷”、“令人不快”，许多人时常会用这些词来形容自己的工作。对工作不满是普遍的，往往也是一时的。但是没几个人会花时间去分析为什么工作会不快乐，以及该如何调整。

Fortunately Patrick Lencioni has done much of that work in his book "The Three Signs of a Miserable Job."

幸运地是Patrick Lencioni在《工作不快乐的三个表现》一书中对此做了详细阐述。

Job Misery³ Is Universal 工作不快乐是普遍现象

The author notes that a "miserable" job differs from a "bad" job, as one person's dream job may not appeal to another worker. A miserable job, however, has some universal traits.

作者指出：“不快乐”的工作和“坏”工作是不同的。因为一个人的理想工作对另一个人也许毫无吸引力。但是，“让人不快”的工作有一些共同特征。

"A miserable job makes a person cynical⁴ and frustrated⁵ and demoralized when they go home at night," Lencioni says. "It drains them of their energy, their enthusiasm, and self-esteem. Miserable jobs can be found in every industry and at every level."

Lencioni说：“不快乐的工作让人在晚上加班回家后变得愤世嫉俗、沮丧、情绪低落；会耗尽人们的精力、挫伤积极性、损害自尊。各行各业、各个级别中都有让人不快的工作。”

Lencioni blames much of the problem on managers, who are a key factor in the job satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) of their employees. A recent Yahoo! HotJobs survey points to a similar conclusion: 43% of workers said discontent with their boss was the main reason they planned to look for a new job in 2008.

Lencioni认为这个问题大部分应归咎于管理者。他们是导致员工对工作满意或是不满的关键因素。Yahoo! HotJobs近期的调查得出了一个相似的结论：有43%的员工称对老板不满是促使他们计划在2008年找新工作的主要原因。

The Three Signs 三个表现

Lencioni identifies the three signs of job misery as anonymity⁶, irrelevance⁷, and "immeasurement."

Lencioni指出工作不快乐的三个表现：不被关注、感觉自己无关紧要、和无法评价自己。

Anonymity: Employees feel anonymous⁸ when their manager has little interest in them as people with unique lives, aspirations⁹, and interests.

不被关注：管理者们对作为独一无二的个体、有自己抱负和爱好的员工没有兴趣，这使员工感到“不被关注”。

Irrelevance: This condition occurs when workers cannot see how their job makes a difference. "Every employee needs to know that the work they do impacts someone's life -- a customer, a coworker, even a supervisor¹⁰ -- in one way or another."

感觉自己无关紧要：当员工无法看到自己的工作所产生的影响时，就会有这种感觉。“每位员工都需要知道自己的工作以某种方式影响到了其他人——顾客，同事，甚至是上司。”

Immeasurement: This term describes the inability of employees to assess for themselves their contributions or success. As a result they often rely on the opinions of others -- usually the manager -- to measure their success.

无法评价自己：指员工无法评估自己的贡献或成就。于是，他们往往需要依赖别人的意见（往往是领导者的）来衡量是否成功。

Three Remedies for Job Misery 如何改变工作不快乐的状态

For workers who may be experiencing the signs of job misery, Lencioni recommends three steps to improve the boss-employee dynamic and enhance job satisfaction.

对于那些可能正在遭受让人不快工作的员工来说，Lencioni建议用三步法来改善老板——员工关系，提升工作满意度。

1. Assess your manager. 评价你的上司。Is the boss interested in and capable of addressing the three factors mentioned above? "Most managers really do want to improve, in spite of the fact that they may seem disinterested¹¹ or too busy," Lencioni says.

你的上司注意到了以上三条工作不快的表现并有能力应对吗? Lencioni说：“尽管上司们可能都表现地不太关心这些或者太忙，但大部分的确都希望能改善状况。”

2. Help your manager understand what you need. 帮助上司理解你的需求

This could mean reviewing with your manager what the key measurements for success are for your job. Lencioni also suggests asking your boss, "Can you help me understand why this work I'm doing makes a difference to someone?"

这意味着你得和上司讨论一下衡量你工作成绩的主要标准。Lencioni建议去问老板一个问题：“你能告诉我为什么我的工作会对人们产生影响吗？”

3. Act more like the manager you want. 希望别人怎么对你，就要怎么对别人

"Employees who take a greater interest in the lives of their managers are bound to infect them with the same kind of human interest they seek," the author says. Or find ways to let your manager know how his or her performance makes a positive difference for you.

Lencioni说：“那些对上司的生活更感兴趣的员工也会使上司对其产生兴趣”。或者，想办法让上司知道他/她的表现是如何对你产生了积极影响。

Be Realistic 现实一点

Richard Phillips, founder¹² of Career Advantage Solutions, agrees that "managing up" is a good way to improve job satisfaction, but he cautions employees to be realistic in their expectations.

Career Advantage Solutions创始人Richard Phillips也同意“向上管理”是提高工作满意度的好办法，但是他告诫员工在期望值上要现实一点。

"Managers are not mind readers," he says. "Take the responsibility to communicate upon yourself, and remember there has to be an ongoing¹³ dialogue, or change is unlikely to happen."

他说：“上司们可不会读心术；交流的责任在于自己。记住，必须要有不断的交流，否则不太可能会发生改变。”