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It was never going to be perfect anyway

Resilience / resilience as physical resilience as a concept on a compass (3d rendering)

One of the biggest challenges facing us right now is dealing with a world which is trying to cope with a global pandemic whilst juggling all of the other priorities and requirements on us that haven't gone away in the meantime.

Work, home life, childcare, family obligations, self and mental care are all clamouring for our attention. Not to mention the pressures of being furloughed or not even being able to work at all.

I am not, personally, qualified to help with severe mental health challenges and I can only speak from my own experience of having dealt with a loved one suffering from depression. I will not presume to have all the answers when it comes to coping with the current climate. My heart goes out to anyone having to deal with financial, home or professional challenges outside of their control. I can only offer my thoughts to you.

I will, however, offer my own opinion on dealing with work challenges whilst trying to cope with the restrictions we currently face.

Over the last 6 months I have spoken to a lot of people in both a professional and personal capacity about how they are managing to live, work and otherwise survive. And here's what I have noticed - in those instances where people are feeling more pressure and stress, they are trying to make the current situation as normal and as perfect as possible. Hit the same deadlines, manage the team to perform at the same level, produce the same quality output as always.

The thing is, it isn't a normal or perfect world right now (when is it ever?) and those people who have coped a little better, seem, in my opinion, to be those that accept that fact and that things aren't going to be perfect. They do their very best to produce the same results, the same output, the same quality, but they don't beat themselves up. They have accepted that reality of the situation and controlled what they can within that set of circumstances.

I am also not saying that this is about having an unrealistically optimistic outlook either.

We may encourage people to be positive about difficult situations, but in her work, Diane Coutou found that overly optimistic people don’t do so well as those who accept the reality of their situation. What she means here are people who believe everything will turn out right, but then get downhearted when things remain tough.

She quotes a survivor of the Vietnam prisoner of war camps, Admiral Jim Stockdale, who said that those who believed “we’ll be out by Christmas seemed to die of a broken heart.” This is an extreme example, but also relevant to us all as it can bring a sense of waiting for something to turn out right, rather than taking stock and taking action.

There is a difference between acceptance and resignation.  It seems that those people who have accepted the reality of the current situation are coping, on the whole, better than those who haven't as yet. This article from the Kaizen Leadership Institute is a great read about the difference.

If you want to discuss how you can build your own coping mechanisms or indeed help your team cope better with the current situation, get in touch by emailing [email protected]

We look forward to working with you.

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The whole is greater than the sum of its parts

I have always maintained this idea that we can add more to each other when we work together than if we work alone. The idea that the whole is worth more than any individual is something that only works, however, when all individuals are valued for their contribution and are performing well.  A shared goal is an important aspect of team achievement and performance.

This blog entry from Lane4 has some brilliant insight into team performance and why we are better together.

http://www.lane4performance.com/insight/blog/is-your-team-more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts/

If working on improving team performance is something you need in your business, get in touch. Drop us a mail at [email protected] and let’s see how we can bring your team together and perform!

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People must feel safe to speak up

I remember when I first began in training and development – almost 15 years ago now. I was working for a large confectionery company and in a training room there was a hand written poster with this on it…

“We cannot teach anyone anything. Only allow them to discover it for themselves.”

At first it didn’t really make sense to me but over the years it has become a whole lot clearer.

I’ve realised that people have brilliance in them, we only need to let it out.  The problem is that sometimes people are too scared of the consequences of speaking up in work settings. They feel that by ‘putting their head above the parapet’ they are making a target of themselves and this is stifling creativity, team effectiveness and overall performance.

This recent article about team effectiveness by Google has some interesting findings on that theme. https://www.inc.com/michael-schneider/google-thought-they-knew-how-to-create-the-perfect.html

If you would like to improve team effectiveness, get in touch and see what we can do to help.

[email protected]

 

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Show me the money?

“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.”  ―Joseph Campbell

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”  ―Steve Jobs

There’s a really interesting debate on the internet and with leadership and management gurus about the appropriate motivation for doing a job.  Society has a knack of romanticising the sort of sentiment put forward by the above quotes. We love to imagine that successful people got to where they are because they work hard, obviously, but also because they have a real passion for what they do.

Some commentators would have you believe that there is no merit at all in the concept of following your passion. They contest that it is more important to work hard on chasing the money and being productive than worry about being happy and fully engaged in what you’re doing.

Just ‘dialling it in’?

And here’s where I have a bit of a problem with this.  Have you ever been in a situation where you’re dealing with someone who clearly doesn’t want to be doing what they’re doing? And I don’t just mean in a retail or service situation. I mean even with a manager or colleague? It’s just so easy to see that they’re not engaged, not happy and may just be ‘painting by numbers’. How did that make you feel? Not particularly good I’d expect.

When someone isn’t fully engaged in what they’re doing or maybe just doing it for the paycheck the effect on the people they come into contact with is palpable. And you can bet your bottom dollar that the relationship won’t last much after that initial contact/interaction or will only ever be of a superficial, transactional nature.

So what’s the answer?

I was talking with one of my coachees about this a couple of months ago and we were discussing options for them to move forward with in order to grow their business portfolio. There were a number of potential avenues they could take, some of which might prove more profitable than others. The issue was that the more profitable options weren’t ones that were particularly inspiring for them.

We discussed that there were some obvious quick wins but in the end they decided to forgo the immediacy of the money and go for the more ‘interesting and engaging’ options. And the reason for this? We had discussed the authenticity and integrity of promoting something they believed in rather than something that would just make them money.

My personal view, and indeed how I operate my own business, is that it is more important to look for opportunities you are interested in, ones you are passionate about and ones you are good at than to go for those which are simply about the money.

Obviously if you can combine the two then happy days.

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Doing things right vs doing the right things

Has anyone ever asked you if your ladder is up against the right wall? No, me neither but I sometimes wish they had.

It’s a strange question on the face of it but it has a very significant meaning. It is most commonly quoted as coming from Stephen R. Coveys “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” and is all about helping us see that there is a difference between being busy and being effective. We can put a lot of time and effort into completing a task. But if that task isn’t helping us achieve our goals, it’s pretty much pointless.

The actual quote from Covey is “If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster.” You can spend all your time mastering the intricacies of chess, but if the game you’re going to compete is a darts match you’ve simply wasted all that effort.

A story from the 7 Habits tells of a group of workers chopping down trees in a forest. They work hard at felling trees and soon have taken down a significant number of them. They take a break, congratulating each other on a job well done and slapping each other on the back. A foreman turns up on site to check on progress. He looks at the pile of felled trees and the workers look on expectantly, waiting for him to praise their efforts. Taking a map from his pocket the foreman surveys the site again and looks at the assembled workers. “Guys, we’re in the wrong forest!”

Call to Action

The title of this post is a reminder that sometimes we get caught up in the detail and lose sight of the bigger picture. We need to take time to step back and think – ‘Is what I’m doing right now helping me achieve my goals?’ If it isn’t then you’ve probably got your ladder up against the wrong wall.

To find out more about The 7 Habits and how The Development Catalyst can help you and your team become even more effective click here

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Training – Going slow is going fast

fast or slow pace, lane or living faster or slower speed stop rat race and adapt to slower lifestyle take your time do it easy road sign arrow

Access to technology like we've never had means that we can get the information we want, when we want it and the format that works best for us.  Traditional methodologies for training are facing challenges from every angle.

All too often I hear that people cannot be released from their 'business as usual' activities to attend a training course - they're just too busy! Well here's the rub and it goes back to something my boss said to me when I was fairly new into the learning and development world; "Going slow is going fast!"

I was more than a little confused. What? It didn't make sense at all - how could going slow mean we were going fast?

She went on to explain her view of the meaning of the phrase: time spent in the training room, on developing our skills and abilities and working out how to be better and more effective in the 'real world' would pay exponential dividends and reap rewards when put into practice.  Essentially we can be better and more effective, have more productive relationships and get more things done. So taking time out - slowing down -  to help ourselves be better will allow us to do more, achieve more - go fast.

It suddenly made sense. I understood. Going slow is going fast.

I try to remind business leaders, managers and even delegates on training courses of this seemingly paradoxical phenomenon all the time. We may have unlimited access to information at our fingertips but speed isn't the important thing. Spending time understanding the information is crucial, the relevance to our world and how we can use the knowledge to improve relationships is all time well spent.