Is Perception Reality?

I’ve always been amazed with the 3-D artwork of Julian Beever.  I choose one of his pavement chalk drawings to accompany my blog this week because I wanted to write about perception.  And, his artwork is the perfect illustration that things are not always as they seem.

Our perceptions motivate our reactions to other people and situations, how we proceed with projects at work, the choices we make, the attitudes we express, etc.

One of my favorite perception stories is told in the book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey and it goes like this.

A store manager heard one of his salespeople say to a customer, “No, we haven’t had any for some weeks now, and it doesn’t look as if we’ll be getting any soon.”  He then observed the customer turn and head for the door.  The manager was shocked to hear these words and rushed to the customer as she was walking out the door.  “That isn’t true,” he said, but the customer just gave him an odd look and walked out the door.  He confronted the salesperson and said, “Never, ever say that we don’t have something.  If we don’t have it, say we’ve ordered it and it’s on its way.  Now what did that customer want?  “Rain,” said the salesperson.

How often have you made an assumption or jumped to a conclusion, responded accordingly and then found out that the “miss” was in your perception?  I have, plenty of times!  It’s easy to do.

This story reminds me that everyone has a unique perspective because of their frame of reference.  And, this story reminds me to stay curious and observant in life, to ask questions to understand diverse perspectives, and to gather information about a situation before I form an opinion.

Respectfully yours, Georgine

“Our paradigms, correct or incorrect, are the sources of our attitudes and behaviors, and ultimately our relationships with others.”  Stephen Covey

Beliefs

I’m always struck by the power of my beliefs on how the way I act.  Often, my beliefs are based on old patterns or habits that I’ve formed from past experiences.  Perhaps you can relate.  What’s important to keep in mind is that when we act out of old patterns, it keeps us from being “in the moment” and present to the needs of those around us.

Here are some commonly-held beliefs that influence our choices (and not always in a positive way):

·    In order for me to win, someone has to lose.
·    If I’m the leader (or boss), I have to know all the answers.
·    If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.
·    No pain, no gain.
·    Big boys don’t cry.
·    If you want something done right, do it yourself.
·    Take care of #1.

Beliefs impact our behavior, and if we hold beliefs that have negative connotation, our actions will likely have negative results.  For example, if I held the belief that “in order for me to win, someone has to lose”, it’s likely I would create a sense of competition at work and end up alienating my team mates.

So, here’s another take on the beliefs listed above that are more likely to keep you (and me) in the present moment:

·    In order for me to win, others have to win as well.
·    If I’m the leader (or boss), I don’t have to know all the answers, I just need to know how to involve those who do.
·    If you can’t say something nice, there’s probably a conflict you need to solve.
·    No pain, is a good thing for everyone.
·    Every human feels pain and expresses it in his or her own way.
·    If you want something done right, give people the tools to succeed.
·    Take care of yourself so you can be available to take care of others.

I would love to hear some of your old patterns and beliefs that no longer serve you.  And, then, I’d like to hear how you can change them up to help you be more present to yourself and those around you.

Lynae

Choice

Lately, for reasons I can’t really explain, I’ve been thinking about our “choices” in terms of how we choose to respond when presented with a situation that we don’t relish.  You know what I mean . . . when change is thrust upon us in the workplace, or when a colleague’s reaction is less than professional, or when we’re asked to work on a project that is as inspiring as dry toast.  The choice of how to respond comes up quite often when we work with clients to help with a change management initiative.  Sometimes, people choose to view change as a nuisance, rather than as an opportunity.  I get that . . . I’m guilty of it sometimes myself.  And, what I notice is that when I choose to respond as though something is a nuisance, my experience is always lousy.  I don’t know about you, but I really like it when my experiences are anything but lousy.  So, I’m practicing choosing to find the opportunity in things.

It’s not always easy to look for the opportunity.  It takes discipline.  But, it matters.  If you’re a leader, it really matters that your response to change or challenging circumstances is constructive because your team watches everything you do and you set the tone for how they’ll respond.  So, before you respond, ask yourself these questions to help you find the opportunity in the circumstance you face:

·    What can you learn?
·    How can performance or outcomes improve?
·    What old or outdated practices or policies can be replaced or improved upon?
·    How does the situation play to your strengths or the strengths of your team?
·    Where might there be some fun or adventure in it for you?

When I ask these questions of myself, I’m more curious, and as a result, more open-minded.  And, when I’m open-minded, I tend to respond to things with a little more enthusiasm, interest, and wonder.  So, I’m choosing to practice to find the opportunity in things.  How about you join me and we’ll see what we discover?

Lynae

Honoring Diversity – What Makes You Unique?

One of the reasons I love what I do is because of the fascinating people I have the opportunity to meet every day.  The highly social aspect of my personality is always curious about others; their “stories” and deepening relationships by just getting to know them.

One of the exercises that Madd-Steiny often facilitates in our learning modules around the topic of honoring diversity has participants answer the simple question: ‘What makes you unique?’

We hear that life experiences in diverse cultures and communities, family systems, education, life events, and work experiences create each of our unique stories.  Invariably, this discussion always creates a curiosity to hear more about the unique and individual stories.

We believe that in order to embrace a culture of respect and inclusion every individual needs to be honored for their uniqueness.  This can be advanced in any organization when individuals and groups take time to create a forum where dialogue and listening can take place.

One of my all time favorite authors, Margaret Wheatley, said it best in her book Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future.

“Great healing is available to us when we listen to each other.  No matter what we have experienced in life, if we can tell our story to someone who listens, we find it easier to deal with our circumstances.  Listening is such a simple act.  It requires us to be present (and that takes practice!) and willing to just sit there and listen with the intent to understand.  Why is being heard so healing?  It has something to do with the fact that listening creates a relationship.

We know from science that nothing in the universe exists in isolation.  Everything takes form from relationships.  Our natural state is to be together.  Though we keep moving away from each other, we never lose the need to be in relationship.  Not listening creates fragmentation.  Listening moves us closer to becoming more whole.”

Here are some questions that you might consider asking others to learn about what makes them unique:

·    What is your favorite thing about this time of year?
·    What traditions do you practice in your family that has a legacy?
·    What was an experience in your life that was a “defining moment” for you and shaped who you are today?

Enjoy and honor the stories you’ll hear!

Sincerely, Georgine

Is Your Company Customer Centric?

One of our favorite clients is a hospital with whom we’ve been working for more than three years.  We feel privileged that they have implemented a customized version of our respectFULL teams™ program.  Recently, they spoke to us about developing a learning plan for an initiative they’ve undertaken to build a “patient family centered” culture.  Patient family centered care is the practice of building and sustaining mutually-beneficial partnerships among patients, their families, and health care providers.  At its core, patient family centered care requires that patients and their families are treated with dignity and respect.  (We love that part!)  One aspect of this best practice requires the interpersonal competence to be able to connect and communicate with people in a way that is meaningful for them and meets their individual needs.  In many cases, this is a paradigm shift for hospital personnel because patients and families must be viewed as equal and important members of the health care team.  For health care, this is a revolution.  And, it can be a revolution for all other industries as well.

What do you think it would be like if all organizations treated their customers – all the time – with dignity and respect?  There are some core principles of patient family centered care that translate well to any industry and all customers.  Here are some of the guidelines for making an organization more customer-centered.  What improvement ideas and/or challenges come to mind for you as you read them?

·    Service is customized according to the customer’s needs and values.
·    The customer is the source of control.
·    Knowledge is shared and information flows freely.
·    Decision making is evidence-based.
·    Transparency is necessary.
·    Needs are anticipated.
·    Waste is continuously decreased.
·    Cooperation among service providers is a priority.

Lynae

Generosity

Recently, I’ve heard a lot of “talk” about a new book out by Ken Blanchard (author of The One Minute Manager) and S.Truett Cathy (author of It’s Easier to Succeed Than to Fail) called The Generosity Factor: Discover the Joy of Giving Your Time, Talent, and Treasure.

I don’t know about you, but for me when I hear something once I take notice.  When I hear something twice, I take interest. And, when I hear something three times (or more), I take action.  So, I went out and bought the book.

I found the book to be an inspirational and easy read.  What I received from the book was a reminder about the power of giving.

I couldn’t help but think about a blog that my partner, Lynae, wrote a few weeks back on Getting What you Want after being inspired by hearing Zig Zigler speak at a conference we attended, about the power of giving generously.

Generosity is the mindset of giving freely without expecting anything in return. Generosity involves giving of your time, attention, assets, or talents.  Although the term generosity often goes hand-in-hand with charity, it is not solely based on one’s economic status, but instead, includes the individual’s pure intentions of expressing appreciation, looking out for an individual’s/group’s common good and/or giving from the heart.

For me, the book inspired more than a heart of giving. It inspired my heart of receiving. I haven’t always been so gracious in receiving gifts from others, be it appreciation, feedback, help, or tokens. I do believe that giving and receiving go hand in hand.

We have always heard that the act of giving has a cause and effect relationship with the receiver. They are more inclined to “pass it on” and acknowledge others that make a difference in their lives.

Madd-Steiny’s focus on helping create and sustain values-based work cultures has a lot to do with the art of giving and receiving. When we are generous with each other, we have an eye on the greater good that we can accomplish together and feel more empowered to make a difference in our world.

Here are some tips I would suggest for practicing the art of giving and receiving in your environment.

·    Be generous with “calling out” action and/or contributions from others that you appreciate
·    Be fully present “in the now” with each interaction you have with others.
·    Get good at saying “thank you” when you receive a token of generosity
·    Express your appreciation for the give and take (collaboration) of your relationships

Georgine

Monuments

Last week, I took my twin nieces to Mt. Rushmore.  (That’s us in the photo.)  I was awestruck by the powerful sight of four of our greatest presidents carved into a granite mountainside.  It got me thinking about monuments, their power, and their meaning in our culture.

Monuments are imbued with meaning by their creators.  Mt. Rushmore is a memorial to American history and instills hope and is meant to represent a basic belief in the decency of our country and its government.  But I believe Mt. Rushmore holds greater power than imagined by its artist because of the personal meaning for each individual who visits.  For me, the monument represents America’s values of freedom, liberty and opportunity.  I can only imagine what it might mean to others: hope, strength, truth, justice, happiness, or possibility.

In organizations, we create monuments imbued with meaning that is intended to send a message, represent shared values, or align with the company vision.  Sometimes the monuments are explicit, such as a sculpture of a company founder or a mural depicting major events in a company’s history.  Other times, monuments are subtle reminders of important beliefs, such as a plaque on which are listed the company’s core values.  More subtle still . . . a monument can be found in the form of company lore─a story told time and again.  The important thing to remember for leaders who erect monuments (or perpetuate a company’s oral history) is to make sure they are inspirational.  A monument endures when its meaning is universal and can stand the test of time.

·    So, what monuments exist in your company?
·    Do they inspire and appropriately represent your organization’s vision and values?
·    What do they mean to you and others?
·    How do they help your company progress and grow?

Lynae

Effective Communication

Research indicates that employees spend somewhere between 75% – 80% of their total time at work communicating in one way or another.  This isn’t surprising, since communication is so crucial to everything that goes on in an organization.  Communication is the “life blood” of an organization.

Without effective communication there can be little or no performance management, innovation, understanding of clients, understanding of mission, alerts to changes, coordination of effort, etc.

Research also indicates that many managers and employees do not communicate well, and do not set an organizational culture where communication within the organization is managed effectively.

Poor communication is self-sustaining, because it eliminates an important “feedback loop”.  Employees are reluctant to “communicate” their concerns about communication because they do not perceive the manager as receptive.  Both staff and management play out a little dance.

Effective organizational communication, regardless of form, requires three things.

1.    All players must have the appropriate skills and understanding to communicate well.

2.    Effective organizational communication requires a culture that supports effective communication.  This involves trust, openness, reinforcement of good communication practices, and shared responsibility for making communication effective.

3.    Effective communication requires attention.  It doesn’t just happen, but develops as a result of an intentional effort on the part of management and staff.  Too often, communication, whether it is good or bad, is taken for granted.

You play a critical role in fostering and nurturing a culture that is characterized by open communication.  Without this culture, all the best laid plans, resources and skills in the organization will be wasted. We must bring communication to the forefront of our organization and give it attention.  If you make the effort to improve communication, your employees will recognize that it is important.  If you ignore it, so will your employees.

“True interactivity is not about clicking on icons or downloading files, it’s about encouraging communication.” Edwin Schlossberg

With Respect,

Georgine

Engage Play Laugh

This weekend marked the opening of the new movie, Eat Pray Love, based on the book by Elizabeth Gilbert.  While decidedly a “chick flick”, the movie’s message is universal: finding the meaning of life.  Well, this blog is not about the meaning of life – although it is certainly a worthy topic.  Rather, I wanted to pay homage to the title and devised Engage Play Laugh as an inspiration to leaders for creating positive energy in the workplace.

Engage.  We’ve written before on the topic of employee engagement and there is more evidence than ever that when employees are engaged at work, profits and productivity rise.  So, what can leaders do to engage employees?  Here are some ideas:

• Make sure employees have the tools they need to succeed. This includes procedures, equipment and training.
• Provide clear expectations through goals and performance standards.
• Recognize employees for their performance frequently.  Don’t wait until the annual review to let them know how things are going.
• Encourage innovation and creativity.  When you provide encouragement to “color outside the lines”, employees are more likely to create new solutions the old problems.
• Ask for their opinions and ideas.  Involve them in projects and strategic planning to give them a sense of ownership.
• Identify development and advancement opportunities and make sure they have the support needed to reach new performance heights.

Play.  Playfulness in the workplace can be a very productive activity.  In his recently published book, Delivering Happiness, the CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh talks at length about one of their core values:  Create Fun and a Little Weirdness.  Now, for those of you who have never heard of Zappos, it’s one of the most successful online companies in U.S. history (right up there with Amazon, which bought Zappos last year.)  Zappos grew to a billion dollar company in 10 years because they focused on building a vibrant and customer focused culture.  Fun and weirdness are an important part of their culture.  Hsieh makes the case that encouraging fun and weirdness “encourages people to think outside the box and be more innovative.”  So, ask yourself these questions:

• What can you do to be a little more playful and differentiate yourselves from the competition?
• How much fun do you have on the job and what can you do to increase the fun factor?
• What can you do to make your job (and the jobs of others) more fun?

Laugh.  Surely this is an extension of creating playfulness, and perhaps a little weirdness, in the workplace.  Laughter breaks down walls, reduces tension, and lightens up the energy in a room.  But, you don’t have to have weirdness to have laughter.  There’s a little too much seriousness in the world today.  We probably could all use a big belly laugh.  What’s your leadership style like?  Do you tend to take things seriously?  Are you able to laugh at yourself and your mistakes?  If you walk down the hall and hear people laughing, do you join in or does the laughter taper off when you appear?  Think about the energy you create at work and consider “lightening things up” a bit.

Decide to incorporate a little more playfulness and laughter into the workplace and see if you don’t get a lot more engagement from the team.

Lynae

Getting What You Want

Over the weekend of July 15th, Georgine and I attended the International eWomenNetwork Conference in Dallas.  Among several great speakers was the incomparable and much beloved Zig Ziglar.  In spite of being 85 and having suffered some minor short term memory loss as a result of a fall in his home more than 3 years ago, he is still traveling the world spreading his message of inspiration and motivation.  With the help of his daughter (who interviews him and helps him remember things), he shared stories about his childhood, his long-term marriage, and the importance of family – something he refers to as the “home court advantage.”  His talk was heartwarming and poignant.

Of all the things he said, one thing had the greatest impact on me.  He said, “You can have anything you want if you help others get what they want.”  This idea is central to respect because it’s about doing for others, honoring the needs of others, and recognizing that there may be others who require support more immediately than you do.  Now, I admit . . . this can be hard at times.  I speak from experience when I say that sometimes when I’m in need, I’m convinced that it is indeed the most important thing happening.  It takes self-awareness and humility to recognize and internalize that the world doesn’t revolve solely around me (or you).

When Madd-Steiny works with clients to manage change, we encourage small acts of getting what you want through helping others get what they want.  This is especially important during times of change because just about everyone is dealing with some sense of loss or struggling through transition.  Everyone needs something.  So, by helping others, there is an energy shift that takes place and the result is more space for solutions.  Sometimes, by focusing on the needs of others, we learn that our needs are not as significant as we initially thought – we might even let go of something because it’s clear that it doesn’t matter as much as someone else’s need.  Here are some things you can do to get more of what you want, during times of change or any time:

·    Every day, ask at least one person: “How can I support you today?”
·    Offer to take something off a co-worker’s plate.
·    Take on some extra assignments to reduce someone else’s workload.
·    Listen with compassion (and without talking) when a colleague needs to “let off some steam.”
·    Recognize the successes of your teammates loudly and proudly.

When I’ve taken the time to extend a hand to help others, it has always helped me get what I want.  I hope the same is true for you.

Lynae