What is beneath the surface of your decisions? Do you even consider what the motivators might be for deciding and acting the way you do? While “critical thinking” is a fairly common term and practice, what about “critical awareness”? Critical thinking involves looking into data, etc. when pursuing a decision or outcome. Critical awareness takes the critical thinking process and additional step. Critical awareness is looking at data and forming decisions/pursuing outcomes with the knowledge of social, community and overall societal factors as part of the consideration. Example, John makes a critical thinking decision based on raw ROI data and it ends up blowing up. Why? Because community and societal factors (critical awareness) were not considered, i.e. the consumer was not engaged. Critical awareness provides a larger canvas of possible outcomes. It provides the ‘why’ that drives the ‘what.’ While critical awareness can be an individual tool, it can also be applied to examining and demystifying the mass market. Critical awareness can best be explained by the following: critical awareness=determining who benefits from each potential decision path’s outcome.
You Must Recharge
My friend Melissa once told me chickens brood, sitting in what could appear to be a very unproductive manner, in order to be uber-productive later. I’m paraphrasing that a bit. Melissa said it much better-she lives on a farm and knows things and knew I needed to dial it down at the time. All this is to say, unproductive behavior can breed productive behavior. You must rest and relax in order to maximize your creativity, thoughts, skills, productivity, etc. And if you are a manager or leader, you must allow those you are leading to do so as well.
Ratty Transgressions
There are all types of very important, official sounding words to describe group/team conflict dynamics. We can talk about proportional or perceptual conflict, but what it all boils down to on most occasions when conflict goes from productive to toxic is what I like to call “rats in a cage conflict.” “Rats in a cage conflict” is the scenario when there appears (real or not) to be more work and less time for those within the dynamic to get it all done. Basically, scarce resources, primal instincts equal turning on each other. The result is the dual ratty transgressions of finger-pointing and off-loading responsibilities. A simpler term is “drama.” The key to resolution is within the observation of the dynamic and workload as a whole. As noted above, the fall out can come from a scenario that is perceived and not real? How? Burnout and even stress can skew our outlooks. We fail to appropriately address and manage our time. For instance, recently someone shared they don’t have enough time for all that is required of them. Upon further evaluation, turns out he does have enough time, the time however was not being managed well. Often just the stress of the known combined with the unknown timeline of when the flood will abate is enough for folks to disconnect from appropriate time management skills, and the downward spiral begins. Perceived work versus actual work can be two very different things. When our time management component snaps due to misperception, the toxic fallout will spread to additional employees and the dominos begin to fall. So how do you address the situation? You can address it in several ways. Time management resources help, continued communication helps, accountability helps, and planning helps. If someone is overwhelmed have them map out their duties and time management plan. Boom, whining goes away and you can identify if the problem is real or perceived.
Performance Matching
Performance matching is a common phenomena within the workplace. It consists of group work and/or area work resulting in a consistent outcome pulled lower by the poorest performer. What does it look like? Say two teams are working at opposites sides of the building on the same task. The groups outcomes will tend to match that of the least productive members, pulling down the overall group output. How do you guard against a failing dynamic and downward norm setting? Implement internal and/or external incentives for high performance and include a competition component involving another group. Studies have shown when team competition enters the equation, the downward norm no longer exists.
Action + Accountability Trumps Ongoing Mind Numbing Discussion
Think. Discuss. Act. Be Accountable. That is all you need to succeed. There is a direct correlation at a point in ongoing discussions showing reduced productivity and positive outcome. Early collaboration and action has a cost benefit.
Avoiding Conflict, The Abilene Paradox
There is a dynamic that seems like a smooth path, but leads to bumpy results – the Abilene Paradox is this dynamic. So what is the Abilene Paradox? It is when healthy debate and outcomes are foregone in place of conflict avoidance. Basically it is putting consensus above positive outcomes and productivity. Interestingly, the Abilene Paradox can leave a group with an outcome that no member would have recommended on their own, and not in a good way. The path of the Abilene Paradox leads to pluralistic ignorance and obviously that is no good for the individual participants, group or organization.
Is Teamwork A Good Thing? Freeriders
Teamwork is often touted as a big positive in the workplace. As a leader you need to be aware when teamwork is a positive and when it is a negative. Research has shown that teams can reduce the input of members, especially as team size grows. The size of a team often correlates to the following demotivating factors. One, it can diffuse a team member’s sense of individual responsibility. Two, and this includes one of my favorite phrases, “sucker aversion” can make a member think it is not a team effort and most likely one or two people will do all the work without getting all the credit And finally, good ole fashion ROI plays into team members’ minds as they calculate the rate of their efforts/contribution in correlation to the rate of return on their invested time/energy. It is all about dynamics. As a leader, make sure you are individualizing the dynamic to the desired outcome.
Venting vs. Full Blown Toxic Behavior-Build Your Mental Blanket Fort
As human beings we all have moments when we feel overwhelmed or perhaps slighted. This is normal and healthy and a positive as it is proof you are paying attention to your own life. But there is a line, and it is not a fine one, between venting and being toxic. Toxic behavior obviously impacts the team, and obviously impacts you if you are the source. The difference between being toxic or just plain venting and blowing off steam is easy to determine. Venting is brief and there is an immediate shift in how you feel once you complete your vent. Venting is triggered by a specific event. Venting usually has a compact timeline, as in, incident, internalizing, venting, moving on. And if you can read people, they don’t shudder when they know you are about to vent, meaning you are not spewing your negativity all over them, your are instead just processing. In contrast, toxic behavior is ongoing, full throttle, spewing negativity and is often accompanied by the thought that everyone is never going to be as good as you and/or as you need them to be. This pattern is often accompanied by the feeling that you are the only one that can do things right. While we don’t go to work to make friends we do have professional peers. An indicator that you may be toxic is if your professional network of support is either limited or non-existent. Basically, does anyone want to be around you if they don’t have to? Do your professional peers find value in interacting with you? Venting is healthy, being toxic is not. Bottom line, toxic behavior is just that, a behavior. It is a choice and you can decide to re-route the patterns and thought processes leading you down the path. Chances are we have all been toxic at some point. I’ve stood on the edge of it myself recently. Fortunately for me I had a peer to vent to, and he had the good humor to listen and advise that if we could bring blanket forts into the workplace we would all be happier. Perfect example of venting, re-routing and moving on! There is a dynamic that makes it hard to move on from a vent. When the workplace, not just a single person becomes toxic. That is another story for another day. But until then, build and reside in your mental blanket fort and start your pro/con list of staying or going.
Dear Control Freak
Dear Control Freak…This is not a judgement, but a confession. I use to be a control freak. The whole giant amalgamation of every stereotype that comes with the term. I wanted to control time, outcomes, visions, dynamics, etc. I like to look back and think to myself, ‘how adorable you thought that controlling everything was possible or productive.’ Is wanting to have control understandable? Absolutely. Is it productive? No. Does it lead to the best outcomes? No. Why? Several reasons, and here they come… You are not a mighty fortress, no matter what you think. Process is an organic activity and if you try to control it all by yourself you will fail. You will fail on so many levels it would make a clown cry. One, you fail yourself as control eliminates your perspective to actively balance your own life. It also limits the incoming flow of knowledge you have access to, as well as the potential for growth, as you will most likely feel you already have things under control. You will fail your business/employer by placing limits on outcomes forcing them into the realm of your desired picture. You will fail those who have to collaborate with you as they will no longer provide their “A” game, knowing it will not matter as you will shape outcomes the way you want to. You will fail your friends and family on multiple levels as they will see less of you while you are busy being master of the universe, as well as, you are probably limiting their potential on some level when you are around. What will you get from being a control freak? All the blame, as no one else has a claim to the input on a project that fails. And perhaps even something like high blood pressure. And of course that golden moment when it all comes tumbling down and you have to admit to yourself that you, along with the rest of us, really have no control after all. The good news, what you do have is the capacity to deliver your best day to day efforts and know that is enough, without having to have control.