What is your zone of genius? A lot of us reside in a working world hanging out in either a zone of competence or a zone of excellence. This may sound like a positive, but hanging out in a zone of competence or even excellence is why we have over 70% of employees disengaged. How do you know what/where your zone of genius resides? Easy. It is whatever gives you the highest ratio of satisfaction and target income and makes you feel wonderful doing it, knowing you are really great at it. It is earning a living doing something you really love, not just something you are good at. A zone of genius feeds you, not just because of ego-driven “I’m good at this”, but because you are good at it, and you find it deeply satisfying, which cycles into additional positive energy further feeding your pursuits.
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 Strategy
If you ask your boss or those you manage/lead, what their performance strategy is, what do you anticipate hearing? If you ask yourself what your performance strategy is, what is your answer? Who is setting the tone, and bar, relating to performance strategies in your organization?
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.
Yes, this.
This quote needs no explanation. It is clear. It is genius. It is the path to success.
How To Motivate
I read this article today and enjoyed it so much I wanted to share it. My favorite part: “Autonomy means we don’t like being told what to do. Once we feel we’re being pushed around, we check out.” The article is brief, but has some excellent advice/reminders of the simplicity of actually engaging workers and creating a rewarding workplace. Click below if you’d like to read it. How To Be Motivated
Survival of the Fittest? Competition vs. Cooperation
Survival of the Fittest? Competition vs. Cooperation? Our culture has the propensity to value competition over all else. Often rooted in the Darwin alleged theory of survival of the fittest. I’m not sure how Darwin’s theory morphed into the manner of how we often flippantly interpret it. I am however sure that interpretation is off base when it comes to the workplace. Cooperation and adaptability is what Darwin was focused on. Darwin himself only mentioned survival of the fittest twice. In contrast he mentioned the concept of love/cooperation/adaptability (call it what you want) ninety-five times. He was correct. Cooperation will win every time when you look at the big picture. And in the workplace it will create a more productivity, higher return on ongoing efforts and perhaps even re-engage the over 70% of employees out there that are actively disengaged in their jobs. That is a lot of unproductive dollars going to wages for unproductive work. Creating a culture of cooperation increases your culture of adaptability and will result in increased ROI, increased employee retention, higher productivity, etc. It will maximize both time and results.
More Is Less & Multi-Tasking Is A Lie
I can remember when multi-tasking was framed as the end all be all to solving heavy work loads. The premise of multi-tasking while antiquated still lurks and a large number of organizations. It does so to the detriment of those organizations. Not sure if my statement is accurate? The following is a great read with a quick exercise proving it. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/creativity-without-borders/201405/the-myth-multitasking
How Your Life Is Like Social Media
I was reading a blog the other day about social media marketing. It occurred to me how similar social media marketing and connecting professionally/personally are. I believe two points in the blog post I read are particularly important to remember: Numbers and quality should not be individualized. (If you lose quality you will eventually lose numbers.) Frequency of engagement counts. All this is to say if you are overextended and telling yourself you are “maximizing” your time, you are kidding yourself. Being over extended will lead to numbers overtaking quality and a lower sense of engagement from those you believe (falsely) you are connecting with. It really is that simple. The blog referenced above follows: http://www.linkedin.com/news?actionBar=&articleID=5563564617914908683&ids=dPsNdP0MczcSdPoNc38QdjoRdiMTczoVdPwUc3oOe3cOcz0RdzkRb3cRczwNc34Rc3kRczwScPcSdjkIe3wOdj0VejkPd30McjoMdjoRdiMPe3oUc3AQcjATcjoQdzkPdzkR&aag=true&freq=weekly&trk=eml-tod2-b-pub-0&ut=3bKXWTJk3RtR41