Your people ARE your business. If not for them, you would have nothing.  Creating a workplace where your people thrive is paramount not only to the growth of your company but also to its very survival. 

A mind shift needs to happen so that we believe that creating an engaging workplace, one where employees enjoy their work, get to share their strengths and passions, and are able to grow and develop, is not just something “good for the employees”.  We need to believe that a focus on creating a thriving workplace and the changes you are brave enough to make are a win-win.  They are good for you, for them, and for the organization at large and your customers.  When your people are thriving, everyone wins.

With everything that we know about what motivates individuals to do their best work, there are still very few organizations making innovative strides to align their organizations with those motivations.  According to Dan Pink’s book DRIVE:  The Surprising Truth Behind What Motivates Us, individuals are not primarily driven by money, as traditionally believed.  Once they are paid at a level they believe is commensurate with their work, financial incentives actually start to work in reverse.  His book points to truckloads of research that says what really motivates employees is three things: Mastery – the need to continue to develop and learn, Autonomy – the desire to be self-driven and not micro-managed and Purpose – an alignment with the “what” of what the company is creating.   And yet, we still think that if we provide a good salary and benefits that that should be enough.  It’s not.

According to a Forbes article entitled “Why Millennials are Ending the 9 to 5”, freelancing and self-employment are on the rise.  The article also notes “Millennials are leaving their companies in less than three years. With 87% of companies reporting a cost of between $15,000 and $25,000 to replace each lost Millennial employee, industries need to start paying attention to structural changes.”

Start paying attention to structural changes, huh?  I say, start paying attention to the people.  You want them to come.  You want them to stay.  You need them to thrive.

Follow me and my blog as I take you on a journey into workplaces big and small, and what they are doing to start creating the workplaces of the future, today.  We’re all in this together, and don’t you want to create a workplace where the next generation can work in an environment where they can shine?

fearlessstories.com

You can take it with you. Your comfort zone, that is. You know, that cozy place that all these books and seminars and gurus keep telling you to leave. Leaving is scary, so sometimes even if you claim to be seeking “discomfort” (oof), maybe you really aren’t. But see, a zone is like a territory, or like a country. And the thing about leaving your comfort zone is that you’re not a tourist, visiting these risky new places for a little while and then retreating back home. No, you’re an imperialist, putting forth a considerable effort to extend your borders over an area that wasn’t always yours. There’s a reason that board game is called Risk. But once that happens, your zone is bigger, and you are comfortable doing more things. You can survive job interviews. Extreme sports. Awkward social situations. What I find people forget to tell you about leaving your comfort zone is that you’re not supposed to return to it, wipe your sweaty brow and say “phew, well that was ultimately healthy, I’m sure. Now to never do it again.” The idea is to make the uncharted realm the newest part of your zone and say “I don’t necessarily have to come back here again, but at least I know I probably can if I want to.” Always making an effort to test yourself is important, but don’t forget to take stock of where you are, and how your recently contested comforts are developing. fearlessstories.com

Here’s what’s left from my original list:

• Drink more water
• Go to bed earlier
• Cut out sugar
• Meditate daily
• Go on weekly “Artist Dates”
• Write daily
• Be on time
• Be more organized
• Put myself first once daily

So, in doing this exercise, I need to go with what I know:  the thing that I most fear is probably the thing most worth doing.  When I look at this list, “write daily” scares the bejeezus out of me.  Not because it’s necessarily hard to do, in and of itself, but because I know it takes a commitment to myself and my own development that I have not done in a very long time.

If you said that “writing every day” meant ANY kind of writing, I would not fret.  I write a LOT – I am posting, blogging, emailing, developing, etc. But THIS writing is different.  This is reflection.  This is journaling.  This has no audience.  This is only for me.  And that’s what scares me.

So something just for ME?  Working out has set the tone – taking care of me is  important in this equation of what I can give to the world.  But working out still had an “external” flare to it – going to the gym, being part of a group…felt like we were all in it together.

For this one I am on my own.  So what do I need to do to make it happen?  Again, knowing what I know about myself:

• Set a concrete, stretch but realistic goal:  I will write in my journal at least 5x/week
• Go public:  I will let you all know if I did my writing – how shall I do that without being annoying?  Who wants to know?
• Plan for it:  I will write between 6:30-7:00 each day, whether or not the kids are up.
• Get support:  Does anyone want to have a writing date with me?  That might help me with #2 – going public
• Ship it out!  I will start tomorrow!!!

Okay guys – looks like i need to find a new journal to fill.  Any thoughts from all of you as to how to support my goal of writing daily is much appreciated!

Topic 1:  In the first discussion, we want to find out what has attracted your interest in Future Shape of the Winner and the Excellence Audit and how you see this approach helping your business. How do you envisage it providing you with extra impetus in your and/or your clients’ organisations?

First and foremost, I have been a fan of Tom Peter’s work from Day 1 as a Change Management Consultant at Andersen Consulting in the early 90′s.  I have used his work as a guide my entire career.

When I started my own practice 3 years ago, I focused on the individual (life) coaching aspect of my work, and merely maintained my relationships with corporate clients I had been working with over the years.  This year, as my practice grew, I wanted to revive my corporate work by building a bridge between the work I was doing with individuals and the work I can do with (the individuals within an) organization.

When I came across this model, I read the core philosophies and felt like I was reading my own personal change manifesto.  The talent-centric model, based on learnings from professional service organizations, is focused on building that bridge between the individual and the corporation that I desire to do in my work: “The leader’s #1 job is to conduct the business such that people (employees, partners and associates) see fulfilling the ambitions of the business as being consistent with realizing their personal ambitions.”

Additionally, having a model that can assist me in the needs assessment process, providing quantifiable data that can help executives develop thier organization’s change priorities, or change agenda, is a gift.  The first step in my process is to conduct an assessment, and I’ve used different tools over the years to do so, but often it is done from scratch and developed based on the organization’s needs.  I’m excited to have a model/tool that I can offer my clients that is backed by years of research from a leader in the field.

In the second discussion, we want to explore the world in which clients are operating.  Think about your work in recent years as an organisation development/HR professional supporting others in their work. What have been the major influences that have challenged your clients to adapt and change? How easy or hard have these changes been for them to make? How would you summarise those challenges which continue to be on your clients’ agendas? Write a short description (up to 500 words) of your thoughts about the forces at work in your clients’ world.

As noted above, I’ve not been as active in the organizational consulting world in the past few years as I plan to be this year and beyond.  However, working with individuals outside of the corporation and recent discussions has helped me form some conclusions about the current challenges:

1) The organization model is changing.  In Seth Godin’s book, Linchpin, he talks about how the old system is broken.  We have created a “race to the bottom” where everyone is trying to make the “thing” faster and cheaper than the next company, adding no extra value and the only differentiator is price.  This creates a culture of sameness, both in product and employees, that encourages a “cog in the wheel” mentality which is not only uninspiring but ultimately, unsuccessful.  The challenge is to create an environment in which individual creativity can thrive on every level and value becomes the differentiator to lead to success in an organization and engagement in the individual.

2)  Budget: When budgets are tight, and it’s hard to measure “people-focused” programs, those programs tend to be left on the budget-cut floor.  The key is to find quantifiable reasons to focus on talent that will enable leadership to prioritize those things that will engage, inspire and enable their workforce to add their highest value.

3)  A Changing Workforce:  our workforce today has varying and sometimes conflicting priorities.  Whether they are taking care of an aging parent, their own children, or believe that they don’t want a lifetime behind a desk, today’s workforce is desiring more from their employers.  Organizations that can develop a culture that honors the individual’s life as a whole will win at developing an engaged and loyal workforce.  This is difficult in practice because it means challenging the way we have traditionally done work, and potentially redefining what it means to be a “good employee”.

4) Fatigue:  This work is hard.  Years of “surviving” through a recession and operating by boot-straps can create a culture of fatigue.  To introduce a change, especially one as large as changing the culture by which we do work, can be met with a resistance from both executives and employees alike, that is impossible to overcome.  Often an organization will quit before it begins to make a change that just seems to big to take on at this time.  The challenge is to understand the organization’s capacity for change, and develop a change agenda that’s not only correct in need, but is sensitive to the ability of the employees to actually participate in a change effort.

All of us have it – that thing/voice/block/weather/excuse/husband/wife/kids/job/country/REASON why we cannot finish, execute or sometimes even start what we know we are meant to be doing.  So know it, and get over it.  “Go Pro” as Steven says.  Do what you need to do to do the work no matter what.  A professional athlete doesn’t wake up one day and say, “hmmm, I don’t really feel like doing my training today…maybe tomorrow”.  When you Go Pro, you stop finding excuses for not doing the work, and you Just Do It.

I am on my way home from an amazing weekend in Boston with my best friends from college.  One of them just completed the Boston Marathon with an amazing, mind-boggling time (to me) – 3hrs and 12 minutes.  On Saturday afternoon, many of them decided to go for a run.  They went Pro.  I came up with about 10 reasons why I couldn’t:  I wanted to spend time with my friends talking.  I was tired.  I was still a bit sore from my PT workout (yes, still).  I didn’t want to shower again.  I’d rather drink.  I am so far from going Pro when it comes to my fitness routine that it only took a feather to knock me off course.

So here I am, looking at my week ahead, knowing I only have 2 days in which to actually work out…the Resistance is Strong.  It wants me to do other things during that hour and a half.  But thankfully, I’ve already blocked the time out.  Sacred.  Scared? Sacred.  Not movable.  I will not let the resistance win – not this week.

This isn’t to say I won’t be providing more content in the shape of books, toolkits, webinars, etc., but my focus is really on my message, not the exact “map” as Seth calls it.  I have known all along that a foundation of a process is good, but every individual needs to have their own way of getting there.  I, as their coach, help provide the insight, thought, reflection, support, cheer-leading, you name it, to make sure that they are granted the best chance of success possible.

Thank you, Seth, for reminding me why I do what I do.

A quick update on my fitness progress:  I conducted my “Equifit” with the trainer at the gym – a lovely, engaged (Linchpin) named Ryan, who told me a few things:  1) my weight and body fat %, slightly sobering but not off base from what I assumed 2) what program I should conduct in order to work towards my goal of consistently showing up — I need to do things I like!  I said I like yoga and cardio, and he said then do that!  Love him!  But, he did say that having strength training as part of my fitness plan is really the most effective way to obtain fitness and that it will give me more structure when I show up at the gym.  With those words and the body fat % rolling around in my brain, I decided that I was going to hire him to to help me put that program together. I have been “good” – meeting the minimum of workouts (3) but am looking forward to a real program that I can put in my calendar and execute, vs. willy-nilly working out with no real intention around what, when or why.

Next post:  Discipline or “Shipping It Out!”

My intention was to get a baseline measurement from a physical trainer.  I got one of these when I joined the gym 3 years ago, and figured I was due another for free, but was willing to pay if needed.  I was pleasantly surprised when they told me that yes, I get one free assessment each year with my membership!  So I filled out the form, turned it over and expectantly looked at the greeter to point me to my trainer.  He said “okay, you’re all set.”  I must have looked confused because then he added “a trainer will be calling you in the next couple of days”.  Humpf. If you know me at ALL you know I like measurement.  Now I wouldn’t have a TRUE DAY 1 measurement…it was going to be like Day 4 or Day 5.  Not cool.

So then I looked around for my friend who works there (Jason in membership – no really, he is my friend, not just the guy who sold me the membership!  He’s my brother’s wife’s brother!).  I thought that maybe he could wrangle someone for me.  His office was dark, so I just said to myself, “it doesn’t matter – the real behavior change is about consistently working out 3-5 times a week – the measurement was just gravy!! And you’re HERE! So go work out!”  With my pep talk wringing in my ears, I climbed on the elliptical and settled down for a marathon of 6 month old magazines and Law and Order reruns.

After I finished my 45 minutes, I walked over to stretch a bit and heard “Hey!” — I turned and there he was!  Jason! We stretched together and I told him about my program.  And then I asked him to be my accountability buddy – I told him I would tell him when I was going to the gym, and if he could watch out for me and make sure I was actually going, text me if I wasn’t there, and just in general support me, that would be amazing.

Not only did he say yes, he took it one step further.  He said that after I (finally) meet with the trainer, that we could sit down and set up a schedule, that he would workout with me (WORKOUT BUDDY!!!) during times he could, and basically, that we would do this together!  I would be motivating HIM to be more consistent! Whoo hoo!  I almost cried (seriously, I get really emotional about this stuff!).

So I went home re-fired up, although a bit “in waiting” since I need to meet with my trainer before setting this all up – I have to admit to being a bit discouraged by that roadblock.  But Friday, my accountability buddy came through and texted me “GO TO GYM” Love it.  I told him Friday was my day off but would meet him at yoga at 9AM on Saturday.  He was going to be working, but said he would see me there.

Saturday at 8:30AM, as I was starting to wrangle my kids into the strollers and those thoughts of “well, it might be better just to stay home so Alex can take a proper nap” Jason’s text popped into my mind….”GO TO GYM” .  I smiled, put my shoes on and walked out the door.  I was late, but I was there.  Namaste!  (In a universe aligning-note, my Yoga Teacher, Jackie Prete, was focusing on breaking through barriers, what she called ‘fishnets’ in class – so perfect!)

Got a call yesterday from the trainer and will call back this AM to set up my fitness session.  Hopefully by the end of day tomorrow I will have a program in place so I can schedule it out in my calendar and “officially” start this thing!

Ariane de Bonoisin, Chief Change Optimist (how much do I love THAT title?), author of The First 30 Days and founder of first30days.com says “Despite the change — be it unpredictable or self-propelled — the first few days and weeks are often the hardest, most emotional time. It’s when we have the most questions, emotions, doubts and fears, and when decisions need to be made. This is also the time when we are most in need of direction, information and support. Thirty days is enough to get started in the right way…”

However, is it enough to create sustained behavior change?

Some would argue that the prospect of changing, in and of itself, is enough to cause one to fail.  Robert Mauer, Ph.D, author of The Kaizen Way, says “all changes, even positive ones, are scary.  Attempts to reach goals through radical or revolutionary means often fail because they heighten fear.”  He proposes the use of the “kaizen” technique, taking small, comfortable steps towards improvement to make long-term, sustainable changes.  He describes our typical approach to change as “innovation” strategy, defined as a “drastic process of change.  It occurs in a very short period of time, yielding a dynamic turnaround.  Innovation is fast and big and flashy;  it reaches for the largest result in the shortest amount of time.”  He believes this strategy will very likely cause you to fail, because the size and energy around the change effort will alert your “lizard” brain and light up your flight or fight response.  And usually, unless we have willpower of champions, we take flight (go sit on the couch with a bag of Doritos). He notes that this strategy CAN work, but sees that many people are crippled by the belief that it’s the only way to make a change.

Ariane embraces change and encourages us to “change our view of change” through her nine principles.  Robert says change is scary, so do the smallest change possible to not wake up the sleeping giant, the lizard brain, so you can still move forward.  I say it’s a combination…change can be approached through a proven process, but sometimes the key to long-term success is to create small changes that are easy to accomplish that will lead towards great improvement.  I believe that depending on the person, and the change, that you need to create the plan that will work for you.  And the first plan might fail!

So, tomorrow, I am officially piloting my change process publically with a client I know well:  me.  As a Change Agent AND Change Optimist (thanks Ariane!) I am interested in sharing my journey through a change process with you.  I will take 30 days of April to (begin) to tackle one behavior change.  And if all goes well, I’ll be signing up for another in May.  I hope you’ll follow along in my journey — as you know, one of the principles of success is your support network!  Tune in tomorrow to see what I plan on changing in my life.

I recently watched The Suicide Tourist on PBS, which chronicles a high school classmate of mine’s father’s (Craig Ewert’s) journey to obtain an assisted suicide after being diagnosed with ALS.  I tuned in because I personally knew the family and had been alerted about it on Facebook.

I was moved by the story of a family dealing with losing their father.  I lost my own mother a few years ago and I know what hardship it is to lose a parent early in life.

However, instead of being sad at the end of the film, I was in awe.  I was blown away by the strength of their family (this coming from someone with a very strong family) and their ability to be courageous in the face of very, very harsh criticism.  Watching the film, reading the articles and the son’s Facebook posts filled me with pride from just barely being associated with this family.

I am so impressed by the Ewart family, and will use their story as a reminder of what real courage is.  And what a strong support system can do.  Thank you, thank you Ewerts.  I am so sorry for your loss, and I am so happy to know you.

However, there’s a different kind of fear that can creep up and debilitate you without ever raising its flag to indicate to you the level of importance of something.  This fear is so tricky that you wouldn’t even call it fear.   You call it “rules” or “conservative estimates” or “wise criticism”.  This fear is fueled by what other people think, or more accurately what you THINK other people will think.

Yesterday I was on a panel at the Columbia Women In Business Conference discussing starting a start-up.  All the panelists were asked to give our “60-second Elevator Pitch” to kick off the panel.  The night before, my debilitating fears, or what I call my “Gremlins” drove me to review my elevator pitch, outline what I was going to say, and fret about how good the others would be and what they would think of mine.

As I sat waiting my turn to “pitch” I observed everyone following the rules – they politely and professionally passed the microphone from panelist to panelist and gave their succinct pitch.  They were good.  I was scared.   And miraculously, my stomach started churning and I thought “WAIT!  This is super-important!  I need to do what I need to do here, not what I think others need me to do!”  When I got the mic, I stood up and asked everyone to put their feet flat on the ground and close their eyes for a few seconds.  I asked them to imagine what their life would be like 5 years from now – who they were with, what they were doing, what they were feeling.  When they opened their eyes I told them “This is what I do – I help people and organizations get from where they are today to where they want to be. ”   and passed the mic on to the next panelist. I broke the rules, but I knew everyone would walk away not only knowing exactly what I did, but who I am.

In that moment I saw clearly the difference between debilitating fear (gremlins) and motivating fear (passion) and reconfirmed that I needed to stop listening to the ones that come from my head, and pay very close attention to the ones that come from my heart.