Sometimes We Miss the Obvious
On a recent flight to New York, I, Theresa, and about 30 passengers were settling in for a short, uneventful flight. Suddenly, a ground attendant announces, “Our count is off, we need everyone to get out their IDs so that we can check them.” Mind you, it is getting close to take-off time so we were all compliant hoping the problem would be quickly resolved. We all pulled out our IDs and the attendant began to call off each person’s name. When finished, she said “that’s only 30 passengers and the flight attendants have counted 31.” So the ground and flight crews conferred and began to go up and down the aisle checking IDs. Then they started to call out the names again. At this point, now 15 minutes pass take-off time, we, the passengers, began saying in chorus, “why don’t you ask if anyone’s name wasn’t called?” The ground attendant looked at her co-workers, picked up the microphone and asked, “Is there anyone I didn’t call?” Immediately, a gentleman in the middle of the plane raised his hand saying “you didn’t call me.”
Surely there is a lesson in this for all of us. One wonders how did the attendants miss such an obvious step in their process? But even more curious is why the gentleman whose name wasn’t called didn’t raise his hand to say his name was not called or why we, the passengers, could see the solution to the problem (it felt so obvious to us) and the attendants couldn’t?
Why 5 attendants couldn’t see the solution we, the passengers, saw I’ll never know but what I do know is that we were part of the solution, and they didn’t involve us in solving the problem. They followed their protocols, they talked amongst themselves, yet they didn’t involve those who were most impacted by the delay until we became so loud, they couldn’t ignore us.
I don’t know about you but I’ve certainly had those moments where it seemed like everyone around me knew what I should do, but for some reason I wasn’t ready or maybe willing to hear the answer. Often the answer was as clear as day and when I finally “saw” it, I couldn’t believe I had missed it.
Take a few minutes this week to think about the problems, issues, or situations you have before you. Ask yourself, “what am I not seeing about this situation?”, “what am I missing?” Often, distance, time and reflection are the best remedy for missing the obvious but sometimes, just asking someone else for input can save you a lot of time and energy.
Train Your Brain to Focus
Who doesn’t feel a little frazzled these days? With so many distractions, options, information and noise coming at us, it’s amazing we are able to focus and get work done. In a recent article on “How to Train the Brain to Focus” by Paul Hammerness and Margaret Moore, they share three ways we can start to improve our focus.
Tame your frenzy. Frenzy is an emotional state, a feeling of being a little (or a lot) out of control. Frenzy is often underpinned by other emotions, anxiety, sadness, anger, etc. These emotions cause the brain to go into “fight or flight” mode. Positive emotions and thoughts have the reverse affect. They relax the brain and enable it to engage in increased functionality. The authors give some scientific data to support this and suggest that you “try to improve your balance of positive and negative emotions throughout the day. Notice when your brain gets “hijacked” or fixated in negative thoughts or patterns. Most of all, do things that increase positive emotions – breathing, exercise, meditation and getting enough sleep.
Apply the breaks. Distractions are always lurking: wayward thoughts, emotions, sounds and interruptions. Fortunately, the brain is designed to instantly stop a random thought, an unnecessary action, and even an instinctive emotion from derailing you and getting you off track. What can you do? To prevent distractions from hijacking your focus, use the ABC method as your brain’s brake pedal. Become Aware of your options: you can stop what you are doing and address the distraction, or you can let it go. Breathe deeply and consider your options. Then choose thoughtfully: Stop? or Go?
Another option I liked was to institute “distraction-free meetings” where everyone is expected to contribute and offer thoughtful and creative input, and no distractions allowed.
Shift Set. While it is great to be focused, sometimes you need to turn your attention to a new problem. Set-shifting refers to shifting all of your focus to a new task, and not leaving any behind on the last one. Sometimes it is helpful to do this in order to give the brain a break and allow it to take on a new task. What can you do? Before you turn your attention to a new task, shift your focus from your mind to your body. Go for a walk, climb stairs, do some deep breathing or stretches. Even if you are not aware of it, when you are doing this, your brain continues working on your past tasks. Sometimes new ideas emerge during such physical breaks.
Distractions are a part of life yet so is our ability to choose what we do, when and how we do it. This week watch the distractions that keep you from being focused and productive. If you find you need a little more focus, remember you, and only you, have the ability to “tame the frenzy, apply the breaks and shift set.”
Employees: Asset or Expense?
A recent study by Consumer Reports gives some interesting results about what is really important to customers. Here’s the data:
Isn’t it interesting that “treats employees well” is #4? The old adage, “happy employees make happy clients,” must apply here. Customers can tell when employees love what they do. Customers watch how employees are treated and make assumptions about the Company. Your employees are a reflection of the Company. How do you see them?
Our most successful clients are those CEOs and Presidents who believe that every dollar they invest in developing, growing and managing their employees directly impacts their organization’s success and bottom line results. They view their employees are “assets” and investing in them, even in the most challenging of times, is a long-term investment with a long-term pay-off.
When an employee feels and is treated like an asset, not an expense, their commitment to you and the company shows in every interaction they have with your customers!
Who Owns What?
Near the end of 2011 there was a large legal case looming that got the business world’s attention.
Here is the question: Can a company cash in on, and claim ownership of, an employee’s social media account, and if so, what does that mean for workers who are increasingly posting to Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus during work hours?
Not an easy question for sure. Here are some of the details of the case. The employee, who authored a Twitter account on behalf of the company, claimed, after he terminated employment with the company, that he should be paid a percentage of the revenue earned from the account. He says the company gave him permission to continue “tweeting” yet he changed the Twitter account name to his name only. As a result of his efforts, the company continue to make revenue and he felt he should be compensated for a percentage of the business realized from these efforts. The company rejected that and filed a suit against him saying the Twitter account was a customer list and so property of the company and asked for compensation for the use of the list.
The courts have not decided on this one yet but we can certainly glean some lessons from this one:
1. If you don’t have a social media policy, now is the time to develop one.
2. If there are positions in the company that are responsible for communication with your clients using social media, have them sign a document that states that the company owns the account and if they should leave the company, the account and all future revenue, stays with the company.
3. If employees are writing content, the company should decide the account name and when possible, avoid using the employee’s name on the account.
4. “Inspect what you expect.” If you are going to have a policy, monitor it!
We’re looking out for your best interest on this one. Let’s make this the first lesson we all learn in 2012!
Out with the “Old”, In with the “New”
2012 is now officially here. Welcome!
The Washington Post publishes a list of what’s “out” and what’s “in” each year.
This year Apps, Hoarding, Greek yogurt, Google+, and “How I Met Your Mother” were listed as out. What’s in are Naps, Cleaning, Icelandic skyr, Pinterest and “Happy Endings”.
We just started using Goggle+ and now it’s out? What is Icelandic skyr and Pinterest?
A List like this causes us to go find out what’s “new” and decided if we want to keep the “old” or change and get with the times. So we ask you ….
What’s on your “Out” list?
What’s on your “In” list?
It seems we have to let go of something to let something else emerge. It’s hard to let go of something we are comfortable with but as the New Year begins we encourage you to think about what you need to let go of, do differently or change to allow the emergence of something new in 2012. Maybe it’s a belief, a habit or a behavior that just doesn’t work any more or it could be something you have never done but something tells you this is the year to try it.
Whatever “it” is, let go of the “old” and make room for the “new” is our message to you this first Monday of 2012!
Mary Anne and Theresa
Goodness Abounds
If you haven’t seen, I AM, a film produced and directed by Tom Shadyac, we’d suggest that be on your list of videos to see. It’s a great “paradigm shifter” as we turn to a new year. The film begins by asking “What is wrong with the world?” The director turns to experts all over the world to find answers to this question. In his search he finds many undeniable truths in nature and in human beings that suggest, even prove, that we, humans, are hard wired for cooperation and goodness. It’s not what’s wrong with the world but what’s good with the world and guess what, I AM . . . YOU ARE . . . WE ALL ARE!
As you end 2011 and prepare for 2012, here are some questions to guide your reflections:
What is good about your life?
What contributions will you make in 2012?
How will you grow and develop this new year?
What will be your legacy for 2012?
We wish for all good health, happiness and prosperity in this new year!
Mary Anne and Theresa
Best Reads of 2011. What’s on your List?
The annual list of Best Business Books 2011 is out by the Harvard Business Review. There is something for everyone so we thought we’d share the list with you.
Click here to read the short synopses of all the books.
FYI – You will need to sign up for the free Newsletter to gain access.
What have you read this year that was inspiring, informative, transformational?
Share your favorites with us and our Facebook community.
“If you aren’t learning something new every day, you aren’t growing!”
Mary Anne and Theresa
A Fresh Perspective Helps Everyone
If we work with people long enough, we tend to form certain beliefs, assumptions and biases about them that sometimes can hinder our ability to be objective when working with them. Let’s look at some examples of this:
A manager who has worked with an employee for 18 years still tells the story of 5 years ago when he had a “difficult’ time in his life and his work was negatively impacted. The manager holds off on giving him work for “fear it will set him off again” or believes he can’t handle anything new or different.
An employee gets emotional at times and so a manager sees the employee as sensitive and tempers everything to avoid getting the employee upset.
Employees experience a manager as hyper-critical — always seeing the bad and wrong — never the good and even though the manager has worked really hard to see the good and what’s right, employees still feel “on egg shells” with the manager.
Neuroscience teaches us that we develop “grooves” or neural pathways that get built over time and form “automatic” and repetitive beliefs, responses and behaviors. No wonder we lose our objectivity! In working with employees and managers, we’ve seen it sometimes challenging to change how you see, respond to and work with others. But the good news is that these neural pathways can be altered or we can just hop off one pathway and create a new one but what makes us want to? That’s the question. It is “comfortable” knowing what you get when you work with someone but this week we are challenging you to see your co-workers, employees, managers or, even, family members in a different way. What are you not seeing? What holds you or them back because of how you “see” each other? What are the possibilities and opportunities being missed because you or the other has a limited view of who you or they are?
Here’s an exercise to try this week …. Tell us what happens on our Facebook page.
Relate to everyone you encounter this week as if it is the first time you are meeting them.
Be curious to learn about them for the first time.
Notice something “new” about them.
Pay attention to the assumptions you make about them.
Try something new with them and see what happens.
Mary Anne and Theresa
Take a Trip with Us
Time seems to fly by, yet it is often marked by special occasions. Our annual Enneagram Conference is held each Fall and it is one of those “special occasions”. It’s lovely to be able to share time with fellow Enneagram teachers, and the actual conference is always superb.
This year Theresa and I headed to the West Coast to an amazing place called Asilomar, near the Monterrey peninsula. Unlike us, we arrived a day ahead of time and so had time to take the famous drive along the coast to Big Sur Mountain. It is a drive along a windy road that borders many times on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Every turn is a new vista that is more spectacular than the last. We had a blast and stopped for lunch at Nepenthe, which not only has an incredible view but healthy and delicious food.
The Conference Agenda was full of learning but one of the highlights was David Wythe, our keynote speaker. As usual, Helen Palmer and David Daniels shared new research and findings and they received a standing ovation from all of us for their contributions to the study of the Enneagram in the Narrative Tradition.
Here’s a short video that our colleague and friend, Leslie, created about the conference. We thought you might enjoy it as you start your week.
Hope is Not a Strategy
This is the title of a sales book that is about how to win complex sales deals yet the title lends itself to so many situations that we thought we’d look at it as this week begins.
“Hope motivates virtually all human activity. Hope is the powerhouse internal trigger that automatically helps determine our decisions and our actions.” (The 7 Triggers to Yes, Russell Granger)
In interactions with others, hope is powerful… hope that another will change their behaviors or attitudes, or hope that a prospect will buy something from us, or hope that the client will send the payment so that you can make payroll or pay the bills.
Hope, however, without action, is not a strategy, it’s just a thought!
If you hope a prospect will buy your product but you don’t follow your sales process,
then hope is not a strategy. If you hope that the client will send the check and you don’t pick up the phone and call to ask where the payment is, then hope is not a strategy. If you hope that an employee shows up for work on time, but you don’t have a conversation with the employee when he/she is late, then hope is not a strategy.
Discovering what you or others hope for is powerful, but without action behind it,
the result is often disappointment.
What do you hope for this week?
What action will you take to turn your hopes into reality?
Make it a week filled with realized hopes!
Mary Anne and Theresa
