The Simplest Thing That Works

Giving Thanks

Since I'm not going to be blogging tomorow (going to be eating turkey, etc. with my family), I thought I'd take today to talk about gratitude.

I'm convinced that feeling grateful is one key to a happy life. If that's true, how does one cause oneself to feel grateful? I mean, if you don't feel grateful, you don't feel grateful, right?

Wrong.

Let's go back to some of our previous conversations about selk-talk. You can manage how you talk to yourself. For instance, let's pretend that - at this moment - you're saying to yourself some version of, "Grateful! My life sucks! What do I have to be grateful for?" That self-talk would definitely not cause you to feel grateful.

However, you could decide to say something to yourself that would still feel true, but that would open up the possiblity of gratitude. How about, "My life seems difficult right now, but there are a few things I'm pleased about. For instance, there's ____ and ____." Having that self-talk would probably lead you to feel very differently!

Basically, I'm telling you the modern, secular version of "count your blessings." As a kind of exercise (as my mom used to say) in good mental hygiene, I'm recommending that every day you pause and simply acknowledge the elements of your life for which you're thankful. Even if it's just the fact that you're alive.

In other words, sprinkle a few minutes of Thanksgiving into each day of the year.

And it's not just a warm-and-fuzzy thing to do. Research shows that gratitude has all kinds of tangible positive outcomes: people who feel grateful tend to be healthier and more successful, and have a more positive impact on society.

What are you feeling grateful for today?

21st Century Recruiting

Link: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken : Instigator Blog.

We (that is, my company - Proteus International) have just started looking for a fultime person to add to our team. We're trying to find somebody we're calling "Practice Director, Building Skills and Knowledge." One of our consultants, Kate, is running the search for us, and she's been talking to friends and former colleagues in recruiting to get their sense of the current most viable ways to recruit - especially online.

My business partner, Jeff, and I created a good clear job description, and I wrote a one-page prose description, and also a briefer description to post on job sites. Now it's just a matter of deciding which sites will work best, and making sure that the posting conveys not only the job, but a sense of who we are as a company and what we do with and for clients.

In wandering around the internet (trying to be helpful to Kate by becoming a little more knowoledgable), I found this great post in one of the blogs I enjoy. I like the "9 signs" list (though it doesn't bode well for our search), but I LOVE the video job ad. If I were a python wrangler, I'd definitely apply for the job. Check it out - you'll see what I mean.

Oh, and if you want to find out more about OUR job, drop me a line or post a comment, and I'll send you the job profile and description.

Do You Love It?

It feels like I've been surrounded by people, lately, who are thinking deeply about what they're doing and what they want to do. People on a variety of employment levels and at a variety of points in their lives, all the way from my 19-year-old son who's wondering if he should stick with his entry-level make-some-money-during-college job, or look for something better, to a very senior executive who's wondering if she should leave her extremely well-paid and high-profile job to run a non-profit about which she feels real passion.

I'm listening a lot, and doing my best to help each of these people sort through their decisions. And what I find myself asking them about their present jobs, over and over, is some version of "Do you love it?"

People often tell me that's not a realistic question, that we can't all have jobs we love, etc. etc. I suppose that's true; I know there are truly unlovable jobs out there, and someone needs to do them...and yet, why shouldn't we aspire to loving what we do?

I'd really like to hear from my readers about this. Do you love your work? If not, why not? Are you planning on doing something about that?

Let me know what you think....

Sad but True

You've got a group of senior people sitting around a table. Almost all of them are really committed to the task at hand - let's say they're trying to figure out the future of their organization. But there's just one person who, for whatever reason, is not buying it. Maybe this person is afraid of change, or angry because he isn't in control of the outcome, or pissed off at her boss. it doesn't matter: that negative energy can completely derail the meeting...and the overall effort.

I had this experience recently, and it was exhausting: it was like walking through quicksand. Every 45 minutes or so, the person would say something that somehow denigrated the group's work, or questioned the whole purpose of the session, or surfaced difficulties without being willing to suggest solutions. As a result, I had to do twice as much work as usual to keep the group focused, hopeful, moving forward.

And when it was all over (the session was successful, thank goodness), I asked the CEO whether this was normal behavior for this person. She sighed and said yes. I asked why this person was still at the company. I got the stock answer, which is generally: they're-really-good-at-what-they-do.

I shared my opinion, which was this: no matter how technically skilled this person is, and no matter how effective at getting things done...this person's behavior, and the impact of that behavior on the team, will make it much harder for the organization to achieve their hoped-for future.

It amazes me that senior executives keep such employees on board for months, sometimes years. Do they not see the enormous negative impact these folks are having? Do they not understand that this kind of destructive, anti-team behavior can literally keep their companies from succeeding?

Oh for the day when more managers adopt the no-asshole rule. It will really help make work work better.

Simplify

Link: Productivity Cafe.

Here's a cool blog I just found. This woman, Susan Sabo, is a productivity expert, and offers practical, simple, good-natured advice on - as she says - "getting things done, being effective, and having some fun."

Since nearly everyone I know seems to be continually on the edge of overload, this seems like a real service to humanity!

Now, if someone could just figure out how to simplify the US tax code...

Working Happy

This morning I’m on the train, heading north along the Hudson River. Though I’ve taken this route hundreds of times, I never fail to be struck by its beauty and grandeur. There’s something about the Hudson Valley that touches my heart; I feel lighter and happier seeing it spread out before me; I love it.

I also feel this way about much of the work I do: I actually feel lighter and happier thinking about coaching someone, or working with a group to help them define their hoped-for future and then figure out how to move toward it, or writing something that will help people do their work better or enjoy their lives more.

I know many people don’t enjoy their work. But I suspect a lot more people could enjoy their work, if they considered enjoying work a possibility.

A few months ago, on a message board to which I post regularly, I was talking about how much I enjoy my work, and someone replied – in effect – “Well, that’s easy for you to say; you have fun and challenging work that you’ve chosen. Most people have no control over their work and are in boring and repetitive jobs.”

A few weeks later, I found myself in a TJ Maxx store (TJX, their parent company, is client of ours, so I was both shopping and getting to know the organization a little). In my checkout line, the sales clerk clearly enjoyed her job. She was pleasant and friendly, checked me out quickly and competently, commented on a shirt I had bought, and made sure I got an additional discount that didn’t automatically come up on the register. As she handed me my shopping bag, she wished me a good day with a sincere smile.

Now, here was someone in a job that many would consider boring and repetitive, and over which most people would say she has little control. Yet she seemed to be genuinely enjoying herself. It made me think: if more people gave themselves permission to look for jobs they liked, and then made the assumption that they could, generally speaking, enjoy their work…how would that change their experience of being alive?

Just wondering.

An Entrepreneur's Journey: What is the role of business?

Link: An Entrepreneur's Journey: What is the role of business?.

I'd like to refer you to the post above. The author, who is an entreprenuer and CEO of her own company, talks about how many people see business as inherently bad, and feel that if someone succeeds at business they're somehow suspect; selling out.

She notes, though, that business is at its heart the coming together of people as a creative and productive act. and she encourages her readers to see business in a more hopeful light. I very much agree with her. And, at the same time I know that the real goals of any business can get buried in fear, subsumed in politics.

However, I feel that part of my work (a big part ) is to remind people that they can use business to achieve things that are meaningful to them. In my practice as an executive coach and organizational development consultant, I begin with the premise that I'm there to help my clients - as enterprises or as individuals - clarify and then move toward their hoped-for future. I further assume that this future they want will include their whole lives: work, play, family.

In short, why should business be anything other than a vehicle for creating the lives we most want? To make business separate from the rest of life seems sad and counter-intuitive to me.

I do believe in the power of self-fulfilling prophecies: if we approach work as a battlefield, where only the wily and hard-hearted survive, that is what we're likely to experience. If we approach it as an opportunity to work with others to achieve goals that are interesting, useful, or helpful - again, that's what we're likely to experience.

Work Poetry

Tonight, for your reflection, two utopian haikus:

Imagine a world
Where all are paid a good wage
To do useful work

If bosses were fair
And cared about their people
Work would work better

I invite you to focus on how to make this happen, instead of complaining about the fact that it doesn’t.

Plain Dealing About Employees

I was going to talk about assumptions today, but I'll come back to it tomorrow. I wanted, instead, to refer you to an article that came out last Monday in the Cleveland Plain Dealer about how to retain good employees. The article includes some important points and a number of excellent suggestions by managers who clearly care about keeping their folks happy and productive.

When I spoke with the writer, Janet Cho, she especially resonated with the idea (which found its way into the article) that people management is given short shrift in many organizations, and that it's key both to productivity and morale.

It's nice to see an article that includes practical ways to support employees' success, and so clearly shows the link between having and developing great employees, and getting great business results.

Choose Wisely

My business partner, Jeff, just told me he likes the blog but I need to make shorter entries. So this is that.

My thought for the day: read The Book of Hard Choices, by James Autry and Peter Roy. It’s a collection of true-life ethical case studies, each of which outlines a “hard choice” and talks about what people did when faced with that choice. At the end of each one are a few succinct and very useful “lessons to remember.”

It’s a deeply thought-provoking and important book; it seems to me an antidote to all the Enron/WorldCom/DeLay/Scooter Libby horribleness happening around us. And I’m a huge fan, personally and professionally, of Jim Autry, who has been a positive force in the world for many years. I’m also very honored that they include Growing Great Employees in their recommended reading list.