Category Archives: Psychology

Six Key Habits of Great Leaders

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Six Key Habits of Great Leaders

GUEST POST from David Burkus

In a world of growing complexity and seemingly constant crisis, we need great leaders more than ever. But when you look at the stories in the press or check the staggering numbers of burnout and disengagement in surveys, it seems like fewer and fewer leaders are rising to the challenge. It starts to seem like becoming a great leader is too complicated and nearly impossible.

But when you survey people on what makes them appreciate and follow leaders, it turns out there are just a few simple habits that set great leaders apart. Simple, but not necessarily easy.

In this article, we will explore what great leaders do across six key habits that make them influential and their teams successful.

1. Promote Purpose

The first habit great leaders do is to promote purpose. Great leaders understand the importance of connecting the larger organizational purpose to specific projects and tasks. They are able to do more than regurgitate the mission statement of the organization. They can draw a connection between the organizational purpose and the work of their specific team. In doing so, they inspire their team members to see the bigger picture and understand how their contributions align with the overall goals. Furthermore, great leaders shift the conversation towards “who” benefits from the work and promote pro-social purpose. This helps team members feel a sense of fulfillment and motivation in their work, knowing that they are making a positive impact.

2. Clarify Vision

The second habit great leaders do is to clarify vision. A clear vision is crucial for the success of any organization, and great leaders excel at explaining what success looks like and where the organization is heading. They are able to paint a vivid picture of the world or the specific people the organization serves and what it will look like when the vision is achieved. Even when plans change, great leaders provide a clear vision of what a good job looks like. They use the concept of “commander’s intent” to communicate the vision of a successful mission, ensuring that even in constant turmoil, everyone understands the desired outcome and can align their efforts accordingly.

3. Create Accountability

The third habit great leaders do is to create accountability. Great leaders understand the importance of holding people accountable to their jobs and calling them up to a higher standard. They ensure that individuals are held accountable to the result, not just the tasks. By providing the necessary resources for individuals to achieve their goals, great leaders empower their team members to take ownership of their work and deliver exceptional results. Leaders provide autonomy to team members, allowing them to decide how the work gets done. But they’re also reminding everyone on the team that autonomy means greater accountability to the team, not less. They are leaders who hold their team to a higher standard and encourage them to perform even greater.

4. Provide Fair Feedback

The fourth habit great leaders do is provide fair feedback. Feedback is a crucial tool for growth and development, and great leaders excel at providing fair feedback. They tailor their feedback to the individual’s situation, skills, resources, and accountability goals. Great leaders give feedback that is in equal proportion of positive to negative, focusing on building upon the great things. Poor leaders often spend most of their coaching time on constructive criticism—which can be demotivating and decrease performance. Instead, great leaders create a balance between appreciation and constructive criticism to motivate and improve performance, ensuring that team members feel valued and supported in their professional growth.

5. Build Safety

The fifth habit great leaders do is to build safety, as in psychological safety. A psychologically safe environment is essential for fostering innovation and growth, and great leaders understand this. They provide feedback in a way that does not blame individuals for things outside of their control, encouraging transparent and honest conversations about failures to extract lessons and improve. By establishing a culture of safety, great leaders create an atmosphere where team members feel comfortable taking risks and learning from their mistakes. This leads to increased creativity, collaboration, and ultimately, success.

6. Develop Oneself

The final habit great leaders do is to develop themselves. Great leaders recognize the importance of continuous learning and self-improvement. They take responsibility for developing themselves as well as others. With a growth mindset, they actively seek out new information and skills, constantly striving to become better leaders. Great leaders understand that they need to develop themselves in the areas that their team needs in order to be better leaders. By investing in their own growth, they set an example for their team members and inspire them to also pursue personal and professional development.

The habits discussed in this article are what make great leaders worth following. They’re simple, but not necessarily easy. And they need to be done on a regular basis. But great leaders understand the importance of these habits and strive to incorporate them into their leadership style. By promoting purpose, clarifying vision, creating accountability, providing fair feedback, building safety, and developing oneself, leaders can inspire their teams to do their best work ever.

Image credit: Pixabay

Originally published on DavidBurkus.com on August 21, 2023

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Can Leaders Defy Gravity?

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Can Leaders Defy Gravity?

GUEST POST from Mike Shipulski

If you pull hard on your team, what will they do? Will they rebel? Will they push back? Will they disagree? Will they debate? And after all that, will they pull with you? Will the pull for three weeks straight? Will they pull with their whole selves? How do you feel about that?

If you pull hard on your peers, what will they do? Will they engage? Will they even listen? Will they dismiss? And if they dismiss, will you persist? Will you pull harder? And when you pull harder, do they think more of you? And when you pull harder still, do they think even more of you? Do you know what they’ll do? And how do you feel about that?

If you push hard on your leadership, what will they do? Will they listen or dismiss? And if they dismiss, will you push harder? When you push like hell, do they like that or do they become uncomfortable, what will you do? Will they dislike it and they become comfortable and thankful you pushed? Whatever they feel, that’s on them. Do you believe that? If not, how do you feel about that?

When you say something heretical, does your team cheer or pelt you with fruit? Do they hang their heads or do they hope you do it again? Whatever they do, they’ve watched your behavior for several years and will influence their actions.

When you openly disagree with the company line, do your peers cringe or ask why you disagree? Do they dismiss your position or do they engage in a discussion? Do they want this from you? Do they expect this from you? Do they hope you’ll disagree when you think it’s time? Whatever they do, will you persist? And how do you feel about that?

When you object to the new strategy, does your leadership listen? Or do they un-invite you to the next strategy session? And if they do, do you show up anyway? Or do they think you’re trying to sharpen the strategy? Do they think you want the best for the company? Do they know you’re objecting because everyone else in the room is afraid to? What they think of your dissent doesn’t matter. What matters is your principled behavior over the last decade.

If there’s a fire, does your team hope you’ll run toward the flames? Or, do they know you will?

If there’s a huge problem that everyone is afraid to talk about, do your peers expect you get right to the heart of it? Or, do they hope you will? Or, do they know you will?

If it’s time to defy gravity, do they know you’re the person to call?

And how do you feel about that?

Image credit: Pexels

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Secrets to Overcoming Resistance to Change

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Secrets to Overcoming Resistance To Change

GUEST POST from David Burkus

Employee resistance to change is one of the most perplexing and challenging issues that business executives encounter. Senior leaders have mapped out a change initiative and, in the process, gotten themselves excited about the future only to find the rest of the organization doesn’t share their enthusiasm.

This resistance manifests in various ways, such as decreased productivity, higher rates of employee turnover and transfer requests, attitudes, unauthorized strikes, or work slowdowns. And in trying to overcome resistance to change, leaders often make structured, logical arguments for why the change is needed.

Arguments that fail to persuade.

What’s often overlooked is that employee resistance to change is most likely due to the emotions behind the change, not the change itself. And in examining those emotions, the late Carl Frost offered four key questions that people ask themselves when they’re being asked to change. The answers to these questions determine their excitement, or resistance, to change.

In this article, we will explore how to overcome resistance to change by addressing the emotions behind it and we’ll offer advice on how leaders can answer those four questions.

Question 1: Do we know where we’re going?

A clear and compelling vision of the future is necessary to overcome resistance to change. It is important to paint a clear picture of what the future of the organization looks like and include the individual being asked to make the change in that vision. When employees can see themselves as a part of the future, they are more likely to embrace the change. Additionally, it is crucial to ensure that the vision is shared at every level of the organization. This helps create a sense of unity and purpose, making it easier for employees to align themselves with the change.

By providing a clear direction and involving employees in the vision, leaders can address the uncertainty and fear that often accompany change. When employees have a clear understanding of where the organization is heading, they are less likely to resist and more likely to actively participate in the change process.

Question 2: Do we know why we’re going there?

Communicating the reasons for the change effectively is essential in overcoming resistance. Employees need to understand the changes in regulation, competition, or the economy that necessitate the change. It is important to avoid nostalgia for the old times before the change, as this can hinder progress. Instead, leaders should focus on selling people on why the change is necessary and beneficial.

By clearly explaining the rationale behind the change, leaders can address any doubts or concerns employees may have. When employees understand the need for change and how it will positively impact the organization, they are more likely to embrace it and actively contribute to its success.

Question 3: Do we know we can get there?

Confidence in the organization’s ability to achieve the vision is crucial for overcoming resistance to change. Leaders must build belief in the organization’s capacity to reach the new future. This can be done by addressing concerns about skills, resources, and capabilities. It is important to create a plan to acquire necessary skills and resources, ensuring that employees have the support and tools they need to succeed.

By addressing concerns and providing the necessary resources, leaders can instill confidence in employees and alleviate their fears about the change. When employees believe that the organization has the capability to achieve the vision, they are more likely to embrace the change and actively work towards its realization.

Question 4: Do we know that there is better than here?

Individuals need to believe that the change will benefit them personally in order to lessen their resistance. Leaders should paint a compelling picture of the change in their role and how it will be better. It is important to show how the change will result in personal growth and improvement. Additionally, leaders should address concerns about sacrifices, extra time, and learning new skills.

By addressing the personal benefits of the change and addressing personal concerns, leaders can help employees see the value in embracing the change. When employees understand how the change will positively impact their own lives, they are more likely to overcome resistance and actively engage in the change process.

Overcoming resistance to change is crucial for successful change initiatives. By addressing the emotions behind the change and answering the four questions, leaders can increase excitement, self-efficacy, and confidence in the change. That helps the organizational change itself find success and (hopefully) that success empowers every employee to do their best work ever.

Image credit: Pexels

Originally published on DavidBurkus.com on August 7, 2023

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Nine Actions for Building a Great Team

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Which Resonates with You?

Nine Actions for Building a Great Team

GUEST POST from Stefan Lindegaard

Building a strong team is a multifaceted journey, and there are several key actions that can contribute to the growth and success of a team.

Reflecting on the nine actions for building a great team, which ones do you find your team focuses on the most?

Would you say it is:

1. Cultivating a growth mindset?

2. Enhancing psychological safety?

3. Mapping and engaging stakeholders?

4. Mastering difficult conversations?

5. Improving feedback processes?

6. Addressing individual motivations?

7. Injecting fun into your work environment?

8. Developing networking and learning opportunities?

9. Identifying trust drivers and barriers?

Share your experiences and let’s inspire each other on actions that can shape the dynamics and achievements of your team!

Team Building Stefan Lindegaard

Image Credit: Pexels, Stefan Lindegaard

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Four Types of Team Motivation

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What Science Tells Us

Four Types of Team Motivation - What Science Tells Us

Editor’s Note — Braden Kelley

The 4 Types of Team Motivation

The four types of team motivation are: extrinsic motivation (driven by external rewards and consequences), intrinsic motivation (driven by internal satisfaction and purpose), introjected motivation (driven by internalized external pressures such as guilt or pride), and identified motivation (driven by personally valuing the outcome even if the task itself isn’t enjoyable). Most leaders rely almost entirely on extrinsic motivation — rewards, recognition, and consequences — while leaving the three more powerful and durable forms largely untapped.

A quick reference:

  • Extrinsic motivation — Bonuses, promotions, performance reviews, recognition programs. Powerful for short-term compliance but rarely builds lasting engagement or discretionary effort.
  • Intrinsic motivation — Driven by the work itself: curiosity, mastery, creativity, and the satisfaction of doing something well. The most durable form of motivation and the hardest to manufacture — it must be cultivated through the right environment and work design.
  • Introjected motivation — Doing something to avoid guilt, shame, or anxiety, or to protect one’s self-image. Common but fragile — it produces effort but often at significant psychological cost and without genuine commitment.
  • Identified motivation — Doing something because you personally value its outcome, even if the task itself isn’t inherently enjoyable. A team member who genuinely believes in the mission will push through difficult work that intrinsically motivated individuals might avoid.

David Burkus’s article below explores how leaders can identify which type of motivation is driving each team member — and how to apply the right approach to build teams that are genuinely engaged, not just compliant.

GUEST POST from David Burkus

Keeping a team motivated is the one of the most important aspects of a leader’s job. It’s also one of the most misunderstood aspects of a leader’s job. Many organizations still equate “motivating your team” with “designing the right incentives.” But more than four decades of research into self-determination theory have revealed the limits of these types of extrinsic motivators and offers a wealth of insight into intrinsic motivation and how leaders can leverage it.

But even when expanding their perspective on motivation, many leaders still suffer from the misunderstanding of a binary choice between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. In reality, self-determination theory research suggests that motivation is better thought of as a spectrum with four points along the way: extrinsic, introjected, identified, and intrinsic.

In this article, we’ll outline these four forms of motivation and offer a glimpse at how to leverage the most overlooked form when motivating your team.

The Four Forms Of Motivation

1. Extrinsic Motivation

Extrinsic motivation refers to the external factors that drive individuals to take certain actions or adopt specific behaviors, whether it involves completing a task or achieving a personal objective. These external influences can take the form of rewards, promotions, prizes, and so on. Extrinsic motivation can work well in the short-term when the tasks being incentivized are clear and individuals know how to achieve them. However, extrinsic motivation often falls short in terms of providing genuine meaning. The impact of reward-based motivation tends to be inconsistent and frequently ineffective. In addition, when the path towards completion is unclear—extrinsic motivation tends to fall apart.

2. Introjected Motivation

Introjected motivation can be understood as an internalized form of motivation, similar to intrinsic motivation. However, it refers to a specific a sense of pressure to perform in order to receive validation or approval from significant individuals, such as bosses or influential colleagues. This type of motivation is more prevalent than commonly realized and impacts individuals in two distinct ways. First, individuals can be motivated to perform tasks to bolster their feeling of self-worth (introjected approach). Second, individuals can be motivated to perform tasks to avoid feelings of failure or diminished self-worth (introjected avoidance).

However, both forms of introjected motivation are difficult to sustain. In addition, introjected avoidance in particular can have long-term harmful effects—since it’s basically indistinguishable from emotional manipulation.

3. Identified Motivation

Identified motivation pertains to a type of motivation where individuals recognize or acknowledge the necessity of performing or completing a task, yet they have not yet taken action to fulfill this need. Identified motivation is what is felt when people may not be motivated to do a task but know that doing it is important. It is a potent form of motivation that primes individuals for action. And is especially powerful in a work context because relying on others to become motivated is generally impractical in most situations.

However, this form motivation is also quite underutilized because it requires connecting the work of an individual or team to something important enough to create a feeling of identified motivation. While most organizations have a mission or purpose statement—connecting specific tasks to that mission or purpose is often overlooked.

4. Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation refers to internal drives that are subjective in nature, emerging from actions that align with personal values or bring pleasure in performing a task. It is experienced in the present moment when individuals engage in activities they find enjoyable or meaningful.

However, intrinsic motivation is subjective and can be challenging to manage and harness effectively, since so much depends on the specific person and what satisfies them. That is why, despite studies suggesting intrinsic rewards have a stronger motivating effect compared to extrinsic ones, there is no universally applicable method or approach.

Three Ways to Motivate Your Team

Looking at the entire spectrum of motivation, it’s pretty apparent that identified motivation is both powerful and underutilized for motivating your team. Intrinsic motivation is great, but it’s not possible all of the time. Some tasks are vital, just not enjoyable. When that is the case, identified motivation can become the motivator of choice. And there’s three specific ways to leverage identified motivation.

1. Provide Purpose

The first way to motivate your team through identified motivation is to provide purpose. Ultimately for introjected motivation to work, people have to feel the tasks they’ve been assigned are important. And the most effective way to help them feel that way is to demonstrate how they serve a bigger purpose. More specifically, connecting the team’s effort to a “prosocial purpose.” Identified motivation is most powerful when the tasks needing completion are seen as tasks that promote or protect the well-being of others (sometimes also called prosocial motivation). For leaders, this means answering the question “Who is served by the work that we do?” and then reminding the team of that answer on a regular basis.

2. Connect to Values

The second way to motivate your team through identified motivation is to connect to values. Once purpose is established, it’s important to make the shared values that undergird that purpose salient. You’re working for something specific in the world—because you share a certain set of values that dictate the change you’re working for. Those shared values can be a powerful way to leverage identified motivation when discussing seemingly unimportant tasks. Those tasks may not be enjoyable, but they’re critical to achieve the purpose and hence critical to staying aligned with shared values.

3. Add Autonomy

The third way to motivate your team through identified motivation is to add autonomy. For tasks that don’t have a specific set of instructions—and for tasks that are not intrinsically motivating—allowing people to have a say in the way they achieve the task can be a powerful way to motivate them. Autonomy is a powerful motivator not only because it allows individuals to adjust their tasks into ways they may find enjoyable, but also because it eliminates the feeling of manipulation that people may have experienced when they’ve felt introjected motivation in the past.

Motivating your team can be tricky—much of the common practice in organizations seeks to leverage less powerful, more difficult forms of motivation. But by focusing on intrinsic and identified motivation, you can give your team a renewed zeal and help them do their best work ever.

Put This Into Practice With the Change Planning Toolkit™

The frameworks in this article are part of the Human-Centered Change™ methodology — a visual, collaborative system of 70+ tools built around the Change Planning Canvas™. Every copy of Charting Change gives you access to 26 of the 70+ tools.

Image credit: Pixabay

Originally published on DavidBurkus.com on May 22, 2023

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Your Ability to Innovate Determined By Your Ability to Pause

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Your Ability to Innovate Determined By Your Ability to Pause

GUEST POST from Janet Sernack

Many of my coaching clients have recently shared their struggles with feeling tired, emotionally overwhelmed, and cognitively overloaded and are close to burnout.  They attribute these issues to the pervasive and addictive nature of technology, exacerbated by the pandemic and divisive global conflicts, accelerating change and the rise of AI and hybrid work. As a result, many have retreated and frozen into a state of habitual, reactive ‘busyness.’ This affects their overall emotional, physical, and mental health and wellness. It also inhibits their ability to focus, create, invent and innovate and restricts their optimism, hope, and positivity about their future in an unstable and uncertain world.

The Coaching Opportunity

Coaching creates a unique opportunity to partner with people to develop their pause-power to identify the transformative actions to reverse this pervasive phenomenon to flourish in a world of unknowns.

A coaching session usually serves as a first step towards cultivating the pause-power needed to stop, observe, reflect and take valuable time out to rest, replenish, re-energize and reboot. This allows people to courageously notice, attune to, and express their true feelings and thoughts, to disrupt, dispute and deviate them to develop the pause-power required to heal and provide relief, hope and optimism for a better future.

Everyone must cultivate intentional pause-power to empower them to observe and understand their inner and outer worlds. This practice helps them remove distractions, stop multitasking, and break free from the ‘busyness’ that depletes their cognitive, emotional, and visceral resources, putting them in the driver’s seat of their mental and emotional well-being.

Self-reflection and reflective practice become potent tools, enabling people to move away from reactivity and short-term focus and towards taking the transformative actions to adapt, create, invent, and innovate. 

Hitting Your Pause Button

Being adaptive, creative, inventive and innovative involves consciously taking your hands off the controls and encouraging yourself and others to notice and disrupt your habitual and addictive ‘busyness’ (time scarcity + task focus).

This awareness is the first step towards reclaiming your focus and attention so that you can engage with and interpret the modern world rather than try to control it or withdraw from it.

Being willing to take a break and hit the ‘pause button’ stops your continuous cycle of doing. It focuses your attention on breaking limiting beliefs or unresourceful patterns and provides a support structure for applying rigorous perception practices to our daily lives.

Using pause-power to create a place, as recently described by Otto Scharmer from the Presencing Institute:

 “Between action and non-action, there is a place. A portal into the unknown. But what are we each called to contribute to the vision of the emerging future? Perhaps these times are simply doorways into the heart of the storm, a necessary journey through the cycles of time required to create change”.

What Does Pause-Power Involve?

A pause is created when you suspend activity, a time of temporary disengagement when you no longer move towards any goal. It can occur amid almost any activity and can last for an instant by taking a deep breath to get grounded, for minutes to become mindful or to take a rest, for hours to enjoy a well-deserved break, or for years to experience life in a different culture or place.

Intentionally pausing enables you to take time between your range of habitual, largely unconscious reactive responses; it helps our brain’s executive function utilize the valuable ‘empty spaces’ between stimulus and response and between different ideas. It creates a space open to options and choices for being, thinking and acting differently.

Doing this allows you to notice and disrupt unresourceful and habitual auto ‘stimulus-response’ default patterns, which usually occur when things go wrong, you make a mistake and fail, or you dive into blaming, shaming or avoiding others as part of our naturally wired defence mechanisms.

Radical Acceptance

Learning to pause is one of the critical steps in innovation because it helps you initiate a practice of radical acceptance. This requires embracing uncertainty, or ‘what is’ truly happening in the present moment, relationship, or situation, by accepting things just as they are. 

“During the moments of a pause, we become conscious of how the feeling that something is missing or wrong keeps us leaning into the future, on our way somewhere else. This gives us a fundamental choice in how we respond: We can continue our futile attempts at managing our experience or meet our vulnerability with the wisdom of Radical Acceptance”.

By being willing to dive into an ‘empty space’ from an emergent process, you can unleash possibilities, opportunities, options, and choices towards identifying the transformative actions that create your desired future.  

People who can artfully and skillfully facilitate creative conversations that funnel pause power and co-create valuable ‘empty spaces’ to occur can generate our imagination and curiosity to manifest glorious moments of insights required to emerge creative ideas.  

Pausing also enables you to observe, pay attention, notice, and regulate how your overall nervous system impacts and manages your brain’s functions. This is key to being practical, resourceful, healthy, and productive in the face of volatility, complexity, uncertainty, and accelerating change in our hyper-connected world.  

It also needs rest to do this. By applying our pause-power and giving ourselves some rest, we offer our bodies, hearts, and minds a chance to recharge, keep moving, and work towards taking the transformative actions required to build better workplaces and flourishing futures.

A Valuable Toolkit and Habit

This skill is valuable for everyone to reflect upon, cultivate and master. It is initiated by intentionally stopping by hitting an invisible cognitive ‘pause button’ to observe, pay attention, notice your inner experience, and see yourself as the cause of it.

Developing pause power involves six simple vital steps and questions:

1.Retreat from reacting to the situation – by stepping back into the present moment or time to notice, be with, allow, accept (radical acceptance), and acknowledge ‘what is’ going on internally and externally, and be willing to name it with detachment and discernment.

What is going on for me right now – how am I feeling about it?

2. Step up and out to disrupt yourself and create an opening, doorway, threshold, or empty space – to allow something new to emerge.

What can I learn from this situation?

3. Step up and out to disrupt yourself and create an opening, doorway, threshold, or empty space – to allow something new to emerge.

What can I learn from this situation?

4. Be willing to introduce and explore options and choices that allow you to deviate and refocus your attention on what really matters – taking a rest, having a holiday, completing a project, being a better person, getting a new job, or getting a promotion.

What are some of my options for change?

5. Be inquisitive, curious and open to reimagining, reinventing, and pivoting – an intention, mindset, behaviour, task, goal, or business focus to re-plenish, re-energize, re-engage and re-boot to mobilize yourself.   

How might I feel, think or act differently to achieve my outcome?

6. Step out into the system’s edges – by being calm, hopeful and optimistic, to identify the transformative actions required to move towards and exploring new creative, inventive and innovative solutions for providing value in ways people appreciate and cherish.

What will I do next?

Engaging in a Looking Lab

As many of our ImagineNation community members know, I am currently writing a book on ‘Being Innovative.’ There is a whole chapter on developing pause power to help people engage what Christian Madsbjerg calls in his latest book “Look: How to Pay Attention in a Distracted World” (Riverhead Books) – a Looking Lab, to:

“Get away from your screens, turn off your notifications, go out into the wilds of reality, and look around. Let go of all filters—clichés, conventions, colour corrections, whatever they may be. Try to pay attention to the simple act of seeing.”

He reveals that “if we choose to look for them, there are invisible worlds all around us ready to reveal their magic. The seemingly mundane or average can appear extraordinary, but only if we take the time to notice and see it”.

This is a vital part of our remarkable human capacity to transform through the slow, patient act of observing, attending, noticing, replenishing, re-energizing, re-engaging, and re-booting to take the transformative actions that will help you make the world a better place and achieve your 21st-century growth and success differently.

Please find out more about our work at ImagineNation™.

Please find out about our collective learning products and tools, including The Coach for Innovators, Leaders, and Teams Certified Program, presented by Janet Sernack, it is a collaborative, intimate, and profoundly personalised innovation coaching and learning program supported by a global group of peers over 9-weeks, and can be customised as a bespoke corporate learning program.

It is a blended and transformational change and learning program that will give you a deep understanding of the language, principles, and applications of an ecosystem focus, human-centric approach, and emergent structure (Theory U) to innovation, and upskill people and teams and develop their future fitness, within your unique innovation context. Please find out more about our products and tools.

Image Credit: Pixabay

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Overcoming Judgement

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Overcoming Judgement

GUEST POST from Mike Shipulski

Judging results when things are different than our expectations.

If you don’t like being judged, stop judging yourself.

No one can judge you without your consent, even you.

If someone judges you, that’s about them.

People’s judgment of you is none of your business.

When you see a friend judging themselves, give them a hug. A virtual one will do.

Judging someone means you want them to be different than they are.

If someone gives you a gift and you don’t accept it, it’s still theirs. Judgment is like that.

If you’re afraid of being judged for trying something new, be afraid, and try it anyway.

Judgment is objective evidence of disapproval if you accept it.

Judging someone won’t change their behavior, other than make them angry.

When you see a friend being judged, give them a hug (in a social distance way.)

When someone judges you, don’t worry. In ten years, no one will remember.

When someone tries to judge you, let them try.

If you do your best, why do you think it’s okay to judge yourself about the outcome?

If you don’t do your best, don’t judge. Ask why.

Judgment can debilitate, but only if you let it.

Image credit: Unsplash

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Do Nothing More Often

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Do Nothing More Often

GUEST POST from Robyn Bolton

“What do you plan to do on vacation?” my friend asked.

“Nothing…”

Long silence

“…And it will be amazing.”

We live in a world that confuses activity with achievement so I should not have been surprised that the idea of deliberately doing nothing stunned my friend into silence.

After all, when people say, “I wish I had nothing to do” they usually mean “I wish I could choose what I do with my time.” And, when they do have the opportunity to choose, very few choose to do nothing.

Why does the idea of doing nothing make us so uncomfortable?

To put it bluntly, busy-ness is a status symbol.

In their paper, “Conspicuous Consumption of Time: When Busyness and Lack of Leisure Time Become a Status Symbol,” professors Silvia Bellezza (Columbia Business School), Neeru Paharia (Georgetown University), and Anat Keinan (Harvard University), wrote that people’s desire to be perceived as time-starved is

“driven by the perceptions that a busy person possesses desired human capital characteristics (competence, ambition) and is scarce and in demand on the job market.”

We didn’t always believe this.

For most of human history, we’ve had a pretty balanced view of the need for both work and leisure. Aristotle argued that virtue was obtainable through contemplation, not through endless activity. Most major religions call for a day of rest and reflection. Even 19th-century moral debates, as recorded by historian EO Thompson, recognized the value of hard work AND the importance of rest.

So what happened?

While it’s easy to say that we have to work more because of the demands of our jobs, the data says otherwise. In fact, according to a working paper by Jonathan Gershuny, a time-expert based on the UK, actual time spent at work has not increased since the 1960s.

The actual reason may be that we want to work more. According to economist Robert Frank, those who identify as workaholics believe that:

“building wealth…is a creative process, and the closest thing they have to fun.”

We choose to spend time working because Work — “the job itself, the psychic benefits of accumulating money, the pursuit of status, and the ability to afford the many expensive enrichments of an upper-class lifestyle” according to an article in The Atlantic — is what we find most fulfilling.

It’s not that I like working, I just don’t like wasting time.

We tend to equate doing nothing with laziness, apathy, a poor work ethic, and a host of other personality flaws and social ills. But what if that’s not true.

What if, in the process of doing nothing, we are as productive as when we do something?

Science is increasingly showing this to be the case.

Multiple fMRI studies have revealed the existence of the default mode network (DMN), a large-scale brain network that is most active when we’re day-dreaming. Researchers at the University of Southern California argue that

“downtime is, in fact, essential to mental processes that affirm our identities, develop our understanding of human behavior and instill an internal code of ethics — processes that depend on the DMN.”

The results of harnessing the power of your DMN are immense:

More creativity. The research discussed in Scientific American suggests that DMN is more active in creative people. For example, according to Psychology Today:

  • The most recorded song of all time, “Yesterday” by The Beatles, was ‘heard’ by Paul McCartney as he was waking up one morning. The melody was fully formed in his mind, and he went straight to the piano in his bedroom to find the chords to go with it, and later found words to fit the melody.
  • Mozart described how his musical ideas ‘flow best and most abundantly.’ when he was alone ‘traveling in a carriage or walking after a good meal, or during the night when I cannot sleep… Whence and how they come, I know not, nor can I force them.’
  • Tchaikovsky described how the idea for a composition usually came ‘suddenly and unexpectedly… It takes root with extraordinary force and rapidity, shoots up through the earth, puts forth branches and leaves, and finally blossoms.’

More productivity. According to an essay in The New York Times, “Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets. The space and quiet that idleness provides is a necessary condition for standing back from life and seeing it whole, for making unexpected connections and waiting for the wild summer lightning strikes of inspiration — it is, paradoxically, necessary to getting any work done.”

Less burnout. Regardless of how many hours you work, consider this: researchers have found that it takes 25 minutes to recover from a phone call or an e-mail. On average, we are interrupted every 11 minutes which means that we can never catch up, we’re always behind.

That feeling of always being behind leads to burn-out which the World Health Organization officially recognized as a medical condition defined as a “syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed” and manifests with the following symptoms:

  • Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion
  • Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job
  • Reduced professional efficacy

Doing nothing, quieting our minds and not focusing on any particular task, can actually help reset our bodies systems, quieting the release of stress chemicals, slowing our heart rates, and improving our mental and physical energy

Better health. Multiple studies indicate that idleness “produces many health benefits including, but not limited to, reduced heart rate, better digestion, improvements in mood, and a boost in overall emotional well-being — which, of course, affects everything on a biochemical and physiological level, thereby serving as a major deciding factor on whether or not we fall ill, and/or remain ill. Mental downtime also replenishes glucose and oxygen levels in the brain, and allows our brains to process and file things, which leaves us feeling more rested and clear-headed, promotes a stronger sense of self-confidence, and…more willing to we trust change.”

Fine, you convinced me. How can I do nothing?

There are the usual suspects — vacations, meditation, and physical exercise — but, if you’re anything like me, the thought of even finding 5 minutes to listen to a meditation app is so overwhelming that I never even start.

An easier place to start, in my experience, is in intentionally working nothing into the moments that are already “free.” Here are three of my favorite ways to work a bit of nothing into my day.

Make the Snooze button work for you. When my alarm goes off, I instinctively hit the Snooze button because, I claim, it is my first and possibly only victory of the day. It’s also a great way to get 9 minutes of thoughtful quiet nothingness in which I can take a few deep breaths, scan my body for any aches and pains, and make sure that I’m calm and my mind is quiet when I get out of bed.

Stare out the window. I always place my computer next to a window so that I can stare out the window for a few minutes throughout the day and people think I’m thinking deep thoughts. Which I am. Subconsciously. Lest anyone accuse me of being lazy or unproductive while I watch the clouds roll by, I simply point them to research that shows “that individuals who took five to ten minute breaks from work to do nothing a few times a day displayed an approximately 50% increase in their ability to think clearly and creatively, thus rendering their work far more productive.

Bring the beach to you. Research from a variety of places, from the UK Census to The Journal of Coastal Zone Management, indicate that our brains and bodies benefit from time at the beach. But, if you can’t go to the beach, there are lots of ways to bring the beach to you. Perhaps the simplest is to bring more blue into your environment. Most people associate blue with feelings of calm and peace and a study published in the American Association for the Advancement of Science found that the color blue can boost creativity. Even putting a picture of a beach (or your own personal happy place) on your desk or computer screen can trigger your brain to slow down, relax, and possibly trigger your DMN.

With so many benefits, isn’t it time you started doing more nothing?

Image credit: Pexels

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Do You Bring Your Whole Self to Work?

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Do You Bring Your Whole Self to Work?

GUEST POST from Mike Shipulski

Do you bring your whole self to work? If not, how do you feel about that?

When you demonstrate your unique goodness and it’s met with “You don’t fit in.” they may say they want you to fit in, but, really, that’s objective evidence that they need your unique goodness.

Witches were burned at the stake because their special powers frightened people.

If it’s a good idea, don’t block it because people call it heresy.

The Universe doesn’t care if it’s heresy, as long as it’s a good idea.

The Universe doesn’t discriminate against witches.

If you’re a plumber that fixes pipes and fixes potholes, they’ll expect you to fix pipes and fill potholes.

Sometimes you’ve got to withhold the solution If you want the organizational learning to happen.

If you fill all the potholes, the company never learns that someone’s not doing their job.

A plumber who fixes pipes and fills potholes should be paid more than a plumber that just fixes pipes.

When no one listens to reason, the only thing left to do is let the wheels fall off.

And if you really care about the long-term success of the company, you’ll let them fall off.

If you see things differently, you’re obligated to say so, even if you’re wrong.

When you speak truth to Power, does Power thank you or kick you?

If after speaking unsayable truth to Power, they kick you, that says a lot about Power.

When you’re satisfied with what you have, striving-based motivation tactics have no power.

It’s easy to mentor down into the organization, but it takes a special person to mentor uphill.

Never do your boss’s job.

When successful thinking becomes geriatric, it’s time for hospice.

Successful business models change only after they become unsuccessful.

Change happens only after exhausting all other possibilities. And it takes special people to make it happen.

If you ‘re afraid and hold back because you’re concerned about being burned at the stake, you should put your magic wand in your pocket, jump on your broom (or vacuum cleaner), and find another job.

Image credit: Pixabay

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Intuitive Skill, Center of Emphasis, and Mutual Trust

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Intuitive Skill, Center of Emphasis, and Mutual Trust

GUEST POST from Mike Shipulski

Mutual Trust. Who do you trust implicitly? And of that shortlist, who trusts you implicitly? You know how they’ll respond. You know what decision they’ll make. And you don’t have to keep tabs on them and you don’t have to manage them. You do your thing and they do theirs and, without coordinating, everything meshes.

When you have mutual trust, you can move at lightning speed. No second-guessing. No hesitation. No debates. Just rapid progress in a favorable direction. Your eyes are their eyes. Their ears are your ears. One person in two bodies.

If I could choose one thing to have, I’d choose mutual trust.

Mutual trust requires shared values. So, choose team members with values that you value. And mutual trust is developed slowly over time as you work together to solve the toughest problems with the fewest resources and the tightest timelines. Without shared values, you can’t have mutual trust. And without joint work on enigmatic problems, you can’t have mutual trust.

Mutual trust is a result. And when your trust-based relationships are more powerful than the formal reporting structure, you’ve arrived.

Intuitive Skill. In today’s world, decisions must be made quickly. And to make good decisions under unreasonable time constraints and far too little data requires implicit knowledge and intuitive skill. Have you read the literature? Have you studied the history? Have you drilled, and drilled, and drilled again? Did you get the best training? Have you honed your philosophy by doing the hard work? Have you done things badly, learned the hard lessons, and embossed those learnings on your soul? Have you done it so many times you know how it will go? Have you done it so many different ways your body knows how it should respond in unfamiliar situations?

If you have to think about it, you don’t yet have intuitive skill. If you can explain why you know what to do, you don’t have intuitive skill. Make no mistake. Intuitive skill does not come solely from experience. It comes from study, from research, from good teachers, and from soul searching.

When your body starts doing the right thing before your brain realizes you’re doing it, you have intuitive skill. And when you have intuitive skill, you can move at light speed. When it takes more time to explain your decision than it does to make it, you have intuitive skill.

Center of Mass, Center of Emphasis. Do you focus on one thing for a week at a time? And do you wake up dreaming about it? And do you find yourself telling people that we’ll think about something else when this thing is done? Do you like doing one thing in a row? Do you delay starting until you finish finishing? Do you give yourself (and others) the flexibility to get it done any way they see fit, as long as it gets done? If the answer is yes to all these, you may be skilled in center-of-emphasis thinking.

The trick here is to know what you want to get done, but have the discipline to be flexible on how it gets done.

Here’s a rule. If you’re the one who decides what to do, you shouldn’t be the one who decides the best way to do it.

Yes, be singularly focused on the objective, but let the boots-on-the-ground circumstances and the context of the moment define the approach. And let the people closest to the problem figure out the best way to solve it because the context is always changing, the territory is always changing, and the local weather is always changing. And the right approach is defined by the specific conditions of the moment.

Build trust and earn it. And repeat. Practice, study, do, and learn. Hone and refine. And repeat. And choose the most important center of emphasis and let the people closest to the problem choose how to solve it. And then build trust and earn it.

This post was inspired by Taylor Pearson and John Boyd, the creator of the OODA loop.

Image credit: Unsplash

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