Posted on Saturday, August 14, 2010

When Good Blooms from Gloom

Two stories in The New York Times this weekend reminded me that good often blooms from gloom. In “Detroit Goes from Gloom to Economic Bright Spot,” Bill Vlasic writes that the American automobile manufacturers are emerging from a near-death experience as leaner, more grounded, humbler, and more long-term oriented organizations. In a different field altogether, that of men’s professional basketball, Scottie Pippen was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame yesterday. Read about it in “Stepping Out of Jordan’s Shadow, Pippen to Enter Hall.” I was inspired to learn about Pippen’s remarkable climb from humble origins and how he came back from an embarrassing episode that occurred years ago when he refused to play in a crucial game. Pippen learned from his mistake then moved on to become an even better player, leader and human being.

There is real wisdom in these stories. As human beings, we are imperfect. Good times often puff us up and develop hubris in our character (i.e., over-confidence, arrogance and the negative aspects of pride). This applies to organizations as well as to individuals. Tough times, on the other hand, as hard as they may be, are opportunities to develop the humility we need to thrive over the long-term.

How does humility help us thrive? When we are humble, we are more likely to seek, listen to and consider the opinions and ideas of others. Facing difficulties, we are more likely to reach out to God and to our family and friends for help rather than see ourselves as self-sufficient. In a state of humility, we are more likely to develop a number of other character strengths such as kindness, graciousness, gratitude, patience and perseverance or fortitude.

Are you going through tough times? If so, I suggest the following:

1. Devote time each day to prayer. When I pray, I like to focus on thanking God for the many blessings in my life and I pray for the needs of others as well as for wisdom in the important decisions I must make.

2. Make a list of things for which you are grateful. My wife’s list might include M&Ms, the color red, video chatting with our daughters, reading the newspaper in her pajamas, and having survived both breast and advanced ovarian cancer. Counting our blessings gives us perspective. The negativism of today can influence us so that, without our even being aware, we get caught up in it (a condition that sociologists describe as “emotional contagion”).

3. Spend time each day conversing and connecting with family members, friends and colleagues at work. Find out what’s going on in their lives. If you face important decisions, talk them over with others to gain a balanced perspective. This is a huge energizer for me (and I’m somewhat introverted).

4. Regularly reach out to help or encourage someone in need. Serving someone else is one of the best ways to lift your own spirit and the spirit of the people around you. Just try it and you’ll see!

I know from experience that these four simple practices can make a difference in your attitude and behavior. They will help you persevere through tough times, after which you will most likely emerge even better than you were before. While these practices may or may not make you economically wealthier, they will most certainly bring you a wealth of even greater value.

Posted on Sunday, August 8, 2010

Burnout Results From Living in Conflict with Values

The New York Times recently had an article on rising burnout among clergy entitled “Taking a Break from the Lord’s Work.” The article was followed by a thoughtful op-ed entitled “Congregations Gone Wild.”

Effective leadership, employee engagement and employee motivation are closely linked to the alignment of behavior with personal values. In the case of clergy, putting a muzzle on pastors so they are unable to preach in a way that is consistent with their values is a sure path to burnout.

This is a very important issue that everyone should spend time thinking about. Set aside time this month to list your values. Ask yourself, “what do I believe in and what’s important to me in the way I live my life?” Then compare what you wrote down with how you presently live. During the Depression, a young financial analyst working in London did this exercise. Years later reflecting on it he wrote that “people, I realized, is what I value and I had no desire to be the richest man in the cemetery.” That young man, Peter Drucker, left his well-paying job and went on to become the father of management consulting. In “How Peter Drucker Changed My Life” I wrote about how Drucker’s writings affected my own career decisions.

What if you discover there are differences in your values and how you are presently living? My advice is to invite 2-3 people you trust and respect to meet with you, discuss your analysis and thoughts about how you might take action to close the values gaps. You may find all that is necessary is to speak with your supervisor about making changes to your present job or something more may be required such as moving to a different job or business unit in your organization, or, in the the most extreme instances, changing careers altogether. Whatever the case, ignoring the present stressful state is never wise because if affects your mental and physical heath, your relationships and your job performance. Having conversations with people you trust will help reduce the stress you feel and also help clarify your thinking so that you can develop a clear plan to move forward to a better state of work and a better life.

Posted on Sunday, August 1, 2010

Employee Engagement: Federal News Radio Interview

Chris Dorobek, the well-respected talk show host of Federal News Radio in Washington, D.C, recently interviewed Jason Pankau and yours truly about employee engagement and strategic alignment based on an article Jason and I wrote for the award-winning Leader to Leader Journal entitled “To Boost Performance, Connect with the Core.” You can listen to the unedited radio interview at this link.

Posted on Saturday, July 31, 2010

Individuals, Organizations That Survive Life’s Inevitable Storms

Everyone experiences difficult seasons in life. Although storms come to our lives in many different forms including health problems, death of a loved one, divorce or job loss, one thing is certain: it’s difficult, if not impossible, to get through the stormy seasons in life alone. We need family and friends who “have our backs.” Unfortunately, as this thoughtful article that recently appeared in USA Today suggests, true friendship may be dying.

In a video interview I filmed for the Leader to Leader Institute’s Leadership Dialogues website, I speak with leadership experts Mark Thompson and Bonita Buell-Thompson about what I learned from my wife Katie’s successful battles with breast and advanced ovarian cancer. You can read about it and watch the video at this link.

The lesson I learned is about the importance of connection and relationships. It applies to organizations as much as it does to individuals and families. When difficult seasons arrive, an organization’s culture often makes a difference to whether the organization survives or doesn’t. Dog-eat-dog or cultures that are indifferent to people and relationships often spiral down into relational isolation, anxiety, distrust, blame and finger pointing. On the other hand, Connection Cultures that value human beings and relationships tend to pull together and work through the challenges.

My question for you is, who has your back in life and at work? Are you intentional about taking the time to build strong relationships with individuals who you trust and who trust you? If you lead an organization, do you invest time to develop relationship excellence in your organization?

Posted on Thursday, July 22, 2010

Hundreds of Employee Engagement Ideas

My friend David Zinger, founder of the Employee Engagement Network, organized a number of leading thinkers and experts on employee engagement and asked each to provide 10 ideas to increase employee engagement. The results were compiled in an e-book entitled The Top Tens of Employee Engagement. It’s a great resource to get actionable ideas that will boost employee engagement. Check it out.

Posted on Tuesday, July 20, 2010

In Addition to Competence, College Building Character and Connection

A trusted friend and former colleague of mine at Morgan Stanley recently praised Andy Chan’s work at Wake Forest University to help students understand and develop character, then discover their passion and a career path to match it. Here’s a great article about Chan’s work from the Chronicle of Higher Education entitled “Finished College. Now What?”

Chan’s work fits well with our mission to develop strength of character and connection in organizations (you can learn why we believe character strengths are so important for individual, organizational and societal health in the Connection Culture Manifesto that was published by changethis.com). I’ll be learning more and writing future blog posts about Andy Chan and Wake Forest’s work so stay tuned.

Posted on Saturday, July 17, 2010

Brain Research: To Improve Learning, Use Whole Body

We learn best when we think, feel and do. That’s the message of Dr. Adele Diamond, a cognitive developmental neuroscientist who currently teaches at the University of British Columbia in Canada. We might refer to this as “whole body learning.” According to Dr. Diamond, the executive function of the brain — the prefrontal cortex — works best when we go beyond the rational mind by also involving emotions and physical behaviors. That makes sense since the more we involve other parts of the brain, the more neural connections we make that reinforce learning.

The implications are wide-ranging. It reminds me of Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences and Robert Sternberg’s identification of different thinking styles. The more we incorporate different approaches to learning that speak to diverse individuals who are wired to learn differently, the greater the probability they will in fact learn.

Are you using more than analytic, rational methods of learning? Do you use stories to move people emotionally? Do you employ exercises that require people to behave in ways that will help them learn?

For those who want to go deeper, there a fascinating hour-long interview of Dr. Adele Diamond by Krista Tippett of American Public Radio’s “Speaking of Faith” program that you can hear at this link.

Posted on Friday, July 16, 2010

Video Training: Connection Cultures in Churches

Some of you know that in addition to speaking and teaching leadership at organizations such at Google, NASA, Johnson & Johnson and the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business, Jason Pankau and I frequently speak in churches about how Judaeo-Christian values lived out create what we refer to as a “Connection Culture.” To learn more, watch the following video series of Jason Pankau teaching a workshop on Connection Cultures for Churches.

Session 1 – The Case for Connection
Session 2 – Creating a Connection Culture
Session 3 – Inspiring Identity
Session 4 – Knowledge Flow
Session 5 – Committed Members and Servant Leaders

Posted on Thursday, July 15, 2010

US Navy and U2: What Connection?

The US Navy and U2 in the same article! Huh?

That’s right. It’s true. Check it out for yourself.

The Leader to Leader Institute just posted an article on its website that Jason Pankau and I wrote for the Summer edition of the Leader to Leader Journal. The article features the stories of the US Navy’s former Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Vern Clark, and Bono, the lead singer of the rock band U2. The article is about the topic of connecting with “core employees” to boost strategic alignment, employee engagement, productivity and innovation. Here is a link to the article entitled “To Boost Performance, Connect with the Core.”