Blog - Page 49 of 55 - The Third Zone

Sep 12 2013

An Upside to Stress? Seriously? … Seriously!

The time is 2008 to 2012, mid-year. And typical comments made by many coaching clients in the business world included:

It’s so difficult ‘out there’ ● I am so stressed ● I hope we can make it through these challenging times ● I don’t know when it’s going to end ● The stress is taking its’ toll ● I’m worried about making it as we have no room for wrong decisions ● I’m exhausted from the stress!

Fast forward. It’s mid-2012 to the present:

It’s getting better ● Business is picking up ● We’re finally showing a profit ● It’s great to be productively busy again ● Spirit and energy are very apparent in ‘here’ now ● It’s so-o-o good to be back in control ● And the familiar one … I’m so stressed but can handle it because things are back!

In both time periods stress was being tolerated. In the earlier years … because no alternative was seen or the alternative was worse … folding company, lost job, inability to support ones’ life. More recently, because it just went with the territory of positive events and busy-ness. So let’s bring it on. Right? Regardless of the business conditions it appears that ‘stress’ offers nothing of value. But wait! As a coach I just have to ask … what can happen if you take this negative (stress) and make it your ally in achieving your goals? We often want to get rid of the negative and here, I’m actually suggesting there could be a value to it. Go figure!

What put the spotlight on this issue is a recent TED talk presented by Kelly McConigal, a Stanford University psychologist who has established herself in the field of ‘Science-Help’. Her talk was on the “Upside of Stress”. For many years she taught the ills associated with stress based on her seeing it as a bad influence on our well-being and overall health. Obviously we often worked to find ways to minimize its place in our lives. With considerable research she has now come to realize that the impact of stress can be good or bad and it’s a matter of how we view it.

What the McConigal talk does is feed very well into the question I frequently ask to clients … the one about making ‘stress’ your ally. Consider these questions:

What do the presence of stress and your awareness of it motivate you to do …, differently, better?
If you view your stress as being a messenger, what might its message be? How might the message impact you as if viewed stress as an ally … your friend … cheering you on?
How can stress energize you or your team to accelerate or alter your plan?

Mind over matter? In a case like this it becomes mind over body response. It’s another area over which we really can have control … if we choose to. Your comments are always welcome!
Mike

Aug 28 2013

SWIM with the SEALS and FLY to the Moon

As a business leadership coach I can readily say that today, the tone of meeting, speaking and/or working with those at the helm of an organization or departments within is clearly changing. Frankly, it’s exciting and so very welcome. Today we are approached because companies want to accelerate their growth … determined to make up for lost time and opportunities. Surviving is in transition to thriving!

Coincidentally, I read an article written by Shawn Parr that has the potential of being a guide to the components that ‘thriving’ incorporates. It’s entitled “Taking Tactics from the War Room to the Board Room”. It begins by saying “As corporate leaders explore how to elevate the effectiveness and professional excellence of their working teams, there is a lot to be learned from the Special Forces (the Navy Seals).” The article emphasizes two key elements that account for success: Meticulous planning and clear expectations. Straight forward and simple!

This article lists what can and should serve as YOUR litmus test to determine how your company and you are positioned in the overall effort to create a most effective organization or … landing on your moon. It’s taken from the aforementioned article as written. Hopefully you’ll find it of interest and as pertinent as I have.

1. Teamwork is your top priority.
A mission cannot be successfully executed unless the team is functioning as one. The SEALs continual emphasis on teamwork corresponds closely with the daily requirements of the business world.

2. Early leaders are good leaders.
This opportunity is unparalleled in the corporate world, where an employee may need 10 to 15 years to reach a position of significant leadership and high level of responsibility.

3. Excel at ethics.
In the world of business, the ethical leader is sometimes a rarity, and truly esteemed.

4. Stay calm.
The military trains its team to be more comfortable taking risks with incomplete information. This is the daily function of a CEO, but it is rarely passed down to employees.

5. Hard times help you adapt–quickly.
Young executives who go through hard times should learn to appreciate them, recognizing that those times will not only strengthen them, but truly train them to properly and successfully lead their own teams when battling the competition.

6. Ambush the competition.
In an ambush, always take out the radio operator and the unit leader (usually the guy next to the radioman). Without leadership or good communication, the enemy is forced into disarray and can be picked apart … a good lesson for all leaders and their organizations.

7. Study Darwin.
Survival is not about who’s the strongest or fastest, but who can best adapt to change. Navy SEALs are masters of adaptation, being able to operate in jungle, desert, or artic conditions. In comparison, CEOs must adapt to the ever-changing market conditions they face daily and should train their staff to do the same.

Makes sense doesn’t it? Having leadership develop and utilize the full package is certain to speed up the escalation to your goals. What is important to emphasize is implementation of ‘the full package’ as being a critical component and one to which a person or team must willingly hold themselves accountable. Otherwise you are risking embarking on yet one more flavor of the month. This might well be the ideal place to consider the coached approach as your insurance. I suppose one could say it puts the SEAL on it?

Your comments always welcome! Mike Dorman

Aug 08 2013

What is the Cost of UNinvited Guests?

Part and parcel of any business organization are the meetings that we all hold and/or attend during which we share and impart information deemed important to our day, week or business life in general. This is a very normal occurrence regardless of there being 5 or 5000 people involved in the company. I came across a video that does a very entertaining job of relating what today’s meetings are like. I’m quite confident that you’ll easily relate to it and even smile … perhaps with tears in your eyes. My guess is that many of us will see a reenactment of a situation that we have experienced too often. Look for yourself HERE.

Did you find yourself laughing or crying? What you have just seen points to one of the top complaints we hear in moving from one organization to another … the gross waste of valuable time that takes place during the mandatory and often numerous meetings. And the number one culprit accounting for this is the uninvited guests in the form of those mini-computer ‘gadgets … call them the likes of cell phones, laptops, iPads, etc.

Rather than being respectful guests – did I say they were uninvited? – they tend to dominate in terms of taking attention of their ‘host’ from whatever is being discussed or presented to whatever email or text or call arrives. And of course, in any form they too often command first priority. Simply viewed, what this creates at any given time is a meeting that lacks 100% participation of attendees pretty much 100% of the time. Some of the potential costs to the organization both collectively and individually are these:

The BIG one … rarely is every attendee focused on the moment and especially prevalent where there are several to many in attendance

A lot of things need to be repeated because someone key to the discussion is attending to an email or text that is URGENT! (aren’t they all?)

Meetings take much longer than the agenda content requires because of the waiting time involved with the revolving door of participation

Wasted time = lost productivity = lost $$$$ and how many companies can afford that? One has to wonder when and how the same technology that brought with it conveniences to the workplace and those in it, took over and tends to rule the roost? What would it take to take back control? What would you rather be doing with the reclaimed time? Would this be a good topic to bring up at your next meeting? I bet yes and you’ll probably be joined by many other nodding heads in the process!

Mike Dorman

Jul 24 2013

When Mindset Trumps Perceived Reality

The last blog … about where your organization might be on the recovery path … generated quite a few responses. Readers wanted to get a sense … our sense … of where they were on their personal recovery path to reclaiming the driver’s seat of their business and look for those places that they could leap forward to a full recovery.

It wasn’t the number of responses we received that was the surprise. Rather it was the number of them that conveyed that their recovery was not in their control. They indicated that they had done just about everything they could do and that further progress was dependent on something out of their hands. This “something” ranged form their location or their market that had gone on hiatus or even the government’s failure to do “this” or “that”.

What?

Talk about seeing yourself as truly trapped … this is it. This means that they can only hope that those controlling issues change before they are unable to sustain any longer and must close up their business. Wow. . . If that were me, a good night’s sleep would be quite a ways off!

Obviously, falling into the mindset of being victimized can occur within any size and type of organization. You can be a business of one, ten or hundreds. The fact remains that to the extent we are willing to believe and operate from a place of ‘there’s nothing I can do until …..’ we are going to feel stuck with very, very limited options. I do not want to suggest that this is highly unusual. What’s wrong with it is that, if we remain there, it prevents us from making the gains and improvements that are available to us … if only we change the governing mindset.

If you are able to admit that you might be stuck in this way … a little or a lot …perhaps your mindset or the one that exists within your organization is the obstacle or unrecognized monkey holding you back. The question becomes what can you do about it? Consider these thoughts and questions:

Are you tired of allowing ‘the economy’ to be the boss of you? In relinquishing the ‘bosses’ role how has this stopped the creative juices from flowing freely as a means of getting around the situation?
If you were to draw the line and say ‘victim no more!’ what options might be available to you that you have never thought of previously? The ideas that arise don’t have to be right … they just have to be possible and above all be possible for the current playing field that you are on. Then you have new ‘solutions’ to consider.

What conversations … with past clients or suppliers or others in your field … might inform you as to what today’s buyer of your product or service really wants and needs? (Odds are their arena has almost certainly changed as well.)
If you’re thinking of the overall organization, how can you motivate and involve all members to be involved in the solution to moving from ‘stuck’ to’ back in charge’? Some of the best solutions reside within those who are seldom asked or charged with the task of providing ideas and solutions on the broad scale.

Here’s what we know and have seen frequently. No one chooses to be in the position of victim except for when it helps us to understand or justify why we might be in our current position. And even then it’s heavy and demoralizing. Once you can recognize that at least some of the issue holding you back is the mindset of a stuck victim … you don’t have to get angry … just get even and take back the control! There’s no energy drink that can match this realization and the power that comes with it.
What do you think?

Mike Dorman

Jul 09 2013

Stop Talking Gloom Already!

I had an interesting comment from a reader after my last post … the one entitled “What’s Grit Got to Do, Got to Do With It?”. What he said was “I feel you should move on from the existing recession talk, and put on a more positive “we’re in recovery mode” attitude.” This moved me to re-read my last several posts as I was curious as to what gave the impression that I was stuck in ‘recession talk’.

What I’ve concluded is that this reader must be one of the lucky ones whose company is at the front end of recovering. They are, most likely, far along in their transition from surviving the storm to, once again, driving their success and congratulations are in order!

That you as a reader are even here today tells us this about your organization and those in it …

You were able to survive the threatening and wild ride (akin to that of Disneyland’s Mr. Toad)
You demonstrated the flexibility, as needed, to respond to the changes imposed upon you with determination and mental resolve
You acted boldly and wasted little if any time bemoaning what happened or what was and the company has taken steps to reclaim the driver’s seat on the way back to success known in the past.

How long it will take for an organization to reach full recovery is influenced by several factors. Ponder these:

Did your products have to significantly change?
Did you have to find a new market for your product?
Did the company have to bring about major changes to their processes?
Did cutbacks require that the company eliminate many jobs including leaders … something that now requires rebuilding the organization?

With the signs continuing to point to a strong and improving business economy, your company, as many others, needs to be driven in a controlled way to reclaim a successful future. Are you finished (as in “are we there yet”)? Most likely not as few are. However, there is reason to believe that just about every organization is on their way and definitely glad of it. So where are you, how much further do you have to go and what is it going to take to take over the driving? This is a GREAT inquiry and one we are hearing more and more. I believe we can help you find out.

We have developed a brief survey that will take no more than 5 minutes to complete. And when you do so … and submit it as requested … we will quickly process your information and tell you where we believe you are on that path. We will also share what your next steps need to be.

That’s all you’ll hear from us unless you specifically ask for more information with questions of this nature:

What are the most effective steps we can take to achieve what remains to be done?
Or … given where we are in our process and on our path, what is the time we can expect to take to complete our assent?

Are you willing to spend 3 or 4 minutes and try it? Even if it only serves to be a topic of conversation within the company’s leadership team or within your specific department, I assure you, it will lead to some interesting and valuable conversations! There is really only an up-side so why not? Take the survey HERE

Mike Dorman

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