Happy @ Work

Are you out of your mind?

I recently attended a workshop that focused on creating healthy workplaces. The subject matter was not about health and safety initiatives as you might initially think. What was being discussed was how we create a healthy environment that strikes a balance between people, performance and profit.

During the afternoon we talked about the changing nature of work, we talked about toxic worker/boss relationships and that some companies are just “crappy” places to work (Quotation marks denote technical jargon commonly used by people to describe their workplace).

When I reflected further on this and the many other conversations I’ve had with people about “crummy” jobs and “jerk” bosses what I realized was that we were actually discussing “happiness” in the workplace.

The thing is, though, no one really wants to talk about being “happy” at work because it seems somehow immature, unsophisticated or maybe just too intangible. Conduct a quick experiment; walk out into your workplace, pick someone at random and ask them: Are you happy at work? See how long it takes them to answer.

Happy has somehow lost its meaning in the workplace. Instead of being a state indicative of pleasure, contentment, or joy it now seems to conjure images of clowns with balloons or butterflies and ballerinas spreading stardust from a pill bottle prescribed by your doctor because you keep coming in complaining about your “crappy” job.

Too bleak? Maybe so but my point is that happiness is a choice and is actually standard operating equipment for humans. The reality is that we spend our lives learning how to be unhappy and we generally do a pretty good job of it.

We do this precisely because we are human. As we learn and grow we build filters to deal with all the data that we are bombarded with and through these filters we construct mental maps of how the world works.

“I have to get an MBA so I can sit in a corner office to be successful,”

“I have to make piles of cash so I can buy everything I want to be cool,”

“I have to marry a trophy spouse so I can have lots of s_x to be happy”,

“I have to get a divorce so I can leave my spouse to be happy.”

Here the mental map is: I have to get something to do something to be something.

The interesting thing about all these mental maps that we carry around in our heads is that they are mostly inaccurate and incomplete. So we end up following them, thinking that this is the way the world works and one day when we are sitting near the pinnacle of our habitual wanting, we find ourselves asking: How did I get here?

Have you ever done that? Taken action to get a certain outcome and ended up with the exact opposite? Or maybe you have tried to recreate the circumstances that achieved a certain outcome only to accomplish a different or unexpected result?

That is the consequence of investing in outcomes and unconsciously following mental maps that are inherently flawed.

The if-then map that so many of us follow does not actually serve us. If I get a better job then I’ll be happy, if I get more money then I’ll be happy, if my boss has a heart attack then I’ll be happy. We spend our energy and focus on changing the if instead of just being, you guessed it, happy.

Now I can feel the groundswell of discontent building in the habitually outcome oriented, results are all that matters people out there, which usually culminates with, “Are you out of your mind? If we don’t focus on outcomes we’ll never get anything done!”

Outcomes are important, they give us direction but what we must realize is that we have no control over outcomes. When we are totally invested in something we can’t control we become easily frustrated when our course or the process begins to move in a different direction or obstacles appear in our path. We begin to meddle, we micromanage and we try to force the outcome to come about.

The only things we really have control over are our actions. What we will do now, in this moment, to move toward our goals. When we begin to invest in and focus on the process, not the outcomes or the results, we create an environment that cultivates creativity, innovation and fulfillment.

Success is not a straight line calculation. I know very few people who can chart a course from point A, where we are today, to point B, the outcomes we want to achieve, and get there in a straight line; with no obstacles, course corrections or major detours.

What’s more is success is only one component of happiness. The other dimension that most people fail to recognize or consider is fulfilment. Being fulfilled is not about achieving or possessing, it is about our values. Things like gratitude, optimism, curiosity and integrity. It comes from the inside, not the outside.

To be truly happy we need both success and fulfilment. They are the map and compass we need to effectively navigate life.

Bringing the two together creates the context for attaining abundance in our lives. We let go of the idea that the outcome or result defines us. If you succeed wonderful, if you don’t succeed still wonderful because we use our map and compass to assess the situation, pick a new goal or outcome, re-orient and keep moving.

As we build an abundance mentality our judgments about “crappy” workplaces, “crummy” jobs and “jerk” bosses fade away.

Action Point:

Some quick tips about creating an abundance mentality in your workplace:

1. Clarify your values. What is important to you and those you work with?
2. Live your values. Don’t sacrifice them for profit, expediency or to smooth over ruffled feathers. Use them to explain why you are making certain decisions.
3. Identify your key objectives and then focus on the process for getting there. Be flexible and tolerate mistakes. You may need to fail or make a mistake to realize that you must take a step back or move sideways in order to find the right path.
4. Enjoy the ride. Happiness is a way of being not a reward for working the longest hours or making the most check marks on your to do list. Clarify your expectations for yourself and those you work with and then let go of “what if” and embrace “what now”.

© Dial Solutions Group Ltd. 2010 All Rights Reserved

Dial Solutions Group is a workplace consulting firm that helps companies build teams that accomplish dreams through the use of our unique methodology – The People Strategy Cycle™.

David Dial can be contacted at 403-265-6544, 1-888-979-9798 toll free in Canada and the US or by email at david@dialsolutionsgroup.com .

For more information about our firm or about permission to reprint this article visit www.dialsolutionsgroup.com

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The New Normal

“A lot has changed over the past year.” I have heard this phrase countless times over the past few months, many times coming out of my own mouth.

When we step back and examine this idea, though, we realize that it is not really about change because that is the natural state of the world – everything changes all of the time.

It is the rate of change and the direction of that change that affects our fortunes.

We have experienced a shock to our economy that has swiftly changed what normal looks like. What was normal last year is not the norm this year; normal next year will only slightly resemble what is normal today.

Being successful, prosperous and fulfilled is about dealing with change, figuring out what the “new” normal is and anticipating what normal will look like down the road.

We can cope with change – constantly reorganizing, restructuring, revamping and re-launching to adapt to what is happening around us. If we only deal with the symptoms on the surface of change then we will meet with only short-lived and superficial success.

Going beyond coping we come to acceptance. This is where we accept that things will change and not always in the ways we want. Acceptance is not submission; it is acknowledging the facts of a situation and then deciding what you are going to do about it.

When we accept the situation we move past laying blame or constantly reliving the past. Acceptance frees us to examine the facts of the situation and then determine what to do next, without guilt or hard feelings.

Being prepared to deal with change means we need to anchor ourselves to a strong core identity. This is our vision, mission & values, our marketplace strategy and our workplace strategy. These elements also change but a slower pace than the events around us, in effect guiding us so that we don’t find ourselves constantly reacting and rebounding, especially at the speed information travels at today.

Whether the change is profound or mild, evolutionary or revolutionary having a solid core identity allows us to focus back on the basics, examining our strengths assessing opportunities in the marketplace and taking planned and purposeful action to move forward.

Action Point

When faced with change marshal the various elements of your organization to address the change.

1. Connect to your core:

• Review your values and the purpose of what you are doing,
• If these change every time there is a challenge then you may not be working with true values and a clear purpose but more with operating strategies or tactics,
• Your core should be made up of principles that you believe in regardless of whether the marketplace rewards you or penalizes you for holding them,
• Use them as a standard to measure your options against.

2. Analyze your situation:

• Take stock of the good and the bad,
• Stick to the facts,
• What did you learn?
• What were the constraints?
• Use tools to help you – SWOT analysis, PEST analysis, Ansoff Matrix, Boston Matrix, Flow Charts, etc. There are many to choose from.
• Get a clear picture of your current state and how it got to be that way.

3. Decide what to do now:

• The questions you ask of the data should not revolve around “What if?” they should revolve around “What now?”
• What are the next steps you will take to move from your current state to your desired state?
• Build a plan.

4. Refocus your team:

• Involve your team when possible in creating the plan and communicate the plan to everyone in the organization.

5. Re-engage your key players:

• Show them how they fit into the new plan,
• Be clear about your expectations of them,
• Ask them to tell you how they will accomplish what is needed.

6. Take Action

• Implement for success – that means support people, give them the resources to do their job, the responsibility to do what is needed and hold them accountable for their results.

Best Regards,

David Dial HCS

Engaging for Results

Aim your heart, adjust your head and always do all you can do.

Simple words that convey a simple sentiment. On the surface this might seem like a platitude; yet when we slow down to consider the meaning, we are led to a deeper understanding of how simplifying and clarifying what we do and why we are doing it can produce incredible results.

Ultimately all any of us can do is go as far as we can with all that we’ve got, the rest is up to luck, timing and fate. Embracing this principle means that we let go of trying to control specific outcomes or results. When we focus on the process instead of the end result we allow things to progress naturally, minimizing our tendency to meddle. The net effect is that the difficult becomes easy; we struggle less and accomplish more.

When leaders and managers meddle in the workplace it usually comes in the form of telling people how to do things. We get focused on tasks and deliverables and when we don’t get exactly the results we want, when we want them, we go into problem solving mode. Rather than supporting people by assuming the role of guide and coach, allowing people to struggle and puzzle their way through the situation, we roll up our sleeves, elbow them out of the way and get the job done. This not only robs the person of a learning experience that will return dividends down the road; it saps energy, creative thought and trust.

By switching our focus from achieving specific results to the process for getting results, our attention shifts from prescribing to influencing. We help people to understand our vision, what we want to accomplish and then let individuals and teams decide the best way to get from where we stand today to accomplishing our dreams.

There are three phases for us to consider in this process:

Embrace:

This is the aim your heart part. We embrace and commit to the core identity of the team and the organization – the dream, which is made up of our values, purpose, vision mission and strategies for the marketplace and the workplace. We create and nurture a positive attitude toward walking in the door every morning. To do this we must be clear about what we stand for and what we believe in. It has to move past being an intellectual exercise to one where we allow people to become emotionally involved.

Engage:

This is where we adjust our heads. We channel our passion, our creativity and our gumption toward achieving specific things. We imagine, we plan and we prepare ourselves to pursue our vision through the accomplishment of our mission.

Execute:

This is where we do all that we can do. Every day we focus on completing or accomplishing something that moves us at least one step forward. That may mean attaining a specific goal, reaching a certain milestone or just moving an important initiative that one bit closer to completion.

Action Point

1. Sit with your team and discuss your vision. Rather than just standing up and preaching, start a conversation.

• What do they believe the vision is? Let them describe it to you in their words.
• Do they believe that this achievable?
• How do they see themselves fitting into achieving the vision?
• What attracts them to it?
• What can they contribute to the process?
• Ask yourself: Are they genuinely embracing our vision?

2. Now agree on the route between were you are and where you want to go.

• What are the major milestones that must be reached?
• What are the goals that must be achieved to get to each milestone?
• Involve your people in the creation of the plan. In doing so you will increase their engagement level.

3. Instead of prescribing the steps you want them to take, ask them to bring back a plan for how they will do it. Individually and as a team.

• Forge and agreement for how goals will be reached, who will be doing what and when, what resources will be used and how we will determine if we are successful.
• With this in place we now have objective and accepted criteria for tracking and evaluating performance.

4. Get out of the way.

• Allow people to struggle but establish guidelines about asking for help and at what point you will step in if they get too far off track.
• Measure performance against the plan.
• Remember to tell people when they are doing well and thank them for their effort.

David Dial founded Dial Solutions Group in 1996 to fill a gap in the market. He saw plenty of complicated theories, costly programs and high-tech solutions to common workplace issues. His specialty is helping people like you develop simple, effective processes for transforming the workplace from a place of low morale and mediocrity to one of focused, committed excellence. Visit our site at http://www.dialsolutionsgroup.com

Truth in the Workplace

On a basic level, being successful relies on the people who make up your team openly sharing the truth.

A simple principle, which I’m sure most people would agree with. Yet putting it into action in the workplace is often difficult, painful and ineffective.

Why? Because we are either not clear about what the truth is or we disagree over whose truth is the most accurate in describing the situation. The politics of truth goes beyond the reality of the situation and incorporates dynamics such as power, fear and influence in trying to achieve a result.

The fundamental meaning of success is that we describe a specific goal, outcome or state we wish to achieve and over a specific period of time, within certain guidelines we achieve the desired result. To not achieve the desired result is failure.

A common question at this point is: If we achieve the result, does it matter how we got there?

My answer: Yes.

The underlying foundation of truth is that we accurately describe reality in such a way that everyone becomes clear about the situation. Once we are clear we can decide where we want to go from this point and we can begin to set goals, assign tasks and get to work making a contribution.

If we do not accurately describe reality, if we allow biases, fears, assumptions, rumours and speculation to cloud the issues, then the direction we set and the choices we make are based on flawed information. We may reach the desired result but only after making many course corrections.

Similarly, if we “spin” or manipulate the truth we may reach the end result but usually at the expense of broken relationships, low trust, people hedging on commitments, selective communication and any of a long list of detrimental behaviours in the workplace.

Building a culture of truth-telling means that people know it is acceptable and preferable to tell the truth and that it is unacceptable not to tell the truth. In an age where we have to design “whistle blower” policies so people feel it’s safe to tell the truth this can be a challenge. The benefits of accepting that challenge, though, are many and they all support long-term success.

Action Point

Building a culture of truth-telling positively impacts people, performance and profits. It relies on clear communication and an understanding of the impact the truth has on everyone involved. In order to do this we need to communicate with confidence and courage.

There are four basic choices we can make about which style of communication we will employ. These types are:

Direct aggression: bossy, arrogant, bulldozing, intolerant, opinionated, and overbearing,

Indirect aggression: sarcastic, deceiving, ambiguous, insinuating, manipulative, and guilt-inducing,

Submissive: wailing, moaning, helpless, passive, indecisive, and apologetic,

Assertive: direct, honest, accepting, responsible, and spontaneous.

Assertive communication can strengthen your relationships, reduce conflict and provide you with social support when facing difficult times. A polite but assertive ‘no’ to excessive requests from others will enable you to avoid overloading your schedule and promote balance in your life. Assertive communication can also help you handle difficult situations more easily, reducing drama and stress.

Here’s how:

1. When approaching someone about behaviour you’d like to see changed, stick to factual descriptions of what they’ve done that’s upset you, rather than labels or judgments.
   Here’s an example:

Situation:
An employee or co-worker, who habitually arrives late for your meetings, has shown up fifteen minutes late for a meeting, again.

Inappropriate: “You’re so rude! You’re always late.”

Assertive Communication: “We were supposed to meet at 11:30, but now it’s 11:45.”

1. The same should be done if describing the effects of their behaviour. Don’t exaggerate, label or judge; just describe:

Inappropriate: “Now the meeting is a waste of time.”

Assertive Communication: “Now I have less time to deal with this issue because I need to be at another meeting by 1pm.”

1. Use “I Messages”. If you start a sentence off with “You” it comes across more as a judgment or attack, which puts people on the defensive. If you start with “I” the focus is more on how you are feeling and how you are affected by their behaviour. It also shows more ownership of your reactions and less blame.

For example:

‘You Message’: “You need to show some respect and get here on time!”

‘I Message’: “I’d appreciate it if you came to meetings on time.”

1. Here’s a great formula that puts it all together:

“When you [their behaviour], I feel [your feelings].”

When used with factual statements, rather than judgments or labels, this formula provides a direct, non-attacking, more responsible way of letting people know how their behaviour affects you. For example:

“When you yell, I feel attacked.”

1. A more advanced variation of this formula includes the results of their behaviour (again, put into factual terms) and looks like this:

“When you [their behaviour], then [results of their behaviour] and I feel [how you feel].”

Here are some examples:

“When you arrive late, I have to wait and I feel frustrated.”

“When you tell people on the team that it’s okay to do something I have already said is unacceptable, some of my authority as a manager is taken away and I feel undermined.”

Tips:

1. Make sure your body reflects confidence: stand up straight, look people in the eye, and relax.
2. Use a firm, but pleasant, tone.
3. Don’t assume you know what the other person’s motives are, especially if you think they’re negative.
4. When in a discussion, don’t forget to listen and ask questions! It’s important to understand the other person’s point of view as well.
5. Try to think win-win: see if you can find some common ground and a way for you both to get your needs met.

Parkinson’s Law

The vacuum created by a failure to communicate will quickly be filled with rumour, misrepresentation, doubt and poison.

Best Regards,

David Dial

Pacesetter

Dial Solutions Group

Sustaining Success in the Workplace

To create a successful workplace we must contribute something which cannot be bought or measured by money and that is authenticity and acceptance.

Whether you consciously define it or not, the culture of your workplace is based upon certain values and a particular purpose. This core identity influences the actions your people take everyday so achieving clarity about your identity moves people toward taking the appropriate actions in any given situation.

Now there is no right or wrong core identity, just the one that best describes your team. What brings it to life and truly gives it power is the concept of authenticity. This is the quality or condition of being authentic, trustworthy and genuine – being real.

Too often we take the approach of telling people what they want to hear. We spin the message, we sacrifice our values to close the sale or make the client happy; we choose style over substance. When we fake it we can’t fully engage because we don’t believe in what we are doing and guess what, neither does anyone else.

The number one reason people have given me over the past 15 years for leaving a new job within the first six months is that the actual job was nothing like what they were told during the interview process. The reason managers and employees dislike performance reviews, and ultimately don’t do them, is because they seem arbitrary and contrived. These are symptoms of a workplace that has lost its authenticity.

So by first being clear about your core identity (who you are and what you stand for) and then being authentic about that in the way you do business, you begin to build the foundation for sustainable success in your workplace.

The next step is to connect authenticity with the notion of acceptance. Astute leaders and managers accept reality as it is, rather than as they wish it to be. The troubles we experience in the workplace and the pain associated with them is caused by the disparity between our expectations and the way things are. The more stubbornly we refuse to accept, the more we suffer.

This does not mean that you should give up on your dreams. It means that you must accept that things do not always go the way you want them to. Troubles arise when your expectations do not match results and you refuse to accept the reality of the situation. Acceptance is not submission; it is acknowledging the facts of your situation and then deciding what you’re going to do about it.

By firmly fixing your dream or vision for the future as a guiding star on the horizon, you can accept the set backs and changes that life throws your way. By being authentic to your core identity you can make decisions and take actions that more closely align your dream with the reality of your situation.

Action Point

Achieving clarity, authenticity and acceptance in your workplace will increase your success in attracting, engaging and retaining the right people for your organization. Here are a few points to reflect on:

• What is it that you stand for? Can you describe it clearly and succinctly?

In sales and marketing they develop what is called a 60 second elevator speech. This is a short description that you can use to explain your company to someone in the time it takes for an average elevator ride. Try developing something similar to use with employees. Be able to clearly describe your core identity. This is useful to ground feedback for people.

“At Dial Solutions Group our focus is on building teams that accomplish dreams. By leveraging the talents of your people we create a stronger workplace, improve results and take your team to that next level of performance. Your role as ________ helps us do this by. . . “

• On a scale of 1 to 5 (with 1 being poor) honestly rate the alignment between words and actions. Do your people make decisions and take action based on your core identity? If a client were to ask you to do something that went against any of your values, would you be able to walk away from their business? Or would you sacrifice your values for the business?
• Acceptance can be difficult. Think back to instances where things did not work out as planned. Did you assess the reality of the situation and plan how to get back on track to reach your goals and your vision? Or did you begin playing the blame game?

Best Regards,

David Dial HCS

Pacesetter

Three Dimensional Leadership

Leadership is an idea that fascinates people at all levels of society and business; crossing cultures and encompassing generations. It intrigues us because most of us, at some point, will be called upon to play a leading role in social settings, community activities or in the workplace.

How we respond, or how we think we will respond, to this call can be a source of anxiety. We all want to play that leading role capably, earning the respect of the people around us. We want to feel the confidence, the esteem and the admiration.

Being a leader is both simple and complex. Simple because it involves reaching deep within ourselves and being that which we often fear, our true self; complex because we must present that true self to others, leaving ourselves vulnerable and exposed.

By mastering this fundamental dichotomy we all become leaders. I say this because leadership does not have to do with age, rank, status or power. We find leaders at all levels of our organizations because leadership has to do with conducting ourselves in a mature manner.

Maturity, as Stephen Covey defines it, is balancing the courage to share your feelings and convictions with consideration for the feelings and convictions of another person. Cultivating this maturity is the toil of leadership, reaching a balance of courage and consideration that allows us to engage and to inspire a group of people to accomplish phenomenal things.

The most skilful leaders often work behind the scenes, achieving objectives quickly and quietly. They use a light touch and produce seamless results. They are usually so good at what they do people hardly know they exist.

Think back to that boss or that leader we have all had in our lives. The one you would do almost anything for and who helped you to believe in yourself. It might not be a single person; it could be a montage of people who have had an effect on your life. When I bring this image to mind what I recall is someone who was true to their word and did not speak lightly, who did more and talked less, a person who was not interested in accolades and was truly happy for the success of others. What do you remember?

Leaders who can achieve an advanced level of maturity are capable of building teams that accomplish dreams because they can effectively cultivate their people. They realize that accomplishing dreams is rarely a solo project. We all need support, guidance and direction.

So what’s the magic? How do we engage people so that they donate their brains, their sweat and their souls to our cause?

By learning to lead in three dimensions.

The motto ‘Head Hand and Heart’ is taken from an inscription used by Charles Voysey, a prominent Arts & Crafts Movement architect and designer. In terms of the Arts & Crafts movement this meant: ‘Head’ for creativity and imagination, ‘Hand’ for skill and craft, ‘Heart’ for honesty and for love.

We are all influenced by these three dimensions –  thinking (head), doing (hands) and feeling (heart). We each have a dominant preference that guides the way we learn and accomplish tasks:

• People who are ruled by their heads prefer to think before acting and are driven more by cognitive logic than by emotion.

• People who are driven by the hands prefer to take action first to find out what works and what doesn’t work.

• People ruled by their hearts learn by experiencing and seeing how they feel about their experiences.

As a leader it is important to relate to the people on your team on all of these levels.

First off, what is your dominant dimension?

How does that affect the way you interact with your team?

Now inventory your team for their dominant characteristics.

What is the make up of your team? Mostly head, hands or heart?

Remember, everyone is brilliant at something. In creating a balanced team you will need a mix of people who have complementary strengths.

In building your dream team this is a good place to begin.

Best Regards,

David Dial

Pacesetter

Dial Solutions Group

www.dialsolutionsgroup.com

Living Leadership

Integrity and sincerity are cornerstones of a strong workplace. Literally, this means adhering to a standard of morality and ethics and communicating in an open and truthful manner. Yet in many workplaces we struggle to move beyond the definition of these important concepts. While we may speak the words, we do not consistently live the spirit of integrity and sincerity.

Doing this means cultivating a place where people willingly donate effort above and beyond what is required to collect their pay cheque. It means allowing people to make decisions, to contribute and to make mistakes, which on the whole are rarely fatal. Creating a strong workplace takes real leadership, based on clear principles and open communication.

Our society seems to be obsessed with manufactured reality shows and media popularity, status symbols and expensive possessions. Today more than ever it is difficult to see through the exteriors that people create. In the workplace, many leaders and managers become adept at creating a facade of leadership. They are promoted because they are successful in a specific role and find themselves in a situation that they have not been adequately prepared for. More often than not, the company they are working for does not give them the support they need to develop their leadership skills so they cultivate a stereotypical style in an effort to cope.

In the Roman Empire’s final corrupt years, status was conveyed by the number of carved statues of the gods you had in your courtyard. Not unlike businesses today, there were both good and bad sculptors and merchants. As the empire continued to decline into deeper levels of greed and narcissism, the bad worked hard to get away with as much as they could. Sculptors became adept at using wax to hide cracks and chips in marble so most people could not recognize the difference in quality. The result was that low quality statues would begin to weep or melt when exposed to sunlight or to heat in foyers.

In response to a flood of cheap statues, reputable artists began a quality movement by displaying signs in their booths at the artisan marketplace of the Roman Quad declaring sine cera, which translates to English as, without wax.

While some managers work hard to appear perfect, unblemished and without fear, when the pressure is on we come to see who they really are. You cannot fake integrity or sincerity because what you are speaks so loudly that no one really pays attention to what you say.

Sincerity and integrity are two of the most valued virtues we have. To be able to look someone in the eye and trust what they are saying truly matches their thoughts and actions forms the basis of trust.

Living leadership means you don’t base your decisions on being politically correct or to curry favour; you do what is right, not what is fashionable or easy; you know the truth is absolute, not a device for manipulating others.

Living leadership means conducting yourself in a manner that sets an example worthy of imitation by your co-workers and direct reports. Do this and you will win in the long run, especially when the stakes are highest.

As a leader or a manager you are a person not a statue so it’s okay to let people see your chips and cracks. Honesty and frankness may make you vulnerable but they also make you approachable.

Making mistakes is a part of life, without them we don’t learn. It is important to remember, though, that it is not making the mistake that people watch, it’s what you do about it afterwards that tells them all about you.

Develop open conversations with your people about making mistakes. Let them know what they are empowered to do, what type of decisions they can make on their own and which ones they should consult with you about first. Give them guidelines and trust them to do the right thing.

When someone does make a mistake acknowledge it without making an example of it. More importantly, talk about what brought it about and what can be done in the future to prevent it from happening again.

Best Regards,
David Dial
Pacesetter

Intention, Action & Reflection

Three steps for building teams that accomplish dreams^®

Building teams that accomplish dreams is not like winning the lottery. It’s not based on wishing and blind luck. It’s based on intentionally engaging, retaining and attracting the right people with the competencies and talents needed to turn our vision into reality. It’s based on creating a culture and building a workplace where people take the responsibility to go as far as they can with all that they‘ve got. Only then can we leave the rest to luck, timing and fate.

Dreams are what we want for the future. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, we got the idea that calling something a dream means that it is somehow unattainable. A shame really because it is dreaming, that creative thinking without self imposed limits and boundaries, that has gotten us to where we are today.

It’s unrealistic to assume that dreaming alone will get us the results we want. We need to intentionally move toward those results. Our intention steers us toward our dreams, it’s that guiding star that fixes our course.

Achieving our intention requires clarity. That means mastering the ability to see things as they are, not as we wish them to be. In seeing things as they are, we understand the importance of details; we also understand how we can gain insight about the big picture from the small things we accomplish along the way.

Accepting how things really are does not mean submitting to them. It means acknowledging, even embracing, our current reality and then deciding what we’re going to do about it.  And while we face even the most unpleasant facts of our current reality we must retain faith that we will succeed, regardless of the challenges.

Through clarity of intention we become capable of taking the appropriate actions. Our strategy, implementation and execution are down-to-earth and grounded in reality. Our expectations for people are also realistic with simple ground rules and boundaries for making choices and taking action.

It is here that we have the opportunity to build success by letting go of the end result and focusing on the process. When handling a large or difficult task, we break it down into its constituent parts. If it is difficult, we start with its easiest part. If it is large, we start with its smallest component. These small and simple sub-tasks require little time and effort and when they are complete the success inherent in their completion generates positive energy. We then leverage this energy to propel us toward the next smallest or easiest task. Each greater success generates greater energy, a greater feeling of satisfaction and a greater ability to handle the next challenge.

Becoming clear about our intention, where we want to go, helps us to make choices and to take action. Set aside time regularly to be clear about where your team is going and what is entailed in getting there, then analyze your team to ensure you have the right people doing the right things at the right time.

This is where, as leaders, we begin to lead. We clarify our vision for our people, i.e. this is how what you do everyday helps us along the course we have set.

We determine what needs to be accomplished and then ask our people: How are we going to do it? General George Patton said: “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.”

By focusing on the process instead of the end result we allow things to progress naturally and minimize our tendency to meddle. The net effect is that the difficult becomes easy; we struggle less and accomplish more.

As you move forward take time to reflect.

Ask yourself: What did I learn?

Reconcile your actions with your intentions:

• Identify issues,
• Gain perspective,
• Clarify your intentions further with the input of your team.

Best Regards,
David Dial
Pacesetter

The Farmer

The farmer awoke with a start. For weeks now his sleep had been fitful, filled with fragmented dreams that seemed to be telling him a story. There was no plot or ending, no logical sequence of events, just images flashing through his mind at random. Yet, as jumbled as the vision was, the message was consistent, it spoke of change. The farmer had lived in the same community his whole life as his family had for generations. Farming was in his blood yet he felt unfulfilled. The same traditional crops were not as profitable as they had been and the sustainability of his current operation was in doubt. It was like running on a treadmill, his energy and his power all being sucked into a machine he was not in control of. It was time to get off. Making a living on the land and supporting his family were critical so he wanted to make a wise choice.

For months he had been reading, researching and speaking with experts about a variety of options. He took into account the climate, the soil conditions, the equipment he had to work with and the markets available for various crops. This search brought him to a crossroads, each path leading to an indistinct point on the horizon, reaching into the unknown.

Which way should I go?

Each time he asked himself this question he felt a tingling run over his scalp and down his back. He sensed he was going in the right direction, that the path he saw before him was the right one. The only problem was that it was radical to say the least. The crop he was contemplating was very different than the corn and wheat that was traditionally farmed in the region. Everything was riding on this one defining moment; the legacy of his forefathers, his financial security, his family’s future, his own self-worth.

Uncertainty fed the deep seated fears lurking in his mind; his inner voice quietly asking some tough questions: Can I do this? What if it fails? What if I fail? What will our friends and neighbours think? Am I worthy of success?

The stress had been building for weeks. The time to sow the next crop was fast approaching and those closest to him wanted to know what he was going to do. The pressure this was creating, that he was creating, was agonizing. Go or No go? Now, sitting up in bed, he knew which path to take.

Clarity came to him as he lay back on his pillow, a sense of peace settling over him. Gazing at the ceiling above him, in letters 12 feet tall, he saw the answer, GO.

The next morning he gathered his family and told them about his plan. At first there was silence, long and searching. Then the questions and answers: No it had not been tried around here before; yes it would use up all their savings and then some but they could survive; true there was little room for error; yes he believed it was the right thing to do. They went over the research, talked about the changes that would need to be made, the processes for making the new crop thrive and together they planned how to grow bamboo.

Word of this plan began to spread throughout the community, a whisper of disbelief that grew into a chorus of laughter and scoffing. This idea and the change it represented were lost on his neighbours. Tradition told them that he was doomed to failure; a fool and his dreams.

Well, the thing about bamboo is that the first year you plant it nothing visible happens. You don’t get so much as a shoot or a leaf. That season his neighbours were heartless. They had harvested all their crops while he had nothing to show for all his efforts. They questioned his good sense and he and his family were the favourite subject at the coffee shop and the supermarket. The second year was exactly the same. His neighbours began to question his sanity at this point. Who can plant something and not see anything, let alone harvest anything, after two years? Jackass was the nickname that floated around.

Despite being called delusional, crazy and just plain stupid, the farmer and his family were unshaken in their commitment and their confidence. You see, they knew about bamboo. They knew that some species of bamboo don’t show any signs of above ground growth for as much as four years. They knew that the plant would be putting the bulk of its energy into the root system those first seasons and they knew that once it emerges above ground, bamboo can grow as much as 60 to 80 feet in two months with shoots of some species having actually been clocked growing 4 feet in one 24 hour period.

So you can guess what happened when the third year came around. Almost as if by magic, there was a bamboo forest where only weeks before a barren looking field lay. He harvested the crop and sold it at a huge profit. His neighbours were astonished. In fact, some began to show an interest in growing the crop themselves and the stories spread about the overnight success of the bamboo farmer.

He went on for many years cultivating and marketing bamboo, enjoying the benefits of his new crop. He became a leader in the community, a mentor for others struggling with change, searching for success and fulfillment. The farmer became a man who lived his dreams.

ACTION POINT

There are no simple formulas for building a high performance team, a winning team. Yet there are key differences between those who struggle and those who succeed. The story of the farmer is about following your dreams. This means articulating your values, defining your purpose, weighing your options, taking calculated risks, expecting the best, planning for the worst and committing to a course of action that will lead to the accomplishment of your dream. It also means enrolling others in that dream. Helping them to find a personal connection to it, showing them where they fit and the value they bring to its achievement.

Truly, bamboo itself is a simile for successful teams. Many of the stories we hear in business about high achieving teams portray them as overnight successes. Yet when you talk with the founders, the builders and the people involved in that success you hear about the years of cultivation, the mistakes, the sweat and the faith it took to get to that point of dramatic growth. So find that dream, even if it is only a seed of an idea and care for it, cultivate it and share it. Then with each step you take, with each choice you make, develop the roots and watch it grow strong and tall.