Archive for the ‘Engagement’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Spirit Week…Every Week!

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

I read an article this week…from one of my internet Google Alerts.  It was one of those articles that struck me – instantly.  It was by Kim Smith and it was titled Sometimes we could all use a little spirit week.  Kim shared her findings from asking her daughter about her favourite part of spirit week.  You know what that is if you have children.  If you don’t have children, spriit week is a time (a week, actually) when schools engage in activities to infuse energy into the classroon…with friendly competition between classrooms and amongst the student-body as a whole.  Even my son, in middle school, has been heavily involved in collecting pennies ’so we can be the best classroom in the school!’

Kim’s daughter replied that the best part of spirit week was that all of the social rules disappeared and everyone was equal and everyone was focused on having fun.  ‘It doesn’t matter if I am in the band or I am a jock”, she said.  ‘Nobody cares about my clothes or anything.”  Kim’s daughter related that spirit week was about the team…doing what was best for the whole, and not worrying about individual, petty, differences.

I thought about that…and how true that was relative to my own children’s experience of spirit week.  Everyone is smiling, everyone is engaged, and everyone works together!  No one is left out and no ‘normal’ classes (the ‘populars’, the ‘nerds’, the ‘jocks’, etc.) exist.  We are just here, together, working together to achieve a common goal.  Not a bad formula for success in any organization, I think!!

While thinking about writing this post, my daughter came home from school (her first year in a new high school) and said ’Mom, I am so proud of myself!  I said “hi” to some people I don’t know really well … and they said “hi” back.  It was cool!’

So … next week, after you return from a weekend of thanksgiving celebrations with family, think about what you can do to make every week ’spirit week’ at your workplace.  Really…it doesn’t take much!  A smile, a ‘great to see you’, an engaged look in the eye…that’s it! 

Let me know how it goes…and I’ll do the same!

Tags: , ,
Posted in Engagement, Happiness, Leadership, Organizational Development | No Comments »

Appreciative Inquiry “at Work”

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

If you have not already heard of Appreciative Inquiry, check out AI Commons and learn a bit about AI and it’s founder David Cooperrider.  I first became acquainted with AI from a colleague; that inspired me to attend the AI Conference in Orlando Florida in 2008.  Since then, I use the principles of AI regularly in the work I do with organizations.  This summer, I took extensive training with Jane Magruder Watkins and Maureen McKenna on using the theory of AI in practice.

Here’s a quick peek at the principles of AI:

  • organizations (and the humans within) grow in the direction of their most frequent inquiries; when we appreciate what is best about ourselves and each other, and ask questions about that, we get more of what’s best
  • we learn about and create more success by asking ‘what is the root cause of success?’  (as opposed to creating more failure by asking ‘what is the root cause of our failure?’
  • we get higher performance by focusing on our strengths, rather than ‘fixing’ our weaknesses (inquiring about weaknesses begets more weaknesses)
  • our inquiries are fateful…the questions we ask set the stage for what we find; instead of asking ‘what is stopping us from being successful?, we need to ask ‘what is contributing to our success?’
  • our perceptions determine reality (not the other way around)
  • we socially contruct our organizations (and families, and world); our interactions are the source for what is true for us; so AI requires that the entire system (organization, family) participate in the process
  • we create what we imagine…we will notice what we anticipate, positive or negative, so anticipating a positive image of ourselves, each other, and our organizations, helps us to create that reality
  • the phases of AI are Discovery (inquiring about what’s right, what our strengths are, what is occurring when we are at our best); Dream (imagining our organization as we desire it in the future); Design (identifying the elements that will construct the dream organization); and Destiny (realizing our destiny, as we have constructed it)

There is much evidence that what we think about affects our actions which in turn determine our reality.  Most of us would agree with this idea.  Now we have the practice of Appreciative Inquiry which provides us with a process that works!

 

 

 

Tags: ,
Posted in Change, Engagement, Organizational Development, Strengths | No Comments »

The Positive Psychology of “Meaning”

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

I dragged my butt over to the school to set up for Staff Appreciation Week.  ‘How come it’s always the same people who volunteer for these things?’ I muttered to myself, a bit resentfully.  My children’s school has over 600 students, and yet it appears that it is the same small group of parents volunteering for most school events.  At times, when my life is crazy busy and I am leaving my family ONCE AGAIN to head out to volunteer, I wonder what I am doing spending MY time to serve the needs of others.

Then, I walk in the front door of school.  It’s early in the morning, and the hallways are already ‘abuzz’ with kids and teachers getting ready to begin their day.  The first person I see is our Principal.  ‘Good Morning’ she says.  ‘Good Morning to you’ I say back.  She is dressed in a fabulous red leather blazer and looks refreshed and cheerful.  I realize how much I appreciate her; not, of course, for how she dresses, but for the kind of engaged and energized person that she is.

‘Thanks for all the treats’ she says.  I smile and say something like ‘you are so welcome; you deserve to be treated’.  I can’t help but smile inside and out as she genuinely smiles at me in that moment.

I head into the staff room.  There are a few staff members assembled and I greet them as I head to our ‘treat table’ (a table of cookies, cakes, cupcakes, candies, squares, and other yummy things baked by caring parents).  ‘Good morning’ I say to them as I pass.  ‘Good morning’ they respond, and add ‘thank you so much for all the great treats, we really appreciate them’.  ‘You are so welcome’ I say; feeling it even more than the last time, when I said it to the Principal.

I continue preparing the table of treats; I see a number of teachers coming in to fill a plate with some treats to take back to their class.  ‘Thank you’ is a regular comment in my direction.  ‘You are welcome’ is my response.  Each ‘thank you’ elevates my energy.  Each ‘you’re welcome’ from me elevates my energy also.  ’What is happening?’ I wonder.  I feel really energized! 

I returned to the school a couple of more times that day; to clean crumbs off the ‘treat table’ and to re-stock it to look inviting to school staff.  Each time I returned, I was bombarded with appreciation from the staff (who, we were appreciating with all the treats!)  I suddenly realized…it is a “gift” to volunteer.   

 Martin Seligman, the ‘father’ of Positive Psychology, speaks and writes about the connection between happiness and meaning; doing things that are not about self-interest but about the greater good.  I think that’s what happened during Staff Appreciation Week for me.  I certainly had considered this reality as I learned about, and became certified in, Emotional Intelligence ; yet there was nothing that could match the power of a ‘real’ experience.

So, the next time you find yourself muttering and wondering why you are doing something (that you know is good for others, yet you are feeling personally drained and maybe even a little self-centred); pay attention!  I’ll bet you will discover that the biggest payoff to volunteering is to the payoff to YOU.

“Meaning” is indeed a personal experience…and the best way to experience “meaning” is not in serving yourself, but in serving others.  I think that is a paradox “in” action!!

What do you think?

 

Tags: ,
Posted in Engagement, Happiness, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Happiness, Productivity and The Law of Attraction

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

I believe that most of us understand that, generally, happier employees are more productive; they achieve better results for themselves and for the organization.  There is a lot of research to support the importance of positive emotions at work.  Much of my work is with leaders in organizations, who certainly understand this connection; and who are curious about what they can do to facilitate, encourage, and nurture happiness at work.

The first piece of advice I have for these leaders relates to a fundamental belief I have about effective leadership: you must model the way!  If the leader is not experiencing happiness and positive emotion at work, it is highly unlikely that the team members will either.  It is not enough to say the right words at a meeting, hoping to inspire the team to be pumped up and excited about their work.  If the words are not connected to true positive emotion in the leader, they fall flat.  And…if the leader is not ‘feeling’ what they are saying, they are less able to attract that feeling in others.  Have you noticed how much more believable, inspiring, and attractive someone is who is truly congruent with the message they are delivering?  As I work with leaders across a variety of organizations weekly, I continue to confirm that every leader indeed WANTS a happy team…and also WANTS that same experience for themselves.

So, what can you do to begin to create it for yourself and your team?  Try the three principles of the Law of Attraction as outlined by Michael Losier in his book of the same title.  1) Identify your desires.  You might, for example, identify what it is that you want to see in your team.  “I want a happy, productive team; who are smiling, laughing, sharing information, and connecting to explore opportunities and solve problems.”  2) Give your desires attention.  Once you have identified your desires…see them, hear them, feel them.  What are the cues in your environment that provide the evidence you seek?  How will you know your desire is manifested?  How will you know it when you see (hear, feel) it?  3) Allow your desires.  When you focus on what it is that you want to see, hear and feel; that is exactly what you will notice and experience.  Your attention is diverted from what is contrary to what you desire, to magnifying those moments when what you desire is before you.  Your focus will help to grow, or magnify the experience; you’ll then experience more of it yourself, you’ll then put more of it out into the workplace (model it), then you’ll get more of it, and so on, and so on.  See it, be it, free it!

Try this out; and comment back with a story to share.

Tags:
Posted in Engagement, Happiness, Human Resource Development, Leadership, Organizational Development | 5 Comments »

Mentoring Magic

Monday, February 2nd, 2009

I have delivered workshops and keynote presentations on the topic of Mentoring for the last 5 years.  My clients, like any organization today, are realizing that there are tremendous benefits to be derived from having a formalized Mentoring program in place.  Some of the benefits are:

  • addressing gaps in knowledge management/corporate memory, as older workers plan to retire in the next 5 years
  • being recognized in recruitment efforts as an employer or choice, as new talent is both interested and well versed in the topic of mentoring
  • using mentoring as a way to assist in retention of staff, since the confidential nature of the relationship facilitates open discussions about the protege’s motivation and general job satisfaction
  • providing for career management and development of key talent, since mentors can provide valuable information and networking opportunities to impact human resource/succession planning

Beyond these benefits, which are significant to any employer, Mentoring programs provide another huge opportunity – mentor engagement!!  Talk to just about any mentor, and they will comment on how the experience of Mentoring increased their own engagement and energy for their work, as much (if not more) than the protege experienced!  The magic of Mentoring is that while it is often positioned to benefit the protege, the real benefits to the organization go beyond the protege to the mentor!

I also happen to deliver workshops and keynote presentations on Pre-Retirement Lifestyle Planning; and consistently the message of the near-retiree is ‘I want to leave on a high note in my career’; ‘I want to leave a legacy’.  Positioning your Mentoring program to benefit both parties involved means that the organization benefits from higher productivity on all levels.  Additionally, you’ll have a lot more interest from senior staff to volunteer when they are reminded that there are trendous benefits to being a mentor.

Another workshop I have delivered for select corporate clients is Attendance Management.  In every session, the challenge of engaging and motivating older workers comes up.  Certainly not every older worker is under-performing (most I know are very high performers); however, there are some.  In these workshops, managers who attend will readily admit that often their older workers are disengaged and demotivated (just putting in time) because they are treated that way in the organization (“John’s ‘retired’ on the job so we don’t consider him for new projects”).  Think about the possibilities to impact performance with this group by engaging, and re-energizing them, as mentors.

If you have not already thought about implementing a Mentoring program in your organization, read this article on Mentoring and consider the benefits to you, your staff, and your business results.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Engagement, Happiness, Human Resource Development, Leadership, Organizational Development | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »