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“Creating Successful Leaders”

Category Archives: Advice from a Life Coach

October 30, 2013 What Makes You Tick? Brain Science and Fulfilling Work

Deep within all of us beats a primal desire to contribute something of value to this world and to stand out as a positive person in the eyes of others. Great managers make this happen.

It’s always nice to find authors who base their ideas in good research. The quote above comes from the book Shine: Using Brain Science to Get the Best from Your People, and its author, Edward M. Hallowell, M.D., does just that.

It turns out–surprise–that happy workers are better workers, but what makes this book interesting is the way it explains the brain science behind why this is true.

Although it is primarily directed at managers, its insight applies to all of us regardless of our position. One of the book’s main themes is that the human brain is wired to work hard, and we are fulfilled when we are fully engaged in our work. Even so, Hallowell points to several common pitfalls people encounter even in work they enjoy. Examples of this are feeling disconnected from peers, feeling overworked, and being afraid to take risks.

The formula for what Hallowell calls “shining”–excelling in your work and feeling fulfilled–is a concise, five step process:

1. Select-choosing the right job

2. Connect-interacting face-to-face with peers on a daily basis

3. Play-having room to experiment and get creative in your position

4. Grapple and grow-being challenged, but not overwhelmed

5. Shine-when all the above steps come together, you find real excitement in your work

Many clients come to me feeling unsure about whether they’re in the right job. Although we’re often able to work together to make positive changes within the job itself, there are cases where clients would do better to fill a different role. But you can’t know what job is best for you until you know your own strengths, and this is where Insights comes in. I’ve helped numerous people “re-calibrate” themselves by helping them fully appreciate the unique strengths they bring to their teams. Once you get that big ball rolling, the rest follows. You connect more easily with your peers. You feel comfortable in your ability to experiment, or “play.” You’re confident in your ability to take on challenges. And you find fulfillment in your job, as it is based on something you’re good at doing, and like doing. But it all starts with being in tune with yourself.

Reference

Hallowell, Edward M., MD, Shine: Using Brain Science to Get the Best from Your People. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2011.

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October 16, 2013 How Do You Decide What To Decide?

Decisions bombard us every minute of every hour of our day. They come in all types: some are so trivial and daily–like choosing what to wear or eat–that we hardly notice them, while other types of decisions can make life pretty stressful. Still others appear trivial at first, but turn out to be deceivingly tricky. How to word an email, for instance, seems small but can be extremely difficult.

So the question inevitably comes along: How do we make decisions, and how do we know that our decisions are good at the time that we make them?

Understanding a bit of psychology helps us answer these questions. We know, for example, that gut decisions are generally not good decisions, because they are fueled by our emotions, which as we know, can shift in a heartbeat. Tony Swartz, CEO of The Energy Project, writes that “Our first challenge is resist being reactive. Many of our worst decisions occur after we’ve been triggered–meaning that something or someone pushes us into negative emotion and we react instinctively, fueled by our stress hormones, in a state of fight or flight.”

Any decision we make under this kind of fight or flight stress is only concerned with resolving the present issue and disregards future consequences. You can see why this usually doesn’t work out. A shortsighted perspective yields rash decisions that cause more stress in the long run.

This isn’t to say that decisions should be completely divorced from your feelings. Some decisions that make the most logical sense aren’t always the best decisions to make. Sometimes irrational decisions yield the greatest benefits (see my post on taking risks). So I know that our feelings are deeply tied to how we choose, as they should be. However, I do want to caution you to take a step back when you have the urge to make an impulsive decision. If it’s a decision you should make, that feeling will stay with you, and therefore you can sit on it for a day.

This is because good decisions are based on how you’ll benefit from them in the long run . Of course, what you wear today is not a very world-shattering decision, but you can view your little decisions as components of larger patterns. What you tend to wear, or how you tend to eat, compose a larger lifestyle you create for yourself. And because all the aspects of your lifestyle are connected, you can always trace your larger decisions back to the small ones.

In summary:

1. Good Decisions aren’t based on reactions. Decisions should be thorough, and to be thorough you need perspective, which leads to point 2…

2. Good Decisions are made when you have a healthy view of yourself and your surroundings.

3. Good Decisions follow your deepest convictions. What values do you hold to? Where do you see yourself a few years down the line? What are your dreams? These questions help guide you to making the decisions that give you the life you want to have.

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October 2, 2013 Author Ken Blanchard on Collaboration

Even if you’re an introvert, there comes a time for everyone where their own brain needs an outside boost for generating ideas. Author and management expert Ken Blanchard gives us a few of his experiences that showed him the power of working alongside others. It’s only a 16 minute talk, and well worth the watch.

A few quick takeaways from the talk:

1. As Blanchard puts it, “no one of us is as smart as all of us.” A team of diverse minds will always outdo a lone wolf. This isn’t just because of more manpower, but because each individual brings a unique perspective and voice, making for a much deeper product.

2. Collaboration isn’t always an instant success. You may have trouble at the get-go trying to get things done, especially if you’re a new team. You may also feel that your best ideas come when you’re on your own. Don’t get discouraged if collaboration seems unproductive at first. In fact, it is productive even at the “worst” meetings. Just by being around a group of people united behind a project, a seed will have been planted in your mind that wasn’t there before the collaboration began. And if you are one of those lone wolf idea-generators, you can use the time in between meetings to ponder and come back to the team rejuvenated.

3. Be open to all types of collaboration. In my experience, the best collaborations aren’t planned. As long as you have an open mind and an ear to the ground for potential projects, you’ll be surprised by all the opportunities you never knew were all around you.

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