Three Actions to Guarantee Immunity from the Flu

Vannoy and Ross

Are you looking forward to getting the flu this season – or not? There are measures to significantly decreasing your chances of getting the “swine” flu. But what about the other flu that’s spreading through the work place?

Team’s everywhere are suffering high temperatures, congestion, lethargy, and loss of strength due to an illness few people are diagnosing: The Elephant Flu.

Symptoms of the Elephant Flu:

This flu is not unlike its brethren, the swine flu, in that it is infectious; the poor focus, attitudes and behaviors characterized by ‘the elephant in the office’ travel quickly and result in the poor health of an entire organization.

Washing your hands, sneezing into your elbow, taking your vitamins – all of these measures decrease the chances you’ll fall victim to the nasty swine flu. Consider that similar hygienic actions can ensure your team remains immune to the destructive forces of the elephant flu:

1. Wash your hands…ensure your team is focused on what they do want vs. what they don’t want. Nasty germs and viruses thrive in a backward focused culture.
2. Sneeze into your elbow…it’s impossible not to sneeze, so the key is containing the sneeze. Instead of avoiding “tough” issues go after them. AND address those issues in ways that make the people around you, relationships and results stronger.
3. Take your vitamins…focus on what is working, acknowledge those who are leading with the strength and character you admire, and celebrate the successes in the steps you’re making. This sort of consistent, healthy focus builds your team’s immunity, ensuring that the elephant flu won’t find a suitable host where it can begin its destructive ways.

Preventative medicine is the key. Today, host a “cultural health” conversation with your team, and ask, “What focus, attitudes and behaviors can we demonstrate more to further enhance our immunity from the elephant flu?”

How the Universal Healthcare Debate Can Improve Your Leadership

Vannoy and Ross

So are you enjoying the debate over universal health care in the United States? Do you find the dialogue stimulating and refreshing? Each morning do you celebrate the progress the U.S. is making? Are you proud of how people are representing themselves? And do you find yourself full of excitement for the future and enthusiastic about contributing?

Pardon our sarcasm. It is presented here for the purpose of asking this: Go back to the top paragraph and substitute ‘universal health care’ with any topic your company is facing right now. Do the answers to the question change? If they don’t, you’ve got an elephant in the office.

The toxic debate that’s being played out on the national stage is often replicated at the micro level within organizations . Countless companies are paralyzed because this elephant sits on top of their progress.

The Elephant

Somewhere, somehow some people got it in their heads that in order to get ahead, in order to move things forward, it was necessary to 1) Focus on where they don’t agree with their adversary, and 2) make the other team look stupid. It goes against all logic – yet these two approaches pervade much of society.

Consider the most important conversations that take place in any company. These are not the conversations occurring during meetings. On the contrary, it is the dialogue that happens in the one-on-one conversations outside of the meetings. This is where politics are played. And sadly, this is where too many people succumb to discussing strategies about what they don’t agree on and ways they can make the “opposing party” look bad.

You can change this today. And it’s relatively easy. Stomp this destructive elephant by:

1. insisting that all parties start with and focus on where there is agreement. Start on common ground…and build from there. And
2. insist on making everyone look good. Be relentless in your creative pursuit of the solutions that serve everyone.

Then hang on – because your organization will move forward fast.

It’s 4th and Goal: Can You Win the Game?

So you do what most coaches do: You play it safe – and kick.

Guess what? If you had gone for it, research shows you would have measurably increased your chances of winning the game. David Romer of the University of California, Berkeley, analyzed over 700 football games between 1998 and 2000. His work revealed that those teams who go for it on 4th down increase their overall chance of success compared with those teams who don’t.*

So why don’t more coaches “go for it” when they find themselves in such a situation? Perhaps more importantly, why don’t more people in your organization “go for it” when they have an opportunity to take a risk and advance the cause of the organization?

The answer is not that people are afraid of making a mistake; the answer is that people are afraid of the consequences from others when they make a mistake.

Just as the football coach has to face the chorus of boos from the home crowd – and the blistering analysis in the media – when his team fails, so do people like you have to face the judgment of others when you step up and try something…and fail.

It’s easy to consider how we feel our colleagues will respond to the ‘mistakes’ we make. But that’s not the point. The challenge is this: How do you and others respond when someone else takes a risk? Do you boo – or cheer?

In a very real way, the crowd of 70,000 and the media talk shows represent your culture. Does your culture support others when they “go for it” on 4th down? Do your part today to make sure it does.

*(http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~dromer/papers/PAPER_NFL_JULY05_FORWEB_CORRECTED.pdf).

Are You Telling the Truth? Take the BBQ Test

“Oh, I can’t wait for the weekend.”

“Why?”

“Because…so I can let my hair down and be me. I can’t be ‘on’ all the time.”

(Pause.) “What are you ‘on’ while you’re at work?”

“I’m not on anything. I just mean that I can be the real me when I’m at home.”

“Why can’t you be the real you while you’re at work?”

(Alarm.) “Are you kidding? I have to be on my toes and at my best while I’m at work.”

“Don’t you want to be at your best while you’re at home?”

(Gasp.) “Well of course I do. But at home I’ve got people who support me no matter who I am or what I’m doing.”

“That says a lot about you. And a lot about us.”

(Confusion.) “What do you mean?”

“I call it the BBQ test. How do people talk when they get together for a beer or a BBQ? How different are people in a social, relaxed setting – as compared to when they’re at work. If their words and attitudes are different, then you can guarantee you’ve got an elephant in the office.”

“But I’m not going to be the real me in front of my co-workers. I can’t.”

“That means you – and we – have failed the BBQ test.”

“How so?”

“Because you can’t be your authentic self at work it requires you to expend a lot of extra effort and energy – so you can be ‘on.’ This effort is a waste, because every minute you can’t be yourself, is every minute you’re not moving your life forward.”

(Pause.)” I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

“But it’s good feedback for us, too. We fail if we don’t create an environment where you can come to work and be supported for being the real you. Until we create that sort of workplace, we’ll be paying you a full wage – but only getting .50 cents on the dollar.”

 

This Weekend Tap a Radical Resource for Your Job

Vannoy and Ross

September 1, 2009

 Labor Day is approaching in the United States, a chance to “catch your breath” and let go of the stresses of your job. But consider that your most important work is about to begin.

At the end of most days, when you go home, does your marriage, or your family, or your time at home provide you with more energy? Does your time away from the office make you an even stronger employee? Does your time with loved ones propel you forward in your thinking and make you even more excited about the possibilities in your professional life?

This issue – where the home life is marginalized, or worse, becomes a distraction or drain on dreams – is a huge elephant for too many people. After giving their all at the office, such employees come home and open the door to power struggles, jealousy, apathy and worse. Of course, this directly affects your company’s bottom line, because that same person brings their shattered focus back to work.

Conversely, there are many people who understand that the most important leadership work on the planet is how they lead themselves and their family. “At first it was a radical idea,” shared a participant in a recent Pathways to Leadership session. “But the more I thought about it, I knew it was true: The stronger my marriage is, the greater the resource and support I have in my professional life.

“I used to come home and both of us would talk about all the things that didn’t go well, what we didn’t like about the day, our job – you name it. Finally, we both woke up and decided enough was enough. So we changed our focus and started talking about our responsibilities, our opportunities. In time, this has changed the energy of my home. Now, when I leave for the office I can feel my family cheering me on.

“The stronger my family is, the stronger I am in my job. It’s a powerful way to live and lead –  and show up for work.”

“The stronger my family is, the stronger I am in my job. It’s a powerful way to live and lead – and show up for work.”

This Labor Day, how will you take advantage of the time to build this radical resource – your family?