Leadership

Plug the Fear of Loss

We’re all going through a period of loss - of lifestyle, income, livelihood, social contact, and a sense of control over our futures. Uncertainty and ambiguity stir up anxiety. Be careful not to let anxiety grow beyond what you need. If you don’t make the effort to stop excessive anxiety, it will default to “loss” unless you stop it. Energy will get stuck on what is wrong.

It takes practice to switch, but it’s important. The ’what’s wrong’ hole is deep and bottomless. Once you’re down there, it’s tough to dig out. Here are three small steps that you’ve heard before but ones I know need repeating :

“If your window is dirty,
the whole world looks grey.”

Are Triangles Strangling your Team?

Triangles impede progress, divert energy, and destroy group spirit. Make sure they don’t thrive where you work

WHAT’S A TRIANGLE?

A triangle has three parts: a Victim[1] who feels incapable of change, a Bully who plays the Bad Guy and the Rescuer who plays the Good Guy.

HOW TO SPOT A VICTIM

Their key phrases are:

“I can’t help it.”
“It’s not fair.”
“I didn’t know.”
“They won’t let us.”
“Look what they are doing to us.”


Boomers: Five Steps to Bridging the Gap

If like me, you grew up before computer and video games, fMRI and PET studies show that you might be missing a part of your brain that Millenials have.

The exercise in this post, similar to the Stroop color-word test, seems to discriminate among Boomers and Millenials. It demands fast mental switching. Millenials zip through to the end with almost zero error; their brains are future-fit and ready to go. Most of us boomers, high achievers that we are, start strong but then fizz out near the middle. By the end, we have entered that-part-of-our-brain-where-there-is-nothing. Try reading the color not the words and see if you can get to the end with 90-100% accuracy in 25 seconds or less. 

Are you Stuck by these Five Change Myths?

If you or your team are stuck on any of these outdated myths, you’ll spin your wheels no matter how hard you push on the gas!

Myth #1:  “People don’t like change.” It’s not change that’s the problem; we’re born to change and adapt. It’s natural. People resist losing self-esteem, resulting from looking foolish, losing face, feeling like a failure. If these factors are shored up and protected in your people, change will be less of an issue.

Triangles, Tangles and Blocks - Oh No! (Part One)

Many organizations don’t recognize them. Those that do spot them don’t do well at fixing them. Triangles, Tangles and Blocks side-swipe energy, blur focus, and strangle change.

If they take a stranglehold on your company, you won’t move. They grow with vague, un-prioritized goals, fuzzy communication, and an overwhelmed workforce. Best is to fix the root cause, but in the meantime, these steps can help to clear things up and create a healthier workplace.