Well-Being

Rath and Harter. Tom Rath and Jim Harter are releasing Wellbeing: The Five Essential Elements in early May. This is an advance review of the book and the companion website set up by Gallup.

The 5 Elements. Rath and Harter examine five elements of wellbeing:

1. Career wellbeing
2. Social wellbeing
3. Financail wellbeing
4. Physical wellbeing
5. Community wellbeing

In addition they discuss measuring what makes life worthwhile and offer tools and resources ranging from daily wellbeing to increasing wellbeing in organizations – the role of managers and leaders.

Great data nuggets. The book is full of nuggets and practical perspectives. There is a mix of new material and material that people who have read other Gallup publication would be familiar with. Here are just a few of the nuggets you will can digest:

• Only 20% of people like what they do each day.
• Actively disengaged employees are twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression over the next year
• When you use your strengths you are more engaged and more likely to feel energized for 40 hours a week instead of feeling burned out after just 20 hours of work.
• Managers can contribute in very strong positive or negative ways to an employees career wellbeing.
• We need 6 hours of social time to have a thriving day
• Even 20 minutes of exercise during the day can boos t your mood for the rest of the day.

The role of leaders and managers. Leaders and managers who care about their employees have a significant impact on both employee engagement and wellbeing. they see the growth of their employees as an end in itself not just a means to an end. They know there is now way an employee will love an organization that doesn’t have a heart. Overall what is best for the employee is also best for the organization. Caring leaders and managers know that caring is not a feeling or noun it is a verb that requires they demonstrate continual caring for the people who report to them.

"I hate tennis!"

The phrase, "I hate tennis!" is repeated hundreds of time in Andre Agassi's autobiography Open, which I read this weekend. When my wife first told me this was his attitude I was a bit surprised, until I read this well-written piece. Agassi authentically and vulnerably lets us into a just a slice of his journey which isn't so much about the game between the lines but about the game between his ears.

I'm still pondering over one section where he makes the assumption that millions of people hate their jobs like he does his. While I know that less than 20% of American actually do what they are gifted to do, I'm wondering if this translates into actually hating the job.

How's Life?

"How's life?" is the introductory phrase usually spoken with the intent there will be no answer. However, let's imagine the question is genuinely asked anticipating an honest answer: "How's life...is it happy, pleasant, good, or maybe even meaningful?"

Martin Seligman in his book, Authentic Happiness, writes of three forms of happiness:

1. Pleasant Life: a life full of positive emotion about the past, present, or future

2. Good Life: a life where you are using your "signature strengths" - those things at which you are good.

3. Meaningful Life: knowing what your highest strengths are and deploying them in the service of something larger than you are.

It's worth contemplating what type of life we want and then intentionally choosing to live it.

A Time of Reflection

Whether or not the Lenten season (beginning 02.17) is part of your spiritual tradition we can make the choice to use this forty day period to reflect on our spirit and the inner journey of the soul. Actually, for many reasons it's my favorite time of year.

The question to ponder this season is not so much about what you may find or discover. Rather, let the meditation be on whether or not you (we) are willing to be pursued by the One who is pursuing us:

:: Am I willing to be found?

:: Am I willing to be known?

:: Am I willing to be loved?

Forty days of meditation will be good for our souls.

Successful Companies are SMART & HEALTHY

This is a philosophy - which I've learned from Patrick Lencioni - is something I not only believe in but want to help others achieve....specifically the healthy side. Check this out.! Here's a company, reported by Fortune, paying whose employees get paid in the TOP 25 in the country:

25. Robert W. Baird & Co.

Average total pay: $117,650

For: Financial Analyst*

Best companies rank: 11

Milwaukee-based investment advisor navigated through the financial crisis without having to resort to layoffs. In fact, it increased its staff 10% since 2007.

Aside from total compensation averaging six figures for salaried employees, Baird offers:

• 37.5 hour work week for hourly employees.
• Bonuses and profit-sharing for all employees.
• An opportunity to buy stock in this privately held firm. Nearly half of employees have done so.
• Free investment planning for all employees.
• Bonuses that range from $1,000 to $10,000 for referring a new employee.

"Baird cares about their associates very much," says one employee. "This place is like a second family."

Managing Desk Piles and To-Do Lists

I read this tip in a email blast I received from David Allen (Coach):

If you look at your calendar in detail over the next two weeks, I bet you would think of at least one, if not several, "Oh that reminds me, I need to's." If you take a pen and blank paper, and just spend the next five minutes capturing ideas on the most important project right now for you to make some progress on, you will likely come up with at least one, if not several, "Oh yeah, I could's."

This seems self-evident, but what I've also noticed is how few people actually have the habits installed to use those tools as often as they could to stay on top of their world.

Martin Luther King, Jr and his Vision

King inspires with his vision, clarity, and courage to speak truth. Here's another:

We shall meet your physical force with soul force.
Do to us what you will, and we shall continue to love you...
One day we shall win freedom, but not only for ourselves.
We shall so appeal to your heart and conscience
that we shall win you in the process,
and our victory will be a double victory.'
-Martin Luther King, Jr., Loving Your Enemies

One Person Makes a Difference

5. CHANGE

(5 out of 5 posts)

Individuals respond to change in three ways. A few become early adopters. Most become late adopters. And some remain persistent skeptics who never stop resisting. Make yourself an early adopter. Look for opportunities to change. Anyone who takes on risk and responsibility in society must resist the temptation to be a cog in the machine.

Download the Document Summary!

One Person Makes a Difference

4. WRITE SOMETHING

(4 of 5 posts)

The act of writing is powerful. It makes you think through problems. It doesn't matter what you write about. You need only add a small observation about your world. When you dod you make yourself part of a larger world.

One Person Makes a Difference

3. COUNT SOMETHING

(3 of 5 posts)

We should be scientists in this world. We should quantify things that interest us when possible to get a handle on their abstract essence. You will learn something.

One Person Makes a Difference

(2 of 5 Posts)

2. DON'T COMPLAIN

There are difficulties of having to work with other human beings under circumstances only partly in one's control. Choose not to complain! It's boring, doesn't solve anything, and will get you down. Therefore, be prepared to discuss something else.

One Person Does Make a Difference

(1 of 5 posts)

If you ever thought surgeon's knew it all, let me refer you to a book by a surgeon for people in the medical field...with applications to anyone involved in delivering a service to a customer. Atul Gawande wrote, Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance. In the Afterward he wrote a piece entitled, Suggestions for Becoming a Positive Deviant. There a five suggestions:

1. ASK THE UNSCRIPTED QUESTION

Encounter people at a real, personal level. Intentionally make conversation with them. Learn something about them. Sometimes you discover the unexpected.

Bags Fly Free

I give kudos to Southwest Airlines and their marketing campaign, Bags Fly Free. What a novel concept and a great piece of advertising. It reminds me of what I've learned about business:

You tell people what you want to do.

You tell people what you are doing - while you're doing it.

You tell people what you've just done.

So...it's all about marketing, even when you're providing a customer service.

"Clientele" - A Customer Service Verb

Management guru Tom Peter's wrote in a blog that businesses have wasted opportunities every day because they do not "clientele." He defined it: "to create a relationship-building encounter with your customer, so that the relationship with the store is better when she leaves than it was when she came in."

How is your clientele?

Read more!

The Spirit of Fellowship

Socrates was a strong believer in the idea of teamwork.  He called the process "koinonia" - the spirit of fellowship.  Another Mars Hill aficionado, the Apostle Paul, wrote of the same concept in the New Testament of the Bible, asking for those who followed the itinerant rabbi named Christ to strive for authentic community.

Here are Socrates seven steps to achieving this spirit of fellowship:

1. Establish dialogue.  Present your ideas, but don't try to make everybody agree with them.

2. Exchange ideas.  Have everybody present their ideas.

3. Don't argue. While people are presenting ideas, just take notes and focus on the person speaking.

4. Don't interrupt. Let participants say everything that is on their minds. Don't speak up while somebody else is presenting an idea.

5. Listen carefully.  Otherwise, you might not get a full understanding of what a person is saying.

6. Clarify your thinking. Eliminate all your biases against others on the team.  Any biases will cloud your judgment of some one's ideas.

7. Be honest. Say what's on your mind.  The only way to establish trust is through honesty.

MSU President Leads the Way

Michigan State University President Lou Anna K. Simon was the featured speaker at the March, 2009, Howell Chamber "Good Morning Livingston."

She was refreshingly positive and candid about MSU, their role in the higher educational landscape, and the current mindset of the current culture.

:: MSU - She reminded us of their founding principle, "Good enough for the powerful, open to the poorest." She referred to MSU as the "Magic Johnson" of universities. Magic was a fantastic scorer but he was also a key player who wanted to see his teammates succeed by providing them with assists.

:: Current Mindset and approaching solving problems - We need to adopt the philosophy of having Silver Buckshot solutions in a Silver Bullet world where people want immediate solutions. When we simply shoot with buckshot we will hit (solve) what we can and make mid course directions to solve the next one.

Choosing a Bright Outlook

Marcus Buckingham reflects on making the choice to be positive:

Thinking back on President Obama’s inauguration speech, I feel like it really set the tone for 2009 and thereafter. The first line of his speech—“I stand here today humbled by the task before us”—was a solemn reality check. His mention of the “gathering clouds and raging storms” that greet his new administration was clearly a warning that the road ahead will not be easy.
And yet.

And yet the speech was ultimately optimistic: “The challenges we face are real, they are serious and they are many... But know this, America: They will be met.” Along with the new president, I too believe that we can succeed even in these daunting times. And I assure you, the fastest way to overcome the obstacles we face now is for people to offer up and contribute the very best of themselves to their country, their organizations, their teams, their families. President Obama signaled that he will put the need for service front and center in his presidency, encouraging those who demonstrate “the spirit of service: a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves.”

It will take hard work, a redoubling of our efforts. Now is not the time to cry, “woe is me” but rather, “what more can I do? How can I help? How else can I serve?”

In closing his inaugural address, President Obama reminded us that “there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character as giving our all to a difficult task.” You could say that it’s the mission of the Strengths movement to make everyone see the truth of that statement.So in the coming year, know that the commitment to give your all, and more importantly, to give the best of you, will strengthen our economy and strengthen our collective spirit. The challenges will be met.

Lencioni's One Piece of Advice

If you were to give a new team leader one piece of advice what would it be?

(Lencioni)  Take the risk of being vulnerable with the people you lead.  That means, be open about who you are, what your concerns are, what your strengths and weaknesses are.  Be human, and they will trust you.

Lencioni on Poorly Performing Team Members

That depends on whether the person has a true performance problem or a behavioral/values one. Most of what I’m about to say pertains to behavior, though it could also be used, with a little modification, for those who are just not producing.

First piece of advice to a manager: tell the team member he is underperforming. So many times people are not aware of their situation because managers shy away from giving them direct feedback, especially if it’s negative.

If, after direct communication, the situation doesn’t improve, make sure the underperformer knows that you’re willing to make a change to the team—that is, let him go—if things don’t improve. Do it kindly, helpfully, but clearly.

When people know that a leader is willing to make radical changes—like booting someone—they’re more likely to focus on improving. When they think they are indispensable or that the manager would never pull the trigger, they have little incentive to change.

One of three things should happen next. Either the employee will improve, he will leave the organization on his own because he sees that he can’t be successful, or he’ll need to be helped out the door. In most cases, one of the first two situations will happen, and only rarely will a manager have to fire someone.

Finally, throughout this process, communicate with the underperformer with the assumption that he really wants to improve. In most cases, that’s the reality. Doubting someone’s intentions only increases the likelihood that he won’t see the possibility of success.

Lencioni on Teams

Patrick Lencioni interview: Question, "Why are so many teams dysfunctional?"

In spite of the proliferation of teams, real teamwork remains elusive in most organizations. Teams fall victim to dysfunction because they are made up of human beings, and we are inherently messy, fallible creatures.

Unless a leader gives people a reason to do otherwise, we tend to look out for our own best interests, and not necessarily those of the team. Teams will never be easy because of this.
Add the fact that managers and leaders often leave team issues untreated, hoping they will work themselves out without any heavy lifting, and you’ve got a recipe for dysfunction.