Posts Tagged ‘Work’

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Why does back stabbing occur at work?

Friday, April 16th, 2010

This statement was posted on face book:

‘There are days when I hear my friends’ stories of corporate politics and backstabbing … I wonder… why do people have to play that way?”

In this month’s news letter from Catalyst Business Coaching I will talk about this from the corporate perspective and how to respond appropriately.  Here I would like to talk about this from my personal perspective.

People who responded to the post indicated that people behave this way due to watching reality TV and drama magazines.  This is the social conditioning argument, they are taught this in family life, school, team sports, dating, and the list goes on.  ”This is a sickness that pervades more than just the work place.”   I agree it is everywhere, because we as people are everywhere, and we have different kinds of insecurities.

From my own experience as I look back on who I was in the corporate world 10 years ago, the back stabbing seemed to come from a place of fear, lack of abundance, wanting to be better than someone else and looking for approval. Essentially I wanted to be loved and was afraid that I might not be. I felt separate from others and hence entered into competition with them. Unfortunately it was a game that was all about ME rather than a game that was about US.

Don’t get me wrong.  At the time I believed that I was acting in the best interest of the WE. I thought that my solution was the best solution and the right way to go.  So I excluded other’s opinions and when they didn’t agree with me I would talk about it with my “friends at work”. I would speak about how the other person was wrong and I would use great logical arguments as to why I was right.  Was this backstabbing?

Do we promote back stabbing even more when one person’s perspective is fueled by gossip and a dash of embellishment?  How many of us tell stories about other’s?  Even after all the work I have done, my ego still wants to be right and I have to catch myself when I speak about others.  My ego continues to behave as if I am separate from others and yet I know that I am connected to everyone.  It is a constant practice to be impeccable with the words I speak.

Jacque

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Posted in Relationships | No Comments »

Walking our Talk with Working Easy

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010
Watching the Coast Guard work while we work.

Watching the Coast Guard work while we work.

Beyond publishing this blog we really are committed to working easy 4 life balance.

If you’ve been following our posts you’ve probably noticed that we like having fun too.  Sometimes this means being flexible and doing things outside the box of running a business.  When we formed our strategic alliance we decided to have  regular meetings, and we’ve been really consistent at sticking to our commitment. It’s such a wonderful way to hold ourselves accountable and stimulate creative synergy.  It’s way more fun than having an internal meeting with me, myself and I.

We usually have our meetings on the phone, which requires each of us to be in our offices – or not….  sometimes one of us is on a cell phone, travelling in another city, or country.  As long as one of us is on the computer to record pertintent notes it works beautifully.  The other day I had another meeting scheduled not long after our call, but it was a 1.5 hr commute away.  I pulled out my blue tooth headset jumped in the car and we continued our meeting.  It was an extraordinarily productive brainstorming session and we mapped out the next steps for our strategic alliance for the coming months.

What was really interesting to me, is my commute time is usually very unproductive, other than getting me where I need to go.  I often get brainwaves for building the business, but seldom record the ideas.  The better ones will run in the background of my consciousness, adding to the internal to do list and then to the heap of things not done.  Ever notice how we can conjure up far more activity in our imagination than we can ever accomplish in real time?

Anyway, what was exceptional about this drive, was Jacque was on the other end of the phone, to capture our creative ideas.  We now have topics for speaking engagements, the next few issues of our newsletters and Catalyst-LIVE radio shows .  And it was all incredibly easy and fun!

I highly recommend working collaboratively, or having a business building buddy.  It really does make work easier.

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Winning the Game of Work and Life

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

In a blog this morning  I read the famous Michael Gerber quote, “don’t work in your business, work on your business.”  What if  your business was a game?   How would that change how you related to the whole concept of working in your business?   How about your life, could you play it like a game?

  • What would your game be called?
  • What would your game board or playing field be like?
  • Who would be playing the game with you?
  • What would the rules be?
  • How would you define winning?

Exciting.  I love playing games.

This weekend I did just that, played the game of defining my Personal Life Game.  I went to California to play The Game Of ….  – Playing the Game You are Build 4  — See web site http://bit.ly/9yMFUY

The process was fun and creative and totally felt like playing.   I came out of the weekend with a  game plan for all of the above questions and more.  So how do I use the information that I have uncovered?

I am using it to clearly define how I want to show up in this world, who do I want to be and how do I want to experience the world.  It gives more clarity on the Intention that I had set for myself last year  – see article on setting intentions -http://bit.ly/c0jBzw .

I have already used the insights that I have gained in making decisions.  I am in the process of looking for accommodations to rent in Belize for this fall when I take my business fully virtual for 3 months.  It became evident that the accommodations that I was looking at renting would have suited me perfectly from a logistical point of view. In the past this would have signaled me to say “yes”.   However my intuition signaled to me that the tone of the living environment would have been the opposite of the fun, vibrant life that I want to live.  Just by playing my game, I would have pushed my land lady’s fear buttons, causing an emotional reaction leading to conflict.

This was not the kind of experience that I defined for winning the game of my Personal Life. I listened to my intuition and said” no” and I am continuing on my search.

In your business when are you making decisions about what you need to do because it seems to make good logical sense?  Yet  it  creates an experience that you would prefer not to be having.   This is typically what happens when we work in our business rather than working on it.   We are creating experiences for ourselves that do not leave us winning.

This fall I will bring The Game Of…  to Vancouver.   Check the web site above for other games being played in the United States.

May you win and master your own game.

Jacque

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Posted in Life Balance, Work Easy | 2 Comments »

Coaching Generated Big Returns

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

The following is a recent quote from Fortune Magazine:

“Of the monetary payoff from the coaching they got, these managers described an average return of more than $100,000, or about six times what the coaching had cost their companies.” Fortune, 2/19/01,

– “Executive Coaching — With Returns a CFO Could Love”

In my own work I have also found this to be true.  Some companies that I have worked with have generated astronomical returns on investment of 2,500%.  I believe there are some key factors that determine if a company will be able to generate an ROI of at least 600%.

  • The most senior person in the company or group has participated in coaching and is now a role model for others who take coaching.
  • Several other people in management also participate in coaching.   The more people on the leadership team that have received coaching the more successful the program.
  • Team development initiatives are taken to foster open communication and collaboration across the company or group.
  • Managers adopt a coach approach and consistently meet with staff in both group meetings and one on one.
  • Finally you need to stay the course and keep using and applying what you have learned.  As soon as you go back to your old ways, so will your results.

While doing the work with these companies, staff came to regard their organization as the best place that they ever worked.

Companies or groups within a company that have maintained these results for the longest period of time have consistently practiced doing all of the above.  It is a long term game.

Jacque

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Posted in Leadership | 2 Comments »

Management vs Leadership

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

In the 1970’s a distinction started to be made between management and leadership.  “The two different positions can be summarized as follows:  John Kotter sees managers as being the ones who plan, budget, organize, and control, while leaders set direction, manage change, and motivate people. Warren Bennis views managers as those who promote efficiency, follow the rules, and accept the status quo, while leaders focus on challenging the rules and promoting effectiveness.”

As a result our perception of management has declined substantially.  No one really has a career aspiration to be a manager.  In general the management profession is not well respected and employees are unhappy with their managers.

Julian Birkenshaw in his article Reinventing Management, published in the Ivey Business Journal, January/ February 2010 states that we need to go back “to a basic definition of management—the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives.”

This distinction between leadership and management has historically come from the emergence of large corporations and is a poor distinction when applied to smaller companies.  In my opinion the basic definition of management is one that has always applied to small and mid-sized organizations.   In this basic definition management is responsible for both the modern definition of leadership and management.

What is important is that people on the management team develop a way of working together, be it collaborative or in a hierarchy, which brings people together to accomplish goals.

I diverge with the author’s thinking in one area that the perception of management and that of employees will improve by changing the model of management/leadership as we know it today.  Perceptions will only improve if management shifts who they are Being and the way they are Being when they relate to each other and the people that work for them.  It is how we show up at work that influences how people relate to us.

To read the full article go to:   http://www.iveybusinessjournal.com/article.asp?intArticle_id=877

Jacque

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Posted in Leadership, Work Easy | No Comments »

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