Am beginning a new assignment this weekend—yes, a new assignment this weekend.  A wonderful organization, located in Philadelphia focused on community building through greening efforts has asked me to help them reflect, renew and help guide the setting of a new direction.  A new team is in place and we are ready to go!  How exciting it feels to be starting something new at this point.  And it fell from the sky because I opened my eyes to see it there in front of me.

The recession lingers.  Work that seemed certain didn’t materialize as many of us had hoped. The elections loom which becomes a total downer of repetitive negativity and vicious attacks that neither help the country nor encourage people to care.  Businesses are not adding people quickly enough and continue to press harder on existing resources even if they are making profits. Work is not yet feeling “right”.

The good news is out there (today stocks are roaring on some good manufacturing news—FACTS that are good) but there is so much negativity and nonsense it is hard to tune in without coming away slightly down–hence, my coaching recommendation to anyone who will listen is less is more in times of new beginnings. Focus on creating new opportunities for yourself and your life—focus on what you are doing, where you are going, what you can create and make happen and disconnect from nonsense that is distracting and ultimately destructive.

One of the most fascinating things that has happened to me as I prepare for my new assignment is how the universe, business, people, are all sending me GOOD coaching tips without knowing it.  Am using much of the Jim Collins work on great organizations to inspire the work flow—and as I read his work again, the messages he and his team discovered hit me as exactly the information I needed to do my work successfully.  You may recall from his seminal work, that successful companies with the best results were found to have leaders who were low key and humble and worked hard to deal with reality and facts.  Could any information be more important to hear right now?  Leadership that works is humble, and is focused—-talk about counter-cultural! 

This was coaching nugget I could really use right now.  The shouters are not the ones to lead us to better times—whether business blowhards or political fanatics who can always find something to criticize and mock but who have few if any fresh ideas of how to make things better, or media types who rant about taking our country back (to what I am not sure)—beware people who are not humble, and who twist the facts or choose only those that serve their narrow world view.  Be humble, work with real facts, think and act carefully and respond to those that do the same.

Next thing that happened to me was Church services where the topic was humility—talk about an unsuspected coaching tip!  The point stressed—Humility is so hard and so dangerous if not sincere.  Interesting.

The coaching tips I needed to help me shape my new assignment were all around me in books, and inputs from emails from friends, working on my family reunion and encountering upbeat professional people who were sending out positive energy.  Open your eyes and ears to messages that help you work more successfully. 

New beginnings are starting everywhere —-maybe not the deals or assignments we had hoped would happen—but opportunities are presenting themselves—re-connecting with an old colleague and having a change to write a new article with him.  A note from an old friend indicating they wanted to explore a new business idea.  A new opportunity to start a new and completely different business for cash flow.  

Things are happening but not necessarily in old ways.  It takes a new kind of openness to find good work in this new work world, it takes creativity to focus on the good things and the real opportunities.  It take new beginnings inside oneself and an openness to being different and dropping older non productive approaches.

Find something new to do.  Do it with excellence.  Do it with distinction.  Make it count.  And listen for coaching support from sources that you may not expect as well as thoughtful leaders and colleagues.  We just have to create a newer reality respecting the good lessons from the downturn.  There is always work to do out there.  Find some.

How could I have saved time and gotten a better result yesterday?  I could have waited till my son in law coached me in how to learn easily when something is a scam and then not sent the email out that was clearly a fraud.  Now, I know—-it is simple—google the subject title of a questionable email and see what comes up.  Within moments you know it is a scam or legit.

Great coaching helps improve performance—no doubt about it.

70 plus % of executives in the C-suite use personal coaches —because they work.

Apps on iphones, online sites with instant information, and 24/7 help lines are forms of technology that provide coaching quickly, easily and cheaply.

The future is arriving faster than we thought and likely within 10 years or sooner computers will be able to handle any workplace or personal question—-or at least the majority of them, with speed and accuracy.  Want to know the best way to pitch a certain customer or to organize a meeting?  The portable computer you carry with you will answer anything as quickly as you ask it to.  But, we are not there yet.  

But neither do we need to continue to rely on managers who are poor coaches and often unavailable even if they are good; or rely on external high priced personal coaches who although outstanding are not available to everyone or even most everyone at work. 

Today’s technology has made some forms of online coaching possible—virtual coaching with real coaching content, and the ability to ask the help of live coaches.

Like early e-learning, there is a resistance to using technology in the “sacred space” of coaching—some coaches dismiss it as ineffective, while some internal HR people suggest that managers are already providing the coaching everyone in the workplace needs. 

I believe the reality is an infinite and growing need for everyday advice, coaching and concrete practical support to workers with day to day workplace issues—and further, that this need is greater than ever before because there is less basic workplace training and less experienced senior people to help the less experienced. 

The new workplace is the most under coached place on earth.  While life coaches, online sports coaches, diet coaches, and spiritual guides and advice givers are everywhere, online and offline,  the amount of coaching available just in time at work when people need it is less than ever before.

Right now I contend that 80% or more of people in the workplace would say that having  personal coaching content and access to live coaches whenever they need it would be a great performance tool for them.  Maybe they don’t think in terms of coaching, but of getting advice and support when they need it—which is of course another way of looking at coaching. They believe and research suggests that with this support and focus they could be more focused and confident and productive in their everyday work lives. 

There are two things pressing on businesses right now—the need to innovate and the need to re-engage a very disengaged workforce.  Smart and brave HR and line executives are bringing in new and fresh tools for coaching and learning.  And the best news is—it is LESS expensive than ever before—like many processes touched by technology, good technology has actually lowered the price of quality coaching as it did quality learning.

Virtual coaching/advice/support is needed, wanted and available.  May I suggest that more of you out there consider using some of the innovative new tools that were developing while business was in retreat—it is a perfect time to both innovate and engage employees. 

Take a look at e-coachonline.com for more.

It has been a tough few years in the workplace.  Been difficult for organizations dealing with the big picture of the business situation and terribly difficult on individuals who lost jobs that in some cases may never return.  Some/many are working harder than ever in an organization that is increasing productivity but not adding new workers.  Others are still looking to find new work and are pleased there is more activity and longer unemployment benefits—but the right thing has not come along.  Most people and all organizations have been changed—if not transformed by the deep stresses of this long recession.  Tranformed implies that someone or some group of people have a new more open and more flexible perspective—a higher and broader way of looking at life, business, one’s work.  But not everyone comes out of stress transformed.  Some are so scarred they are less open than ever before.

Right now the economic  ice is cracking.  As a student of markets, the business climate and all things work related, it is hard for me and most people not to see that positive growth and more positive business change is on the way.  Increased productivity, streamlined processes, more focused performance and the elimination of some old “dead wood” and outmoded over capacity have happened.  These are good things for the long term health of organizations and workplaces.  Not that the cost hasn’t been tough on many individuals as just noted.  But when organizations grow and thrive and focus, ULTIMATELY good things come out of the mix and opportunities for work expand. And, perhaps most importantly, when tough times happen there is renewed innovation.   But let’s go back to transformation for a minute.

The question for all of us involved with the workplace is this: Are we going to become like many who lived through the great depression—transformed not for good, but frightened and stuck  for the worse—forever unable to spend even in abundance, cautious to an extreme and always feeling “lack”?  Or, are we going to take the lessons of this earlier generation and be workers and coaches, or allow others to coach us— to be optimistic, seasoned, and reasonable—-but not forever worrying the other shoe will drop.  And this can be tough—especially if your business or situation in still in dire or tough times.  The more down you went the tougher to see the light.

If you are astute you see the split in thinking and resilence in many ways.  Some insist  a double dip recession and bleaker times are ahead—no matter the broader good news.  Some have no intention of ever investing again because they lost too much, and some are saying enough is enough and just leaving the work force or the workplace to do something simple, easy and close to home.  Now sometimes, that is exactly what we need to do—to listen to our hearts and turn our direction toward a new way.  But if we do this because of fear rather than following what we know is good for us right now, it is not a good thing.  The point is to learn from the downturn, reflect upon and learn from lessons, but move forward knowing that the good opportunities and solid growth will resume.  Many are doing that—help make sure it is everyone you influence.

Fear creates more lack, more depressing thoughts and more disfunctional behavior at work.  It is not time to think about a  ”return to how it was”—times have changed, there is a reasonable new caution that suggests what really some always knew—-spend but carefully, take changes but with thought and planning, and allow growth and change as it naturally occurs.  Innovate, look for new opportunities—and do not be scared of what clearly makes sense moving forward.  Hang tough but know “when to fold ‘em” and realize that for every closed door there is some new opportunity out there that someone more creative is going to find.  People have needs, companies have needs—that will always be the case and there will always be ways to make money and grow a business.

I was listening to the CEO of Auto Nation the other day—an enthusiastic, clear, articulate and positive thinking executive.  He saw growth and a good future for the auto industry—much of that due to the good aspects of the down turn—the getting rid of waste and the focusing of processes and providing good products and values.  What he also stressed was that the arms of auto loan companies focused just on providing auto loans DID NOT do what the home mortgage industry did—they did not give away credit to those who clearly could not afford it.  This means while there were changes and contractions in his industry, it was in some ways less dire than the mess of subprime lending.  He knows sales are up—and sales of trucks are up which are tools of small businesses—-things are getting better—because despite all the pain and loss there were valuable lessons—and those lessons are being used by thoughtful people to move forward with new and bold decision making and risk taking. 

We are all workers and we are all coaches—and in this time, the greatest good we can do as workers, would  be workers, coaches to ourselves and coaches to others, is to focus on the good, the growth, the positive and what has been leaerned about operating smarter, leaner and more humanely.  But one thing is also clear—sometimes, even if you follow all the basic rules and do all the right things, bad things can and do happen.  And this is when it pays to have been more careful in the good times, to not have spent all we earned and to have saved for a rainy day.  And, to work to have more of a personal safety net.  Living more simply, not spending in foolish ways has always been a good thing—some just forgot that.

Coaching (oneself which we all have to do) and others is a responsibility—especially in difficult times.  Being wise is more important than ever.  So is taking chances again.  Maybe it really is time to hire someone new, to open a new venture or to take a job in a city far away.  Maybe it is time to stop looking at what happened and is happening and focus more on the future and what is coming into being.  Limit distractions—and downbeat repetitive news without putting a bag on your head.  Read online or off one or two newspaper not trivia all day long, focus on all the positive news or bad news you can act upon in your workplace and support the changes people have made to be more personal empowered and responsible.  And coach yourself and others to not fall prey to the fear that limited so many of our parents and grandparents who let a depression lock them in a permanent sense of lack—they missed so many wonderful opportunities.  Don’t you miss the new opportunities—don’t miss what is now new and needed in your industry while much of what has been is done and gone—don’t cry for what was, but look for what will be.  Help others see light not darkness—-get people looking ahead and refuse to give in to the harsh talk, worry, cynicism and crazy behavior that always happens as a result of tough times.  Good coaches are not pollyannas—-they are mature people transformed by tough times ready to take on the future.  Help folks around you do the same.

The 4th of July weekend is ending and the first half of 2010 has come to a close.

Good news for many at work or looking for work: It is over. Bad news from work: Depending on your industry or interests and goals set early things likely did not go as intended. Even more business than expected can be a tough road (yeah, we should all be so “troubled”!)

Here are a few key less ons from the first half of the year:

1. Things can get worse than you think—but the good news is no matter the push back by press or friends, your boss or colleagues, your saga will end and people will move on. This means that we can all stop worrying about what people think of us as we have struggled, failed, or just tread water—-in this economic and cultural landscapte ANYTHING in your life is ok or invisible or a tiny prick on an elephant for 99.999999% of people. That is freedom from worry my friends. And very good news! You are free to do things creatively and have NO obligation to explain what happened to whatever didn’t work out. People get it. You can start over, start again, start fresh—everyone is doing it and everyone is focused on their own lives—nature and normal especially in challenging times.

2. Things are changing in ways that you did not expect—some things keep changing daily. That may be bad news if you are controlling—and if you controlling in this economy/culture you really have a tough road. The good news is anything you did in the first half of the year may perhaps be retried because conditions have changed, or perhaps are being reconsidered in a different way. This is good news. 12 months ago or even 6 things looked worse in some folks’ eyes—they didn’t return your email (are there any human out there other than close friends or family and not many of them either who answer emails that would help your specific situation?) or didn’t want to hear about your new service—they well might be ready now–so try again if it makes sense.

3. To that point, another lesson is this new environment is that people are ONLY focused on the now and if there is any long term it is very much specific and narrowed to an organizational or personal interest. Long term thinking that is not directly related to something they think is important (where can we find more supply, how can we cut our supply change costs are examples of longer term thinking—but it has to be in their minds or a belief they hold) is not something people are willing to consider. So the good news there is you can keep sending touch bases that are short short short because until the day someone needs it they won’t look—and then, they will and it will be perfect timing!

So what are some great goals to consider for the second half:

1. Go back and ask yourself if the things that didn’t work deserve another try—OR< are you at a point that you need to start off in a new direction? Make either a key goal—to reconnect, retry or redo—-OR, to go in a new direction because the timing is now right.

2. If you are working, take time to reach out to your direct boss, and other senior people—find out what they think has changed and what the new challenges are—specifically ask for direction on what is the best use of your time right now—and make one or two of the ideas specific time bounded goals. Recheck with your immediate boss once this is done.

3. Stop analyzing what is going to happen to all the things you likely cannot control—the stock market (unless of course the market is your direct business), the elections (unless you are running or the campaign chair), the war in Afganistan, the war in Iraq, (again, you know the exceptions for these and the rest), the CEO’s staying or leaving, the other people who are going to be fired soon, the unfairness of whatever, or the value of your home, or when the best time is going to be to list your house. All drains, and all energy zappers. Let it go and let whomever (God or your cousin or someone who is just obsessed) worry about it. Focus SMALL BUT IMPORTANT. That’s right—small steps but important ones that will lead to your new goals.

4. Work on yourself personally—-and set at least one personal improvement goal—read some self help books, get re involved in your professional network or field of research, ask yourself and those close to you the big questions like WHAT REALLY MATTERS? and listen to your own and others answers and factor that into your second half of the year goals.

The global economy, the big picture, the new normal, the latest technology and the direction of your work, industry, country and area—-all factor in—but pull in, reflect, don’t over analyze but focus on moving forward, learning and doing with specific goals related to work that mean something to you—and those clients, customers or colleagues you serve. That really is the best you can do. And 2010 has a great deal more time for you to be successful—if you select those goals well.

There have been some situations in the business news, the political news and in my own coaching practice and work this past week that lead me to the conclusion that the worse sin of all in organizations is pettiness.  Petty people are small—small minded, small thinking, and lack generosity.  They are cheap with compliments and frequently put down or minimize the contributions of others.  Narcissists all, they make the real world of work not only very challenging but ineffective.  Effective leaders and staff at every level do what they can to build people up, not drag them down.  Winners seek to understand not condemn.  If you work with a leader or peer who has the pettiness quality, stay clear most of the time and try not to take it personally.  These folks are never going far in this world—and while they might will an battle, they never win a war.  Being fired by one can even be liberating and a new opportunity to move ahead in your life and career.

Some petty people can’t miss a chance to say something nasty—a certain politician on the news last night—-mocking the President for his words saying—”he was making no sense etc”—silly, petty and pulling down the discourse in a time of seriousness about BP, the spill, climate change and working to get things right.  Sure, disagree with policy, that is fine—mock and belittle people?—not a good move. This guy may think he is putting down the president—what he did was confirm to many that he is petty, overly political and not the brightest knife in the drawer.

Some petty people can’t miss a chance to say something irrelevant—-”we’re eliminating your role and you are going to have to leave —but hey, none of this is personal”—–really?  All business is personal—how can it not be?  Throwing people out without proper explanation, or ignoring and acting defensive when people are asking legitimate questions about their treatment is not useful in moving situations forward or leaving people with a postivie opinion of the person or the organization.  Nothing is more non productive in business or personal relationships than the compulsive need to be right all the time.  Who cares who is right?  Petty people have a compulsive need to be right and fair and just—while they are none of those things, the appearance of being these things is key—hence the need to make sure that while they are putting you down, or taking you out, they believe “ it is nothing personal”—-this  is a perfect fit for their small minds.

Some petty people can’t miss a chance to say something hurtful or implying a lack of trust in others—-”this new colleague hasn’t proven her worth—who knows if she is going to live by her commitments”.   Petty folks are usually distrustful—they think people are out to get them or take advantage of them in some way—so until proven differently they are wary—and often only by agreeing with their style, approach and plans can anyone be totally trusted by these petty people.  It is clearly their way or the highway and if you cross them—look out—since they think they are right they are all set with put downs if you fight for your rights.

Our lives and our businesses and our work are complicated.  I often say my favorite book in graduate school was IN OVER OUR HEADS—a great book about how so many of us cannot really handle the complexity of life and business.  Petty people really cannot—and often don’t want to change or grow or be open to other views.  Their fear makes them difficult and their style makes them a downer and an anti motivator to be around.  Avoid them.    My mother used to tell me to rise above petty and disengenuous people.  Mom was right—they are not worth our time.    Avoid, distract, turn the other cheek, ignore—all good strategies.  One cannot win with such folks.  Get some coaching on how best to work with them or avoid them altogether.

If you ARE a petty person—I perdict good things—if you can admit it you are half way home to changing yourself—and even the pettiest of people can improve and use their other good qualities to turn their ineffective ways into effective ones.  Good for you.

He didn’t respond quickly enough.

She’s having affairs/involved in kickbacks.

He is tone deaf to the situation.

And on it goes.  Leaders in government, business and communities are besieged by bad news—people don’t think well of them.   Perhaps due to over promising, and overly optimistic explanations of what they are doing, leaders have set themselves up to fail.  In many cases they have let “followers”/staff/citizens come to over expect and minimize or gnore the downside risks inherent in any plan, new technology, changed strategy or risky enterprise.  Lesson one—leaders should attempt a more balanced line when annoucing new ventures of any type.  Don’t over trust technology to get you out of every mess and think PR can overcome any disaster.  Constantly attempt to temper good expectations with some possibility of loss/pain/disappointment.  This is EXTREMELY hard in our media driven, over hyped world of communication and dialogue—but it must be pursued.

While I don’t like to dismiss appropriate criticism and the urgent and ongoing need of leaders of all organizations at all levels to be transparent, open to appropriate and useful feedback, in many cases, listening to all the rants is not only not helpful, it is sometimes counter productive.  Lesson two: people have a right to whine, cry, scream, vent and otherwise react when a leaders’ decision has led to a personal loss.  But the leader has had to have prepared for this and not lose focus when the winds blow hot—or burning— in their direction.

We now live in a society and in businesses where people have opinions about everything.  They feel free without the slightess shred of knowledge to criticize anyone who doesn’t meet her standards or his idea of what is appropriate/necessary.  This creates an anti problem solving orientation and a culture that creates the need for leaders to waste valuable time and energy staging themselves to appear open to any push back.  And while self regulating and listening are critical and necessary elements of leadership, responding to all the wind and %$&&@### out there makes no sense.  Lesson three: leaders have to balance opposition and push back from helpful suggestions and ignore the former to focus on the later.  The leader has to lead the problem solving process—take the situation as it really is in hand and focus on sensibly moving forward.

In the end, and by the end I mean the end of an episode—whether a changed business strategy, a war, a storm, a new marketing campaign, an election there is an approapriate and important need to step back and evaluate the courses taken, the lessons learned and the outcomes achieved.  Lesson four: leaders need to let the path they have taken work and proceed—good results will win over people more than any PR or constant explanations—ever.

Loss like of life, family, a home, a livelihood, clean and safe places to live and other brutal results of a given situation.  Don’t people who have been badly damaged have a right to justice? to be heard? to be responded to and paid attention to?

Yes, anyone who has suffered terrible loss deserves all those things—to be heard, responded to and so on.  But this must be tempered by the realization that extreme pain and loss often is accompanied by harsh reactions, extreme upset and harsh words.  I have a rule that anything people say the first two years after a divorce should be taken with a grain of salt.  This “rule” should likely be applied when anyone has suffered a terrible loss.  It doesn’t mean their pain isn’t real or their words true.  But pain and upset are often calmed by time, reflection and growth. Lesson five: let people have their pain, it is not a leaders’ job to protect people from every conceiveable loss—but remember to be empathetic and provide as much support as possible.  Don’t ignore, listen and care—but beware of debate at this point.  You cannot win.

The appropriate leader leads, lets reactions come in to her vision, reacts with support and grace but stays focused on her plans and strategies.  Good leaders have processes in place to handle the fall out and means to help those cope—from outplacement support for those let go, checks for the displaced, counselors for the grief stricken and always an ear to make sure that his listening isn’t being tone deaf to new realities that really do require a course correction.

This is an extremely tough time to be a manager or a leader of any type.  The voices are loud.  The opposition fierce.  People’s sense of intolerance high, and the media’s need for sensationalism and the amplification of suffering and stress is constant.  But the best leaders, will be up to the challenge by being inner directed, sharply focused, hugely tolerant, always empathic and doggedly determined to solve problems and push ahead.

Last Tuesday Tara Parker-Pope’s Well column for the NYTimes focused on the stresses in the workplace due to performance reviews.  She referenced research studies as well as specific examples of workers who were stressed by and not made more productive by performance reviews.  Likely more money has been spent in HR departments on performance reviews than any other process but as noted, with little success.    Not that the battle to get a good system doesn’t make sense.

Organizationa are concerned with productivity and performance.  Naturally performance review systems seem a logical way to help people get the feedback they need, improve where they need to and then increase their productivity.  Simple, elegant, but doesn’t really work that way in the vast majority of organizations.

What really happens is there is a void—the time between when the person gets the review and well—the next review!  Rather than being motivated to improve and become intent on working on one’s progress, many people often are either not pleased and hence unmotivated to improve, pleased but disinterested or don’t know how to improve,  pleased but not sure what to do next—-basically not using the appraisal process and their feedback in any sort of productive way.

The answer is more coaching on a regular basis—not an occasional review—-Ms. Parker-Pope’s article suggests the same—but where are the manager coaches or the peer coaches or the help to coach oneself?  My partners and I have been working on this issue for over 10  years—doing research on ways to provide additional coaching at reasonable cost.  What we have come to believe is that without some forms of online coaching and strong coaching support for most managers, there will never be adequate coaching for everyone who needs it.  Let me repeat that—without some type of solid online coaching support which allows people to get coaching help they need, or without a way to support managers who want to be better coaches with hands on easy to use online support for their coaching others, adequate coaching will never happen.

Simple right?  Yes, but—always a but—-many dismiss online coaching thinking it is coaching by email—it is not.  Or, some high priced personal coaches and HR professionals  insist only in person or one to one personal coaching is adequate to really provide coaching—it is not.  The point is, what is needed is something that has been around in some formats but underutilized—performance support coaching tools—but the resistance is still great and the acceptance of new paradigms challenging. 

Take a good look at www.e-coachonline.com  Online coaching support is here—why not take a look at what some small numbers have already figured out?  Happy to keep the discussion going—-there will always be a need for personal coaches—but without coaching online the void will never be filled—at your organization of 10 people or 10000 people.  Open your mind to the possibilites.

It dawned on me after talking with a staff member  today that the strategy I have applied recently to making our relationship work better is simple—I stopped wanting him to be different and trying to get him to see my view, and started really paying attention to what he wants and needs and simply giving it to him every chance I get.

Sounds simple, but it isn’t. At work we often get wrapped up in the lastest project, approach, deadline or theme of the month—cutting costs, using new techniques, downsizing, choosing the perfect new person after months of waiting for an opening—and on it goes.  This shifting perspective or focus, though productive for us and the accomplishment of our work, is often not productive for the men and women we work with or have to influence.  Most people are actually very perdictable and clear in what they want and need—-whether it is praise, financial security, opportunity to progress, opportunities to travel, learn or run a team.  Their motivational framework is set and they consistently respond to it.  In our own ups, downs and changing priorities (and the higher up you go the more you are juggling and moving) we somehow come to believe that by applying what is motivating us at the moment will work for our colleagues.  Not so.  Probably not true for most managers either but those wanting to stay or be in management do more bending and show more flexibility to keep that role.

Try quickly writing down the name of all the folks you hope to influence this week—internal or external, working for you or with you.  Next to their name, write down the first thing that comes to your mind about what they want/need.  Bob?  Talk—loves to go on about sports.  Cindy? Security—divorced last year and frantic she’ll lose her job, Jan? Challenge—just out of school and hungry, and so it goes.  If you can’t guess or don’t know, I suggest you make it your business to find out.

When you have your list you will begin to see how you can improve their productivity and your own by using some common sense pychology when working with them.  Supporting others in their comfort zone is one pice of coaching advice worth its weight in gold—-stay close to ground, to where people live as well as work, seek to work with them in ways that excite and make them happy and secure.  Performance is an outgrowth of either just getting the most out of good people, or having to keep changing people and wearing them out by insisting that work process and consistency of motivation is what makes sense—it isn’t even cheaper over time.  Discuss this with your team and notice the nods.

For those of us who have been preaching the value of continuous training and making people at every level be part of the team to carry out the mission, the news of the vendors on Times Square “saving the day” with observation and communication is our ultimate vindication.

Organizations continue to struggle with getting people at every level aligned.  The best companies and non profits do it all the time and always have.  But most are behind this curve.  Hopefully, seeing how the police connecting with their customers—the public, vendors—-reminds us to keep the communications flowing between our customers as well as our workforce.  And reminds us that the time to hope for cohesion is not on the day the building is burning, the banks freezing our assets, or someone making an error with huge reprocussions.  Preparation and connection and commitment BEFORE crisis is the answer.

“We”—people linked by common purpose— have always been the way problems are confronted and solved.  When we are part of something larger than ourselves and committed to working with others in our homes, our places of worship, our neighborhoods and our businesses/workplaces all benefit.  Everyone woman and man for him/herself doesn’t work—it never did despite remaining myths of the superhero.  Saw Iron Man 2 and even HE didn’t achieve things alone! 

Leadership is of course important—and having good leadership is a major advantage to progress—but so is followship and teamwork, and a focus on common aims and understanding that everyone plays a role.  We are confronted by challenges at every level—the recession is still lingering—or rather the effects are still lingering and people remain wary and cautious.  Getting everyone engaged in being aware of opportunities and being ready and willing to spring to action will both help calm people and energize them.  The timing is perfect.

This is the time to involve, educate, engage, communicate and share with your team, the company at large, with customers, friends and perhaps some old foes or competitors—the more the better—-awesome opportunities are coming up or are here—-and nothing with save the day—or give your workplace a new focus more than a workforce with laser focus on a fresh strategy and a clear understanding that at every level we are all part of making the world and our workplaces more successful.  Use technology is fresh ways to keep people involved and connected—and use the human touch as well to make sure relationships across and up and down are all working well.

Thank God for those vendors on Times Square—thank God for all the people around you ready and willing to pitch in to create success in your arena.  GO FOR IT.  And drop the I this and I that forever.

I have often written about and supported my research that contends that people do not resist change—but rather resist the way that change is handled.

Greece proves my point.  The Greeks aren’t big on all types of change—but likely are as open as the next person to change that makes sense.  So when asked to make changes to get money from the European Union it took them just a bit to say—well, OK if it save us.  Sure they objected but ultimately they went along when things got grave. 

Then, not satisfied the European Union led by Germany said—well wait—we need MORE and MORE drastic change—and the Greeks flipped out!  Of course they did—this is a terrible way to handle change and force folks to go along. 

Whether it is Greece or your company, a church or a home situation, change is OK and everyone expects it and will respond reasonably when shown the facts, given a chance to get involved and understand and offered support.  What gets folks really angry and digging in their heels is when things just keep escalating and nothing seems to be enough and no time is given to adjust to a new normal.

If you explain why things need to change and support folks in the change—-give folks a bit of break—and re inforce and thank them most—the vast majority will be ok.  Then, move on—in a timely but not stupid way.  Mostly organizational change success is just good common sense and respect for others.  Guess that is what is now too often absent from politics and our businesses.   Do we need doctorates to know that evolution, not revolution is always the means to successful change of any kind.

Just a reminder.