Of course no one wants to live in a religious state or have the workplace become a place where people urge conversion to one or the other faith or belief.  But let’s remember this week to say/wish folks a good holiday with sincerity and ask a few questions about their plans and activities.

In my research on the changing workplace one thing is clear—family trumps business in the 21st centure—every time—though they never should be in competition, there was a time not long ago when careerism seemed the norm. Ironically, while careerism is dead, people need and want work more than ever—they need what they have always needed—a way to be creative, contribute and to earn a living.  That has become even more clear as the recession has lingered and many have been unable to get back into the workplace or are overworked and guilt ridden doing the work of several.

This is a week to build relationships by pausing just moments with each person we contact to wish them well if we know they are of the Christian or Jewish faith.  May I just add—- for goodness sake, just make the gesture and skip the segway into business.

We have all become so overly connected and so under communicated with.  Just wish folks well—and move on—-and at a different moment get into the business at hand.

The first quarter of the year is nearly over—it is time to take a breath, celebrate or adjust goals and move forward—with the holidays and Spring here let’s also throw in some soft balls of connection so that as we move ahead we can feel good about ourselves and each other.  This connection builds bonds that keep us motivated as the year progresses.  Don’t lose this important opportunity to reach out and make the workplace more human and more calm.  Obama’s new tradition of a seder in the white house is an excellent example of a small event and time to share reaping big rewards and feelings of connection. 

Successful people take time when the time is right—and this week is a good time to start or continue connecting with others in a deeper way.

Despite your faith tradition, or none, the idea of reflecting upon your own behaviors is essential to being a mature  and maturing human being.  Allowing time for reflection on YOUR OWN behavior and then forgiving yourself and finding more effective strategies going forward is the heart and soul of every faith and the journey to being a good woman or a good man—–as well as a successful woman and a successful man.

We are in the Lenten season in the Christian Church—which is a time dedicated to self reflection and reminding our selves of the need to forgive and atone to others for what we have done to harm them or failed to do to help them (much more important).  But it dawned on me today while at church that this concept needs applying at work—and that when I was ‘pitching” business of performance improvement in organizations it is related to this same point.  If we all don’t self reflect and own our own part of the reasons for things going wrong, if we don’t share that responsibility by owning our mistakes, we can’t possibly be part of the effort to improve workplace performance.

One of my favorite stories of being a consultant happened in the pitch stage for a multi year consulting project aimed at improving the quality of workplace performance in a large insurance company.  The company had been spending time and money on a quality approach but just didn’t feel it was getting value and real performance improvement.  Someone from this company had seen me deliver a speech on quality and workplace improvement and gave my name to the senior leadership team—-I was asked if I could come for a day, talk to people, look at documents and the situation and then advise the senior leadership team what I thought needed to be done. 

At the end of the day, seated with the senior team in a small conference room I said essentially the following: ” I am not exactly sure what the problem is but I feel very certain—95% so—-that much of the problem is with you right in this room and something you are not doing right.”  There was silence—finally one VP said, “Pat, can I ask you something—-do you make any money?”.  It broke everyone up and I laughed along with them but said again—”hey what can I say?  It is true.”  Now this DOES NOT mean I don’t think everyone in companies need support and performance tools and more coaching—a lot more.  So don’t twist what I am saying.  But, what I am saying and meaning is that self reflection on your own actions or lack of actions, admitting them and modeling right from the top is essential to changes in performance. 

This is the message I was giving to that senior team (who I worked for many years after they decided if I had the courage to say what I did I had to be good!)—-that performance improvement starts with our own improvement.  Self reflection and self improvement sets the stage for all staff improvement—it models it.  The danger is of course stopping there—spending time and money to help the senior people reflect, “do penance” in the work sense of that word, and get support and training and coaching.  That support has to then be extended to the rest of the organization allowing people at every level to self reflect and self direct their own changes.  Performance improvement is for everyone.  In this season of lent I am reminded we need to apply this lesson to us all and find inexpensive and effective ways to make performance improvement through self reflection possible for everyone—-hey, we have a solution for that—it’s called coaching for everyone.

Asking for and taking unsolicited feedback is the most important and underused professional growth tool available.

Few have acquired the skill of providing helpful feedback.  So it is going to fall on you to learn to ask for or listen to feedback poorly delivered and learn from it. (more…)

I had a situation today that reminds me why it pays never to act the way you feel in a business situation. Or, to totally cut yourself off from people, who may not be “your best friend” but is still a fellow traveler in the world of work. Several weeks ago a fellow consultant who I have known for a long time and I had a misunderstanding. She was very upset—too upset in my view. But, although we had a few harsh words, we moved on in the conversation and both let it go. Neither of us, although we each thought we were “right”, crossed the line to obnoxious and rude behavior. We kept our cool even in a hot situation. (more…)

Most of us start the morning with challenges, and tough stuff on our plates—and in many instances too many priorities and not enough time to do them all well. If you are working you are likely exhausted and stressed. If you are not working and looking for work, you are also exhausted and stressed. If you are a leader/manager not only are you exhausted and stressed but additionally you have other people’s stress to deal with daily. Take 5 minutes and breathe. (more…)