Savoir-Agir@Work

The secret to change is to focus your energy on creating something new, not on fighting the old.

Dan Millman
Artist, writer, record man, sportsman

Although you may not be in a position to have control of a meeting, you can always have control of your own time. The next time you are asked to attend one of those disorganized, uncontrolled and never-ending meeting, let your superior/manager know that you’ll be there, but that you can only afford so much time. “I’ll be there Mike, but I’ll probably have to leave after a half an hour – I really need to work on that report/proposal/project if we want to respect the deadline. Anything I miss I can pick up from Sylvie later on.” Your superior/manager will need to choose between letting you leave the meeting early, or giving you permission to be late on your report/proposal/project.

If you treat yourself as a professional, you will see yourself as one. If you see yourself as a professional, it will be more natural for you to act like one. And if you act like a professional, others will see you as a professional.

« It’s not so much that we are afraid of change or so in love with the old ways, but it’s that place in between that we fear… It’s like being between two trapezes. […] There’s nothing to hold on to. »

Marilyn Ferguson

When you write things down during a conversation, you put yourself in a proactive role. You send a message that not only you are listening (and not only hearing) what the other person is saying, but that you intend to do something about it. 

We believe that by providing a "WOW" customer experience, we ensure customer’s satisfaction. As a result, we tend to focus on big, new initiatives.

Research shows that focusing on the ‘Big’ things and overlooking the ‘Little’ things may be a really big mistake when it comes to customer service and how our brains work.

Most customers will be happy if things just work, first time, easily and all of the time.

Minimize their disappointments, fix the little things that often go wrong and avoid negative surprises; and it's pretty likely that you'll create happy customers.

There is surely a need for perfectionism in some situations. But most things in life are pass/fail situations. Demanding perfection of yourself all the time can be stressful. Try aiming for excellence instead.

A single person with a poor attitude – someone who is chronically negative – can destroy the morale of an entire team if left unchecked. If that person reports to you, deal with it at once. If it’s your teammate, ask him (her) to stop. If it’s you, think about how much your complaining is harming your team, your reputation and your future.

Sometimes it’s the fault of the person completing the assignment, but more frequently, it’s the fault of the person giving the assignment.  Clarity (or lack of) is often the culprit.

Clarity of objective – What exactly is it that needs to be done?  Is the assignment as clear as it ought to be? 

Clarity of responsibility – Whose assignment is it?  Who does what?

Clarity of time – How quick is quick?  Is it a day? A week? By a specific date? 

Clarity of communication – What is intended is not always what is understood by the other.  Delegations repeatedly fail due to faulty communication. 

While those executing an assignment have the responsibility to deliver a quality result, those making the delegation have the responsibility to ensure that the assignment is clear.

When thoughts and worries feel utterly overwhelming, psychologists’ recommend a hidden logic for how to handle them.

"If you are hurtling down a slope and resist, you tumble. But if you submit to gravity, you learn to ski."

Our minds are among the most complicated entities in the universe. Although it may feel contradictory at first, if you ski, you'll know what they mean - now try it in the work place.

It’s essential that you satisfy your customers, but not every customer knows the value to your service or understands what it is that you do.

If 1% of your clientele doesn't appreciate your service, doesn't approve of what you are saying … You know what?  it's quite okay.

If you insist on getting every single customer to be satisfied by overcompensating, making exceptions, and overwhelming people with fine print, you've just signed up to disregard and alienate 99% of your customers.

Stop focusing on the 1%  at the expense of everyone else.

We tend to believe that achievements (diplomas, promotions, high incomes, ...) make us happy and successful, while failures, such as not getting that job, or losing your job, will keep us miserable forever. But you can be successful in your current job and miserable in your future job. Mind-set has the power to turn around even the worst circumstances. Worrying about what life should look like can make us unaware of what we already have. Socrate’s said it well when he said: "He who is not contented with what he has would not be contented with what he would like to have."

Change is continuous, inevitable and essential.

It's hard to go out of our comfort zone, it's hard to think outside the box and it's hard to see things differently. Change is hard work. And changing our own minds is the most difficult place to start... but it's also the only place to start.

We're often appalled; puzzled or irritated when we see people behaving differently, because it's easy to expect that any group of people would behave in a homogeneous way. But they're not. Treat different people differently. Not because they're born this way, but because they choose to be this way. 

We often measure ourselves by looking at our checklist, and ask ourselves "How much have I done?".

But to have a sense of progression we can’t just look at what we have done, we also really need to look at the difficult questions that still remain unanswered and even more important, all the things that aren't on your list, but could and should be.

The Einstellung effect is the brain’s tendency to stick with solutions it already knows rather than look for potentially better ones. 

It’s really like a handicap, because after learning to solve a problem one way, we’re blind to more efficient methods. Our attention is locked onto familiar features and prevents us from really starting to think outside the box. It can greatly stump creative ideas and takes away any possibility of real ingenuity.

To avoid falling in this repetitive pattern, you need to inject some new perspectives in your routine, your organisation or your team... especially if it hasn’t changed in a long time. 

The spread of open-plan offices and encouraged down-time is not just about keeping staff happy. It is about getting the best out of each other. If you know the informal network in your workplace it is easier to share vital knowledge and helps you calibrate your approach.

Burnout doesn’t always result from having too much to do: sometimes, it’s caused by a lack of control over your work, or by insufficient challenges in your job.

You can learn how to dance. How to golf. How to use your new smart phone. You can learn a foreign language too. If you can learn to be better at something, it's a skill.

Attitude is a skill too. You can learn how to be more empathetic, effective, persuasive, service-centered and adaptable… And if it's a skill, it's yours if you want it.

Research shows that chronic workplace stress typically begins at the beginning of the workday and then escalates as the day progresses. Interrupt the pattern by creating a new morning routine. Go to a different place for your coffee. Do your administrative work before you check your emails, etc.

"A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices..."  - William James

We all know the importance of first impressions. We also know that we will never have a second chance to make a good first impression and that impressions are sometimes easy to make but difficult to change.

Make a good impression from the start. The personalized interaction from the first contact is the perfect opportunity to show your sense of courtesy, respect and consideration towards your interlocutor.

A theory states that doing anything over and over again gets you bored fast (like riding an elevator up and down again and again). You can do the same with a nagging thought. Repeat the worry to yourself slowly. The monotony will stop you from escalating, getting sucked into a worry spiral and will likely make your mind wonder to other more productive thoughts.

Your experience, your knowledge, even your expertise, is insufficient to get the credibility you seek to influence others - they need to trust you. You are not entitled to trust -Trust needs to be earned!

How? Invest in the relationships, patiently contribute and demonstrate that you are credible and trustworthy… only then can you aspire to influence.