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Year: 2017

It’s A Wonderful Life

This classic movie was on TV on Christmas Eve. Of course it’s on every day in December, but my wife and I watched it that night. I noticed something I had missed before. As you may recall, Clarence, Angel 2nd Class, was assigned to go to earth to help George Bailey. Clarence asked, “Why are you sending me to help this man. Is he sick?”

The head angel replied, “Oh no, it worse than that. He’s discouraged.”

At this time of the year a good many people, like George, are discouraged. Many are discouraged about work. According to the 2017 Global Workplace report from Gallup, only 31.9% of U.S. workers are engaged in their jobs. Engaged employees are defined as those “involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work.” Over 50% said they were planning to change jobs next year.

Popular Reasons

A few of the popular reasons for why people say they get discouraged at work are: dealing with a difficult boss, feeling underpaid, not feeling challenged or over burdened with busy work. Rather than attempting to prescribe a series of steps or tactical fixes to solve these issues, I’d like you to consider a simpler approach.

A national survey of 27,000 people conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago said that there’s one characteristic that’s far and away the most likely to make a job satisfying. This article began by listing the most satisfying careers. Some of the top ones were: clergy, physical therapists, firefighters, education administrators, painters, sculptors, teachers or authors.

OK, most of us are not one of those. Plus we all know or have heard of people in these professions who are not having a wonderful career, and many more in other more profit-focused careers who love what they do.

One Characteristic

The survey article concluded, “If you don’t feel your work is helping others in some way chances are good, it won’t make you truly happy. The most satisfied people are those who view their jobs as giving to others.” It is not your work. It is how you look at your work.

Journal Entry:
I often asked to consult with that once-upon-a-time effective and encouraging leader who is now discouraged and ineffective. When we begin, many will place blame on some of the popular reasons mentioned earlier. Environment often can have some negative impact. But then I ask her or him, “What are your main goals in your work each day?” When their answer is about job responsibilities, numbers, metrics or financials and they don’t talk about how they serve customers, help teammates or support employees, I know that a change of their heart goal is needed more than a change of their job role.

How do you look at your work each day? Is there anything you’d like to view differently to experience a more wonderful leadership and life in 2018?

 

When you’re in a Slump,
you’re not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.
― Dr. Seuss, author, Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

Job fit is a moving target. With all the changes in our work world today, holding on to your perfect job is like pushing Jell-O up hill. So take your eyes off your job title, look for some real problems and fix them good. ― Michael Alan Tate, consultant, writer

The best leaders are clear. They continually light the way, and in the process, let each person know that what they do makes a difference. The best test as a leader is: Do those served grow as persons; do they become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become leaders? ― Robert K. Greenleaf, author and founder of the modern Servant leadership movement

And indeed, some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last. ― Luke , physician, disciple of Jesus Christ, The Book of Luke 13:30, NIV Bible

Finding Your Mission in Life

Earlier this year a great man died. His name was Richard N. Bolles. He was the author of What Color is Your Parachute, a book that the Library of Congress listed as one of the 25 most influential books in the world. I was lucky enough to have known Dick, as he preferred to be called.

He helped a lot of people and wrote many amazing books, but one of the most astounding gifts he left here on earth is something he wrote to a lady who ask him the question of all questions, “How do I find my mission in life?”

He wrote…

“ … as it has been impressed on me by observing many people over the years (admittedly through Christian spectacles), it appears that the three parts to your mission here on earth can be defined generally as follows:

Your first mission here on Earth is one which you share with the rest of the human race, but it is no less your individual mission for the fact that it is shared: and it is, to seek to stand hour by hour in the conscious presence of God, the one from whom your mission is derived. The Missioner before the Mission is the rule. In religious language, your mission here is: to know God, and enjoy Him forever, and to see His hand in all His works.

Secondly, once you have begun doing that in an earnest way, your second mission here on earth is also one which you share with the rest of the human race, but it is no less your individual mission for the fact that it is shared: and that is, to do what you can, moment by moment, day by day, step by step, to make this world a better place, following the leading and guidance of God’s spirit within you and around you.

Thirdly, once you have begun doing that in a serious way, your third mission here on Earth is one which is uniquely yours, and that is:

  1. to exercise that Talent which you particularly came to Earth to use — your greatest gift, which you most delight to use,
  2. in the place(s) or setting(s) which God has caused to appeal to you the most,
  3. and for those purposes which God most needs to have done in the world.

When fleshed out and spelled out, I think you will find that there you have the definition of your Mission in life. Or, to put it one other way, these are the three Missions which you have in life.”
(From any copy of What Color is your Parachute – look in the pink pages)

Journal Entry: It seems there is a process for finding your calling, your career or your vocation. It is God > Others > Self. Would this process be worth considering in other areas of your leadership and life?

Salute Dick

Caring or Comparing Culture

Last month , I offered some suggestions about what to do and what not to do when there is a death at your workplace. There was a tremendous response to those simple and practical ideas.

To refresh your memory, the August 31 Leadership and Life message boiled down this: to equip employees to help those who have experienced a tragic loss, ask those employees three questions and suggest that they take a step as follows:

  1. Have you ever experienced a tragic loss in your life
  2. What did people who tried to support you do that was helpful?
  3. What did people do that was not helpful?

Step – do what was helpful for you and don’t do what was not helpful.

I believe that my readers reaction to this advice was significant because those ideas and questions were based on the core value of caring and listening instead of telling and fixing people. This caring behavior creates a culture of compassion rather than a culture of comparison. The compassion version is the environment that people want and is where most are truly motivated to do their best.

Let’s lean on this concept a bit more and consider its possible application to work and life in general. So may I ask, in your past, when you had a made a big mistake or had a project that failed, which can often lead to a loss of confidence or defensive reaction, how did your manager respond? Was it a tell-and-fix you approach or listen-and-coach approach?

When someone on your team makes a mistake, what is your typical response? Most of us mirror the way we are managed in the past. Good or not so good, it is natural to emulate our past models. But you can change your response if you decide to.

So the next time you are faced with addressing an employee who missed the mark, before you speak, stop and think about your past experiences and ask yourself:

  1. What was helpful about the way my manager handled me in a similar situation?
  2. What was not helpful?

Step – try the helpful stuff, if you care to.

Journal Entry:
In your role as manager, friend, spouse or parent, when any person in your life, large or small, makes a big mistake or disappoints you, stop. Before you say anything, remember your action sends a message, which creates a culture. Will it be one of caring or comparing? Decide on caring. If you do, I am certain you will to see people become motivated to a higher level of confidence and performance in their leadership and life.
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Corporate culture matters. How management chooses to treat its people impacts everything – for better or for worse. – Simon Sinek – author of Start with Why

Culture eats strategy for breakfast. – Peter Drucker, management consultant

Culture drives great results. – Jack Welch, bussines leader

Never be so busy as not to think of others. – Mother Teresa, leader in world-wide peace

Comparison is the thief of joy. – Theodore Roosevelt, past U. S. president

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
– 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV- The Bible)

What’s it all About?

I was in a skating rink enjoying a birthday party for one of my grandchildren. By the way, not surprisingly the skatin’ around music was much hipper than when I was a boy. But when the unfamiliar music finally stopped, something very familiar happened. A teenage employee, dressed as a clown, skated smoothly to the middle of the rink. The lights dimmed. The room went silent. The clown called in the kids, then the light went up and the sound system blasted, “Put your right foot in, put your right foot out.” On cue every kid and a few the uninhibited adults started doing the hokey pokey, ending with a group scream of “and that’s what it’s all about!”

Some things never change. Some things should never change.

In my childhood, the hokey pokey was all the rage at most events and especially at the skating rink. The rink was the most fun, because even if you weren’t a very good skater, you could still do the hokey pokey. Even the super skaters would sometimes fall or stumble when the song called to “shake it all about” and “turn yourselves around.” The point wasn’t the best performance. The point was the joy of the being in the game.

Have you noticed that when great teams, healthy families or good friends get together, the one-upmanship stories subside quickly and the conversation leaps into a lively litany of hokey pokey stories? Even though achieving great things will pull a group of people together for a while, over time, even the best of us will miss more than we hit. Leaders learn that lighthearted humility always takes the day , because …

Things turn out the way they do. Not the way they should.

Successful teams and happy people make a decision to play their own game, not someone else’s, and give it their very best. Hokey pokey experiences are the threads that stitch things back together when the tightly-woven fabric of our perfect plans unravel at our feet.

Taking risks, making mistakes and having slipups are the most incriminating evidence that you are working to turn yourself around in this game of living and leading. Laughing at your mistakes and helping one another get back on our collective feet and trying again – a little wiser this time – maybe that is what it’s all about.

Journal Entry: With the pace and stress level of organizations, teams, careers and family life at an all-time high, maybe it is time to stop taking ourselves so seriously. Celebrate a few more hokey pokey moments because some good things never change, and never should change in leadership and life.

Drop the idea that you are Atlas carrying the world on your shoulders. The world would go on even without you. Don’t take yourself so seriously. ~ Norman Vincent Peale – author and speaker

Surround yourself with people who take their work seriously, but not themselves, those who work hard and play hard. ~ Colin Powell – military leader

Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the Gods made for fun. ~ Alan Watts – philosopher

Frame your mind to mirth and merriment which bars a thousand harms and lengthens life. ~ William Shakespeare – poet

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. ~ Proverbs 17:2 – book of wisdom, The Bible

Finding Your Place in 2017

Most people in the US hate their jobs. National surveys support this idea finding that 65 – 70 % of all employees are dissatisfied and disengaged in their current job. A 2015 Gallup poll states that 30%- 35% are saying they plan to leave their current job within a year.

When I was in my mid-30s years ago, I was one of them. I was productive, but my work didn’t fit me. I got depressed. So I quit a good job and went to a career counselor to help me change careers. Then I got even more depressed. Because his advice was “pick a job title that fits you and send out lots resumes.”  Over 1000 resumes went out. I got one interview, which went nowhere. I was devastated. I thought something was wrong with me but my “hire-ability” wasn’t the problem. I was using the wrong strategy.

Sometimes a crisis turns into a calling. It did for me. From the chaos and confusion that spun in me during my career transition came the creation of my life’s work. I discovered my innate gift for helping people get on the path to their authentic career and finding it faster. The path begins with three questions.

1st – Who am I? Know your skills, values and interests.
2nd – Where is my place in the world? Clarify the things that really motivate you to be your best.
3rd How do I find it? Put away your resume, create a plan and ask for advice.
In the first phase in my true vocation, which was 20 years ago, I was a career coach. In the second phase I moved into management consulting focused on creating healthy organizations where people’s careers really matter. In my current and third final phase, I find  T. S. Eliot hauntingly correct as I rediscover the bliss as a career guide as I felt the first time.

As I glide into my swan song, I decided to write a new book entitled The White Shirt. This book is a parable that shares the secrets of making a successful career move at any stage of life.

In The White Shirt, readers follow along with a young man named Cyrus as he searches for his vocation – his ideal job. He makes the same mistakes we all make, but eventually asks and answers those three questions. Then we follow as Cyrus discovers the career that is his calling.

My hope is that readers will see themselves in Cyrus. We are made for a purpose and that purpose is not to endure a job that “sucks the life out of you,” but to find a career “that makes you feel alive.”

Journal Entry: To learn more go to www.whiteshirtbook.com. This 100-page book will help you make your next move,  in ,leadership and life,  a good one.

Special offer for my loyal LLJ readers.  One of the key secrets to finding your place is –  you can’t do this alone. The White Shirt is designed to be read with a friend so you can support each other as you apply the principles and complete the step-by-step process to have a 1 page next move career plan in only 1 week.  Limited time 3 DAY FREE BOOK OFFER: So if you order a book on my website within the next 3 days, I will mail you another book at no cost. Just place your order then email me your mailing address. Your free book will be shipped to you.  Thank you.

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time. ~ T.S. Eliot, author – Four Quartets

 

The will to win is not nearly so important as the will to prepare to win. ~ Vince Lombardi, football coach

Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward. Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God. For he will not often consider the years of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the gladness of his heart. ~ Ecclesiastes: 18-20, The Bible – Old Testament

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