WorkPuzzle

The Progress Principle

Since reading the books "Flow" and "Finding Flow" summarizing the empirical research of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, I constantly think about improving work tasks and how to keep them from being too boring or anxiety producing. 

The book, "The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work" by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer, does an excellent job reminding us what goes on inside the heads of those we are responsible for and how to improve their engagement at work. Analyzing nearly 12,000 diary entries, provided by 238 employees in 7 companies, the authors explain how managers can cultivate progress and enhance work life. 

 The diaries themselves can provide insight to the inner turmoil people experience, and that alone might be worth the price of the book. However, the real value comes in their insightful recommendations. Not only are the recommendations well worth considering, but existing research also agrees with the suggestions.

 In the book, the authors demonstrate how to remove obstacles to progress, such as pointless tasks and toxic relationships, how to enable progress, using clear goals matched with autonomity, and how to nourish interpersonal events that demonstrate respect and foster collegiality. 

 The following video is rather long, at 18 minutes, but, if you have the time on an upcoming flight, it may be worth a look. 

 

  

Knowing how to get and keep your team engaged may  qualify as one of the top three tasks of being a leader. You can work on many other factors, but, if you have disengaged workers, the progress will be slow.

Question:  Are you able to keep those around you engaged?  Share the techniques that you've found effective in keeping those on your team engaged.

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By joining TMOC, you'll get to see who else is in the group and your comments will only be seen by those whom you trust.   Joining TMOC is quick, easy, and free (no kidding…this takes less than 2 minutes).   To get started, click here.

Already of a member of TMOC?  If so, join the WorkPuzzle Dialog Group by clicking on the WorkPuzzle Group icon on the left side of your TMOC homepage.  Questions?   Email the WorkPuzzle editor (workpuzzle@hiringcenter.net) and we'll walk through the process.

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn. Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. 

Risk Averse is Life Averse

About 12 years ago, I was burned out in my work-life.  At the time, I found it difficult to maintain almost any degree of excitement towards my daily routine. This was a new feeling for me. Up to this point, I had found it easy to capture enthusiasm towards my work. 

What caused this situation to develop?  There were probably several factors. Part of the issue was related to a transition at home.  I was being freed up from many parenting duties (I had one child in college and two more about to enter), and the nature of my role was changing.  

During that period (that I have since referred to as "Dave's Doldrums"), I was introduced to an exercise that eventually helped free me from those very doldrums. The task was called the "Sage Letter." 

I know it sounds a bit far out, and I usually avoid anything that remotely smells of pop psychology.  But I was desperate, and I thought I'd give it a try.

The exercise involved imagining myself as an 85-year-old man looking back at the events of my life. From that perspective, I wrote a letter of advice to myself at my current age (I was 40 at the time).  I know this sounds simple, but it actually takes some time to write such a letter.  I had to seriously dive headlong into this somewhat bizarre task of "becoming" this 85-year-old man. 

I eventually knew that I had arrived at the "right place" when I truly felt confronted with an actual 85-year-old version of myself.  I started uncovering my hidden blind spots and aversion to risk. The pure wisdom of brutal honesty suddenly poured out on the page.  I started to understand why I was experiencing these doldrums, and I could see how much self-sabotage was going on in my life.

This exercise helped me gain some much-needed clarity. The primary insight I experienced was an awareness of the risk aversion that had crept into my life. It had not been there before, but had slowly and insidiously developed.  But, it didn't stop there. The letter also revealed hidden truths about how to improve my marriage, my friendships and my spiritual life. 

Since that experience, I cut back on my private practice, began a consulting company, taught graduate classes at a local university, started leading a ministry at my Church, and helped start Tidemark and see it grow.  My energy and enthusiasm for life returned.

Why am I disclosing all this?  It's because I recently ran across some research explaining the risk aversion that I had felt during this critical juncture in my life.   It is actually quite common and typically happens during an individual’s child rearing years.  The result is a "freezing" of the ability a person has to thoughtfully make big life decisions and it later leads to a profound sense of regret. 

The research was summarized in a recent book, 30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans, written by Karl Pillemer, a human ecology professor at Cornell University. Dr. Pillemer spent five years interviewing more than 1000 Americans who are over 65 years old. 

In the book, he distills their wisdom into principles on work, life, marriage, parenting, and other topics. He also describes how many of these elderly people regret having been risk averse earlier in their lives. 

In the next edition, I'll share more about this research.  But in the mean time,  I'd like you to think about how this relates to the people you interview, recruit and manage. Who could you advise to use the "Sage Letter" exercise? Or, maybe it is time you give it a try to yourself.   

Question:  Are there any opportunities you missed in your professional life because you were risk adverse?  What did you learn from the experience?

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Already of a member of TMOC?  If so, join the WorkPuzzle Dialog Group by clicking on the WorkPuzzle Group icon on the left side of your TMOC homepage.  Questions?   Email the WorkPuzzle editor (workpuzzle@hiringcenter.net) and we'll walk through the process.

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn. Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. 

When Change Hits, Your Top Talent Leaves First

Editor's Note:  This article was written by  Mark Johnson, a guest contributor to WorkPuzzle. Mark is a coach, speaker, and trainer who works with the Tom Ferry Companies. 

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Naturally, your best agents and staff have the most alternatives in the marketplace. Highly talented people are the most likely to be recruited away and the best equipped to leave on their own initiative.

If you wait until your agents (or staff) go public with their plans to leave --before you re-recruit them--you've obviously waited too long.  The heart leaves before the body.

Forbes recently published an article 10 Reasons Your Top Talent Will Leave You and it triggered me to think about how our broker owners, managers and leaders execute the retention effort across their companies.

Few things in business are as costly and disruptive as unexpected agent or staff departures. And despite what you feel or think, when Forbes interviewed employees here’s what they said:

• More than 30% believe they’ll be working someplace else inside of 12 months.
• More than 40% don’t respect the person they report to.
• More than 50% say they have different values than their employer.
• More than 60% don’t feel their career goals are aligned with the plans their employers have for them.
• More than 70% don’t feel appreciated or valued by their employer.

The facts are that agents and staff who are challenged, engaged, valued, and rewarded (emotionally, intellectually & financially) don't leave. However if you miss any of these critical areas, it’s only a matter of time until they head for the door. 

Forbes went on to identify these 10 reasons your talent will leave you:

1.  You Failed To Unleash Their Passions

2.  You Failed To Challenge Their Intellect

3.  You Failed To Engage Their Creativity

4.  You Failed To Develop Their Skills

5.  You Failed To Give Them A Voice

6.  You Failed To Care

7.  You Failed To Lead

8.  You Failed To Recognize Their Contributions

9.  You Failed To Increase Their Responsibility

10. You Failed To Keep Your Commitments

 

Smart leaders don’t allow these mistakes to happen. Start re-recruiting your key agents and staff today. Take a look at the 10 reasons and create a strategy in your company to address the biggest issues.

Start by spending less time trying to retain people, and more time understanding them, caring for them, investing in them, and leading them. When you do, the retention you desire will naturally happen. 

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By joining TMOC, you'll get to see who else is in the group and your comments will only be seen by those whom you trust.   Joining TMOC is quick, easy, and free (no kidding…this takes less than 2 minutes).   To get started, click here.

Already of a member of TMOC?  If so, join the WorkPuzzle Dialog Group by clicking on the WorkPuzzle Group icon on the left side of your TMOC homepage.  Questions?   Email the WorkPuzzle editor (workpuzzle@hiringcenter.net) and we'll walk through the process.

 

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Mark Johnson.  Mark is a coach, speaker, and trainer who works with high-performing real estate agents, teams, managers and leaders in the highly competitive Southern California marketplace and across the United States. 

 A US Army veteran, Mark has since led multi-million dollar strategic operations initiatives, major sales and recruiting promotions, sales force automation ventures,  and help desk support projects.  He currently works with the Tom Ferry Companies.

 

What Makes Your Business Unique and Different?

Editor's Note:  Here is one of our New Year's Resolutions: WorkPuzzle will now be publishing articles written by guest contributors.  The first guest contributor is Mark Johnson.  Mark is a coach, speaker, and trainer who works with the Tom Ferry Companies.

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I've been thinking about the businesses where I choose to spend my hard earned money and time. And what I've found is these businesses all offer me something unique and different. It's really no different in your retention and recruiting efforts. So...

What makes you different and unique from the others in your market? 

Everyone is honest, hard working and knowledgable... so other than what everyone else has, what's your unique value to your target clients? How will they know you are different or unique? 

Like an airplane, a bus or a rental car any company or most any agent or brokerage... they all can get you there. We compete in a commodity business. 

So why would an agent choose you? 

Why would they stay with you? 

Why would they recommend you to others? 

Here is an excerpt from Gary Vaynerchuk's book the Thank You Economy to consider as you execute your business plans for 2013: 

" Consumers' demand for authenticity, originality, creativity and positive intent have made it necessary for brands to revert to a level of service rarely seen in decades. Which leads me to believe one of your best competitive advantages is superior customer service. Creating an exceptional experience..." 

We've entered a new era in business... one where the biggest return isn't tied to throwing money at advertising campaigns but in proving you care about your customer more than anyone else.  How?

1. Be authentic - online or offline - say what you mean and mean what you say. 

2. Speak your customers language. 

3. Build a sense of community around your brand. 

4. YIKES - use some "shock and awe" to blow your customers minds and get them engaged and talking. 

5.  Don't be afraid of what's new and unfamiliar... 

How can you create an exceptional experience for your agents?

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Join the WorkPuzzle Discussion at the Tidemark Online Community (TMOC)

Engage in the WorkPuzzle discussion by joining the TMOC private social network.  Commenting on a public blog like WorkPuzzle can be a little intimidating, so why not join the discussion inside the privacy of the TMOC discussion group?  

By joining TMOC, you'll get to see who else is in the group and your comments will only be seen by those whom you trust.   Joining TMOC is quick, easy, and free (no kidding…this takes less than 2 minutes).   To get started, click here.

Already of a member of TMOC?  If so, join the WorkPuzzle Dialog Group by clicking on the WorkPuzzle Group icon on the left side of your TMOC homepage.  Questions?   Email the WorkPuzzle editor (workpuzzle@hiringcenter.net) and we'll walk through the process.

 

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Mark Johnson.  Mark is a coach, speaker, and trainer who works with high-performing real estate agents, teams, managers and leaders in the highly competitive Southern California marketplace and across the United States. 

 A US Army veteran, Mark has since led multi-million dollar strategic operations initiatives, major sales and recruiting promotions, sales force automation ventures,  and help desk support projects.  He currently works with the Tom Ferry Companies.

 

How Mastering Habits Can Have a Profound Impact on Your Performance in the New Year—Part 4

Hopefully, you’ve spent some time working on your habits as you’ve started the new year.  If you’re just joining the discussion, you may want to catch up by reading  the previous posts on this topic (1,2,3).

We’ll finish up this series by introducing the concept of a “keystone habit.”  From a holistic perspective, this concept has the greatest application to real estate organizations and individual offices.

In his book, Charles Duhigg introduces this concept in a chapter he calls “The Ballad of Paul O’Neill.”  If you’re a political buff, you may remember that Paul O’Neill was Treasury Secretary during President Bush’s first term.  However, he is more famous for his work as CEO of Alcoa during the late ‘80s and ‘90s. 

Here is a quick summary (as written up by Keren Threlfall ) of what happened at Alcoa:

Investors and employees alike were shocked when Paul O’Neill shared this in his speech of acceptance as the new CEO of Alcoa:

“I want to talk to you about worker safety. Every year, numerous Alcoa workers are injured so badly that they miss a day of work. I intend to make Alcoa the safest company in America. I intend to go for zero injuries.”

Some people thought perhaps he had a touch of dementia. Investors called their clients and advised them to sell their stock immediately. (Those who did so would later realize that was some pretty bad advice.)

What O’Neill was doing was introducing a keystone habit.

“O’Neill believed that some habits have the power to start a chain reaction, changing other habits as they move through an organization. Some habits, in other words, matter more than others in remaking businesses and lives. These are “keystone habits,” and they can influence how people work, eat, play, live, spend, and communicate. Keystone habits start a process that, over time, transforms everything.”

As the company focused on safety, employees and investors were amazed at the other areas of change, as well. Alcoa eventually rose to new heights in production, employee satisfaction, and in their portfolios, as well.

By the time O'Neill retired in 2000 to become Treasury Secretary, the company's annual net income was five times larger than before he arrived, and its market capitalization had risen by $27 billion. Someone who invested a million dollars in Alcoa on the day O'Neill was hired would have earned another million dollars in dividends while he headed the company, and the value of their stock would be five times bigger when he left.

There is a lot more to his story—more than I can write here and stay within the reasonable bounds of a WorkPuzzle discussion.  If you want to delve more into the details, read the lengthy article published on keystone habits in the Huffington Post last year. 

There are two principles that I took away from the Ballad of Paul O’Neil:

1.  The organizational habits that matter the most are the ones that, when they start to gain momentum, dislodge and remake other patterns.

2.  Keystone habits encourage change by creating structures that help other organizational habits to flourish.

As a business leader, the challenge is to identify the keystone habit for your organization.  Obviously, it would not be appropriate to select the same one that Paul O’Neil used (safety).  Instead, look for ones that would impact your organization as described above.

Any ideas?  

Here’s what I’ve noticed after working with hundreds of real estate managers and organizations over the last seven years:  the keystone habit for most real estate organizations is recruiting.  

In the years ahead, the keystone habit that will increasingly impact the real estate industry will be new agent recruiting.

Why?  This is the one habit that best fits the two principles outlined in Duhigg’s research for a real estate organization. New agent recruiting has the capacity to dislodge and remake other patterns.  Also, new agent recruiting has the unique ability to encourage change through the creation of new structures.

What are your thoughts?  Do you see new agent recruiting as the keystone habit that can help your organization prosper?

Bonus Materials:  As we wrap our discussion on habits, you may have an interest in referencing this cool infographic on habits (some of you may remember, I really like infographics).  If you're serious about changing habits, this breaks down the process and helps in the diagnosis of each stage.

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Engage in the WorkPuzzle discussion by joining the TMOC private social network.  Commenting on a public blog like WorkPuzzle can be a little intimidating, so why not join the discussion inside the privacy of the TMOC discussion group?  

By joining TMOC, you'll get to see who else is in the group and your comments will only be seen by those whom you trust.   Joining TMOC is quick, easy, and free (no kidding…this takes less than 2 minutes).   To get started, click here.

Already of a member of TMOC?  If so, join the WorkPuzzle Dialog Group by clicking on the WorkPuzzle Group icon on the left side of your TMOC homepage.  Questions?   Email the WorkPuzzle editor (workpuzzle@hiringcenter.net) and we'll walk through the process.

 

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. 

How Mastering Habits Can Have a Profound Impact on Your Performance in the New Year —Part 3

I hope each of you had a wonderful Christmas holiday and are looking forward to a prosperous new year. Our crew took a couple of weeks off from our normal writing schedule over the holidays, and we’re excited about kicking off a new season of insight and dialog in 2013. 

As you may remember, I started the discussion on habits in December with the assumption that many of you would be doing some strategic planning around this time of year.  If you need a refresher, you may want to reference the previous (Part 1, Part 2) discussions. 

Common sense tells us that real change will not happen in our lives unless we learn how to dislodge bad habits and cultivate new ones. Using the process that I outlined in my last blog, have you identified one or two bad habits you’d like to address? 

If not, I encourage you to go through the process of sketching out your own cues, routines, and rewards cycle for the habits you’ve identified. Then, start the trial and error of testing your hypothesis.  If you haven’t personally gone through the “habit loop” process at least once, you may have trouble understanding the next part of our discussion.

If habits have a profound impact on our own personal lives, it only makes sense they’ll also have an impact on professional relationships. As a leader, understanding the influence that habits have on others can significantly increase your level of effectiveness.

 For today’s discussion, we’ll consider two areas of professional relationships that are common to most real estate owners and managers:

1.  The habits of those you manage and coach.

2.  The habits of the clients your company serves.

Habits for Coaching

If you’re struggling to understand and manage your own habits, you can bet the people you coach are struggling, as well.  Or worse, they are not struggling because they are completely blind to the influence of habit in their own lives.  Many agents are dragged along by influences of which they are not aware. 

In either case, your role as a coach can take on a new level of effectiveness with an understanding of how habits control behavior.  While it is easy to identify poor outcomes, it is not easy to pinpoint the causes of poor outcomes.  

Try looking at poor outcomes through the framework of the “habit loop.”  What are the cues that
agents are reacting to during the day?  Which of these cues lead to routines that produce poor results?  What false rewards are agents typically pursuing that cause them to continually repeat the cycle of ineffectiveness?  

Like you did for you own habits (part 2 of this discussion), try sketching out a couple of “habit loops” for the agents you coach and then discuss these issues during your next coaching session.

Habits for Clients

Studying the habits of consumers (ie. those that buy your services) is not something that most people have considered.  However, I found this topic the most intriguing part of Charles Duhigg’s book.  Much of what has been discovered in this realm has not been yet been applied to the real estate sales industry.

Here’s the basic premise of habit theory as it applies to customers: Since all human beings are controlled by their habits, understanding typical cues, routines, and rewards can help a company optimize the sales process. In the real estate industry, it would be particularly interesting to know who will be buying or selling a home in the near future.

In his book, Duhigg documents an extensive case study involving Target; the popular nationwide retailer. The case study illustrates how Target has become very good at predicting what products a person will buy.  How? By figuring out what is going on in a unique customer’s personal life. For example, Target can often tell if a female customer is pregnant and how far along (ie. what trimester) she is in her pregnancy after she spends some time in the store.

They find out this information by studying habits.  For example, women often change from using scented lotions to non-scented lotions in the second trimester of a pregnancy.  A cue changes (scents become irritating) and that causes a routine change (buying a different product) that leads to a
reward (healthy skin) women don’t want to give up.  

This piece of information, combined with several more data points, equip Target to guess (with a surprisingly high level of accuracy) when a woman is in the second trimester of a pregnancy.  Once Target has this information, they can focus on specifically marketing to that person for the large number of purchases she’ll make  in the months just before and after the baby arrives.

I’m summarizing a concept that took the author about half of the book to describe, so this concept may still seem cloudy at this point.  If you want to learn more, here are a couple of articles from Forbes and the New York Times Magazine that describe this in more detail.  By the way, Target is not the only company doing this.  Many companies in various industries are starting to apply these principles of human behavior to optimize their sales efforts.

So, what application does this have for the real estate industry?  I think many of the answers to this question are yet to be discovered.  But I do know this: there will be big rewards for those who innovate in this arena. Also, I’ve had several meetings in the past couple years where real estate executives ask very similar questions.  If you don’t figure this out, your competitors probably will.

Spend some time learning about habits—both your agents and your clients will benefit.   In our final chapter of this series we’ll discuss the concept of a “keystone habit” and how these theories will help you improve recruiting.  Stay tuned.

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Engage in the WorkPuzzle discussion by joining the TMOC private social network.  Commenting on a public blog like WorkPuzzle can be a little intimidating, so why not join the discussion inside the privacy of the TMOC discussion group?  

By joining TMOC, you'll get to see who else is in the group and your comments will only be seen by those whom you trust.   Joining TMOC is quick, easy, and free (no kidding…this takes less than 2 minutes).   To get started, click here.

Already of a member of TMOC?  If so, join the WorkPuzzle Dialog Group by clicking on the WorkPuzzle Group icon on the left side of your TMOC homepage.  Questions?   Email the WorkPuzzle editor (workpuzzle@hiringcenter.net) and we'll walk through the process.

 

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. 

How Mastering Habits Can Have a Profound Impact on Your Performance in the Upcoming Year—Part 2

The first step to “minding our habits” (as Meryl Streep advised to do in my previous blog) is understanding how habits work and drawing conclusions on why they have a powerful impact on human behavior.

Early in his book, Charles Duhigg points out that good habits are actually an essential part of an individual's existence.  While bad habits seem to attract the most attention in a typical discussion concerning performance, good habits quietly perform their role without much notice. However, their importance should not be diminished--the human brain would be unable to effectively function without the widespread use of good habits.  

For example, think about backing your car out of the garage.  Most of us can do this task with very little thought or focused attention.  However, as I’ve tried to teach my teenagers to perform this task, it’s amazing how much mental energy it takes for them to negotiate all the variables in the process (how much speed, where’s the brake, watch the mirrors, how far to the back wall, etc.)  However, after a few dozen times, they (and most other people) can perform this task with very little thought.

So, good habits empower humans to perform hundreds of tasks each day with very little mental energy and focus. If we had to think about each of these behaviors every time we did them, even the basics of life would be debilitating.

However, anything that has the capacity for this much good also has the power to create and sustain undesirable actions.  Bad habits are just as strong as good habits.  Once the brain goes on autopilot, it is very difficult to get it out of what Duhigg calls the “Habit Loop.”   

The Habit Loop is the way of explaining what happens in the brain as a habit is executed.  The following diagram helps describe this process:

The diagram above is fairly intuitive—the cue is something that your brain notices, the routine is something you automatically do to solve the problem, and the reward is some benefit you get for solving the problem.

For example, Duhigg points out that most of us brush our teeth as the result of the habit loop.    When we wake up in the morning, the surface of our teeth feels fuzzy (the cue).  To solve the problem, we brush our teeth (the routine).  After brushing our teeth, our mouths feel fresh, minty, and clean (the reward).  This good habit leads to healthy teeth.

As you probably guessed, bad habits follow the same process.  A cue ignites the brain’s craving for a certain reward and launches a routine that quickly and efficiently makes the reward a reality.  Duhigg does a great job of explaining the bad habit process in the following video:

 

So, the key to mastering habits is recognizing that certain cues exist and these cues lead the brain to anticipate a certain reward.  This craving for the reward can be strong and unrelenting--so much so that an individual's willpower to change is, in the long term, rendered ineffective.   To change a habit, the habit loop must be disrupted by altering the routine.

Once you watch the video and think about how this process works, take some time to identify one of two habits you’d like to change.  As the author suggests, sketch out your own habit loop and try to diagnose the cues, routines, and rewards that make your habit come to life.

In our next discussion, I’ll show you how understanding the habit process can make you a more effective sales person (why do your company’s clients do what they do?) and a more effective coach (why do your agents do what they do.)

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Engage in the WorkPuzzle discussion by joining the TMOC private social network.  Commenting on a public blog like WorkPuzzle can be a little intimidating, so why not join the discussion inside the privacy of the TMOC discussion group?  

By joining TMOC, you'll get to see who else is in the group and your comments will only be seen by those whom you trust.   Joining TMOC is quick, easy, and free (no kidding…this takes less than 2 minutes).   To get started, click here.

Already of a member of TMOC?  If so, join the WorkPuzzle Dialog Group by clicking on the WorkPuzzle Group icon on the left side of your TMOC homepage.  Questions?   Email the WorkPuzzle editor (workpuzzle@hiringcenter.net) and we'll walk through the process.

 

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. 

How Mastering Habits Can Have a Profound Impact on Your Performance in the Upcoming Year

As things wind down for the year, I’m sure some of you are already starting to do some strategic planning for next year.  While reflection on the events of the previous year and hope for improvement are foundational pieces of any good planning process, I think many of us wonder if we truly have the capacity to make and sustain significant change. 

I’ve personally pondered this question even more than usual in the last few months after reading Charles Duhigg’s best selling book titled The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business.  Why?  Because I’m starting to understand the powerful grip that habit has on my life—especially as I get older.

The researchers have been making this point for a while.  In fact, I even wrote a blog on this topic a couple of years ago where I highlighted the work of Tony Schwartz.  Schwartz made this statement in his book Be Excellent at Anything:

“Fully 95% of our behavior occurs out of habit, either unconsciously or in reaction to external demands.  We’re run by the automatic processes of the primitive parts of the brain far more than we rely on the complex conscious capacities of our prefrontal cortex—we think we’re in charge of our lives, but we’re not.”

If this is true, then mastering habits is one of the most important components to making positive changes in our lives.  

Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be sharing some of the lessons that I learned from Duhigg’s book.   The information I’ll share will not only impact your personal performance, your ability to coach, and your effectiveness as a recruiter, but it will also help you understand your customers better.  It really is amazing how the science of habit infiltrates nearly every part of a person’s life.

To get you thinking about this topic, I’d like to share a movie clip of Meryl Streep playing Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.  This performance won Streep both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for best actress in 2011. 

This clip shows Margaret Thatcher, long after retiring from political office , reflecting on the importance of "thoughts" over "feelings" during a tense doctor's visit.   Notice what she says about habit.

 

Our habits are directly connected to both our character and our destiny.  Stay tuned over the next couple of weeks and we will learn how to “mind our habits….”

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. 

7 Reasons to Hire an Optimist

Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Does it really matter? Rigorous scientific findings suggest your outlook on life directly impacts the success you experience.

You might remember me describing, from a variety of angles, the concept of learned helplessness over the last several years. Today, it dawned on me, I have never discussed learned optimism and how understanding this concept can improve you and your organization.

Whether you are an optimist or a pessimist is easily determined by the explanations you use to account for the negative events in your life.

This is part of what psychologists call "explanatory style."  Explanatory style is a psychological attribute that indicates how people explain to themselves why they experience a particular event.

There are three dimensions to every explanation that goes through a person's mind in response to an event.  And, all other things being equal (talent, environment, circumstances), the choice in the explanation will determine the level of success you'll experience in whatever you do. 

The three dimensions of explanatory style are personal, permanent, and pervasive:

1.  Are things that happen to me personal?   This involves how one explains where the cause of an event arises. People experiencing events may see themselves as the cause; that is, they have internalized/ personalized the cause for the event.

Example: "I always have problems with math" (internal) as opposed to "These math problems can be difficult for some people" (external).

 2.  Are things that happen to me permanent?  This involves how one explains the extent of the cause. People may see the situation as unchangeable or changeable.

Example:  "I always lose my keys" or "I need find a consistent place to put my keys". 

3.  Are things that happen to me pervasive?  This involves how one explains the extent of the effects. A person with a pervasive perspective would see the situation as affecting all aspects of life.

Example:  "I can't do anything right" or "Everything I touch seems to turn to gold".

In terms of explanatory style, optimists have the following perspective when things go wrong:

-they place no blame on themselves.

-they assure themselves that any setback can and will be corrected soon.

-they believe this experience was specific to a particular event and cannot be generalized to all other events. 

I know these distinctions may sound trivial on the surface, but researchers have consistently demonstrated the powerful impact of explanatory style on the lives of people. 

What impact?  Here is an abbreviated list of some of the researched-based consequences of being an optimist:

1. Optimists suffer much less anxiety and depression.

2. Optimists adapt better to negative events (including bypass surgery, and breast cancer) 

3. Optimism enables problem-focused coping, humor, making plans, positive reframing (putting the situation in the best possible light) and, when the situation is uncontrollable, to accepting the situation's reality.Optimists are capable of learning lessons from negative situations. Thus optimists have a coping advantage over pessimists. 


4.  Perhaps surprisingly, optimists don't tend to use denial, whilst pessimists often attempt to distance themselves from the problem.Optimists are not simply people who stick their heads in the sand and ignore threats to their well-being. For example, they attend to health warnings and usually discover potentially serious problems earlier, rather than later.


5.  Optimists exert more continuous effort and tend not to give up, possibly assuming that the situation can be handled successfully in one way or another. Pessimists, on the other hand, are far more likely to anticipate disaster - and, as a result, are more likely to give up. 


6.  Optimists report more health-promoting behaviors (like eating a healthy diet or having regular medical check-ups) and enjoy better physical health than pessimists. 


7.  Optimists seem to be more productive in the work place.

In the future I may share real life examples of where this has separated those who do well from those who don't. All the more reason to have a hope-filled Christmas season!

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn. Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. 

Coaching the Prima Donna Diva

Things occur to me at the oddest times and for the strangest reasons.  Last night, I was emptying the dishwasher and listening to music when an artist who has been scrutinized over the years by the media started playing. 

Through that scrutiny, the public gained much unnecessary knowledge of his many relationships. Could it be that he is just too much of a prima donna? This thought crossed my mind then, just as quickly, my mind flashed on a conversation I had with a manager years ago.

I was training this manager on our coaching system. I wanted to review an assessment report (the Core Capacity Index (CCI)) and discuss how she can use this as a coaching tool.

She chose to look at one of her multi-million dollar producing agents, whom she referred to as a "diva" and at times very difficult to work with (this is not a judgment against all multi-million dollar agents, I am just speaking to this one manager’s  experience). This agent would not comply with certain protocols and methods that make the office run smoothly. Instead, she chose her own strategies for her own purposes. 

The first thing the manager told me was that the CCI report was spot on.  This manager was always fighting an uphill battle and was very frustrated. We discussed conversing with (not telling) this agent from her (the agent's) perspective. 

This is what I now refer to as the "understanding point." Speaking with this agent in such a way that she felt she was part of a solution vs. being told what to do, what not to do, and/or what she didn't do. 

Certainly, an assessment like the CCI helps shine light on the coaching relationship.  But the more important lesson is simple--step out of your skin, look at those whom you want to help succeed and work from their perspective.

This will not only help the agents you coach, but it will also make your job much easier because you will fight fewer uphill battles.

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Already of a member of TMOC?  If so, join the WorkPuzzle Dialog Group by clicking on the WorkPuzzle Group icon on the left side of your TMOC homepage.  Questions?   Email the WorkPuzzle editor (workpuzzle@hiringcenter.net) and we'll walk through the process.

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Editor's Note: Lee Gray is the Senior Account Manager at Tidemark Inc. Lee is a guest contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. .