choice Archives - Dennis E. Gilbert

21
Jun 21
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Trusted Decisions Are Change Decisions

Tags : choice data decision Gut feel trust

Are you making or encouraging trusted decisions? Is every decision trusted?

Most decisions involve a change. A shift of direction, a pivot, or a whole new beginning.

People often suggest that you can’t change other people. Each individual decides when and if they will change.

Technically, there is probably some truth in that notion.

Begging, pleading, or pressuring someone to make a different choice or decision really only happens when they decide or agree that they will do it.

You might present evidence, tell a compelling story, or simply ask for a new direction. Sometimes this is the mind-changer and sometimes it is not enough.

When you don’t trust the choices, when you don’t have the vision for the future outcome, you may stay undecided.

Is trust a factor?

Trusted Decisions

At the restaurant, you’re often curious if the special is good, if the portion size is right, and if it is a popular item. You seek answers to those questions. When you collect the data, you may decide to trust the special as a viable option.

In the workplace, people are often seeking data for their decision. They may ask for feedback, ask for the report, or dig into a spreadsheet to discover what the data shows.

Wrong choices are costly. They may add costs to the operation, may lead to declining sales, or even worse, tarnish a brand or your reputation.

Trust is one of the most significant factors of any decision.

People will decide. They’ll make a shift, a change, or pivot when they trust. Trust their gut, trust the data, or trust the recommendation from someone else.

Until then, things won’t change.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

26
May 20
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Wasteful Worrying, What Will You Choose?

Tags : belief choice confidence power worry

You want to make a change, take a chance, or understand what the future holds. Uncertainty often leads to wasteful worrying. Is that where you’re at?

Worry is about choice. A choice to contemplate over and over again. A choice to wonder or fantasize negativity about a pending outcome.

Everyone Worries

It’s easy to worry. It’s easy to remember the things that went wrong. Everything that happens when you let your guard down or fail to take some advice from someone else.

Worry drives us to do many things.

A few of them may be positive. The double check, the confirmation, or reading over the draft document one more time.

Most worry is a waste of time though. It is a waste of your energy and other precious resources.

It may bring others down. Cause a stir, even a panic.

We often worry because we feel afraid. Fear causes hesitation. Hesitation sometimes results in missed opportunities, or worse, closed doors.

Some people place worry on faith. A belief that things will work out as they should.

Others will place it on a gamble. Take a chance, or throw in the cards.

Can you do better?

Will you make a better choice for the use of your time?

Wasteful Worrying

If you have no control over the pending outcome, why worry?

If you have control over the pending outcome, can you count on your knowledge and expertise? Is there a metric, a track record, or benchmark data?

Should you be more confident?

What if you committed to worry less? What if every time you felt it coming on you made a different choice about your energy allocation?

It’s easy to worry. Nothing worthwhile comes easily.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

07
May 20
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Workplace Contributions Change Everything

Tags : change choice contributions engagement pivot

Are you a good contributor? What about your team? When we think of workplace contributions it is largely about the behaviors you model.

Role models are valuable. Essentially role models create, shape, and reflect what the future will look like.

They do it in a compelling and convincing way. They create more pull and give less push.

You have a decision to make. You can be a positive contributor and help lead the way to a better path, or you can model less than desirable behaviors.

Which one is for you?

Workplace Contributions

What you contribute today will have an impact for tomorrow.

Good contributions can help someone think deeper, appreciate more and gossip less. There is a choice to value teammates, build trust, or recklessly undermine necessary change.

Co-workers or customers may not be able to avoid the exposure. They are in the vicinity, passing by, or standing beside. Once seen, they cannot forget it or pretend that it didn’t occur.

What the group looks like to others, their perceptions and their expectations, creates what many believe is the cultural norm. The filters used or the ones forgotten are both contributing factors.

Learning often occurs and innovation might follow, or it may all get swept away with a slip of the tongue, a harsh look, or an obscene gesture.

Every day people are building a brand. Their brand, and perhaps yours.

If you want to change anything, remember that your contributions change everything.

Make good choices about what you’ll contribute.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

07
Apr 20
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Leaning Forward or Falling Backward?

Tags : belief choice future inspiration

It is a difficult time, for everyone. The choices you make now will definitely make a difference. Are you leaning forward?

I’ve participated in many Zoom meetings recently. I watch a little bit of news, and read a bunch too. Ask anyone, you’ll probably hear that it is not a good time.

You still have choices though. You have the choice about whether you will act or react, follow or lead, or simply stay stuck.

Many people have suggested that it is not about how many times you fall; it is about how many times you get back up.

Here are a few important tips for navigating this difficult time:

News Sparingly. Watch, read, or listen to the news sparingly. Don’t completely avoid it, and don’t binge watch it. Get updates and get out of it.
Plan. Plan for what will happen next, and I’m not talking about doom and gloom. There will be another side to this pandemic. Where and how will you position yourself?
Appreciate. If you have some down time, use it wisely. Stop the music for a few minutes and just take life in. Consider what is precious, dear, and most meaningful about life. Cherish what you have and take a deep breath.

When you limit the negativity entering your mind you will find that you think clearer, have less anxiety, and can focus on what is in front you.

Leaning Forward

The very near future may look a little rough. However, what you focus on now will define what happens next.

Everyone has a choice to believe. It will guide what happens next for you.

I’m leaning forward, ready to accelerate.

What about you?

Make the choice for leaning forward.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

10
Jul 19
-

Wait, We Haven’t Analyzed Enough

Tags : choice cost data decision stuck

One person always wants to decide fast, quick, and hurried. Another wants more time, more data, and additional input. Have you analyzed enough?

It seems that there is always more data. We can ask a few more people, research some old work, and attempt to benchmark the industry. Does it really matter?

One trouble spot is that more data isn’t really what people seek. They are seeking more certainty, less risk, and the fear of a bad decision.

Wait for What?

Procrastination on a decision can still be a decision. “I’m making the choice to not decide, yet.”

A delay sometimes feels safer. The feeling is that you can’t be criticized because you didn’t decide, only if you do decide and you’re wrong.

You weigh the risk of the decision on the cost of being wrong instead of on the cost of time or the cost of being stuck.

It is the fallacy of critical thinking. No choice is a safe choice.

Analyzed Enough

The reality is that time is often not on our side. Patience is important, but time always keeps moving.

A decision or choice not made may allow the window to close, or worse, the competition jumps through leaving you behind.

You can spend a lot of time reviewing the past. Reliving the mistakes from before and feeling stuck about the action you should take next.

Experience suggests more watching, listening, and learning, yet time can’t wait.

Change needs motion. Motion means you are not stuck.

If there is a change you need to make, today may be a great day to start.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

05
Apr 19
-

When Speaking Up is a Risky Decision

Tags : choice culture decisions risk

We all play a role in the workplace. Even the person who is never asked plays a role. Everyone has an opportunity to contribute, the question is, “How will they?” Have you ever felt that speaking up is a risky decision?

We sometimes evaluate our circumstances in strange ways. Our contributions as an employee may find us offering opinions or retreating to silence out of fear. What do you do?

Fear as a Driver

Much of what happens in our workplace cultures is conditioned by fear. Sometimes intentionally, sometimes not, but it still happens.

What happened the last time someone was wrong? Did their contribution get labeled as a failure? Did they get uninvited from the team meeting? Are their chances of a future promotion now limited? Were they fired?

Perhaps none of those things happened but that is the message that is often floating around in our head. “I should say something but it is too risky.”

What is your measurement of risk?

Do you withdraw from contributing out of fear? Do you watch your team or organization make costly wrong turns which could have been avoided if you offered your perspective? What is riskier?

Risky Decision

No one wants to make a bad choice or a wrong decision. Sometimes our decisions turn out the wrong way because we lack information.

No one told me the caesar salad had anchovies.

I didn’t realize how many calories were in the chocolate fudge brownie.

They person I bought the car from never mentioned the transmission was acting up.

What carries the most risk? The consequences of politely and appropriately contributing to the conversation or watching the disaster that may unfold if you don’t speak up?

Be careful with your risky decision.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

07
Mar 19
-

Workplace Fit Has More Than One Meaning

Tags : career choice decisions hiring practice workplace fit

Ask someone why they didn’t get the job and they may reply, “I guess I wasn’t the right fit.” When someone chooses a GM vehicle over the Ford, it may be about fit. Nike over Reebok, it may be about fit.

All these examples of fit are different, yet similar. Most importantly, they are relevant.

About Fit

Fit for the vehicle brand of choice is probably not about dimensions. The same for a running shoe, we can probably always find the best fitting size.

Brand choice is a different kind of fit.

Many organizations strive to hire for fit. What fit are they trying to fulfill? Does fit come down to the idea of like or acceptance?

Are you employed by an organization that embraces diversity? How does fit work there?

Fit should never be confused with like. When we decide we don’t like something or someone, does that make it the wrong fit?

Who is selected for the board of directors? What about the steering committee or the committee that organizes the summer picnic? Is it based on who fits the best or perhaps who is more liked?

Whenever we base decisions on like we are making a sacrifice. We give up what someone else has to offer. We give up on that brand, the promise, or the possibility of a different experience.

Workplace Fit

Hiring for fit should be considered logically against need. It should be as objective as possible and leaving the least amount of room for subjective analysis.

If the entire board or committee thinks exactly the same then the decisions and outcomes will follow accordingly. In some cases, this could be the path for the beginning of the end. No different points of view and we’re stuck, stalled, or stopped.

Be aware of how you are deciding about fit.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

14
Jan 19
-

Can Your Decision Wait? Should It?

Tags : choice confidence decision making influence

Procrastination about deciding is common. Especially for those big decisions, the high-risk kind. Can your decision wait? A better question may be, “Should it wait?”

The timeliness of decisions always feels problematic. Going too soon may involve some remorse later. Waiting too long, well, it may be too late.

The waitstaff may I ask, “Are you ready to order or do you need a few more minutes?”

That new car purchase, the salesperson may suggest, “Take your time. We’ve only had one other person looking at this vehicle.”

Sometimes it is the anticipation of what we may end up with or the opportunity that we might miss.

Some people will throw it out to fate, “If it is meant to be, it will be.”

Spring into Action

Emotionally we can be influenced to spring into action. It is what marketing does, the savvy salesperson, or our toe tapping friend with little patience.

Most decisions we make feel like the right decision at the time. We analyze and assess the playing field, the market, and the forecast. At the exact moment we make the decision it is the right decision.

As what happens next unfolds our decision may hold up to be good, or be bad, but at the time we made it, it was good.

Decision Wait

We can procrastinate about decisions for long periods of time. So much so that we completely miss opportunities.

If you were in business in the late 1980’s and waited long enough about the decision to purchase a fax machine, today, you’re in luck. You’ve never had to purchase a fax machine.

Be careful of the marketing that gives you a shove. Watch out for friends who suggest, “No risk, no reward.”

When the decision is yours, make a smart choice, do it with intention. Things always change. You say when.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

25
May 18
-

Good Difference, Are You Making One?

Tags : change choice difference pivot status quo

Monday through Friday is a popular schedule for many workers, others are six or even seven days nearly every week. People and businesses are often trying to make a difference. The question may be, is it a good difference?

When you ask around, most people will probably quickly agree that the World around us is changing. Are you changing, is your organization changing, or should changes be happening?

Status Quo

Choice conditions whether we change. Change is a decision. It is easy to fall in love with the status quo. In the status quo the risk feels much less. People believe, “I know this works and I’m sticking with it.”

Many people approach their Monday through Friday doing what works. Doing it over and over again, week after week, as the World changes. Change doesn’t always need to happen, but is it happening enough? Enough for you, your career, or your business?

We often pick the low hanging fruit. That is the easy fruit, reachable, achievable, and enjoyable. Life is easy, just pick what you can and move on to the next. It feels comfortable to fall in love with easy.

If nothing ever changes, easy may continue to work for a long time, or theoretically forever. In a World that is stuck or standing still there isn’t much need for change.

Good Difference

Is there a requirement for something different? Is there a requirement for change? When you recognize that the World isn’t standing still you may also realize you need to make a difference. A good difference, not a bad choice.

Choice is scary because it comes without a warranty or guarantee. What you do next may not work. It may have bugs, kinks, and turn off the people you’ve worked hard to please.

Getting a ladder to pick the fruit others are skipping, the fruit we’ve never reached for, has an unknown level of success. There is choice and risk involved. Will it be a good difference?

If nothing is changing, then I guess it makes sense to just keep doing the same thing. No need for different.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a five-time author and some of his work includes, #CustServ The Customer Service Culture, and Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

19
Mar 18
-

Consensus Decisions and the Power of the Group

Tags : choice consensus decisions group leadership

Working alone, is the sometimes dream of the team member. Frustrated with roadblocks, different opinions, and even unhealthy conflict may make people believe that stand-alone is better. However, when you want a good decision, consensus decisions may be the best option available.

Decisions and Problems

I really enjoy working with groups on learning how to think more critically, how to solve problems, and most of all, make better decisions. Many people enter the seminar thinking that there may not be much to learn and that it will be another hold hands and sing Kumbaya session. It is not.

Our environment often conditions us. Society is an environment that everyone reading this must navigate. Our values and beliefs will shape the ebb and flow of how we process information. This is especially evident when we consider generational differences.

Many argue that our technology driven society is leading to less interaction, more solitude, and social distress. There may or may not be something to that but others may argue it is bringing us closer, just in a different way.

When it comes to making decisions, research says that more people are better than one. Consensus decisions by far exceed the probability of a good decision when compared with those made stand alone.

Through the results of hundreds of seminars that I’ve personally delivered on the subject, I know that consensus decisions work, and work well.

Consensus Decisions

It may be important to understand exactly what a consensus decision is. First, it is not a majority vote. Properly executed consensus decisions welcome and consider the thoughts of everyone in the group. It is not about minority power persuading others. It is about everyone agreeing with a chosen path.

As you may guess, true decision by consensus is often hard to attain. It may require extra time, patience, and a willingness to consider ideas different from your own. However, the quality of the decision makes it very worthwhile.

Technically, the best method to process a decision by consensus is through a round-robin approach. This approach suggests that each group member has an opportunity to express his or her thoughts, experiences, and probable outcomes of a choice.

As the group processes each member listens to understand and consider each explanation and probable outcomes of the choice. In the end, in true decision by consensus, all group members agree with the decision or choice.

In a society that seems to be changing it forms of connection, one thing may still be true. When it comes to brainpower, the power of many is still better than the power of one.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a five-time author and some of his work includes, #CustServ The Customer Service Culture, and Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

Tag Archives: choice

Jun 21

-

Trusted Decisions

May 20

-

Everyone Worries

Wasteful Worrying

May 20

-

Workplace Contributions

Apr 20

-

Leaning Forward

Jul 19

-

Wait for What?

Analyzed Enough

Apr 19

-

Fear as a Driver

Risky Decision

Mar 19

-

About Fit

Workplace Fit

Jan 19

-

Spring into Action

Decision Wait

May 18

-

Status Quo

Good Difference

Mar 18

-

Decisions and Problems

Consensus Decisions

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