navigation Archives - Dennis E. Gilbert

17
Aug 21
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Workplace Obstacles, You Decide How You’ll Navigate

Tags : navigation obstacles roadblocks success

What do you do when you encounter workplace obstacles? Did you ever wonder why they are there in the first place?

When someone needs to drive a forklift truck through the warehouse or stock yard, does the business purposely place obstacles in the route?

If you’re hired to write code for a new specialty software application, does the hiring agent instruct you to do it without access to a computing device?

If your goal is to bring in more sales, does the business reduce marketing and advertising efforts?

Every day people are striving to accomplish a goal. They’re also faced with obstacles or roadblocks that challenge the path forward.

Should you resist? Fight it? Should you figure out how to navigate it?

Right or Wrong

Does right or wrong matter?

It seems that like beauty, right or wrong may be in the eyes of the beholder.

Certainly, there are rules, regulations, and privileges. Driving is a privilege. Speed limits are a rule.

For many things there are so-called grey areas. Circumstances or situations arise and judgement calls need to be made. Do you use your best judgement or just adapt regardless of your position on the matter?

Navigation and adaptation are key.

Workplace Obstacles

There will always be obstacles. Rain occurs on wedding dates.

Some one or some thing will become an obstacle in your path.

Workplaces are full of navigational challenges. It seems they are increasing and standing in the way of the true mission.

In the end your perception of right or wrong, fair or unfair, probably won’t matter much. It is how you’ll look on the other side.

Think carefully about decisions you’ll make. Find the balance for navigation.

Makes decisions that keep you on track, not stopped or stalled.

Sometimes the hardest part is understanding the true goal.

There often is a difference between how it works and how it looks.

-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.

23
Jul 21
-

Brave Leaders Clear The Pathway For Success

Tags : brave leaders merit navigation

Do you know any brave leaders? In the workplace people are often confronted with choices. Choices for behavior that will condition what happens next.

While many people seek success by merit, much of your success is created by navigation.

Certainly, you need to have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform but you should never underestimate the value of relationships, etiquette, and social prowess.

Bravery may be something you haven’t really considered.

Brave Leaders

Being brave shouldn’t imply confrontation, harmful conflict, or cognitive dissonance.

Brave may be facing challenges head on rather than procrastinating or otherwise delaying necessary actions.

You might consider how you unveil your recent findings while studying the data or how you will advise the boss that too many cocktails and flirty behavior at the social gathering might turn off investors.

Also under consideration is risk. How far will you stray from the mainstream concepts for marketing in your industry. How risky will your ad campaign be?

Taking a stand on any topic of conversation might be a brave move. Will it be accepted or rejected?

Bravery is part of navigation that many workplace professionals struggle with. How much is the right amount and how much will reflect an imagine of being overdone?

Will your bravery disrupt your image of organizational fit?

Cross Roads

Throughout any career there are crossroads. Choices and decisions that need to be made.

Focusing on what is deemed right matters. What is deemed right by your standards may not be part of the culture of every organization.

Bravery is almost never a short-run game. Appropriately balanced with navigation it will determine long-run success.

Your next move might require the most bravery of all.

-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.

06
Jul 21
-

Workplace Tenacity, Turtle Race and Bunny Hops!

Tags : change navigation pivot psychology of work tenacity

How do you approach work? Are you in the groove of getting by, or are you charging ahead by giving the best example of workplace tenacity?

Having the commitment and approaching your work with rigor are characteristics that should not be forgotten. Work is called work for a reason.

One of the best examples of leadership comes to you through role models. Role models often pursue their work unknowingly. They are unknowingly are serving others through their own example.

Are you an example of tenacity?

Workplace Tenacity

Change is a constant. So is the reality of shifting duties, responsibilities, and careful navigation.

Many hard-charging employees believe that the way to succeed is through merit. Merit matters, it matters a lot, but for the fast-trackers it seems that one of the most important attributes is navigation.

Knowing when, how, or having luck on your side and managing it well is just as important as having a technical skill.

Are you flexible? Can you pivot without wavering? Do you compromise, can you balance actions and behaviors while not going too far outside of the lines?

Work is often about mastering your craft. That means not only technically, but by careful navigation.

It might be more about a race of turtles, not the zig-zag fast hops of rabbits. Observation suggests the rabbits are winning, but one or two hops in the wrong direction can mean devastating consequences.

Consider building skills centered around your expertise and supplementing your efforts by careful navigation.

Technical skills are abundant, the greater challenge is navigation.

Tenacity means you’re in it for the long haul.

-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.

27
May 21
-

Working Hard, Does It Pay Off?

Tags : hard work navigation psychology of work work smart

Many people are encouraged that success comes from working hard. There is also the work smart, not hard crowd. Does working hard really pay off?

How would you describe hard work? Is it something that makes you feel exhausted? Is it physical labor?

One definition of working hard may connect people with the concept of effort. Physical labor, emotional labor, the effort to do more, learn more and become more valuable. Does that include working smart? Depending on your definition, yes, it most likely does.

Likely, it is a combination of many things. It includes being smart, or the ability to assess circumstances and situations and learn from them.

The definition of success is different for each person. When you are trying to become successful in your job or career what things should you do?

Working Hard

In some workplaces, the rate of pay is not based on merit. It is based on credentials, years of service, and the definition of the position you hold. The pay then, with a little bit of subjectivity, is calculated using these factors. Should you work hard or do just enough to fulfill the job duties as defined in the job description? Will this pay off?

Your success may also include another factor.

Have you factored in how you’ll navigate your job role?

What is the culture of the business or organization where you work? Does hard work matter, or is it more about navigation? Should you achieve as many credentials as possible in order to achieve more pay or get a promotion?

Should you just be quiet, and stay out of the way?

Nearly every circumstance or situation will be different. What pays off for you is likely going to be a combination of many factors. Some of it may involve credentials, some of it may involve physical and emotional labor. In some cases, it may be largely about relationships.

Does hard work pay off? It may depend on what you consider hard.

The hardest work of all may be figuring out how you will navigate. Does that exhaust you?

-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 21
-

Target Destination and How You Should Travel

Tags : career destination journey navigation

What is your target destination? What did you pack or how will you travel? If you believe your career is a journey then you should be thinking about how you will get there.

Have you ever asked someone for directions and their response seemed to make you feel more confused than you already were?

Go straight down this road, then turn left at the fork in the road near the old tree stump. Then go up the first hill and across the old stream. Well, it’s not a stream anymore, they changed it a couple of years ago but you’ll see where it once was. After you cross the old stream look to your right and you’ll see a cornfield, right after the cornfield take the second right-hand turn. You’ll probably see this old guy either in his garden or sitting on the porch of the next house you see. Don’t turn in there. Go a little bit more until you pass the barn and then make an immediate left.

Or if you are in the city.

Go about six blocks and make a right at the 3rd red light. After you turn go to the first alley and make a left, you’ll go about 2 blocks through the alley. At the red brick building make a right, it is just beyond the dumpsters and if there is a lot of trash there you may miss it. Go down that alley to the 3rd steel garage door. That’s where you can park.

Bad or difficult directions often seem like they offer little to no help and might even be a little bit scary at the same time.

Target Destination

When you are on a journey it is important to clearly understand the direction you are headed. It probably starts with a vision, having a solid idea of where you want to end up. If you can’t decide, you never really start. You are just wandering.

When you have a specific destination in mind you probably need to apply it to a timeline. How long will it take and where will your stopping points be along the way.

Creating a map is valuable. Studying it is even more important.

A navigational tool can help. One that talks to you and gives you feedback when you’ve made a wrong turn or alerts you to construction zones and traffic jams. Feedback is valuable, not a waste of time.

You’ll need to consider the sign posts, mile markers, and what you’ll do about detours or unexpected setbacks.

Consideration for what happens after you’ve reached your destination will matter too. What will you wear and what will the weather be like? Although you may be in a new place, you’ll want to be comfortable and be able to fit in.

Without a target destination, you won’t get very far. You may end up looking back and realizing that while you were moving around a lot, you didn’t really go anywhere.

Identify your destination, plan appropriately, and most of all avoid getting directions from someone who can’t really tell you how to get there.

-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.

23
Jun 20
-

Navigating Difficult People Is Seldom Easy

Tags : choices difficult people navigation

Have you ever faced the challenge of navigating difficult people? What did you do?

Workplaces are filled with challenges. They’re also filled with emotions, bias, and mistrust.

A Few Basics

There are a few general practices that can help guide people in most situations. One of the first and perhaps the most fundamental is to recognize that it is often your own behavior that you can control, not the behavior or personalities of others.

There is a difference between navigating peers and navigating your boss, or perhaps even the boss of your boss.

What about all of the picky people, the perfectionists, or the boundary busting critic?

Then there are the annoying people. The loud, the rude, and the obnoxious.

When we recognize that we have a choice for how we react to every situation it makes navigation a little easier.

Some of it is based on your own expectations.

What are the expectations of others? Are they too high, too low, or inappropriately aligned for the circumstances?

Once again, each person has some ability to gauge their actions and reactions.

Navigating Difficult People

A picky person may feel difficult, yet when we realize and develop a greater understanding of their expectations, their values, or beliefs, we can better navigate. We can change our interactions and lower our expectations on his or her behavior.

On the other hand, a truly difficult person may enjoy being difficult.

If you suggest blue, they want green. Show them green, and it should have been orange. Tomorrow or next week, it all changes.

In some cases, you have a choice about who you interact with, in other cases you must find a way to navigate when interaction is required. Even when it is uncomfortable.

Improving your own situation starts with thinking about the choices you’ll make and how you’ll choose to interact.

Having big expectations for others that they should change is probably unrealistic.

You can change, just don’t expect it from others.

-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.

12
Feb 20
-

Finding a Better Boss Depends On Your Navigation

Tags : boss career navigation pivot

Could you benefit from a better boss? Better than what?

Many career minded individuals feel frustrated with their boss. It may be because the boss supplies what feels like meaningless work. Perhaps he or she is too commanding, or is too close-minded. There may be more than a dozen other reasons.

The reality is that you always have some opportunity to shape your own future. That includes your interactions with your boss.

Opportunities Not Dead Ends

People sometimes suggest to me, “It must be nice to be your own boss.”

I’m typically quick to reply that at any given time I may have ten, twenty, or even fifty bosses. My clients are my boss.

Certainly, I have some ability to say whether I want that relationship or not.

It isn’t much different from traditional workplace roles. In a general sense, you work where you work by choice.

You’ll have things you have to do that perhaps you don’t enjoy. There are rules to follow that may not be your rules. There are organizational politics to navigate. And, work that may not always feel rewarding, efficient, or effective.

As for my job, it still has similarities to most jobs. You can make appropriate effort, or feel like a victim.

You can help by playing the role that needs played. That may be doing something creative, something necessary, or something monotonous.

Perhaps, you will also find opportunities to help by making suggestions. Have you ever considered doing it this way?

Not everything will be thought of as useful. Not everything will be welcomed with open arms.

Better Boss Navigation

There are at least three paths for your navigation.

The boss (or client) welcomes your advice and that makes things different or better.
You remain appropriately persistent. Eventually your contributions achieve a breakthrough and seem to matter. See number one.
You pack up your toys and move to a different sandbox.

A fourth, alternative path, is to accept everything as is. Remember though, that is your choice.

Sometimes the best way to help yourself is to help your boss. Whether it is one boss or many, you have the choice for navigation.

There are trade-offs everywhere.

Choose the navigation that fits you best. Blaming the boss isn’t a solution.

-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.

04
Nov 19
-

Understanding Navigation and Where You’ll End Up

Tags : career culmination navigation opportunity workplace

Understanding navigation may be more difficult than many workplace professionals quickly recognize. Yes, it is often about what we do and how we react and that defines how we navigate.

Just last week someone annoyed you in a meeting. Someone else didn’t complete a task, delayed the project, or simply decided not to show up.

This week there are schedule pressures. An update meeting with the boss and a report to complete.

There are countless opportunities to get annoyed in our workplace. Opportunities to see stress, feel stressed, and worry. Was anything different last month, last year, or at your old job?

Navigating The Same Stuff

Some things have probably changed but yet in reality you worried last year about stuff that just doesn’t matter this year.

You worried about sales being off, the budget not being balanced, or that a co-worker was trying to undermine your project.

You worried about what you said in the meeting, how you said it, and when the boss may have hinted (although you aren’t sure) that you aren’t measuring up.

None of those things matter this year. Although now you have an entire new set of somewhat similar challenges.

Are you navigating differently?

Understanding Navigation

Sure you may have grown. You attended the seminar, read a book, and listened to a few podcasts. You’ve chatted with colleagues, asked for feedback, and with some apprehension, listened to the critics.

Being stressed and worried doesn’t accomplish much. Feeling annoyed and getting irritated does not really serve a useful propose.

What happened last week or last month may have some impact but largely our career and the work that we do is about what is accomplished across decades of commitment and navigation.

Last week you weren’t a novice, an amateur, and now you’re an expert. It took you time, lessons learned, and navigation.

Don’t overestimate the impact of a single experience and don’t underestimate the value of the culmination of a decade.

-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.

25
Sep 19
-

Workplace Currents and Getting To The Other Side

Tags : career navigation success workplace workplace politics

Do you find navigating workplace currents a challenge? Are you fighting upstream, going with the flow, or simply trying to get to the other side?

What strategy for navigating workplace currents would you recommend?

Survivalists Message

Survivalists claim that the best way to cross a stream in waist deep water is to face directly across the stream. They suggest you shouldn’t face upstream, or downstream, but you should stay focused on an exit point on the other side.

The logic seems to be that facing upstream could cause you to slip, lose your balance, and topple backwards, possibly drowning. Facing downstream may get you across but not where you need to be as you would slowly be drifting away from your exit.

Is this similar to navigating workplace currents?

Workplace Currents

Certainly, confidence and approaching obstacles head on has its value. Yet, going with the flow feels like the easier route.

Perhaps it depends on the goal. For many, career growth is very important, yet it may feel like a catastrophic failure will seal your fate.

Sometimes surviving the workplace current is the most important aspect. You still want to thrive, but first you have to get through the current.

Much of what happens next depends on how you choose to navigate. Our belief systems and what we tell ourselves will have a significant impact on the outcomes.

So will the idea of keeping your eye on the prize.

Sometimes the hardest part is not the obstacle itself, it is the concentration and focus required to stick with your goal.

-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.

Tag Archives: navigation

Aug 21

-

Right or Wrong

Workplace Obstacles

Jul 21

-

Brave Leaders

Cross Roads

Jul 21

-

Workplace Tenacity

May 21

-

Working Hard

Apr 21

-

Target Destination

Jun 20

-

A Few Basics

Navigating Difficult People

Feb 20

-

Opportunities Not Dead Ends

Better Boss Navigation

Nov 19

-

Navigating The Same Stuff

Understanding Navigation

Sep 19

-

Survivalists Message

Workplace Currents

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