workplace Archives - Page 6 of 14

05
Dec 19
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Project Drama and Workplace Advancement

What do project drama and workplace advancement have in common? They both seem to get attention. Are there other commonalities?

Career minded employees are hungry for opportunity. They often create some of the opportunities by attracting attention to their work.

Attention and Trust

Tesla recently smashed some windows on their new prototype truck. Was this a complete failure or was it really intentional to attract more attention?

Failure or success, it improved visibility. They received huge publicity and many preorders.

Many people would quickly suggest that means success. They only question some would ask is, “Can you trust the product?” If the glass breaks that easily, what else may happen?

Research suggests that customers who have experienced product or service challenges but have had their challenge resolved satisfactorily are actually more loyal than those customers who never had a problem at all. It may seem strange, yet it is true.

Project Drama

Back to the workplace. Does the squeaky wheel get the attention? The project that nearly fails as compared to the project that moved flawlessly from step-to-step? Which one received more attention? Which scenario creates more trust?

Many people wonder why Alice was promoted instead of Jane. After all, Alice’s work seems a little shaky.

We are in a society that is craving more and more attention. Social media feeds get flooded every day with attention seeking propaganda. Something as silly as “the cat meme” gets lots of attention. Smudge became popular overnight.

Onlookers often get irritated with attention seekers. Creating project drama is not a recommended practice. Yet, sometimes you have to toot your own horn and make some noise.

Breaking glass, literally, or metaphorically (glass ceiling, perhaps) also seems to attract some attention.

Does it help with workplace advancement? Does it inspire trust and create success?

-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
Nov 19
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When Service Expectations Get Set

Tags : culture customer service organizational service workplace

Who decides about the quality of service? Hint: The customer. When do service expectations get set? Hint: Usually long before the product or service is received.

Are you conscious about expectations and outcomes? They matter for service, they matter for workplace change, and they will matter for everything connected to your culture.

Service Expectations

Traveling on Interstate 80 you can go from New Jersey to California. If you take this journey, or only some of it, and you’ll see road signs and billboards. Some of those will be for rest stops, food, and fuel.

If you make a choice to eat at a restaurant franchise, you have an idea of what to expect. You’ll make your decision to enter the establishment with your expectations already set.

If you make a choice to eat at an unknown restaurant, perhaps a mom and pop, upon entering you may not be sure what to expect. You’ll decide on your expectations quickly though, it often starts with the sign along the highway.

This is true for nearly everything about service.

It is why we decide we’ll trust some websites and others not so much. It is how we’ll make decisions about the shoes we buy, the clothes we wear, and the car we’ll drive. The expectations are set long before the sale.

Beyond products and services, it applies to your workplace too.

Connecting Service Internally

Certainly, in the workplace there are internal services. We know we can trust Sally with the project, yet we’re still not sure about James.

We’ll use our senses, our intuition, and our life experiences to decide.

The change handed down from the C-Suite will feel safe or it will feel conflicting. Work teams will decide to embrace it, move it forward, or perhaps slow it down.

It is true for the exit we’ll take from the highway. It is true for the change we need in the workplace.

Service expectations are the best predictor of outcomes.

-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
Nov 19
-

Work Attention and Why It Matters for Culture

Tags : attention culture focus workplace

Is work attention making a difference for your workplace culture? The psychology of work is important and it makes a difference for your culture.

Absolutely, yes, people still concentrate. Some claim that they are required to do it by multitasking.

For the record, many researchers believe cognitive multitasking is a myth.

Waiting and Focus

There are claims about ADHD, or in more relaxed forms it may be labeled ADD. Largely the medical community identifies this as a proven disorder, yet some naysayers disagree.

Regardless of any diagnosis, attention is harder to come by these days. The lure of attention to something more interesting is hard to break.

Anytime there is waiting, attention starts to drift. It drifts to a Smartphone or even to simple day-dreaming.

It happens before meetings, during meetings, and immediately following meetings. There is checking of email, text messaging, and social media feeds.

Often, the question for organizations or for the basis of workplace culture is, “How do we get more attention?”

Quest for Attention

Clever marketing programs, social feeds, and even television commercials spar for attention.

The quest for attention in the workplace is often attempted by force.

Turn off your cell phones.

Put your phones away.

No cell phones beyond this point.

In some cases, it is presented as a security threat, or a threat to intellectual property. In other cases, it is designed to create focus or allow for more concentration.

Work Attention

Everywhere you go people are jockeying for attention. It is true for the internet search algorithm and it is true for human-to-human message reception.

For organizational culture, attention is more important now than ever. It is much better as a pull attribute instead of push.

When your message is compelling enough to capture full attention without a push for attention you’re winning.

Maybe it is even delivered via a device.

-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.

20
Nov 19
-

Does Storytelling Work For You?

Tags : culture stories storytelling workplace

Have you used storytelling in your repertoire of workplace skills? Storytelling can make a difference. What is in your stories?

Some people quickly scoff at the idea of a story. They consider stories to only be a fairy tale, an extreme embellishment of the facts, or just plain boring.

In some cases, people connect stories with the sales process, and, it might be true.

We’ve all heard the phrase, “Everyone is in sales.”

What is important for your story?

Workplace Culture and Stories

Telling stories in the workplace can have a positive impact on not only performance, but organizational culture as well. People will often connect with stories. They have been hearing them and learning from them starting at a very young age.

Workplace motivation and culture are best connected with a compelling call-to-action. This is often defined as the difference between push and pull. Pull is much more powerful and a good story pulls the listener in.

Stories should draw connection points and can include many characters, including yourself. Always remember though, that for the listener it needs to resonate in a connection.

Storytelling Captures Attention

When you capture the attention of a listener through a story told the impact will make a difference. If the story causes the listener to self-reflect and builds a connection, you likely have experiential learning.

Attention is hard to capture in today’s fast-paced World. Pause for a few moments and phone surfing begins. A commercial in the middle of the television show, more surfing. A small group discussion that isn’t resonating and more surfing.

Your story, whatever it is, needs to capture the attention of the listener. Should it be embellished and dramatic? Should it be funny? Could it be sad? The easy answer is, “Maybe.” Know your audience and feel your way through.

Everyone is in sales and some stories are unforgettable.

Tell a good one.

-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
Nov 19
-

Remember Endings Follow Beginnings

Tags : brand career endings reputation workplace

Excitement for the beginning is great. It unleashes the energy and gets things rolling. Every customer order, every project, and even your career has a beginning and an end. Remember endings have just as much importance as the beginning.

When things start, it is often hard to keep in mind that things will end. The optimism and excitement of the beginning often gets everyone engaged in the flow. Flow means momentum and momentum is hard to stop.

After the Beginning

Your latest personal technology device is super cool on the first day or week. Eighteen short months later and it has often lost some of its luster.

It is similar for a new outfit, a pair of shoes, and a car. Awesome at first, but later not so much.

Certainly, it is similar for your job or your career. Even the greatest start is followed by an ending.

Unless it is the finale of something great, like a fireworks display, the end is often not desirable or attractive. In fact, it is a distraction.

At the same time having the foresight and recognition that often even the best things come to end is important for your career.

Remember Endings

Endings follow starts.

Starts are important, so are first impressions. Yet across time impressions and opinions often change.

How you navigate between the beginning and the end will continue to shape your reputation and your personal brand.

How you end will be remembered.

While you’re navigating your day keep in mind that what you do becomes part of the reputation that follows you. The beginning, the journey, the end.

It’s true for this day, and every day thereafter.

-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.

14
Oct 19
-

Workplace Mind Changers Are Often Necessary

Tags : change marketing mind changers pivot workplace

Do you need to try something new? Are you seeking to pivot into a new or slightly tweaked vision? Workplace mind changers may be required.

What people do every day can be connected to the concept of habits.

Workplace habits can be hard to break. People come to work and do the same routine.

Leaders often take for granted the ease of which people flow with the norm. Whatever the culture suggests as the norm, seemingly happens with little motivation being required. It’s the norm.

Changing Minds is Marketing

When you want to change something, you sometimes have to change minds.

We see it in marketing. A new iPhone is being released, is the new phone needed or is it the marketing that prompts a quest for something more?

Seasons change, and as such, it may be time for new clothing or household items and decorations. What drives what is purchased? Often it is based on advertising and marketing campaigns.

Employees sometimes want a new chair, a new computer, a company supplied laptop or something fixed or replaced. They can simply ask, or develop a small marketing message to spark change.

Your marketing finesse is incredibly valuable.

Workplace Mind Changers

Often, you are not just giving ideas, your selling them. Your sales efforts are passively designed to change minds.

You create the compelling message. You establish reasons why, and connect them to business efficiency, productivity, or long-run gains.

Establishing buy-in for a budget proposal, additional workforce, or technology change starts with selling. If the need isn’t apparent nothing will change.

Becoming apparent starts with some data, and better yet, a story.

Workplace mind changers are also great marketers.

-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
Oct 19
-

Workplace Experiences Shape Your Future

Tags : experiences experiential learning future pivot workplace

People will sometimes ask, “What did you learn?” Our workplace experiences guide nearly everything that happens next. They tear down, create new, or expand organization culture.

Likely, no one experiences the experience in exactly the same way. On a trip to Disney, individual experiences are different. A trip to the beach, the mountain resort, or last evenings sporting event, no two people have exactly the same experience.

It is the same for what we read, watch on TV, or learn in the seminar. It is always shaped by our individual thoughts and past experiences.

Experiential Learning

This is exactly why the concept of experiential learning matters in workshops and seminars. You can tell people many things, when you prompt them to reflect on ideas as an experience it is much more powerful.

In many regards, it is why the keynote at the convention is impactful, or perhaps why it is not. Ask a few people what they thought, you’ll likely get some different answers. No two people will experience it exactly the same way.

The stories that are told and the stories that are heard may be two different things.

Workplace Experiences

The hope then, of the story teller, the workshop leader, or the CEO is that his or her involvement will create the kind of impact desired.

The desire to shape futures, pivot directions, or do more of the same will be based on the behaviors that are led by our experiences.

We all rely on stories to shape what happens next. Biblical stories, historical accounts, and, “the way things are done around here.”

-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.

01
Oct 19
-

Desirable Learning and Workplace Impact

Tags : desirable leadership learning organization development workplace

Desirable learning is different from learning that is forced. Most workplace skills come from learning which results in competence. Is that competence attractive and desirable?

A good friend telephoned me yesterday. He often phones with philosophical questions. He is a hobbyist researcher, always seeking the facts (or a population to survey) to determine probable outcomes, answers, or solutions.

Yesterday his question was about motivation. He was trying to consider all angles of motivation and especially how it helps determine career paths. His work is always interesting to me.

Workplace Impact and Careers

When it comes to workplace learning, organization development, and career paths it often boils down to motivation. Motivation to learn a new skill, up your game, and do better work. Arguably some of that motivation may be based on desire.

Can you learn to be a salesperson, an accountant, or a graphic designer?

Can you learn to be a computer network technician? What about being a Python coder?

Do people learn how to be a good manager, vice-president, or CEO?

Is learning based on desire to perform the work?

People often discuss talent. You may hear someone suggest that the painter, musician, or actress is very talented. Did those skills come naturally or did they practice their craft over and over again until they honed their skills above the average?

If they developed that talent, what compelled them to devote so much energy to that development?

Desirable Learning

In your workplace or connected to your career is opportunity. Sure, there may be some lucky opportunities here and there, yet you have to appropriately manage your luck.

The best way to manage any opportunity is to be prepared. You develop the skills and competency to be both proactive and reactive to your environment through learning.

Do you believe you could learn to paint on canvas? Can you learn to become a Python coder? What about being a chef, a welder, or an FBI agent? Can you learn these things?

The question is, “Do you want to do it?”

We often limit ourselves, or not, based on our own desires. Desire may be driven by self-efficacy, feedback, or personal interests.

It is probably safe to say that most people can learn nearly anything.

Do they find the opportunity desirable?

-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.

30
Sep 19
-

Making Workplace Promises Bigger

Tags : micromanagement promises trust workplace

A promise is not just about confidentiality. A promise is often about a commitment to doing your best work. Are you making workplace promises that you will keep?

Trust is element often discussed during leadership training. Trust is critical for our communication, teamwork, and is critical for organizations to realize their true competitive advantage.

Changing Outcomes

Trust often begins with a promise. Sometimes it is a verbal commitment, a head nod, or a hand shake. In other cases, it is assumed. Attend the meeting and you’re on the hook for assignments.

Workplace promises may be a force that tugs against the micromanager. When there is greater trust, there is less oversight. Less oversight means more freedom of movement, creativity, and innovation.

As a result of promises kept, things tend to go far beyond trust. Promises make a difference for outcomes of the organization and will help individuals build better careers.

Are you making promises? Can you make them bigger?

Workplace Promises

Professional growth often starts with a promise. When the promise becomes bigger, more meaningful, and delivers with greater impact your credibility increases. Done repetitively across time, a sense of consistency develops.

More credibility, greater consistency, and well managed communication will mean you are becoming a trusted resource.

Making bigger promises will test your vulnerability, improve your ability to assess risk, and perform at a much higher level.

We often write our own story. When you are committed to making promises that you will keep, you’re making a difference for everyone. Including yourself.

Make bigger promises. Keep them.

-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: workplace

Dec 19

-

Attention and Trust

Project Drama

Nov 19

-

Service Expectations

Connecting Service Internally

Nov 19

-

Waiting and Focus

Quest for Attention

Work Attention

Nov 19

-

Workplace Culture and Stories

Storytelling Captures Attention

Nov 19

-

After the Beginning

Remember Endings

Nov 19

-

Navigating The Same Stuff

Understanding Navigation

Oct 19

-

Changing Minds is Marketing

Workplace Mind Changers

Oct 19

-

Experiential Learning

Workplace Experiences

Oct 19

-

Workplace Impact and Careers

Desirable Learning

Sep 19

-

Changing Outcomes

Workplace Promises

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