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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Relationships That WorkIt is easy for any of us to lose sight of why it is that our relationships (be it one, several, or all), don’t work. Especially important is to recognize the ways in which our relationships impact our work performance. Problems that are seemingly personal do indeed affect us in business because there’s no real solid way to separate the various realms of our life. And when we are having trouble with our work relationships, our performance can suffer in critical ways. We’ve all had the experience of the passive aggressive behavior we, or others, engage in when things aren’t going right. Not healthy, especially in the work environment. We seem to forget how easy it is to get along with people…we’re all just people. There is always a way for us to work together, it’s a matter of finding compatible needs and also a strategy for communication. When working with clients, an individual, a few, or a large group, this is the thought I always keep in my mind – “there is indeed a way to make this work, for everyone” and it works. And it is about finding a way to get to the heart of how people need one another’s talents and then putting the communication components in place. In order to do that, I look for not just specific strategies but also analogies that can be used…the same ones don’t appeal to everyone but some will be sure to make an impact and drive a point of consideration home to have an effect. So goes for the following story which is a quick read that came across our lines this morning. Indian Express, India NAIROBI, JANUARY 6:
A baby hippopotamus that survived the tsunami waves on the Kenyan coast has formed a strong bond with a giant male, century-old tortoise, in an animal facility in the Port city of Mombassa, officials said today.
"It is incredible. A-less-than-a-year-old hippo has adopted a male tortoise, about a century old, and the tortoise seems to be very happy with being a mother," ecologist Paula Kahumbu, who is in-charge of Lafarge park, told AFP.
"After it was swept away and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized. It had to look for a surrogate mother. It landed with the tortoise and established a strong bond. They swim, eat and sleep together. The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it follows its mother. If somebody approaches the tortoise, then it becomes aggressive," she said.
I’m not implying any reader is the hippo or the tortoise but rather that if they can come together as very different creatures in the world, with different languages and from different species, there is a simple message for us. We just need to tune in and allow good things to happen. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Another Perspective On Stress A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, "How heavy is this glass of water? " Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g. The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it.” "If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day,you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.” He continued, "And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on. " "As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holdingit again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden." So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down.Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Attitudes About Having Time
Everyone has some sort of a perspective about time and how much of it there is. Right? You’ve heard others and you have heard yourself going over in your mind how “time is so short” or you “don’t have enough” of it. That always strikes me as somewhat amusing….we all get the same allotment of time. We are allocated 24 hours each day, 1440 minutes. We each get 7 days each week, 365 of them over a year. We all get the same amount. What varies is how we use it, spend it, waste it, fill it up, let it slip by or feel exuberant about how much of it we have. Our perception is based upon the choices we make and how it is we manage time. When dealing with people who are clients or even potential clients, we find there is a chronic problem with a similar perspective about how there is so much happening within an organization that there isn’t time to address some core issues because urgent tasks must be attended to first. While this is understandable in one respect, when the urgent list seems to go and on from one set of urgencies to the next, it is time to consider taking time to catch a collective breath and figure out the next most strategic steps towards organizational well-being. Everyday there are mergers, acquisitions, strikes, pre strike threats, post merger and post strike adjustments. There are annual reviews, hiring challenges, Board conflicts…the list is seemingly endless. As a consulting group, we are well versed in the issues that face groups of people who are needing to get their work accomplished; we understand the pressure that each one of these scenarios creates. However, we tune into the reality that each situation also impacts the ambiance in the building, the ethos of the group, the culture within the organization….and they are all factors that affect performance.
What we know is that when we enter an organization, we cause a momentary pause……….we then work with our clients to shape perspective in a way that will enhance the culture and facilitate the motivation of all the workers to perform at their best – and quickly….under any of these pressure inducing situations. The next time, or perhaps right now, while you are right in the midst of being way too busy and simply not having the time to call for help, give us a call…it is actually the perfect time. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The Mind and The Body
Most people have heard about the mind/body connection but what exactly does that mean? And what does it entail?
After studying the mind/body connection across the course of my career, both academic and experiential, I have landed upon a perspective you might find interesting and helpful. If you dive into the details, it can get pretty confusing but it is very simplistic when you stand back and take a look at the bigger, broader picture.
Here's how it goes. For every emotion you experience, there is a feeling (of course) and there is a thought (uh huh...). The combination of these two cause chemicals which would otherwise be dormant within your body, to be released. That release causes a reaction that you can physically feel.
For instance, when you get a really angry or aggressive thought running through your head and you then sustain it, your body most often releases adrenaline into your bloodstream to get you ready to defend yourself. You feel a flush in your face or an increase in your heartbeat, a tightness in your chest or a pain in your gut. Right?
I hate to do this to you but think of something that drives you into a rage.......................... see what I mean?
Over time, your body wears down from that kind of treatment......so what can you do ?
You can learn to train your brain by learning some simple tricks to counterbalance the negative effects. You can literally get up and walk around and allow yourself to inhale and focus on something beautiful -- the sky, a cool glass of water, some image in your mind's eye. Doing this, even though it sounds hokee, actually helps to get your body into a normal, calm state. Try it . Let me know if I am wrong.
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