The Positive Energy Workplace

I've worked with my team for years; one member has been with me for almost fourteen years now, another just two. Some vendors for years, some for short bouts. All of them I've learned from -- they've each grown me as a leader in their own ways. Writing this, just fresh off of our Q3 Team Meeting, I am flush with gratitude and also awe at what teaming takes. Whether you are in person (which we are not), or remote (which we very much are and always have been), there are a couple of best practices and beliefs to hold that I've found extra useful.

You're in a conversation with a colleague, maybe on a first date, maybe you're meeting someone on the plane, or you keep noticing that every time you think about this person or that situation, you get a funny feeling in your gut. The context may be personal, it may be professional. The sense may be subtle, if you're lucky it may be really strong. And either way, you might not be able to identify exactly what it is. You just know it's there. What do you do? 

People often wait for a big thing to happen to start to reset their life, their goals, their health, their relationships, their whatever... "I'll start fresh after the weekend." "I'll start eating well after vacation." "I'll put more energy into showing up better after I finish this project." "I'll reset this relationship and give honest feedback laterrrr..." "I'll start writing again next month..."

I had a meeting today with a team who'd asked me for some feedback. Our meeting was to discuss some of the core challenges they were having and how we might address. This is an awesome company, great group of people, doing good and important work, and all totally wiped out. Exhausted.

I once had a mentor whose grounding principle was "How you do one thing is how you do everything." When I heard it, it kind of landed. Not fully. Truthfully, I wrote it off to "personal development speak" and put it in my back pocket. But...I started to pay attention to where this might be true. I noticed how I addressed things (straight on or "avoidantly"), how I was with my time integrity, how I followed through on things, how I engaged with conflict, and how this rippled into every other area of my life. Years later, after coaching hundreds of private clients and teaching thousands, I can see this to be absolutely true -- maybe not the exact wording of it or 100% of the time -- but the absolute ramifications of it and the gift in paying attention to it for ourselves and those we lead.