The Positive Energy Workplace

As I sit in the coffee shop by my office this a.m. - watching the snow storm that simply will not stop...go on...and on...and on...outside - I'm reminded that this weather and the ambiance around it - truly signifies "that time of the year again." Being a California girl, I have extra sensitivities to this weather - good and bad. Feelings of being trapped, incredibly cold, and missing my CA friends, family and climate so much it actually hurts sometimes, blend with feelings of appreciation for the beauty of the snow and the space it fills, the coziness, and being unable to go anywhere, therefore being forced to chill out inside, drink a hot drink, make some good chili or a batch of cupcakes, and read a good book. An additional gift of the snow, I notice this a.m., is that it seems to bring an even richer element of bonding with the patrons of this coffee shop as we all try to brush off our snow and warm up with hot beverages in both hands! It's "that time of year" again for sure. Good will, joy, forgiveness, gratitude, and bonding abound. But so does sadness, mixed emotion, and the reality or memories of challenging times past and present.

Other indicators of "this time of the year again" are the countless holiday email cards, the e-videos, the end of the year advice, and some really beautiful music. These amongst many others (I'm sure you have yours! One of which may include the promotion already of Valentine's Day coming up - Yowza!) - signify the end of the old year, the preview to the next. Love, generosity, gratitude, magic and melancholy abound.

This week between Christmas and New Years is one of my favorites. People tend to be taking a bit of time off, I kind of "shut down" my office, extra time with kids and family, an extra workout in here and there (the snow makes for an interesting twist), and even time to read a good book or two. In fact, truth be told - yesterday I indulged in a couple of hours of "Sex in the City" and "Mad Men" episodes that I've wanted to watch but have never found the time for "since there's always so much to do!" It's a good time of the year. Regardless of what's happening in our lives; challenges, highlights, sad stuff, happy stuff, conflicts, whatever...I find that it's a "hybernation week" that allows for healing, breathing, sleeping, appreciation, and of course that occassional episode of brainless tv or movie going!

That said, it's also a great time to do some final reflection as we head into 2010. Below are some questions I invite you to ponder should you find yourself in a reflective mood. If not, dive into those extra delights - and if you'd like to dive into the depths of you - where you've been and where you're going - dive into these questions (all listed below if you "read more...") Even better...do both! Stay warm, stay grateful and Happy New Year! xo anese

I'm experimenting with posting more frequently on this blog. I want to see how it feels to me to write in shorter, unedited clips, and I want to see what kind of response we get. It's an interesting thing to write stuff up, hit send, and have the work go out to cyberspace. Every once in a while I'll have someone send me a note saying they use this information for "self-coaching" or that they share the posts with their teams for discussion - that is great! If you are reading these posts, and care to comment or let me know how you use them - I'd love to hear from you. Otherwise, into cyberspace we go!

Quick note: If you want to get a copy of the Bootism(tm) paper, act quickly. You can access it by signing in on the right hand side of this blog (see where it says "name and email address"?) The paper will be available for a limited time as we're getting ready to replace it soon, so if you want it - go get it!

Thought for the day: I've been working with clients all day and have had a couple of interesting themes come up in our calls. One I thought I'd share is one that is so simple, we complexity loving human beings forget to use it more often. Here it is...

A couple of weeks ago, at the Inc 500 Conference in DC, I was having dinner with my good friend and colleague Ari Weinzweig (co-founding partner and CEO of Zingerman’s Community of Businesses and early adopter of Bootist Leadership) when I felt like I was going to choke. It wasn’t the company (—or the company :)—) but rather a delicious fresh piece of organic spinach that had lodged itself halfway down my throat and halfway in my mouth. You may know the feeling – halfway down, half way up – and you have to make a choice, take another bite, swallow it and hope for the best OR pull it back up and spit it out. I felt like I was going to gag, but instead of choking it up all over my dining partner, I opted to gulp it down and hope for the best. It went down, but with tears in my eyes, and recovering from my “near death” experience, we started to laugh at how swallowing fresh organic spinach and almost choking is a lot like organizational change…well any change for that matter.

First off, it’s uncomfortable. At first you feel like you’re gonna gag, your eyes may tear up, it may be hard to communicate to your peers, and your gag reflex makes you want to choke it up, spit it out, quit. Problem with that is that if you do any of these, you gave up too fast, the spinach doesn’t get digested, the organizational change doesn’t happen, and you’re back to square one – possibly having to gobble it down again (and maybe with a better strategy, but who’s to say?) Second off, it’s green – organizational change is green for a couple of reasons – 3 that I think of now are – it’s new for everyone, it’s got to have time to grow like grass, and it’s not always a pretty color. Third, if you throw it back up, you’ve made a big mess, and it’s probably better not to have started eating it in the first place, plus your dinner companion and employees may be less likely to believe you’ll follow through the next time.

Years ago when I started coaching clients, I bought into the idea (for a very short snippet of time) that life could be perfectly balanced and SHOULD be perfectly balanced and that it was all about getting the "wheel of life" balanced into equal "scores" to create peace and balance in their lives.

I was talking to one of my sisters this a.m. (can’t say which for confidentiality – and I have 4!) about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And what creates happiness. And what doesn’t. We got to talking about problems. And solutions. And what has to be present to move a problem from the point of being a “problem” to a solution. Component #1? You have to love the idea of creating a solution – MORE than you love the idea of having your problem. Think about that. Seems obvious, but in my experience it’s not. As is often the case – the idea is not rocket science – the active implementation of it is.

Ever seen this? “I’m having a problem….xyz…I hate it, it’s hard, I wish I could solve it, I want it to go away.” Ever said this? “Hmmm…What about? Or? Would this be helpful? Here’s another way of looking at it…How can I help?” And then by any bitty chance, have you ever gotten this response? “Uggh…no, my that won’t work, nor that, or that, my problem is unique, it’s different, it’s hard, you don’t understand, if I do that than this might happen, it’s hard, it won’t go away, gosh I wish I could solve my problem!” Or some version of that? Likely you’ve heard and spoken your own. I think we all have at least once! (Grin.)