The Need for Healthy Work Environments

Atmosphere affects our breathing, which affects our living.

The same is true for organizational cultures — they are an atmosphere. Some cultures (aka atmospheres) can choke people in a matter of minutes. Other cultures tend to degrade and “kill” people over months or years. Pretty much all negative cultures come with a “hazardous materials” risk for employee well-being. Others, however, remain free and clear and produce effective, long-term health and prosperity.

We have have seen organizations exemplifying all three scenarios. As a company devoted to helping plant, water, and cultivate healthy organizational culture, our team is always working hard to create its own atmosphere of positive growth, fruitfulness, and productivity.

“The culture is the atmosphere.”

Culture = Atmosphere

So, which atmosphere are you experiencing?

Are you currently in the Venus atmosphere where you can’t breathe for even a minute?

Or are you in a smoggy atmosphere, where you know your health is declining over time?

Or maybe you are thriving in your environment with clean air and plenty of sunshine in your culture.

Thinking of culture as atmosphere is interesting. In a city full of smog you can usually trace the smog back to certain political and business decisions that enable such issues, or it may otherwise result from specific geographic realities within certain areas.

The same is true within organizations. Certain leaders and leadership decisions can lead to a divisive culture built on short-term fear to produce results. If you are an employee then you can only rely on your influence to clean up areas of leadership pollution. However, if you are a leader in some capacity, you have the opportunity (formal or informal) to clean up or establish the right atmosphere in which your people can live and thrive.

Removing the Toxins

Think about the economic and social implications for cities with horrible pollution and the astronomical costs it incurs to care for its ailing citizens. Now imagine the same implications for companies with bad atmospheres — lack of productivity, divisive drama, high turnover, and demoralized employees.

The best thing you can do as a leader is commit to a clean up.

Dedicate yourself to liberation, health, and a vibrant atmosphere at work. Let’s work today to change atmospheres for everyone’s benefit.

#GiANTworldwide #Leadership #connections #healthyenvironment #Culture #toxins #atmosphere

Self-Preservation Erodes Influence

The Source of Fear, Insecurity, and Selfishness

Just a few examples of the things we tend to hold onto with a white knuckle grip that often causes us to lose the very things we’re trying to protect.

The problem rears its head when our obsession to protect and retain begins to inhibit us from what we give and how we lead. If you are over-protecting what you have received or earned to date, you are showing the signs of self-preservation.

If you are constantly over-asserting your authority or questioning others’ then you are likely displaying self-preservation in an attempt to ensure others see you a certain way and know you’re in charge. When you implement self-preservation like a shield around you, it actually does more harm to you as a leader than good. Here are just a few ways that such a knee-jerk response will undermine your influence and long-term leadership capacity:

1.) It drains a lot of energy and focus.

When the shields go up to preserve so does the non-verbal language and the cynicism based on fear.

2.) It makes people more defensive.

When the shields go up to preserve so does the non-verbal language and the cynicism based on fear. 

3.) It emits a repelling odor of self-absorption.

When others view a leader as self-absorbed, people tend to keep their distance and make the leader’s influence less effective. 

Self-preservation is a self-fulfilling prophecy and it happens every day.

When a leader becomes obsessed with protecting the very things they are afraid of losing, they tend to lose them more quickly because of the issues above.

Conversely, when a leader breaks through their walls of self-preservation they find more influence with more people by focusing on what they can give instead of becoming obsessive about protecting what they have received.

Self-preservation is everywhere. It is like a cancer to leaders but the only cure is for a leader to give themselves away.

The Art of Influence

Influence.

Effect vs. Impact

As a leader in those circles, you have the opportunity to positively or negatively influence the trajectory of those around you, whether family, friends, co-workers, or members of your community.

Since influence is power, we all have a great responsibility to utilize our influence for the best interest of those in our lives, so let’s start unpacking this responsibility by first understanding two key words:

• Effect — to affect someone is to do something that changes the way they think, work, or live.

• Impact — to impact someone is to mark them indelibly or otherwise alter their trajectory due to a deep, core-level influence.

Aim for Impact

Similarly, every one of us affects each other in our lives on a daily basis, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse.

But very few people truly make an impact on others.

People who merely affect us can be forgotten, as their influence is passing and impermanent. People who impact us, however, are memorable and significant to our personal growth.

Therefore, we can choose to:

• Positively affect those around us through random (and intentional) acts of kindness OR
• Negatively affect those around us through annoying behavior.

That means we can decide to…

• Positively impact others by going above and beyond what they expect OR
• Negatively impact others by domineering behavior.

As leaders, let’s choose to not only make a positive effect, but to raise the game and invest our efforts in making a lasting impact that ripples beyond the surface. Let’s be intentional about altering the trajectory of others in a positive way for their long term benefit.

To be memorable is to carve out the gift of a good legacy and it all starts with a choice… a conscious choice that each of us needs to make.

#GiANTworldwide #Connections #leadership #influence #effectvsimpact #mindset #positivity

Task Addiction: Diagnosed

There’s an old saying I’m sure you’ve heard:

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” -The Shining

It’s safe to say all-work Jack is rarely accused of being the “fun” friend or the adventurous, life-of-the-party friend. If he’s not working on a deadline, he’s preparing for the next one as well as the next one after that one.

Quiz: Answer yes or no to the following questions. Be honest!

1. You consistently start your day with email, and that means before getting to the office. In fact, it usually means before you have breakfast or see your kids off to school. Okay, let’s be real…for some of you it means you’re already halfway through the day’s emails before your feet hit the floor on your way out of bed…

2. People notice you are obsessed with tasks.

3. Achievement is the chief goal in your life.

4. There are no boundaries on your time.

5. You feel separation anxiety when you lose your Wi-Fi connection or can’t check email.

6. You are constantly drained and never feel fully charged.

7. It takes a lot of effort to connect deeply with someone or get social with family and friends. Or maybe you “pretend” to connect by sitting with your spouse to watch TV, but end up mostly keeping an eye on your email.

8. Your mind is always racing and you struggle to get consistent sleep.

9. Your spouse, kids, and friends know tasks come first. They expect you to respond to invites with the classic, “I can’t go. I have to work.”

10. You are physically present but intellectually and emotionally absent. (See number 7 above).

11. There is a lot of activity, but no real sign of progress.

Defeating Task Addiction

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you might be stuck in task mode. What we’ve learned is that if you answer “yes” to one of these questions, chances are high that you will have said yes to more than one, and where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

There’s also hope, however. If you’re stuck in servitude to the daily grind of task mode, here are a few helpful tips to get healthy:

• Replace email in the morning with something more inspirational — whatever helps you come alive. It could be reading, meditating, exercising, or starting the day with family breakfast.

• Be proactive, not reactive. Don’t let someone else define your day in an email or phone call. Actively prioritize your day and goals rather than allowing every email to blow your schedule about like a flag in the wind.

• Discipline yourself by turning off your phone, or leaving it behind, when you are off work or in a social environment. This will help you remain present with and connected to those around you.

Ultimately, my advice is simple: don’t let work dominate your life.

Learn to shift and be present with those in your life who matter most. A balanced life of meaningful investment in yourself, family/friends, team, organization, and community ultimately leads not just to a healthier, more joyful life, but also a more productive one. And that’s the goal that keeps you stuck in task mode in the first place, right? So why not give it a shot and try shifting gears for a change. We think you’ll like the results.

I go much more in depth with this concept in one of my books, The 5 Gears. It basically outlines your social awareness, keeping you in the correct “gear” every hour of the day.

#GiANTworldwide #TaskAddiction #Communication #leadership #awareness #productivity

Re-engaging Half-hearted People

Do you have wholehearted people in your life?

Who do you know that is fully in or completely devoted to something? They’re the type of people who, as Thoreau once put it,

Wholehearted people live with passion and purpose. When they dive into something, they attack it with every bit of experience, intelligence, and dedication they have. They don’t shy away from relationships or challenges, but take them head-on and work to make the most out of them.

Make a list of those people you consider to be wholehearted. Who comes to mind?

Now, who do you know that is half-hearted? Are there people you work with who are not fully “in” or devoted to the team/organization? They tend to be those who feel like they always have one foot out — out of the relationship, the work, the team, etc.

Make a second list of those you consider to be half-hearted.

Learning Opportunities for Half-hearted People

Now it’s time to drill down to the heart of the issue: what makes the difference between wholehearted vs. half-hearted people? For those in your organization, how much of this attitude depends on them and how much do you believe depends on you as a leader or organization to cultivate?

When people are only giving half-hearted efforts, they cause direct and indirect damage to those around them, whether family, colleagues, or organizations. Their primary need is to find a way to take responsibility and re-engage with the people, world, and obligations around them.

4 Areas of Accountability for the Half-Hearted

1. Many half-hearted people need to learn to trust people more since withholding trust often indicates an untrustworthy nature yourself.

2. In some cases they need to forgive previous leaders in past experiences before they can move forward in their present reality.

3. Half-hearted people also usually need improvement in communication. Their tendency is to have high expectations, but not tell anyone about them because they are not invested enough to do so. However, this disconnect only causes bitterness and distance.

4. Half-hearted people need to learn to lead themselves well. This requires being honest about faults and strengths and then applying personal accountability to spur greater investment of time and effort that will result in stronger connections with others.

3 Ways You Can Help Re-Engage the Half-Hearted

1. ust through the veneer. Get inside the mind and heart and talk to the potential missed expectations or fears that keep them holding back their best effort.

2. Lean forward, not backward. Half-hearted people have a tendency to become victims. They expect people to move away and then blame them for issues. Do the opposite. Encourage accountability and provide them with the support they need to take you up on it. Either way, you will either get them in the game or they will leave.

3. Create an environment or atmosphere where people must be whole-hearted or the team will correct them rather than you (if you’re the leader). A whole-hearted culture won’t put up with veneer or a façade, and it’ll make the gradual slip into disengagement much harder to continue unnoticed.

#GiANTworldwide #connecting #reengaging #halfhearted #responsibilities

Finding Peace

How at Peace are You?

How often do you really think about your level of contentment? Do you ever wonder if there’s a helpful way to understand which aspects of life are bringing you peace vs. which ones are troubling you most?

What if there was a way to do a quick self-assessment to find out? It’s not a quick fix, but rather a tool to understand some of the hidden anxieties that covertly sabotage your contentment — something that can help you find a target to shoot at and begin taking back a measure of peace in your day-to-day routine.

Measuring Peace: People, Place, Purpose

How purposeful do you feel?

Is your work satisfying? Do you feel like you have a direction in your personal life that matches your values, vision, and goal for yourself? Are you energized or passionate about what you do?

Put a percentage number on it from 1–100% with 1% indicating a complete lack of any satisfying purpose and 100% representing a perfect alignment with your personal purpose at work and home.

How well are you enjoying the connection to the people around you at work and in your personal life?

Do you have a close/meaningful group of friends? Are the people in your life — friends, family, work colleagues — bringing you down or calling you up to the best version of yourself? Do you feel like you can depend on your group of friends, and are you connecting often and/or deeply enough with them?

Put a percentage number on it from 1–100% with 1% indicating a complete lack of any satisfying friendships or personal connections and 100% representing a perfect alignment of your relational needs with your current group of friends, family, and co-workers.

How well does the place you are living suit you?

Does where you live suite your lifestyle preferences? Are there enough places to hike and walk in parks, go to art galleries, sample great restaurants, or work on the land? Does your house or apartment suit the needs of your family? Is there enough diversity of people, activities, and clubs or organizations in which to get involved?

Put a percentage number on it from 1–100% with 1% indicating an ill-fitting lifestyle or location and 100% representing a perfect alignment with your lifestyle preferences and needs.

#GiANTworldwide #findingpeace #peace #leadership #work #connections

Trade Up: A Lifestyle Change

Have you ever heard an athlete say something like this after a dismal performance: “I didn’t have the right mindset today. I just wasn’t ready, so I didn’t play well.”

As soon as you think it though, you’re reminded of your own life — how you might get nervous or feel unprepared for a big interview, presentation, or meeting. Suddenly, we realize how hard it actually is to frame our minds correctly so that our attitudes and emotions are positioned to help us perform and live to our highest potential.

“Mindset— a fixed mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person’s responses to and interpretations of situations.”

– Merriam-Webster

The Importance of Mindset

In other words, our mindset refers to our established set of attitudes towards something.

For example, If I am frustrated with someone and have not addressed or resolved the conflict/tension, then my mindset towards them will be negative and even predetermine how I will interact with and respond to them.

When I fail to recharge appropriately, then I might become susceptible to a sour mood and those around me may suffer as a result.

3 Keys to Improving Your Mindset

1. A healthy mindset starts the night before.

Eliminate junk TV, it adds zero value. Instead, choose to read a great biography, watch an inspiring movie, or re-connect with someone you respect. Dabble in a hobby or work on a enlivened project. Success for tomorrow begins the night before. If you want a great day tomorrow, start it tonight.

2. To be successful, you need to be fully recharged.

Great leaders know how to lead themselves. It is called self-control. Do you know how you recharge most effectively? Is it reading a book, working out, talking to friends, or something else? Whatever your preferred activity, spend more time there filling up your batteries. It’s hard to start the day with a cell phone battery at 10%. The same is true with us. Make sure you get 6+ hours of sleep and learn what your body and mind need to be at your best. It is your responsibility to be recharged, so don’t undermine yourself.

3. If you want to thrive then you must deal with negative influences directly.

If productivity can’t begin until your email inbox is empty and voicemails are gone, then take the time to address those pressures instead of trying to work with them looming over you. Whether relational or task-oriented, negative influences will hamstring the power of your mindset. If there is a negative relationship out there then go to the source and deal directly with it so that it doesn’t continue to dominate your thoughts 24/7.

Trade Up

One last tip that may be helpful for you to frame your mindset correctly — say these words out loud right now, “Trade Up.” When you are doing something that doesn’t bring life, but simply just is, choose to Trade Up to something better.

Choosing Something Better

Your reality is directly tied to the consequences of your actions and those come directly from your patterns of behavior and the mindset you cultivate. Choose correctly and you will string together a series of wins that could alter the course of your career. Choose to not be ready and you will simply fit in with the crowd and live a normal life. The choice is yours.

But today, I encourage you to Trade Up.

#GiANTworldwide ##lifestylechange #tradeup #Change #success #recharge #communication #mindset

A Fresh Look at Career & Success

Its time to dust off the resume. Not because of a job search, but rather to gain a new perspective on your career and how it lines up with “success.”

If you were to take your resume and truly list the successes and failures without all of the hype, what would it look like? Try it. Take out a piece of paper and make three columns. List the jobs you have held in column one. Next list the major initiatives in column two that you tried to accomplish while in that role. Finally, list either the word success, failure or mixed in the third column.

Here is what Churchill said as he looked back over his career and his many failures and his success:

“Success is going from failure to failure without loss of confidence.” -Winston Churchill

Fresh perspective is the ability to look holistically over a person’s life without getting absorbed in the minutia of a 2–3 year portion of a career. Think bigger, friends. Stretch your perspective to look at the larger mural of your life as it plays out in this world. It will bring much relief to the moments of insecurity and gloom.

Guard your confidence on the road through failure.

#GiANTwordwide #Career #success #Confidence #faiures

Handling Change, Minus the Drama

Is it possible to anticipate change as you envision the next season of life? Do you constantly feel like you’re grinding gears in the face of difficult transitions?

Is it possible to anticipate change as you envision the next season of life?

Fortunately, the answer is yes, no matter how murky the future sometimes appears. Anticipation is basically proactive thinking — preparing for what might be around the bend. This preparation causes you to be aware and ready for changes and to respond to them appropriately. Having the proper response to a real life situation causes you to be more effective in the moment of change and to manage your emotions properly instead of reactively.

Here are a few things to consider when facing the changes that might come with the next season of life:

• Think about the big changes that will occur within the family.

• Understand where the organization or team is heading in this next season.

• Know yourself to lead yourself.

Learn to Transition Well

Think Ahead — Being proactive is the ability to think about the possible ramifications for Action A vs. Action B as it relates to those you lead.

Keep Communication Consistent — Employees and stakeholders alike appreciate clear, concise, and continuous communication.

Address Negatives With Clarity — People want to know the consequences of negative changes ahead of time rather than being kept in the dark. 

Learn to Shift — The art of transition actually comes from the ability to move your mind fluidly from one activity to the next while maintaining focus and composure.

How about you?

Do you abhor change or run to it? Do you know how to help your team or your family to transition into the change appropriately?

The best leaders will calibrate the right levels of support and challenge to ensure the team handles transitions as effectively and healthily as possible.

#GiANTworldwide #handlingchange #transitionwell #communication #leadership

Are you strange, or authentic? Why leaders need to be real.

Without authenticity, a leader is simply not effective. Our culture is increasingly cynical regarding organizations, institutions and bureaucracies, and we seek leaders who are genuine and secure, who can guide us through the complexity of these entities.

TRUST: Anxiety and a breach in trust

Leading is not easy. True leadership only begins as leaders look deep into themselves, understand who they really are and answer yes to the question of being authentic.

KNOW YOURSELF: Who are you?

Is this leadership? Real leadership is honest, true, deeply insightful and reflective, purposeful and motivated by high ideals. It is thorough in deep self-knowledge, uncompromising in standards and unyielding virtue.

No One Remembers Your Name?

In order to know ourselves, we really need to spend time with ourselves and invest in our understanding of self.

Leadership is a journey—not a destination. Live the journey. Be authentic, have fun, enjoy the ride, and live the mosaic—because, like it or not, we are all strange.

#GiANTworldwide #Ginconsultinggroup #LinkedIN #Leadership