It’s Summertime!

Summertime – the living’s supposed to be easy, as the song goes. The kids are out of school and it’s a delight to hear them playing outside on summer evenings. They are thrilled to have a break from their routine. So why are adults so afraid to use the vacation time that they’ve earned?  After all, it’s part of their total rewards!

A colleague once shared that when he returned from a two-week African safari his staff told him he could never go away for that period of time again! His boss was okay with it, but his staff wasn’t. They obviously got a taste of what it’s like to be the boss. Yes, we Americans think it's unusual to take a two-week vacation anymore, and that used to be the norm. During his trip, my colleague met Europeans who were taking month(s)-long holidays. Some people don’t use their paid time off because they worry the job won’t be there when they get back or that while they are away, their boss will notice mistakes they’ve made that might have gone unnoticed if they’d been on the job.  How sad is that?

Several years ago, I wrote a passage as I was sitting in the Tulleries Gardens outside the Louvre in Paris. It is a spectacular Monday with bright blue skies and all around me are flowers in bloom.  Children are playing while parents and nannies chat nearby.  I am sitting in a café sipping a coffee.  My mind is clear because I am totally relaxed and I am not focused on the usual “to do” lists that drive my workday at home.  Today I have no deliverables, phone calls to make or book chapters to write—I am free to think and to create.

We all have experiences that feed our souls and open our hearts.  What does it for me is being in a place with beautiful artworks or listening to music.  In Paris, that means spending time on the 5^th floor of the Musee d’Orsay with the Impressionists or attending a concert in the stunningly beautiful Sainte Chapell surrounded by the most incredible stained glass windows listening to Vivaldi.  My spirits sore, my mind is free and I am renewed.

I’m not suggesting that everyone needs to take a long vacation to Paris or an African safari! I am suggesting that we all need to step out of our routine and get some rest.  I find I am most creative when I am not tired and not focused on the daily routine.  A weekend away is enough most of the year but from time to time, it is worth it to take a week or two to really unwind.

Rest and rejuvenation go hand in hand for me.  What do you do to unwind?  Are you taking time off to allow your body to rest and your spirit to rejuvenate? Take those vacation days and see what it does for you and your career!

Qualities of a Good Team Player

We talk a lot about team play in sports and marvel at how well they work together to win either a game or a  championship.  So how do we translate this to the world at work?

Here are seven tips for becoming a good team player—whether on the baseball diamond, the basketball court, or in the workplace!

1. A good team player keeps their commitments.  When you work on a team, by definition you depend on the other team members to get your work done so it is critical to hold up your end of the bargain.  Once a commitment is made to a project or any deliverable, you must complete your assigned tasks so that the deadline is met.  And, if you find you can’t hold up your end of the bargain, a good team player lets the rest of the team know in advance so other arrangements can be made.
2. A good team player supports the other members of the team.  This includes picking up the slack when someone has a family emergency or taking the time to sing the praises of a co-worker—just because it’s the right thing to do.  Supporting the work of others makes the entire team more successful. And, a good team member avoids gossiping about co-workers!
3. A good team player appreciates the work the others contribute and says thanks!  It can be highly meaningful to your co-workers to hear you say how much you value them and the work they do.  It also is a great idea to pass along praise to your manager as well.
4. A good team player handles the inevitable changes that occur with grace.  Deadlines and priorities are constantly shifting in today’s organizations.  Rather than fighting the change or complaining about what the change will do to your work or your life, accept it and move on.
5. A good team player consistently exceeds expectations which ensures that projects are successfully completed.
6. A good team player takes pride in the work they do but also in the accomplishments of others on the team.
7. A good team player works hard to increase their skill and/or knowledge.  A good team player is a continuous learner!

Teams are important. We dedicated a chapter to teams in The Essential Workplace Conflict Handbook. We’d love to hear your ideas on what makes a good team player so send them on and we’ll share them in future blogs.

Don't Be Trapped in the Past

“But, we’ve always done it this way!” How many times have you heard these words spoken over your business career? I think they are deadly and can stop growth and innovation cold!

If you’ve been reading these blogs for a while, you know that Cornelia and I frequently attend the ballet at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.  One of the best parts of the ballet season is that we get to experience productions from a wide variety of ballet companies—everything from the amazing New York City Ballet  to less traditional groups like one we saw recently—the Complexions Contemporary Ballet.

This is a group of very talented artists who danced that night to music by the legendary, David Bowie.  They describe their style as “a singular approach to reinventing dance through a groundbreaking mix of methods, styles, and cultures.”  Their idea is that dance should be about removing boundaries, not reinforcing them.  They’ve created a dance company that provides a place where” those who are passionate about dance can celebrate its past while simultaneously building its future.”

This company has been around for 23 years and their creators say they’ve “born witness to a world that is becoming more fluid, more changeable, and more culturally interconnected than ever before.”

Listening to Bowie’s music while watching these talented dancers—especially when they danced to his memorable song, “Changes” reminded me of the dangerous trap so many people fall into by wanting everything to stay the same. 

So, how does your organization keep from falling into the “We’ve always done it this way” mode? What can you learn from this artistic team of choreographers and dancers who see that the world is more “changeable and culturally interconnected than ever before”?

Change is never easy and we’ve seen during our business careers that the most important piece of making changes (which is really just doing things differently) in organizations is the communications process and it’s the piece of the process that gets missed most often.

If you’re going to change a process or policy or strategy, your employees need to know—before you start—why the change is necessary.  Then, during the change process, they need to hear from you and other leaders, how it’s going so you need to not only talk to them—you need to listen as well.  As far as I know, no employee has ever complained that their manager communicates too much so you can’t over do it!

Remember Einstein’s definition of insanity—“Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”?  Is this what happen in your organization or are you open to changing how you do things in order to improve results? If you really want to succeed in our very complex world, be open to doing thing differently, just like the Complexions Contemporary Ballet and share with us what happens! And if this amazing dance company is ever in your city, go—it’s quite an experience!