Workforce Change Newsletter

August 2014
In This Issue
Getting Better at Change
Quick Brain Stuff
Simon Says!
Executive Coaching
Janine's Events &  Program News: 
 
8/5:  Ability Professional Network 
Career Ownership (public) at DEC / 
Dublin Entrepreneurial Center

8/18: Franklin University, Coaching in Organizations, M.S. Psych (private)
 
8/19:Columbus Apartment Assoc,  Emotional Intelligence for Leaders (private)
 
8/21: 
Career
Ownership Series, EWI (private)
 
9/13: Fearless Networking, The Godman Guild Columbus (private)
 
9/22-23:
Leadership Excellence: Getting the Best from Yourself & Others, 
National Church Residences (private)
 
 
Janine can provide a program for your associates that engages, delights and encourages them to act on their learning! 

Quick Links...

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Did you ever have something set you back so thoroughly, so hard that you had to question what the universe was trying to tell you? 

That's been my summer. Topsy-turvey and still turning!
 
I've been dealing with some health issues that are different from any that I've ever faced. They make me feel unwell, even though I'm feeling fine. The changes that seemingly are the fruit of these issues spring up from all directions. So I've spent a lot of time thinking about change and figuring out how to respond to those that have and continue to appear. 

I've tried to stay true to myself, making decisions and responses that align with who I am. I've found, though, that some try to second guess the adequacy and accuracy and even the authenticity of my responses. I "should" be more of this, or do less of that, or be a different way or become more authentic by doing something else. I've had people question my emotions and if I'm being real about them, and my need or lack of "appropriate" support. 

I think more than anything these well-meaning folks forget about the importance of living in one's own skin, especially when that skin is different from theirs. It's quite easy to see things from a single perspective--yours--forgetting that another's perspective is just as "true" and likely more authentic. To consider that every person has a completely different, totally unique world view is hard to comprehend...we are so wrapped up in "our view" that it's easy to forget others have views, too, that are just as valid and valuable. It's sometimes really difficult to reframe situations in order to see them from other perspectives. To do so is immensely valuable, though, and provides a really caring respect for the other person. 

The work I've done around Emotional Savvy includes consideration of this, our mind set, how it affects the relationships we have and how we can choose our responses to create effective or ineffective outcomes. All change is a challenge because any change is threatening to us...we perceive our stability and security to be at stake. Change can be the most difficult of situations and may perhaps be the ultimate test for whatever level of emotional savvy we have. 

Getting Better at Change (below)--is intended to bring to mind a situation that many of you will have experienced. Until the situation happened to me (again) a few months ago, I would have said "No, I'm cool when that happens." Let me know if you can relate!
 
As always, I'd love to hear from you...what's working and what's not, and what you're doing to grow and increase your commitment to your work. And why is that important? It's because we thrive when the work we do feeds our hearts and heads as well as our pockets.
 
Janine
 
Why not deal with Change from the inside out? Rather than trying to force a change ON Associates, why not teach them how to get better at Change?

Getting Better at Change


 

Chances are that you've handled at least a half-dozen changes at work today alone: a process is improved, a meeting time gets moved, a customer wants updated specs. We all deal with change too often, more than most of us like. The small changes we ignore or roll with; bigger changes require our attention and often draw our resistance.


 

Ever wonder why the resistance? Why your response to a change is more likely to be negative, or 'the old way worked just fine,' or even 'I just don't wanna.' The reason is really this: it's just how our brains are wired.

 

Our response to change-most any change-is an emotional one because we're built that way. Our bodies are built with a desire for homeostasis, that state where we are stable and steady and all is copacetic with the world. Any change contrasts with this stable state, and so is interpreted as a threat...we interpret some changes as bigger threats than others.

 

Case in point: If you do any highway driving, you'll know that some days are better than others. Some days the 80 MPH traffic around you is not all that aggravating, but other days when someone cuts in front of you in a steady stream of high speed traffic, you will yell or non-verbally indicate your anger or disapproval. And, depending upon how stressed or laid back you are, you'll continue to rant at the errant driver or you'll put it in perspective and let it go.

 

A few months ago I had a day's meeting in Pittsburgh, about a 3-hour drive from home. The meeting began around 9:30 am, and because I was leading it, I wanted plenty of time to get there, set up the room, get settled, etc. So, I left my house around 5:15 am, knowing I had plenty of time even with a little rush hour traffic. The first two-and-a-half hours went fine...sped along at the posted limit and anticipated plenty of time at the location. Promptly at 8 am, I hit the rush hour into the city. On the 3 or 4 lane highway, traffic was stopped and moving much more slowly than almost any rush hour I'd experienced. Listening to the radio, I heard no information on traffic jams or accidents...this appeared to be normal. A sign indicated 3 miles to my downtown exit...and wow, were those a slow 3 miles!

 

At one point, an entrance ramp from the right was admitting additional cars to an already full freeway. Merging along side me was a huge pick up truck that inched down the ramp giving purchase to no one. I had made my way toward the outside lane in anticipation of an upcoming exit, and had allowed multiple merges and cars to move. For whatever reason, I wasn't inclined to let the truck merge ahead of me...my emotional brain said 'enough already.'


 

You know where this is going. The truck, being bigger, insisted on merging. My car, feeling pushed around, continued to give no ground. I was gesturing, talking aloud (all right, loudly), and generally being a fool in a situation that pushed my buttons but begged for intelligence. For a good ten seconds, I demonstrated a universal non-verbal gesture that showed my displeasure. And I finally slowed as the truck merged ahead of me; I avoided a 2 MPH collision.

 

The reality is that I had plenty of time to get to my destination, I had a cell phone if I needed to relay a delay, I was familiar with merging rush hour traffic, and yet I was triggered by this big, outsized vehicle with bullying rush hour behavior. BUT, my logical brain wasn't running the show at that moment...my emotional brain was.

 

This is a perfect example of our ancient "fight or flight" mechanism kicking in from a sense of instability or threat. And more often than not, it kicks in automatically-it's the default reaction-when we are thrown off kilter from some external change.


 

So our response to change is often an emotional one, not a logical or rational one. 

While it may be impossible to stop this emotional reaction, it's one that we can better control once we become aware of it: without awareness, the emotional reaction can continue and create problems and issues and drama that get in the way of any good outcome.
     .

Our fight-or-flight mechanism has kept the human race alive-allowed our ancestors to live through centuries of deadly threats-and it continues as a defense mechanism even though saber-tooth tigers and physically dangerous predators aren't a threat today. This defense mechanism has not evolved to see our "dangers" as less physical and more emotional in nature.


 

Building Emotional Savvy Helps with Change


 

Emotional Savvy is our ability to deal wisely and effectively with changes-emotionally-based situations-that come our way. It's our ability to handle our fight-or-flight response in such a way that we respond to perceived threats, rather than react to them. It's about choosing our emotional responses to get us the outcomes we want.

 

Many of the situations associated with any change are emotional in nature-we sense a not-always-conscious threat and we react accordingly. Most often this reaction doesn't get positive results and often creates an emotionally-charged situation (aka drama). 


 

Drama has a tendency to shut others down and end in a unsatisfying outcome for everyone. 


 

In my rush hour situation above, carrying the drama forward would surely have entailed a fender crunch that at the least would have (further) delayed traffic as we stopped to check for damage. I likely would have said something to exacerbate the situation and who knows what the truck owner would have said? The point is that choosing a response is always more productive than letting the reaction rule. [Note: sometimes the emotions are a mask for a different issue, where effectiveness and productivity are not the goal. That's a discussion for another day.]

 

So to better handle change, you can strengthen your capacity to handle your own emotions. The more effectively you handle your own emotions-by choosing the most productive one to achieve the outcomes you're wanting-the greater your capacity to deal with other setbacks that come your way. You'll be able to shift your thinking from an immediate reaction into a thoughtful response, moving from emotional thinking to critical and even creative thinking.

 

So what would have been a more productive response to my rush hour blow up? I could have done a number of things beginning with some deep breathing to a count of 7 in and 8 out. I could have thought through the emotional concerns that crowded out my critical thinking (you'll be late, you'll not have prep time, etc.) and figure out that I would be at my meeting on time. I could have talked aloud to myself-"stop your concern about being late-traffic is moving albeit slowly and you're almost there-let this bully with the big macho truck in and cool your heels-laugh out loud and shift how you see this-etc."

 

As it was, I got to my meeting with 25 minutes to spare and was the first person from out of town to arrive! I don't get that aggravated very often, so the situation was a great reminder to me of the connection between emotions and our threat reaction and how quickly we can make something out of nothing.


 

So now look in: what emotional responses have gotten in your way recently? How have you given in to a reaction and later wished you would have been more thoughtful? And then...what did you do to move ahead to a more productive place? Drop a note to share your story and, most importantly, let us know how you keep your fight or flight response from running the show!

 

� 2014 Janine Moon/Workforce Change 

New Program: Change-Agility

If you're ready to learn about Change from a different perspective--from the Inside Out--give Janine a call at 614.488-6876 or drop an email to request a program description of her newest program! Through review and practice of how to leverage our brains, how to develop broader perspectives, how to be selective in types of thinking and how to strengthen resilience, participants learn to manage continual change intentionally, strongly & effectively! 

Always customized to your organization's needs, the program can be sized from a 1-hour to full day program. 
Know How Your Brain Works: It Matters!

QUICK, good-to-know info!

We really have 3 brains: the cerebral cortex (logical brain), the limbic (emotional brain) and the reptilian (autonomic system brain). Each plays a huge part in how we make our way through the world and how we establish relationships with people in order to get things done. 

The logical brain is the one we think of when we picture the brain, and it's the brain we assume we use all the time...it's what humans do, right?  But, it's a "younger" brain than the limbic brain, and it's also slower. Because the emotional brain is so fast (some scientists say 80,000 times faster than the rational one) and because its the seat of our "fight or flight" response, the emotional brain is often running the show!  

Here's what's important:

1.  Our logical brain can veto or trump our emotional brain.
2.  Our emotional brain isn't very good at distinguishing between the threat of a saber-tooth tiger and the threat of a frustrating co-worker or situation.  
3. We can CHOOSE in any emotionally charged
situation--to shift (within seconds) to our rational brain and have a productive response to any situation.  
When we know how our brains work, and that we might be acting from an emotional place rather than a logical one, we can take steps to make the shift (into logical) more quickly. 
 
Contact me if you'd like to learn more about how our brains impact work place productivity...I have multiple programs and approaches to assist both groups and individuals. 
A coaching client says...

A past client contacted me through a private message on 
Facebook, and included this in her note: "I always appreciated our coaching. I don't know if I ever came back and told you, but I really felt like our coaching helped me understand that what I really wanted to be doing was X and that dissatisfaction in a high-pressure Y career would have to be managed until that was possible.  [My opportunity came and] So I'm finally able to do what my heart desires."

 

If you're wondering about getting to this same place, call me...coaching works and it has moved many clients from a very unsatisfied place to one that is 'what their heart desires.'

If you don't know Simon Sinek, you'll be better when you do!


Simon Sinek is about inspiration and doing work that matters, that contributes to the world. His TED talk is a great intro, as is his website
Thanks so much for reading. My goal is always to give you a bit of learning that doesn't take long and that makes you think or act...to move forward in some way and be more satisfied with your work and the contributions you make to something bigger than yourself! 

What challenges and new learning are you focused on this quarter?  Are you connected and excited about your work or only going through the motions? The phrase "lifelong learning" has real meaning when it comes to professional satisfaction.

If you're really not where you'd like to be, then partner with me...give me a call and let's talk about how you can get there. As a leader, as a professional, as an individual contributor... you will be better for the conversation!
Best wishes,
 
Janine

Thinking about Executive Coaching? 
 
Sometimes we just need a little nudge! If you've thought about executive coaching and wondered how it might help you, consider this your nudge!

Call me (614.488-6876) and schedule a time to talk...it's just a conversation and you can get your questions answered...no charge!  Some people use executive coaching to improve specific skills, and others use an executive coach as a sounding board. Still others look to coaching for accountability and professional growth goals.

Whatever your interest in your professional development, it's likely that a coach will help...call me and find out!