Try Civility

A recent article by Christine Porath in the New York Times discussed civility in the workplace. That’s right…being nice to one another. Her article pointed out that the bad behaviors we share with each other and from managers contribute to everything from increased health problems to decreased workplace productivity to loss of customers (think about how much tip you leave to a snarly waitperson in a restaurant). Managers often think that they have to be hard nosed and rude to...

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Don't Take It Personally

In a recent team development meeting I was facilitating, one of the staff members told me that he was expecting some negative comments from his boss that he did not feel he deserved. He asked me how I thought he should handle it? I asked him what he liked about his boss and he told me that good or bad, his boss always spoke in a respectful manner and what he said was usually fair and often right. I asked...

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My Resilient City

The Rockefeller Foundation provided grants for 100 cities around the world to address resilience in their community. My home town, Pittsburgh was recently named one of those cities. For the Foundation their grants are intended to help these communities understand and develop resilience plans that develop both prevention and response strategies for potential natural and man made environmental and social events. These can include everything from fires and floods to homelessness and unemployment. Of course, if there is one city...

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Sometimes the Answer is "No"

We may hear “no” many times. It may be in response to a request for a salary increase or in a negotiation on a contract critical to your business. Our teenage children will certainly say no and sometimes in the face of a health crisis, the doctor’s response may suggest that there is nothing that can be done about an illness. While our resilience approach would suggest that we can always carry on and find a path to overcome the...

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"Feelin' Groovy"

Engaged individuals, whether at work or play use discretionary energy to achieve success. They try harder. Research done by the Gallup organization shows that only about 30% of all employees are engaged in their work and even more surprising only 35% of their managers are fully into their jobs. A metric to improve engagement is to increase “subjective well-being (SWB)” which is feeling good about ourselves and our life situation. Factors such as health, having a sense of purpose, social...

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Go Slow to Go Fast

I had a golf match this past week and going into the 18th hole we were all tied. I missed my putt for par that would have given me a win and instead of taking my time to line up my little 3 footer, I proceeded to putt away and missed, and with it my chance to continue the match and a chance for victory. Oops! It’s easy to get on the fast track runway. We reach for our smart...

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