17
Jun/11

The 3 Rs Revisited (or 3 ways to improve your relationship with your boss)

by Janel Anderson under Create Experience

When you and your boss are getting along great, work life is better. It just is. And, whether your relationship with your boss sails along smoothly or bumps along over choppy water, it will improve with attention to the three Rs: Respect, Resourcefulness and Recognition.

Respect. Over the past decade or two our world has become much more relaxed. While elimination of pantyhose and neckties from many offices may be a good thing, a loss of respect is not. Resurrecting respect will shift your working life. Find a way to show additional respect with your boss:  Knock when you would have just walked in and interrupted, be on time when you might otherwise have been late, listen and be wholly attentive when you would otherwise check your Blackberry during a conversation. Showing respect acknowledges value.

Resourcefulness. Face it, budgets are still tight in this economy. And you are full of good ideas. Put those good ideas to work solving problems in your organization. Maybe it is a free venue or inexpensive entertainment for the summer company picnic (you know, the one that might not otherwise happen since the budget was slashed). Or a clever way to cut costs on a project without sacrificing quality. Share your resourceful ideas with your boss.

Recognition. Everyone likes to be recognized when their efforts are appreciated. Even your boss. Hearing that a contribution was well received is music to one’s ears. Be keenly aware of the contribution your boss makes to the organization, to you, to your work. And put words to that awareness and share it with others through recognition.

The impact of increased respect, resourcefulness and recognition will go much further than your relationship with your boss. In communicating the three Rs, you will not only improve your relationship with your boss. You will also shift the culture in your organization. Communication is contagious. When you communicate respect, resourcefulness and recognition with even one person in your organization, it will cascade through your organization.

How will you show respect, resourcefulness and recognition today

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9
Jun/11

We Become What We Think About

by Janel Anderson under Create Experience

“We become what we think about all day long.” Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote these words over 150 years ago and they are as true today as they were then.

Our inner dialogue, or what we think about and the messages we tell ourselves all day long, is what Emerson was referring to and it is incredibly powerful. Let me repeat that: It is incredibly powerful.

How we employ language (with ourselves and with others) influences and creates the subjective reality of our lives. The messages delivered through inner dialogue influence how we perceive events in our lives and how we choose to react to them.

If one’s interior dialogue goes something like this: “things never go right for me, the cards are stacked against me and I’ll never get ahead,” then we are powerfully influenced by that train of thought and it shapes our perceptions of our experiences, of our life. Say for example, you recently got turned down for a promotion and your internal monologue sounded like this: “I’ll never get ahead, never get promoted, no one understands my value in this company.” These messages, this thinking, will influence your next career move, your attitude toward the company, and your attitude toward the colleague who did get the promotion. And it will have a negative influence.

On the other hand, if you had an interior dialogue that routinely said, “My life is amazing, great opportunities are always popping up,” and you were again passed over for the promotion, your thinking would probably go something like this: “There must be something even better on the horizon for me. I can’t wait to find out what it is.” This internal communication will influence what you do next. Look for an even better opportunity, congratulate the colleague who got the promotion and so on. And it will have a positive influence.

The good news? That inner dialogue is yours to create, yours to author. What do you want to think about all day long? What do you want to become?

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2
Jun/11

No Second Chance at First Impressions

by Janel Anderson under Create Experience

We’ve often heard there is no second chance at making a first impression. But why is that?

Imagine this scenario: You meet a potential vendor at a tradeshow and he leaves an unfavorable impression on you; you think the guy’s a jerk. A few weeks later, you meet him again at a party and you have another exchange and you find he’s really a quite likeable person and a good conversationalist at the party. How does your brain reconcile these two very different exchanges with the person and does the likeable guy override the jerk?

Turns out it is your first impression – the impression of the vendor as a jerk – that sticks.

A recent study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology shows that our brains hold tightly to the first impression and store subsequent impressions as exceptions to the rule. What happened in the second interaction is known as an expectancy violation. You were expecting him to be a jerk and he violated that expectation by being a nice guy and a good conversationalist. Your brain holds on to the rule (the guy’s a jerk) and the counterevidence (he’s a good conversationalist at a party) is treated as an exception because, in this case, the context was different. You’re left with: This guy is a jerk, but he’s fun to be around at parties.

Knowing what hangs in the balance when creating a first impression can drive us to be more deliberate about intentionally communicating the impression we want create.

Imagine the next new acquaintance you meet: What is the impression you want to create?

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24
May/11

What Has Your Job Done For You Lately?

by Janel Anderson under Create Experience

You know what you’ve done for your job. You’ve got a long list of the contributions you’ve made to people, projects and processes that have positively impacted your work and your employer. But what has your job done for you lately?

More importantly, are you letting your job contribute to you? Are you creating space at work that allows the very experience of working to contribute to your own personal and professional growth? Or are you simply moving through a list of meetings to attend, calls and emails to return, projects to be completed and products to be launched? If so, you are missing out on one of the most valuable parts of your work – your own growth as a result of the experiences you encounter.

Perhaps you have a difficult interaction with a client or coworker on the horizon. Or a budget gap that will only be resolved through deep cuts in your organization. Or an employee who is performing below standard. All of these, and many, many other uncomfortable situations, are opportunities for your growth; opportunities for your very organization to contribute to you. Mastering the difficult conversation, solving the budget crisis, giving constructive feedback to the fledgling employee: the possibility for growth is present in all of these. Embrace the opportunity for growth and let your job contribute to you.

Shifting your orientation from dread to opportunity changes the game. Instead of a looming menace, the challenge is your on-the-job training, your personal and professional development for this quarter. Take it on as you would a stretch assignment, an opportunity to use your full skill set and show your stuff. And the next time you encounter a similar challenge you will take it on with the confidence of one who routinely tackles the tough stuff with no sweat.

You contribute to your job. How do you let it contribute to you?

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20
May/11

The Day After

by Janel Anderson under Uncategorized

Yesterday was the big presentation to the client. Or the new product launched. Or the end of the fiscal year. And today, while feeling a certain sense of a job well done, you also feel a bit out of sorts.

The logistical details for the completion of projects are clearly spelled out in project management methods. Big projects are even accompanied by celebrations: launch parties, dinners with the project team, sometimes even incentive travel. But after the floors are swept and the suitcases are back in the closet, there is a lull. A mourning even, for the project that is no more. The lull can be disconcerting if you are not prepared for it. You can be left with confusion, sadness and even anger over the loss of the project.

The rhythm of work life has ebbs and flows – the pull of an exciting project, the push of a deadline. The pace can be fast and furious, absorbing your attention, your creativity, your passion. And when the project is complete, the deadline is met, the product is launched, the pace slackens and there is room for receiving, reflecting and regenerating.

Receiving. Open yourself to the compliment from your boss on a job well done. Be receptive to the client’s kudos or the pats on the back from coworkers. Let receiving fill you up and take the place of the emptiness of the completed project. Reflecting. Gaze full-on at the image of yourself working on this project. How did it contribute to you? What about this sort of work is satisfying? What do you want more of, less of? Give yourself space to fully reflect and learn about yourself. Regenerating. Build your energy for what’s next. Grow where there is room for growth. Contract where there is excess. Generate again who you are, what your commitments to your work are and fill yourself with the possibility of what is yet to be.

The project is done, your work is complete. How will you create the experience of the day after?

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13
May/11

Small Talk: When Talk is Small

by Janel Anderson under Uncategorized

Workplace drama. Pettiness. Gossip. No workplace is without them and it is easy to get sucked in. Small talk is fun, but talk that is small negatively impacts the culture of an organization and your experience in it. When talk is small and makes those who engage in it small, it is time to excuse yourself from the conversation.

One person, you, can make a difference. Taking the high ground has three positive impacts. First, you are one less person in your organization participating in such smallness. Even if there are thousands in your organization, you still count. You are one voice that is not being small. Second, you are setting a positive example for those around you and not being a catalyst for others to join in. Don’t underestimate your leadership in this area. Your enthusiastic participation in perpetuating smallness goes a long way to fuel it in your organization. Bowing out sets a powerful example. Third, and most importantly, in refraining from smallness you create a workplace experience that you want to be part of. You positively impact your own world at work, creating a space where big ideas can flourish.

So how do you escape the smallness? First, recognize it. Imagine a filter that lets talk that makes people small flow away from you, not trapping it in your purview. Then, let the small stuff flow on by. Think of a sieve in a child’s sandbox. The small stuff flows through and the bigger objects are held in the sieve. Your attention is worth the bigger ideas; talk that has integrity. Put on your filter and let the small stuff go.

When you clearly see the smallness, you can excuse yourself before you become part of it. Be ready with responses that keep you from being small. Excuse yourself to return an important call, meet a deadline or collaborate with a colleague. Better yet, redirect the conversation toward larger purposes.

Create your experience at work. Don’t let the small stuff get in the way of your greatness.

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4
May/11

Full Speed Ahead. In the Wrong Direction.

by Janel Anderson under Uncategorized

The other night my husband and I hopped in the car with the kids and drove to the park. We typically walk, but we were tight on time and still wanted the kids to get some fresh air and exercise so we took the car. We approached the playground from the parking lot, the opposite side of the park that we usually come from. After crossing the parking lot and letting my toddler down out of my arms, she ran at full tilt. In the wrong direction. I said to my husband, “Look at that. Full speed ahead, in the wrong direction.” My husband laughed and said, “Yeah, companies do it all the time.”

And he’s right. In organizational life we often blaze ahead at full speed in the wrong direction. When we approach a familiar situation from a different angle and don’t recognize it fully, it is easy for us to get disoriented, think we are somewhere else and respond accordingly. And the result is we are running full tilt in the wrong direction.

Perhaps your client responds differently to the same level of service you’ve always provided, or a coworker’s absence prompts your involvement in a project from a different angle, or your boss offers a constructive comment on the process you always follow on projects. Anyone of these situations may result in feeling disoriented, like you are in a new place, in a new situation. And this newness can bring about unbridled excitement (or panic) that sends us in a new direction – and fast. When velocity strikes despite no major shifts in our work life, it is a good practice to slow down and look around for signs of the familiar rather than running full speed ahead on a set of false assumptions. Decelerate. Pause. Look around. Adjust as necessary.

In the case of my daughter, I intercepted her before she launched herself onto a basketball court full of grown men playing a fast paced game of pick-up. Once stopped and without velocity blinding her, she looked around and saw where she was and spotted the playground. The brief pause and reset was what she needed to reorient to her familiar surroundings once again. And with that, she ran full tilt toward the object of her desires: the swings.

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30
Jun/10

Strike Out

by Janel Anderson under Create Experience

After many years away from a ball field, I found my way back to a softball team this summer. It was my second game with my new team and I was at bat. I’d gotten a few hits in my first game so I stepped up to bat with confidence. As the ball came toward me I heard my high school coach: “Always watch the first pitch come across to size up the pitcher.”

 “STEEE-RIKE!” called the umpire as I watched a perfect pitch come across the plate. Next was a ball, low and inside.  As the third pitch came toward me it looked a little outside but I thought the umpire might call it a strike. I hadn’t taken a swing yet and there was plenty of time. I reached for it and missed.  “OUUUT,” called the umpire.

 As I shouldered the bat for the next pitch, I thought, “It really sounded like he said ‘Out’ when he should have said ‘Strike,’ although there was really no reason to call it; my swing was a clear message as to its ‘strike-ness.’ I waited for the next pitch, which didn’t come. 

 “Two-strike rule,” grunted the umpire. Dumbstruck, I took my place on the bench and tried to make sense of this new world. A world in which I got two chances, not three. A world in which I learned of the rule only by breaking it.

 The parallel between organizational life and the ball field is, indeed, striking. As a newcomer, how many unspoken rules are there that shape, shift and socialize us into being conforming organizational members? Rules that we learn of only after we break them?

 How could I deliver excellence for my team when I didn’t know the rules? The two-strike rule prompted me to engage with my fellow team members to ask about other rules that I hadn’t considered. I asked questions, learned more about my teammates and learned about the rules in the league.

 My strike out did more to get me in the game than another hit would have.  How has striking out put you in the game on your team?

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30
Apr/10

Create Experience | Deliver Excellence

by Janel Anderson under Create Experience

Experiences are based in communication. Good or bad.

A restaurant maitre d’ stops by to see how our meal is going (good). It is his act of communication, his reaching out to us through words that makes us feel valued as customers and makes the meal, and really the entire experience, more special. The customer service representative in the online chat continues to ask if our issue is resolved when clearly it isn’t (bad).  A manager really listens to an employee’s issue rather than thinking about how quickly she can get the employee out of her office. A senior leader feels connected to the audience because they are listening and creating a space for his message to be heard.

Create Experience | Deliver Excellence is about creating excellent experiences that result in organizations performing at their peak.  We use a consulting model to help your business create experiences that result in high performance. High performance for your employees, High performance for your customers. High performance for your bottom line.

Communication is the foundation of our experiences at work. Through speaking and listening experiences are created. Create Experience works with organizations, teams and individuals to deliver high performance communication, resulting in high performance for your business.

What kind of experience do you want to create?

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