As a manager, you’re expected to manage others, as well as do your own job. If you’re responsible for an entire team or department, how do you make sure your staff delivers results? Do you micromanage? (No.) If you empower people to do their jobs, what if they make mistakes? Other podcast episodes referenced: Are you an A, B, or C player?, Right people in the right seats, and 10 traits of effective leaders
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I call it therapist mode. In therapist school we called it “active listening,” meaning listen to understand, not necessarily to comment. And, if necessary, in an opportune moment repeat what they said back to them so they KNOW you were listening. One of the credos that stuck with me when I was involved with the Red Cross Disaster Mental health Division was, “Don’t just say something…..stand there!” In other words: don’t talk, just be present and listen. In any crisis people want to be heard, not given advice, sympathetic prose, or anecdotal stories about how the same
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Since we are proponents of a strengths-based workplace and culture, we firmly believe in employees working and playing to their strengths. We also recommend a collaborative communication and feedback model where employees ask for and constructively receive feedback, and managers productively communicate and give said constructive feedback. That being said, what happens when an employee plays to her strengths and takes initiative when her manager is too overwhelmed to notice? Does she say something? Does she point it out? Listen in as Dawn Shuler recounts an actual experience with a client and their recommended solution. What would you recommend? Other
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“For the times they are a-changin’” ~ Bob Dylan We are in unprecedented times where things are changing, not just on a daily basis, but sometimes an hourly basis. Everything from dining out to children being home from school, and so much in between, looks different today from how it looked two weeks ago. And then there is the emotional component. There’s general worry and tension. Some people are separated from their families. None of us know what to expect. Pick a thing, and that thing has been affected. Here’s what we’re noticing, in our company, as well as
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Dawn Shuler recounts a time as a young mother with a two-year-old and the “do not engage” strategy she used during the “terrible two’s.” While hopefully people are not throwing tantrums in the workplace, there may be times where a “do not engage” strategy is called for. At its foundation, not engaging can be used in subtle to gross ways – in order to create forward motion instead of getting stuck in the emotions of the situation. Other podcast episodes referenced: Are you purpose driven?, Reactive vs. Proactive, Proactive vs. Reactive revisited, and Forward motion
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In another of our regular collaborations with our partners from MindTeam Solutions, we discuss the importance of positivity in the workplace. Listen in as Dawn and Mark with The Shuler Group and Sylvia and Josh of MindTeam Solutions explore how important it is to focus on positivity, and not just decrease negativity. Research that it takes four positive experiences to counter a negative one The difference between reducing the negative as opposed to emphasizing the positive Being motivated by fear rather than pursuing pleasure Positivity in teams 75% of of most people’s thoughts are negative – and catching yourself in
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When I recently visited Texas for my high school reunion, I observed the differences in relationships, culture, and environment, and I had some epiphanies regarding how we relate to one another, how we operate, and how others do things differently. What if we created an exchange program to really understand the differences (and value) of other departments and even other organizations?
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What do you do if management or leadership in an organization is abusive? What are the options? With special guest and fellow trainer Mark Shuler, Dawn explores the similarities of the cycle of violence in a personal relationship to an organization. With a master’s in clinical psychology and over 20 years running a private therapy practice, Mark brings his knowledge of family systems, relationships, functional and dysfunctional communication to this eye-opening and somewhat disturbing problem. Other podcast episodes referenced: Culture of shame and The light bulb has to want to change
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Organizations can have all sorts of problems, from high employee turnover, toxic bosses, departments that don’t communicate across departments, and more. However, if there’s no desire to change, it doesn’t matter if solutions would solve all those problems and provide benefits. It takes courage to be willing to change. Other podcast episodes referenced: Gap analysis and Interview with Sylvia Henderson, CEO of MindTeam Solutions Resources referenced: Company Climate Inventory
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While Dawn Shuler had previously debunked expectations being premeditated resentments, in today’s episode, she talks about how imbalance is actually premeditated resentment, because if you don’t bring it into balance, the continued imbalance will cause resentment (or other problems). She discusses the two steps to take to correct imbalance, as well as the 7 capacities to explore to help bring in balance and maintain it. Previous podcast episodes mentioned: Manage expectations and Environmental Fit.
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