Evergreen Leadership Blog

Learning

Reframing – “Fix Your Face”

Two women leaders recently shared a wonderful story to me that struck at a basic truth. Here is how the story unfolded.

Michelle was commanded (not asked, but told) to participate in a developmental program that required her to be out of her regular work for a day and a half. Her coworker, Kenya, also was asked to participate in the same program; albeit in a more inviting way.

Michelle’s first response was negative. She was angry. She was frustrated. She vented to Kenya about how annoying, unjust and terrible this whole thing was. Kenya’s first response was different. She was curious. What was this program about? How might it help her?

So when Michelle’s email came to Kenya, with all the disbelief and complaining and frustration, Kenya presented Michelle with very sage advice in three short words: Fix Your Face.

Keep reading to learn more about the story of Michelle and Kenya, reframing a situation, and how to “fix your face”.

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Leadership

What Organizations are Unlearning

WARNING: If you love bureaucracy, you’ll hate this post. If your life is consumed with climbing the corporate ladder, this post will give you a splitting headache. If you are in what is considered a “safe” occupation (HR/accounting/law) – be prepared to be unnerved.

This is a follow-up to my post about unlearning. Here, you’ll learn what you might need to unlearn about how organizations operate and the work done within them. The content of this post draws both on my personal experience with a variety of organizations I work with, and the work of Frederic Laloux and his book, Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness.

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Learning

The Skill of Unlearning

I am writing this post from southern California – where in the midst of a 4 year drought, residents are unlearning that green lawns are good, water is unlimited and abundant, and irrigation can enable non-local plants to grow. They are filling that space with the learning that water is precious and scarce, that native plants are well suited for the local ecosystem and are drought hardy, and they have a beauty as well.

What (else) might we need to unlearn, and how does one unlearn? I’ll explain…

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Intention

My Wabi-Sabi Life

I’ve worked hard to overcome “the prison of perfection” – which had, in the past, resulted in me never being happy with excellence, which had caused me to stall way too many times in quest of the last incremental improvement, that had stoked fear that someone would notice the slightest imperfection. And it was good to let go of that.

Wabi-sabi, as defined in Wikipedia, is a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. However, the notion of wabi-sabi is deeper than just being OK with imperfection. …

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Challenges

Noise

When I worked in manufacturing, it was standard practice to monitor noise levels and also to test the hearing of those that worked in high decibel areas. We were proactive in managing noise levels, mandating hearing protection and taking steps to avoid hearing loss.

Today we are all faced with incessant noise – perhaps not the high decibel, cover your ears, kind of noise. More of the ever present chatter – of the TV, radio, email, social media. We are bombarded with information 24/7. Some is wanted – like my Pandora radio station, or emails from clients, or Facebook posts from friends, or or RSS feeds that cause me to pause and think about things differently, or texts that transmit information in a few seconds rather than a few minutes. But there is a heck of a lot of clutter or “noise” that one must endure to find that which is valuable.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve not found the answer to this. So I’ll share five things I do to build some “silence” into my life – and ask you to chime in and share to help us all.

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Accountability

Let it Soak

I’m an expert at doing dishes – thanks to growing up in a family that ate three square meals a day (home cooked of course), that thought the kitchen work belonged to women, and who did not own a dishwasher until long after I had left home. And so, doing the dishes was my chore. Lots and lots of them.

My approach to the dishes is not much different to the challenging work we face as adults. There are many times we do need to let things soak. To give them a bit more time, more reflection, and to avoid doing something rash or premature. And when we do that, we often find that, just like with the pots, that time in the right environment, has performed magic. What would have taken much effort can now be done quickly and easily.

There are other times that “letting it soak” is a mere excuse for avoiding something, for deferring the work that must be done. Getting to “it” in a day or two turns into weeks, then months and sometimes a lifetime. Waiting for the additional data or money or courage or information stalls us unnecessarily and becomes our rationalized excuse for not taking action.

So how do you discern if “letting it soak” is a good strategy or merely an avoidance mechanism? You might ask yourself these two questions…

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Intention

Can you Spot the Differences… and Should You?

What bonds might be created, what dialogs might open if we sought to find what is similar between ourselves and others – especially those others who we paint in colors that are different than ours? What compassion might flow? What relationships might emerge? What might we do differently if we looked for similarities rather than opposites?

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Evergreen Leadership

My Gift to You

Two gifts for you this holiday season:

GIFT NUMBER ONE – A big discount on big ideas!

GIFT NUMBER TWO – A fun and a powerful idea!

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