Being a professional is doing the things you love to do, on the days you don’t feel like doing them.” ~Dr. J
Category Archives: Leadership
Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain, but it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.” ~Anon.
How To Leverage the 4 T’s of Autonomy To Fuel Internal Motivation
Have you ever lost your passion for work or activities that once energized you? Perhaps you transitioned to a new role or organization and the fire inside no longer burns as brightly as it once did. Your “getting stuff done”, but not with the same passion and enthusiasm. If your leading others, perhaps you’re doing well and have you’re Mojo, but those you lead daily are struggling to find theirs and get engaged.
There are lot’s of possible reasons for a lack of internal motivation, but autonomy is one that’s often overlooked. Autonomy is the desire to direct our own lives within and inter-dependent context. In plain english that means that even though we play nicely in the sand-box with everyone else according to rules, we still want to have a meaningful say in what and how we play……a measure of control.
Autonomy and it’s relationship and importance to internal motivation is easy to overlook, because we: a. don’t even think about it or b. consider it kind of a “reward” for a job well done or something that can only be entrusted…albeit limitedly….to high-performers. The reality is that autonomy, some measure of control, is critical to everyone. So much so that Deci and Ryan said autonomy was the most important of the three basic human needs of Self-determination theory. How’s that for important?
Although I’ve been extremely blessed with lot of autonomy in most of the settings and roles I’ve had, two things surprised me when I reflected on this topic further. First, I realized that I enjoyed a lot of autonomy even in the manual labor jobs I had while growing up (grass farm mower, electrician helper and construction site clean-up guy) . The other was that the time I felt I had the least autonomy was during the initial phase of the first assignment I had after getting my PhD! Although that may seem counterintuitive, it makes a lot of sense if you understand the four essential aspects of autonomy as they relate to work: What people do, When they do it, How they do it, and Who they do it with. All of four these don’t have to be there, but you have to have at least one at any given time.
Dan Pink in his best-seller Drive breaks down these essentials into the 4 T’s of Autonomy:
- Task- That thing you actually do. You might have the latitude to choose in your primary work, or have your employer allocate a certain amount of time to work on what your passionate about. It was this kind of lee-way by 3M that resulted in Post-it notes and over 1/2 of Googles new offerings are birthed during the “20%” time they afford to their employees.
- Time- Emphasizing a results-only work environment (ROWE) where what gets done is more important than how long it takes.
- Technique- Tell someone what you want done and then get out of their way and let them do it. This doesn’t do away with the importance of critical safety and performance checklists (think aviation and surgery), but it does mean that within given parameters you have the latitude to be creative, improvise and be more efficient in what you do. If Zappos can find away to leverage this aspect of autonomy with their call center reps, then chances are anyone can.
- Team- This is about chemistry and having the ability to choose who you work closely with so as to bring out the best in each other.
Although its easy to see how the “4 T’s” or flavors of autonomy fuel internal motivation in creative, heuristic type work characteristic of a knowledge economy, how do they fit with the more mechanical, algorithmic work that still abounds? That’s where the following three practices serve as important qualifiers and catalysts:
- Advise them on why the task is necessary and why it’s important- connect it to the larger purpose and mission
- Admit the task is boring. It’s an act of empathy and let’s them know you aren’t being pollyanna or manipulative. This is also one of the rare instances where “if-then” external rewards can play in important part of lasting motivation.
- Allow people to complete the task their own way. This relates to the 3rd of the “4 Ts” of autonomy but given the scope of the task, it may need to be at a more granular level.
Becoming aware of and grasping the fundamental importance of autonomy to our well being in general and work in particular is the first step in being able to leverage it in building internal motivation. Breaking down the concept of autonomy into a “4 T” working model with 3 qualifiers then allows you understand what you need to do about it, both for your self and others.
Looking back through the lens of that model, it’s easy to see why I had more motivation in some of my manual labor jobs than I did initially as a PhD researcher in a military medical center. As Dan Pink would say: “Were born to be players, not pawns”.
How is the factor of autonomy affecting your internal motivation right now? Which of the “4T’s” can you leverage in a way that best serves yourself and others? It’s always good to hear how others have found ways to make these concepts work, so please leave a comment if you have a pearl to share.
Whoever a person believes he or she is, is how they will show up ~Tony Robbins
8 Ways to Tell Who Has A GSD Degree And Why It Matters
When we see credentials behind someone’s name we are often immediately impressed. Letters like PhD, MD, PT and others indicate academic, clinical professional achievement and grab our attention; especially if there are many and begin to string out like Campbells’ alphabet soup. But how impressed with highly credentialed or “lettered” people should we be?
I have to admit that growing up as kid and well into my early career, lettered people impressed me. If a person had letters behind their name (take your pick, whatever letters you want), they had my attention. In my mind, a lettered person was by nature a superior performer so I always became very deferential to them.
Even though I became a physical therapist (PT) and earned my own professional “letters” at age 22, I continued to be highly impressed with lettered people. However, as I began to work with these folks, began to lead them and then earned a bunch more letters myself (in additions to my PhD, at one time I held a total of 8), my view of lettered people became more tempered and aligned with reality.
There is no question that for work in selected fields, especially those highly technical in nature, specialized training resulting in a degree is necessary. But that is just the ante to get in the game. To be a real game changer you have to have your GSD (Get Stuff Done) degree.
The only pre-admission requirements for a GSD degree are a willingness to work, learn, get messy, had have a “move it forward” attitude. There are a variety of schools that offer the degree (including the School of Hard Knocks), limitless locations and settings. One problem is that you don’t get any pretty letters to go behind your name when you graduate, so how can you tell who has a GSD degree? The content from my last C12 meeting laid them out perfectly.
People with their GSD degree:
- Perceive themselves as responsible to the customer- they solve problems and deliver value.
- Sense a direct financial connection to the results of their work- they have an owners mentality whether they are an owner or not.
- Never think, “it’s not my job.”- they step-up, do what it takes, and don’t always have to be told what to do.
- Exhibit personal responsibility.- their general attitude is “if it’s to be, it’s up to me.” They’re committed to improving and growing, and taking calculated risks.
- Pursue continuing education and training- They’re committed to lifelong learning and continuous improvement in serving their internal and external customers.
- Don’t just work at something, but continually reflect on it- they exhibit curiosity and ongoing inquiry with an endless quest for insight and understanding.
- Seek personal growth, not just promotions- their goal is to become better a professional as well as a better person.
- Behave as if “self-employed.”- they “own it” and know the more professional they are the more value they add to themselves and those they serve.
Just as important as being able to tell who has a GSD degree is knowing why it’s important. When you want something done, it actually has to get done in order to “get done”…and it needs to be done the right way, often at the right time and most of the time when you aren’t around. You can’t afford to settle and mistake activity for accomplishment. Just because someone has letters behind their name does not mean they can generate the passion, responsibility, grit and drive to execute and see a job through to completion.
Too often we are enamored by and look immediately to the most credentialed person while overlooking the importance and value brought to the table by someone who has their GSD degree. In many cases a less credentialed person (sometimes much less) with a GSD degree is a much better choice.
Who on your staff, in your organization or in your family has a GSD degree? Make sure you can put a face with name when you answer that question and then consider if you’re giving them the consideration they deserve. Do you have your GSD degree? If you’re reading this post it’s likely you do. If not or it’s incomplete, there’s never a better time than the present to get started; class is always open.
Which of the 8 GSD qualifications are exhibited regularly by you or those you lead and which to you want to see more of?
Please leave a comment if there are other signs that help you recognized someone with a GSD degree and perhaps more importantly, what you’ve found to be effective for facilitating a GSD mindset and behaviors. We would all love to hear.
Try Not To Become A Man of Success, But Rather Try To Become A Man of Value” ~Albert Einstein
Success leaves clues” ~Tony Robbins
How Well Is Your Outer Focus Serving You?
One of the most important and primary roles of a leader it direct attention and focus; both their own and those they lead. When they don’t, the ball gets dropped and everyone loses. When they do, they can thread the needle on just about anything.
I’ve talked about 6 factors to Leverage your Focus and 3 Keys to keeping it there. But neither of those matter if you don’t Focus on the right things. According to Dan Goleman, there are three foundational areas of focus a leaders must continually attend to and grow in order to lead with excellence:
- Inner focus- S+EI self-management competencies
- Other focus- S+EI relationship-management competencies (in particular empathy)
- Outer focus- What’s Outer focus?
Outer focus is the ability to “read” and discern the many forces that impact an organization’s vision, mission and ability to strategically execute. That means that regardless of whatever else he or she may be, the leader of today has to also be a “knowledge worker”.
What is a leader with Outer focus look like?
- They have a wider ranging curiosity
- Are open to new ideas
- Both listen well and ask powerful questions
- Have a knack for identifying important data within an ocean of information
- Can see the consequences of a decision today far into the future
- Understand the relationship between the systems
What does a leader with Outer focus do?
- Scan for new information daily
- Monitor not just conventional sources of information, but unusual sources
- Keep up with other industries in addition to their own
- Reach out to others
- Seamlessly integrate ideas and information that seem unrelated
- Implement information and relationship management systems
Another important characteristic of leaders with strong Outer focus is that they develop intentional habits that make all of the above nearly effortless. To do so means knowing What and How: What tool or practices and How to develop skills and related to those into habits so that execution becomes as effortless as possible. More about that next time.
With regard to my Outer focus characteristics, I do the best with curiosity and scanning for new information daily. The biggest gap and challenge for me is not letting myself get sidetracked as well as keeping up with what’s going on in other industries that affect my own.
How about you? How would you describe your Outer focus? I’d love to hear from you, so please leave a comment on where you excel and where your gaps are. Together we can learn from each other how to best bridge those gaps and take our Outer focus of the next level.
3 Keys to Keeping Focused
Most of us can relate to the experience of trying to execute on an important task and then realizing an hour later that we’ve gotten distracted and gone down a rabbit trail. Unfortunately, that’s a pretty common experience. What isn’t so common is people who know how to break that pattern or avoid it all together and stay focused like a laser beam.
Here are 3 ways to help you keep your focus so you can be one of the few who get it right:
1. Recognize you can Multi-task but you can’t Multi-focus. Multi-tasking is walking and chewing gum at the same time, shredding and filing at the same time. Multi-focusing would be trying to construct an important e-mail while carrying on a phone conversation or reading while fielding the profound questions of life your grandson is asking you at the same time (been there done that?). My good friend David Browder describes the former as “spin” activities and the later as “flow” work. One exception to this is listening to music for reasons you can read about here.
2. Embrace singular focus. Focus, by definition is singular; it’s the main point, purpose or item of interest. Regardless of how powerful you may be, you become impotent and incapable when you don’t stay focused. In fact, distraction is the exact tactic a lion tamer uses to keep from becoming dinner when he enters the cage. Avoid the “chair effect” that tames the powerful lion by doing the following:
- Triage and limit your choices. Too many choices confuse an immobilize us; more isn’t better, better is better
- Decided and act. Immediately take at least one small action step toward what your focusing on. It could be as simple as a calendar entry. This provides a small bit of emotional “glue” to help you keep your focus as well as providing momentum which makes the next action step easier.
- Create the environment you need. You know what you’re easily derailed by, so put yourself in a position to succeed. Plan in advance to arrange your surroundings to minimize the things that undermine you and incorporate the things that help you keep focused
3. Know when and how to change your focus. The reality is that many important things vie for our time, attention and resources, so staying focused when it’s time to move on isn’t good either. In fact, that place is called “stuck” and stuck isn’t in your’s or anyone else’s best interests. So what’s a solution? Knowing “when” or “just enough” and “how”.
- When or “just enough”– “just enough” is just that: just enough for now. “When” is once you’ve completed or contributed what only you can do. That may be the end of it, unless it involves a process or program that needs to continue to operate and grow. In that case, then ensure others are positioned to carry-on and equip them with the “how”.
- How- The systems you’ve put in place to keep things going as efficient and effective as possible
Regardless of how much power or influence you have, it doesn’t mean much without Focus. Leaders without focus are just like a high-performance car going around a traffic circle not knowing which road to take. The result is that they and those with them expend a lot of energy but get no 
where.
Which of these 3 focus factors are you doing well in and which one, if you worked on it, would help you take your leadership and life to the next level? Once you identify it, don’t forget to immediately take a small action step toward it.
Share the wealth with a comment- what’s working for you and and what isn’t?
6 Leverage Factors To Boost Your Leadership Focus
Ever see someone try to balance a register while trying to process e-mail at the same time? How about someone trying to carry on a conversation important to the other person yet they had their head-down with something on their computer or in a book? What was the focus like? Maybe you were that person.
As Leaders we direct the attention and efforts of others. If were going to direct people effectively and efficiently, we first need to be aware of our own focus. After all, “focus goes where energy flows”.
Given the impact your words, attention and behavior have on your organization and people, you can’t afford to not “focus on your focus” and “attend to your attention”. Here are 6 factors that can help you do just that:
- Emotional Intelligence– Given the brain’s interconnected neural circuitry, the emotions are the brain’s way of directing attention and managing attention is the mind’s way of controlling emotion. The good news is that S+EI abilities that can be learned and improved on.
- Cognitive Effort- This is the mental labor required to process the information load we get inundated with daily. Like a muscle, it can get overworked and begin to fail….and along with it, our attention and concentration. Both overload and depleted energy (i.e glucose) serve to sabotage our efforts.
- Concentration- For goal-driven concentration it’s being able stick with a single point of focus and ignore the “whirlwind”…everything else vying for our attention
- Cognitive Control- The ability to put Cognitive Effort and Concentration together. It’s paying ongoing attention to that which you’ve intentionally chosen.
- Mode of Attention- The “top-down” kind allows us to intentionally choose what we want to focus on vs the “bottom-up” kind which is automatic and best suited for other kinds of activities, mainly supportive. Make sure you’re operating with the former when leading others.
- Attention Fatigue- Again, being overwhelmed, under-fueled or both will contribute to this. Symptoms? Mild ones serve as warning signals and include increased distractedness and irritability. Some major ones include outbursts, shuts-downs, indecisiveness and old bad behaviors roaring back to life.
Which of these 6 factors of focus are you doing well with and which ones are sabotaging you? Pick one to work on that if you improved in, would make the others improve or easier to grow in as well.
If your strong in one of these and/or have learned some things that have really helped you, please leave a comment and share the wealth; I’d really appreciate being able to benefit and so would many others. If you need an assist or input from others, make those comment requests as well.
Next up are 3 keys to keeping focused.