One of the most unfortunate consultant requests I have had recently… was to do a workshop on avoiding Polarization In The Workplace! And when I asked for a few points of discussion that may help me prepare a talk on this very important issue, the “requesters” recommended a focus on:
Deflating the “Us vs Them” situations
Getting past “opposing extreme” scenarios and
Suggesting finding a “middle ground” issue resolution between individuals
Today more than ever before, I believe Polarization In The Workplace (and in our world as a whole) has hit an all time high! Politically, socially and ethically it seems more people tend to take a side on issues much more often than to work toward a compromise point of view. In fact there was once a time when the person who developed and offered a middle ground/compromise solution was viewed as a good solid leader. Today that person would be looked upon as someone who can’t make up their mind and thereby is “wishy-washy” on important issues.
Well as I considered the most important points I would cover in a Polarization In The Workplace learning session, I decided to share a few TRIPLE III TIME options:
Remind everyone that there will always be more than 1-2 or 3 views on any issue.
Remind everyone that the customers you serve will also have different views on your service or product… both good and not so good.
Remind everyone that the best opportunities often come from all sides giving a little… so everyone can get a lot.
Remind everyone that no matter your job/life role… that life-long learning, continuous improvement and compromise will remain everyone’s job.
Remind everyone that “taking-sides” on any issue labels you as close-minded and unable to be appropriately open to creativity and innovation!
Finally, when you are faced with Polarization In The Workplace challenges… always begin your corrective action with a directive to everyone to look in the mirror and ask themselves: “What could/should I do differently?” Then as a follow up to your directive… let them know you are ready to write down their ideas!!
“Those who make new innovations and are successful in breaking the rules are creating the new rules. And in a never-ending cycle, those new rules will have to be broken as well.” From “The New Rules of Innovation” (2012)
There are so many individual thought pieces that can be discussed when writing about innovation… but risk-taking and rule breaking are two that I have NOT specifically targeted… so far!!
As you… we… all watch and participate in a world that realizes change on almost a minute by minute basis… old ways and old rules just seem to be a heavy weight around fast-paced progress. Even when the latest innovation arrives and some question its success impacts… if it improves the status quo… it must be considered some form of “winner”.
Hence as the opening quote proclaims, if you don’t plan to: Break Some Rules!… progress will remain at the “held hostage-starting gate.”
During my Director years, one of my biggest innovation rule-breaking challenges was to inform those at the next higher level of leadership that applying their old rules to our new way of service delivery… would NOT work! Whether we framed our new initiative as a “demonstration project” or “pilot program”, the ultimate goal was to up-scale everyone’s mindset on how to evaluate us. New/alternative “measuring sticks” were debated and ultimately applied because traditional rules of performance needed to be “broken”!
Bottomline: if you really believe in innovation and you Break Some Rules… it should not be considered illegal/subversive/disrespectful or non-compliant. Rather it should be assessed, non-traditionally measured and given appropriate support for an attempt to modernize and encourage progress. Additionally when one Breaks Some Rules…unplanned successes and diverse development outcomes often occur!
Remember, innovation action needs to be accepted and encouraged…. or new successes may never be allowed to grow.
This month’s Inspiring Innovations LEARNING MOMENTS podcast is all about trying a “Weights” system to improve your life and workplace decision-making process. Is the podcast message a little confusing… yes…but so is basic decision-making. Does every decision include “weight” factors that vary based on the occupation you have, the business you own, how old you are, where you live and the people you trust to give you great advice? I told you the podcast makes you really think!!
My 1-5 Weighting System recommendation does not make decision-making much easier. However, I believe it will give you insight as to what factors most influence a certain decision. Then YOU have to decide if you are giving all considerations a fair contribution to the decision… or just one or two major ones.
One of the most “fun” and thought-provoking times during many of my American Government & Politics class sessions is when I pose the open-ended question:
“What would the U.S. Founding Fathers think and/or say about an issue?”
Thankfully I get more participation and for sure a lot of differing suggestions. But in so many instances the class found themselves at a clarification point that asks: “Would the Founding Fathers say a certain action is: “Right?-Wrong? Or Gray?” in its advancement?
Let me better explain our discussions with examples and hopefully make clear why this is a timely TRIPLE III TIME message topic.
First, think about political name-calling. Everyone agreed that the Founding Fathers would take the position that it is professionally “Wrong”. The class also pointed out that today name-calling is not allowed on the playground or in the classroom…so why is it condoned at the highest levels of public sector jobs? The explanation I offered was “Freedom of Speech constitutional laws”. And although they understood the Freedom of Speech rationale…they could not accept that what’s “Right” and “Wrong” can be placed in a “Gray” area when committed by famous people or those holding high-level jobs.
In another “Right?-Wrong? Or Gray?” discussion…the focus was on how deep the United States could go into debt. And again similar to the name-calling issue, the class agreed that it is “Wrong” for our country to be in any kind of debt…much less over $30 Trillion! Plus it is noteworthy that they reminded me that citizens aren’t allowed to legally go into that kind of debt and that the Founding Fathers would be appalled.
My not so acceptable explanation was that the long-term, large debt was just a part of the U.S. doing its “business as usual”. We all agreed that the “debt” issue could never be considered as a “Right” action and even in our worst of times should it be permitted as permissible within the “Gray” area.
The goal of this week’s TRIPLE III TIME message is NOT to make a political statement…rather to encourage everyone in their personal and professional lives to try and stay in the “Right” area of action and decision-making. Overuse of the “Gray” area lessens your ability to: (1) show true commitment to what you stand for…(2) have co-workers trust in your ability to make quality future business decisions…and (3) provide confidence in your understandability to do the “Right” thing every time…all the time.
When you think about professional development, sometimes you need to look in the mirror and consider you… your business… and your organization’s current and long-term value in the marketplace. Are your services… products needed, and growing… or fading and sliding toward that “obsolete” category?!
This Building Indispensability podcast is meant to encourage everyone to self-check their value in the workplace and customer needs arena. This assessment should be a natural business/organization/personal exercise to ensure appropriate changes and progress actions are taken to continually place you and your group in that “you can’t be successful without me” category!
No matter what employment sector you work in…there is a common…important need for Quality Control. Even if your job currently is being a high school student. The quality of the homework you complete and/or the way you conduct yourself in the classroom…all can be labeled a different form of Quality Control.
I’m guessing you are forming a quick understanding of the: Quality Control – The Little Things Matter…focus for this week’s TRIPLE III TIME message. Tell me if your thoughts follow these special TOP 10 examples:
Return phone calls or online messages in a timely manner…it is an important personal responsibility.
PROOFREAD what you write or send…your words are a “vision” of you.
Provide adequate notice for future assignments or meetings…it is professional courtesy.
Meet deadlines for work assigned…don’t follow a “that’s close enough” approach.
In our electronic age…confirm receipt of information/messages…don’t make the senders assume receipt.
Try to guarantee accuracy in your communications…inaccurate “pass-alongs” to multiple people can cause endless problems.
Voice tones in the delivery of written or oral directives have more Quality Control impacts than most realize.
Don’t question yourself when over-sending information to people…because under-sending and leaving people out would be a bigger issue.
In all areas of what you do and how you do it…commit to a Promises Made-Promises Kept routine.
Finally…although it sounds little in function…always try to do one extra “progress thing” each day (more ideas/insights/information/initiatives/inspirations).
Somehow this TOP 10 list of Quality Control – The Little Things Matter doesn’t really seem so “little”!
I hate to admit it…but as I have “aged”, I have taken just a little more time when communicating in any form and moving less quickly forward on most new initiatives. Now don’t start thinking that because I am getting older that my whole being has begun to slow down…NO! Rather I have more recently realized better…the greater value of: Allowing A “Recognition-Pause”.
What am I trying to explain?
During my entire work history I can honestly say that I rarely took time to really celebrate a specific organization/professional “win”/achievement! Rather my focus was to stress the importance of “what next and what-else” still needs to be done. Even when the Board I was responsible to specifically asked me to spend more time discussing the cool stuff we were accomplishing…I would tell them that that was “old-news” and we need to look forward to the future. New ideas and innovations were the priority…every time…all the time!
Was I extremely lucky that I had great support from Board members and the group that worked with me…yes! However, did I miss the unique support value of Allowing A “Recognition-Pause” from time to time and encourage a special celebration moment so that everyone could be at the same progressive “place and time” on a specific achievement…YES!
Bottomline: Don’t always focus on what’s still left to do…organizational fatigue can be paralyzing. Reflect and learn from the achievements/successes realized…even in one day. Again to some they may be baby-steps forward…but to others they may be a once in a lifetime opportunity! By Allowing A “Recognition-Pause” in your workplace…you may experience even greater service consistency and performance.
This week’s TRIPLE III TIME message is my latest American Society for Public Administration article. And as you can tell from the article’s title: Today’s Newest “Job Learnings”… I have revisited my most predominant career initiative (getting people better ready for the world-of-work) and “proclaimed” it to be a modern-day public administration upgrade responsibility!
So many advancements have occurred in today’s employment arena that I believe someone/some group needs to offer a single, short-term session on: “Today’s Newest “Job Learnings”. It may sound too simple or common sensical, but job conduct and expectations need to be better defined and understood by both employers and employees as part of a standard up-training process.
I hope you enjoy the article.
Today’s Newest “Job Learnings”
Today’s workplace, employment processes and situations are NOT the same. Technology, global markets, world politics, hybrid learning, instantaneous communication and multiple other factors have altered the traditional employer-employee relationship in so many ways. Innovation and creativity have caused the infusion of so many new non-traditional components into every workplace and thereby have caused an “unawareness-knowledge-gap” with regard to pure job responsibilities and performance.
As practitioners in the public administration field… shouldn’t we be strategically reviewing and discussing all of Today’s Newest “Job Learnings” that are impacting our overall workforce… both public and private sectors? Isn’t it becoming more critical everyday that in our high school classrooms and also in every employment location… to directly orientate and communicate the progressive changes that are occurring and involving everyone? Although we may believe that this form of evolutionary “Job Learning” is just naturally occurring… I contend it is important for both sides of the employer-employee arrangement to become “up-with-the-times” regarding our upscaled worlds of work. For better clarity on Today’s Newest “Job Learnings”, lets go over a few examples.
Let’s first consider the new age view of when and how one’s work day begins. Traditionally if someone worked at a bank or in a manufacturing setting, they positioned themselves to consider that they were “on-the-job” from 7 until 4pm or 8 until 5pm. These very standard work hour situations were the historic measuring stick for everyone’s eight (8) hour day and consequential forty (40) hour week. But hasn’t this traditional time and attendance methodology been tested…modified and maybe even eliminated as a result of our COVID… online employment expansion experiences?
Interrelated to the personal time and attendance issue is the hybrid… work-from-home situation. I can’t recall the number of times workers in multiple sector situations have informed me that “my work day begins the moment I go online and look at my emails”! Understandably, the opportunity to have your home become your regular “workplace” has tremendous financial and time saving benefits! Less costs for gas and vehicle maintenance. No time spent on-the-road driving to and back from an office. Plus “dressing-down” is allowable…daily. However, does working from home improve job performance or lessen it? Can you really document time on-the-job accurately or is there a critical trust factor involved? Each of these “Job Learning”… impact areas need to be better explained, applied, integrated, assessed and monitored in a progressive… innovative… professional way to advance today’s new (and old) workforce participants.
Another employment-evolution area that would be valuable to instruct both job seekers and current workers about would be today’s “Specific-Generalist” job expectations. What are “Specific-Generalist” job expectations? Today I have observed that unlike past employment opportunities, some employers look for workers with natural specialist college-level knowledge… but many silently recruit candidates that have multiple (generalist) skill areas. This situation is most useful when those looking for work assess and are prepared to share their transferable skills. These skills include communication, teamwork, adaptability, creative thinking and attention to detail personal strengths. So whether the challenge is time management or beginning blue-print reading, the more high-value generalist skills/credentials one retains has become much more applicable in today’s competitive job market. This issue is even more realized as different companies and organizations have to “blend” job tasks due to financial or down-sizing concerns. Therefore, is providing this form of “Job Learning” instruction a valuable new age public administration obligation/responsibility?
Job re-entry and a much more flexible approach to retirement is another evolving
“Job Learning” component. Consider all of the modern-day approaches older citizens utilize to strategically exit their employment. Think about individual phase-out planning, part-time options, on-call opportunities and/or total return-to-work situations. With the shrinkage of the total workforce, worker buy-outs, robotics impacts, self-service structures and/or remote job opportunities… full retirement has become less of a standard life-change option than in the past. Additionally and unfortunately, quality survivability of those over age 65 living on a very fixed and/or limited income has become a greater circumstance. As a result, older citizens are regularly re-entering the workforce and would benefit greatly from sessions on Today’s Newest “Job Learnings”.
So what are some of the key issues to consider if we commit to better informing citizens about job conduct and expectations? I believe it is vital that common Today’s Newest “Job Learnings” be created and provided as a standard employment preparation/continuation service. A new public administration provider would not be required, rather the nation’s workforce agencies, community colleges or small business development system-network could assume the new learning session responsibility. As discussed the topics should include but not be limited to:
Working from home standards
Computer skills expectations
Part-time work protocols
On-line employment and responsibilities
“Specific-Generalist” skill areas
The uniqueness of Today’s Newest “Job Learnings” sessions would be the specific discussion on jobs from both the employee and employer perspectives. Old-style work stereotypes would no longer apply. This system-wide initiative is an overdue upgrade to all employment preparation services.
As I sometimes do my “homework” regarding finding the best… and most timely TRIPLE III TIME topic, shared below is a unique quote taken from a presentation by Julie Burnstein entitled: “4 Lessons in Creativity” (2012)… that really helped this week!
“Artists (often) speak about how pushing the limits of what they can do, sometimes pushing into what they can’t do, helps them focus on finding their own voice.”
So here’s the TRIPLE III TIME question: What are YOUR thoughts regarding creating a “Can’t Do” list for yourself?? I believe if you are truly correctly driven… Creating A Motivational “Can’t Do” List may be a fun, non-traditional method of extending your own entrepreneurial spirit.
Think about it?!
First, having a VISUAL of what you feel a need to try, work on and accomplish…would be a very appropriate beginning of utilizing a “Can’t Do” List. Somehow seeing the “Can’t Do” List in writing may show that the challenge is not as big as you believed and/or possibly convince you that you may be over-thinking specifically what can’t be done!
Next, possibly sharing parts of your “Can’t Do” List with others may result in a unique new working arrangement or mentoring situation that offers everyone a creative progressive opportunity. Many times just as attendees in a training situation are hesitant to ask questions that everyone may be concerned about… so too could others also be facing a similar “Can’t Do” situation and resist even talking about it.
Bottomline: Creating A Motivational “Can’t Do” List could serve as a GREAT problem-solving activity both personally and professionally. However, I also realize that some may look at a “Can’t Do” List as self-defeating. Historically it has been my approach to instantly think: “Bring-it-on!…or I know how to get around this problem…or this isn’t as big or confusing as I thought”!
Therefore I “vote” that MOTIVATIONAL is the better position to take!
This month my Inspiring Innovations LEARNING MOMENTS are totally… completely and happily all devoted to INNOVATION. It is a professional development area I have prioritized my entire career.
Specifically, the podcast discusses the importance of actions required when Retaining a “SPIRIT” of Innovation in your everyday lifestyle. The suggested actions are not totally new or unique… however they require regular attention to make INNOVATION a true “way-of-life”!
Inspiring Innovations, Inc. 