|
|
by Rick Baker
On Feb 25, 2010
Have you ever suspected there is no such thing as constructive criticism?
Here are some words from Professor James Harvey Robinson’s essay 'The Mind In The Making’
“We sometimes find ourselves changing our minds without
any resistance or heavy emotion, but if we are told we are
wrong we resent the imputation and harden our hearts.”
William James said,
“The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.”
Both of those quotes were used by Dale Carnegie. The William James quote appears in Carnegie’s 1936 classic, ‘How To Win Friends & Influence People’. [The title says it all.]
The key Dale Carnegie message is – Every human being wants to feel important.
Carnegie teaches we should not criticize because it will be received as an attack on the person’s need to feel important. And, that need to feel important is a huge, consuming need.
Some argue that same need is the thing that causes people to criticize. That is, we act like a mirror perceiving in others the faults that actually are our own faults.
Perhaps it is as difficult to refrain from criticizing others as it is to accept criticism from others.
I have a saying…work at having thick skin and a thin skull. To the extent we can thicken our skin we can tolerate criticism. Thick skin allows us to contain in safety our self-image and our self-esteem. It protects ‘our importance’. To the extent we can have a thin skull we can be open-minded. We can, as Stephen Covey recommends, “seek first to understand then to be understood”. A thin skull allows us to be tolerant and to appreciate the differences in people.
Considering all of this, is there no such thing as constructive criticism?
My next blog will be a sample from a series of Sales Lessons, written a few years ago.
by Rick Baker
On Feb 23, 2010
Here’s a quote from an article titled ‘Does Corporate Culture Matter? The Case of Enron’, written by A.J. Schuler, Psy.D.
“Enron’s corporate culture best exemplified values of risk taking, aggressive growth and entrepreneurial creativity. These are all positive values. But these values were not balanced by genuine attention to corporate integrity and the creation of customer - and not just shareholder - value. Because the Enron corporate culture was not well grounded, a single scorecard - maximized price per share of common stock - became its reason for being, and even its positive values became liabilities.”
Why was I reading about Enron?
2 reasons…
- We were having a discussion about corporate values and culture.
- During my energy career we worked with many Enron and ex-Enron people: many personal experiences are still vivid in my memory.
Here’s the gist of our discussion…our conclusion.
We agreed, over our business careers many of our failures were consequences of opposed values. We had one set of values. The other folks had a different set of values. And the two sets of values were in [unspoken] conflict.
Expanding on A.J. Schuler’s point, the corporate values reported by Enron appear to be positive. The fact is to those values are only positive when they are guided and bounded by certain attributes of character.
What attributes of character?
A.J. Schuler used the words ‘genuine attention to corporate integrity’.
That captures it…as long as we have a common definition of ‘corporate integrity’, we have a common description of ‘genuine attention’, and we communicate our views about integrity accurately.
That’s where the devil really does hide in the details.
A few years ago, we did a real-life, SouthWestern-Ontario-CEO study of Integrity. If you would like to know the results of our study…email me and I will send a little report to you. Contact Rick
My next blog will be titled To agree or not to agree, that is the question.
by Rick Baker
On Feb 18, 2010
People only do 3 things: (1) Good Habits, (2) Bad Habits, and (3) New Things.
This is the final blog in a 10-blog series about Habits, doing New Things, and Change.
In the last blog, I wrote: Business people continuously face Problems. Some people handle the Problems quickly and effectively. Some do not. There are many reasons why some people do not handle Problems as well as other people or as well as they could if they themselves could do if they were operating at their best.
The same applies to Change.
Most people struggle with or resist Change some of the time.
Many people struggle with or resist Change most of the time.
Business is about People and Process.
And, since People design the Process…when you boil it down, business is about People.
We can help People succeed at Change For The Better when we:
(1) understand the basics of psychology and physiology and
(2) provide ideas and tools [New Things] to create Good Habits
Good Habits are one key to Change For The Better.
In this blog series, I presented some facts, all samples of things we can do to help people create Change For The Better.
My next blog will be about Corporate Values.
by Rick Baker
On Feb 16, 2010
A New Habit, P=2S+O© and Change For The Better
This is the 9th blog in a 10-blog series about Habits, doing New Things, and Change.
Now, P=2S+O© will be discussed in terms of Good Habits and Change For The Better.
P=2S+O© means: for every Problem [P] there are at least 2 Solutions [S] and possibly one or more Opportunities [O]. Be alert for Problems and, when you find them, replace them with at least 2 Solutions.
This philosophy/tool can be embraced by most employees. So, when employees encounter Problems they can, on their own, replace them with Solutions and perhaps also identify an Opportunity.
I created a P=2S+O© template, a tool people can carry with them as a constant reminder of our desired approach to Problems.
Business people continuously face Problems. Some people handle the Problems quickly and effectively. Some do not. There are many reasons why some people do not handle Problems as well as other people or as well as they could if they were operating at their best.
P=2S+O© can help.
When people start to useP=2S+O© it is a New Thing.
If they keep using P=2S+O© then it becomes a Good Habit…a Change For The Better. Most experts say it takes 30 days to create a habit. So, working with P=2S+O© for 30 days should create a new Good Habit.
The next blog, the final blog in this series, will summarize and wrap up this sampling of things that can help us create Change For The Better.
by Rick Baker
On Feb 11, 2010
Human Strengths & Weaknesses and Change For The Better
This is the 8th blog in a 10-blog series about Habits, doing New Things, and Change.
When we request Changes, make sure those Changes align with people's strengths.
While New Things can be the bridge between Bad Habits and Good Habits, sometimes it doesn't make sense to cause other people to do New Things.
In general, we do not want to cause Change that makes a person work in an area where they are not strong.
That may sound trite.
"Of course we would not, in general, ask people to do New Things or make other Changes if the Change caused the person to work at things they were weak at."
The challenge is:
How do we truly know another person's weaknesses and strengths?
More basic:
How does a person truly know his/her own strengths and weaknesses?
And, more important:
Often, for many different reasons, people refuse to share their personal 'secrets'.
As mentioned in a prior blog, there are assessments to help us better understand our human strengths. Marcus Buckingham advises we, in business, will achieve much more if we help people gain full advantage from their areas of strength while reducing, where possible, the amount of time they spend trying to fix their weaknesses or work at things that do not align with their strengths.
So, aligning Changes with people's strengths is something we can consider when we request Changes For The Better.
The next blog in this series will cover another practical tool - P=2S+O© - a tool designed to help people make Changes For The Better.
by Rick Baker
On Feb 9, 2010
Physiology and Change For The Better: Change Your Brain, Change Your Life
This is the 7th blog in a 10-blog series about Habits, doing New Things, and Change.
In the last 3 blogs, I presented introductions to Ideas about change, the Psychology around change, and Tools for change…and Habits, which are intimately linked to Change and whether or not it happens.
Blog 4: 5 Ideas about Change [John Oesch's ideas]
Blog 5: Psychology related to Change [Maxwell Maltz on self-image, habits, and change]
Blog 6: A Tool to aid Change [the MotivAider]
My goal in those blogs was to introduce the diversity of the facets - some of the pieces of the puzzle - of human behavior, habits, and Change. We need to understand these and other puzzle pieces if we are to optimize Change For The Better. More-specifically, we need to understand how to overcome resistance to Change.
Here are two more important facts about Change:
Some people cannot Change.
Some other people need targeted, professional help to Change.
Daniel Amen was very clear about this in his bestseller Change Your Brain, Change Your Life. When I read his book, I came away with the opinion he categorized people into 3 groups: (1) people who could not change regardless of their desire or anyone else's, (2) people who had major problems but could change if they uncovered the right 'remedy' or mix of 'remedies', and (3) normal folks who struggled with certain problems and could , without help from others, change themselves to alleviate or remove their own problems.
- People who can not Change: Brain damage, through birth defect or head injury or stroke [etc], can alter the brain to the point remedies will have limited or no success. Some people brains are 'wired' or become 'wired' in a manner that defies remedy.
- People who need help to Change: Our knowledge of how brains work has escalated over recent decades. Dr Amen is emphatic when he draws a line between the psychology of the brain [like Maxwell Maltz studied] and the physiology of the brain…such as can be understood by SPECT tests [single photon emission computerized tomography]. Physiological problems can lead to anxiety, depression, inability to concentrate, and other problems. All of these problems can wreak havoc with one's life…including one's worklife and one's ability break habits and Change For The Better. Dr Amen recommends professionals consider 4 remedies to target the problems: medication, behavioural change techniques, nutrition, and exercise.
- People who can Change on their own: Most people, from time to time, suffer from 'brain problems'. A good example is anxiety around public speaking. Another common one is inability to concentrate. These people do not need medication. The other 3 remedies can be used to create Change For The Better.
Amen 'remedies' can be used for self-improvement whether or not there is major dysfunction.
The next blog in this series will contain an idea about when not to make Change…because it will not be For Better.
|
|