By Emma Good
– September 1, 2010
If I was to ask how do you keep moving forward? Would you focus on your relationship, your family or on your friends? Do you think of your community, consider your connections, or your work environment?
I asked this question to a group of individuals that did not know one another but were about to embark on a year-long journey together. I asked them to answer the question by creating an entertaining learning experience after giving them a specific topic to base their dialogue on. What occurred to me during the activity was the role I was to play as facilitator. I had to encourage dialogue vs. debate, for the group to use facts vs. opinions and to place less emphasis on dogmatic beliefs vs. trying new ideas.
The dialogue from the group focused participants on exploration, understanding, listening, with a commitment to be open and honest and to have a collaborative attitude. The result was exactly what I had hoped for, four VERY entertaining performances that highlighted the rich arts & culture in our community, the talented people who live here, the entrepreneurial spirit that is alive and well and the hopes that one day Tallahassee might become a Top 10 travel destination.
The question still remained: how could the groups dialogue in the coming months have momentum? The group decided for this to happen they would assign a facilitator for every meeting, end every meeting with a commitment from each person for each decision made and through their experiences based upon their performances they would set group goals to keep them moving forward.
><(("> Emma Good
Emma is a ><(("> Team member at Catch Your Limit, a management firm with offices in Tallahassee, FL and Richmond, VA. To learn more, visit www.catchyourlimit.com.
Posted in Teaming.
Tagged with facilitation, Teaming.
By Melissa Laughon
– August 30, 2010
So much time, energy and resources goes into developing customer service programs that teach people what they should say. I’d recommend that if you’re really trying to protect your brand, spend your time teaching those people on the frontline what NOT to say.
Tonight, Tom and I were at a Martin’s grocery store (just saying it wasn’t Publix to all our Publix friends). We were in line behind two other carts piled high. When we finally got to the part where the grocery store takes our money, the young lady bagging groceries in the next line said, “I wish all these people would just go home!” She said it loud enough for all of her co-workers and all the customers to hear her.
At first, I wanted to just ignore it. However, when I thought more about how we’d just spent $4o to be insulted, I asked the guy ringing us up if he heard it. And, he had. So, I did ask to speak to a manager. But, you know, that didn’t really make me feel better because I’m just getting sick of this type of service.
So, if you’re out there and you interface with customers or you train those that do, please teach these folks to “just stop talking” if they’re going to insult the people who make it possible for them to have their jobs.
><(("> Melissa Laughon
Melissa is a ><((“> Team Member at Catch Your Limit, a management and marketing firm with offices in Tallahassee, Florida and Richmond, Virginia. To learn more, visit www.catchyourlimit.com.
Posted in Miscellaneous.
By Emma Good
– August 11, 2010
I am still thinking about the idea of being a change agent. One insight came from my last blog; it was the idea of taking the risk of being misunderstood to ensure that the overall goal or result is visible. That lead me to think about conflict.
Conflict is rampant in our lives, causing hurt, anger and bitterness. Unresolved issues and unfulfilled expectations leave people, emotions, and relationships torn. Mediation offers one alternative; however settlements and agreements often cannot restore trust or rebuild broken bonds. So how can conflict strengthen relationships? and how can we find ways to learn and grow through conflict to rebuild trust.
One key tool that we use at Catch Your Limit is Patrick Lencioni’s 5 Dysfunctions of a Team. I was thrilled this past week when witnessing the power of teamwork. The basis of Lencioni’s book are 5 criteria; Trust, Conflict, Commitment, Accountability and Results. During a team presentation on conflict the fear of being misunderstood, ostracized and/or labeled was a feeling most of the team had felt. Like Lencioni, I strongly believe that people can engage in positive conflict. Yes conflict in any form can be uncomfortable, especially if you are trying to avoid personal conflict. I reminded the team that if you take the approach that we mean no harm when engaging in conflict, and we have trust as a foundation of our teamwork, conflict is a worthwhile tool for all of us to understand. Conflict can strengthen relationships because it creates lively discussion, extracts ideas, minimizes side-bar conversations and hopefully results in solving issues quickly.
How do you engage in positive conflict? Establish ground rules and/or rules of conflict engagement. Take away the potential for personal conflict. In teams you can have written guidelines or ground rules, in my role as a change agent I established personal ground rules to guide myself through the challenge of conflict:
- I will continue to have a positive attitude and be respectful listening to others.
- I will try to make it easier for the other person to want to stay in conversation with me by creating opportunity for resolution.
- I will value initiative and encourage ideas.
- I will remember that my overall goal is to awaken hearts and minds of others.
- I will manage my conflict triggers and identify and understand threats.
So I will continue to take the risk of being misunderstood and sometimes engage in positive conflict and continue my journey. As Albert Einstein said ‘in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.’
><(("> Emma Good
Emma is a ><(("> Team member at Catch Your Limit, a management firm with offices in Tallahassee, FL and Richmond, VA. To learn more, visit www.catchyourlimit.com.
Posted in Teaming.
By Emma Good
– August 4, 2010
Recently I heard a great friend and a mentor describe herself as a change agent. For her its a double edge sword as her perspective challenges others and people are often conflicted by what she says. I think she’s brilliant and I too would like to call myself a change agent but I questioned whether I really understand what one is.
By definition a change agent is a ‘ person whose presence or thought processes cause a change from the traditional way of handling or thinking about a problem; altering organizational systems and human capacity.’ I like this already. The question now becomes how can I ensure that when speaking up my thoughts I don’t become problematic, that I don’t assume a role as the devils advocate or come across as aggressive or argumentative.
How can I act as a change agent? I have to take the risk of being misunderstood and misappreciated and remind others of the overall goal or result. I have to remind myself that the result of acting as a change agent may enable others to do more, to gain a new perspective on life. I was reminded of this as I found myself smiling reading a card from a former student employee. After she had left our company and was about to travel around Europe for the summer she sent me a thank you card and wrote ‘you give off an energy that inspires me to look at things a new way and for that I am most thankful.’ Then just today a post card arrived from Amsterdam from the same student who simply wrote ‘thank you again for everything, I am having the time of my life.’ I thought back to moments that had taken place between the two of us and I remembered sending her an email that said always remember: the journey is all. The destination is beside the point with a quote;
‘A good traveller has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.’ ~Lao Tzu
So back to the question at hand can we all act as change agents? I believe that the answer is yes but not by definition or rules, planning or pre-determined journeys. We can choose to take action;
- we can improve and heal our environment
- we can create healing on a personal level at home and at work
- we can become an engaged citizen in our community, in our society and on a global level
That’s quite a list. So where can we begin? Find your passion, act upon it and inspire others. Become self-motivated and determined, change is about people so get involved. We have the power to heal others and our communities.
The best part of my day is knowing that the role of a Management Consultant is in alignment with being a change agent. Our credo states that ‘Catch Your Limit is about people paying attention to people… about the power of good ideas that passionate, motivated, fully energized people can generate.’ Perhaps then I can start to call myself a change agent, can you?
><(("> Emma Good
Emma is a ><(("> Team member at Catch Your Limit, a management firm with offices in Tallahassee, FL and Richmond, VA. To learn more, visit www.catchyourlimit.com.
Posted in Change.
By Melissa Laughon
– August 3, 2010
Recently, in the middle of a day I remembered recess.
I didn’t just remember I had once been a kid that looked forward to recess to get out the classroom. No, I had one of those flashbacks that are so vivid you almost have to wake up from it. I remembered the way that running wildly with your friends felt to my legs, the sound of my best friends’ giggle in 3rd grade, going over to talk to the new kid in class, the sound of the whistle letting you know there was only 5 minutes left, the coolness of the sweat when you came back into the air conditioned classroom.
On this particular day, I had been my typical overambitious, unrealistic self and I had stuffed so many appointments, tasks, calls and errands into the day. I took a moment to assess the situation to try and discern where I could fit in grabbing a bite to eat or even a coffee to tide me over. It was in this moment that I remembered recess.
Looking back, recess was an incredibly important part of our days when we were children. I took a moment to google the importance of recess in the education system and was astonished to find so much research supporting why it is a crucial part of a child’s development.
Why did recess stop?
I’m making it my personal mission to resurrect recess. I like it. I need it. We all could use a little more of it.
Melissa Laughon ><((“>
><(("> Melissa Laughon
Melissa is a ><((“> Team Member at Catch Your Limit, a management and marketing firm with offices in Tallahassee, Florida and Richmond, Virginia. To learn more, visit www.catchyourlimit.com.
Posted in Miscellaneous.
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