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The world is full of answers. If you ask a simple question, you can get a million of them, no problem. In fact, think of how many conclusions we reach each day: think about all of our likes and dislikes, our views about the world, who we think we are, and who we decide we want to be. But have we ever been able to reach a point of absolute certainty about anything?
– Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel, The Power of an Open Question
The days are getting shorter, and my to-do list is getting longer. In the last week, I’ve talked with several people who feel stressed and overwhelmed. Indeed research shows that our first reaction to stress is fight, flight, or freeze. This reaction happens in a microsecond in the limbic region in our brain – before we are even aware of it.
Over time, with enough stress, we can start defaulting to freeze, to being just plain overwhelmed. This goes by many names, analysis paralysis, choking under pressure, or worry.
So here are a few strategies that I use to get “unfrozen”:
- Create a status list. Start with a checklist or to-do list and briefly outline status, timeframe, and next steps. This frees up working memory, allowing better processing of tasks at hand.
- Outsource what you can. Instead of trying to “do it all yourself” find items that can be managed by others. Letting go of control offers others the opportunity to develop and frees energy for focusing on where your time is needed.
- Take a break from the computer and cell phone. Go for a walk. Taking a pause from the things that consume you allows for incubation, a fresh perspective. Exercise or just time away can allow our neural pathways to make new connections, allowing new patterns to become apparent.
- Modify thoughts and reactions. Accept things as they are, without expectations and preconceived ideas about how we think things “should be”. Observe our roles in events and our reactions to them. Remember that our thoughts, feelings, beliefs are temporary.
My goal is to live successfully with stress, not frozen, not rushing ahead for more of the same – engaged in getting unfrozen and enjoying the seasons of life around me. How do you get “unfrozen”?
Check out Deborah King’s post today on play. She offers a detailed review of the book, Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul. She reflects:
We all realize the world is a much more complex place than it used to be. Solving the problems our businesses are facing requires viewing the problem through different filters, and being open and innovative to try things we haven’t tried before. Research indicates that play can be the key to improving our abilities to work collaboratively in a process of fact-finding, brainstorming, and innovating solutions.
Exploring the idea of “play” in the workplace can help us create the future.
Shuttlecock V
Life is about
not knowing,
having to change,
taking the moment
and making the best of it
without knowing
what’s going to happen next.
– Gilda Radner
As I look ahead to the weekend, I recommend discovering inspiration by seeing the world through one photographer’s lens: visit Petsy Fink at Braided Moments. She is a photographer from Europe that attended the summer intensive at Rocky Mountain School of Photography. You can see her slide shows by clicking on the links on the left.
What are the things that inspire you to look beyond your day-to-day duties?
How much do you remember from your last meeting or training session? There’s a story in the New York Times Magazine about a new technology called Livescribe. As someone who recorded lectures and then fill in class notes from the recording, a pen that records the audio lecture and automatically links it to handwritten notes is revolutionary.
Years of research demonstrate a strong correlation between academic achievement and detailed note taking. The best students are able to take notes and mentally process the information. They take the information and process it through working memory, while integrating it with what they already know to determine most important points.
Even the most intelligent, fast note taker has difficulty keep up with a speaker. So do we all need “smart pens?” Buried in the article are two important concepts that go beyond technology. Further research by Kiewra at the University of Nebraska looked at teachers who provide handouts with concepts along with blanks for students to fill in during the lecture. They found that “students using partial notes capture a majority of the main concepts in a lecture, more than doubling their usual performance.”
The second set of research looked at using handouts of the lecture notes. Findings? “Those who heard the lecture and took (their own) notes scored 51 percent on a subsequent test, while those who only read the instructor’s notes scored 69 percent.”
What does all of this research have to do with organization development? Every organization I’ve been involved with has meetings and many have training departments. Giving complete handouts that can be reviewed before and after the meeting or presentation, taking and distributing good meeting notes, and even simply providing a written agenda that covers the key points with space to fill in the discussion have the potential to improve understanding and communication.
Read the entire article: The Pen That Never Forgets and let me know what comes to your mind about how to implement these ideas in your organization.
In the age of Facebook, Twitter, texting, and e-mail, I appreciate being reminded of the power of face-to-face communication. Here’s a quote from Chris Anderson:
There’s a lot more being transferred than just words. It is in that nonverbal portion that there’s some serious magic. Somewhere hidden in the physical gestures, the vocal cadence, the facial expressions, the eye contact, the passion, and the kind of awkward British body language, the sense of how the audience are reacting…. There are hundreds of subconscious clues that go to how well you will understand and whether you are inspired.
See his entire talk on giving presentations at TED. Then read Garr Reynold’s comments on the power of presentation.
How does your organization look at close range? Looking in from the outside, at a distance, everything can look perfect. It’s the “grass is greener on the other side of the fence” model. Mid-September is a good time to stop and assess closely:
- Where have we come this year?
- What factors have influenced our decisions and direction?
- Who has impacted our organization from inside? From outside?
- What is the objective we want to hold front and center between now and the end of the year?
What are your observations as you look close up?
In Thinking in Time: The Uses of History for Decision-Makers, Neustadt and May* tell about their encounter with Avram Goldberg, CEO of Stop and Shop in New England. He told them that his approach to problem solving is, “When a manager comes to me, I don’t ask him, ‘What’s the problem?’ I say, ‘Tell me the story.’ That way I find out what the problem really is.”
Once the story is told, it’s time for the conversation participants to use critical thinking skills:
- Use the reporter’s checklist for inquiries: who, what, why, when, where, how, with what effect?
- What is the story advocating and assuming?
- What is the central concern or challenge and the corresponding opportunity?
- What is the history of the situation? Who are the key players? How have they interacted through time?
- What new facts, if presented, would cause you to change your assumptions, direction, or decision?
Beginning with a story and following with these clarifying questions works can develop a deeper awareness of the factors influencing the situation at hand. Collaborative conversations that look deeply at a situation allow for learning and good decision-making. And, beyond improving performance, research by Dr. Richard Boyatzis* from Case Western Reserve University demonstrates that leaders who spend time coaching and mentoring others reduce their own stress levels.
*Neustadt and May, p. 106.
*Boyatzis, R. E., Smith, M. L., Blaize, N. J. (2006). Developing Sustainable Leaders through Coaching and Compassion (pp. 8-24). Academy of Management Learning and Education.
