Pounding drums beat the cadence.  Cymbals reverberate off red brick walls.  Trumpets pierce the air with melody.

You can’t miss the approach of a parade.

 Eduardo Merille via Compfight

Ford pickups pull floats covered with vinyl floral sheeting. Plywood transforms into thrones for local royalty. Every convertible in the area is put to use as elected officials from the city, county, and state greet their constituents.  The Grand Marshal basks in her red Ford Mustang convertible, above it all.

The sirens of fire trucks and law enforcement squad cars grab your ears as they crawl down the street, lights blazing.

Hot rods rev their high-powered engines behind the cops, free to demonstrate their glass-packed mufflers and attitude.

Farmers plow the asphalt in well-used tractors, celebrating decades of hard work and the good ‘ole days.

Once shy cowboys sit high in the saddle on trusty stallions, reminding us of what “horsepower” really is.

The businessman turned clown for a day tosses out candy.  Introverted kids scramble to snatch Tootsie Rolls, bubble gum and atomic fireballs hitting the pavement like rain.

Everyone in the parade has a role, even the street sweeper.

Street Sweepers…

You understand the role of the street sweeper for such occasions don’t you?  Horses leave “stuff” behind.

So do people.

What kind of “stuff” do you have to clean up at work?

• Inferior or incomplete work; missed deadlines and budgets
• Redirected accountability… “It’s their fault.”
• Created stress and interpersonal conflict
• Low productivity, a bit of entitlement… “Where’s the bonus?”

Is that what you signed up for … street sweeping?

The Grand Marshal

Who doesn’t want to be the Grand Marshal? To be honored with a ceremonial position in the parade? You’d ride at the front of the parade, not even close to the street sweeper. You only get the glory, not major responsibilities.

Nice role, I suppose, if you can land it.

Did you know that the Disney family is the only family to have more than one member serve as Grand Marshal of the Tournament of Roses Parade?  Walt Disney in 1966 and nephew Roy in 2000. Then, Mickey Mouse was grand marshal for the 2005 parade. Mickey Mouse!  GM is a ceremonial role.

Funny how some general managers can act like Grand Marshals.  In The Parade of Business (Life) there is no room for a Grand Marshal anymore.  What’s needed is something better…

Something Better … Self-Managed Leaders

The future belongs to organizations with self-managed teams and leaders; people who can get the parade moving and clean up its messes.  They are the companies who will thrive in today’s lean and often mean world of business.

Check out a few characteristics of self-managed leaders and see if you agree:

• Get work done on time and within cost
• Increase performance and innovation
• Like to come to work
• Accountable to themselves and others
• Relish new challenges
• Create a “can-do” environment
• Produce less conflict and stress
• Lower turnover, because they bring purpose to their work
• Increase productivity without a big bonus or pay raise

Less “stuff” to sweep?

The Neewollah parade began in 1919 as an effort to provide positive activities for kids of all ages in place of the “pranks” associated with Halloween. Have you noticed working with people involves dealing with the “pranks” i.e.- unproductive behavior?

Yes, there will always be “stuff” to clean up. Success in business requires getting things done with and through people.  That’s the power of self-managed teams and leaders.

Wanted: self-managed teams and leaders; Grand Marshals need not apply … Street Sweepers welcome.

When massive, seemingly soulless corporations recognize that the happiness of the workforce is a great predictor of long-term sustainable success, then you’ll see the societal tip occur.

- Shawn Achor

                      Shane Mayer via Compfight

As we began the coaching session, Susan* told me this story.

A “major mistake” by someone on her team resulted in a miscommunication to over 5,000 people. The news flew to the highest level reaching the CEO.  It was not a pretty sight.

What happened? An employee made a mistake. (And someone needs to be held responsible).

I responded, “Sounds serious, how did you handle the situation?”

“I went out into the work area and asked Mary*, what do you think we should do?”

Mary replied, “I think we should contact everyone that received the information…let’s divide the list and start making phone calls.”

“What happened?” I curiously asked.

“The response of those who received a call was marked by gratitude…it was a victory of recovery once the mistake was discovered.”

Self-managed work does not mean perfection; whether system or process glitches or human error, life happens.

Self-Managed Work

The definition of self-managed speaks to an employee making their own decisions about how to organize their work, rather being led or controlled by a manager.

Since you are reading this post, I believe this appeals to you. Talented people demand the freedom of self-managed work … “Communicate the expectations and desired outcome, provide the tools and let me go.”  Sound good to you? I thought so.

Beyond Self-Managed Work

While the solution to engagement and productivity is self-managed work, there’s more to the story.

What if you own the business, what if you are responsible for the organization’s success? How will you win in today’s “do more with less” business model?

The future belongs to companies with self-managed employees.

Why? Because self-managed employees …

• Look forward to coming to work
• Take ownership for tasks assigned
• Accept personal responsibility
• Hold themselves accountable
• Create less conflict

And, they are happier people, more fun to work with.

Cultivating a Happy Workforce

Shawn Achor points out the value of happy workers in The Happiness Advantage. The value of happy workers is the good elephant in the room, huge rewards.

Data abounds showing that happy workers have higher levels of productivity, produce higher sales, perform better in leadership positions, and receive higher performance ratings and higher pay. They also enjoy more job security and are less likely to take sick days, to quit, or to become burned out. Happy CEOs are more likely to lead teams of employees who are both happy and healthy, and who find their work climate conducive to high performance. The list of happiness in the workplace goes on and on. (page 41)

The future belongs to companies with self-managed employees because self-managed employees are happier people. Sustainability involves people, profit, and planet.

If you want to get the employee piece of your business right, develop the people part, and the people will make the business part right, too.

Revealing much, my last question for Susan was important, “How did Mary respond to your question?”  (What do you think we should do?)

“She was surprised at first, then it became her project and she stepped up to the plate. She was excited, volunteered to stay late, and we got the job done. I think she felt trusted and respected.”

Why do you think Mary was surprised?
In the midst of the crisis, what allowed her to feel trusted and respected?

The People Project helps create self-managed employees; do your people have a copy?

THE PEOPLE PROJECT:

Your Guide to Changing Behavior and Growing Your Influence as a Leader

Order your copy today!

Guest Blog by Whitney Johnson

Whitney Johnson is a co-founder of Rose Park Advisors, Clay Christensen’s investment firm, a regular contributor to the Harvard Business Review, and a TEDx speaker. She is also the author of DARE. DREAM. DO.  Recently, I had the pleasure of connecting with Whitney for a meaningful conversation. This week I am, in fact, “taking a break” with my family, hope you enjoy the read.

Βethan via Compfight

Last weekend, like every weekend, I scrawled a long list of things to do on an old envelope.  But unlike most weekends, instead of tethering myself to a computer and working, I sat in my backyard alongside my 11 year-old daughter in our collapsible camping chairs, reading novels.

I wish I could tell you that this was a bona fide afternoon of rest and relaxation (R&R).  Not quite.  In flinging aside my agenda, my workaholic self felt more than a little bit naughty.  In fact, a more accurate descriptor of that afternoon would have been rebellion with a little relaxation on the side (R&R).

In this same spirit of rebellion, I’ve begun docking my phone downstairs, rather than on my nightstand.  Now that I’m no longer checking e-mail during the wee hours, I’m sleeping more soundly.   Emboldened by this win, I left my phone (which my children call, not entirely in jest, my third child) home during a recent family outing.

The bad news is that my 24/7, always-on fortress remains relatively unassailable.  Just last night, when it was time for our family’s evening prayer, I was so busy tweeting that my husband deadpanned – “What, are you going to tweet your prayer?”

I’m not advocating a wholesale disconnect.  On the contrary:  it’s been demonstrated that technology and connectivity, specifically, make us happier.   But now that we can live life in the Cloud, I wonder if there’s an ever-present dark cloud of “more-to-do” hanging over our heads, with the languorous, lazy days of summer becoming bygones, and busyness a badge of honor.   Do we consider unplugging a necessary evil, a nuisance we would happily do without if only we could spend that time doing more, rather than recognizing that rest is integral to innovation, and more importantly, to a meaningful life?

According to current neuroscience research, after focusing intently on a project or problem, the brain needs to fully disengage and relax. Composer, musician and producer Brian Eno (Talking Heads) opines:

“The difficulty of always feeling that you ought to be doing something is that you tend to undervalue the times when you’re apparently doing nothing, and those are very important times. It’s the time when things get sorted out.  If you’re constantly awake work-wise you don’t allow that to happen.”

More pithily said by John Cleese:

“If you are racing around all day, ticking things off lists, looking at your watch, making phone calls, and generally just keeping all the balls in the air, you are not going to have any creative ideas.”

When we do nothing (take a walk, a warm shower, slowly wake up), we defy the “always on” mindset, recognizing that we, like our muscles, become more productive, by alternating work with rest.

As leaders, we can encourage this healthy rebellion by example.   We may think we’re being responsive, even impressive, when we send work-related e-mails at midnight, on the weekend, or vacation, but those who work for us will see us as establishing a norm. If you will take some real downtime without the constant tug of technology or a to-do list absorbing your thoughts, you will give your employees permission to do the same.

In the book Sabbath, author Wayne Muller recounts a conversation with Oscar Castro-Neves, an accomplished guitarist and composer for movies, in which Castro-Neves teaches,

“It is common in a dramatic scene to gradually bring the music to crescendo, and then stop—rest—silence.  Whatever is spoken on the screen in silence is heard more clearly, more powerfully; the words are lent an additional potency, because they are spoken out of silence.  When you listen to music, listen to the cadence of rest.  Martin Luther King, the most famous speech of his life.  Listen to the cadence.  Free at last.  (Rest) Free at last. (Rest) Thank God almighty, we are free at last.”

The most typical dictionary definition of rest is not moving or tranquil.  Another less top-of-mind definition is a thing or place to put something for support.   Rest is life and work support.  It reinvigorates us so we can get things done.   It allows us to subvert our inner workaholic, liberating our innovative self.   It also allows us pause to gain perspective, to plumb the meaning of our life.  Life is not linear, but cyclical, so nature tells us.  What we think and do today makes meaning of what we did yesterday.

Learn to lie dormant.  Listen to your cadence of rest.

Take a break. Only after a break can you have a breakthrough.

For more on this topic:

Tony Schwartz’ Take Back Your Lunch
Arianna Huffington’s TED talk How to Succeed?  Get More Sleep
Elizabeth Landau’s Why Your Brain Needs a Vacation
Sabina Nawaz’ This Space Intentionally Left White

THE PEOPLE PROJECT:

Your Guide to Changing Behavior and Growing Your Influence as a Leader

Order your copy today!

Hutchinson’s Law: Any occurrence requiring undivided attention will be accompanied by a compelling distraction. – Robert Bloch  

D. Sharon Pruitt via Compfight

According to menshealth.com, close to 80% of crashes are caused by “driver distractions” – texting increases the risk 23 times.

Do you think you are a great multi-tasker? The National Advanced Driving Simulator team at the University of Iowa created a driving test. If you have a few minutes, here is the Driver Distraction Demo it will allow you to see how long you survive multitasking behind the wheel.

What has your attention?

Divide et impera is the Latin saying translated, “divide and conquer.” When it comes to problem solving the general strategy is:

1. Break a problem into subproblems
2. Solve the subproblems, one at a time
3. Appropriately combine their answers, put it all together

Divide and conquer is a helpful process for problem solving. But what if you or your day is “the problem”? What if “forces” are at work dividing your attention to conquer you or defeat your progress, your success?

Two Steps to Start Managing the Cost

In Part 1 I offered two simple steps to dealing with costly distractions:

Step One: Recognize what’s going on in your world, really. Examine your beliefs about multi-tasking. Seek the truth from others about how you are showing up.

Step Two: Do something about it! Can you turn off the email notification… can you put your smart phone on silent, at least while you focus on the person in front of you or the task at hand? What else can you do to be present?

Last week we introduced three types of distraction associated with driving – manual, visual, and cognitive:

• Manual – taking your hands off the wheel
• Visual – taking your eyes off the road
• Cognitive – taking your mind off driving

Let’s move from behind the wheel into your world to apply these three distractions…

1. Hands off the wheel — This is the “tyranny of the urgent” …checking e-mail, leaving the task at hand to do something less important but more “fun”; the cost is a loss of progress at the end of the day. Do you know the feeling?
2. Eyes off the road — The resistance constantly seeks to push us off course so we lose sight of the people. What if you miss the body language or the non-verbal communication? Here is where we get off course; there is no hard turn, just a subtle drift… but if uncorrected, you end up in the ditch or crossing the line, with costly consequences!
3. Mind off of driving — While there is movement what if done “absent-mindedly?” What is the experience for your customer, fellow worker, or family? “Masters” of multi-tasking is the driver driving or texting? Can you do both at the same time, safely?

How distracted are you?

As a simple assessment reflect on the following questions as you think of your Story:

• How well are you at staying on point? How often does the urgent take your focus off what is said to be important? What do you think is going on? How will you get your hands back on the wheel?
• How far have you drifted from where you want to be? How effectively are you listening? When you think of your life – mind, body, spirit – where have you drifted from your commitments? How will you keep your eyes on the road?
• How often do find yourself “multitasking? Why? Where are you at risk because you are not paying attention to what matters most? How will you keep your mind on driving?

It will take determination to change, which reminds me of Betty Anne Waters’ line in the movie Conviction. (Watch one minute clip). Visiting her brother in prison she dedicates her life to overturning the murder conviction of Kenny by putting herself through law school. She did not have a high school diploma when she said,

 “This is what I’m gonna do, and after that…”

Enjoy writing your Story; to help you get there may I suggest ordering your copy of my new book?

Remember Hutchinson’s Law: Any occurrence requiring undivided attention will be accompanied by a compelling distraction.

THE PEOPLE PROJECT:

Your Guide to Changing Behavior and Growing Your Influence as a Leader

Order your copy today!

By prevailing over all obstacles and distractions, one may unfailingly arrive at his chosen goal or destination. – Christopher Columbus  

Tom via Compfight

The Wall Street Journal article serves notice to walkers, “Distracted pedestrians stumble into danger” with a true story …

A young man talking on a cellphone meanders along the edge of a lonely train platform at night. Suddenly he stumbles, loses his balance and pitches over the side, landing head first on the tracks.

Fortunately there were no trains approaching the Philadelphia-area station at that moment, because it took the man several minutes to recover enough to climb out of danger. But the incident, captured last year by a security camera and provided to The Associated Press, underscores the risks of what government officials and safety experts say is a growing problem: distracted walking.

Jack Nasar, Ohio State University professor and expert on environmental psychology, conducted a study at intersections and found “…that people talking on cellphones were significantly more likely to walk in front of cars than pedestrians not using phones.”

Speaking of cars, have you noticed an increased “need” to honk at the car in front of you at the stoplight? Seems more and more drivers are distracted with their “smart phones” and fail to recognize the green light.

According to the U.S. Government’s website for distracted driving, this is cause for concern. Consider …

• Cell phone use was reported in 18% of distraction-related fatalities in America
• 11% of all drivers under the age of 20 involved in fatal crashes were reported as distracted at the time of the crash
• Three main types of distraction while driving
  • Manual: taking your hands off the wheel
  • Visual: taking your eyes off the road
  • Cognitive: taking your mind off driving

What about distracted living?

It seems to me multitasking has be touted as a virtue when in truth it is living a distracted life. What else are we to call it when one’s attention is turned away from something that requires attentiveness?

Clearly, people are injured or even die when distracted while walking or driving but what about distracted living? What is the cost to your relationships, your productivity or your success?

What happens when your attention is divided when dealing with your child or teenager? What is the effect when you have ignored your spouse? What happens when your body language shows a lack of interest to your direct report? Your boss? Your customers?

Raise your hand if you think of yourself as a master of multitasking. Do I have your undivided attention? Are you listening? Are you focused?

The study of distraction in the workplace is called interruptions science. You know all about those interruptions, right?

According to Gloria Mark, a leader in interruption science, the average knowledge worker switches tasks every three minutes, and, once distracted, a worker takes nearly a half-hour to resume the original task.

Sitting down to write this post here are quite a few identified distractions: the phone (twice), two business cards tempting me to stop and follow up; next, my mind returned to an energizing phone call; but wait, better set the timer for 30 minutes so I won’t be late to the luncheon; dare I mention one restroom break, too? And ah yes, the notification of an incoming email such a cool feature.

Now, back to writing, where was I?

Two Steps to Start Managing the Cost

Step One: Recognize what’s going on in your world, really. Examine your beliefs about multi-tasking. Seek the truth from others about how you are showing up.

Step Two: Do something about it; can you turn off the email notification… can you put your smart phone on silent, at least while you focus on the person in front of you or the task at hand? What else can you do to be present?

What if you take a walk unplugged? Or what if you just enjoy the some space, while you drive?

It will require self-control, but that’s good for the brain and what’s good for the brain is good for your performance…but that’s a topic for another time.

Enjoy the journey.

Have you picked up your copy of my new book?

THE PEOPLE PROJECT:

Your Guide to Changing Behavior and Growing Your Influence as a Leader

Order your copy today!