Are You Stifling Innovation and Value Creation at Work?

In this provocative NYT Op-Ed, David Brooks argues that the training we receive through our years at school and the focus on competition in the business world may be counter-productive to creating the innovative cultures many of us are striving to build.  Read the article to see how this research could impact you.

Use the following list of questions to help you determine if you are helping your teams think creatively.

1. Do you help encourage independent thought?
2. Do you create a forum where others can safely challenge set beliefs and the status quo?
3. Do you encourage “blue sky” thinking on your team?
4. Do you create space and time for “what if” conversations?
5. Do you talk about risk taking on the team?

Audrey Epstein - audrey@trispectivegroup.com

Why is Coaching Right for You?

The time may come in your career when you consider engaging with a coach or when someone suggests to you that a coach might be a valuable resource for you. Professional athletes engage coaches throughout their careers. Many of us experience working with a coach when we sign up at the gym or want to practice our golf swing. We do that because we know that with professional, skilled support we can improve further and more quickly than we would with just practice alone. Yet in our careers when we are dealing with new challenges, we think we can muscle through using the same techniques and mindset that got us to where we are today.

So, how do you know if coaching is right for you right now? Check out the list below. Any one of these items should cause you to think about reaching out to a coach.

• Part of a comprehensive development program or approach
• Preparation for or at the beginning of a new more senior role
• New or different organizational or business challenges
• Limited access to a neutral resource
• Stuck professionally or personally
• Dealing with rapid or unprecedented change
• Unrealized potential or opportunity

At TRIspective we have over 75 years of combined coaching experience at all levels, in many industries and through a multitude of cultures. We offer a number of differently constructed coaching approaches designed to meet you at your point of need. Call us to explore what might work for you and whether this is the right option for you today.

Linda Adams - linda@trispectivegroup.com

Live Like Sandalwood

Over the past 15 months I have been taking on-line and telephone based classes working with coaches from literally around the world. In one class in particular I have a new friend, Rajish. He introduced me to a notion that is very foreign to a lass from Scotland – To Live Like Sandalwood. While it took Rajish twenty years to understand a familiar cultural concept, through his stories I came to quickly understand what it meant. Sandalwood spreads its aroma every time it is scraped so that in the end there is nothing left. What a way to live your life. Can you imagine that in every interaction with you people leave with an experience that lingers and is pleasing? What if in life you don’t hold yourself back or maintain reserves so that when your time comes you have fully lived your life and are totally spent – nothing is wasted or superfluous? If I choose to live my life giving freely of myself without wondering what I might get in return, no matter what the outcome I will have left behind a fragrance and a sense of me that lasts. We can each come up with metaphors as how we might live our lives. I know people who Live Like Iron. I know people who Live Like Flint. What about people who Live Like Cotton Wool or who Live Like Asbestos? How would you choose to Live Your Life? I choose to Live Like Sandalwood.

At TRIspective we are all about creating excellence for leaders, releasing the potential within in each of us for success through sharing  ourselves and our knowledge. We do this through introducing new and sustainable behaviors, tools and methodologies in a focused, customized and highly engaged coaching and learning experience. Why not call us and see what success you can create?

Linda Adams - linda@trispectivegroup.com

Speaking up is hard to do

Every leader faces the challenge of getting others to participate in team meetings. Regardless of whether the meetings are occurring in person or over the phone, the common pattern finds the same few folks speaking up while others remain silent.

Full participation in groups is important. Eliciting diverse ideas and divergent views from everyone contributes to better decisions and ideas. Decisions are more likely to receive commitment and be executed when everyone feels they are heard and have had influence in the process.

As a result, creating greater participation should be a goal for every team. This article does a good job of outlining the two primary barriers to group participation: personality and position. Read more here

Here are just a few of our thoughts for how to increase participation in your team meetings.

As a leader you can:

• Be aware. Recognizing the barriers to participation can increase your patience and encourage you to create the right environment for participation.
• Don’t try to always be the smartest person in the room. If the team believes you are always going to come up with the right answer they are less likely to offer up their ideas.
• Develop group norms that encourage participation in your meetings.
• Manage your responses. Don’t shut down people’s ideas or negatively label them too quickly. Find the positive and build on them to encourage future participation.
• Let people prepare beforehand. With well formed ideas and thoughts the likelihood of their participation will increase.
• Watch for the differences between introverts and extroverts. Extroverts are typically more comfortable speaking up before they have thoughts fully formed. Introverts tend to wait until they have clear and well formed ideas before speaking up.

As a participant you can:

• Here again, awareness is the first step. Know that at least a few others in the group are probably thinking the same thing, hopefully this knowledge can can ease your apprehension to speak up.
• Don’t over react. Avoid clamming up after you offer up a comment or idea that is received by blank faces. Instead, default to a more positive explanation, “I must have said something meaningful and everyone is still considering my ideas.”
• Remember no one knows your job and your experiences better than you do. As a result, you will always have something valuable to offer.
• Keep in mind that the best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas built upon each other. When you offer something to the group you never know where it will eventually end up.

Make a mistake - get some ice cream

You will experience mistakes as a leader; regardless of your team’s expertise they will happen. What you can control, however, is how you react to them. As a leader you need to ensure that mistakes are shared so they can serve as a learning experience. When employees are scared to speak up mistakes can be hidden and create further complications down the road. Dan Schneider CEO of SIB Development and Consulting has a novel approach for how he deals with mistakes. Read more here