I facilitated a workshop today for 200 teachers and administrators in PA using the FISH for Schools curriculum. Teaching educators how to engage students in a way that makes them feel safe, involved, and ready to learn.
During the mid-afternoon break – I called this the Make The Difference break and set the intention for the next 15 minutes. The intention was that everyone would be able to enter the room and in some way, shape or fashion would have had their day made. I let the group know I was going to ask them when they came back from the Make The Difference break who was able to have their day made.
This was going to take ACTION. The kind of simple action that literally can change the way you and I think about things. It’s the kind of action – that also heightens our awareness to the very presence of noticing and being aware. So for the next 15 minutes educators and administrators buzzed about. This was different. I could feel something happening. I felt the energy shift, but I didn’t know if the intention could be realized.
When people came back in the room. I asked them to stand up if there day had been made, if someone engaged them differently over this break than before, did someone notice and make an effort with you. And – really, to my surprise as this was the first time I tried this exercise - 200 people rose to their feet.
200 people decided to act. When I asked, “what occurred?” one participant stood up and said I decided I was going to make the difference for people. And it happened. By a simple decision to CHOOSE.
And 200 people noticed a difference that was made – in just 15 minutes. Can you imagine the impact this can have on a district of kids? Can you imagine the impact this can have on us all? And it stemmed from a simple CHOICE.
Take your own Make The Difference break today. See what happens. Create that intention for you and those around you. What do you have to lose?
Better yet, what do you have to gain!
Yesterday afternoon I got the chance to work with a group on Creativity. Spending Friday afternoon learning tools and methods for idea generation and evaluation. Seems like heavy lifting for late in the week. One of the concepts I discussed was the idea of adding Improv into the workplace.
Using Improv in our daily lives to improve can be as easy as a set up to a very skilled comedian. I find the more I can practice the skills of saying, “Yes, and” the better off I am of being more creative and productive in life. Adding the every popular, “Yes, and” vs. the “Yeah, BUT.” But stops the story every time. It doesn’t allow for idea generation or creativity.
Here’s how you start:
Suspend your judgment.
Easier said than done? Not really if you are focused on truly listening to what is being said.
Approach the conversation with a “build on” attitude.
New ideas start with just a single thought, great ideas take that down the road a bit and build on it.
Don’t let it end.
Open yourself and your language up to discovering multiple options and possibilities. Practice by saying, “Yes, and!” Catch yourself – or just note when others blurt out – “but.”
Take it further now:
- What in your life can benefit from a little Improv?
- Where have you said, “Yeah, but” in your life?
- What would be the benefit of giving this a little “Yes, and” approach the next time around?
- What new things could you discover if you let yourself?
Sure, as a manager it might be easy to believe that your HIPOs aren’t going anywhere because there aren’t any jobs. This attitude is just what drives the HIPO out the door. Creating their own opportunities. For competitors. Or themselves.
Couple that with people who are completely disengaged staying longer – remember, there aren’t any jobs to be had – and we have a serious breeding ground for a serious retention problem.
So, how can you create everyday development opportunities for your team? Try the following:
- Running a team meeting
- Leading a high-profile project
- Teaching or training new staff
- Job-swap or rotation
- Being a mentor/coach to a struggling team or employee
Find the everyday things that can benefit the organization and the individuals need for growth and development. It doesn’t take them away from the office, and you aren’t paying an outside vendor to supply any of the opportunities.
Today I facilitated a workshop for a group of directors. I seem to be challenged at times when people don’t want to recognize the choices available. At times, some really feel comfort and, can I say joy, in being helpless. When this shows up in a workshop – I can’t just let it go. I need to bring it out and really just throw it on the table – so we can talk about it. And I really get where this is uncomfortable to talk about, because misery loves company which is about talking about the other choices – beyond misery – we might have. It’s not the type of company I care to keep, let alone enable.
Today’s session provided for a really great opportunity to think about work and the choices one makes – or chooses not to make. If we can talk about the difficult choices – like simply doing nothing, or choosing another job – doesn’t that empower us? Empower us because we have choices?
I hope that it does, because what I can’t hear, is “i have no choice, no matter what I do things won’t change.” I don’t know about you, but this stops us in our tracks and puts us right back into that default future. And then, yes, you get to be right – nothing will change.
Is that what you want? Not me, I choose to play a different game. One where the options – all of them, even the ones I don’t want to say out loud exist. That’s the game I play. How about you?
