Decision Overload
👮‍♂️ This week I facilitated a DSC debrief for a group at a local court here in Georgia. Getting beyond the scanner (thank goodness!) a police officer wanted to know my business there. Explaining I was doing a program for a judge, he offered to escort me, and I decided to accept. (I think that’s one of those offers you can’t refuse.) The officer asked if I wished to take the stairs or the elevator. I was carrying notebooks, a computer, various technical gear, give aways, and my 800-pound purse, so I wisely made the decision to take the elevator. Reaching the correct floor, he guided me through a maze of hallways, a door requiring a passcode, another maze of halls, and finally into the correct office. Yes! I made a good decision by allowing the officer to guide me.
OK, granted, most any time can be unpredictable. However, these times it seems that shoes are dropping from the tentacles of every octopus on the planet and even though the octopus seems to enjoy a solitary life, more of them seem to be swimming around and bringing numerous shoes to drop. How can coaching be a tool for such a time as this?
Organizations promote collaboration, teamwork, work groups and the like. The idea is, of course, to promote creative thinking producing diverse ideas, increase productivity, better problem solving, and other benefits among employees. What organizations seem to be a little less good at promoting is teamwork between it and the employees. What is that teamwork and why does it matter?
In 1965, the singing group the Lovin’ Spoonful sang “Do You Believe in Magic?” Part of the lyrics go, “
Many people use this technique with remarkable success. People like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Oprah Winfrey, Tiger Woods, and Sara Blakely. Should you be doing it? And if you do it, how will it help you build a better career?
“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Henry David Thoreau. Mr. Thoreau’s quote applies to anyone who has no values, who values unimportant physical items or concepts, or people who may have values, but fail to honor them. Our values, affect every part of our lives, including work. For many of us it is not that we don’t have values, but that we don’t honor them in our work lives. This doesn’t mean that we are dishonest at work or are engaging in illegal activities, but that the work we do, does not manifest our values. Why is this and how can we make a change and build better careers around our values?
Our habits can make us or break us. Yet, as humans, we either pay little attention to them, or if we do change them, we often lapse back into our old habits. Just ask anyone who attempts New Year’s resolutions! We’re not completely to blame. Why is that? So, does that mean we’re off the hook? And how does any of this help us build a better career?