Archive for May, 2009

Exploiting The Theory of Complaints

Friday, May 8th, 2009

What are you complaining about?

Maybe it was your rant yesterday during the Board meeting or the mumbling and muttering you did on the way into work this morning…. but I KNOW you are complaining about something… even if it’s only in the privacy of your mind.

What is it?

Not enough time to get everything done?   Your wife’s nagging?  Unrealistic shareholder expectations?  Your teenage daughter’s weird friends?  The nose dive your stock portfolio took over the past several months?  The irritating co-worker that takes credit for your ideas?

What are you complaining about?

Complaining is common.  You probably think you know all about complaining.

But did you know that complaining is the missing link between success and satisfaction?  Success doesn’t buy satisfaction.  It’s one thing to be successful and another thing entirely to be SATISFIED.

Yep, that’s right.  Your complaints hold the secret to turning success into satisfaction.  The MBA in me likes to call it Exploiting the Theory of Complaints.

To understand my Theory of Complaints, let’s take a quick look at well known biz school favorite, The Theory of Constraints.

The Theory of Constraints suggests that what stands between you and achieving your goals are the bottlenecks – or constraints – in your process.   Simply put, by identifying these bottlenecks and permanently removing them, you achieve greater success more quickly.  If you want to learn more about it, google business guru Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt.  There are oodles of info on this management philosophy.

Back to Cannon’s Theory of Complaints…

My Theory of Complaints says that what stands between success and satisfaction are complaints.  Stands to reason, doesn’t it?  Regardless of your success, it’s pretty darn near impossible to be truly satisfied if you are complaining.

Consider this.  Complaining is a signal that something is not right.  A complaint arises because some need is not being met.  You’ve got an itch that is not being scratched.

No matter how successful you are, you are not going to be truly satisfied if you, your life  or your business are being held hostage by an unmet need(s).

The unmet need creates tension in your experience which, in turn, leads you to vent, kvetch or bellyache to relieve the tension.  Unfortunately, the relief is temporary at best unless you identify the underlying unmet need and take action to fill it permanently.  Think about it like having a cavity in your tooth.  Until you fill it permanently, the little monster is going to keep bothering you and getting bigger… even if the rest of the world only sees your sparkling pearly whites.

And, just like pesky cavities, unmet needs can be hard to see unless you have x-ray vision, one of those odd little dental mirrors or the keen vision of someone else.  The quickest way to find the unmet need and create a strategy to fix it, is to enlist the help of a trusted advisor, mentor or coach.

Bottom line:  Remove your constraints to be successful and resolve your complaints to be satisfied.

There’s no sweeter spot than being successful AND being truly satisfied.

Posted in Decision-Making, Happiness, Meaningful Work, Positive Attitude, Positive Living, Work Life, career, leadership | No Comments »

What’s really capturing your attention?

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

Did you see the article in the New York Times,  Ear Plugs to Lasers:  The Science of Concentration?  In the book, Rapt, author Winifred Gallagher, reminds us of two well known concepts:

  1. What we pay attention to determines what kind of experience we create.
  2. Our brains work best when we concentrate and focus on one thing at time… multi-tasking is not good for us.

Gallagher goes on to make the point that we have the choice to focus our attention on the negative things or the positive things.  Not surprisingly, she points out that shifting your attention to and focusing on the positive things in life are the secrets to creating a more satisfying life.

I’m not going to disagree with that, but I do think it’s a black or white approach… especially for high level leaders who get paid to solve problems and achieve results in a technicolor world.

Here’s two more things to think about.

First, events are rarely all positive or all negative.  They are usually a bitter sweet mixture of both.  Wisdom comes from being able to see and appreciate both the good and the bad.  Remember the old saw… Learning from your mistakes?

Secondly, your unconscious mindsets have an enormous impact on how you see the world and what captures your attention.  Shifting your conscious attention without first uncovering your underlying unconscious mindsets is a little like whacking off dandelion leaves.  It’s just a matter of time before your unconscious mindset sends up another flower of frustration.  Just look at Kristie Alley’s failed weight loss…

Here’s my advice:

1.  Focus your attention on the whole experience.   Step outside of your judgment of good or bad.  Look at things from both sides at once.  Find the wisdom in the experience.  The great thing about wisdom is that you can take it with you whereever you go.

2. Cultivate your consciousness.  Dig out your unconscious mindsets so you get rid of the weeds once and for all.  That leaves plenty of room and nutrients for creativity.  And with creativity comes inspired problem solving and new perspectives.

Posted in Decision-Making, Happiness, Positive Attitude, Work Life, career, leadership | No Comments »

Why You Should Love Pain-in-the-Butt Employees

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

I get the question all the time… “How can I deal with an employee who is a real pain in the a—-?  She’s driving me crazy!”

When I ask why the employee hasn’t been given her walking papers, the boss usually spits out, “Because she’s one of our best producers.  She’s too valuable to fire but she makes my life hell and stirs up everybody else!”

I love these kinds of employees and you should, too.  Here’s why.

They’ve still got a fire burning in their gut.  It’s just a misdirected fire.   As a leader it’s a lot easier to re-direct a fire than it is to rekindle cold embers.

I’d much rather have a passionate, pain-in-the-butt employee than one who is a business-as-usual employee or – even worse – an employee that has quit but still comes to work collecting a paycheck.

Re-direct the passion and you’re going to transform the pain-in-the-butt into an outstanding contributor.   I’ve done it myself and I’ve seen it done by other leaders countless times.

But here’s the deal.  You can’t just keep doing your same old leadership tricks and hoping for a different outcome.  You’ve got to drop your attitude and dig beneath your own frustration to discover what is motivating the employee to be difficult.  You need to become Sherlock Holmes.

Here are some questions to help your investigation:

1.  Is the employee angry about some perceived injustice?  (Hint: Bosses tend to expect more out of high performers than they do other employees.)

2.  Is the employee bored?  (Hint: High performers often feed on change and challenge and love to collect the next trophy.)

3.  Is the employee wanting more power and influence in the workplace?  (Hint:  Money only goes so far in rewarding a high performer.  Respect, responsibility and authority – even if it’s coming from the gossip club – often fill the gap between money and meaning.)

4.  Is the employee frustrated about some aspect of their job?  (Hint:  High performers frequently don’t like rules that seem ridiculous or decisions that don’t contribute to results – like time wasting staff meetings or ill-informed strategies.)

5.  What have I done to contribute to this problem?  (Hint:  High performers want to be heard and valued by the folks in charge.  If they only get your attention by causing problems, then that’s what they are going to do.)

One last thing.  Ditch the hero routine.  Don’t try to save a bad apple.  It’ll ruin your whole team.

Let’s face it.  Occasionally even the best leaders hire a dud or inherit a crazy person.  I know because I’ve been in both situations.  If your pain-in-the-butt employee is acting unstable or is a real threat to other people or your business, consult with your HR department pronto to determine the safest and quickest way to deal with them.   Don’t tackle this challenge by yourself.

But… if you have a pain-in-the-butt, high performing employee, get busy!  You’ve got a diamond waiting to be polished.  Want to solve the high performance puzzle quicker?  Call me.  859-266-2436.

Posted in Managing High Performers, Problem Employees, Work Teams, coaching, leadership, passion | No Comments »

You can’t escape who you are.

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

It happened again this week.  I was talking with a fellow I had just met when he suddenly observed, “You’re like a lightning bolt!”.

Yes, that me.  A lightning bolt.   I can’t help myself.  It’s in my DNA.

In my first ‘real’ job, I got sick of listening to my co-workers sit around and whine about how overworked and underpaid we were, so I petitioned our employer – the city government – to raise our wages.

The suits on the city council were shocked and appalled that a 21-year old, fresh-out-of-college female would have such audacity to question the status quo.  They called my boss and demanded to meet “the militant troublemaker”.  I found it all quite amusing.

A few months and one whopper of a pay raise later, a co-worker presented me with lightning bolt earrings and a lightning bolt t-shirt.   Giggling, she said, “Cannon, those guys never knew what hit them!”

Four years later, emboldened by success, I zapped, scorched and incinerated my way to record setting profits in my first big leadership role.  Determined to succeed regardless of the cost, I left a trail of charred and smoldering souls in my wake.  Intoxicated with my own power, I had morphed into a lightning bolt bully.

Then one day I went up in my own flames.  My mother’s childhood admonishments echoed through my head, “You shouldn’t play with fire!  Someone’s going to get hurt.”

It was only then that I realized the full responsibility of being a lightning bolt.

Over time I mastered the fine art of tossing lightning bolts to illuminate instead of decimate and to catalyze instead of paralyze.  In the darkest and most menacing of storms,  a friendly lightning bolt is a flashlight for the soul.  It shows you where it’s safe to step and helps you see your way to the desired destination.

With some work, I transformed myself from a lightning bolt bully to a lightning bolt leader.

It’s true.  You can’t escape who you are… but you can master the fine art of who you are.

Thirty years later, I still can’t stand whiners…  I still have the audacity to question the status quo and… I still occasionally get called a ‘militant troublemaker’ because I refuse to play the ‘good enough game’.   And I’m still a lightning bolt…  in a more artful and masterful way.

Have you mastered the fine art of who you are?

Posted in Decision-Making, Happiness, Meaningful Work, Work Life, career, leadership, passion | No Comments »