Yippee, I'm on the Map – The Life Purpose Coach International Map

See what’s called my landing page: 


 http://www.lifepurposecoachingcenters.com/OLDSITE/Coaches/CheriMabenCrouch/tabid/678/Default.aspx

The Power of Our Words

Sometimes what you say is what you get.  As our thoughts affect our circumstances, so do the words we say.  Start a new habit, “Open your mouth only when you have something positive and constructive to say.  You will appreciate the change in habit and so will your colleagues and family members.”  

Powerful question:  Did you know you’re the only person running your mouth? 

“Thou shalt decree a thing and it shall be established unto thee.” 

Job 22: 28 

Profiles in Leadership -- Mitch & Elizabeth

Aretha Franklin belts it out!

Can’t you just hear Aretha Franklin singing it out?  “R-E-S-P-E-C-T find out what it means to me?” 

And just what does it mean to me?   I care very deeply about respectful engagement in the workplace.  And, I hope you do too.

Most of us spend 40 hours + in the workplace and hopefully it’s an enjoyable experience.  I went and bought an Apple computer a couple of weeks ago and Joe Cady, the guy who sold it to me, raved about what an outstanding culture the Apple organization has.  He just kept saying, “Apple takes care of their employees and it’s a great place to work!”  I thought, “That’s great.”  His experience with Apple as an employer showed on his face and in his attitude in dealing with me:  the customer.   And this matters to me.” 

Can you imagine a culture where one person yells at another, uses abusive language, gossips, sabotages, and constantly berates the other front of their peers, etc?  Unfortunately many people can. Seriously, a large percentage of us have experienced this first-hand and it isn’t pleasant and it definitely doesn’t help us to be productive smiling employees.   Depending on the extent of the abuse, it can take a toll on the victim.  I know a coaching client who totally lost her sense of self-worth.  She told me, “By the time I had been at that organization a year, I couldn’t even think straight enough to compose a simple email.”    

I wish that something could be done about these cultures.  I’m going to make a bold declaration:  I want to eradicate this type of behavior from “all” workplaces!  I know, it’s a really big problem to solve, but collectively we can make a difference. 

I want to let people know about Mitchell Kuzy, Ph.D.  and Elizabeth Holloway, Ph.D.   Mitch lives in the San Francisco area and Elizabeth in Austin; however, they travel extensively sharing their research findings.  They are two leaders who are making a difference! They understand that civility is influenced by the organization’s culture. To tackle the problem, the team has created a cohesive model of intervention that takes care of civility at three levels of the organization:  individual, team and organizational.  It often doesn’t work to tell the offenders just to stop. Although, I would contend, that this is important too.      

And, I would also say “Yes, you guessed it.  The top leadership has to care – care enough to implement the kinds of interventions that do transform the organization.” 

Most organizational behavior experts will tell you that the process of becoming a more respectful organization begins with the organization having values around respectful engagement.  These values should be communicated. But unfortunately the clearest values of all will not solve the problem until integrated into all areas of the organization’s systems (e.g., processes that provide feedback, leadership development opportunities, etc.)  

Without intervention, toxic behaviors begin to effect both the individual and  team productivity.  It starts to infect the community inside and outside the organization. Employees in the midst of this problem aren’t smiling at each other or those they serve. 

Powerful question:  What can you do to eradicate this type of behavior from workplaces?

Here’s a place to start: 

• Read Mitch and Elizabeth’s book, Toxic Workplace:  Managing toxic personalities and their systems of power.    
• Take Mitch and Elizabeth’s telecourse at the Workplace Coach Institute.  It starts April 22^nd.  http://www.workplacecoachinstitute.com/    

Conversation

Conversation.  It’s something my mother taught me sitting around her kitchen table.  And that’s how I got to know my mother and many of her friends and my own.   Building conversation with others is a skill I have taken into both my personal and professional life.   But sometimes I wonder if this skill is still being practiced?  Because the other night I was out to dinner with my husband and I saw another couple with cell phones in their hands.  They were both texting.  And I thought, “Surely, they aren’t texting each other? While out to dinner with each other?”  I must admit that once my 13-year-old son was in the basement playing videos and he called me on my cell phone because I was upstairs.  I looked at my cell phone ringing with utter surprise and then said to my son, “You come up here and talk to me.  We live in the same house!”  What happened to being with each other?  And good olde’ face-to-face conversation?  Looking at each other eye ball to eye ball and beginning to build the relationship?   It’s important in families and in the workplace.  And…“Is it happening?” 

Powerful question:  What conversation can you start that will build a relationship?