(offbeat inspiring music)
- Chaos is an addiction,
one that most of us have.
That's because we've been trained that bad news,
bad behavior, and insurmountable challenges
to achieving our goals are just the way of the world.
The old adages
about nothing good coming without blood,
sweat and tears have been massive misunderstood.
At some level, we believe
that nothing good can come without huge sacrifice.
I'm here to tell you that is absolutely not true.
We can achieve our goals
while truly enjoying the road to getting there.
We must first break our addiction to chaos.
And as a leader, you can help your employees get there.
As with everything, change starts from the top.
Start by asking yourself
how you reward chaotic behavior.
Are there individuals
in your organization that exhibit characteristics
of lack of accountability, collaboration, or integrity?
Really ask yourself what you about these individuals,
and whether you need to rethink this.
Conversely, how do you currently recognize
and reward people that collaborate beautifully,
have total ownership over their successes
and failures, and approach things
with integrity and purpose?
Are you taking the time to look for these behaviors?
Make change within yourself as a leader first.
Next, make consequences
for chaotic behavior clear
and follow through with them.
Let's start with that simple and all too common example.
The email string, where there's a witch hunt
looking for blame for a mistake that was made.
What will you do in that situation as a leader?
Will you also look for the person that made the mistake,
or will you address the person that exhibited the behavior
of publicly shaming their colleagues?
The examples are endless, but the solutions are clear.
Here are 10 steps you can take to help
your organization quit the chaos addiction.
First, make sure everyone understands their roles
and responsibilities, and that you as a leader
haven't given two separate people
or teams the same task
asking them to compete for resources.
Ensure that everyone knows what success looks like
so that you don't have a team full
of people with different destinations marked on the map.
Cut gossip off at the knees.
Make sure that everyone understands that anyone who engages
in gossip in your organization
is not a culture fit.
Create room for open and honest dialogue
and watch your own reactivity to difficult
or challenging feedback.
Do not allow leapfrogging.
If someone comes to you with a difficulty
or challenge with someone else,
especially if that someone else
is their immediate supervisor,
always start by asking,
have you spoken to that individual first?
Empower your other leaders
to make decisions and to make mistakes.
That is the only way they will figure out how
to do things the right way.
Invite multiple perspectives and voices
into the decision making process.
Inclusivity is table stakes these days.
You can this by inviting multiple voices
into the decision making process.
Take the time to have the difficult conversations.
Get comfortable with giving feedback one
on one and not in group settings.
Celebrate successes way more
than you talk about failures,
and always check in
with yourself first to understand
how you individually contribute to chaos.
Teach others in your organization
how to do the same so they can become self aware
and change their own behaviors.
This is a lot to do, but you can start anywhere
on the list and work your way around.
Make note
of even the smallest changes
that these have created,
and then give yourself some credit
for making these very important changes take hold
within your organization.
(uplifting inspiring music)