Dr. Steve Frisch, Psy.D. has written an article "How To Cope With Change".  He shares many of my views and a particular quote I liked is "We create comfort in our lives by striking a balance between all the things that pull and tug at our time and attention. A fancy word for this balance is homeostasis. And, as you no doubt experience from time to time, change upsets the apple cart by disrupting the careful balance of consistency and predictability that you’ve struck in your life." Change can be disruptive at best and life changing at worst.  If you need help coping with change you might find the article by Dr. Frisch helpful.

I am on retreat at my wonderful spiritual center that crouches at the base of a mountain range towering over Montecito, CA and the distant Channel Islands. Every year, I make a self-pilgrimage to the top of El Cielo. It's a 4.3 mile hike from the center to the ridge line. This is my 16th year to begin my silence with this hike.  In 1996 I started the hike because I was terrified to do it. Now I do it to prove to myself that I still can! Each year, it offers new challenges. The first hour is beside San Ysidro creek, the path stays pretty wide and the walk uphill has few boulders. But it's cool under the shelter of coastal oaks. However, turn away from the creek and the trail narrows into steep switchbacks. This has to be the hottest January on record. A blazing sun sears my jeans and jean shirt. I yearn for shorts and a lighter weight top. My legs feel heavier with each steps. My head pounds. What lessons will the mountain offer today? I come away with three: 1. To reach any goal, it always takes longer than you think it should. I swear each year they move the mountain top. My pace is better than in early years but my legs ache. But I am determined to reach the top.  Just like I am determined to write the next book, to create new programs, to clean my office. You know the drill. I must build in extra time because it will always take longer. 2. Most people turn back when the "heat" is on. I realize that the only people I encounter are stopped at the upper most waterfall that because of a pitiful rainy season, is nothing more than a trickle. They miss the panorama of a Pacific ocean, flat and glassy, the Santa Barbara skyline and Ventura to the South. I was not prepared for the heat. There's a lesson right there! 3. Keep your eye on the right mountain. I almost turn back. I am so hot and aching. The ridge line seems so far away. Two more switchbacks and I realize I have been staring at the wrong peak.  Might be someone else's goal but it is not mine. Wow. Where am I trying to climb someone else's mountain and not mine? So now, showered and tired, I will allow myself the luxury of a nap. A reward. What will you do to reward yourself this year when you climb your mountain?

When gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people don't feel safe and valued at work, productivity goes down, and organizations fail in their efforts to attract and retain the best and brightest talent. Many organizations realize this, and have created clear policies on the issues. But in order for the climate to change, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people need allies to speak up. This is a very thoughtful, balanced resource that merits much attention…  an important film on an issue so few of us understand how to address in the work environment. It is one thing to have a skill set in referencing and working with race or religion. It is quite another challenge to talk about gender and sexual orientation. I have an obvious personal motivation to be an ally: my twin brother is a gay man. I also know two more things from knowing him. The first is that sexual orientation like gender orientation is not a “preference” or choice. The second is that my brother has been a compassionate, effective and even beloved scholar-teacher at the university where he works – but only because he has been fortunate to find the allies in his work community that have supported him in being wholly himself. My professional motivation in commending Brian McNaught’s film is that I recognize, despite my personal commitment, I know that I have a lot to learn about how to be a skillful and effective ally. This film would be helpful to any one who wants to help create a work environment where every employee can flourish because they do not have to expend the energy trying to maintain a firewall between their family/personal lives and their professional lives. These are things that those of us who are heterosexual simply do not have to worry about. Look at this video. Celebrate what everyone, when respected, can bring to your world. Here’s the link:  Anyone Can Be An Ally

At 5am this morning, I listen to a colleague’s recording while I spray water on pillowcases. The hot steam presses out wrinkles. The cases crisp up and soften. I grab for the top sheet and iron three-quarters of it. Who cares where it tucks into the bottom of the bed. I then start on the dishtowels. At last comes my white shirt. The seams lay flat now. The collar perks up with sizing. Sometimes, the greater part of valor is action that lets you breathe. slow down. See results. Ironing does that for me. When the news shrieks disaster and doom and politicians refuse to do anything that hurts their re-election status, we stand dumbfounded, helpless, and furious. That’s when I iron. I see results. I think. I also remember how Mom taught me to iron: first on Dad’s handkerchiefs and then pillowcases. The iron was heavy and the ironing board made of wood. I graduated to shirts, learning you started with the placket at the back, then the collar, then the body and finally the sleeves. Inevitably, somewhere along the line, I’d also wind up with a couple burns. I’ll bet few, if any, children today are taught to iron. Heck, their parents probably don’t even own one or if they do, it is tucked away in that secret utility room closet. Pity. What do you think?

The first 3 Factors were consistent values, long-term focus, and local leadership. The last 4 factors are: 4. Continuous Communications. People often tend to communicate less during bad times when they need communication even more. This company increased its efforts to communicate and share important information. If there was no good news to share, they would share the reality of their current situation. 5. Collaboration. Groups made significant improvements around sharing resources and working together. This reduced costs and increased efficiency. 6. Opportunities for Development. Because the pace of work was a bit slower people had the opportunity to learn new skills and develop capabilities. This organization took advantage of this time by challenging their employees with stretch job assignments. There was also an increase in formal training. 7. Agility and Speed. With less budget everyone clearly saw the need to move quickly and take advantage of opportunities in the market place. Speed of decision was emphasized. In some organizations people assume that bad times equal lower satisfaction of employees. It’s not true. The organization described above made significant gains in employee satisfaction and commitment during one of the worst financial times by doing the right things. This improved attitude of their workforce and helped create substantial financial momentum.  Many organizations wait until there is a turn around to measure the satisfaction of their employees; they are missing an incredible opportunity. By assessing now, they can build on those opinions and make changes to help them capitalize on better financial times. By asking for opinions now, employees assume that their employer is not just asking for what they want to hear but rather asking for what they need to hear. Joe Folkman is the co-founder and President of Zenger Folkman, a leadership development firm focused on building strengths of individuals, teams, and organizations.

Two years ago when employees became dissatisfied with their organization they would quit and get another job. Today, with emplacement opportunities very low and unemployment extremely high, very few people opt to quit and leave. Their option is to quit and stay.  In the last year, overall job satisfaction in the U.S. has declined significantly. Employees feel stuck in their current jobs and their dissatisfaction with the organizations increases. However, not all organizations are experiencing these same results. A recent assessment of employee satisfaction by one of our clients showed a significant improvement over past years, though this company was not immune to the effects of the recession. Examination of the data showed 7 factors that created this positive increase in poor economic times. 1.  Consistent Values. In other organization many employees have seen their organization apparently abandon values when they experienced a recessionary economy. Their values seem to apply in good times but not in difficult times. This organization held tightly to its core values and employees began to more fully appreciate those values when they saw what was happening in other companies. 2.  Long Term Focus. This company clearly saw the recession as a temporary problem but kept a focus on their long term objectives.   This recession had a significant impact on the long term objectives but it also created new opportunities. Employees don’t mind going through difficult times if when they believe that there is a brighter future. 3.  Local Leadership. This company recognized that the major source of satisfaction or dissatisfaction came from what happen in each work group. Every manager and supervisor was provided a clear assessment of the satisfaction of their employees and challenged to find opportunities to improve. Stay tuned for Part II tomorrow! Joe Folkman is the co-founder and President of Zenger Folkman, a leadership development firm focused on building strengths of individuals, teams, and organizations.

Think of all the money spent on designing office buildings, moving cubicles around, consolidating locations. Capital expenditures take a big budget chunk. But what if you literally had the cart before the horse. What if you’re moving people, materials, and merchandise but have forgotten to move what really matters: the human spirit—invisible to the human eye but deeply experienced in relationships, customer outcomes, and performance. Before you laugh and think this sounds too “soft”- let me tell you about an incredible presenter/thinker/scholar/and guru in the health care industry and beyond: Joe Tye. I read one of Joe’s books, The Florence Prescription, From Accountability to Ownership in preparation for my keynote address to some 1000 operating room managers.  The story resonated with every part of my belief system and consulting practice. As Joe says, “Loyalty is to an organization what gravity is to the earth.” But how does one get loyalty? The answer is invisible: shared values. Values influence behavior and behavior influences outcomes. If employees don't value the same thing then negativity, distrust, and poor performance can be the result. Joe is the original values coach. He and his team have transformed numerous organizations by creating a contagious spark of shared values: values like integrity, courage, respect, perseverance, just to name a few. And yes, values can be taught. I had the wonderful opportunity of watching Joe begin to teach these concepts to operating room managers. They nodded their heads in agreement when he talked about lack of courage in confronting negative behavior in a surgical setting. They stood and told of their own story about employees who said “not my job.” Obviously the value of teamwork was not present and ownership was tremendously absent. This is what makes leadership so difficult. Management is left brain, linear, statistical, and logical. Leadership is right brain, creative, empathetic, spontaneous, and inclusive. Easy to say. Much harder to do. We have far too many managers in our organizations and on the political front. I wonder where are the leaders?

Four well-known, academic thinkers and writers on leadership recently released a book, “Exploring Leadership” (Oxford University Press). Although the book leaves many question unanswered and tends to get stuck in academic debates, I find myself intrigued by the authors insistence that leadership is a “social process”. By their definition, leadership exists in the interactions between the leader and those who look to her/him for leadership. Specifically, rather than a command-and-control style, the social process view requires leaders who are “prepared to ask questions and involve others in determining what to do rather than offering an immediate solution or decisive action.” In today’s complex, multi-dimensional world, gathering data through listening to others with different viewpoints appears to be a definite requisite for successful leadership—precisely what these authors maintain.  And yet, what we see on so many fronts are leaders (both corporate as well as political), listening only to people who share their worldview.  It is rather like the tobacco industry that is only interested in supporting research to prove tobacco is not a deadly killer while other research provides alternative (and safe) uses for the plant. Can we afford such leaders? I would suggest that such people are not really leaders but rather mimes reflecting a pre-determined course of action. Your thoughts?

When 33 Chilean miners were trapped underground, mining minister Laurence Golborne took charge of their rescue -- and two months later, they all stepped out into the sunlight. Golborne insisted on transparency with families and the public; retaining personal responsibility while delegating key decisions to more experienced experts; and multiple rescue methods in parallel to hedge the risk of any one method's failure, according to an article in MIT Sloan Management Review. Pick out the key concepts: One person taking responsibility Transparency Decisions made by more experienced experts (not politicians!) Multiple rescue methods So what do we sit with now: a commission of hardliners from each side. Where is the expert? Where is the transparency. As of today, they don’t have a meeting date or place. No one is in charge. And with rigid thinking, I sincerely doubt there will be creative and multiple rescue methods. Shall we bring in Laurence Golborne? Our economy is in a hole as deep as the mining disaster. P.S. Remember, what kept the miners going was optimism and teamwork. As the American public, we need optimism and we must ALL pull together. Might have to do it despite Congress.

Thunderstorms were rolling across Biscayne Bay when my taxi pulled partially under the portico.  The driver popped open the trunk and a grinning bellman ran to the rear of the car. He motioned to the driver to move forward. “I didn’t want you to get wet, Ms. Eileen,” grinned the bellman as he helped me out of the car. “You read my luggage tag,” I exclaimed as her grinned back.  How smart, I thought. At least he didn’t attempt to pronounce my crazy last name! “Do you have your cell phone with you?”, he asked as he escorted me up the stairs. I fumbled for it, thinking he was going to give me some new-fangled way to check in. “Oh no,” he laughed. “It’s just that so any guests hop out of cabs and leave their phone behind. I make sure and note the taxi number in case you forgot it.” Meet Bill Castillo, my new friend for the next 2 days. Every time I walk out of  the hotel, Bill spies me and comes running over to greet “Ms. Eileen.” Now—keep in mind that I travel with a roll-a-board suitcase. There is nothing for him to help me with. No huge suitcases. No cartons of books. There’s no financial gain for him. But, he assumed a leadership role for his front-of-the-hotel position. Great leaders know they create the environment. Great leaders know that calling someone by name—with welcome and sincerity—is a powerful, yet simple gesture. On a day when the stock market fell over 600 points and Congress can only respond with divisive name-calling, Bill Castillo called my name and added  a touch of cheer to my day. P.S. He will get a tip—regardless.

This past week, at the annual conference for my professional organization, I found myself saying, “I beg your pardon?” far too often.  I just plain could not understand what people were saying. I missed sentences from the front stage. I thought my roommates were mumbling.  Consonants were especially difficult. I would hear the word “Lark” and the word would really be “Mark”. On Thursday I had a hearing test. Yes, I do have a hearing loss. How can that be? Profound hearing loss sits on the male side of my family. From my great-grandfather down to my twin brother, they all wore/wear hearing aids. Did my twin decide to share some of that genetic makeup with me? He stinks. (But I still love him.) So here I sit with a phenomenal hearing aid, so small that only my hairdresser would know. With the touch of a finger I can change the volume for everything from the theater to a restaurant to a family dinner.  This little gem is the product of an amazing company in Minnesota that has an even more amazing foundation. The Starkey Foundation's mission is to change the social consciousness of hearing through education and research while providing the gift of hearing to those in need around the world.  Check it out! At the same time, I am struck by the fact that hearing is very different from listening.  Could it be that the majority of Congress needs hearing aids? They certainly do not know how to listen. Should I give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they are hard of hearing? Hearing is the physical function. Listening requires the mind, the heart and the soul. It's why I spend so much time in corporate America and in the nonprofit world-- trying to help people listen in these three dimensions. It is the only way to create collaboration, innovation, and community. Now that I can hear, I must practice what I preach: listening!

Just talked to my wonderful graphic designer, Cathy Rodriguez, who can take my words and turn them into the most fun, original slides.  But she was not having fun this morning. Electricians who cut a hole in the ceiling for lighting had made the hole much bigger than the lighting fixture. However, they said, "No worries. We will send you a goof plate to cover the extra space." "Goof plate?" We just had to laugh.  I can't believe there really is such a thing! Talk about planned failure for less-than-perfect work. Then my devious mind began thinking of all the other uses we could have for goof plates. How big a goof plate would we need for Congressional leaders who have dug  so big a hole that I am not sure they could ever cover it up. (Of course, I think they are just covering up for all the bad decisions they have made in the past.) How about a goof plate for managers who promote their friends and then have to cover up for shoddy leadership skills? Or a goof plate for the Dodgers? (Just follow the saga of the McCourts and you'll know how goofy the entire thing really is) Heck, I could use a goof plate for my cakes that fall and icing has to fill in the gaps. What would be YOUR uses for a goof plate?