Adapt and Overcome

The Work Positive Blog

?The deck was stacked against me that morning before I even started work…

?I moved our daughter over the weekend which involved driving a truck and trailer for 17 hours, lifting more stuff than I care to remember, and wrestling a bear of a refrigerator to the point of physical exhaustion and sleep deprivation.

?My alarm clock went off an hour early because I forgot to reset it as did my coffeemaker.

?I skinned my right thumb while moving furniture. It decided to bleed on my favorite white dress shirt as I put it on that morning.

?I couldn’t find a band-aid in the medicine cabinet and was forced to wake up my wife to find me one so I wouldn’t stain another white dress shirt. “Men can’t find anything,” she said. I’ll take my chances with the shirt next time.

?My keys weren’t where I thought I left them which meant I hunted all over the bedroom, re-waking my wife, until I realized they were in my winter coat which I wore the previous night when unhooking the trailer…

?I took a case of my best-seller, Work Positive in a Negative World: Team Edition, to put in the back of the Suburban and when shutting the lift gate, slammed it into my head. Miraculously the gate was undamaged.

?As I left the garage, it started snowing and I had a 4-hour drive north.

?All of this happened in one hour on one morning as I prepared to travel to speak to a group of insurance and financial services agents. Their state director was to be present which would hopefully mean a great deal of referral speaking business for me. It was a big morning.

?After all of these “challenges” I wanted to take off the white shirt, and just get back in bed and sleep it off.

?But I didn’t.

?Discover what I did in this week’s Work Positive blog:?

https://www.workpositive.today/blog/the-one-thing-you-must-do-when-the-deck-is-stacked

?This Week’s Do One Thing (DOT)

?Taken from Dr. Joey's new best-seller that’s available now on Amazon, Do One Thing (DOT): 15 Experts Share their Secrets to Work Culture Success at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1960317040

?It’s important for you to know I love positive work cultures. But I haven’t always been a part of one.

?In fact, I’ve not only worked for Kevin.

?I was Kevin.

?Whether you like it or not, I bet you’ve been Kevin, too.

?And by the way, even if you think of yourself as anything but a Kevin—an UnKevin perhaps—when you associate with a Kevin at work, others see you as a part of the problem.

?They assume since you and Kevin associate, you’re like Kevin.

?“That’s not fair,” you say. “I’m nothing like Kevin.”

?Really?

?What about when Kevin sucks up to your boss, bragging about what his team did under his expert leadership?

?You don’t get a little jealous of Kevin?

?You don’t step up and say something like, “Well Boss, let me tell what MY team did!”?

?Or, in your next team meeting, do you hear yourself say:

·???????? “You will meet this goal and I don’t care if you have to work all weekend!”

·???????? “Whose bright idea was it to try that strategy?”

·???????? “What do you mean you don’t know? It’s your job to know!”

The struggle is real.

?Kevin Culture is contagious.

?You see, Kevin and his devotees belong to that species known as suckus negativeus, more commonly referred to as Eeyore Vampires.

?Kevin and his tribe are Eeyores because they know better than everyone else. Your idea will never work. It’s stupid. Because it’s not his idea.

?Kevin and his tribe are Vampires because they suck your lifeblood—time with family and friends. Kevin and his clan drain your heart and stomp around in your head when you’re not working.

?The truth is Kevin culture sucks all of the life and joy out of work. And if you’re not helping fight Kevin culture, then you’re a part of the problem.

?Like I said, I know. Because for a time, I was Kevin.

?It’s not something I’m proud of. And frankly, today I have a hard time imagining I was ever like Kevin. But I was.

?I worked for Kevin. I didn’t know he was a Kevin when I took the job.

?Every single time I did anything, even when it seemed perfect to me, Kevin pounced on me like my cat Atticus Finch does on a field mouse in our horse pasture. Even when I did exactly what he told me to do, the way he told me to do it, I did it wrong.

?So I left that Kevin. Quit to find greener pastures . . .

?. . . only the next pasture wasn’t green either. It was another brownfield.

?Kevin worked there, too. The name and gender were different, but she was still a Kevin. Only this one never told me what to do or how to do it. Just expected me to read her mind. So I did what I knew to do—what the previous Kevin taught me.

?That’s right, I criticized others. Talked down to them. Demeaned them. Even talked bad about Kevin.

?That didn’t work out so well.

?One day, new Kevin asked to meet with me. “This isn’t working out,” she said. “You should find another place to work.”

?I had been married two weeks.

?I hope you never have to come home one week after your honeymoon and say to your new spouse, “Oh by the way, I got fired today.”

?You can bake it, broil it, or deep fry it. Humble pie is a bitter dish.

?I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about why I did what I did. The only two reasons—and maybe they’re excuses—I can come up with are:

?1.??? It was easier to go along to get along. My favorite business philosopher, Jim Rohn, was fond of saying, “You are the average of the five persons with whom you spend the most time.” We spend seventy percent of our waking hours at work. Is it any wonder I became a Kevin?

2.??? I didn’t know a better way. I had an undergraduate degree, but nobody ever taught me what to do with Kevin. Sure, I had some UnKevin bosses prior, but I danced with the one who brung me, i.e., Kevin.

Do either of those reasons sound familiar?

?Of course they do.

?You seek acceptance like I did.

?You just do what you know to do like me.

?Deep in my heart, I knew there had to be a better way to work. In the back of my mind, I remembered some of that better way.

?I recalled Bob Harper. Bob owned and ran WCPS/WKTC in the eastern North Carolina town where I grew up. He hired me as a high school student to be a DJ. That’s right, a disc jockey; back in the day when music was played on vinyl.

?I didn’t know the first thing about being a DJ.

?What I did know was that the company my Dad worked for went bankrupt. The U.S. struggled to emerge from a recession so jobs were scarce. If I wanted to go to college, I had to find a job. Something I could do after school and on weekends; preferably air conditioned.

?Also, I knew that when I narrated musicals in worship or spoke in front of groups, folks always said, “Wow! You have a great voice!” I had an asset.

?So I mustered up my courage and went to see Mr. Harper. Two hours later, Bob took a shot on an inexperienced 16-year-old with a nice voice who had to work to go to college. With Bob’s tutelage, that of his Operations Manager, Jimmy Francis, and a guy who is still a friend to this day, Marty Lambert, I discovered how to be a DJ.

?Six months later, I had the number one rated afternoon drive show in our market which covered all of northeastern North Carolina.

?And yet, I learned a lot more about how to Work Positive than anything else.

?So as a fired newlywed, I remembered Bob Harper and the positive work culture he led; Kevin-free. I asked myself, “What would Bob do?” And I did it.

?Bob was a man of action. He landed and launched a 100,000 watt FM station—a new signal—in the midst of a recession when you sat in line to get a few gallons of gas because it was rationed.

?Bob acted in adversity rather than cave in to it.

?I asked myself, “What would Bob do?”

?I acted, guided by principles, despite the adversity.

?Sure, it’s been quite an adventure since then. I’ve worked with some more Kevins. Helped some Kevins move on. Assisted with transforming a few Kevins.

?Here are a few things I’ve learned along the way about creating a positive work culture that connects people and profits:

?1.??? People do what they know to do. If left alone, you do what you’ve seen done regardless of how much you liked or disliked it. You repeat the mistakes of the past, doomed to failure. Yet it’s what you know.

?2.??? People can do better than what they know. At some level, even Kevin knows his behavior is counterproductive to a good work life. How do you get through to Kevin about this better way? There are some predictable patterns. The 15 experts in this little book coach you to find them.

?3.??? People rise to the level leadership expects. Bob constantly taught. Sometimes he was direct. Most of the time, he asked questions, captured my interest, and shared powerful information. He expected me to succeed. He taught me success habits. I learned how to do one thing that made a powerful impact today. Then the next day another one. He encouraged me every step of the way.

My goal with Do One Thing (DOT) is to open your eyes to the amazing possibilities of what a positive work culture can do for you and the people you work with. You realize these possibilities as you DOT to transform your Kevin culture. If you’ve never seen yourself as a work culture transformer, this is the perfect little book for you to start with. If you’re an experienced positive work culture leader, these DOTs are a perfect addition to your toolkit.

?Get work culture success secrets from Dr. Joey and 15 other experts like Jennifer McClure of #DisruptHR!, Jesse Cole of #TheSavannahBananas, and Dr. Ivan Misner of #BNI from Dr. Joey's new best-seller that’s available now on Amazon, Do One Thing (DOT) at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1960317040

?The Work Positive Podcast

?How do you find meaning in your work?

?What’s that? You’re wondering what meaning your work has beyond paying the bills?

?Dr. Alise Cortez is Dr. Joey’s guest on this episode of the Work Positive podcast. Dr. Cortez discovered 15 modes of engagement for you to find meaning in your work. And if you’re a leader, you can help your teams find their mode of engagement with them.

?Listen as Dr. Joey and Dr. Cortez discuss how:

--purposeful leadership drives success.

--authentic connections improve well-being.

--adaptive cultures navigate change effectively.

?Listen here: https://workpositive.today/alise-cortez

?#positiveworkculture #culturecounts #workpositive #humanresources #culturetransformation #changeleadership #shrm #engagement