What's your impact in the workplace?

Are you aware of your impact in the workplace? Comments, tone, mood, expressions, body language, etc. Do you and your team consciously create a mindful (+ healthy) culture?

Energetic Impact

Increasingly, we are understanding the importance of energetic impact – in our personal (family, friends) + professional (colleagues, clients) lives and on the environment. As a society, we are starting to get that for relationships to grow, thrive and be sustainable, we need to be aware of our impact on others and practice positive and constructive behaviours.

For personal + professional (team) growth, it is essential we are conscious and aware of our impact on others.

Emotional Contagion

The phenomenon of emotional contagion – the capacity of emotions/ moods to affect others - has been well documented by psychological research. Bottom line? The negativity generated via drainers, downers, gossips, cliques, etc in the workplace substantially impact on organisational productivity and creativity. Organisations can waste a lot of time and money on the conflict inherent within an unhealthy team culture.

Mindful Team Culture (MTC)

I work with many proactive organisations who choose to create a mindful team culture (MTC). Part of the MTC process is to bring to light issues within teams that have created conflict and disconnection. My role is to facilitate a safe passage from misunderstanding on issues to mutual understanding of the other to future pathways that will sustain and encourage a healthy and robust team culture.

Above + Below the Line Behaviours

Recently, I had an interesting situation where I was facilitating a team culture workshop and the discussion was on above + below the line behaviours and their corresponding impact upon team culture. A team member offered the suggestion that colleagues greet each with a smile upon arrival at work as an example of a potential above the line behaviour.

The Smile (becomes an) Issue

There were a number of reactions (some strong) to this from team members. Some expressed that they shouldn’t be forced to smile if they didn’t feel like it, others felt it is important to try and be positive. Unpacking the conversation further, we discovered that the smile was really about how we manage ourselves in the workplace. One perspective was ‘each one of us needs to take responsibility or ownership for our impact on other staff in the workplace – we can’t just come into work in a bad mood and spread that around (over everyone)’. The other perspective was that ‘I don’t want to be inauthentic – if I’m not in a great mood, I shouldn’t have to smile and cover it up’. With more inquiry, this second perspective seemed to be about the reality that sometimes we all struggle – whether that be due to work or personal issues - and if we are struggling, we should be able to tell someone and not have to pretend. The mental (psychological) health of staff is important.

After clarifying discussion on both perspectives, it came to that – YES - we need to be authentic in the workplace - AND* - we also need to be responsible for ourselves and our impact on our colleagues, clients and external organisations.

(*The AND Stance is a concept from Harvard Law School, that says we can have different perspectives and they can both be valid!)

Witnessing and facilitating this discussion, I could see that it was not easy for the participants, heightened by emotions and a seeming disconnect between the two perspectives. The challenge for team members was to hear and understand the other perspective while sitting with their own (+ their reactions) to what was being said. Not easy when the limbic system in our brain has been activated!

Difficult Conversations

Equally interesting to the unpacking and clarifying of this issue, was how different team members managed this difficult conversation and the awareness/ impact they had on others during the process. Did they have a tendency to talk over or not listen if they felt unheard or misunderstood? Did they try and elicit back-up from others? Did they shut down and/ or display negative body language, etc? And how would they carry this energy into the future? Water off a duck’s back or would it create/ increase mistrust within the team? Did they want to carry it, resolve it genuinely or just agree to ‘whatever’ to hurry up the process and get away from those uncomfortable feelings?

After a break, I brought it up again as I wanted to check where the team was at and that the issue was sustainably resolved. I acknowledged it had been difficult and validated both the perspectives and contributions. The break had allowed time for self-reflection (and the limbic system to calm!) and the team members were able to reiterate their perspectives AND acknowledge understanding of the other with greater emotional regulation.

Healthy Teams

In a Mindful Team Culture, each team member understands that they are responsible for their energetic impact. To create a strong, robust and healthy culture, difficult conversations will invariably need to be had. Done well, they can shine light on team ‘shadow stuff’ and create connection and understanding. It is essential that teams understand and have a framework to have that difficult conversation so as not to go into shut-down, gossip or (mis)create a story in their minds about the other person. Small things can become big things and potentially, waste a lot of time, energy and money in the process.

#be proactive #understand your energetic impact

TIPS: TUNING IN! CREATING AWARENESS OF YOUR IMPACT (ON OTHERS)

1.    Tune into yourself: Take time to connect to yourself: How are you feeling? How is your mood? What you are thinking? What is your self-talk?

2.    Tune into your impact on others. Focus your attention on:

a.   How you speak to others (including your tone) and how that ‘lands’.

b.   Your body language (often much easier to see others’ body language than our own).

c.    Your energy in the workplace (what am I giving out – am I being inclusive, kind, considerate?)

3.    Tune into others: Focus on what is going on for them - How are they coming across? What state are they in? What might they need (kind word, some space, bit of fun)?

Explore how to create a Mindful Team Culture (Training + Keynote) with Scott!

ABOUT SCOTT DUTTON

Scott is the Conflict Whisperer and the Fun Maker! Scott is known as the most engaging, insightful & fun speaker in the conflict resolution arena. He has presented to 20,000+ professionals and is in high demand as a keynote speaker and workshop facilitator.

Scott has been awarded CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) designation – the highest level of international accreditation. He is one of Australia’s top speaking professionals as certified by the Professional Speakers Australia (PSA) and is recognised by the Global Speakers Federation (GSF) as among the top 15% of professional speakers worldwide.

Scott is the Creator of Conflict Intelligence? (CI) – a brilliantly simple, yet powerful model that develops our ability to consciously connect with, and manage conflict by, the building of collaborative understanding. Not only is Scott passionate about sharing how to mindfully transform conflict into connection, he also loves having fun and is all about creating an energising and uplifting experience. Scott delivers Conflict Intelligent insights, strategies and skills that will heighten self-awareness and promote mutual understanding – with humour!

Scott is the Founder & Company Director of Fighting Fair – the leading conflict resolution training + services consultancy. His knowledge and expertise is sought by leaders across all sectors. Scott’s qualifications include a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) and Bachelor of Science (BSC. – Psych. Major). He is a member of the Professional Speakers Australia (PSA), the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW), a practitioner member of the Australian Dispute Resolution Association (ADRA), a Nationally Accredited Mediator and a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP).

KEYNOTE TOPICS

Mindful Team Culture (MTC): Moving beyond complain & blame

Conflict Intelligence? (CI): Develop your conflict smarts

Difficult Conversations (DC): DCs made easy

The ‘Wow Factor!’: Mindful communication + customer experience (CX)

TRAINING WORKSHOPS

Mindful Team Culture

Conflict Intelligence + Mediation Skills

Difficult to Connected Conversations

Emotional Intelligence

We’d love to hear from you!

1300 916 108

0425 837 756

[email protected]

scottdutton.com.au