The Wisdom that Comes from a Year of the Intentional Reset: 2017 Highlights and Learnings

December is often a time to reflect back on the previous year and look forward into the new year ahead. I’ve seen posts from people reflecting on their highlights, sharing their top 5 books, and more as they prepare to close the 2017 chapter; and it inspired me to follow their lead.

In my ongoing quest to live out my personal WHY (To cultivate moments of insight for people so they can break past barriers, be the best version of themselves and make a positive impact on the world), I made a very intentional choice this year to take a step back and significantly invest in my own growth and development. This meant backing off and turning down many speaking engagements and being very selective about consulting work. You see, in the past couple of years, I’ve been busy DOING…a flurry of activity (although really good activity) aimed at making an impact and living my WHY. And while I continued to read books, attend workshops and webinars here and there, and follow the work of many people I admire, I rarely had time to invest in truly developing ME in a quality way. I felt I was becoming stale and missing out on being the best version of myself. I knew that in order to fully and authentically live my WHY, I needed to reset and regroup.

But how often do we actually do that…stop a momentum-filled train to pause, regroup, regain clarity and re-focus our efforts? Not very, I’m afraid. It’s not easy to do, yet sometimes so necessary and rewarding. In his bestselling book “Leadership from the Inside Out,” Kevin Cashman states that the ability to grow as a leader is based on the ability to grow as a person and to have a personal awakening. And in his book, “The Pause Principle: Step Back to Lead Forward,” Cashman defines the critical importance of the Pause Principle as:

“the conscious, intentional process of stepping back, within ourselves and outside of ourselves, to lead forward with greater authenticity, purpose and contribution.”

He continues to describe how too often we allow ourselves to be overcome by our busyness; we are unhealthily attached to our smartphones and too caught up and distracted to take the necessary time to sift through life’s complexity and find purpose. The more we rush, the more we end up going everywhere but being nowhere. Cashman states that if we want to lead with “transformative significance,” we need to step back first. And I absolutely agree.

I am so grateful that I took a step back and reinvested in ME this year in a meaningful way. It has not only opened my eyes and furthered my growth as a person but has strengthened my conviction to both our company and my personal WHY. I have learned just how much great work is going on with amazing people who, in their own way, are helping to bring humanity back to the workplace; and it has truly inspired me. And each step of the way, we’ve been able to apply all this learning to enhance how we support our consulting clients and our community of Paradigm Pioneers to build thriving organizations and to live our WHY:

To re-humanize the workplace so people can bring their best selves to work and home each day.

With that, I would be remiss if I didn’t share key experiences, learnings and resources in the hopes others might also find benefit in their own developmental journey – in stepping back first in order to propel forward.

Key Experiences:

There are so many great experiences that I have been blessed to experience this year, and it all surrounds connecting with people and opening my eyes to the amazing work happening that puts humanity back at the forefront.

• Think Like a Leader Workshop – I can’t say enough great things about the work that the Barry-Wehmiller Leadership Institute (BWLI) is doing to positively impact how we show up at work and how we build thriving workplaces and communities by authentically caring about people. They are sharing their wisdom and gift of how to find success and transform via the practice of Truly Human Leadership (and realizing that everyone is a leader). Do they have it all figured out? Of course not. But they are leading the way and making great strides to help change the world by transforming how we show up at work; and I’m grateful for it.
• Immunity to Change Coaching (ITC) Certification – after being on the receiving end of ITC work a few years ago and being part of helping a company become a Deliberately Developmental Organization (DDO), I knew I wanted to formally learn more. In 2016 I attended a training workshop to learn to facilitate the ITC Mapping process with individuals and groups. This year has been an intense, deep dive into the year-long journey to become a Certified ITC Coach. The people I’ve met in my training cohort are amazing and doing transformational work leveraging ITC. Building community with with them and seeing all the ways this process heals, connects and works to help people move from wearing their armor and masks and acting out of self-protection to being fully alive and living authentically is truly moving. When we support people in no longer being subject to their unconscious psychological protection, not only can they individually be the best version of themselves, but teams and entire organizations can as well. I have become even more convinced what a gift this is to the world!
• Blanchard’s Situational Leadership II Certification – Ken Blanchard is basically the godfather of business and leadership development as we know it today and is still going strong. Situational Leadership II (SLII) is a model of supporting people in identifying where they are in terms of development (competence and commitment) on any given goal or task and being able to foster that development by asking for and providing the right level of direction and support people need. It takes the stigma out of not being perfect and acknowledges that we’re all developing and can have our unique needs met. We are in the middle of a mass rollout of putting all 250+ leaders through this and infiltrating it throughout daily operations at one organization; it’s been amazing to see the shifts slowly happening by providing people with this framework and common language to relate with each other. I also see great connection with SLII and how we can better support people with their individual wellbeing and when SLII isn’t enough and may warrant incorporating Immunity to Change work.
• Meeting My Professional Heroes – in addition to in-depth training workshops and certifications, I attended numerous other conferences and events in an effort to reconnect with people, broaden my perspective and immerse myself in the research and learnings on what the future demands and what it will take to re-humanize workplaces and have a bold, bright and successful future. I felt like the geeky fan-girl much of the year as I met hero after hero whose work I’ve admired, reference and leverage in the work we do. I wanted each of them to know how much their work is needed and valued. From best-selling authors Adam Grant and Patrick Lencioni to Brene Brown and Simon Sinek – I have continued to be inspired by their work. Not only are each of these individuals doing amazing work in their own niches, they all have tremendous overlap in working to better workplaces and humanity by being inclusive, having clarity of purpose, and creating the conditions for people to show up as their authentic selves. 

3 Key Learnings:

A year of transformative experiences wouldn’t mean much without the key learnings I gained. It would take me days to go in depth, but it can all be summed up with one key summary:

The critical ingredient for transforming organizations and creating the conditions for people to thrive is supporting people in shifting their mindset.

There’s a LOT that goes into shifting mindset; but, at the core, it starts with creating a space of psychological safety for people so they can do the necessary work to look inward, be vulnerable and address their adaptive challenges. With that, here are my 3 key learnings that support this conclusion:

1. We are inviting people into a VUCA world where disruption is the norm. We need to support them in effectively navigating this changing reality. Our brains seek prediction and control; they seek what’s familiar and comfortable. So we tend to have one of 2 responses to change and challenges based on how we view them:

• Challenge/Opportunity – this produces a eustress response where we focus on solutions and making things better, keep our eyes on the goal and purpose, are open and determined and are actually motivated by negative emotions to grow and improve. In other words, we have a Growth mindset.
• Threat – this produces a distress response where we focus on the problem, get bogged down in the details, want to therefore maintain the status quo and become anxious and defensive, and are derailed by negative emotions. In other words, we have a Fixed mindset.

In this new world, we are asking people to embrace change agility. Yet that usually involves traditional approaches to change management focused on process improvement or trying to manipulate people for individual behavior change with change architecture, carrots and sticks. Neither are effective or sustainable because, at the core, they aren’t supporting people in building a Growth mindset and psychological agility in the face of change.

2. We need to stop focusing on behavior change and behavior modification and instead support people in looking inward, identifying their psychological Immunity to Change. It’s impossible to help our brains be more agile in the face of change if we don’t feel safe. And our psychological immune system keeps us “safe” from what our brains perceive as a real threat and a world we must not enter. Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey refer to this as our Big Assumption (BA). It is only when we systematically identify our immune system and BA that we can then begin the important work to challenge our mindset, mental constructs and BA that keep us anchored in patterns that keep our immune system in overdrive. Organizations that create the conditions for psychological safety and support people in putting down their armor, admitting imperfection, and being able to work towards continuous growth are thriving in this VUCA world.

3.  We need to rethink who we define as leaders and foster their development in a meaningful way. It is commonly stated that people leave bosses, not companies. And while that certainly is true, we also know that in today’s complex world, our traditional approach of defining and developing leaders is not effective; it’s too rigid, not building psychological agility and simply a mismatch for this VUCA world. At the end of the day, leadership is a BEHAVIOR, not a title or role. With that, we need to start viewing EVERYONE as a leader and look at a broader, more effective people development strategy that fosters self-awareness, a growth mindset and building stronger connections with people and with a common vision and purpose.

Key Resources (aka Books I Read):

We regularly recommend that people read outside of their profession to broaden their horizons. And anyone that knows me knows that I’m an avid reader of anything that might provide additional insight, perspective and challenge me to think differently and more effectively help serve our purpose. So, of course, my year of growth and development included reading a variety of books. Some were published this year and some have been around a while, but I just finally got around to them. For those who work primarily in the area of employee wellness and wellbeing, take note and expand your reading list. With the exception of one, none of these would be considered “wellness books” yet all have a critical impact on individual wellbeing and the context that organizations provide for wellbeing. Here are some of the highlights:

• Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown – Brene’s latest book inspires and builds on the bravery of innovators and disruptors who give us permission to be courageously vulnerable…to show up as our true selves when we can’t control the outcomes. Not everyone will agree with you or like you – and that’s okay. When we can be who we are, we can benefit from being part of something and standing alone. And leaders need to create cultures where people feel safe to show up, speak out, take chances and innovate – by making it safe to do so. This includes recognizing how much of what we do (including our language) actually dehumanizes others. I’ve long been a fan of her work; what I was particularly struck by in reading this book is how important it is to stay true to how we approach leadership and people development, team cohesion and culture transformation work – all of which asks people to look inward, be a little vulnerable, and start to embrace the benefits of having everyone feel safe to be their authentic selves and work to be their best selves.
• Find Your WHY by David Mead and Peter Docker – We embed aspects of Find Your WHY and the Golden Circle in most of what we do. And it’s been effective. However, this practical guide provides great step-by-step facilitation tips for individuals and groups that are really helpful. We’ve started using this to enhance how we’re currently facilitating WHY work, and it’s been very well-received. If you have any plans to facilitate WHY work on any level, I highly recommend this as a guide.
• The Outward Mindset by The Arbinger Institute – we’ve been using their research in our individual and team transformation workshops and coaching for many years. Their latest book builds on previous work to help show how important it is to view people as people and consider the needs, objectives and challenges of those around us; it is only with this outward mindset that we can have win-win solutions, growth and create the conditions for success. Almost immediately I started integrating this outward mindset framework in strategic planning, team effectiveness, and conflict resolution work. It integrates well with other work on shifting mindset and seeking to understand those who are different from us and provides an easy to understand and applicable framework for doing so.
• Who Do We Choose to Be? Facing Reality, Claiming Leadership, Restoring Sanity by Margaret Wheatley – We reference Wheatley’s work heavily in our book and all we do; she has been challenging the leadership and organizational paradigm for decades and does so in a thoughtful, science-based way. So when her latest book came out, I rushed to order it. Wheatley challenges us to stand up and be leaders and use our influence, insight and compassion to lead people back to understanding what it means to be human and to create the conditions for bringing some sanity back to our lives during these disruptive times. She also challenges us to not succumb to the apparent quick fixes and instead recognize the importance of investing in shifting our mindset. There it is yet again…we have to focus on THINKING differently if we want to do and behave differently.
• Reality-Based Leadership by Cy Wakeman – Cy suggests that our mindset, not our circumstances, are the source of our stress and pain; and too much time is wasted each day in drama (gossip, judgment, resistance, complaining) instead of productive work. In other words, people create their own stress by “arguing with reality”. She challenges us to stop believing everything we think and instead move towards more self-reflection. She also states that the future belongs to leaders who are able to help people change the way they think and engage both hearts and minds. I’ve long referenced the work of Viktor Frankl in the work we do with individuals and teams on changing our story and owning we are causing much of our suffering by our interpretation of reality; so this was reassuring and nice to see it used in a practical way. What I particularly appreciated from this book and have integrated into what we do are some of the concrete discussion questions to help reduce the drama and instead help people better deal with reality.
• Option B by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant – Resiliency is something we can learn and build. From simple daily challenges to major traumatic life events, we can build a mindset to help us transform for the better. This is not about wishing for a different reality or fighting our current reality. This is about being honest with what is real and then being intentional about how we show up within reality. In our ever-changing, VUCA world, we must be incorporating key elements to support people and organizations in being resilient.
• Radical Candor by Kim Scott – if we want to authentically connect with people and create the conditions where people feel safe to speak up, embrace their imperfections and intentionally work to grow and develop, we need to re-frame how we see feedback – especially when it comes to providing criticism. Radical candor is about being able to achieve collaboratively what we could never achieve individually by caring about the people we work with – caring enough to be real with them in the spirit of growth. However, Scott argues that we can’t care about others and stay grounded in spite of circumstances if we aren’t tending to our own health and wellbeing – to those ingredients that are essential for us to be the best version of ourselves. She suggests we need to be relentless about bringing our best selves to work (and then home) each day. This is what we call The Fusion (the interconnectedness of organizational and individual wellbeing). If you’re thinking of having yet another training on how to have difficult conversations or how to give performance feedback, consider the principles of Radical Candor first and how that can integrate with other effective wellbeing support and people development.
• The CEO’s Guide to Restoring the American Dream by Dave Chase – Chase argues that business leaders and owners run a healthcare business whether they like it or not. He provides tactical tips and resources to help you better understand the health care and health insurance arena and make better choices. It will help leaders better partner with those involved with running their “healthcare business” so they can provide better quality care for employees at lower cost. I frequently argue that employee wellness/wellbeing isn’t and never will be a healthcare cost mitigation strategy. When done well and in a holistic, integrated way, employee wellbeing is an essential piece of the culture, people development, retention and engagement strategy. The benefits and healthcare cost strategy is something completely different and separate. This book will help you focus on that part of the strategy.

Looking Ahead…

Slowing down to speed up is incredibly rewarding! I have learned to embrace that one of my gifts that allows me to live my WHY is being able to connect-the-dots and find synergies and synthesis between a wide variety of topics, concepts, ideas and frameworks. That’s nearly impossible to do well without taking time to pause, reflect and intentionally look for lessons within and outside of ourselves.

In spite of all of the turmoil in our world today, I can say that I also have great hope for the future – and more energy than usual. As I slowed down this year to immerse myself in opportunities to learn and grow, I enter 2018 with a renewed conviction to my WHY and that the work we’re doing is on the right track. Our community of Paradigm Pioneers is growing with thoughtful, transformative people who are making a difference in workplace culture. If you’d like to join this growing community and build the skills to re-humanize the workplace, we’d love to have you in our next Thriving Workplace Culture Certificate training program.

I also enter 2018 with hope that even more organizations will begin to acknowledge what it means to be human. I enter 2018 with energy to continue to learn from and collaborate with people outside of my professional wheelhouse; for that is when we are challenged and learn the most. And I enter 2018 with even more excitement for the Fusion 2.0 Conference. We are a proud sponsor and part of a dynamic multi-disciplinary planning team working to make this a unique, high-impact experience that will last far after the conference itself ends. I hope to see you there!