Manage To Engage | Businesses Grow When People Do

With the rise of ‘alternative facts’ and ‘fake news,’ we have entered an era characterized by ethical subjectivism. It is the idea of individual rights, which the United States was founded on, taken to a dangerous extreme.   It is my truth that when you commit to living in reality, it will support you – and this becomes a challenge when there is no generally agreed upon reality.   So today we will explore what it might take to pull us out of this dangerous paradigm. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

Here in the United States, especially when it comes to our economy, we live in a false reality.   Today we will establish how mediocrity perpetuates this paradigm and what it looks like in practice, laying the foundation for our discussion about Descartes, Money, Meditation, and Subjectivism over the next few episodes. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

As a society, we put a premium on honesty – but there’s a massive gap between how we value honesty and how people tend to embody it.   In reality, most of us want harmony more than we want honesty. However, a business culture won’t grow or improve without critical and constructive feedback, for both employees and managers.   So for the conclusion of this series on why people quit their bosses, not their jobs, I want to help you bridge the honesty embodiment gap so that you can inspire productive change in your organization. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

It is my truth that life wants you to change, and it’ll hint, prod, and push you until something starts to give.   When you choose to respond to life’s prodding, you have two options: manufacturing personality traits to strategically achieve a particular outcome or pursuing authentic change. I argue that the former will only work for so long before life responds accordingly, thus reaching the result you desire will require a shift in your being.   The inherent challenge here is that you don’t know what you don’t know. So if you’ve never tried on a certain quality of being, you don’t know whether or not it is compatible with “the real you.” Shame will prevent most people from ever considering the qualities of being that will help them achieve their goals, but you have to get over this hump to stop perpetuating mediocrity in yourself and the people you manage. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

You can find people online who are offering what appear to be easily accessible and digestible solutions to almost any problem. These articles and videos are effective at pulling people in because it’s natural to crave a quick fix, but no 10-item listicle is going to provide a realistic and long-lasting solution to management.   Sometimes you have to change who you are to make progress, not accrue more knowledge or skills.   Today I want to make it okay for you to feel stupid – for you to accept not knowing as an opportunity, not an indictment of your self-worth – and help you do this for the people that you manage so that you become a boss that people won’t quit. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

Many of us idealize a lifestyle devoid of responsibility or challenge. But if you ever pursue the dream of spending every day eating pizza and drinking mai tais on the beach, or whatever your fantasy looks like, you might be surprised by how unfulfilling a challenge-free life is.   So while you're listening, I want you to be curious: consider what your current perception of a challenge is and how embracing challenge may affect your ability to manage. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

When were you taught how to be a good boss and manager? I know that didn't come up for me in public school, or even secondary education.   Instead, we were conditioned and trained to be individual contributors, often rewarded for the poor project management habits that we developed in the process. Nothing was more important than knowing the answer to a problem, even if we only retained it for a couple of days.   Today, I want to challenge this assumption that the act of knowing is the pinnacle of learning and that not knowing represents an inherent deficit – because there is incredible power in developing the ability to not know. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

We’re all resisting something – and a lot of us are resisting help.   A good manager will help you change for the better; your sherpa on the road to excellence. So when we resist management by throwing up our authority projections and shame issues, we aren’t sticking it to the man. We’re really sticking it to our own self-development.   But you always have the opportunity to stop resisting, and today’s episode will arm you with the questions, practices, and mindset you can use to get into alignment with your manager and make the most out of their help. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

Do you think of excellence as a noun, something that can be pursued and earned through enough effort, or as a verb, something you practice and strive for every day? I’d argue it’s the latter; an orientation to life rather than an achievement.   But our society isn’t conditioned to practice excellence – we’re watchers and dreamers, and for the most part, people are content with simply dreaming about and spectating excellence. But I don’t want to just dream of excellence, and I don’t want you to either.   I also don’t want you to walk the road of excellence alone. As we discussed in the last episode, good managers facilitate change – so in the practice of excellence, we have to learn how to be managed. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

We’ve spent the last few weeks learning the ins and outs of managing others. And now that we have that context for what exactly good management looks like, we can start the process of setting aside our shame issues and authority projections so that we can also be managed effectively.   Although cooperating may not be our first inclination when confronted with an authority figure, it really is in our best interest, in most situations, to help someone manage us. Because good managers are, in practice, facilitating change in others – and don’t you want to be an active participant in your own evolution? I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

Over the past few episodes, we’ve gone through the process of examining what’s “normal” in our lives. For many of us, normal is chronic overwhelm, emotional conflict, or physical discomfort.   And the only reason we accept that reality, a normal we don’t even like, is that we’re even more terrified of change than we are uncomfortable.   Today we’re going to start making change happen, in spite of our fear – and it all begins with acknowledging and rejecting where we are right now. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

We like to tell ourselves that we don’t like difficulty, that we want things to be different... but we sure don’t act like it. In reality, humans are terrified of change, and often we’re more terrified than we are made uncomfortable by our current situation.   We just accept that the current dysfunction is better than not knowing – and every problem in the world, every problem within a person, can be traced back to that fear of change.   But whatever you want in life will require you to change in some way, and that change will require you to depart your current normal and create a new one. The only obstacle you have to overcome is your own inclination to adapt – although I admit it likely won’t be as easy as that sounds. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

Last week we discussed why one of our greatest strengths as human beings – our ability to adapt to almost any situation – doesn’t always serve us or the people we manage.   And really, as a species, we’ve allowed an entirely dysfunctional normal to take root, characterized by a constant state of war and conflict   So today we’re going to look inward and interrogate what we’re accepting as “normal” in our daily lives – and if your current paradigm isn’t serving you, or if it is contributing to the dysfunctional normal of humanity, this is your opportunity to decide that’s not okay and start envisioning a new normal. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

It’s amazing how human beings can live in any climate in the world, learn to cope with physical discomfort on a daily basis, and go through the day in a constant state of overwhelm – and, quite often, we do!   Adaptability is undeniably one of our greatest strengths as animals on this planet Earth, but there’s a shadow side to that... because we tend to normalize even those things that are against our self-interest. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

Do you see the pure potential of every human being that works for you? When you can see something greater than even they can see, and you hold that for them, you are taking responsibility for your role in developing them.   To help you do that, we’re going to frame each of your employees as a TV show, and that pure potential you see is the end of the series. How can you use your curiosity, your questions, and your meetings to develop a story arc that leads to that final destination, allowing each person to ultimately experience what you see in them?   This may be a long story arc – that person may have a long way to go or you may see exceptional potential – but you always have the opportunity to tell an empowering story. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

One of the most important and underutilized aspects of developing a new practice is examining the obstacles that tend to get in the way. So before we start exploring how to run development meetings that do work, we’re going to use this episode to acknowledge why most development meetings actually DON’T work. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

In the last episode, we discussed the power of embracing curiosity as a spiritual practice and personal value. I want you to keep that in mind over the next three episodes (or go back and listen if you haven’t already) because being curious and asking questions are integral components of development meetings that work.   In any leadership position, it’s really easy to fall into the trap of telling and not asking. But that’s enabling behavior and, when you do it, you’re not fulfilling your role as a manager. We should want to hold a space for our people to grow, and we have to be curious to figure out where that space is, to begin with. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

In the last episode, we revealed the Why behind asking great questions: it’s a tool that helps people get to where you want the to be, without telling them how to do it.   And today we’re going to explore how you actually use this tool more effectively by embracing curiosity as a practice. Being curious is a powerful way of being, and questions are powerful tools, but unless you embrace all of this as a deep, personal value, your results will be limited. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

We discussed the Zen story of the monk two episodes back, which demonstrated the way your actions elicit the behavior of the people around you and the way you experience life. So if you play the role of a supervisor (as opposed to a manager) and just tell people what to do, they’re just going to do what you say.   But is that really who you want working for you? Is that really how you want to behave yourself? Great managers crave people who take ownership over their job, and most people also crave that agency in their lives.   When you ask great questions, you make people think. When you make people think, they become more responsible. When they become more responsible, they do a better job. Alternatively, when you tell people what to do, they become order-takers and think less. When they think less, they become less responsible. When they become less responsible, they do a worse job. This is the difference between managing and supervising. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298

Really good questions are like spotlights: they reveal what’s hiding in the darkness, or what a person can’t see about themselves. As a manager, this is an invaluable tool for creating accountability and helping employees learn how they show up in the world – in particular, how they make excuses.   Excuses stand in the way of dreams – and don’t you want to help the people you manage, including yourself, accomplish their dreams? I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)