Karl Edwards presents Working Matters

Tag: engagement

  • Loving Monday: Staying in the Game

    loving_mondayThere are times when simply getting the job done isn’t enough.

    There are times when how the work was completed overshadows that the work was completed.

    We all get weary. We all experience boredom, stress, and fatigue among other difficulties at work.

    Very few of us can simply override these feelings by sheer force of will, working with as much vigor, enthusiasm and effort as we would in the best of times.

    We need a way to stay in the game when work and life pressures are weighing heavily on our spirits.

    Who would you give the promotion to? The person who is engaged or the person who is distracted? The person who is taking the initiative or the person who is doing the bare minimum?

    Who would you give the job to? The person who believes in their ability to make a meaningful contribution or the person who is trying to get away from a bad supervisor? The person who is eager to jump in with both feet, or the person who wants to know how much overtime is expected?

    We need a way to hold ourselves with poise and a comfortable confidence. We need a way to stay interested and engaged. We need a way to restore (more…)

  • Listen In -> The Career Journey #4: Engaging Fully With Your Own Career Journey

    No one can make your career journey move forward but you.

    Yes, others are involved. Yes, circumstances intervene unexpectedly for good and ill.

    But we cannot wait for circumstances to change or others to act when it comes to our own next decision.

    We need to engage ourselves. Assume ownership of the stewardship of our lives. Get involved. Stay involved. Make our next decision, even if a small one.

    Join Claudia and I as we discuss this final—and most rewarding—aspect of The Career Journey.

    Listen in.

  • Engage Fully: You Owe It To Yourself

    insightful-linkJust because your boss doesn’t remember your name, doesn’t mean that your name shouldn’t still represent the best that is within you.

    Just because your employer will lay you off the very moment their cash flow slows, doesn’t mean that you don’t give your best right up to that moment.

    You do this not because you owe anything to your employer, but because you owe it to yourself.

    I came across a great article this morning, A Year-End Commitment: Engage Yourself wherein Susan Cramm at the Harvard Business Review makes a great case for showing up fully engaged at work simply because that is what kind of person you are.

    Check it out.

  • Quote to Consider: Leaders Are About Everyone Else

    Great leaders are obsessed with recognizing, resourcing and advancing the ideas of others in the organization, not their own.

    How do you go about…

    • Recognizing
    • Resourcing
    • Advancing

    the ideas of others?

    Pick one and let us know what you do.

    If you feel stuck in a “control others to enact your own ideas” model of leadership, let’s talk. There’s an exhilarating world of enterprising teams, engaged employees and explosive creativity waiting to be unleashed in your firm.

  • Loving Monday: Authentic and Engaged

    Whatever happens this week, you have a choice. You get to choose how you will respond.

    That’s quite a bit of power when you stop to think about it.

    Just knowing we control our own responses is a big relief and a boost of confidence for many of us. It’s a nice reminder to receive every so often.

    So what might that response look like? Some responses are more effective than others. I’m learning that we can experience a certain amount of peace in good circumstances and bad when our responses are authentic and engaged.

    Be ourselves and be involved.

    Sound simple? It is. The situation may not be simple. The series of choices you next need to make may not be simple. But if you can be true to yourself and resist withdrawing, side-stepping or otherwise avoiding the people and challenges that come your way, I promise you will feel much better about both yourself and your work this week.

    On your side,

    – Karl

  • Listen In -> Uncertainty & Stress #2: Add Value to Your Current Job

    Always in our own control is how we choose to show up at work.

    Fully engaged? Detached? Withholding? Resistant?

    In this week’s podcast conversation, Claudia and I look at the practice of adding value to whatever you do at work. Not only is full engagement a more rewarding personal experience, in times of uncertainty such consistent contributions can make the difference between being perceived as an indispensable asset or not.

    Listen in.

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  • Entitlement Mentality is a Poor Excuse

    Some worry that organizing around the team will foster an entitlement mentality among employees that will backfire on the well-meaning leader. Empowerment will lead to unrealistic expectations that in turn will force the leader to buckle to ever-increasing demands that will eventually break the organization.

    I’m sorry, but I’m not sympathetic to this line of thinking. It’s what I call a leadership excuse. And, of course, since our hallmark is No Excuses Leadershipâ„¢, we don’t go there.

    There are unexpected complications, extenuating circumstances, and disingenuous employees everywhere. These are the leadership realities we face and never form the basis of a rationale for poor results, weak decisions or ineffective policies.

    Back to entitlement. How employees respond to radical empowerment varies. Hence the tight link with accountability for results.

    To forfeit the potential of an empowered, fully engaged team in order to avoid the occasional risk of destructive entitlement mentalities is like giving up the benefits of a regular exercise routine because there’s a risk of injury. The risk is real, sure, but the solution erased your only chance for success. What good is that?

    Where do your solutions remove more than the presenting problem and inadvertently undermine what you need to make progress?

    Catch up on the entire Influencing Others series here.

  • Toxic at the Extremes

    Operating at any extreme rarely works well.

    Empowerment and accountability as extremes are toxic. As partners they are generative.

    Authority and resources for making an individual contribution along with expectations for achieving specific results.

    Empowerment alone is a recipe for chaos, diluted focus, and the tyranny of individual entitlement agendas. Accountability alone is a recipe for abusive manipulation, unrealistic and unfair standards, and begrudged work efforts.

    But get ready for an explosion of energy, engagement and results when you hold empowerment and accountability in creative tension with each other.

    Claudia and I are discussing this right now in our current podcast series on Influencing Others. Be sure to click on the player in the right column and listen in.

    How do you combine the extension of authority and resources to empower individual contribution along with the expectations and accountability to achieve specific results?

  • Freedom Is The Key To Engaging Responsibility

    ResponsibilityResponsibility is a reflection of freedom, not control.

    Any obliging of oneself is responsible to the extent that it is an act of freedom. If coerced, forced or manipulated, the responsibility shifts to the controlling party.

    Leaders mistakenly believe that they can delegate responsibility without granting the freedom to choose. “Do this and do it in this way.”

    Some even wonder why their assignment is not greeted with more enthusiasm and appreciation. Bewildered by the ingratitude and (more…)