The power of choice
This month we are looking at our ability to choose who we are
and how we respond to the world around us. We can choose to
be mediocre, or we can choose to bring out the very best
aspects of ourselves, like a compass aligning with ‘true north’.
And while this may sound simple, it is not always easy, as the
Two Wolves story on the next page illustrates. It requires
vigilance and a commitment to ourselves, to dig into the very
best of who we are encourage our truest essence to come
through.
Under pressure, graphite turns into diamonds. With all its
pressures, the workplace can be seen as our own personal
laboratory, the furnace in which we consistently mould our
characters. Here we can consciously strive to bring out our
very best rather than settling for the mundane.
Just as a committed athlete will constantly strive to push their
boundaries, if we are truly committed to living by our values
then the challenges of the workplace provide us with abundant
opportunities to hone our characters and discover our own true
north.
STOP PRESS: To celebrate the arrival of Spring, we
are giving away three FREE places on the seminar
below. This is on a ““first-come first-served”” basis, so
email Jennifer now!
jennifer.hurley@lamontassociates.com
Last in the series: Thriving in Tough Times
Breakfast Seminar – March 26th
This is the final chance to experience this seminar. In just two
hours, you will discover powerful, practical, proven tools that
will help you and your company emerge from these challenging
times with greater clarity, commitment and confidence.
For more information: click here or telephone 01344 628329.
Venue: Hilton Bracknell RG12 0QL
Cost: £65 (inc VAT)
Time: 7.30am for 8.00am – 10.00am
Story – Two Wolves
A Native American elder was talking to his grandson
about an injustice he had suffered. “I feel as if I
have two wolves fighting in my heart,” he said. “One
wolf is vengeful, angry and violent. The other wolf is
loving and compassionate.”
With a trembling voice the grandson asked him, “Which
wolf will win the fight in your heart?”
The grandfather answered: “The one I feed.”
Ideas to try: ‘Have to… Choose to…’
When we work out of a sense of freedom and choice we
draw on a very different energy from when we work
from a sense of compulsion. When we choose, it is a
recognition of our responsibility for creating our
experience; it carries with it passion and power.
Compulsion comes when we lose touch with who we
are, lose touch with our strength and our freedom.
Try this exercise with a friend or colleague
Activity
Choose one person to speak and one to listen.
The speaker describes to the listener everything
she expects to do before she goes to bed this
evening, prefacing each item with ‘I have to’.
E.g. I have to go to the team meeting, I have to
write that report for X, I have to make a cup of
tea, I have to check my emails, I have to leave
the office, I have to catch a bus home … She
speaks for 2 minutes.
The listener simply listens without comment.
The speaker now repeats the exercise (listing
everything she expects to do) but this time she
prefaces each item with ‘I choose to’. Again, she
speaks for 2 minutes.
Now, reflect on this exercise together. What did
you (both speaker and listener) notice about your
experience during the ‘Have to’ section and the
‘Choose to’ section? List the feelings generated
during each section. What else was different?
Which version created feelings of opportunity,
creativity, and power? Which version created
feelings of burden and powerlessness? What does
this mean for the story you tell about your work?
About your life?
The Framework for Transformation
Principle No. 3: A Human Being
One of the most fundamental questions we can ask is “What is a human being?” The answer we give is pivotal to the success and
growth of a business. Of course there are many aspects to this,
but in this context we will concentrate on four crucial aspects.
Firstly, a human being has boundless positive potential - for
creativity, compassion, courage, inventiveness, trust, tolerance
and so forth. It is not just the Nelson Mandelas, Darwins and
Mozarts but also the everyday unsung heroes who demonstrate
this ability to make outstanding contribution.
Secondly, we have an equally boundless negative potential for
messing up - for fear, resentment, mistrust, envy,
destructiveness, anger, cowardice, greed and worse. Again, it is
not just the Hitlers, but also the daily run-of-the-mill pettiness,
self-centeredness and mediocrity that erodes and corrodes the
quality of many people's working day and the performance of the
business.
Thirdly, as human beings we have choice. Moment by moment,
we can live and work out of our higher, creative potential or out
of our mediocre, destructive potential.
And lastly, we are values-driven, meaning-making creatures. We
want a sense of meaning and purpose, and we want to live in line
with our values. Our experience at work needs to address these
aspirations whether we work in the warehouse or the boardroom.
The implications of all this for business are far-reaching. The
company that understands these aspects of human nature knows
that its culture is crucial – to encourage either the worst or the
best to emerge. It takes care to deal intelligently and carefully
with the negative potential. It encourages people to explore and
understand their positive potential and enables them to develop
this in themselves and others, individually and collectively.
Choicefulness, and acceptance of responsibility are practised
throughout the whole organisation.
How we deal with painful times like relocations, cost-cutting, or
redundancies will depend on whether we recognise the nature of
what it is to be human or whether we see people as just numbers
on a spreadsheet.
The cost of ignoring the nature of human beings is enormous,
including unresolved resentments, absenteeism, stress and
illness, time-consuming and painful grievances and disciplinaries.
The impact on the bottom line is high and in a highly competitive
economic environment could potentially cripple a company.
The benefits of responding constructively to the nature of what it
is to be human are also enormous: increased engagement,
fulfilment, empowerment, creativity, innovation, inspiration and
performance.
At this time of recession, when we are all faced with the urgent
challenge to deliver more with less, can any business afford to
continue to ignore the question “What is a human being?”
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