What Case Are You Building?
Posted on September 16, 2008 in Uncategorized by beafields
I was talking with a client yesterday, and it dawned on me in the middle of the conversation that he was building a case for an employee to fail. He delivered the case of a lifetime, and I almost bought into it.
I then asked him to shift by saying “How could this scenario with this problem employee become your finest hour?”
My client wanted to argue with me, but as he talked, he began to shift into what could be possible. You see, I believe he had been speaking to me through a belief system that told him “This employee is not working” as opposed to “This employee has some amazing potential that has not yet been tapped.”
I believe that the majority of humans live with a belief system that keeps them comfortable and as soon as they are asked to change, the pain sets in, and they slip back into that warm, comfortable and cozy space…like an old, worn out bathrobe that has seen its last days but is so easy to slip on.
The question for you today is “What belief system is driving your life, and on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest score, how much is that belief system serving you?”
Now that you have answered that question, is it time for a change? If your life or business are not working, what is keeping you in that stuck place? Is it the safety of comfort or the fear of the unknown?
We would love to hear your comments on this question.
Well said Bea, as always!
You and I agree that no one else motivates us.
When called in by organizations to train their leaders when teaching at York U, I share that we must change our non-serving thinking so that we can refocus our behaviour by motivating ourselves.
When leaders see their team members doing the same inappropriate things over and over again, the need is not to harangue more (i.e. what many teach, incorrectly, will motivate others). Instead, we need to ask ourselves: “How am I letting that one, or them, down?”
Best regards,
@GaryFPatton
Comment by GaryFPatton — September 16, 2008 @ 8:27 am
Interesting question, Bea.
While they are surely major factors, it is perhaps not only safety of comfort or the fear of the unknown. Other factors could be:
Sheer laziness
Lack of motivation
Too rigid an attitude
I suggest by rank ordering these- and possibly more factors- we get real clues as to what is bogging us down. This would be the first step towards planning and taking purposeful actions to overcome them.
Comment by Prem Rao — September 26, 2008 @ 12:56 am