Successful companies and their leaders don’t stand around waiting for direction in moments of potential crisis. With a highly developed sense of purpose, they take the initiative and problem solve with collective intelligence and effectiveness in a systems based approach to averting crisis and obtain optimal levels of sustained outcomes. This collective and collaborative approach to performance arises from a focus on upper brain response for achievement, rather than a lower brain response to self-preservation.
Teams focus on upper brain response for achievement are highly functional with a sense of clarity to operate at all times to the highest levels of emotional intelligence. Sounds like a pretty great organization does it not? Does it sound like the way you and your leaders and teams function in crisis? What it takes is an integrated leadership development model, decentralized power structure, and a systematic approach to driving performance to thrive, as opposed to simply solving problems and averting crisis to survive.
My colleague and mentor, Dr. Michael Frisina, quotes the former mayor of the city of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, he says, “you never let a good crisis go to waste.” There is a resounding truth and critical flaw in this statement. Frequently today, the only time our large organizations truly learn to self-assess is in a moment of climatic catastrophe. Leadership teams are exposed to pain of outcomes predictable to reaction to crisis (surviving) rather than responding for achievement (thriving). While we do achieve a certain level of change from these crises, the problem is that the organization never truly improves to be resilient against all forms of calamity.
In today’s world, leaders must discover the root cause, become adaptable, and second-order problem solve to drive achievement. Leaders must move beyond the ‘crisis managing’ approach and learn to behave in ways to drive maximum performance. To truly transform, the leaders of these organizations have to elevate their behaviour and their thinking to what we call upper-brain performance capacity –
to evolve from crisis thinking to continual positive achievement thinking. In this attainable human attribute the maxim is this: it never matters what is happening to me but how I choose to respond to what is happening to me that predicts my level of performance.
So how does a leader go about creating such an organization that can take the beating of the daily grind, remain just as competitive, and ascertain repeatable high performance? The answer to this lies in this age-old truth – organizations do not do things, people do. Equipping your people with the skill of Positive Presence provides the performance leverage needed to keep brains healthy and performance excellence.
Do you ever go to work and ask yourself, “How can I perform my very best today?” If you are asking that question, have you ever asked, “What do I need to do to perform to my full potential?” As a leader you not only need to be self-aware but you need to be self-evaluating constantly for individual and organizational performance improvement. The day you stop continuing to learn, to grow, and to develop is the day you start dying an inevitable slow death. Rest assured your competitors will not stop improving if you become comfortable with your status quo.
In the knowledge-based economy it is the first time in human history that a ‘hard day’s work’ is not ‘hard’ in the physical sense, but instead it is the employee’s brain that’s being worked — it is their ‘mind,’ that is employed. That being said, for today’s organizations to succeed and thrive will depend on the ability of the collective working brain-power of their workforce to create and produce.
The findings coming from the neurosciences is proving that the ‘brain-power’ needed for productivity and efficiency in today’s demanding work environment can only be attained when we are in a state of positive emotional electro-magnetic neuro-chemical energy. Unfortunately, the very nature of today’s organizations – the complexity, the chaos, and the constant change – runs counter to creating an environment that is positive and energized.
Research and personal experiences are telling us that the phenomenon of ‘re-wiring’ through the neuro-plasticity of your brain is easier than it may sound. In fact anyone with a keen self-awareness and some really good coaching can, through their conscious thought processes, change behaviour habits in three to four weeks, or even in as little of eight days.
No workplace is without a ’Negative Nellie’. You all either work with, or have worked with, that guy (or girl) that’s always complaining or trying to sabotage a good days work – or just plain toxic both in speech and/or behaviour!
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You can actually ‘re-wire’ your brain for a higher skill level . You ‘re-wire’ by continuous reading, writing and reciting of information for creating new thought and behavior habits. This re-wiring occurs via the neuroplasticity of your brain.
In today’s work environment where people bring their mind and their expertise together for a common goal, and where virtual meetings and social distancing are the new normal, it is particularly critical that we take the time to figure out how we can come together, face to face, to acknowledge and clarify our purpose and our connection. This coming together, whether it’s around a desk, around a board room table, by way of a huddle or a video call, is crucial for success. It is this coming together that builds trust and enables us to truly appreciate our uniqueness and celebrate our differences, particularly in terms of speech, mannerisms and behaviour.
Positive Presence is your natural ability to adjust for and create a positive and energized mindset within yourself through conscious thought processes.