Here’s another preview of my upcoming book, As Its People, a 90-day challenge for employers and managers, to get happy, engaged, high-performing employees. This is quoted from DAY 30 (pages 89-90), and it’s about a critical skill all of us need to have at work, but especially those who are leading a team.
Do you have or lead employees? This is the critical skill you want to master.
There’s a handy and very valuable skill we all need at work, and today you’re going to start practicing it. When I explain the concept, I’m sure it’s going to sound familiar. I’m sure it’s something you’re already doing at least at some level, to be where you are right now. But today you’re going to step it all up, and you’ll do it with a strategy I call, “being in character.”
Being in character is not only a way to be your very best at work (for the entire time you’re there); it’s also a way to practice priceless skills and character traits you want to develop - and put your development on steroids, because any day at work will give you countless opportunities for practice.
Here’s how to be in character:
(1) Identify all the skills and attributes you already have when you’re at your best.
(2) Identify the specific skills and attributes you want to develop.
(3) Take every item from the lists you made during Steps 1 and 2, and be all of those things every single time you walk into work, and for the entire time you’re there.
And those steps might sound familiar. Part of professionalism, really. But you’re going to do this very purposefully, and with your employees in mind. You’re going to be specific things for them, so that while you’re developing yourself, you’ll help them to develop too.
Here’s how you’ll do this:
(1) Identify all the skills and attributes you already have when you’re at your best.
(2) Identify any specific skills and attributes you want to develop.
(3) INCLUDE THESE: Positive, caring, thankful, understanding, patient, respectful.
(4) Practice being all the things from Steps 1 - 3 every single time you walk into work (or interact with your employees anywhere else), and for the entire time you’re there.
And just be prepared – you won’t feel these every day. You’ll be tired, you’ll be stressed, you’ll get sick, you’ll come in on a day when every single thing has gone to hell, and you’ll see certain faces and be annoyed.
Some days you’ll feel like if you even crack your lips apart to give a smile, your frustration will cascade out in language your mother would swat you for. Some days you will feel like you absolutely cannot drag out the energy. Some days you’ll just know: you CAN’T today.
And you’ll just be all those good things… anyway. You’ll make it a game with yourself, and see how well you can do – even on days when every single one of your buttons gets laid on.
Yes, there will be times for giving feedback, and addressing serious things, so this does not mean you grin like a fool all day, or chuckle while you deliver discipline.
But the more you practice a feeling, the more it will become real – no matter how much you already genuinely feel it now. And it’ll show through more and more in every interaction with employees. Your attitude (or the practicing of it anyway) will affect your tone, it will affect your expression, it will affect your wording. It will send everyone the right message.
It’s okay if your practice feels forced, or unnatural. I know that probably sounds like a shocking crime, with how much everyone gushes about authenticity these days, but I’ve also heard again and again that attitude follows behavior, and I’ve tested it out for myself and know it’s true.
One day you’re going to walk into work, see everyone there, and think, “gosh, I’ve got great people here with me!” And in the meantime, you’ll give so much to them just by practicing that feeling.
So do this every single work day for the rest of the time of this challenge.