"I’m going crazy!"
"What is making me crazy?!"
"Why is everyone crazy?!"
"Who can I blame for driving me crazy?"
"What can I point to for causing all the craziness?"
"PLEASE – STOP – DRIVING ME CRAZZZZZZZZZZZZZY!!!"
Our world took a spin toward ‘Nutsville’ the minute we were introduced to the Internet – all those years ago. Then things really heated up when we were able to get the Internet, and other world changing technology on our phones (like Angry Birds).
Today – where does that leave us? Distracted. Disengaged. Overwhelmed. Frustrated. YUCK!
I don’t like feeling those ways. Do you? Unfortunately, too many of us are this way – 70% of the American workforce is disengaged on some level according to Gallup, and that’s just not okay.
I recently read in my Productivity Planner, “How we live our days is how we live our lives” (Annie Dillard, American author). Then I ran into the famous advice – leave it all out on the field – have no regrets (think of the Cubbies’ historic victory in the 2016 World Series against the Indians). Take these two concepts of, daily intentional activity that leads to a certain lifestyle and practicing courage to live more fully, and apply them to this very frequently asked question: “So what do you do (for a living)?”
Describing what I do isn’t the easiest which is why I was so excited when my colleague shared this analogy: “We untangle necklaces.”
I’m no jeweler, gemstone finder, or metal worker. No, I work with a team of Spartans – gutsy and fearless we dive into companies that face these challenges:
- “I’m stuck.”
- “I grew too fast and am now overwhelmed.”
- “Our culture sucks.”
- “We keep losing people.”
- “We can’t find good people.”
SHIFT enjoys the challenge. We freaking launch ourselves at it. We look at the issue - tangled chains, and like a woman late for her date wrestling the gold links from her a mangled mess of other necklaces, we help you think through and architect a straight path towards better.
It’s far from easy. But someone once said, it’s not done to you. It’s done for you. If life were easy – would we learn? Would we grow? Not by much, maybe not at all.
With SHIFT, you can count on us to push you out of your comfort zone. Why is that important – it gets you to think differently. Why does that matter – because without creative thought, your vision for better won’t happen. Take the example of Microsoft CEO passing the baton to one of his operational executives. While company financial performance excelled, the industries evolution eclipsed Microsoft’s Google, Apple, and Amazon all surpassed Microsoft when it came to operating systems, smart phones, voice activation, and cloud storage. Why? Because they were lacking a visionary future, a visionary team, and a visionary leader.
Being visionary does not come naturally to all, which is why SHIFT starts and ends our focus on ensuring every client we with work with has a clear vision. It is important to live by your vision and regularly revisits it to maintain its fresh and forward message.
SHIFT knows companies cannot be successful unless the entire team buys into the vision. When some people do not believe in it, or don’t know what it is, this leads to disengagement or active animosity. Again, back to the importance of every client having a clear vision they live by – it must be compelling and resonate with everyone – the entirety of the current team and anyone new that joins your ranks.
How do you make sure this happens? It will take deliberate practice of exposing the company to it through a process of ongoing dialogue. Not convinced – read up on the “Mere Exposure Experiment” run by social psychologist, Dr. Robert Zajonc.
The vision not only becomes a compass for company decisions at a high level, it becomes the individual driver for your recruiting strategy, your hiring method, your onboarding approach, and your performance, development, and succession plans.
If you want to establish some calm amongst the crazy – connect with us. We’re ready to do some untangling because our vision is to shift the workforce from 70% disengaged to 70% engaged.
