Don’t be a ‘life sucker’!
You can hear it when that person walks into the room – that sound of energy, enthusiasm, motivation and inspiration being sucked right out of the atmosphere. You know the sound, and I’m pretty sure you can picture someone who does this.
The question is, what are you doing about it?
Recently, I had the privilege of meeting with a group of associates of one of our clients. It was such an awesome occasion, we were rolling out their new company vision and values, which is a HUGE deal for any organization. The design team put countless hours and endless passion into the effort because they know the payoff that exists when they get it right, and when they bring the new vision and values to life.
During our discussion, we talked about potential risks and barriers that may impede the desired progress that will follow the rollout. As you may expect, answers included:
• Functional silos
• Personal agendas
• Associates who didn’t ‘buy in’
• Lack of follow through
• Resistance to change
…and it’s at this point in the discussion that we talked about the ‘life sucking’ tendencies some individuals have. I love the moxie that this group showed in saying they just wouldn’t and couldn’t tolerate that kind of attitude and behavior anymore. So I asked them, as I’ll ask you, to consider when you think about your ‘life suckers’: what are you going to do about it?
Their answers:
• Zero tolerance: when they come across this behavior, address it immediately, in private, and let the person know that this doesn’t fit the evolving culture and vision – and this conversation should happen peer-to-peer. There is no need to wait for a manager to initiate the discussion
• Leadership models the behavior: especially when some of the ‘top’ performers exhibit this behavior, they need to be called out on the behavior and need to correct the behavior. There is no place on a winning team for folks who don’t buy in to the winning culture
• Investigate: when this behavior happens, there are reasons for it. It is important to connect with coworkers on a human level to see what may be causing the behavior. If our teammates are in need, we need to help them
I applaud these folks for taking full ownership of the new vision and values, and the corresponding change (mindset and behaviors) that are part of the process. This is such a powerful process with a number of upsides – higher employee engagement, increased productivity, increased revenue and profits, massive energy boost – I encourage you to take the journey, as well.
Andrew Freedman, Principal at entreQuest, specializes in helping eQ’s clients grow by creating well aligned company cultures and strategies that result in remarkable client and employee experiences.
