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In 60 Seconds ~ February 2009
What's New Your Workplace Annual Conference Lois and Kathleen are speaking at the Your Workplace Annual Conference in Ottawa. Click Here for more information. Click here to read the first chapter of Kathleen's New Book Leadership by Engagement! Click here to visit our store and purchase *Leadership by Engagement.* LeaderTalk E-Book Available Now! Download your free copy of LeaderTalk: Insights from the Outside. Featuring the highly read Mentor Minute articles from 2008 plus a host of bonuses from our expert contributors, this 32 page book is packed with leadership ideas worth sharing. Please Click Here to visit our website!	Why Balk at Clarity? Leaders are responsible for creating the conditions of an engaging culture. Team members play a significant role in ensuring fair play, camaraderie, honest communication and generally functional behaviour. In our Rules of Engagement Workshop, the team clarifies the behaviours that make working together more fair, fun and productive. There is often a voice from the group challenging the necessity of creating explicit, functional rules of engagement/guidelines to work by. Why balk at clarity? Typical objections: Working together properly is obvious Professionals are uncomfortable with this discussion Just follow the golden rule – treat people as you want to be treated and that’s enough We are all adults, we don’t need to talk about this Our work goals provide sufficient direction These objections would hold water if people generally got along. We know this isn’t true. Negative conflict is disruptive, painful and pervasive. The impact is felt on both people and results. We know that the majority of the Canadian Workplace is less than fully engaged. Depression is common (and so are depression related drugs). Stress leave is on the rise. Canadian HR Reporter states “A mismatch in community – the way people relate to each other at the job can relate to burnout. People thrive in settings where there is support, camaraderie and humour."* Dr. Nathaniel Branden, author of The Six Pillars of Self Esteem, states that people with high self esteem more readily embrace clarity than people with low self esteem. Clarity leads to accountability which leads to the achievement of results. Achievement heightens self esteem. So congratulations to the leaders who have the courage to talk about “how” to achieve results. Some of the hot issues to clarify: The way to work including hours, breaks and working from home Email protocols including how and when to copy others What to do when there is interpersonal conflict Definition of respectful behaviour How to keep your leader apprised of critical information Click here to check out our 3 hour session for Creating Rules of Engagement in a fun, interactive, constructive manner. I love to hear a choir. I love the humanity... to see the faces of real people devoting themselves to a piece of music. I like the teamwork. It makes me feel optimistic about the human race when I see them cooperating like that. Paul McCartney Best wishes, Lois Tori, Don Cousens, John Rogers, Fred Faber and Rick Dominico * "Coping skills not enough if the workplace is toxic", Canadian HR Reporter, May 3, 2004
Centre for Character Leadership, Copyright © 2009 905.478.7962 ~ Toll Free 1-888-270-4205 info@centreforcharacterleadership.com