DTM ASSOCIATES

Accountable vs. Unresponsible Mindsets

 

Nothing destroys an organization’s bottom-line, innovation, teamwork, and morale faster than the “Unresponsible” mindset. The Unresponsible mindset involves seeing oneself as being “at effect” of our circumstances. When people are operating from this mindset, they don’t see themselves as responsible for the current situations they are in. As a result, they often demonstrate various forms of excuses, justifications, gamesmanship, defensiveness, or finger-pointing – it’s what is commonly referred to as the “blame game.” In most organizations, there are constant blaming comments such as, "It's their fault,” “You didn’t give me enough time,” “I couldn't make my goals because of _____,” or “My territory is saturated with our competition."

 

Research (Partners in Leadership) shows that a lack of personal accountability for achieving organizational results is a common organizational challenge:

 

• 83% feel they would do things differently if it were their own company.

• 63% found themselves waiting to see if a situation would resolve itself.

• Almost 60% admitted that they saw a problem developing but did nothing about it.

• 76% have fallen into the "just tell me what to do" trap. 

 

In Leading from Every Position, participants learn how to shift to the more empowering accountable mindset – a mindset in which people take ownership for their interpretations, behaviors, and results. Accountability, from our view, is not just about having a position of responsibility; it is taking responsibility for our reactions and responses. While it can be useful to recognize ways in which we don't have control over certain situations, it is empowering to not automatically come from helplessness. In this program, we explore ways to bring an accountable mindset to any situation, whether that involves influencing it or at least acknowledging our contribution to it. When people operate from accountability, the results potential is limitless!

 

Collaborative vs. Individualistic Mindsets

 

A common barrier in most organizations is an over reliance on the individualistic mindset. This mindset is where people are compulsively driven by their own goals, agendas, and self-interest. Driving this mindset are motivators such as compensation, recognition, and self-worth. Of course, these underlying motivations are natural and useful; it’s important to take care of one's needs.

 

However, when taken to the extreme, the individualistic mindset can propel organizations into the silo dynamic, where individuals or teams function separately, sometimes in competition, and often with distrust. This mindset can have a tremendous debilitating effect on such things as teamwork, sharing information and resources, creativity, and ultimately results. In fact in a survey of more than 1,400 corporate executives, 86% site lack of collaboration or ineffective communication for workplace failures. (Fierce Inc.)

 

In order to reach higher levels of performance, organizations need people at all levels to shift to a greater collaborative mindset. This involves cultivating more focus on “we-thinking vs. “me-thinking. " At the organizational level, if senior managers want more “we-thinking,” they must examine the organization’s performance management, compensation, and recognition systems to determine if they measure collaboration; as we know, what gets measure gets done.

 

At the individual level, ironically when one is not solely focused on one's own needs being met, and operates from a collaborative mindset, one actually helps increase performance, compensation, and recognition for everyone -- including oneself!

 

In this program, participants learn how to break through the common barriers that inhibit collaboration and identify ways they can operate more consistently from the collaborative mindset. Depending on the functional level of those attending the program, they identify how to increase collaboration at the organizational, team, or individual level.

 

Conscious vs. Habitual Mindsets

 

We all have common habitual patterns in how we move through the day, how we relate to others, how we make decisions, etc. Some of these patterns are useful, some are less so. Many of our patterns are unconscious, like driving down the highway for ten miles and not realizing we are driving. 

 

At work, most people have habitual patterns that limit their results. For example, some can be too assertive or not assertive enough; some may work too quickly or not quickly enough. Our less optimal habitual patterns can lead to such issues as project errors, ineffective communication, relationship conflict, poor decisions, paralysis of action—all of which affect performance. The more we can stay conscious of our patterns, the more likely we can avoid and/or resolve these performance issues.  But how does one stay conscious? Many of us have been aware of these patterns for years, but have not had any luck in changing them.

 

The key to staying conscious is being more self-aware. And to be more self-aware, it is useful to apply certain principles and practices of Mindfulness. Mindfulness is the capacity to be aware of what we are experiencing in any given moment. This involves being aware of our thinking and emotions, as these drive our behaviors. When we recognize the awareness that exists prior to the arising of our thoughts and emotions, from this awareness we can make conscious choices on how we respond in a situation. Mindfulness is essential to unhooking habitual patterns and increasing our effectiveness.

 

In this program, we look two forms of mindfulness. Inner mindfulness is the ability to become aware of what is going on inside us that drives our actions. Outer mindfulness is the ability to be present with others when we are meeting with them. This involves truly “meeting” them and allowing for the appropriate flow of conversation to take place, whether it’s rapport building, information sharing, problem-solving, or decision making. Through various mindfulness exercises, participants enhance their capacity to be both inwardly and outwardly mindful and learn to operate in a more conscious, appropriate, and effective way.

 

Embracing vs. Resistant Mindsets

 

If we look closely, our upsets at work (or life in general) primarily come from one source: resistance. Either something isn't going the way we want it to, or someone isn’t being the way we want him or her to be. Whether it's unexpected traffic, contentious comments made by a coworker or boss, or not getting a particular promotion, in some way or another life isn't flowing according to our desires. Some of us roll with the punches better than others. And of course, the harder the punch, the harder it is to roll with it.

 

In the workplace, one way we experience these “punches” is through change. We all know that change is becoming ever more rapid. However, what we may not know is that it is estimated that nearly two-thirds of change initiatives in organizations fail! Fortune 500 executives say that the primary reason change efforts fail is resistance. And 80 percent of the chief information officers say that resistance – not a lack of technical skills or resources – is the main reason why technology projects fail. (Deloitte)

 

Those who resist change usually find it hard to accept new directions, strategies, role transitions, etc. These people often bring a disempowering attitude that affect those around them. Those who embrace and move with the flow of change are more adaptable, and are in better position to be more effective and productive. They bring an attitude that focuses on how to make a given change work.

 

In this program, we explore the common reasons why people resist change. We introduce the key elements of an embracing mindset that empower people to deal with whatever changes are happening, whether one is leading a change effort or receiving one. By “embracing” we don’t mean one just rolls over and agrees with any change effort or situation. Participants learn how to discern a resistant response from an empowered response. As a result, people learn to increase their ability to be more fluid, to respond better to change, and to have a better impact on the morale of a team.

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In addition, we emphasize how important inclusivity and diversity fits into the embracing mindset. It's one thing to think we are inclusive; it's another thing to truly operate in ways that demonstrate a fully embracing perspective. 

 

Purposeful vs. Reactive Mindsets

 

Most people these days are overwhelmed at work. Part of this comes from the pressure of meeting ever-increasing goals, deadlines, and demands. Also, given this information age, we are inundated with emails, texts, data, etc. According to a 2012 report by McKinsey & Company, workers spend 28% of their day reading, writing, or responding to email. While technology enhances life in many ways, the expectation to respond quicker and quicker causes workers to move faster and operate more reactively. As a result, people are more stressed, working later at night than ever before, sleeping poorly, and dealing with exhaustion.

 

To get a grip on our reactivity, in this program we explore the adage: where our intention goes, energy flows. One of the most important aspects of being empowered is keeping our attention on our priorities, which often get lost in a fast-paced, reactive whirlwind. When we work and live according to our priorities, we feel more in control of our lives, feel greater satisfaction, and often contribute more to others.

 

In this program, we explore what it means to operate from a purposeful mindset. Participants identify ways to focus more on their core priorities so that they become less overwhelmed, less in crisis mode, less reactive, and achieve higher results. 

 

Truthful vs. Fictional Mindsets

 

We've all heard the expression that "perception is reality." More accurately the expression should be "my perception is my reality." Each person's perception of any situation is his or her interpretation of the situation. However, we forget this. We often lock into our perceptions of our colleagues or managers and think, “Well, that’s just the way she or he is.”  And we think the way we see things is reality – and, of course, the right reality!

 

Almost all conflict in the world, in organizations, and in personal relationships comes from people thinking that their view is the right view. But to see that one's view or belief of a person or situation is just an interpretation opens the window to see someone or something afresh. It enables us to open to other points of view, to see a bigger picture, and to invite unforeseen and creative ways of approaching a relationship or project.

 

For example, many managers hold the belief, “If you want something done right, do it yourself!”  If one operates from this belief, we can imagine how this could negatively impact their workload over time. Or, if they did delegate, we can imagine how this belief could negatively impact the way they delegate.

 

In this program, we help individuals bring a more truthful and less “fictional” mindset to the way they work. They see how certain beliefs and perceptions of the work environment, managers, co-workers, or tasks drive their thinking, feelings, and actions. Participants identify the common ways they limit themselves by locking into viewpoints about the organization, others, and themselves. They see how they filter situations based on this lens of perception. This does not mean these perceptions are wrong; it’s just that by seeing these views are just interpretations is very powerful – it allows for greater possibilities of perspectives to emerge and can shift how one responds to a situation or another in a more productive and empowering manner.

 

Participants also see how additional attributes of truthfulness improve their working relationships and results. We explore such topics as Authenticity, Integrity, Transparency, Vulnerable, Taking Risks in Sharing Perspectives, and Courageous Conversations. Participants assess their strengths and areas for development regarding their truthfulness and identify ways to operate more truthfully so that they enhance the relationships with those they work.

 

ACCEPT the Empowerment Challenge

 

Given the primary objective of the program is to inspire participants to integrate these empowered mindsets in their respective roles, to help them remember the 6 mindsets, these mindsets are organized to form the word ACCEPT: