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Is Team Building a Waste of Money?

Is Team Building a Waste of Money? | Arc Integrated

At Arc Integrated, we’re often asked whether team building is just a drain on resources. The truth? It can be—if it’s not approached with strategic intent. As leaders in enhancing team dynamics and organizational culture, we’ve seen what works and what doesn’t over the last decade. Today, we’re thrilled to share five tested strategies that ensure your team building investment pays off.

1. Connect Team Building to Its True Purpose

Let’s be honest: a lot of team building events are just plain fun. But what’s often missing is a connection to the deeper ‘why’. Why are we here? What are we aiming to improve? The secret sauce is linking these activities directly to enhancing performance—be it through better communication, problem-solving skills, or productivity. It’s about making the event meaningful by tying it to real organizational outcomes.

2. Focus on Performance, Not Just Fun

We all like to have fun, but if that’s all there is, then we’re missing the mark. Team building should be about more than just good times; it should be about getting better at what we do. It’s crucial that these events are seen not just as a break from work, but as a driver of workplace excellence. This shift in perspective can change how team members value these experiences. 

For an in-depth exploration of strategic event planning, check out this insightful article from Harvard Business Review.

3. Leadership Buy-In is Crucial

Nothing undermines a team building event faster than leaders who aren’t on board. If leaders don’t believe in the process, neither will their teams. Leaders need to be engaged and must articulate the value of these activities. They must show up, not just physically, but with genuine enthusiasm for the growth these opportunities are designed to foster.

4. Choose the Right Participants

A common mistake is not being selective about who attends. Team building can backfire if you’re including people who perhaps no longer fit well within the team or the organization’s future direction. It’s about being strategic with invitations, ensuring that every participant is poised to contribute to and gain from the experience.

5. Integrate Company Values into the Activities

Lastly, aligning team building with your company’s values can dramatically increase its impact. If collaboration is a cornerstone of your company culture, choose activities that enhance this skill. This alignment helps team members live out company values in a tangible, impactful way, making the abstract concrete.

So, is team building a waste of money? It certainly can be—without the right strategies. But armed with these insights, you can transform it from a mere expense to a vital investment in your team’s and organization’s future.

Curious about more ways to enhance your leadership and team dynamics? Dive deeper with us at Arc Integrated. Check out our resources, or get in touch to discuss how we can tailor our expertise to your needs: www.arcintegrated.com

As always if you have any questions or concerns you can schedule a time to connect.

Be well,

Michael

Resources:

Learn more about Arc Integrated:

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How to Lead Extraordinary Meetings

How to Lead Extraordinary Meetings | Arc Integrated

Nothing speaks to creating peak performing cultures more than making sure, as a leader, you are able to generate effective, and productive meetings. 

In this article, we will be sharing five tips on how you can lead extraordinary meetings. This is important to get a good grasp of because according to MIT, the average executive spends 23 hours a week in meetings.

Tip #1: Open With Connection (Use Tools When Needed) 

There’s an old phrase that says connection before content which is a very important aspect of conducting great meetings. This phrase, in regards to meetings, is all about setting up connectivity between the participants before diving into the agenda for that particular meeting.

If creating that connection before starting your meetings is something that as a leader you struggle with, or don’t know how to do, my recommendation is to take advantage of the many tools that are available. 

A really good tool that we recommend is The CHANGES Cards. This is a card deck full of questions based on seven different themes of our lived experience. You can use these cards to ask and answer some questions regarding different team members as a way to create a greater connection within the group. This immediate and quick connection that is generated between different individuals creates a much smoother experience during meetings. This is due to the fact that it enables others to be:

  • Creative
  • Vulnerable
  • Communicative

Tip #2: Have An Agenda With Tight Boundaries

Having an agenda before going into a meeting seems like an extremely obvious thing to do for most leaders. Still, the problem with most meeting agendas that we often see is that there are no tight boundaries associated with them.

A really good way around this is to set a timer on your phone. You can do this by setting up time intervals within each topic. So if the timer is set up for 15 minutes, when the time is up, regardless of where you are in the conversation, you move on to the next topic.

One of the biggest issues in these meetings is not only that there are no boundaries in place, but they are also not being enforced. I can promise you that when they are, more positive things will come out of the meetings and that more will be getting accomplished.

Tip #3: Have Good Recipes

I was recently looking at a book that I had recommended for a client called Principles by Ray Dalio. It goes into detail about principles (or recipes) for living. I strongly believe that these principles, when taken into the sphere of meetings, are no different.

For example: Did well, learn, and do differently is a principle that you can use to debrief an incident. If there is a challenge that your team faces (with a customer, vendor, client, etc.) you as a leader should conduct a debrief with the three ingredients to the recipe mentioned above.

  • You should look at what was done well
  • Follow that with what was learned from it
  • Finally what should be committed to doing differently for the future

Using this recipe is a really important tool to have as a leader because it will increase meeting productivity, engagement, and overall team wellbeing. This connectivity is crucial to an organization’s success because research shows that employee engagement has been defined as an emotional and intellectual commitment to the organization.

Tip #4: Make The Meeting Relevant for All in Attendance

Many of us have been in meetings that didn’t actually require us to be there and it doesn’t feel good at all. Surprisingly, this is actually a very common aspect in many meetings. Taking it even a step further, time spent in meetings (especially bad meetings), can increase employee stress, fatigue, and perceived workload.

The way to solve the issue of feeling like an hour was just robbed from their day, is to ensure that whoever you are inviting has some purpose for being in the meeting. This could mean that they have:

  • Information to share
  • Data to collect
  • Relevant action items

Everyone attending the meeting should be there for a reason and not because it seems like the thing to do to fill their schedule. This ultimately will reduce resentment in company culture.

Tip #5: End The Meeting With Appreciation

Our final tip on how to lead extraordinary meetings is to end every meeting with appreciation. This is a simple, yet very underutilized tool that I think every leader should learn to incorporate. 

The simple way to think about this is to ask a question to the group to share their thoughts on what they believed was a moment, person, or idea that emerged in the meeting that they would like to appreciate. What this does is allows a little bit of psychological priming so that when they leave the meeting, it makes everyone feel like it was advantageous to them in some aspect. This is done by highlighting:

  • Opportunity
  • Strength
  • Learning

I really believe that ending on a good note and making sure others feel that the meeting was valuable is a critical aspect of a successful meeting. 

If you found this article helpful and want to learn more about the topic you can watch the video version of 5 Tips to Lead Extraordinary meetings.

As always if you have any questions or concerns you can schedule a time to connect.

Be well,

Michael

Resources:

Learn more about Arc Integrated:

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How Leadership Skills Can Influence The Values of an Organization

As you may know, leaders have an outstanding impact on organizational culture. Many leaders don’t even realize how much of an influence they have. They are responsible for efficiently guiding organizational goals and achievement, while also ensuring that their team is utilizing their skills to produce the desired productivity level. Leadership should be happening at all levels, and it’s necessary to establish that management is well equipped with leadership skills. 

Effective leadership can influence your organization’s values by demonstrating an ideal attitude in the workplace, modeling behaviors, establishing vision among the employees, reinforcing accountability, the list goes on and on.  

Here’s how leadership skills can influence the value of your organization: 

Model Behaviors

Leaders have to be able to walk the talk and lead by example. Remember, your team is looking up to you to take the lead and display and communicate your expectations, and they especially look to you when there’s change.  The values that truly exist in an organization’s culture, are the ones that are being modeled by those within the organization.  

Establishing Purpose, Vision, and Goals Among The Employees

People like to know exactly what is expected from them. They like clarity, especially when it comes to their roles and expectations. So, it’s super important to communicate with your employees on what your organization’s purpose is, its brand and image guidelines, the direction of the company and even what specific level of productivity is required of them at your organization. Your leadership style and the way you communicate this to your employees can have a huge impact on the perspective of your organization’s values among your employees. 

Setting Expectations and Helping Your Employees Grow

Most people have goals to improve their professional skills and make a difference. In order to do this, leaders must provide them with the tools, resources, and opportunities that allow them to grow and build confidence in their ability to meet the expectation that is set out at your organization. A great way to establish this level of communication between you and your employees is to encourage and support them to set personal development goals each year within your organization. This will allow your employees to challenge themselves and become a better version of themselves with your help and it will positively impact your organization as well.

Reinforce a Culture of Accountability 

Accountability is one of the most important ways for leaders to influence culture. When leaders hold people accountable, it helps people understand and learn that they are accountable for the things they do. Without accountability measures in place, a leader will not be able to influence the team. Accountability also creates more choices for all those involved.  It provides clear direction which then allows for more autonomy, typically resulting in higher performance and greater engagement. 

Making accountability a part of your culture begins with having detailed job descriptions with clearly established measures, so people are clear on what success looks like. This will help them get a clear understanding of their expectations and their deliverables and they will know that their reviews are going to be based on those agreed criteria. It is very important to be transparent when building a culture of accountability.

Make It Personal For Your Team

So after modeling desired behaviors, establishing a clear purpose, and holding people accountable, you still have to make more emphasis on culture and performance if you want to make it personal. Establishing the desired culture, as well as navigating any kind of change will become more challenging unless you connect with them emotionally and rationally.

This simply means understanding what personally motivates them, making sure to give them the opportunity to develop new skills, and working to create a work environment that not only works for the organization but also works for them. 

Remember whenever you are making a change, even if it’s a small one, you are influencing and changing organizational culture. Always remember the influence you have as a leader and that culture is always fluid. 

Resources:

Learn more about Arc Integrated:

Watch The Video Version of This Article:

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Managing Mental Health in Isolation

Managing Mental Health in Isolation

If you are reading this near it’s release, we are all in the midst of a global pandemic.  Most places have shelter orders, social distancing or other regulations in place.  It is an unusual time.

It is a time where our mental health is even more of a priority than ever.  During times of uncertainty, chaos and distancing from each other, the importance of taking care of ourselves dramatically increases.

Here are three tips to ensure strong mental health during quarantine.

1.) Use Tools to Connect – Fortunately, we are in a world full of tools and resources that allow us to remain connected virtually.  In addition to social media of course, consider utilizing tools like Zoom, FaceTime, WhatsApp & MarcoPolo to remain connected professionally and personally.  Physical isolation can take its toll on our mental health but thankfully, we can still remain social.

BONUS – the link to Marco Polo is my direct link, please feel free to reach out with any questions. 

 

2.)  Keep a Routine – In times of uncertainty it helps us to “control the controllables.”  There are always things we can control.  The more we succumb to having our routine disrupted, the more our mental health is at risk .  Some of our routines may be forced to shift given the nature of our work, childcare needs, travel changes and other necessary adjustments. The good news is we can choose to create new routines which not only impact our physical and mental health but also keep us productive. Consider asking these questions as you create a new routine:

How might I use this time to learn something I am passionate about but haven’t yet made time for?

How might this time be used to propel me even further toward my goals once this quarantine is over?

What can I include in my new routine that I haven’t yet had the opportunity to practice?

 

3.) Mind Your Perspective – In the midst of chaos the one thing we always have control of is our own perspective. This choice in perspective will either support our mental health or be a detriment to it.  While the current situation globally, nationally and locally is creating real crisis, we still get to choose what perspective to hold.  Holding a perspective of hope, opportunity and thoughtfulness also helps to create momentum toward decreased panic.  We can all be a force to support each other’s mental health. Consider these questions to help shift your own perspective:

What is the positive lesson we can learn from this global condition?

How might we come to the other side of this situation even stronger as a community, a country or as human beings?

How might I use this situation to create greater compassion and resiliency for myself and others?

If you get stuck, there are resources.  You may consider the options of a professional coach, therapist or mentor for instance.

For a quick guide on how to decide which helping professional is right for you as well as how you go about picking one, check out Part Two in the book CHANGES.  

As usual, reach out with any questions.

Be well,

Michael

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2019 Highlights – 2020 Preview – Arc Integrated

Arc Integrated - 2019 Highlights - 2020 Preview

Arc Integrated – 2019 Highlights – 2020 Preview

Greetings and Happy New Year!

I hope that the first few weeks of 2020 have been a success.  It was an exciting year in 2019 and there are some wonderful upcoming releases and events from Arc Integrated in 2020.

As I look back on the last year, here are some the highlights of 2019:

  • Traveled the country serving a wide variety of leaders, teams, organizations and events.
  • We continue to learn the client that we serve best. We have been doing our very best work while serving organizations and leaders that are driven to create and maintain cultures with purpose, accountability, sustainability, empathy and collaboration.
  • In May I launched my book – CHANGES: The Busy Professional’s Guide to Reducing Stress, Accomplishing Goals and Mastering Adaptability.
    • It hit best seller status in three categories!
  • I also launched the audio book a few months later.  If you’re not yet an Audible user, you can get a FREE audio version of the book here.
  • Earlier in 2019 I graduated from a 9 year martial arts program which continues to influence ways in which we train, facilitate and coach teams, leaders and organizations on how to be their very best. Stay tuned for some more posts about how martial arts influences the work we do and how some of the philosophies get incorporated.
  • There have been a number of podcast interviews done in 2019 which set the stage to do many more in 2020! These interviews have acted as massive resources for our clients. If you’d like to browse our list of interviews- https://www.arcintegrated.com/about-us/
  • Later in the year I went through a certification program called XCHANGE.  This has been the most powerful professional certification I have received in my career thus far. I’ll be doing an upcoming blog post about this approach and how we are incorporating it into our work with clients.
    • This training led to a number of work engagements, including an all employee company retreat, an executive leadership summit and a industry wide collaborative.
  • We continue to have an impact on the lives of the leaders and organizations we are honored to serve. Here’s what one of our client’s said in 2019 –

“Our Executive Leadership Team has worked closely with Michael for the past year and the results of this engagement have had a profound impact on our company. We utilize the many of the strategies that we have learned from him on a daily basis as what he has to offer is practical and implementable Individual and group coaching has helped us to improve our communication skills and function on a higher level as a leadership team.”

– Stand for Animals Executive Team

As well look ahead to 2020, here are some of the exciting things we have in store:

  • Continue to travel, internationally, serving a wide variety of organizations, leaders, teams and conferences!
  • The launch of the CHANGES CARDS. Available for order now (discounts for bulk!). Available on Amazon by end of Q1
  • Releasing my book in hard cover
  • Developing the Changes Journal.  There has been much feedback about the valuable exercises within the book.  Because of this, we’ll be releasing a book with just the exercises and places for reflection, so people can optimize their work.
  • Speaking a lot more! There are a number of events already lined up. We have been getting great feedback about the high levels of engagement and experiential nature of Michael’s events. To inquire about Michael’s availability in 2020, schedule a time to chat today!
    • See some previous speaking reels as well as testimonials here – https://www.arcintegrated.com/consultation/speaking-engagements/

What I’m most excited about are the surprises.  I am consistently in awe of how much can change, every year.  Certainly not all surprises are welcome, but I continue to learn the value of perception and how all experiences can be teachers.

Looking forward to a year full of growth, success, excitement and education.

Wishing you all the same.

With Gratitude,

Michael

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The Best Listener at Work

How to Become a Better Listener at Work | Arc Integrated

You may wonder why being a good listener at work is really valuable.  However, if you experiment with improving your workplace listening skills, you will see changes.   In the fast past, high demand jobs so many of us have, really good listening may be something of a novelty.  This may because of the ever-impending deadlines, the many distractions we have or the workplace stress.  If you commit to being the best listener at work, you may notice that some of these challenges shift.

So how might listening skills impact your work place experience?  Well, consider your experience now.  How well do you feel heard at work?  What do you notice about people how are really present with you when communicating vs. those that are anxious to move to the next “to do”?  I would imagine that when someone is really present with you that it is easier to talk to them, you may feel more connected or more at ease. What if you were that person for everyone else?  How might this impact your workplace experience if people knew that when they spoke to you, that they could count on you to really pay attention?

Particularly if you are a leader, really good listening skills go a long way.   Being able to connect, understand and communicate effectively with your employees is a crucial component of an effective leader.   According to a study in The Journal of Occupational Health, it was found that… “psychological stress reactions were lower in subordinates who worked under supervisors with high listening skill, while no statistically difference was observed among older subordinates.” 

So if we know that our listening skills have an impact on our overall work stress, it seems like a great advantage for us to actively improve these skills.  Below you’ll find three tips to improve your listening skills

1.) Offer more clarity

Repeating something back to someone in the way that you heard it will help to reduce miscommunication.  Repeating a statement also offers the opportunity for this person to add additional clarification if necessary.  This way of “active listening” ensures that this person is being understood correctly and shows them that you are paying attention.

2.) Focus

Sometimes we can get caught up in how we are going to respond to something.  Thinking of what to say next reduces our ability to listen to what someone is saying.  Attending to what someone is saying without focusing on how to respond will create stronger communication.  Remain focused on the present moment and really digesting what it is that someone is communicating. 

3.) Breath

Often times at the workplace we are moving a million miles a minute, which reduces our ability to take in information in any given moment.  Taking a few moments to breath as you speak with someone will help you to be more present and process what they are saying more effectively.  Before you speak or when you are feeling overwhelmed, stop and take a deep breath.  This may sound trivial but can do wonders for not only stress but your ability to communicate and listen effectively. 

After you’ve had the opportunity to put these behaviors to the test, I would invite you to make a comment below.   I would suggest that in order to notice results you may have to practice one or all three for at least four times a week for three weeks.   After you’ve practiced, consider answering the following questions –

How did they work if they did at all? 

What did you learn?  

How long did you practice each new behavior?  

Best,

Michael

P.S. If you want to learn more about how to improve your listening skills at work, in order increase influence, engagement and build effective relationships, we can help.  Schedule a free consult today to see if are a fit to work together

 

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Corporate Training, Personal Development and Equine Therapy

Corporate Training, Personal Development and Equine Therapy

Corporate Training, Personal Development and Equine Therapy

Based on the title you may be thinking that these things are totally un-related, but you’re here, so thank you!  I lead a group therapy session a couple of times a week with about 10 attendees and the topic of animals and our connection to them recently came up.  We discussed different kinds of therapy approaches, like dog therapy, or equine therapy for example.  The same day I had a friend bring this topic up, which I figure is enough for me to write down some thoughts, since this is something I have experience with.   The interesting part is corporate training, personal development and equine therapy, are in fact, connected.

A few years ago I went through the process of getting certified through the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA).  This association is the international leader in equine training specifically for mental health and personal development purposes.  What this means is that they certify psychotherapists and horse professionals, to work together to facilitate different kinds of experiential learning. These experiences can be for the purposes of individual development, individual therapy, group therapy, couples therapy or corporate/group training.

So the question may be, what one thing has to do with the other?  For someone that has never seen this process unfold, it may not seem like a relevant fit.  The way horses and horse professionals can help to work through challenges with individuals or a group, is essentially through observation.  For example, a typical Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) or Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) session, consists of the facilitators (therapist and horse professional) giving the individual or group a task to accomplish with the horse.  This task could be to help move the horse through a gate, move the horse around an object or help a horse move in a direction without touching it. There are many activities/tasks that can be implemented but they are all ground activities, not requiring the participant to ride the horse.

During and after these activities both the therapist and horse professional make observations of how the person or people are engaging with the horse and each other.   What shows up here is powerful.  Just like in experiential education, when giving a group a task to accomplish together there are markers that form organically – personality styles, communication style, natural leaders/followers, conflict and/or resolution of conflict etc.  What is most interesting about the EAP/EAL process is that the horse acts as a mirror for behavior and engagement.

During my time training as an EAGALA practitioner I was astounded by how fast things came to the surface through this process.  For instance, when watching a family interact with an animal and attempt a task, it became immediately obvious what kinds of challenges the family had in their communication with each other.  In this example it was easy to see which member wanted to control and override the input from other members of the family.   This created conflict of course and made it more challenging for the family to accomplish the assigned task.  Part of the feedback came from the horse as it experienced the intensity from one individual.  Part of the feedback came from other members as they became frustrated with the challenge of the task, which the horse also reflected.  It was powerful to watch.

So how did their communication styles come up you ask?  This is the value of working through an EAP/EAL program. The response you get from a horse is authentic, immediate and not bound by the same kind of bias that people have.   In addition, the horse professional helps to make observation of behavior of the horse while the therapist observes how the person is engaging.

Horses are able to pick up on the subtleties of behavior and intention because they are sensitive prey animals.   So this means that if there is fear, anger, ease, curiosity or frustration – the horse will give feedback to these emotions/behaviors.   Because the horse is so sensitive it gives immediate clues and reactions to the behaviors and intentions of individuals and groups.  Some of these behaviors would be easily recognized while others are more subtle, which is why it is helpful to have a horse professional present. In the therapeutic context, understanding and processing behaviors and emotions can impact personal development and resolution of some of the challenges.

At this point you may be asking if this type of intervention has any credibility from research. The answer is yes, it absolutely does.   For example, one study found that well-being and reduction in psychological distress immediately improved after EAP and held stable after six months.   For a more detailed look at research as it compares to traditional therapy approaches, consider this article that acts an overview and comparison.

So how does this therapeutic approach have anything to do with corporate training or leadership?  This is where EAL enters the picture.  EAL differs from EAP in that EAL focuses more on education and learning rather than a therapeutic approach of resolving mental health issues or challenges.

In an EAL setting valuable skills can be obtained that would certainly impact the effectiveness of an organization.  For example, often times EAL is done with teams on an organization in order to improve communication skills, leadership or team building.  This process is still facilitated by a mental health professional and horse professional, but the intention is different.

In an EAL session with a team of professionals for instance, a simple task will be given to the team to accomplish with the horse.  This task results in emerging behaviors and communication styles that will then be valuable for the team to later process.  For instance, within a given task there may be leaders that emerge, communication that happens (or doesn’t), response style of collaboration or anger. In addition, there may be partnerships that naturally form on the team that previously did not exist or resentments that manifest that perhaps hadn’t previously.

The same question may emerge regarding efficacy of this particular kind of experiential education.  One of the more interesting pieces of research on EAL has to do with Emotional Intelligence, a current point of focus in many leadership and team building approaches.   This research is a great review of the field of EAL as well as Emotional Intelligence. The research found positive results for EAL as an intervention for improving Emotional Intelligence.

So, as we’ve seen, horses, therapy and leadership are in fact related!  For more information about EAL and EAP, I recommend visiting the EAGALA website – http://www.eagala.org/.  For more information on Emotional Intelligence as it relates to leadership, consider this article by Daniel Goleman.   If you are interested learning more about this topic or discussing a potential workshop to build team or leadership skills, please contact us!

Keep Learning,

Michael

P.S. If you are curious to learn more about personal development, workplace challenges, interpersonal dynamics, goal achievement and a wide variety of other topics, sign up today! www.www.arcintegrated.com/newsletter.  It’s totally free.

You’ll also receive a FREE tip sheet with Five Strategies to Build Motivation!

 

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Beat the Post Vacation Slump!

How to beat the post-vacation slump | arc integrated

It’s that time of year.  You may have recently returned from a trip, visiting relatives, vacationing with friends, or maybe just enjoying a few days off.  However your holidays were spent, I hope they were rejuvenating and enjoyable.  Getting back to the grind can be a challenge.  I’ve certainly experienced it and I know many friends, family, and clients have too.  Today I want to talk about how to beat the post-vacation slump!

Whether the holidays were filled with fun, laughter, and excitement or anxiety, busyness, and overwhelm, coming back to a routine may be tough.   Below you’ll find some strategies about how to get back to being at the top of your game in work and in life, in addition to some tips for the next time you go on vacation.

Be Clear 

Personal Life – This is the time for New Year’s Resolutions, woohoo! The truth is that the majority of them don’t stick.  According to some data, only 8% of people accomplish their New Year’s Resolutions.  However, there are many strategies on how to improve the likelihood of change that lasts.  I would argue that part of the reason people don’t accomplish their resolution is that there is not enough clarity around the goal.  In order to get back in work mode and also work towards new goals you have, consider outlining the details in order to build clarity.  This could mean creating a yearlong vision and then working it backward to a six-month goal, a three-month goal, and eventually an action step you can take today!

Work-Life – Meetings often are less productive after many people have been out of their routine or away from work.   You may see less productivity in the meetings outside of work too.  To remedy this, set clear expectations for what the meeting will review and accomplish and do not veer away from this objective.  Make sure there are clear action steps for all members of the meetings you attend.

Stay Focused

Personal Life – In order to stay focused on our personal goals and re-engaging in our routines post-break, there needs to be some way to stay motivated.  Build focus through keeping reminders that are visible and related to your goal.  Alternatively, creating a writing practice that explores the reason for working towards this goal can help to stay motivated and focused.  Also, creating accountability in some way may be helpful in building focus.  Accountability could be created through working through a goal with someone else or hiring a coach to help explore what is holding you back.

Work-Life – Lack of focus at work often shows up in the context of getting tasks accomplished or having a productive meeting.  Often times meetings set out with many things to accomplish and by the end have not completed their intended outcome.  Stay focused on what is most important and do not add too much to the meeting, always expect that things may take longer than anticipated.  Have no more than three main objectives per day that are on your “must complete” list.

Action Items, Expectations, and Deadlines

Personal Life – Reaching goals is all about combing process and product.  It’s great to read self-help books, follow thought leaders, or engage in the philosophical debate about mindset, intention, and positivity.   The next step is combing all of this wonderful theory with small steps in the right direction.  Keep in mind that these steps can be small, but should be consistent.  Keeping after deadlines and continuing with actions items after exploring ideas will lead to progress.

Work-Life – The same issues exist in the work world when we have meetings or discussions around an idea.  Ideas often need to be translated.  People feel that meetings are a waste of time when there is no clear outcome, objective, or “to do” item.  Always be clear about expectations for all attendees.  Have attendees commit to their particular action item as well as deadline so everyone is clear on each person’s objective.

Keep your Routine in Check

Personal Life – Having some kind of routine in your personal life will do wonders for your mood, clarity, energy, and productivity.  The holidays are an easy time to get thrown out of a routine, whether is exercise, eating healthy or a daily practice, it’s a challenging time of year to keep up with our best intentions.  Here is a great resource from The Model Health Show about holding onto a good routine, even during the busiest time of year

Work-Life – Getting back into a routine is easier to do with work when it isn’t totally avoided during a break. This certainly doesn’t mean you have to be checking email every day or doing work on vacation….that is definitely not recommended.  But keeping sleeping to a minimum may be helpful when it’s time to get back to work. Also, reading while on vacation may help to keep your mind active and productive so that it may be easier to re-engage when it’s time.

Push Yourself!

Personal Life – I hold the firm belief that we are much more capable than we often give ourselves credit for, in every sense.  Care to experiment with this idea?  Try pushing yourself past the invisible finish line that you’ve set for yourself.  Go to the extra class, read the extra chapter, do another set, run the extra mile, take the risk in a relationship. Make a consistent effort to go past your comfort zone, you’ll be surprised what you learn.

Work-Life – The same concept of going past where we think we are capable of applies to work.  Consider how much you get done in the typical day and see if you can double it.  No, I don’t recommend working 16 hours instead of eight.  Working more efficiently and pushing past some of the self-set boundaries is a better (and healthier) experiment to try.  Consider how much time you spend during the average day being distracted by non-work-related issues or work that doesn’t necessarily make you more productive but makes you busier.   Evaluate how to be the most productive version of yourself and push out any limiting beliefs that may have held you back previously regarding how much you could accomplish in a day.

Re-Evaluate

Personal Life – This time of year is a great time for downsizing, clearing out, resetting, cleansing, and letting go.  What has been serving you this last year and what no longer helps you to become the best version of yourself?  You can pose this question to any facet of your personal life from your relationships to your diet to how you spend your time.  Evaluating the different aspects of your personal life allows you to set clearer goals and intentions for the year ahead and also helps to come back stronger from time off.

Work-Life – Is the job you’re in the one you want to be in? Taking the time to evaluate how much you are really committed to the work you are doing can be a helpful way to not only improve your re-engagement post-vacation but also help you make changes to your current situation.  If you are certain the work you’re in is for you, great!  Take the opportunity to evaluate how you will make this coming year a better one than the previous.  If you determine that your purpose is elsewhere, come up with an exit strategy. Outline your strengths, objectives, and timelines.  This will help make the rest of your time in your current position not seem as daunting.

*Challenge of the week*

Pick one of the strategies above and take action!  Just one.  After you’ve experimented for one week, come back and leave a comment below and share what you learned. Let’s help each other make significant changes this year!

All the best,

Michael

P.S. If you are curious to learn more about personal development, workplace challenges, interpersonal dynamics, goal achievement, and a wide variety of other topics, sign up today! www.www.arcintegrated.com/newsletter.  It’s totally free.

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Expressing Your Anger at Work

 

Expressing Your Anger at Work

Expressing Your Anger at Work

Getting frustrated at work is common.  However, how you express it or don’t, may greatly influence the environment that you’re in, as well as future opportunity.  While expressing your anger at work may be generally frowned upon, there are certainly strategies that will help with this process.  Consider these three tips below when expressing your anger at work.

  1. Timing is important – Remember that when you are anger this may not be the time to resolve an issue. However, coming back to a situation after decompressing and letting the parties involved know how it impacted you will allow you to be a better communicator and express the importance of the situation, improving the likelihood of resolution.
  2. Understand what helps you decompress – Having an understanding of what kinds of strategies are most effective for you in reducing anger is important.  This may be walking, exercise, writing, listening to music or a wide variety of other things.  Taking the time to explore what works best will benefit you in the long run and give you the chance to effectively express and reduce anger instead of letting it become a problem.
  3. Remember the context – This is a very important component. Even though telling someone exactly how you feel may seem like the best idea at the time, the context may suggest otherwise.  Being mindful of how and where you are expressing anger, if at all, may be a very important factor to consider.

The better question to ask may be how to reduce anger in general.  Understanding how to control our feelings may be beneficial in many different environments. Having the ability to respond to events rather than react, may serve us well.  If we know how to control our sense of reactivity then we may respond in a more appropriate way. Understanding ourselves, how we respond/react and triggers that we have, may involve some self-exploration.

Interestingly, the expression of anger may be totally culturally contextual anyway.  In our culture we tend to look at the expression of anger to be generally unfavorable.  In other cultures expression of anger may actually be of health benefit.  In a study by The Association for Psychological Science, they found that expression of anger in Japanese culture was associated with better biological health.  This suggests that anger isn’t necessarily positive or negative but the meaning that it is applied to it may impact the results of its expression.

This idea of exploring our anger to identify what kind of meaning we apply to it may give us another reason for self-exploration.   Certainly the negative or positive consequences of expressing anger are still being studied.  In the meantime, we do know that improving our understanding of self and how we respond and react can have a great impact on our work and home environments.

 

Thanks,

Michael

 

If you are curious to learn more about personal development, workplace challenges, interpersonal dynamics, goal achievement and a wide variety of other topics, sign up today! www.www.arcintegrated.com/newsletter.  It’s totally free.

You’ll also receive a FREE tip sheet with Five Strategies to Build Motivation!

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