Archive for August, 2012

The Paradox of Self-care Teleseminar

Wednesday, August 8th, 2012

Would you like to be able to focus your energy and attention in ways that enable you to inspire greatness in yourself and your organization? Paradoxically, it is only by taking care of ourselves first, by religiously making ourselves our top priority, that we are able to shine, to provide exceptional service to others, and to achieve our purpose in life or our mission at work.

Recently I addressed this topic in a one-hour teleseminar called “The Paradox of Self-care: Inspiring Greatness in Yourself and Your Organization.” During the call we covered topics such as:

    o Creating a YOU-centered life
    o Developing and sustaining the mindset required to make yourself your top priority
    o Using language to transform your world
    o Breaking through obstacles that prevent you from living your passion
    o Inspiring yourself and others to greatness

If you are interested in learning how to make YOU your top priority so you can inspire yourself and others to greatness, I invite you to listen to my teleseminar. Then let me know what you think!

© 2012 Pat Lynch. All rights reserved.

Posted in Aligning the Misaligned, Announcements, Employee-centered Workplace™, Optimizing Business Results, Optimizing Personal Results, Organizational Renaissance™, Public Sector | No Comments »

Language Leads to Results – But Maybe Not the Intended Outcome

Wednesday, August 1st, 2012

This morning’s L.A. Times reported that so many Los Angeles city employees were watching the streaming video of yesterday’s Olympics on city-owned computers that administrators feared the system would crash. In response, the city’s chief technology officer sent an e-mail “imploring” employees to stop watching the Games on-line. Specifically, she was quoted as saying in an e-mail sent to city employees, “We are experiencing a high volume of traffic due to people watching the Olympics online. I respectfully request that you discontinue this as it is impacting city operations.” (Emphasis is mine.)

What was she thinking? Aside from ignoring the fact that taxpayers don’t expect to pay city employees to watch the Olympics (as was pointed out by some City Council members who saw the memo), the language she used was all wrong. Why? Because when you “request” someone to do something, you are giving him/her the option to NOT comply. In this situation, not only is there a real danger that the City’s “struggling” computer system could crash if the on-line viewing continues, but allowing employees to watch the Olympics on the taxpayers’ dime is unethical if not illegal. So why would you ask someone “respectfully” to perhaps consider stopping behaviors that have such potentially dire consequences?

If the intention is to have city workers stop watching the Olympics on the city’s computers, then administrators need to tell them to stop it – immediately. The language must convey the urgency of the message and the degree of choice (if any) the recipients have, and it must specify the desired action. For example, “Effective immediately, all City employees must use their computers for work-related purposes only” conveys a high degree of urgency, removes any element of choice about whether or not to comply, and describes the desired action.

The bottom line: if you expect people to behave the way you want or need them to, you have to communicate clearly and specifically exactly what you want. Otherwise you may be waiting a long time for a result or behavior that will never happen.

© 2012 Pat Lynch. All rights reserved.

Posted in Aligning the Misaligned, Optimizing Business Results, Public Sector | No Comments »