How to Get What You Need To Move Your Work Forward

I love my job! Now, I couldn't always say that throughout my career, but truly I feel very blessed to be doing what I do today: coaching individuals, leaders and teams to be their best!

Now, that is not to say that I myself and/or they- my 'coachees' - don't encounter bumps and bruises along the way. That's just not life.

But, what is real life is that people are people and we all come from different experiences, educational backgrounds and hold different value systems.

So, how do we find alignment when we have different work styles and priorities?

Recently, I was facilitating a Kolbe training with a group of leaders and we were discussing the topic of stress. When I asked the participants to identify responsibilities, work situations or tasks that were stressful to them, they came up with a list of items, but one common theme arose:

When you need information to do your job and cannot get it because you are waiting on someone else to provide it to you, answer a question, etc.

Ah, yes, I've heard this many times. This can for sure be a source of frustration- when we cannot get information we need and/or we are not empowered to make a decision, yet we are accountable for the outcome.

Here are 5 ways to shift your thinking and help move your work ahead AND lessen your stress:

1. My way is not the only way. We tend to communicate based upon our own preferences as well as think other people work the same way we do, such as checking email first thing in the morning, or working their email as their to do list all day long, or getting tasks done ahead of time, etc.

   1. Are there other options?

   2. Understand 'their' currency in terms of communication- detailed, brief, verbal, email, etc.

      
      

2. Priorities shift. Leaders often have to 'triage' requests that come their way, as there are many. So, while your priorities may not have shifted, theirs have.

   1. How can you offer to help?

   2. Did you check in?

   3. Did you give a specific due date- day and time?

      
      

3. Don't wait for the email. You sent a co-worker an email a week ago and you still haven't heard back and now you've told yourself all kinds of stories as to why you haven't heard back from them.

   1. What are other options?

   2. Can you call them?

   3. Even better, schedule a meeting or stop by their office. What is stopping you?

      
      

4. Consider one step forward. It could be a domino effect.

   1. Maybe this person is waiting for information from someone else on their team before they can respond to you.

   2. Is there something else you can work on instead?

      
      

5. Assume positive intention. We tend to tell ourselves negative stories or draw negative conclusions often times based upon prior experiences.

   1. Instead, what if we reframed our thinking...instead of this person never answers my emails, perhaps this person has too much on their plate and they are drowning.

   2. How can I help them?

Own it. No matter what is going on- own it.

Own finding another way. Own being creative. Own finding a solution. At the end of the day, everyone reading this is serving a mission greater than themselves. So, deciding to be annoyed with a co-worker or a boss on a regular basis will negatively impact furthering the mission.

It's like the man who was sweeping the floors at NASA. Ever hear that story? When he was asked by President John F. Kennedy in the hallway, What do you do? He simply stated, 'I am helping put a man on the moon.' Every job matters, every job can have impact when you can bring your best self to work consistently.

No matter our job titles, no matter our tenure, take a look at your organization's mission statement and reassess how you contribute each and every day.

And, when confronted with a challenging work situation or co-worker, or boss, look to that mission as your next right step of integrity.

Because if not you, then who?

Remember- the grass is greener where you water it.