Is it Ok to Be Insecure About Your Work?

April 30, 2017 Mike StPierre

I spent most of my career in a school. When I was a teacher, I was trained to focus in on my students and connect with them to the point that they would learn. As the saying goes, "it's not so much what you know but how much you care."

When it comes to students, that's so true.

When it comes to adults, it's also the case. Your colleagues want to know that you're "for them". Coupled with a deep sense of care for others is the ability to zero in on what's truly important for the organization.

That's a balance that a good leader can manage. On one hand is what's best for the company and on the other hand is what's best for each individual.

Determining what's best for the organization is both an internal process (deciding together what we're about) and keeping an eye on "the market". It's just smart.

Imagine how much Lyft and Uber study one another's moves. Or Samsung and Apple. Or Harvard and Yale. You get the point. You've got to be yourself and yet constantly be aware of what the other guy is doing.

This applies to each person in your organization too. I want my team to play to their strengths, working in a way that gets the very best out of them. I also want them to be aligned with the values of the team so that we can deliver exceptional results.

But... what about those times when you lean more towards what the other guy is doing and not enough on being true to yourself?

It can be easy for a member of the team to occasionally experience FOMO or the Fear of Missing Out. Even with a clearly defined set of values and a healthy self awareness (e.g. I have our team take the Enneagram evaluation), you can wonder if you're "not doing it right".

This can rear its head when any of the following questions come to mind:

Am I working hard enough?
Am I fast enough?
Am I valuable enough to the team?
Am I bringing my very best to work each day?
Is my email inbox cleaned out?
Am I communicating well?
Is the other guy better than me?
Am I using the rights apps?
Am I managing my time well?

I've certainly asked myself these questions many times over. Once, I had a boss give me some advice that I still carry with me today when I'm ever insecure about my work. He said, "Mike, the only three persons that matter are God, your wife and your boss. Other than that, the rest can think what they want about you. You've got to just do your work and that's that."

Don't worry about FOMO or what the next guy is doing. Focus instead on bringing your best energy, attention and diligence to work each day. If you don't have a performance review in place, ask if your supervisor can give you one. This is another anchor that affirms the quality of your work.

Is it ok to be insecure about your work?

Yes and no. It's honest to admit that we all have insecurities. The key is, when one shows up, to channel it into the right direction and retain confidence in your best work.

7 Signs That Your Workplace is Broken

January 17, 2017 Mike StPierre

Just recently, another article was published touting the negative consequences of the famed "open door" policy at work. One feels sort of nostalgic reading this piece as the author defends the return of the traditional door at the entrance to traditional offices.

Imagine that!

Cal Newport surely believes in the concept of a closed door office as it is more likely a contributor to focused work. In his book Deep Work, Newport states,

“Efforts to deepen your focus will struggle if you don’t simultaneously wean your mind from a dependence on distraction.”

— Cal Newport

All of this is to defend the commodity of clear thinking and focused labor. Safe to say, most of us have forgotten how luxurious those states can be since much of the modern workplace is broken.

There, I said it- broken as in busted and messed up.

I should know and I'm partly guilty of promoting a broken workplace. Until recently, I spent much of my career in schedules that were chopped up into bits of time that no human could actually enjoy. The meetings alone were enough to make you insane. The open spaces? Mostly a distraction.

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Open spaces don't promote more collaboration. They promote a lack of focus and more small talk than you can shake a stick at.

How do you know if your workplace is broken and in need of fixing? Here are seven telltale signs:

The open door policy is king. Getting work done should be king, not access to talk your ear off. Yes, we should be cordial but most things don't require that you interrupt someone else.
Meetings abound. Meetings are necessary but probably fewer than most workplaces allow. Most meetings can be substituted with an email, memo or brief Skype chat.
People come in on the weekend because that's the only time when you can actually get things done. You know what I'm talking about with this one and it's got to stop.
The most common phrase is, "You got a minute?" This implies that whatever you were doing is not as important as the conversation that's about to happen. Not a good sign.
No one around reads your verbal cues that you need to get work done. A closed door, a head bowed in concentration, a focused look on your face- each should tell someone else that you are trying to work. Sadly, too many people do not read these important physical cues.
Others walk in on you when you're on a call and expect that you talk to them, right then and there. This may be the most egregious violation of them all.
People are tired all of the time. This is where the real danger shows up as your physical health starts to deteriorate as a result of what may be a broken workplace. This can't be an acceptable outcome of a distraction-rich environment.

This post is not meant to provide seven simple solutions to the signs listed above. Rather, it's meant to help you take an inventory of what's around you.

Is your workplace totally broken?

Is it partially broken?

Do you have some colleagues who need to be reminded that you actually have work that needs to get done?

The good news is that you can change each of these signs. In my experience, I was unable to change my entire workplace culture on my own. I needed allies around me who bought into the idea of focused work. Only when people got fed up with interruptions and senseless meetings did they realize that deep work was the holy grail of their productivity.

5 Reasons Why People Don't Get Back to You

December 15, 2016 Mike StPierre

When was the last time someone didn't get back to you?

This may have been a text that didn't get returned or an email that was left unread. The result is the same on your end: frustration.

I can relate. I lead a monthly group discussion about faith with some of my best friends. I text. I email. Even still- the response is not always good. Sometimes all I hear is crickets.

How do you feel when someone doesn't get back to you?

Frustrated?

Angry?

Disappointed?

Or, maybe you take it personally. That's totally understandable.

There are probably five reasons why people don't get back to you:

1. They are totally overwhelmed with information overload. Things come in and they don't know what to do with it.

2. Their email habits are inconsistent and as a result, they only check their inbox every so often.

3. You have the wrong email or phone number. In other words, your messages just aren't going through!

4. You're coming across in a way that's "put-offish". (that's officially a new word!)

5. They're ignoring you. The message is fine but they're not interested.

I suppose the real question is this: which of the five reasons mentioned can you act upon the next time you try to contact someone?

Five Non-Cheesy Ways to Thank Your Boss

November 20, 2016 Mike StPierre

It's the season of thanks. American culture ushers us into this period of time just after Halloween in late October. I can remember as a kid in school, loving Thanksgiving as the final hurrah before exams and the mid-year blitz of gifts and parties. It felt so good to enjoy the big meal and then watch football, even if the Lions were on TV.

I still love Thanksgiving even though I've left the exams behind.

Gratitude, as it turns out, never goes out of style. Even better, a grateful person is often wonderful to work with and fun to be around.

Many of us will rush through the season, hoping to survive and simply "make it" to December 25. I think that most of us can get it, that gratitude is an appropriate posture as the calendar year ends.

What is often left out of the November-December time is expressing gratitude to our bosses. At first, you might think, "Why would I do that? They should be thanking me!"

You may be right but being a gracious employee is smart. It reminds you that you have gainful employment. It conveys gratitude to your boss and guess what? Bosses love grateful employees!

I can count on one hand the number of former employees who actually said, "thanks". All of the others were thankful but very few express that gratitude.

So how do you show your boss you're grateful without being cheesy? Here are five ridiculously simple suggestions:

1. Write a note. It just needs to say "thank you for supporting me and for the work you allow me to do". That's it.
2. Send an email. Similar to #1 if you don't have the postage or the time to send a handwritten note.
3. Make a call. You get the point.
4. Make a donation in the name of your boss. Nothing says "thanks" like supporting a charitable cause. Your boss will consider you to be a better person because you're giving not only to work but to other organizations.
5. Tell someone else about your boss. (And actually say something nice about them.) This is the old Steven Covey concept of being "loyal to the absent".

Be grateful for your work and then express that to the person who supervises you. It's harder being a boss than you might think and although imperfect, he/she is probably doing the best they can.

How to Connect the Enneagram to Your Work

October 23, 2016 Mike StPierre

If there’s a personality test out there, I’ve probably taken it.

Myers Briggs was helpful as was DISC. I’ve had my teams take them for years and have always learned something new about my colleagues as a result.

When was the last time you took a personality test?

These days, I’m using the Enneagram test to learn more about myself and my colleagues. I first learned about this through the excellent podcast The Road Back to You with Ian Cron and Suzanne Stabile. Their show is based on the book with the same title.

The Enneagram is an ancient test used by Christians and other traditions to help people understand themselves better. The word means "nine ways".

It turns out that Fr. Richard Rohr, one of my favorite weekend homilists (you can check out his podcast here) is one of the preeminent experts on the Enneagram.

How can the Enneagram make a difference in your work? I’d like to suggest three ways:

1. The Enneagram will show you more about yourself than any other test. This leads to greater self awareness. For example, I’m a “1” on the test which has many blessings. Unfortunately, it also brings some negatives such as a tendency to think that I’m right. Now that I understand this better, I try to listen more and suspend my own opinions when I can.

2. The Enneagram will make you more humble. As Fr. Thomas Judge once said, “humility is truth”. When you know what you’re good at (and just as important, what you’re not good at), you’ll realize that you need smarter people around you at all times. It will also help you to be confident when you’re in familiar territory. Finally, it will let you know that you need help more often than not.

3. The Enneagram will make you more compassionate. When you see that God has wired someone else a certain way, you immediately appreciate them more. This makes you more effective at work as you learn one another’s moves and tendencies.

If you haven’t taken a personality test like the Enneagram in a while, make an investment in your own leadership today. I would guess than 10 minutes of assessment will lead to hours of understanding.

So You're Distracted at Work: What's the Big Deal?

October 10, 2016 Mike StPierre

Most of us feel distracted at work. Big time.

Whether it’s the inordinate amount of meetings or the myth of the “open door policy”, it’s getting harder and harder to focus.

I once worked with a woman who, without pay, would come in on Saturdays in order to get some peace and quiet (and to finish her work).

A priest friend of mine has the unfortunate situation of having his office just off of the main lobby. To cope with the people who want to see him ALL THE TIME he just shuts his door when he needs to get work done. As a complement, he will work from 6-8am when no one is around.

A brave approach but nuts nonetheless!

What have we done to our workplace that good women and men need to come in on Saturdays and work before dawn just to get some quiet space to think.

How about you? Does your work barrage you with stupid meetings and more interruptions than you can deal with?

I’m guessing your answer is yes. It certainly was for me up until a recent job change. If you’re a leader, it gets exponentially worse as everyone and their brother wants a piece of you, from the moment you step foot at work until you leave.

The bigger question though is this: what’s the big deal? Come on Mike, so I’m distracted at work… isn’t that just normal?

My answer is part psychological- we have enough distractions in our own heads. Think of the last time that you sat down to write or read something. Tons of distractions!

We don’t need our workplaces adding on to that in-our-heads level of stress.

Another part of the answer is this: when we are distracted we don’t give our very best to those we serve. This is easy to believe if you think of a surgeon. Not being focused could lead to a snip here or a mistake there.

Most of us will respond and say, “I’m not a surgeon or a pilot so I can afford a bit of distraction.”

No and no.

The cost of being distracted is huge. It adds stress to our work.

It tires us out physically.

It lengthens our hours.

It puts stress on those we love.

It saps us of our confidence.

It prevents us from finishing things.

It burns us out.

When you look at it that way, distraction at work is a very big deal. And, with some courage, now is the time to do something about it. Unfortunately, the solutions are probably not going to come “from above”. You and your peers will have to demand change “from below”.

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This is the planning page we suggest using every day.

What might that look like? I suggest three easy solutions:

1. No meetings prior to 10am. Imagine if you had your most valuable hours without having to sacrifice them at the altar of meetings?
2. One day per week without meetings. This one is easy. Just ask for one day per week without meetings.
3. Close your door more often during the day. Build-up-the-courage-and-close-your-door. It’s both harder/easier than you think.

Being distracted at work is serious enough to worry about and important enough to challenge. It will start with you and you can do it.

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For Further Reading

Check out Cal Newport's piece about Facebook's massive office space that's scaring away workers who want to focus.