How can you create an exciting work environment?  OK…you might be reading this and thinking “You’ve GOT to be kidding!”  No.  I’m dead serious.  If you’re in the middle of chaos and you don’t love the energy of what’s unfolding, rethink what you’re doing and where you’re doing it.

Yesterday I was interviewed by a newspaper reporter about the analogies between sports coaching and executive coaching and how I work with my clients to strengthen teams.  She wanted to draw an analogy between coaching football and the risks coaches sometimes take and how similar it is in the corporate world.  There are many similarities between sports coaching and executive coaching however one of the places where we draw the line is giving advice. We also draw the line at “convincing clients” to do anything.  My clients don’t hire me to tell them what to think and how to do their work; they hire me to help them learn how to think differently, deeper, and more broadly.

So, how do you (as I call it) ‘dance in real time’?  How do you remain pumped and energized?

Create a learning environment.  If you’re always a learner and feel as if you’re evolving and growing, your energy will remain high. 

Treat your team as thought partners. Create an environment within which the team you’re working with collaborates and percolates together so everyone owns a piece of the puzzle of where you’re all going.  The term ‘better with’ vs. ‘better than’ comes to play where as a team or group of thought partners you all dance in real time.  In this complex world it’s great to know you’re not in it alone.  You don’t have to be in the role of organizational leader to have thought partners in crime.  If you’re a solopreneur, figure out who are your go-to people to create and learn with and create your own R & D team.  If you’re a part of an organization figure out who has the knowledge and experience in realms you don’t have and create a strong center of excellence. 

Keep in mind that everyone around the table (or virtual table as in a conference call) with you knows something and has some experience you don’t have.  That’s when the magic of an exciting environment starts happening. 

I’ll leave you with this “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.” - Henry David Thoreau

Best!

Donna Karlin

Founder and Principal

A Better Perspective

http://www.abetterperspective.com