The following excerpt is from The Power of Adversity: Tough Times Can Make You Stronger, Wiser, and Better by Al Weatherhead with Fred Feldman. Weatherhead says adversity is not a curse but a gift and that when we embrace our problems we temper and empower ourselves to achieve unimagined success.
The Invention (from Chapter Two)
In 1971, with heavy financing and a tiny amount of cash, I purchased a small, two-customer plastics company in Twinsburg, Ohio. A new start, a new company, a new name: Weatherchem Corporation. We were on a roll; sales had leaped by tenfold and employment had trebled. It was substantial incremental growth, but it was not the success I had been counting on and dreaming of my entire life. What was slowing Weatherchem down? My company lacked revenue-generating patents.
Thomas Edison, the King of Invention, held more than eleven hundred patents. Growing up, I had made it my goal to have more patents than my father, who, through his company, acquired nearly seven hundred of them. (So far, I've not been able to surpass my father's record.) Yet, in 1983, it took just one patentable invention to launch my company into the stratosphere.
We called it the Weatherchem Flapper®.
In your kitchen you probably have a spice- or powder-filled container with a plastic top that has two tabs--one for pouring or spooning, and one for sprinkling. That top is most likely derived from the original Flapper my company invented in 1983.
Today there's an entire line of Flapper products used by over 150 companies, including McCormick, ACH Foods/Tones and Durkee, Kraft, Procter and Gamble, and Pharmative/Nature's Made. The Flapper has, in fact, become so common that it's taken for granted.
But it was not always that way. Although the idea for the Flapper was radically simple, its genesis was a complicated process. Like most patents, the Flapper came in response to a specific need. Durkee Spice Company came to Weatherchem asking if we might be able to develop a new plastic dispenser top with dual flaps.
The idea was not a new one. Other companies had been working on similar concepts. But their caps leaked because the flaps popped open under the slightest pressure.
Durkee's challenge, then, came to me cloaked in a mantle of adversity: how could Weatherchem solve what other companies had concluded was an insurmountable problem?
Like most adversity, this problem was my opportunity to shine if my company could find the solution. I believed the invention of a new sprinkling and pouring cap held enormous potential for the growth and well-being of Weatherchem, because so many food companies might make use of such an innovative product.
So how could we engineer a product that poured and sprinkled but didn't leak? We went down many dead-end roads and endured long months of frustration trying to figure that out. We could have given up, like so many who had tried before us.
But we didn't give up, and finally mastered the adversity by devising a cap with flaps that didn't open and close on an inside hook like everyone else's caps did. Instead, our cap's flaps opened and closed on a ridged outside perimeter that kept it from popping open and leaking.
We had our solution, but now we faced a second challenge. If we failed with our first Flapper mold we would be bankrupt. Remember, no one in the world was making such a product. While I was optimistic, I had no guarantee that, beyond Durkee, there would be interest in the device.
To go forward with the Flapper, or not? I was gambling my fledging company's future on a roll of the dice. A consensus from my Weatherchem team was not long in emerging: "Hell, let's do it!"
Later, after our initial success, we continued to spend vast sums to develop an entire family of Flapper products. The Flapper made Weatherchem a fortune. It truly changed my life.
Problem Solving Is One of the Great Joys in Life (from Chapter Nine)
Harnessing with relentless passion the infinite power of adversity has led me to stunning revelations. Before adversity struck, I was preoccupied with false impressions of personal appearance and grandiosity. Adversity beat out of me self-delusion and stripped me of false vanities. And as I began to understand my own suffering, I began to view life with new eyes.
For example, I came to see that Weatherchem, my plastic cap and closure company, was alive. It is not merely a place built of concrete, steel, machinery, and motion, but a living, breathing entity pulsating with energy and in possession of a soul. When I am in my factory and listening closely, I can hear its heartbeat, and not just in the rhythms of its machinery but individually and collectively from the people who work within its walls.
I have also come to believe that successful management is more like taking a pulse than taking inventory. After decades of leadership experience, I can now walk onto any factory floor and intuit its health from the spark, rhythm, and air of its space.
Is there the buzz of dissonance or the hum of synchronicity?
Confusion or creativity?
Chaos or vision?
Conflict or unity?
In short, is the adversity that inevitably must run through a factory like electricity, a friction or a fuel? I can always find the answers to those questions in the faces of the employees, for beyond all the mechanics of the place there is one truth: a factory is a collective human endeavor. Indeed, much of what is wrong in a good deal of current business theory and practice is its failure to recognize that the heart of any factory beats to the rhythms of its employees.
The bottom line must not be profit, because profit can only come as a fruit of the health and dreams of the human endeavor the factory represents. Management's responsibility, then, is to cultivate within the workplace an environment that lends itself to creativity, dreams, and a collective spirit larger than the sum of its paychecks and mechanical parts.
I have learned all this--as I've learned most everything else--through adversity's hard knocks. As a child, dreaming in my father's factory, I saw the camaraderie, respect, love, and energy shared by Weatherhead employees. I watched, too, as my parents poured their lives into the company. All this created the heartbeat of that factory.
Then, with the death of my father, the Weatherhead Company developed a diseased heart. Mismanagement crushed the human endeavor upon which the factory thrived, as you and I thrive on clean air, water, nourishing food, a healthy heart, and a happy soul.
Some would say the business simply failed. To me, the demise of my father's company was a death in the family. This adversity left me reeling. It took a long time for me to realize that my failure to be the heir to my father's company, prestige, and fortune was really a blessing, a gift from God to me. As adversity forced me to wrestle with ruined hopes and scorched self-images, I used the techniques I have shared with you in this book to transform as with an alchemist’s craft the dull lead of adversity into glittering success.
Adversity empowered me to realize that what was torn down, I could--and needed--to rebuild. And so I decided to start my own company. For several years I put out feelers and investigated different opportunities. False starts were the norm and numerous. Then, in May 1971, I heard about a little plastics company in Twinsburg, Ohio.
The Ankney Company had one patent, for a two-piece plastic closure, and two customers, Clevepack and R. J. Reynolds. The owner, a mechanical wizard named Bob Ankney, was being pressured by his wife to sell the company he had started twenty-five years previously. I went to see Ankney, and I was impressed by his factory.
Sure it was small, but I preferred to think of it as young--here was a toddler company that would be demanding, but was also slick as a whistle with vast potential.
I wanted to buy the place. Ankney, although hesitant, also said he was impressed with me. "You're the only person in the world I would ever sell to," he said. Curious, I asked him why. "You're a nice man, and you'd take care of the people who are here."
Ankney ultimately decided not to sell. I completely understood. Once you have given birth to a company, disengaging is as difficult as letting go of a child.
A few months later Ankney passed away. I inquired about the fate of the company. It was for sale. And so, on December 10, 1971, I became the proud owner of a promising niche plastics company described by the business community as 'just a nice, little, vest pocketsize company."
But I was already calculating what it would take for my new baby--Weatherchem--to achieve the lofty heights of my father's company.
On the factory floor, I saw opportunities everywhere. Adversity had unleashed me from all the false self-images of who I thought I was supposed to be--the princely heir to my father's throne--and so I was free to roll up my sleeves and get dirty, imagining and creating. I licked stamps, cleaned toilets, lived without a salary, and pecked out memos, sales letters, and invoices on an old Underwood manual typewriter with a sticking R.
Adversity also taught me to look for simplicity. To ask questions: Why is it done this way? Is there a better way to do it?
One of my first moves was to switch to bulk plastics. Ankney had bought his plastic in hundred-pound bags, which took up more than half of the plant's square footage. I bought two 75,000-pound silos, along with the piping to transfer the plastic to the six machines we had at the time. By loading the silos with bulk plastic, we saved pennies a pound--a huge savings.
We saved even more money by figuring out a way to color the plastic before it was molded by buying freeze dried colors and mixing them in the machines. In less than a year the silos and color-mixing apparatus were paid for, and we were in the black. We replaced the Underwood with an IBM Selectric and got a postage meter.
I could share with you hundreds of similar stories. There were many triumphs and not a few failures. But as my leadership matured and my creativity blossomed, I came to see failure not as a defeat but as learning one more way that something is not done. Such learning can be daunting, but it is the only way a business can survive and thrive.
Mechanics are the easy part. Remember, always and in all ways, a factory is a living, breathing organism. Human elements are the challenge.
At one of our first staff meetings we discussed company benefits. As we knocked around ideas to promote productivity, commitment, and creativity, the plant controller asked,
"Why bother? People are like cattle. You can herd them any way you want."
I fired him. Of the original employees, he was the only one who did not stay.
From that day forward, I made sure everyone at Weatherchem understood my lifelong fundamental conviction: everyone deserves to be loved, respected, and honored.
In all these ways, old machinery molted into new technology, and where others saw the drag of employee overhead, I imagined a profit-sharing plan.
A look at investing in the 21st century from Howard J. Ruff. An excerpt on where Ruff thinks our economy is going and what will be valuable. How to Prosper in the Coming Bad Years in the 21st Century is the updated version of a title of the same name which is said to be the bestselling financial book in history.
EXCERPT
America is racing toward its greatest test since the Civil War--the rising price of oil and gas from unstable and often hostile sources, and a monetary inflationary spiral leading to a depression that will be remembered with a shudder for generations, and whoever is elected president of the United States in 2008 and presides over the collapse will be "the Hoover of the 2000's," and the opposing party will win against his party for the next fifty years. There's a better-than-even chance that we will be well into it even before the next election, in which case the next president will be elected president of the Titanic. And if he or she should escape it, it will get his or her successor for sure.
No one knows exactly where the breaking point is, but it's coming. As you read this edition of this book, America is truly on the brink, and so is the rest of the world, because when America sneezes the rest of the world gets pneumonia.
So what is likely in your future? A grisly list of unpleasant events--exploding inflation, probable price controls, shrinking of the purchasing power of your savings (possibly to nothing), soaring gas and oil prices, imploding home equities, a collapse of private as well as government pension programs (including Social Security), vastly more government regulation to control your life, the disintegration of the basic foundation of society--the traditional family--and eventually an international monetary holocaust that will sweep all paper currencies (especially the dollar) down the drain and turn the world upside down. Paper fortunes based on lending will implode, and a new kind of investment and financial planning morality will put some very unlikely people on the top of the heap. And you can join them there, if you know what to do before the heap turns over.
You don't have to be a genius if you can identify the basic trends and make some very simple decisions with your assets. You might be too early, but that's okay. Do it now, and wait. You'll be vindicated. And I'd rather be a year or two too early than a week or two too late.
Here is the most likely scenario:
In the next recession (residential real-estate is collapsing as I write), which will happen sometime after the publication of this book, deflation, recession, and unemployment will threaten the public welfare. Washington will react in its usual panic fashion to attack the problem by cranking up the spending machine to "stimulate" the Economy--"a bit of the hair of the dog that bit us." Job programs, matching funds, universal health care, guarantees, subsidies, loans, and social spending programs will be triggered by events, such as the need to replenish the state unemployment funds (most state unemployment funds will be broke even before the recession starts) and underfunded private pensions, and keeping major businesses from going bankrupt, to say nothing of banks, and bailing out broke cities and states. This will create a flood of newly created dollars, which is the engine of inflation. You will see a gradual accelerating inflationary spiral, probably followed by another government panic move--price controls.
Price controls will fail to stem the inflationary tide; they always do. These distortions in the economy, and the flood of dollars coming from "the printing press," to cover more than $50 trillion of unfunded liabilities, will cause Americans to distrust their own paper money and start to get rid of it as fast as they can in an orgy of spending, similar to what happened in Argentina when their inflation was running at 800% a year and Argentineans were buying everything in sight as inflation hedges.
Sooner or later, the American dollar will no longer be a dependable means of exchange (it is already no longer a store of value), creating chaos in the marketplace. In the final stages, the government will probably make one or two abortive attempts to issue a new currency by "fiat" (official order), and this "fiat" currency will be rejected because of lack of trust. All currencies depend on confidence. After all else fails, the government will finally be driven by desperation to reestablish a gold-backed currency, but because it has already sold much of its gold hoard, gold will have to be revalued upward to a price adequate to back the new money--perhaps thousands of dollars per ounce (the international free market will have already done that). This will be the only way to establish a means of exchange and a store of value that people can trust.
A tiny minority who have no need for a means of exchange during this chaotic period (who have already bought several months' supply of all the things they will need, such as food, clothing, candles, medicine, toilet paper, batteries, diapers, soap, automobile parts, etc.; see chapter 7) will get along fine. Those who have no acceptable means of exchange or store of value, and no advance storage program, will suffer. But eventually (we hope) order will be reestablished, and painfully the nation will climb back out of its pit, hopefully chastened and prepared to avoid the mistakes of the past 50 to 100 years, but "net-lenders" will have been wiped out and paper fortunes will have disappeared.
If you're still with me after this rather scary prognosis, I will tell you: 1) how we came to this brink; 2) why this is the most likely scenario; and 3) what you can do to get through it, and even get wealthy. I will unfold the plan piece by piece in part III, after I've depressed you in part I. Then I'll summarize it for you in the last chapter.
This is no "bail-out-of-civilization-and-head-for-a-retreat-in-the-
Rockies-with-a-machine-gun-turret-on-the-roof" plan. And this program is not just for the rich. There are obviously some things that you can't do if you don't have enough money, but the basics will substantially raise your odds on personal and financial survival and can be implemented by nearly every middle-class family.
So the program is simple in concept:
- Identify the trends, the pitfalls, and the opportunities in advance.
- Survive the ensuing difficulties in good health.
- Make the right moves ahead of time that will preserve or enhance your purchasing power, and that's not as hard as it may seem. I will give you a total strategy, a plan that should get you through to the other side in enhanced financial condition.
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Excerpted from How to Prosper in the Coming Bad Years in the 21st Century by Howard J. Ruff, published by Berkley Trade in 2008.
The excerpt below is the first chapter--or "week" as the chapters are called--from the new book, Job Spa: 12 Weeks to Refresh, Refocus, and Recommit to Your Career. They call their chapters "weeks" because the suggest you read a chapter a week, applying the lessons from each chapter as you go along. Or, as they put it:
"What follows is a twelve-week guide to build professional skills, get refreshed, and explore new paths. Read one chapter per week. Each week has a theme. There will be specific goals to accomplish, skills to practice, and questions to ponder."You may remember the Sindells from their previous book, Sink or Swim. If you've been following what we do for awhile now, you may even remember them guest-posting on our daily blog in May and June of 2006 when that book was released. If you liked that book as much as we did, you'll love their sophomore effort as well.
"Hi, my name is Charlie. I have been with my current employer for almost four years. During this time I have changed jobs a couple of times, and luckily these changes have worked out. The first change was the result of a new company initiative that my manager led. The second change was the result of a reorganization of the company. That was a pretty nerve-racking time. We knew changes were going to take place, including layoffs. The whole department went into this strange mood. Luckily when the dust finally settled I still had a job--albeit a different one.
"If someone asked me how I see myself and my career, the word that pops up is 'passive.' I do my job--it's fine, but that's it. At the same time I find myself bored. I want to be excited. I want to be interested in my job. I don't think my company gets that I have a lot to offer. Admittedly, I haven't taken extra initiative either because I am still not clear on what is in it for me."
Welcome to Week One!
Job Spa is your opportunity to review, refresh, and get focused on what you want and need to do in order to triumph at work. Over the next twelve weeks, give yourself an opportunity that few people allow themselves. Focus on yourself and your success at work. The great thing about Job Spa is that your spa experience takes place on the job as part of your job.
Why take a Job Spa? Let's think about the stats. You spend eight hours a day at work (if not more). That means you spend at least a third of your adult lifetime working. That's a significant amount of time. Why not make the most of it? Starting in
the 1950s, research and variations of this initial research on the meaning of work posed the question: "Would you stop working if you won the lottery or inherited a substantial amount of money?" Over the course of time and even during shifts of social influences, more than 70 percent of people still state that they would continue working (R. Snir and I. Harpaz. "To Work or Not to Work: Non-Financial Employment Commitment and the Social Desirability Bias," Journal of Social Psychology, 2002, pp. 635-644). Surprisingly, according to a 2004 Gallup poll, more than 70 percent of people are disengaged from their job. This disconnect between data underlies the tension that most of us have between the desire to draw fulfillment from our jobs and the challenges to achieving that fulfillment.
Despite the significance that our jobs play in our lives, most people spend their professional lives meandering from job to job, experience one or multiple careers, and, if they are lucky, end up someplace they want to be. The rewards are too great and the consequences too dire to leave professional fulfillment to luck. Moving from luck to taking action requires choosing to commit to your success. Committing to your success will help you get re-energized about existing work and help you see the potential in yet-to-be identified opportunities. This is your chance to significantly change how you perceive your job and future.
How to Use This Book
Job Spa follows a week-by-week process for taking the right actions, developing skills, and getting what you want from your job. The skills that you will focus on deploying are universal to professional success. You may believe you already know and do these skills. Whether you are new to your career or a veteran, we challenge you to further improve your skills. Let's be honest, you may know these skills, but do you do them, do them well, and do them consistently?
Read one chapter each week, and practice and apply what you are learning on the job as part of your job. At the end of each section are Job Spa Bonus Challenges to help you apply what you are reading.
Friendly word of advice: If you are not ready to commit to your success, then you will need to reschedule your Job Spa. Like any important decision, getting the most from your Job Spa requires making the commitment and sticking to it. Are you are ready at this time to commit to your success? This commitment will be the foundation for your perspective, attitude, and behaviors over the next twelve weeks. Job Spa will support and guide you to practice new skills and behaviors that will take you on the path to professional renewal.
It's time to start your Job Spa treatment. When you go to a spa, get a professional massage, or enjoy any pampering experience, your objective is very clear: taking care of yourself. Job Spa is no different. You are here to take care of Number One. The first step is to commit to your success by getting what you want and deserve from your work, company, and career. Remember those three workplace myths mentioned in the introduction?
Myth 1: My boss/manager is my mommy or daddy and will take care of me.
Myth 2: My hard work will always get recognized and rewarded.
Myth 3: Company loyalty equals job security.
Popping these myths and getting real about your success is the essence of what Job Spa is all about--you! This goal section provides an overview of the most important objective of your Job Spa treatment.
Jump In
The first step is to make the choice and set the goal to get engaged with your job. Here's our challenge to you: For the next twelve weeks, test out a new perspective. This might be easy or 
challenging, depending on your work environment, history, or outlook. Whatever the case, in order to make the most of your Job Spa, you will need to let go of what might be holding you back and take on a new angle. This is your time and opportunity for change. To make the most of this opportunity, you will need to be completely present, open-minded, and focused on your success. Engagement means you will walk down the corporate hallways with the following attitude: “I am 100 percent committed to my success. When you make this attitude shift, you start to see your work differently and the opportunities within it. You are intentionally crossing a threshold by making this commitment. Here's what this means:
Assess your attitude in these areas. In what ways does your attitude need to shift in order to commit to your success? No more looking back. Starting from this point, you are the role model for 100 Percent Commitment to your success.
Attitude is Not Everything
The right attitude is the foundation for the right behaviors. Now that your old attitude has been exfoliated revealing a fresh commitment, let's make sure your behaviors reinforce your new glow. Over the next twelve weeks, try the following set of behaviors on for size:
Giving 100 percent to your job means that you are committed to giving as much as you can to your job. The behaviors that embody giving 100 percent can take many forms: making your current projects an even bigger success, taking extra initiative, reaching out to coworkers, looking for opportunities to improve your performance, or initiating new projects. Discover what giving 100 percent means to you.
Taking 100 percent from your job requires that you are clear on what you need in return for what you give. Beyond a paycheck and benefits, define what you need in return for your hard work. This might include building skills, establishing greater work/life balance, or perhaps a promotion. What kinds of projects would you like to work on? What kind of relationships do you want to have with coworkers? What opportunities would be fun and stimulating if you were to partner with another function in your company? Do you need more flexible work hours? Discover what taking 100 percent means to you.
Listed in the following chart are examples of giving and taking from your job. Consider how much you currently give and what you currently take. Determine what you need to do to create equity.
Your 100 Percent Commitment will help you focus and get more satisfaction from your job. Your 100 Percent Commitment also means that you learn as much as you can, build your resume with experiences, and look for opportunities that promote your success and achieve your goals.
There may be days ahead when your commitment to your success and your undying positive energy are not at the forefront of your mind. Reference the chart, and make note of the behaviors you want to demonstrate over the next twelve weeks--specifically, what you want to give and take. Write down your goals to keep focused. This is the first step to making your goals a reality. The experience of writing a goal down brings your words into physical form. By seeing your words, you cement your commitment.
Let's take it one step further. Write it down and post it in several different places. At home, post your message on your bedroom mirror. At work, write a cryptic note to yourself or draw an icon (so the whole world doesn't have to know what you are doing) and put it on your computer monitor and/or on your notebook. These will be visual reminders of your 100 Percent Commitment to your success. These reminders will also keep you focused on those days when you don't feel so hot.
Professional Legacy
Coinciding with your 100 Percent Commitment, it is helpful to consider the big picture: What is the professional legacy you want to build? A professional legacy is the combination of intentional impact that you want to create in each of your jobs and the experience you want to take with you. Your professional legacy can take many forms such as the creation of a new program, mentoring or teaching others, or finding and implementing a better way of doing something.
Understanding the professional legacy you want to create will help strengthen your commitment and clarify your Job Spa goals. Knowing the legacy that you want to create in your company provides focus and motivation. Your work has a fundamentally deeper meaning because you are clear on how it relates to what you want to create. Define and create your professional legacy to reflect what is unique about who you are, what you know, what you want to be known for, and how you want to be remembered.
Write down your 100 Percent Commitment Equation for what you want to give and what you want to take.
Gleaning as much as you can from your Job Spa requires that you take a closer look at how you currently exercise your time skills. Most important, the next twelve weeks will require that you make time for your success. Clear the distractions and make way for the new you.
Time Is on Your Side
Your Job Spa program requires focus. Effectively manage your time so you can focus. In order to support your 100 Percent Commitment, take an inventory of your at-work and outside-work activities. Boot those that no longer support your trajectory. While success starts with the right attitude, it can be easily thwarted when there are too many distractions. Purge excess distractions or put them aside while you are going through your Job Spa.
We only have so much time and capacity. In your time away from work, consider spending less time watching homemade stunt videos on the Web, searching obscure blogs on lint collection techniques, and even ending the psychology experiment called "being friends with your ex." Take care of yourself. Get enough sleep. Maintain that exercise regime. Eat foods that will give you nourishment and energy.
Give yourself every opportunity to stay focused in the next twelve weeks on your career success. Or not. You may find yourself destitute on a dirty, windswept street corner scratching your unwashed scalp and wishing you had taken that Job Spa book more seriously. Do you really want to risk it? We didn't think so.
On the job, identify activities that waste your time (aside from all those staff and project meetings that keep showing up on your calendar) and actions that can maximize your time. You're probably thinking, "But it's all a waste of time." Now, now, we've all been there before: contemplating the meaning of fingernails as John and Sharon from accounting regale you with their Sarbanes-Oxley compliance triumphs on a three-hour conference call. Think about how much time you can maximize by taking the initiative to create meeting agendas, sticking to the agenda and time frame, prioritizing what work needs to get done immediately, and staying focused.
Beginning in this first week, create and maintain a strict calendar and task list. If you already do this, fantastic! Prioritize your existing work and manage your calendar with the discipline of a nun. Seriously, you will want to make sure that you are making time to not only read this book but also work through the various activities that go along with achieving Job Spa success. The things you will be doing as part of your Job Spa experience should already be part of your job. Only now, you are doing these things because they have more significance. They directly support your 100 Percent Commitment.
Name the one thing that you will do to create more time for your Job Spa success.
As mentioned, half of the commitment you will make as part of your Job Spa is defining what you want to contribute to your job. Committing to your success requires more than good intentions. It requires understanding the skills, knowledge, perspectives, and experiences you contribute to your team and company. In order to give 100 percent to your job, you must know what you are capable of giving.
Me, Me, Me
It's all about you! However, your coworkers seem to miss this very important point. Do they know what you can and do contribute? If they don't (because you are not one to boast), here's your opportunity to get clear on why you are amazing.
The first step to making your contribution is defining your knowledge, skills, and perspective. Think of your knowledge as your set of corporate fingerprints. No matter your age, education, or years in your profession, you have a combination of knowledge and perspective that is unique. Most of us take for granted the plethora of information that resides in our heads. It is easy to be unaware of what you know. It is time to look at what is really going on in that great big brain of yours. Start by reviewing the following five questions:
1. Skills: What am I good at?
2. Knowledge: What do I know (education, training, experience, etc.)?
3. Resource: When and why do people come to me for information?
4. Perspective: What makes my perspective unique from others?
5. Personality: What are my unique personality traits that differentiate me (amiable, responsible, small ego, etc.)?
Ask yourself these questions, and let them marinate for a while. Some answers may come quickly, and others will take more time. Even if you are relatively new to your profession, you still have a unique perspective that sets you apart from everyone else. Understand the knowledge and skills you have to effectively give and take 100 percent.
Create a personal knowledge list based on the five questions.
Team player ... so you've heard the term a million times. It might even be posted on the conference room walls, put in your evaluation, or even on your security access badge. It's often talked about and rarely witnessed. The elusive team player is a difficult species to track. Every corporate handbook talks about how important it is to be a team player. In reality the team player ethos rarely manifests itself in a consistent manner. Luckily with the help of your Job Spa, you are going to change all that. You are going to become a world-class team player.
Before you roll your eyes and begin to feel woozy, consider the following: Being a team player is a perfect expression of your 100 Percent Commitment: to give as much as you can and take as much as you can. Being a team player is actually quite easy; just think collaboration, make group or project objectives a priority, and look for ways to help your coworkers. Don't worry, there is no need to carry a set of pom-poms and recite the company cheer at the start of every meeting. Being a team player is quite simply an attitude and set of behaviors that make collaboration a reality.
Your team player attitude also forms the basis for whether someone wants to work with you. The laws of reciprocity state that if you are not a team player, you will not likely encounter other team players. You can't make the most of your job by being a pariah. Wouldn't it be great if your reputation as a team player spread throughout the company? Imagine being so popular and in demand that you could cherry-pick your projects.
Team Player Skills in Action
Let's say at your next staff meeting big Bob gives a project status report. You observe that Bob is missing some data that you just so happen to have. Which one of the following do you do?
1. Lean back, smile to yourself, and think, "How could Bob miss such obvious information?" (Tempting, but not team player-esque.)
2. Ask Bob a question that highlights the fact that he missed this data. (Sure, if you wanted to practice your grilling techniques and watch big Bob sweat.)
3. Let Bob know that you think you have some information that can help his project. (Yes, put aside your sadistic musings and throw Bob a bone. You'll feel happy, he'll appreciate your help, and your coworkers will think you're not such a jerk after all.)
If you picked number 3, you are well on your way!
There are two main components of being a team player: collaboration and coaching. Collaboration entails working well with others, understanding shared needs and objectives, and working to ensure that everyone succeeds. Coaching involves helping others by providing your specific knowledge, insight, or expertise.
Later chapters present more information and instructions on how and when to practice these skills. In the meantime, notice where there are opportunities to step up. If you're not willing to contribute and lend a helping hand, you are not committed to your own success. Remember the laws of reciprocity, if your team succeeds, you succeed.
Identify your favorite team experience and what you learned.
Welcome to your first visit to your Image Salon. Before deciding between aromatherapy, shiatsu, or psychotically deep-tissue massage from Olga the weightlifter, you will probably consider the location and level of your aches and pains. Similarly, start your Job Spa by diagnosing specific areas of professional aches and pains. Effective diagnosis involves gathering observations from your manager and a few trusted coworkers.
Reality: It's Not Just for Breakfast Anymore
Let's end this ongoing debate about reality versus perception once and for all. It doesn't matter if it's just someone else's perception. For that person, that perception is their reality. To support the shifts you want to make as part of your Job Spa, ask, "How do others really experience me?" As part of committing to your success, we asked you to gauge your own perception of how you give and take 100 percent. Now it's time to compare your perception with those of others.
To ensure you are on the right track to success, it is important to determine how much of your perception is aligned with that of your manager and coworkers. It's easy to go through the motions of work without realizing how others perceive you. You will not be able to make the most of your workplace if your perception is out of whack. Professional fulfillment will be elusive if you think you have expert communication skills, get your work done early, and deliver quality results, when others think that you don't communicate clearly, hand in your work late, and leave out important details in your projects and assignments. As you set your sights on success, confirm with others that your self-perception matches theirs. The best way to ascertain this information is to ask for feedback.
Let Me Give You Some Feedback
Like a dunk into the cold pool after sitting in a steamy sauna, feedback can be quite a rush. No matter how you feel about receiving and giving feedback, this information is critical to your development and long-term success. Feedback is also imperative to starting and making the most of your Job Spa experience.
Keep in mind that asking for feedback does not need to be like formal psychological analysis. You are not asking for information from your coworkers on why they think your mom stopped mashing your carrots when you were three years old or what they think of your moth collection. Your objective is to shine the light on your workplace reality and identify the opportunities to align how you want to be perceived with how others perceive you. Keep it professional, workplace focused, and constructive.
Who and What to Ask
Center your query on two key audiences: Your boss and two or three trusted colleagues. Focus your inquiry on the following areas: your 100 Percent Commitment and your Job Spa skills. Gather your feedback either in person or over the phone. You will want the opportunity to ask for clarification or explore additional questions. Use these questions to start your conversation or create your own:
100 PERCENT COMMITMENT QUESITONS:
1. Attitude: What is your experience of my attitude at work?
2. Give: How am I currently contributing to the team and company? How do you think I can contribute more to the team or company?
3. Take: Am I making the most of the opportunities around me? Is there anything I should speak up and ask for that I have not articulated?
JOB SPA SKILL QUESTIONS:
1. Goals: Do I set effective and realistic goals?
2. Time: Do I deliver my projects on time? Effectively manage my time?
3. Knowledge: Do I effectively contribute what I know? Am I open to learning?
4. Team Player: Do others like to collaborate with me? Am I helpful to others?
5. Image: What is my reputation in the department? Do I effectively communicate? Am I seen as professional?
Ask these questions, and get straight answers. This information is critical to building a foundation for your success in the land of reality. If people ask why you are gathering this information, let them know you are starting a book called Job Spa that is helping you get professionally refreshed. Gathering their input is part of the beginning steps.
Feedback from Your Manager
Aside from the fact that your manager is your world-of-work higher power, he or she has probably been watching you. Your manager can provide beneficial insight on your performance and what you can do to improve your game. Even if your manager has not been amazingly attentive, she still holds the keys to your success come review time. Asking your manager for feedback communicates that you take your job and career seriously.
Getting feedback does not have to be a big scary process. Your standing meeting with your manager is the perfect setting in which to gather this information. If you don't have regularly scheduled meetings, set up some time for the conversation. This meeting is important to start your Job Spa off on the right foot. Make it a priority. Keep the conversation as informal as needed. This is not your annual review conversation. You can simply say that you have been thinking about your job and you are interested in making sure that you are doing everything that you can to be successful in your role. Or you can say you started reading a book called Job Spa that is helping strengthen your professional skills. "This is my first week in the book, so I'd like to make sure that I am meeting your expectations and that I understand any opportunities to improve" (or something to that effect).
We can hear you thinking, "What if my boss is vague and tells me I'm doing fine?" While it's better to hear that you are doing "fine" versus "not good," it does not necessarily help you to determine your strengths or opportunities for development. If you are unclear on what doing "fine" entails, probe a little bit more and ask what exactly she thinks is going well. What skills do you contribute to the group, and where can you utilize those skills on other projects down the road? In addition, ask if there is anything she recommends you do differently. Don't push it if she comes back with another vague answer. If you press too much, you may start to look insecure. Ask the question once, and see what you get.
Use the feedback your manager provides to confirm what you do well and identify opportunities for further development. In future, ask for feedback regularly. At first, you may feel a little funny and a bit vulnerable asking someone to comment on how she or he thinks you are doing. After a few times, it will feel like a normal part of your job. Don't be a mushroom, live in darkness, and hope that what you think matches up with reality. Confirm your hopes by shining some light on your assumptions, and get yourself some well-deserved feedback. Record the highlights (strengths and areas for development) of what you hear. Keep these items on your radar screen as you work through your Job Spa.
Feedback from Your Teammates
Your teammates are a great source of information. Identify a few individuals with whom you are comfortable. Schedule a few minutes with them to review your feedback questions. Let them know you are working through this Job Spa book, and their feedback is really important to you.
Don't be surprised if the feedback you get back is more general than your manager's feedback. This may include, "You’re doing great," or "Everyone seems to like you." Follow up with clarifying questions or get some examples. For instance, a follow up to "you’re doing great" would be, "Is there something specific in what I'm doing that's great? I want to make sure to keep doing that." Similarly, a response to "I guess things are okay for the most part" would be, "What things could be better so that things are consistently okay or even great?"
If You Really Must Know ...
The most important thing about asking for feedback from teammates is to ensure that there isn't some glaring behavior that you are missing that is annoying people to death. Although it might be a challenge to hear how your habit of scratching your head is making the team absolutely crazy (and it turns out that your nickname is "itchy"), it is more important to live in reality. Conclude by thanking the person for giving you feedback. Feedback can be tough to provide but imagine the sense of relief you’ll feel when you know you're doing something well or know how to be more effective.
How to Ask
When requesting feedback, keep in mind these three rules:
1. Ask about a specific event or behavior. For example, "Bruce, how do you think I am doing regarding meeting our project deadlines? Are there any improvements or changes that I could make to be more effective?"
2. Do not argue with the person giving feedback. Instead, ask for specific examples of behaviors you displayed, others' reactions, as well as recommendations for what you can do differently in the future. For example, "I really appreciate your feedback Bruce. I want to make sure that I understand the specific things that I can change. Will you give me an example of how I could have done a better job of setting expectations for completing my work?"
3. Say thank-you. Giving feedback is not easy for others. It can be perceived as risky for those who are concerned about upsetting you or sparking retaliation.
Since we're discussing the rules for asking for feedback, here are things to keep in mind if and when you are asked for feedback:
1. Get permission: Make sure you have permission to share. If you are taking the initiative to provide feedback without being prompted, asking permission is important to determine if this is a good time to share your observations. This puts the other person in control of the discussion and reduces defensiveness. For example, "I've been noticing something I want to share ..." When there’s explicit agreement to provide feedback, you will increase the person's ability to listen and learn from your feedback.
2. Make your motives clear: Be clear about why you are giving feedback. Do not push your own agenda. Be explicit that you are giving feedback based on good intent. Adopt a caring attitude. Your language and words will follow. For example, "I'm sharing this because I think it will be helpful ..."
3. Be specific: Describe the person's behavior, actions, and words precisely and accurately. Compare these comments: "Jane, you clearly don't like how I run our meetings. You don't make any suggestions at all. You are always distracted and not engaged.” It's easy to see how this statement (while possibly true) would make Jane defensive and angry. Instead, be more specific: "Jane, I noticed in the meeting that you offered one comment and on a few occasions checked your e-mail. I'm wondering if everything's okay." This is a more accurate statement about someone's behavior. The statement in no way judges Jane but simply describes your observations and asks her for her insights instead of drawing a conclusion about her intent.
4. Be timely: The closer the feedback occurs to the actual event, the easier it will be for people to remember what they did and adjust their behavior in the future.
5. Regularity: Establish a track record of providing feedback. This gives you more credibility when the going gets really tough and you have to deliver feedback that's not easy on the ears or ego.
Energy in Motion
Is it enough to just collect information from your manager and coworkers? Of course not! Getting the information is only the first step. It's time to review and act upon what you have learned.
As part of your commitment to your success, challenge yourself to take what you hear and set a goal of improving two to three things. Seriously consider any information you received regarding people's perception of your attitude toward work, the company, and the team. Demonstrate to the people around you that you are serious about your Job Spa success.
In addition to your manager, name two to three coworkers from whom you will ask for feedback.
Put It All Together
Wow! What an amazing first week with Job Spa. This was intensely rejuvenating and even a cleansing experience. You are off to a great start! You got clear on what it means to be committed to your success, and darn it, you are committed! Now it is time to put ideas into action. The best way to learn is by doing. Go through your week with your newfound attitude. See how your work world looks different through your new commitment lens. Reconnect with coworkers. This is your opportunity to practice your feedback skills. Get valuable information from coworkers about what you bring to the table and what you can do to be even more effective on the job.
Here is your calendar for the week. Plug in what you need to do to get rejuvenated and committed to your success!
Before you get ready for a well-deserved weekend, think back on this week. What went well? What did you learn? What do you want to work on or accomplish next week?
Congratulations on completing your first Job Spa week!
Take yourself to lunch at your favorite spot.
