Does this complaint sound familiar? So often we have employees who lose engagement, or worse yet, we find ourselves losing focus and drifting from being engaged.

What’s going on? Why is this happening?

I think this situation is primarily a case of not understanding the “Engagement Style” or more deeply, the Personality, of the person you’re working with. I get this question a lot, and let’s face it – it would be so much easier to do life if everyone could just do it the right way…you know, MY way!

So let’s do a quick overview of how to make sure you are creating the best Engagement Culture for yourself and your employees. We’ll cover it Engagement Style by Engagement Style…

Sunshine Sally stays engaged when the project is fun and I mean fun for her. Filing isn’t fun for her. Her emotional tank is full when she has lots of approval and acceptance and attention. Getting stuck in the back of the office fills NONE of those needs, and that’s why she’s always running to the front. Mary must find a way to get Sally back in the job she was hired for (and was very good at) working with people and talking while doing her other work. Making sure Sally is having fun and engaging with people will ensure she stays engaged. Oh, and I’ll bet her tardies and absences will drop off too.

Perfect Paul’s emotional tank is a little different. He will stop being engaged when he is missing details and doesn’t have enough time to do his work. He wants to make sure he understands the scope of the project along with receiving all the needed details…and he need LOTS of details! That’s because when he does his job, he wants to do it perfectly. And that’s a good thing. So make sure you are giving him lots of details as well as the time needed to accomplish the task.

Action Annie (Mary in our story above) has a deep need for control. She becomes disengaged when she feels powerless. The situation with Sally was driving her crazy because Sally was totally out of her control. Annie likes to be in control because she likes to get things done and she always (almost always) sees the best way to accomplish the work in the least amount of time. She wants her employees to be loyal and hardworking and her bosses to acknowledge the amount of work she does to achieve all that she achieves. Make sure, if you have Annie for an employee, you are acknowledging her efforts and you are providing her lots of opportunity to control the situation.

Peaceful Pete is the balm to every office. Not only does he bring the peace, but he needs the environment to be peaceful as well. He will use procrastination and disengagement if he is stuck in the middle of a tense or conflicted environment. The other day my son Graham, (with a big Peaceful Pete part of his personality) was listening as my daughter (Action Annie) and I were bickering about something. The discussion (ahem) started in the car and carried on as we came into the house. My little Graham took stock of the situation and immediately diffused the conflict with a well spoken “Girls, Girls, Girls!”…Amelia and I both broke down into giggles and remembered how much our own Peaceful Pete hates conflict. So make sure Pete has plenty of calm, a lack of conflict and that you take time to listen to him, and then he will be less likely to procrastinate and will feel motivated to stay engaged.

The happy ending to our story is that Mary moved Sally back into her receptionist position, she moved some of her other employees around to work on the filing and productivity (and full engagement) was restored in the office. Sometimes, all you need is to take a good look at the Engagement Style of you and your team to be able to Live Fully Engaged.

How about you? What engagement style is most difficult for you to deal with?

The post How to Increase Engagement Like Magic! appeared first on Christy Largent.

And I’m so excited to share the result with you today.  I think Chris West and Video Narrative did a really great job! Hopefully, you’ll like it too.  Let me know what you think!

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This morning was a rough morning. I woke up feeling crummy thanks to a late night yielding to temptation. The temptation of ice cream. Unfortunately, it was in the freezer. And I ate it. All.

I paid for it this morning.  Headache. Bad attitude. Short temper.

And have I mentioned that my daughter is in 7th grade? She’s a Jr. Higher. Yup. You know what that means. Hormonal. Headache. Bad attitude. Short temper.

And have I mentioned that my son is in 4th grade and is the favorite recipient of above mentioned big sister’s bad attitude and short temper? Yup. You’ve got it.

And have I mentioned that my dear, sweet husband leaves quite early in the morning. He used head out about 7:30 and was able to help get them off to school. But lately I’ve noticed he’s leaving earlier and earlier. This morning it was well before 7:00am… I wonder why? Hmmm…

Which brings me to my topic of the day.

How to say you’re sorry.

Because I wasn’t at my best this morning and I know Mamas set the tone for the day, and Amelia wasn’t a pretty sight. crying as she headed into school and I wasn’t a pretty sight sitting miserable in the car watching her walk away.

I wanted a do-over on the whole morning.

But, of course, there’s no such thing as a do-over. The morning is gone never to be lived again.

But the good news is that there is such a thing as asking for forgiveness. I get to tell my sweet girl and boy, “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry I was so short tempered. I’m sorry I didn’t give you what you needed. I’m sorry I gave into my own issues rather than rising up and loving you through yours. I’m sorry. I was wrong. I’ll try to do better next time. Please forgive me.”

And if all goes well, (this is not the first time they have heard this particular drill,) they will accept my apology as we discuss it, and they will forgive me and we can all run out and jump in the pool and order pizza and family harmony will be restored. At least that’s how it usually turns out if I actually do ask for forgiveness and not just sweep it under the rug to fester and boil.

It’s a 4-Step Process…

1. I’m sorry I…… (Fill in the blank.)
2. I was wrong. (Do not insert a justification here – just say the basic sentence.)
3. I’ll try to do better next time. (This shows you are working towards being a better person.)
4. Please forgive me.

My story from home is equally valid for you at work you know.  That co-worker who asked you to do a favor and you snapped her head off. That boss who you subtly undermined as you casually discussed office politics in the lunch room. That client you told you would do something – only you didn’t.

There are lots of opportunities in our life when we experience brokenness in relationships. Living in the Opportunity Mindset means we don’t ignore the yuk. We see it for what it really is. An opportunity to restore and even deepen a relationship rather than driving separation.

So I hope you will take the opportunity, when needed, to go ahead and say you’re sorry. Then take it a step further and ask for forgiveness. Then don’t do it again.

Now, I’ve got to go and meet the bus…I’ve got a little conversation I’m looking forward to.

Love ya,

Christy

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Are you ever frustrated by lack of progress personally or professionally?  If so, then you’re going to love this video!

What is the Opportunity Mindset?  My definition is

“When you choose to live in your Opportunities rather than letting the obstacles of life stop you from living the life you really want.”

I find that there are 3 main obstacles that people let stop them from living in the Opportunity Mindset:

1.  LACK — The “Not Enough” syndrome at work.  A “not enough” mentality will stop you every time.  Your perception that you have not enough time, money, authority, focus, or worst of all, thinking that YOU are not enough.  Living with this mentality will sabotage efforts to move forward.
2. FEAR — So many of us are stopped by fear before we even start!  The most common fears I hear of are fear of failure, fear of looking stupid, (especially in this instantly on social media day and age), fear of other people’s opinions, fear of change and even fear of success. Can you imagine the magic that would happen in your life if you just let go of fear and stepped out as though you were the bravest person ever?  Whenever we see great things happen, it’s because the person moved through the fear into action.
3. OURSELVES — That’s right. Many of us are our own worst enemy.  We let ourselves block ourselves.  It could be our personality, our habits, our friends, our circumstances…all these can be used to stop progress.

So what should we do?  I suggest we pick one area and start working on it. For me, that’s in the area of focus. That’s what I’m working on right now.

Here’s a resource on focus I’ve found super helpful.  It’s called Deep Work, by Cal Newport.  Cal is a researcher and expert on productivity…coming from the field of Math! Can you believe it?  I love his suggestions for carving out time to really focus and get targeted with your work time.  I’ll give more suggestions for implementing Cal’s suggestions in the next few weeks.

Hope you enjoyed my first ever Facebook video! More will be coming in the weeks to come.  Until then…connect with me and let me know how YOU get deep. How do you stay focused? I’d love your ideas and suggestions!

xo

Christy

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