OG Tuesday Issue #119

Start your morning with this affirmation:

Today’s checklist: Get better at people, beat your case of comparisonitis, build rapport with anyone, and break up your bottlenecks.

Skip the post-holiday diet and set a small, realistic goal of drinking more water. Here are 3 good reasons why.

 

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Signing up for free won’t just help you become more productive, you’ll also be supporting The Assist 😊.

You’ve probably heard about people analytics, the practice of leveraging empirical behavioral evidence to make decisions that affect employees’ lives.

But how do you actually use it to improve your work and your relationships?

Follow in the example of the Ford Motor Company and remember 3 easy steps:

Ask 

What it looks like: 

• Initiating honest conversations
• Hosting focus groups
• Fielding polls and surveys
• Conducting interviews

Listen 

What it looks like: 

• Observing and reflecting on what people post on social media
• Listening radically when people speak during a variety of circumstances

Observe 

What it looks like: 

• Embracing the old principle that actions speak louder than words and quietly observing what people are communicating through their actions.

Here is a handy checklist to plan and accomplish a successful 2023 with retention in mind!

If you check these boxes off the list, it’s a good sign you’re taking care of your people, which will also reduce turnover, boost productivity, and lead to stronger business outcomes as a result.

Inside, you’ll find:

Do you suffer from chronic or even just occasional comparisonitis, the tendency to judge your self worth in relation to the accomplishments of others?

While it’s generally natural to compare, doing it constantly, and in ways that damage your own self esteem, is, to understate: not healthy.

Nick Keomahavong, a Buddhist Monk, has some healing tips for you.

Here’s a quick take: 

“See the good in others and integrate it”  

Instead of ruminating on what you perceive to be your shortcomings, consider what you admire in the other person and what you might be able to learn from them.

“Anumotanaboon or “rejoice in your merits”

Observe and celebrate your positive traits and actions to gradually train your brain to see more positives than negatives.

“Spread loving kindness” 

Fill your mind with a light of loving energy and compassion. Start by directing it at yourself until you develop the skills to direct it outwards, even to those you may be envious of.

“Talk to them and ask them how” 

Redirect your energy from comparing yourself to others to seeking to understand the qualities and accomplishments you admire in the other person.

“Everyone experiences suffering” 

“Comparison goggles” may create an illusion that the person you’re comparing yourself to is perfect and perfectly happy. Acknowledging the other person’s humanity will illuminate the flaw in that line of thinking.

Drumroll please!

Slow down your talking speed.

Yes, that’s it.

This recommendation comes by way of the former head of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program, Robin Dreeke, and his book It’s Not All About “Me”: The Top Ten Techniques for Building Quick Rapport with Anyone. Slow speech conveys a sense of confidence and credibility that listeners just tend to trust and even like.

Easy enough, right?

In The Bottleneck Rules: How To Get More Done at Work, Without Working Harder, Clarke Ching outlines a formula — steps for dealing with bottlenecks. The steps create an acronym: FOCCCUS.

F – Find – Identify the source of the bottleneck.

O – Optimize – Alter controllable aspects of the process before and after the bottleneck.

C – Coordinate – Alter controllable aspects of processes that are subsequent, preceding, or adjacent to the bottlenecked process.  

C – Collaborate – Seek the assistance of those who work closely to or with the bottleneck. (Example: Reaching out to a bottlenecker’s team if you’re not getting a response after follow up.)

C – Curate – Select work that legitimately needs to pass through the bottleneck and redirect everything else.

U – Upgrade – Improve resources to eliminate the bottleneck.

S – Start again

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