The antithesis of resistance, unity, is the outcome of openness, understanding and caring. Openness involves the personal risk of ridicule. Understanding requires the discipline of listening. Caring involves being for something. Being against something is a no-lose proposition. If it does not work out, "I told you so." If it does, "That's not what I said/meant." Being for something carries the risk of being wrong. Unity, as opposed to resistance, is a delicate business, and easily snuffed out with comments li

The Right Office Makes All The Difference
I am writing this from my new (new to me) 10,000 square foot office. I have been so productive lately that I thought I would write about the impact of the right working environment....the right office.Obviously with over 10,000 square feet I am not alone, but it is far from loud or chaotic. Throughout the office quiet but calming music plays in the background and throws a blanket over what little chatter there is.It is an open floor plan, no cubicles here. Thank God! Talk about a shitty environment? Have you ever looked over a see of cubicles? It's depressing. I can't tell you how many times I have caught myself u-turning and zig-zagging through a cubicle maze just trying to find an exit. Conspiracy theorists would tell you that the company does this in an effort to confuse the employee into more hours of work.The lighting is bright, and much of it natural. There are comfortable chairs found throughout the floor for anyone that wants to sit and read, or just take a time-out...or whatever. Next to the leather chairs are small tables where you can place the coffee and snack that you got at the cafeteria (really a little coffee shop like stand). The temperature is kept cool, but not cold. Your attention never has to stray to how uncomfortable you are. This freedom of movement and comfort of environment is conducive to creative thought and productive action. Many companies recognize the bottom line benefits to reducing workplace stress for their employees.Oh, one of the best features (very well thought out) is a large library of books and audio and video access-able to everyone at any time. I have

Organizational commitment, concentration, and follow-through - one without the other two is a formula for frustration. Without commitment, there cannot be concentration. Loss of concentration derails follow-through. Commitment and concentration without follow-through are words without deeds. The three together are requisites for successful change. Achieving all three is the deciding role of leadership.

Commitment

Vision

Vision is conception. It starts and sustains the change process. Commitment begins with a destiny in mind. A vision gives substance and meaning to the journey. No one will commit to the "next step" of a journey unless he/she "knows" where it is taking him or her. No one will commit to ambiguity, or commit to something that is so rigid as to be unaccommodating. Bold ideas (an image, aim, or dream) have magic. Bold statements (a declaration, announcement, or proclamation) alienate. A vision is a bold idea.

Organizational commitment begins and ends with leadership commitment. As a rule of thumb, the highest standard a leader can expect his or her followers to rise to is the lowest standard he or she demonstrates. Without demonstration of a high level of personal commitment through courage, persistence, and consideration, few will jump onboard. Vision is context for everything an organization does. Context gives significance. Without significance, ideas quickly tumble into the dark hole of irrelevance.

Ownership

Until a vision moves beyond a personal aim to a shared organizational aim and destiny, progress will be limited. Neither compliance nor acceptance is ownership. Ownership is mine and our, not yours and theirs.

Ownership is the product of a process, a personal mental journey. At the end of the process people who "own" can see and believe in a pathway that, if followed, will lead to their success and satisfaction. The core process to ownership is communication. It involves systematically moving from Individual Awareness to Shared Awareness; then from Individual Aims to Shared Aims; and finally to action.

Teamwork (the facilitating strength of shared ownership) has two easily assessable indicators. First, people are convinced their personal success is contingent on the successful accomplishment of the larger goal. Second, people have no doubt that all the people involved are necessary for success.

Order

Disorder and chaos are all too common in organizational change. They give life and longevity to cartoons such as Scott Adams "Dilbert". Order is about making strategic decisions concerning establishing and managing the "lines" within which an endeavor can move forward within. Order does not mean slow. Providing true order increases speed. Order establishes authority and accountability, it defines what's in and what's out, it sets the principles for the organization to live up to in carrying out their task. Order eliminates the elevator of decision making (up the organization, then down, then back up again, then . . .) around the myriad of decisions that must be made on the journey. Order is the mediating process to harness the energy of chaos.

Concentration

Resistance

Resistance is diversity of thought. Diversity is the seed of creativity. Squelching resistance suppresses creativity and the possibility of what could be. Resistance is a feeling not a fact. Whether resistance is personal or organizational, the root cause is either a mismatch of values or misunderstanding of facts. A complete articulation and alignment of both facts and values is the discipline needed to leverage resistance. Reality is that when confronted with the same set of facts, viewing them through the same sets of values, people will reach comparable conclusions. Changing the facts changes the feeling. Changing the values changes the perception.

The antithesis of resistance, unity, is the outcome of openness, understanding and caring. Openness involves the personal risk of ridicule. Understanding requires the discipline of listening. Caring involves being for something. Being against something is a no-lose proposition. If it does not work out, "I told you so." If it does, "That's not what I said/meant." Being for something carries the risk of being wrong. Unity, as opposed to resistance, is a delicate business, and easily snuffed out with comments li

Blogs - Making Them Work First Time?
Blogs have had such humble beginnings, but they are humble no longer. In the past, blogs merely helped pass the time. Blogs provided a convenient forum for airing issues and recording thoughts. Some people blog to gain some acknowledgment and recognition for their brilliant ideas. Some other bloggers wrote to find kindred spirits who shared their opinions and preferences. Now, blogs have become a new marketing medium.Not all blogs are effective as marketing tools, though. It all depends on two things: the blog content and the blog style. For blogs that work, heed the following guidelines.Blog ContentContent is definitely important. Think about a blog about nothing or a blog with nothing particularly interesting. Such a blog is unlikely to gain a following, and you certainly don,t want that. The essence of marketing is reaching and convincing as many as your target market as you possibly can. If your blog holds nothing to catch and hold your potential customers, attention, then you have blog in vain. Blog to snag people,s attention, and snag attention with an interesting subject.Try writing anecdotes of experiences that people could imagine or to whom your readers could relate. Remember who your readers are in order to ascertain what they will find interesting. The antics of your dog, however funny the story or however well written the post, will perhaps not be very interesting to bankers or cat lovers. In short, keep your posts interesting to your target readers.Blog StyleYou are not going to catch an audience and

trong> (an image, aim, or dream) have magic. Bold statements (a declaration, announcement, or proclamation) alienate. A vision is a bold idea.

Organizational commitment begins and ends with leadership commitment. As a rule of thumb, the highest standard a leader can expect his or her followers to rise to is the lowest standard he or she demonstrates. Without demonstration of a high level of personal commitment through courage, persistence, and consideration, few will jump onboard. Vision is context for everything an organization does. Context gives significance. Without significance, ideas quickly tumble into the dark hole of irrelevance.

Ownership

Until a vision moves beyond a personal aim to a shared organizational aim and destiny, progress will be limited. Neither compliance nor acceptance is ownership. Ownership is mine and our, not yours and theirs.

Ownership is the product of a process, a personal mental journey. At the end of the process people who "own" can see and believe in a pathway that, if followed, will lead to their success and satisfaction. The core process to ownership is communication. It involves systematically moving from Individual Awareness to Shared Awareness; then from Individual Aims to Shared Aims; and finally to action.

Teamwork (the facilitating strength of shared ownership) has two easily assessable indicators. First, people are convinced their personal success is contingent on the successful accomplishment of the larger goal. Second, people have no doubt that all the people involved are necessary for success.

Order

Disorder and chaos are all too common in organizational change. They give life and longevity to cartoons such as Scott Adams "Dilbert". Order is about making strategic decisions concerning establishing and managing the "lines" within which an endeavor can move forward within. Order does not mean slow. Providing true order increases speed. Order establishes authority and accountability, it defines what's in and what's out, it sets the principles for the organization to live up to in carrying out their task. Order eliminates the elevator of decision making (up the organization, then down, then back up again, then . . .) around the myriad of decisions that must be made on the journey. Order is the mediating process to harness the energy of chaos.

Concentration

Resistance

Resistance is diversity of thought. Diversity is the seed of creativity. Squelching resistance suppresses creativity and the possibility of what could be. Resistance is a feeling not a fact. Whether resistance is personal or organizational, the root cause is either a mismatch of values or misunderstanding of facts. A complete articulation and alignment of both facts and values is the discipline needed to leverage resistance. Reality is that when confronted with the same set of facts, viewing them through the same sets of values, people will reach comparable conclusions. Changing the facts changes the feeling. Changing the values changes the perception.

The antithesis of resistance, unity, is the outcome of openness, understanding and caring. Openness involves the personal risk of ridicule. Understanding requires the discipline of listening. Caring involves being for something. Being against something is a no-lose proposition. If it does not work out, "I told you so." If it does, "That's not what I said/meant." Being for something carries the risk of being wrong. Unity, as opposed to resistance, is a delicate business, and easily snuffed out with comments li

Getting More Traffic To Your Home Based Business Website By Translating It
Statistically, 95% of new businesses fail, many of them in the first year. The new business owner gets frustrated with the anemic results gotten when they have been promised riches beyond their imaginations. The web is very good at prodding our imaginations. Many home based business and make money online ads, web pages, and emails tell you that you can easily be making $300 to $20,000 per month and you could be doing it in a matter of weeks. This is just unrealistic. Do you know why the internet mega-earners make so much money? They have been doing it a long, long time. They have many well established web pages that have many well established hyperlinks. They have huge lists of opt-in newsletter subscribers that follow their every move. Whey they say something is the next big thing, the herd buys it without question. The money comes flowing in. The rest of us look on scratching our heads wondering when it will be our turn. Wonder as much as you want. These internet gurus took years to get where they are today. If we stick with it, it will probably be the same case for the rest of us.The modern internet started in the early 1990s with the first graphical web browser. I hate to break the news, but it was not Internet Explorer or Netscape. The current system of hypertext, the links that make up the internet, was a system of embedded links in text to link to other text. This became known as the World Wide Web in 1991, yes 1991! The web browser that made this protocol successful was called Mosaic. Mosaic was the first graphical browser and was developed in 1993. I don't know about you, but it seems to me that 1993 was no

nce nor acceptance is ownership. Ownership is mine and our, not yours and theirs.

Ownership is the product of a process, a personal mental journey. At the end of the process people who "own" can see and believe in a pathway that, if followed, will lead to their success and satisfaction. The core process to ownership is communication. It involves systematically moving from Individual Awareness to Shared Awareness; then from Individual Aims to Shared Aims; and finally to action.

Teamwork (the facilitating strength of shared ownership) has two easily assessable indicators. First, people are convinced their personal success is contingent on the successful accomplishment of the larger goal. Second, people have no doubt that all the people involved are necessary for success.

Order

Disorder and chaos are all too common in organizational change. They give life and longevity to cartoons such as Scott Adams "Dilbert". Order is about making strategic decisions concerning establishing and managing the "lines" within which an endeavor can move forward within. Order does not mean slow. Providing true order increases speed. Order establishes authority and accountability, it defines what's in and what's out, it sets the principles for the organization to live up to in carrying out their task. Order eliminates the elevator of decision making (up the organization, then down, then back up again, then . . .) around the myriad of decisions that must be made on the journey. Order is the mediating process to harness the energy of chaos.

Concentration

Resistance

Resistance is diversity of thought. Diversity is the seed of creativity. Squelching resistance suppresses creativity and the possibility of what could be. Resistance is a feeling not a fact. Whether resistance is personal or organizational, the root cause is either a mismatch of values or misunderstanding of facts. A complete articulation and alignment of both facts and values is the discipline needed to leverage resistance. Reality is that when confronted with the same set of facts, viewing them through the same sets of values, people will reach comparable conclusions. Changing the facts changes the feeling. Changing the values changes the perception.

The antithesis of resistance, unity, is the outcome of openness, understanding and caring. Openness involves the personal risk of ridicule. Understanding requires the discipline of listening. Caring involves being for something. Being against something is a no-lose proposition. If it does not work out, "I told you so." If it does, "That's not what I said/meant." Being for something carries the risk of being wrong. Unity, as opposed to resistance, is a delicate business, and easily snuffed out with comments li

Snoring - What It Is and What Causes It
What is snoring and what is the cause of it? We all know that the effects of snoring are unhappy and tired spouses or relatives. Most people however, do not know what causes snoring, or that the act of snoring is not under the control of the snorer.Snoring is very common and is an involuntary action on the behalf of the snorer. Almost half of all adults snore occasionally and around one quarter of adults snore frequently. Children may also be the victims of snoring. Although males and females alike can experience snoring, it is more common in males and overweight persons. Additionally, snoring usually grows worse as the snorer gets older.So what exactly causes the act of snoring? Snoring is caused when the flow of air in the nasal passages and mouth are blocked or obstructed. Snoring usually occurs right before a person enters deep sleep. At this phase, the muscles in the throat, tongue and soft palate relax. If they relax enough, they block the airway and vibrate together, causing the snoring sound that we all know. Louder snoring occurs when the air passages are narrower, which causes the tissues to vibrate together more and the passage of air to become more vigorous, in turn resulting in louder snoring.Many factors can bring about snoring. Among these factors include the anatomy of the snorer's mouth, alcohol consumption, problems with the nasal passages, or a condition called sleep apnea. The anatomy of a person's mouth can contribute to a snoring problem due to the size of the tonsils, soft palate and tissues in the back of the throat. If any of these body parts are larger than norma

r is about making strategic decisions concerning establishing and managing the "lines" within which an endeavor can move forward within. Order does not mean slow. Providing true order increases speed. Order establishes authority and accountability, it defines what's in and what's out, it sets the principles for the organization to live up to in carrying out their task. Order eliminates the elevator of decision making (up the organization, then down, then back up again, then . . .) around the myriad of decisions that must be made on the journey. Order is the mediating process to harness the energy of chaos.

Concentration

Resistance

Resistance is diversity of thought. Diversity is the seed of creativity. Squelching resistance suppresses creativity and the possibility of what could be. Resistance is a feeling not a fact. Whether resistance is personal or organizational, the root cause is either a mismatch of values or misunderstanding of facts. A complete articulation and alignment of both facts and values is the discipline needed to leverage resistance. Reality is that when confronted with the same set of facts, viewing them through the same sets of values, people will reach comparable conclusions. Changing the facts changes the feeling. Changing the values changes the perception.

The antithesis of resistance, unity, is the outcome of openness, understanding and caring. Openness involves the personal risk of ridicule. Understanding requires the discipline of listening. Caring involves being for something. Being against something is a no-lose proposition. If it does not work out, "I told you so." If it does, "That's not what I said/meant." Being for something carries the risk of being wrong. Unity, as opposed to resistance, is a delicate business, and easily snuffed out with comments li

Computers for Seniors, Not as Scary as You Might Think
Seniors, contrary to popular opinion, are thrilled with modern technology and have embraced the world of computers enthusiastically. There are no "simple" computers designed especially for seniors because the concept of computers isn’t that difficult to begin with---it just seems that way.Why a computer? The world is a pretty exciting place, so don’t give me that "too old to learn new tricks" routine, or let me hear you mumbling under your breath about not being interested. Of course you are interested!I want you to picture yourself (or your senior parent) learning about a wonderful new way to stay in touch with friends and relatives, or even make new friends. E-mailing and sending pictures are a great way to communicate, so even if that is the only thing that you learn how to do, it is a good thing.It won’t be long before that isn’t enough and you will want to jump in with both feet when you discover that you can follow your stock options, keep informed, write in your journal, and continue to learn.Don’t forget that learning new things and having new experiences is a good way to exercise your brain. Studies say that older adults who use computers have fewer depressive symptoms than those who don’t.Kids seem to pop into the world already able to use a computer and you may feel a little intimidated when a six year is savvier than you are. There is no reason why you can’t learn to enjoy a computer too. Colleges, community colleges, universities, neighborhood recreation centers and senior centers all offer classes designed especially for seniors. If you can’t get out, you can find boo

s either a mismatch of values or misunderstanding of facts. A complete articulation and alignment of both facts and values is the discipline needed to leverage resistance. Reality is that when confronted with the same set of facts, viewing them through the same sets of values, people will reach comparable conclusions. Changing the facts changes the feeling. Changing the values changes the perception.

The antithesis of resistance, unity, is the outcome of openness, understanding and caring. Openness involves the personal risk of ridicule. Understanding requires the discipline of listening. Caring involves being for something. Being against something is a no-lose proposition. If it does not work out, "I told you so." If it does, "That's not what I said/meant." Being for something carries the risk of being wrong. Unity, as opposed to resistance, is a delicate business, and easily snuffed out with comments like:

• I'm too busy.
• Theory is different than practice.
• It‘s not in the budget.
• It does not agree with our policy.
• We already tried that.
• Can't you think of something better than that?

Comments like these squash openness, extinguish the chance for understanding, and demonstrate a lack of caring. The power of unity comes only through harnessing the force of disunity.

Most organizations in change are solutions rich and problem definition poor. Organizations that take the time to first clearly define "the problem" achieve unity on the solution. The battles over solutions and foot dragging during implementation have their roots in not achieving a shared awareness and understanding of the problem.

Clarity

Without clarity, there is only confusion. Lack of clarity is a license for indecision. Conversely, too much clarity is an edict. The hierarchy of strategic thinking and implementation has nine elements - Beliefs, Philosophy, Principles, Concept, Strategy, Design, Action, Audit, and Evaluate. Beliefs, philosophy, principles, and concept are the substance of Vision. There cannot be ambiguity about the beliefs around what it takes to win, or putting these beliefs together into a working philosophy that is not self-contradicting. Nor can there be equivocation about the behavioral principles that will guide an organization to success, or double-talk about the concept an organization will pursue. While inherently these four are broad far-reaching statements, they still must be clear. These four form the boundaries within which an organization will pursue its destiny. While the first four elements deal with the clarity of boundaries, the final five deal with clarity of choices and actions. The first four confront distant horizons, the final five cope with horizons that are nearby. All require clarity. As plans progress and time moves on, new horizons become visible, and those things that need clarity about continually change.

Involvement

Who is going to put their energy into a situation they cannot influence, or in an outcome, they have no stake in? You have to have both. Everyone boarding an airplane has a stake in the outcome of the flight. On the other hand, while most may be concerned to one degree or another, there is not anything the typical passenger can do to influence the outcome. So there is not much point in getting excited about it.

People get excited and energized about pursuits where they can directly influence the outcome, and how the outcome plays out has the potential to help or harm them personally. Involvement is ownership. Ownership means accountability and authority for the outcome. Responsibility comes from within an individual. Accountability and authority come from outside. If people are not afforded both the accountability and authority to act, there is little hope they will feel responsible. Most will be either "in the back of the cabin along for the ride, or catch another plane." Involvement is different from involved. Involved is along for the ride. Involvement is participation in the outcome. By definition, every member of an organization "is involved". Involvement requires taking it to the next step.

Delegation requires the giving of both accountability and authority. Accountability without authority is as preposterous as authority with no accountability. However, together they form the foundation for involvement. One without the other spells "disconnect".