My daughter graduated from college in May and she is struggling to apply what she learned. It reminds me that at the core of my work, I’m an educator. Like school teachers, I work with ‘students’ for a time, and then ‘graduation’ comes and it’s on to new faces. I wonder: Do teachers often find out how their past students are doing? Do they know how many of their lessons stuck? Well, I just had the opportunity to answer those very questions about my work.

It started two years ago when I received a call about supporting the development of a self-directed work team. I was awfully excited, since the work recalled one of my most satisfying projects ever. Plus: this new group was clearly committed to the effort. A very small team in the midst of a traditional office, they chose a self-directed-team strategy to eliminate a layer of supervision. They sought to leverage their knowledge and experience while expanding learning and development opportunities for a tenured group of employees. Both the individuals and their organization made a significant time commitment: three hour sessions every other week for six months. We went to work.

Our time included: training, designing new work routines, having tough conversations about breakdowns, action learning to apply our principles to real life situations, and a communication strategy to share this new way of operating with others. The team struggled with and ultimately embraced new skills and “out of their comfort zone” approaches. Once we laid the foundation, individual coaching supplemented their development and everything seemed to be humming along. It was a wonderful project.

So last month they called asking if I could come back and do some training with a new team member. This new work provided me the opportunity to spend time with all my old contacts on the team. To my delight, I found that they had been following through on all the tools, strategies, routines, and systems we had set up. I wish I could say this always happened, but how often do we actually hear news that our ‘students’ have lived up to their potential? This particular team had continued their mutual learning, maintained their intentions, and achieved exactly what they had envisioned: all fantastic news!

When I asked the team how they had managed to sustain all the changes we had implemented together, they told me:

• We have scheduled time for consistent communication. Almost every week we meet for one hour to discuss information, tasks, and duties. Each quarter we meet for an extended period to discuss strategic items.
• We have several tools to keep our team on track, most notably our manpower matrix and cross-training schedule.
• Individually we are committed to our self-managed team concept; we hold ourselves and each other accountable.
• We embrace the trust account concept as a valid, living document. We may not overtly state when a deposit or withdrawal has been made, however our team is cognizant to keep the bank account balance in the black.
• We revisit our training materials provided by Wisdom Works, refreshing our memories and goals.

First of all, let me say how gratifying it is to hear such an ongoing commitment. We all like to believe that the hard work we do will stick. As you can tell from this group’s list, maintaining the momentum of significant organizational development requires persistence and periodic check-ups. But when a team puts in the effort, the rewards can pay off for years. If only school teachers had such an opportunity to see what makes their lessons stick!

Photo by kevindooley

Once I cooled off, I realized I’d experienced a prime example of shenpa. (“Shenp-who?” you say.) Prolific author and Buddhist nun, Pema Chödrön, explains the Tibetan concept of shenpa as the knee-jerk pattern of moving away from being present. Different triggers unleash the mood of shenpa throughout our minds and bodies. Perhaps a colleague criticized a project you’ve tirelessly worked on (“What does she know?!”). Or a boss left you a voicemail in a cryptic tone suggesting you work longer hours (“Is he challenging my integrity?!?”). Whatever the trigger, the effect is generally the same: instead of responding to the situation with balance and perspective, you counter it with aggravation and stress.

In his brain-based model of collaboration, David Rock (author of Your Brain at Work), shows that these stress-filled situations put our brains on threat alert, literally making less oxygen and glucose available. That means our memory gets cloudy, we have trouble thinking non-linearly and our capacity to solve complex challenges is jeopardized. In Rock’s terms, the additional neural energy required to deal with our periods of shenpa clearly produces negative consequences; it “diminishes memory, undermines performance, and disengages people from the present.”

Rock goes on to illustrate that this “threat alert” occurs whether the stress is physical (e.g., chronic backache) or social (e.g., feeling excluded). That is to say physical pain and social distress produce similar deleterious effects on our brains’ capacity to think — and thus to choose actions in response. It isn’t surprising, then, that our experience of shenpa often forces a wedge between us and others; left unattended, its emotional zap sets off a flurry of physiological reactions which can cripple the trust, intimacy, and mutual respect needed for successful cooperation.

So, what can we do? A step in the right direction is to recognize and learn more about our own shenpa patterns. Doing so helps us to: (A) avoid unnecessary or unjustified knee-jerks, (B) improve our response when shenpa is unavoidable, and (C) develop our potential to transform such defensive reactions into a productive ingredient of our personality as leaders… and as humans.

Productive knee-jerk reactions? Well, for one thing, without the fire of shenpa we might lose some of the spark and passion that is part of the gift of being human. Additionally, our defensive strategies (each of us has our own unique set) are generally decent for shielding ourselves from immediate harm, whether imagined or real. They play a valuable role of a healthy ego. But to create collaborative relationships with others, we must face the dark side of shenpa: it takes us out of the realities of the present… and into the realm of past pains, stockpiled defense mechanisms, old arguments, and stubborn presumptions.

To counteract some of these deeply ingrained — but often unhelpful — reactions, remember that what’s going on is part of your brain’s function. A technique as simple as deep breathing may be all that’s needed to cool the fires of shenpa and get back to effective teamwork without the knee-jerks. It isn’t brain surgery, but there is brain science at work here.

Photo by Andrew Mason

Like clockwork, we meet twice a month to talk about the health of our company, to make course corrections, and simply to connect with one another.  Staring out at the herd of deer scurrying down the path near my back patio, I took a moment to reflect on the state of our company’s performance, and was struck by an overwhelming feeling of gratitude. I felt an energy surge — a sort of buzzy warm glow that perhaps those deer feel each morning when the sun hits them — and a smile naturally broke out on my face. With this hopeful grin and mood of appreciation, I joined our team for the meeting.

For over two decades I’ve studied the power of heart-centered emotions, such as gratitude, in creating vitality and enhancing performance for individuals, teams, and workplaces. It makes a lot of sense intellectually, but when it comes to actually experiencing its power first-hand, I have to say: Wow, gratitude is intoxicating stuff!  Every time I feel it personally, I realize that as a leader, nothing compares to the larger perspective and sense of optimism provided by genuine appreciation.

Instead of over-focusing on what’s wrong, what’s missing, or what’s problematic, from the lens of gratitude I’m more apt to focus on what’s working, what’s positive, and what’s “well.” I’ve noticed with our team, the “what’s well” grows on itself, creating more respect and enthusiasm between us and helping us collaborate and perform at our peak. Our management team meeting began with unsolicited kudos about the positive client feedback we’d recently received on some of our work. And the agenda items clipped right along at a pleasant and productive pace throughout our call.

Wikipedia says that gratitude is “a positive emotion or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive.” Clever definition.  Gratitude is not only the goodness you reap after an action is done; it is also a proactive attitude you can bring beforehand, which then shapes the resulting goodness coming your way.  The tradition is to say grace before a meal; to put hands over hearts before the big game; to bless the yoga practice before doing it. Gratitude is more powerful when it is forward-looking, not merely reactionary. Thus follows the modern reversal of the old adage: first believe it, then you’ll see it.

According to research done at the psychology lab of the University of California at Davis, in day to day life, grateful people sleep better, think less negative thoughts, cope more effectively with transition, experience greater resilience during challenges, have higher energy and build more satisfying relationships. This works in organizational life, too. How many calls to that “how’s my driving” number on the back of trucks do you think are actually compliments? You’ll be surprised by the answer and the results that come from gratitude: people-savvy organizations like Kelmar Safety (the “how’s my driving” company) strategically use gratitude to improve customer satisfaction and employee happiness. These organizations know that people — that’s all of us — want to be paid attention to, cared for, and valued. And we always make it worth the effort.

It’s certainly sensible to notice the affects gratitude has on others — on leader morale, worker performance, employee engagement. But as the deer and sage bushes sunning themselves in my back yard keep reminding me, there is no substitute for the feeling of gratitude in your own body.

Photo by law_keven