Showing Up E-Book

Tim Robson

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 256

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

Show up and be counted!

Don't just live for the weekends – enjoy what you do, feel enthusiastic about your job and really show up. Let Tim Robson inspire you to bring it every day – to really contribute at work, make a difference and feel good about yourself as a result. He will also show you how to instil that enthusiasm in others so you can be surrounded by a team who gives a damn and really makes things happen. Who wouldn't want to work in a place like that!? 

So whether feeling a little lack-lustre at work, or you’re a manager with a team you want to get the most out of, Showing Up will give you real, practical steps you can take to really ignite some passion and start to drive forward at full force. 

• Practical advice on how to engage at work and encourage engagement in others
• Addresses the dominant norms and practices that often get in the way of us really showing up and bringing our best selves to work
• How to shift your mindset from thinking about work as ‘school with pay’, to really wanting to get stuck in
• How to identify your strengths and be good at what you do

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Endorsements

Title page

Copyright page

Dedication

Introduction

Updates Are Available

Pay Attention. Keep the Plug Out.

Central Periphery Tension

Look Up and Gain Perspective

Where Your Attention Is, Is Where You'll Go

The Iceberg Dynamic

Stories that Show the Madness

School with Pay – Five Paradigms to Break

1.  Teacher Knows Best

2.  Do What You're Told

3.  Don't Answer Back

4.  Don't Copy

5.  (Play Nicely and) Stay out of Trouble

The Games we Play(ed)

Stand Up for Teacher – How Everything Changes once the Boss Is about

Registration – What's Really going on in Your Meetings

Stay Out of the Staff Room – Asking for Help and the Curse of a Closed Door

Show and Tell – Make Sure You Notice Me

The Red Pen – Having Your Decisions Marked

Forgetting Your Homework – What Happens When We Make a Mistake

Sick Notes at Games Lessons – the Death of Creativity

Parents' Evening – the Monthly One-to-One

The School Report – Performance Management Processes and Protocols

Team Sheets and Hall Monitors – HR admin and ‘People’ Processes

Short Skirts and Skinny Ties – Conforming to Corporate ‘Rules’

Running in the Corridors – Corporate ‘Fun’ and Teambuilding Exercises

Game(s) Over?

Note

Showing Up – The Gates Are Open

The Power Exchange

Stop It

Hold your Space

The School Gates are Open

Note

Five New Paradigms

Think

Create

Believe (in Your Power)

Connect

All is Well

When All is Well, Who Needs Balance?

A New Game

Bringing Your MOST – FOUR Gears for Showing Up

Four Gears for Showing Up

Gear 1 – Your Mindset

The Success Mindset

No Failure, Only Feedback

From Choker to Champion

Being Fearless

Less Grip, More Flow

Back Yourself

Break the Teacher's Mindset – Lead without Authority

Tips for Leading without Authority

The Leaver's Mindset

Gear 2 – Your Outcomes

All Men Dream, But not Equally

Well-Formed Outcomes

Gear 3 – Your Strengths

Focus on Strengths

Who Needs Balance?

Gear 4 – Your Time

It's All in Your Schedule

Where's Your Head At?

Stretching Time

Seven-minute Meetings

Park the Politeness

Know Your Contribution

Stop CC'ing Us, We Really Don't Care

Do the Maths

Six Bricks

Now Show Up!

Update Now?

A Warning Call

The Last Day of Term

Note

About Tim Robson

Acknowledgements

Index

End User License Agreement

List of Illustrations

Figure 1:   The Iceberg Dynamic

Figure 2:   MOST Performance Model

Figure 3:   Key Experiences

Figure 4:   Life-line

Figure 5:   Learning Points

Figure 6:   Outcome Wheel

Figure 7:  Where Does All Your Time Go?

Figure 8:  Your Life

Figure 9:  You

Figure 10:  You and Your Six Bricks

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Start Reading

CHAPTER 1

Index

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‘Great Teams are made of Great Individuals. Many of the performance issues facing organizations and teams today are not structural but often come from the thinking of the people who are working in them. This book is a shot in the arm for anyone who's serious about the work they do.’ Sir Clive Woodward, Rugby World Cup Winning Coach, Director of Sport for Team GB at the London 2012 Olympic Games and Founder, Captured

‘In the world of performance, mindset is ultimately what makes the difference between winning and losing. Showing Up will disrupt the way you think while you're working and help you raise your game in the process. Update now!’ Steve Backley OBE, 3-time World Record Holder and 3-time Olympic Medallist

‘Whenever Tim works with us, he provokes something different in our thinking. He gets under the skin of life in a team and yet remains distant enough to point out the things most of us haven't noticed. Just like he does face-to-face, this book asks annoying and provocative questions that will stop you in your tracks and challenge you to think and work differently. We've been on the receiving end and this stuff works.’ Andy Maisey, Regional Director, HSBC

‘Tim's ideas and thinking are inspirational. They have motivated us as an organization to completely change the way we look at how we support people to give all of their self at work and really understand the purpose of their contribution towards our goals. His message is easily accessible and compelling and I've marvelled at how these ideas have grabbed the attention of all our teams, from apprentices to the Boardroom.’ Jerry Clough, Western Locality Managing Director, NEW Devon Clinical Commissioning Group, NHS

‘This book brings together in one place all the critical “hooks” of development that Tim has shared with me over the last few years. If you are looking for simple, memorable and highly effective ways to enhance you, then this is a book to read.’ Jane Hanson, Chief People Officer, Yorkshire Building Society

‘One of the reasons we work with Tim is that he just “gets us”. He always challenges our thinking and inspires our store teams in a way that's simple, memorable and do-able. Their feedback has been fantastic.’ Jo Moran, Head of Service, Marks & Spencer

‘Tim offers fresh and accessible perspectives for a new workplace mindset that will inspire you to take greater responsibility for the way you work and the results you get every day.’ Roger Black MBE, Olympic Medallist and World Champion

‘Tim's idea of work being like school with pay is brilliant. It says just about everything, and once you get it, it's impossible to think and operate the same way again. For Tim, Showing Up is personal not theory, and his experiences and examples give his message real credibility. This book is spot on for any business or individual that's looking to step things up a level.’ Mike Woolfrey, CEO, 4C Group

‘Showing Up nails all the big questions about the meaning of fulfilment at work but also manages to ask some brave new ones that will change the way you think. Transformational.’ Pierre Lever, CEO, Asia for Argus Media Ltd and co-author of 57 Minutes: All That Stands Between You And a Better Life

‘New, practical and hugely relevant perspectives on the realities and pace of the modern workplace, written in a language we can all relate to.’ Maria Bourke, Managing Director, Let's Get Healthy

‘From my own experience of his work, Tim's open and engaging style as a critical partner transfers directly onto the pages of this book. It reads the same way he operates; thought-provoking, direct and yet with a smile on its face. Tim's words always ring in my ears long after he's worked with me and I know the words of this book will do the same for its readers. Recommended.’ Alastair McLellan, Editor, Health Service Journal

‘Refreshing and insightful, Showing Up reminds you of your endless potential and tests the evolved wisdoms of corporate life. Tim brings a unique energy and perspective in creating the perfect guide to authentic leadership, whilst avoiding the headmaster ritual. Straight from the university of life, this book is a wake-up call for everyone from first jobbers to CEOs.’ Gary Critchley, Shared Services Senior Manager, AMEA, PepsiCo

‘In Showing Up, Tim Robson offers an insightful and inspirational exploration of an issue crucial for the future of work and the workplace. Whether you are just entering the world of work or a hardened veteran, this book should be essential reading.’ Dr. James Bellini, Futurologist, Executive Coach and Director of The Talent Foundation

© 2014 Tim Robson

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Robson, Tim, 1972–

    Showing up : how to make a greater impact at work / Tim Robson.

            pages cm

    Includes bibliographical references and index.

    ISBN 978-0-85708-541-2 (pbk.)

  1.  Employee motivation.    2.  Teams in the workplace.    3.  Work–Psychological aspects.    4.  Employees–Attitudes.    I.  Title.

    HF5549.5.M63R627    2014

    650.1–dc23

                                                                                     2014000619

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-0-857-08541-2 (pbk) ISBN 978-0-857-08542-9 (ebk) ISBN 978-0-857-08543-6 (ebk)    

Cover design by Salad Creative

To those who've inspired me, whether standing or fallen.

Introduction

Over 3 billion people across the planet showed up for work today. But which version of them arrived at their workplace? Is it one their friends would recognize? How closely will it resemble their job title and description? Is it the same person they'd promised at interview or a version of themselves their family would be proud of?

Many different versions of us show up in the places we work, and for a variety of reasons. Sometimes when we're working, we're really not ourselves.

When I was a child, I always wanted to work in a big office. My father was a civil servant in Central London for most of my childhood and seeing him head off in the morning to an office in the city seemed exciting and glamorous and I thought it was cool. I was intrigued about his working life and was convinced that ‘the office’ was the place for me when I was old enough to get there. My mother tells me I used to play ‘business’ in our lounge at home, using the coffee table as my desk and taking calls on an old work phone Dad had found for me (these were very important calls, and I was quite successful).

My interest in commercial working environments and the ways people do ‘work’ together has never left me. I've spent most of my working life in and around large organizations, with their many management layers and structures to engage with. I've seen managers come and go, operating models expand and contract and along the way have witnessed organizations and individuals behaving both brilliantly and disgracefully, sometimes all at the same time. Running my consultancy practice over the last few years has also enabled me to see corporate life through an additional and valuable lens, with the privilege of being part of and yet distant from the clients and teams I'm working with.

For too many companies and the teams that work in them, I've noticed an underlying problem that seems to hold them back. It's not their product mix, sales channels, operating model or the market conditions; it's something often unseen but possibly more impactful.

The underlying mindset and working mentality of the people in an organization goes a long way to defining its culture. And too many organizations feel like being back at school. They're arranged like a school, they operate like a school and the people that work in them every day behave as though they're wearing school uniform and lined up in year groups. The only difference between some of the companies we find ourselves working in and the schools we attended as children, is that at the end of each month we now see a wage arrive in our bank accounts.

Going to work can sometimes feel like school. School, with Pay.

When our work is like school, the ways we think and our modes of operating are exactly the same as they were all those years ago, when we wore short trousers and tried to stay awake in assembly. Companies, teams, organizations and people who've signed up to School with Pay are living with operational norms and ways of working that are lifted from the playground and re-establish the classroom. And whether adopted intentionally or entirely by accident, this isn't effective for any of us and will harm us creatively and restrict us commercially.

School with Pay is a workplace mindset that's killing us and it doesn't…have…to be this way.

In my own working experience, I've seen what can really be possible when people start Showing Up in their fullness in all of the work they do. The results are amazing, and yet sadly these environments and the people working in them can too often find themselves on the fringes of the larger machines they're part of and with a corporate brain that doesn't understand the depth of what's being created. School with Pay can mean that Showing Up rarely lasts long enough to be more than ‘a moment in time’, destined to one day become a memory rather than growing into an ongoing reality. Working environments where people really show up seem fragile and appear somewhat skittish, at risk of their own existence and even­tually prey to the upward food chain of centralized operating standards.

I've become increasingly troubled and frustrated by what I've seen happening around me. Something's wrong when the cultural norms and practices of a business seem able to take alive, colourful and creative individuals and over time induce standardization and fear, with personal power often handed on a plate to the most important person in the room.

When we head off to work but don't Show Up, something's broken in our collective thinking.

Thankfully, Apple's iPhone changes everything. I don't mean the device itself (although I'd probably recommend it). The game-changer for all of us is in three short words that appear on our screens occasionally:

Updates are Available.

Three words and a simple invitation prompted the reflections and discovery that resulted in the book you're reading. Showing Up is an update to the way we think, react and operate in the work we do and the places where we do it. We'll look at the paradigms that underpin the School with Pay mindset and create some alternatives that are refreshingly powerful. Showing Up is what happens when our mindsets and surrounding conditions mean we bring the very best of ourselves to the work that we do, with no filters, no checks, no doubts and no last minute adjustments necessary. It's what happens when we choose to ‘leave school’ in the ways that we're operating and loosen the school ties of the patterns in our thinking.

When we Show Up, time seems to work differently. It runs slower, or faster, it stands still or we lose track of it. We laugh and smile more than at other times, even if we're under pressure. Once we truly understand the immense value and potential of every person in our organizations, then maybe we can take that potential seriously enough to allow it to take its place, on display, public and without apology for the whole world to experience. This sort of working doesn't feel like work and often means we have more energy than ever.

The opportunity to show up can be there for all of us, in any job, in any organization and in any part of the world in which we find ourselves. ‘Work’ can be amazing, adrenaline-filled, muscle-stretching and full of possibility, regardless of the sector we're in. And if you allow this book to spark an update in your own working mindset, the same invitation could change the way you view your professional life and transform your performance in the process.

Welcome to the App Store for new workplace thinking – here's to three words, their invitation and the start of your own journey…

Now Show Up!

Tim Robson

Stratford upon Avon, UK

2014

Updates Are Available

What does it mean to start Showing Up? To get there, we need Icebergs, Butterflies, Bath Plugs and Grade School. But first, Smartphones.

If you've got a smartphone, grab it and open up the equivalent of your device's App Store. How many updates do you have available, Right Here, Right Now?

How many applications, that you downloaded previously, have since been updated? Improved, re-developed, refreshed and reanimated versions are available now, although you can’t experience them, because you’re still running the old versions.

How many updates did you have? 1, 3, 10, more than 15?

Maybe you didn't get round to it.

Maybe it wasn't a priority.

But where else might that be happening in your life?

Which old versions of yourself are still loaded on your system?

Which aspects of your thinking need upgrading, in a world that's changing and for the person you're becoming?

In your professional life, what beliefs and methods that maybe worked for you previously are now obsolete, in today's market or for tomorrow's opportunities?

A client once told me their outstanding updates went into three figures but that they'd run out of space to install them due to the ‘junk apps’ already loaded on their device. A junk app is one you don't use anymore, or you forgot you downloaded, but nonetheless is sitting there, taking up your memory. Imagine if you knew your work-life could change, but you'd have to remove what was getting in the way or discard some things that were no longer relevant. You probably already know what junk you're still carrying with you.

When we buy an app, it's not just about the 99c or 69p we spend today. It's about the deal within the deal. We're not just buying this version of the app; we're also buying into its future and the versions that are to come. The underlying assumption is that the current version will at some point be updated. Apps are destined to change and are always in development. They'll never be completed and are always works in progress.

Apps mirror life, because you and me and everything is always changing.

We update various aspects of our lives on an ongoing basis. We change our footwear and our hairstyles, we refresh the colour of the walls in our houses and trade up technology. We even upgrade our wardrobes (some of us) as fashions change and new looks emerge that we buy into.

So why don't we update our professional mindsets as often as we change the cars we drive?

The way we think and operate at work can resemble a trusted pair of comfortable shoes; old and tired, but too hard to let go of. For some of us, our outlook on work and life, work-life and life-work is in serious need of a refresh.

Thinking this way, the descriptions of an App update's features and benefits make interesting reading:

IMPROVEMENTS:

‘now you can…we've added these great new features…now updated to include…a completely refreshed view…’

FIXED ISSUES:

‘fixes possible crashes…resolved issue with…(and my personal favourite)…improved stability…’

Which improvements and new features for the way you work might be available to you?

What issues and glitches that you've lived with for years could finally be fixed?

Where do you need to improve your professional stability?

You and I are remarkably-designed individuals and our mindset, patterns of thinking, behaviours and responses to the world around us are like apps that are running on our body's amazing hardware. We're not static creations, finished or perfected and with all our talents developed and maximized.

We're an idea, a suggestion and a glimpse of potential.

Today's version of yourself won't be sufficient to meet the demands of tomorrow. Yesterday's thinking is already out of date. And the beauty and mystery of the human mind is that we're designed to work like this – we're hard-wired to change, through the environments we find ourselves in and the circumstances we encounter. Our natural capacity for development and evolution is immense; the very essence of life is that we change over time. Wherever you find yourself today and at whatever stage of your life or career you've reached, your software still has room for development. You're designed to be updated, not built for completion. Today's version of you can be better, do better, feel better and be refreshed…if you're prepared to let it.

The updates we need often emerge naturally. As we rub shoul­ders with the world, our experiences shape us, new perspectives change us and we're no longer the people we used to be. Our software becomes outdated. Functionality that once seemed super-fast can begin to feel slow and our bodies occasionally tell us this is happening – feelings of stress, an unease with how things are and an instinct that life could and should be different are all indicators that you might need an update or are ready for a refresh…

Updating your apps sometimes changes everything. But when life moves so fast, we can forget to return to our App Stores. Updates might be available; new features, patches and critical fixes might be ready to go, but we have to install them and so can choose, of course, to leave things as they are. We can browse our App Store, view breakthrough updates and still decide to leave. And like the badge on the App Store icon that still shouts for our attention, opportunities for improvement will continue to catch our eye as we go about working life. Familiar, repeated and often-visited issues will remind us there might be another way of working, our gut-feel and instincts will prompt us to think about making a change…but we have to make the first move. The work of a developer counts for nothing until you and I accept their offer.

‘Updates are Available’ is a whispered Invitation.

One newly-released update described itself as ‘a fully re-designed app that is invigorated, alive, bolder and better than ever before.’ Imagine if you could install that version of yourself at work, today. I bet it would be amazing.

Another said ‘in this update we addressed FREQUENT FEEDBACK from our users’. How many colleagues respond to feedback on their style and performance by saying ‘oh yeah, loads of people have mentioned that before’ or ‘funny, you're not the first person who's said that's a problem’? Maybe you've said the same things yourself. What updates do you need, to address fre­quent feedback from your colleagues, your boss or maybe your stakeholders?

The default apps that run in the companies we're part of can give our whole sense of ‘work’ a bad name. Some people suggest we reject the corporate environment as if it's beyond help or improvement. Walk along the street of any busy town or city at lunchtime and you'll hear hard-working people talking about their job and describing the impact it's having on their lives, their loved ones and their sense of well-being. Often the conversation has a negative vibe. Some people talk about leaving their job as soon as they're able, to head off and create a new future, because ‘they just can't be themselves around here…’.

I'm not so sure. It's easy to criticize something that isn't working. But what if it's not broken, simply an old mindset? Old versions can still work. They're just, well, old. It's the equivalent of using Microsoft Word 1.0 on an old PC, loaded by floppy disk. It might still work today and if it did, could help produce documents. But Word 1.0 would be easy to criticize. It would be obvious that some aspects don't provide what you need these days from that sort of software. But Word in itself isn't wrong as a solution – you'd just be working with a really outdated version.

I think the work you and I do can be remarkable and fulfilling, world-changing and side-splittingly fun. Work can be so good that we lose track of time. We just need the right apps to be running.

This book takes a visit to the App Stores of our workplace mindsets and invites us to Update. It suggests improvements we can make, issues that can be fixed and a few new features that could improve our stability. Think of it as a Time-out for you, your team or your company. Time-outs get called to assess where we are in the game, to take a breather and re-group, or to open up a tactical advantage.

Time-outs aren't about leaving the game.

Showing Up is a workplace time-out because there's a game in play, now, and because we all spend too many hours working to continue with an approach that isn't successful. A few of us know some things need to change…and a few adjustments might be just what's needed to tip us into a whole new level of performance and possibility.

My hope is to disrupt your thinking, press pause on your hamster-wheel and spark a discussion. I'm convinced that when we start Showing Up, our workplaces could change forever.

Updates are Available. Always. For all of us.

Update now?

Interestingly, IOS 7, the 2013 update to Apple's mobile operating system, included an optional ‘auto-update’ feature, meaning app updates can now be installed as soon as they become available. I love that. Imagine being the most up-to-date version of yourself in the world, with all your improvements firing and the latest patches doing their good work as soon as you open your eyes every morning. A refreshed you, every day. What would it take for us to all live like that?

Note: while auto-updates is a very cool feature, it's slightly annoying in the context of my metaphor. See what I mean? Even this first chapter might already need updating…

Pay Attention. Keep the Plug Out.

Central Periphery Tension