Planners’ Picks
A collection of resources from CSN planning committee members worth mentioning
As we watch the leaves change in nature, we also discuss change in today’s PP. We are also touching on well-being, gratitude, communicating using clean language, and more.
:: Image of the Week
As a leader, how are you shining and sharing your light?
:: Resources on Well-Being
Note: CSN planners hosted a presentation at LMD on this topic last week, and we’re sharing some of the resources with you below. You can also download the full resources document we distributed at our presentation here: go.wisc.edu/lc64wi
Being Well Podcast: Simplifying Self-Help: 7 Lessons for a Lifetime of Well-Being
There is a lot of complicated advice out there (including on this podcast) for how to improve our well-being. In this episode of the Being Well Podcast, Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson simplify the lessons they’ve learned from over 100 experts and 300 episodes.
They explore the importance of individual context, focusing on what we can change even in difficult circumstances, the power of acceptance, influencing our attention, taking care of the body, social connection, and how we can identify, accept, and manage our unique needs.
Magic in the Room #167: Practices for Well-Being
Every time we get on an airplane, we hear, “Put on your oxygen mask first.” This is good advice, even if we are not in an airplane emergency! In this Magic in the Room episode, Hannah, Luke, and Chris discuss well-being in the next part of our Intentional Leadership series. It is easy to deprioritize our well-being when we are busy or want to take care of others first. However, this is an instance where taking care of ourselves allows us to serve others more effectively. We have to put on our oxygen mask first.
https://www.purposeandperformancegroup.com/magic-in-the-room-167
How The Right Values Help Increase Your Well-Being
The way we behave, how we live and work, and our relationships with ourselves and others are all guided by the right values. Good values are the fundamental principles that provide us clarity of purpose, which nurtures well-being and gives us confidence because we live a meaningful life.
Here is how the right values help increase your well-being from LaRae Quy.
https://laraequy.com/2023/09/29/how-the-right-values-help-increase-your-wellbeing-2/
:: Resources on Work Culture & Team Development
How to be Vulnerable at Work Without Spilling Everything, from Brené Brown
How open should you be with your coworkers?
These days many workplaces are encouraging their employees to be vulnerable and authentic, but opening up at work can feel precarious. If we open up the wrong way, it can sometimes backfire but vulnerability can also bring us closer to other people and make teams stronger. The key, according to author, podcast host and vulnerability researcher Brené Brown, is establishing boundaries.
On a special episode of the TED podcast WorkLife, Brené and organizational psychologist Adam Grant talk about what vulnerability in the workplace really means.
https://ideas.ted.com/how-to-be-vulnerable-at-work-without-spilling-everything-from-brene-brown/
“We could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world.” – Helen Keller
Nominations Open for Student Employment Awards
The Office of Student Financial Aid is seeking nominations for Student Employee of the Year. Scholarships will be awarded to the top student employee in each of five categories. In addition, the Student Employment Supervisor of the Year award celebrates the accomplishments of those who play an important role in the development of student employees. The deadline to nominate outstanding student employees and student employment supervisors is Sunday, Nov. 12.
:: Resources on Mental Health and Self-Care
When We Cultivate a Grateful Heart
“Gratitude is a profound and complex emotion that reaches deep into the recesses of the human soul. It is not merely a surface-level response to favorable circumstances, but rather a reflection of one’s innermost essence and disposition. When one is grateful, they are not just expressing appreciation for external blessings or acts of kindness; they are, in fact, acknowledging the intrinsic connection between their soul and the world around them.”
Mariya Gul Khand wrote this about her views of gratitude. She goes on to say: “In this sense, gratitude becomes a force for healing and unity. It bridges the gap between self and other, reminding us that we are all interconnected, all part of the same cosmic play.”
For more on her perspective, check out this recent LinkedIn post of hers at https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7116029084802953216/
“Sometimes you don’t realize the profound value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” -Dr. Seuss
Hit the Pause Button and Just Be
Are you tired of living life on a racetrack? As if you are a participant in a never-ending race, constantly sprinting toward the next finish line. In our relentless pursuit of the future, we often overlook the beauty of the present. We rush through life, chasing after the next moment, and in doing so, we inadvertently miss out on the richness of the moment we’re in. Read this thoughtful post from Speaker Ipek Williamson on how to Pause, breathe, and JUST BE. Your future self will thank you for it.
https://www.bizcatalyst360.com/hit-the-pause-button-and-just-be/
:: Resources on Self-Leadership Development
What Are Your Decision-Making Strengths and Blind Spots?
Many of us approach decision-making from the same perspective over and over. We use the same tools and habits every time, even if the decisions are vastly different. But following the same strategy for every problem limits your abilities. To make better decisions, you need to break out of these patterns and see things differently, even if it is uncomfortable.
First, you need to understand your own decision-making strengths and your blind spots. You must identify the mental mistakes or cognitive biases that tend to get in your way. Once you do that, you can better check and challenge those biases, adjust your approach, and bring out a more holistic understanding of a situation, better ensuring that you are solving the whole problem.
https://hbr.org/2022/08/what-are-your-decision-making-strengths-and-blind-spots
LinkedIn Learning: Leading as a Highly Sensitive Person
Highly sensitive people (HSPs) have unique neural wiring that enable them to process the world around them more deeply. Studies have shown that HSPs have more active brain areas related to attention, action planning, decision-making, and empathy—qualities that make great leaders. But high sensitivity can pose challenges to leading effectively, such as coping with stress, managing emotions, setting boundaries, and more. In this course, executive coach Melody Wilding shares tools and strategies that highly sensitive leaders can utilize to perform at their best, and offers the latest research and case studies to teach you how to use sensitivity as an asset to impact teams and organizations. Plus, learn how to identify and evaluate how high sensitivity impacts leadership behaviors, techniques to manage the challenges of sensitivity related to personal performance and team management, and how to amplify high sensitivity strengths to boost leadership impact and influence.
:: Resources on Change Management
Change
Autumn. The very word evokes change. The colors of the leaves, Pumpkin Spice Lattes, and the kiddies back in school. Autumn changes we are okay with.
LinkedIn writer Caryn Knight talks about how embracing change can mean growth for you and others.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/change-caryn-knight/
“Change can be scary. But you know what’s scarier? Allowing fear to stop you from growing, evolving, and progressing.” – Mandy Hale
Choosing Strategies for Change
The rapid rate of change in the world of management continues to escalate. New government regulations, new products, growth, increased competition, technological developments, and an evolving workforce compel organizations to undertake at least moderate change on a regular basis. Yet few major changes are greeted with open arms by employers and employees; they often result in protracted transitions, deadened morale, emotional upheaval, and the costly dedication of managerial time. Kotter and Schlesinger help calm the chaos by identifying four basic reasons why people resist change and offering various methods for overcoming resistance.
Managers, the authors say, should recognize the most common reasons for resistance: a desire not to lose something of value, a misunderstanding of the change and its complications, a belief that the change does not make sense for the organization, and a low tolerance for change in general.
Once they have diagnosed which form of resistance they are facing, managers can choose from an array of techniques for overcoming it: education and communication, participation and involvement, facilitation and support, negotiation and agreement, manipulation and co-optation, and both explicit and implicit coercion. According to the authors, successful organizational change efforts are characterized by the skillful application of a number of these approaches, with a sensitivity to their strengths and limitations and a realistic appraisal of the situation at hand. In addition, the authors found that successful strategic choices for change are both internally consistent and fit at least some key situational variables.
This article by John Kotter and Leonard Schlesinger was written in 1979 but is still valid today.
https://hbr.org/2008/07/choosing-strategies-for-change
:: Resources on Communication
Clean Language: Listening Skills For When You Don’t Have Time
From communication coach Barb Bickford’s blog post:
I no longer have to waste time thinking of insightful questions. I can use a different approach which requires me only to remember a few simple yet profound questions. It’s been a great addition to my listening skills toolbox.
It’s called Clean Language. Clean Language is not about avoiding cursing. It’s a set of about a dozen questions and a way of asking them that enables the listener to focus on what another person is saying and what it means to them.
Clean Language questions are “clean” because they are non-leading; they are “clean” of the listener’s own metaphors and pre-conceptions. They rapidly build trust and understanding between the speaker and the listener by putting all the attention on the speaker.
Developed by the late David Grove, Clean Language questions are easy to learn and highly versatile. They can help you explore differences of opinion with great curiosity and respect, at home and at work.
https://www.bickfordcollaboration.com/post/listening-skills-for-when-you-dont-have-time
:: Resources on Remote and Hybrid Work
Effective Hybrid Team Management, with Hassan Osman
Hassan Osman is a director at Cisco Systems (his views are his own) where he leads a team of project and program managers on delivering complex projects across the world. He’s also served as a management consultant at EY, where he led projects and programs for the largest enterprises. Hassan is the author of several Amazon bestselling books about team management, including his most recent book, Hybrid Work Management: How to Manage a Hybrid Team in the New Workplace*.
In this Coaching for Leaders podcast, they examine the new reality and popularity of the hybrid workforce. Many leaders are now managing teams that are both co-located and remote, with individual team members regularly migrating between the two. We explore useful practices that will help you support effective teamwork and progress, regardless of physical location.
https://coachingforleaders.com/podcast/effective-hybrid-team-management-hassan-osman/
:: CSN’s Book of the Week Recommendation
The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life
Presenting 12 breakthrough practices for bringing creativity into all human endeavors, The Art of Possibility is the dynamic product of an extraordinary partnership. The Art of Possibility combines Benjamin Zander’s experience as conductor of the Boston Philharmonic and his talent as a teacher and communicator with psychotherapist Rosamund Stone Zander’s genius for designing innovative paradigms for personal and professional fulfillment.
The authors’ harmoniously interwoven perspectives provide a deep sense of the powerful role that the notion of possibility can play in every aspect of life. Through uplifting stories, parables, and personal anecdotes, the Zanders invite us to become passionate communicators, leaders, and performers whose lives radiate possibility into the world.
Some quotes from the book:
“Every problem, every dilemma, every dead end we find ourselves facing in life, only appears unsolvable inside a particular frame or point of view. Enlarge the box, or create another frame around the data, and problems vanish, while new opportunities appear.”
“Imagine how profoundly trustworthy you would be to the people who work for you if they felt no problem could arise between you that you were not prepared to own. Imagine how much incentive they would have to cooperate if they knew they could count on you to clear the pathways for accomplishment.”
“The foremost challenge for leaders today, we suggest, is to maintain the clarity to stand confidently in the abundant universe of possibility, no matter how fierce the competition, no matter how stark the necessity to go for the short-term goal, no matter how fearful people are, and no matter how urgently the wolf may appear to howl at the door. It is to have the courage and persistence to distinguish the downward spiral from the radiant realm of possibility in the face of any challenge.”
Here’s a short video of Ben speaking about Giving an “A”:
I highly recommend this book to anyone, but especially those leading teams.