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By Mary Kelly
Is Remote Work Really Here to Stay? Yes. Probably. Maybe. Leaders, managers, and team members are still struggling with the idea of remote work and how to make employees successful. Various groups are collecting statistics on remote work. While we know there are numerous factors that dictate the viability of remote work, the results seem clear. Remote work, in some capacity, is not going away. From The Ultimate List of Remote Work Statistics for 2022 (Findstack.com)
“Employees want to work from home 2.5 days a week on average, according to data from monthly online surveys of 5,000 U.S. employees conducted by the University of Chicago, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México and Stanford University. Nearly 80% of those surveyed want to work from home at least one day each week.” This is a managerial and leadership challenge. While many employees want to work from home, those remote workers can also feel less connected to their co-workers, lonelier, and more displaced. Some employees worry that “out of sight, out of mind” means they will not be as visible when it comes time to promotion opportunities. What can team members do to help people retain the sense of shared purpose, shared identity, and shared vision?
While remote work is effective, people also need time with others, face-to-face, to renew relationships and stay connected. Planning your next event? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to schedule your ideal speaker and make your event a success!
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By Steve Gilliland
The way in which organizations work is drastically changing, and it can get challenging to keep up. Change is inevitable and widespread; employees are tasked with a high workload while having low control over the environment. This can result in frequent burnout, stress, and a high turnover rate. As a leader, work to the best of your abilities to ensure employees are motivated and comfortable. Here are some tips to help you make a difference in the workplace: 1. BE TRANSPARENT A great leader is honest and vulnerable. Employees gel better with a leader who is accountable for their mistakes and their team. When things don’t go your way, remain transparent with your team and give them accurate details about the current situation. This can prevent miscommunication and help ensure that everyone works collaboratively toward one common goal. 2. ASSIST A NEW EMPLOYEE Remember how challenging your first few weeks at work were? Along with learning your job, you also had to understand the office environment and meet new colleagues. Being a leader doesn’t only mean you’re responsible for decision making. Ensuring all employees are comfortable is also the work of a good leader. Make a new employee’s day by helping them find their way around and feel welcome. 3. REMEMBER: YOUR EMPLOYEES ARE YOUR STRENGTH Although client satisfaction is important, your employees are the backbone of your business. They are the ones who can truly help your company flourish. Ensure that they receive constant help and support whenever needed. Sometimes work can get overwhelming; talk to them to ensure they’re not in burnout mode and are maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Focus on setting a better retention strategy and improve the work environment overall. Planning your next event? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to schedule your ideal speaker and make your event a success! By Amy Dee
Would you like to build your resilience? To be sure, resilience builds when you become become more aware of your thoughts, and become more flexible in your thinking. In the following paragraphs, you’ll learn how to identify and immediately counteract the negative thinking trap called: Catastrophic Thinking. Resilience vs the Catastrophic Trigger At 11am you get the following email from your boss: “Please clear your schedule from 3 to 4 pm and meet me in my office.” That’s it. Consequently, being armed with so little information causes your mind grabs a shovel and start filling in the blanks with every negative bit of dirt it can conjure. You start catastrophic thinking. Did a client complain about me? Is she angry that my report was two days late? Maybe she’s made that my numbers were low this month? And your thoughts keep going. What if I get fired? What if I can’t pay my mortgage? Will my house be repossessed? I’ll be homeless and on the street! And on and on and on it goes. Humans Aren’t Always Rational Let’s face it, we humans like to believe that we are rational creatures. We believe that when faced with a decision or projecting future outcomes, we judiciously weigh out all facts, carefully consider the pro and cons and come to a reasonable, rational decision. To put it bluntly, this is not true. Instead, every human brain is embedded with irrational thought patterns that blind us to the truth. Science describes these as cognitive distortions. But, for this blog, I’ll call them Thinking Traps. The result is, thinking traps cause errors in judgment. The good news is, that by becoming conscious of your thinking traps, you can stop them in their tracks. Definition of Catastrophic Thinking Catastrophizing is a thinking trap that causes you to waste critical energy ruminating. Instead of moving forward, you go around and around thinking about the worst-case outcomes of a situation. First, there’s a trigger i.e., the email from your boss. This activating event starts your mind racing, like an evil runaway train, rolling into every horrible thing that will happen. Next you get stuck ruminating on all of those irrational, worst-case outcomes. All of that negative energy and rumination blocks you from actually taking any action. In short, catastrophizing causes an imbalance between the interpretation and the reality of the threat. The threat becomes much bigger than it probably is. As a result, it looms over you, blocking out possible solutions. You not only overestimate the danger, but you also underestimate your ability to cope. Problems Catastrophizing Causes To illustrate, let imagine that you and your spouse have a pretty bad argument. Afterward, you can’t get the disagreement out of your head. Consequently, It’s hard to focus at work because you keep replaying and analyzing what you said and what you heard your spouse say. Not being able to focus is a common outcome of catastrophizing. Is he/she still angry? Did the kids hear our disagreement? Did he/she tell someone at work about it? Actually, while these catastrophic worst-case thoughts generate anxiety, they can also crowd out your ability to focus on your next project. In addition, replaying the argument gives you a headache or stomach pain, or sweating palms. You may even feel short of breath. Because there are all sorts of ways that catastrophic thinking affects our bodies. Unfortunately, pessimism is another trap caused by catastrophizing. If something doesn’t go well, our minds might automatically start painting a picture of doom and gloom. Resilience and pessimism don’t mix. The result is that problems became so much bigger than they actually are. Instead of confronting the stressors or issues that need your attention, you may withdraw. Catch Yourself Catastrophizing “My speech is going to bomb” I think. Now, with zero evidence, I forecast the worst possible outcome of a situation and brush away all facts that contradict my negative belief. Instead, I predict that everything will things will turn out badly. At the beginning, when you catch yourself worrying over something that hasn’t happened, start by identifying your pessimistic prediction. Afterward, ask yourself “Where’s the evidence for this conclusion?” 3 Catastrophic styles that Harm resilience The University of Penn, along with other researchers, have identified three styles of catastrophizing. 1.Downward spiral: You build an entire disastrous story out of one situation or event. Example: The email caused a downward spiral of thoughts. Your thoughts leap from: The meeting with the boss will be hostile to I’ll be fired, lose my job to being homeless and on the street. One event creates a downward pull of imagined threats. 2. Scattershot: You manufacture a massive variety of bad things that might happen to you because of the situation. Here, you don’t create a story like you do in the downward spiral. Instead, you imagine a widespread variety of bad outcomes that could happen. Example: You argue with your spouse, now your mind goes off in different negative directions. We’ve had been lots of arguments lately; could he/she be having an affair? What if Joey heard us argue and can’t concentrate? What if he flunks his Biology test today! Did our neighbors listen to us yell? They probably think we are such losers! 3. Circling: You ruminate about a central theme. Your supervisor asks you to rewrite a report and have it on his desk tomorrow at noon, and the circling begins. Example: My afternoon is packed full with meetings; I don’t have time for this! I have parent-teacher conferences at 7pm. How can I fit that in? I promised Zack I’d help him study tonight, but there’s no way I’ll have time for that. Plus I need supplies for Sara’s party is on Saturday. There’s no way I’ll get all this done! I’ve gotta sleep too! There’s just not enough time! How Catastrophic Thinking Harms Resilience: Whatever the type of catastrophizing you tend to use, be it the down spiral, scattershot or circling, they all end up blocking purposeful action. Not only that, all three types of catastrophizing lead to procrastination and anxiety. In addition, each one engages the flight or fight response. In other words, they all get in our way of handling or coping with the situation at hand. So we all need self-awareness to recognize when we are catastrophizing. But being aware isn’t enough. In addition to awareness, you need skills to challenge and change. U of Penn Positive Psychology has developed some easy-to-use skills that you can immediately apply. They call this Real-Time Resilience because as soon as you recognize that negative mental chatter, you can challenge it on the spot to regain your focus, confidence, and composure. The Steps of Real-Time Resilience by U of Penn 1. Evidence Explore evidence that proves your counterproductive thought is false. Start a sentence by using the phrase: This is not true because… Example: Recently I performed my first live event after a year of virtual events. I was nervous before going on stage, thinking, “It’s been so long, I am going to mess this up!“ Once I recognize my catastrophic thinking, I can stop myself and say “That’s not true because I’ve spoken in front of thousands of people, and most of the time, I get standing ovations!” Make sure you use vivid data (1,000’s of people-standing ovations)to prove why what you’re thinking is not valid. 2. Reframe Shift your perspective to change your perception of the situation. Start by saying, “A more helpful way of me seeing this is… Example: “A more helpful way of seeing this nervousness is as energy I can bring to my audience this evening!” 3. Plan When catastrophic thinking grabs you by the throat, screaming the horrible things about to happen, your anxiety increases. This increased anxiety stops you from performing effectively because you are entrenched in the fight or flight mode. So make a plan. Start by saying If X happens, I will do Y “If I suddenly forget a story, I will take a deep breath, pause, make a joke about Covid Confusion and regain my composure”. Relaxing will help get my brain back on track.” In conclusion, building resilience requires you to be aware of your thoughts at the moment. In addition, it also requires you to ‘catch’ and counteract these negative thoughts. The good news is that YOU CAN DO THIS. Planning your next event? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to schedule your ideal speaker and make your event a success! By Chip Bell
It all started when we drove up to the speaker menu at a quick-service restaurant. “Can I take your order?” the attendant coldly barked. When my wife, on hearing the deep voice of the attendant, politely said, “Thank you, sir,” she got back a sharp, “It is ma’am.” She bristled with obvious disdain when we got our meal and asked for napkins (not included). When we requested catsup (not included), she darkly said, “This was supposed to be my day off, and I was ordered to come in for someone who didn’t show up.” We wished she had been the “missing in action” employee. The next day I read an article that provided a list of 53 restaurant chains likely to close in the next year. I thought to myself: this restaurant needs to be among the ones going out of business. It was. Based on their frontline ambassador, they were earning the right to go bankrupt. And, it was completely avoidable. We are living in a time of “all about me.” The preferred approach to influencing “my way” or “my view” is loud lectures instead of quiet conversations. Rowdy movements are chosen over genuine understanding. Even a health concern like a pandemic is transformed into a political outcry about freedom, even though we don’t allow driving while intoxicated, smoking in public places, or placing a child in a vehicle without a car seat. Gun violence is up along with suicide. It is a context that requires a concerted leadership effort to refocus on the “served” instead of the “server.” A friend’s son got in trouble for drinking as a minor. His son got an older friend to buy him a bottle of vodka, and before he could get out of the parking lot, he was arrested. The wise judge sentenced this first offender to eighty hours of community service at a soup kitchen serving homeless people. My friend says the punishment noticeably changed him. “I learned,” said the boy, “there are other important people out there besides me.” The rent for being a citizen is to help someone in need. It is also the price you pay for being in a frontline service role—helping someone in need. In the words of my friend Dr. Joseph Michelli, today, we need more “otherness.” Planning your next event? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to schedule your ideal speaker and make your event a success! By Kristin Baird
It’s no secret that small things add up quickly when it comes to the patient experience. Because high-quality and safe care is assumed by the patients and residents, it is often the small acts of kindness that stand out the most. Throughout my entire healthcare career, it has been the acts of kindness I’ve witnessed that have etched the deepest into my heart. To quote Maya Angelou, “…people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” It was as if she wrote this specifically for healthcare workers to keep as a compass. Kindness in the workplace will extend far beyond coworkers to patients, visitors, and staff. FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE This past week, we lost my beloved aunt. After battling Alzheimer’s for the past few years, Joan needed skilled nursing in the last month of her life. My uncle was distraught over having her go to live in a long-term care community until he saw the love and compassion with which she was treated. He was always made to feel welcome which eased the transition. But when he witnessed the loving and compassionate care, he relaxed, knowing she was in good hands. When Joan was in her final hours, one of the night nurses stopped in to say her goodbyes. She tenderly stroked Joan’s arm. She shared with my family that in addition to being a nurse, she was also a minister. Hearing this, my cousin asked if she would pray with them. Instead, the nurse/minister asked if she could sing for Joan. With her family surrounding the bed, she sang a beautiful and moving hymn. It soothed every mourning heart in the room. FOCUS ON THE SMALL THINGS Martin Luther King Jr. said, “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.” I challenge you today to look around and find a small thing you can do in a great way. The world needs you. Planning your next event? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to schedule your ideal speaker and make your event a success! By John O'Leary. This was originally posted on JohnOLearyInspires.com. When John O'Leary was 9 years old, he suffered burns over 100% of his body and was expected to die. He is now an inspirational speaker and bestselling author, teaching more than 50,000 people around the world each year how to live inspired. John's first book, ON FIRE: The 7 Choices to Ignite a Radically Inspired Life was published March 15, 2016. John is a contributing writer for Huff Post and Parade.com. John is a proud husband and father of four and resides in St. Louis, MO. Order John’s book today anywhere books are sold.
Recently, I’ve had the honor of speaking to healthcare leaders across different disciplines, employed by different hospital systems, located in different geographic regions and serving very different populations. Regardless their size, geography, or patient population served, though, I’ve reminded these leaders of the profound impact in seemingly small acts of kindness. From the welcome desk to the C-suite, they possess the power to make mighty, positive and lasting effect on the lives of those in need. As evidence of this truth, let me share a sweet story from my book IN AWE about a young man, doing an ordinary job, who aided mightily in my recovery. Every day I spent in the hospital was sectioned off into little pockets of torture. There were the brutal bandage changes, speech therapy and occupational therapy. And then the most painful part of the process, an hour of physical therapy. For those of you who have had to recover from a painful injury, you know just how excruciating physical therapy can be. In my case, the extent of my injuries demanded the rehabilitation of every joint in my body. It was a critically important component of my healing, and led me to be able to return to life fully. Enduring it, however, was agony. I began the sessions in my wheelchair, then moved to yellow therapy mats on the floor, and concluded each session in a broom closet far away from other patients. The therapists took me there so that no one could hear my screams. The sessions continued for more than a year after I was released from the hospital. My parents or a family friend would drive me to the hospital, drop me off at the physical therapy wing, and pick me up an hour later. Besides knowing that my torturers would eventually tire and move on to the next victim (I mean, patient!), there was something else I looked forward to that got me through those difficult sessions: seeing my friend Scott. Scott worked at the valet stand. When he saw this nine-year-old kid wrapped with bandages, eyes reddened from the physical therapy session he’d just endured, Velcro-strapped into a wheelchair, waiting for a ride home, he must have recognized that this kid needed some extra attention. Although Scott was incredibly old (a nineteen-year-old is ancient in the eyes of a nine-year-old), he would take time away from his job to keep me company. He would pull a chair alongside my wheelchair, look out at the driveway filled with emergency vehicles and we’d pretend all those ambulances were part of our army and that we were planning an ambush. Scott was my sergeant, and I was his lieutenant. He took orders from me. For a little boy who had a team of doctors, nurses, and therapists always telling him what to do, it was a welcome reversal. When my ride finally arrived, Scott would do one more thing that always made my day: He’d let me talk on his walkie-talkie. He’d hold it in front of me, push the talk button, and say, “Okay, we’re live. Go for it!” With great enthusiasm I’d say, “Johnny to base. Johnny to base. Send reinforcements. Enemy approaching. Over and out.” We’d laugh uncontrollably as some angry security officer would hop on and yell: “Kid, get off the radio!” With tears no longer in my eyes and a big, beaming smile on my face, I would be wheeled by Scott toward my parents’ car and he would help me in and tell me he looked forward to seeing me the next day. It doesn’t seem like that big of a deal when I look back on it. They were, after all, just small moments of kindness. Yet to a struggling child, they made a huge difference. Scott was a college student, trying to earn some spending money for the weekends. But even at that age, he knew that work wasn’t just about putting in the time and picking up a paycheck. He knew that any job, when performed with excellence, could become something greater. He knew there were no insignificant people, that small acts mattered and little things made a big difference. I believe every job we do matters, and all work is sacred. But too often, we can get caught up in busywork and neglect the essential life-giving work begging to be attended to. Sometimes we must turn away from the demands and instead focus on what truly makes a difference. The kind of work that makes us immensely proud. My friends, regardless of our position in life – from an executive director to a valet – it turns out we are created to make a difference. As Scott reminds us: Small acts, motivated by love, can indeed change the world of those we encounter. This is your day. Live Inspired. Planning your next event? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to schedule your ideal speaker and make your event a success! By Josh Linkner
Imagine that a loved one is on the operating table in a life-or-death situation. You and your family gather in the waiting room waiting with bated breath for the doctor to communicate the results of this life-saving procedure. When the surgeon finally arrives, you don’t want to hear about how hard she and her team labored. You don’t want to hear that she “gave it her all” and worked extra long, even cancelling her scheduled tee time. At this moment, trying hard doesn’t matter. You simply need results. When people under-deliver, they tend to justify their poor performance by effort exerted. “But we tried really hard,” the hapless manager professes. “Do you know how much work went into this?” the C minus student protests. Yes, it is true that effort is generally a precursor to results, but they are absolutely not one and the same. As leaders in our businesses and communities, we must hold each other to the highest standards of achievement — not just exertion. A city council that tries hard won’t get the job done. The business executive that burnt the midnight oil but missed the forecast might as well have gone to bed early. “What gets measured gets improved,” the old saying goes. What are you measuring in your own performance? How are you holding yourself and those around you accountable? Let’s commit to staying focused on the scoreboard while plotting out a successful game plan. When looking at the challenges our communities face, we must have laser beam focus on delivering tangible results. ‘Working hard’ to repair streetlights, ensure public safety, or deliver critical city services just doesn’t carry the day. It takes leaders from all walks of life to rally behind a unified effort to deliver real change instead of hype or excuses. It’s easy to hide in the shadows of best efforts when results remain elusive. It’s time for us all to shift our energy from trying to doing. From rhetoric to action. From planning it out to getting it done. A valiant effort just won’t cut it. Let’s all commit to delivering real, tangible results. Our companies, communities, and families will all win as a result. In the infamous words of Yoda, “Do or do not. There is no try.” Planning your next event? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to schedule your ideal speaker and make your event a success! By Ron Culberson. With a master’s degree in social work, Ron Culberson spent the first part of his career working in a large hospice organization as a clinical social worker, middle manager, and senior leader. As a speaker, humorist, and author of "Do it Well. Make it Fun.The Key to Success in Life, Death, and Almost Everything in Between", he has delivered more than 1,000 presentations to associations, government agencies, non-profit organizations, and corporations. His mission is to change the workplace culture so that organizations are more productive and staff are more content. He was also the 2012-2013 president of the National Speakers Association and is a recognized expert on the benefits of humor and laughter.
If you’re over 50 and you haven’t had a colonoscopy, pick up the phone and schedule one right now. There’s no good excuse to avoid it. Unless, of course, you object to purging your entire digestive system and then letting a doctor (who, by the way, chose to focus on patients’ hind quarters for a living) insert a small, and by small I mean huge, video camera up inside you to check for abnormalities. If that’s your objection, you’re in good company. But, colonoscopies save lives so I suggest you get over your explorarectaphobia and just do it. Knowing the importance of colonoscopies for detecting treatable cancer, I told my physician that I wanted to schedule one right after I turned 50. And no, I don’t have some weird fascination with digestive photography. It’s just that I worked in hospice care and know the value of preventive procedures. So, I contacted the local Colonoscopies R Us Supercenter and picked a time in January when my speaking schedule tends to be slower. I completed a 750-item, pre-procedure questionnaire that asked for my medical history, my eating habits, my bowel routines, and whether the bathroom plumbing in our house worked properly. That last question gave me pause. I returned the forms and several days later I received an instruction sheet with a prescription for MoviPrep which is described as a “dynamic cleansing solution.” I was impressed by the clever name and quickly discovered that it was not referring to the anticipation of a blockbuster cinema experience. If you’re not familiar with the colonoscopy process, let me explain. Basically, the procedure involves inserting a camera-equipped tube into your colon as a way to detect abnormalities, especially cancer. From what I’ve heard, the procedure itself is easy—BECAUSE YOU ARE ASLEEP. It’s the preparation process that deters most reasonable humans because you have to eliminate any visual obstacle from your colon so that the camera has a clear view. This is where MoviPrep comes in…or out as it were. MoviPrep is a NASA-grade laxative that cleans you out from the top of your colon to…well…Uranus. One must drink thirty-two ounces of MoviPrep the night before the procedure and another thirty-two ounces on the morning of the procedure. The day before my colonoscopy, I was not allowed to ingest anything but clear fluids. So, I stocked up on a variety of bouillon, sparkling drinks, fruit juices, and teas as a way to trick my body into thinking that I was eating. I woke up and had a lovely breakfast of bouillon and tea. By 7:30 am, I was famished. As the morning drug on, I considered chewing up an Oreo and then spitting it out just to experience the flavor and texture of food. But I was afraid that a piece of the cookie might slip into my colon leading the doctor to schedule a more extensive exploration. So I just drank lots of bouillon, juices, and teas. At 5:00 p.m., the real fun began. It was time to start drinking the first round of MoviPrep. The solution was premixed and tasted like a combination of aspirin and chrome with a hint of lemon. The consistency reminded me of watered down kindergarten glue and I had to choke down four eight-ounce glasses during this first round. To make the ingestion process a little more fun, I used a fancy mug that I had purchased from the Kiawah Island Golf Resort. You see, I had played a crappy game of golf at Kiawah so it was the perfect glass for drinking this (literally) crappy MoviPrep solution. The first eight-ounce glass wasn’t too bad. But I had held my breath. The second glass didn’t go down as easily. I accidentally breathed on the second swallow and the memory of the taste was permanently ingrained in my brain. The third glass made me frumph. A frumph is a rapid cough-burp-heave sequence that leaves you wondering if something is going to come back up. But I got through that glass without incident. I had to force the last eight ounces down. I experienced multiple frumphs. Then I waited. Fifteen minutes. Thirty minutes. Forty-five minutes. One hour. At about the seventy-eight minute mark, the MoviPrep started to work. It began with a rumble that snaked its way down my digestive tract and then burst through like an NFL lineman. I barely made it to the bathroom in time. I finished, went back to my chair, and the rumbling started again. This would be my MoviPrep experience for the next three hours. After that, the process began to slow down. By 10:30, I was done. The final count was seventeen MoviPrep “moments.” I estimated that I was 20 pounds lighter at that point and no longer wanted anything to eat because I knew it would come right back out. I was exhausted. Then, something unexpected happened. Something that was not on the prep sheet nor in any of the pre-procedure instructions. It was the worst possible outcome after five hours of continuous colon cleansing. It was a phone call from the doctor’s office. “Mr. Culberson. This is Mary at Dr. Jones’ office. Due to the impending snow storm, our office will be closed tomorrow. We’ll need to reschedule your colonoscopy.” In a fit of rage, I threw the next morning’s round of MoviPrep solution out the kitchen window. The strain sent me back to the bathroom. But, my procedure was rescheduled and I made it through another MoviPrep experience. There were no issues found during the colonoscopy and I’m pleased to say that it all worked out in the end. So my advice to you is get your colonoscopy but just check the weather forecast first. Planning your next event? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to schedule your ideal speaker and make your event a success! |
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