meetings Tag

24 Apr Navigating Workplace Dilemmas

Coaching offers clients a safe space to discuss workplace challenges.  Often our conversations focus on navigating interpersonal conflict, figuring out appropriate levels of information to share within a team, or strategies to get clear on what others are thinking. A great tool I often use in these situations is reframing.

Reframing involves consciously shifting your perspective on a situation. I ask my clients to envision taking the issue out of the anxiety evoking “picture frame” and moving it into a different frame. This technique is helpful when you’re feeling stressed about addressing workplace dilemmas. Here are three examples:

From Fear to Opportunity

Difficult conversations or disagreements can be overwhelming, and many of us instinctively avoid them. However, confidence comes through practice. The more you engage in these necessary discussions, the more manageable they become, frequently yielding easier outcomes than anticipated.

In my early days as a hotel manager, I was nervous about speaking with upset guests. Over time, as I handled these situations repeatedly, my perspective changed. Instead of dreading complaints, I began to see them as opportunities to transform an unhappy guest into a satisfied one. The more complex the issue, the more motivated I felt to resolve it creatively, benefiting both the guest and the hotel.

The Reframe: Shift from a “Fear” frame (“This is scary” or “They’ll be angry”) to an “Opportunity” frame (“How can I turn this challenge into a win-win?” or “This is a chance to understand and improve”). This change can turn anxiety into a proactive desire to make a positive difference.

From Fear to Empowerment and Trust

Deciding how much information to share, especially as a team leader, can pose a challenge. Often, the hesitation stems from a fear of misspeaking or potential repercussions, sometimes fueled by past experiences with rigid corporate communication protocols.

However, withholding information often backfires. Team members sense when something is withheld, and the assumptions made in an information vacuum can be more damaging than the reality. This uncertainty also consumes energy that could be focused on productive work.

The Reframe: Move away from the “Fear” frame (“I can’t tell them anything!” or “What if I screw this up?”). Shift into an “Empowerment & Trust” frame. Think: “Sharing helps my team do their best work,” or “Being open builds trust and stops the rumor mill.” See communication less as a risk and more as your job to help everyone focus and do their best work.

From Fear to Becoming an Information Gathering Detective

If I had a dollar (maybe ten!) for every time I’ve asked a client, “Have you actually asked them what they’re thinking?” and they sheepishly say “No”… well, I’d probably be sending you this blog post from the beach! It’s like we’re hardwired to play guessing games instead of just asking. But imagine how much easier problem-solving could be if we simply asked clarifying questions.

Consider these scenarios:

• A manager can’t figure out why an employee isn’t following instructions correctly. Instead of assuming incompetence or defiance, what if the manager asked, “Is there anything I can explain more clearly to help you with this task?”
• Someone worries about how going to the gym after work might impact their partner. Instead of stressing, they could ask, “I’m trying to fit workouts into my schedule. How would you feel about me going to the gym after work on Tuesdays and Thursdays?”

The Reframe: Stop the “I’m scared to ask,” “I should just know,” or “I’ll guess” cycle. Put on your “Information Gathering Detective Hat” frame instead. Asking clear, kind questions isn’t nosy; it’s the quickest and smartest way to understand what’s really going on, solve the actual problem, and strengthen relationships.

Applying the Reframe to My Own Work

Speaking of asking questions, I’ve been blogging somewhat regularly since 2008 – that’s a minute! Sometimes I’m not clear about what would be helpful to you for me to write about.

So, instead of guessing (my old frame!), I’m putting on my Information Gathering hat (my new frame!) and asking you directly:

• What are your biggest challenges when it comes to productivity or leading others?
• If you had me as your coach for an hour, what’s the one thing you’d want to tackle?
• How can I make this little corner of the internet genuinely helpful for you as you strive to work better and live better?

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Please share in the comments below or email me directly at [ellen at ellenfaye dot com]. I’m excited to find out what’s on your mind and address your questions in future posts. 

12 Mar How to Use Meetings and Breaks for Peak Productivity

Meetings and breaks are often viewed as disruptions to a productive day, but I’ve come to see them as essential anchors that provide structure to an otherwise unstructured day.

I’m not talking about a day where you have appointments all day long, rather one of those wide open days where you plan to accomplish boat-loads of work and where you see yourself getting tons of tasks marked off your list or make great progress on a big project.  What happens instead is the lack of structure results in lagging, procrastination, and the feeling you have so much time that you don’t move into action.

Don’t get me wrong, I can usually get a ton done on those days designated for “focus” work.  However, my productivity soars when I have a couple of meetings or appointments scattered throughout the day.  Let’s say I have a meeting at 11. Instead of frittering my morning away, my mind knows it has a couple of hours to complete tasks before I have to stop for the meeting.  This does two things:

1. It pushes me into action much earlier
2. It pushes me to push towards completion of the task I’m working on before the meeting.

Even scheduling activities like going to the gym can serve as a productivity boost. Actually, I love that as a pusher, since if I want to work another 30 or 60 minutes I can without consequence. It’s the idea that there is some structure in my day to help me be my best and do my best work.

I love discovering new productivity tools, and the stopping point is one such discovery for me. I imagine this is like what Frances Cirillo discovered with his Pomodoro technique.  Cirillo coined the term Pomodoro Technique in the late 1980s when he created a system to help him move through work with greater ease.  He built regular breaks into his work time.  A typical pomodoro (named for the tomato shaped egg time he used…pomodoro is Italian for tomato) is 25 minutes of work, and a 5-minute break  repeated 4 times.  You know when a break is coming, which is helpful  to keep you working.  I personally get frustrated with the 25-minute/5-minute cycle. I’m just getting into flow at 25 minutes and the last thing I want to do is stop. And 5 minutes is certainly not a long enough break for me.  But since we can make our own productivity rules, I changed my cycle to 50 minutes on and 10 minutes off.  You can experiment with this as well.

Incorporating structure into an otherwise unstructured day, along with strategically timed breaks, offers a powerful opportunity to test and discover the ideal amount of structure you need to do your best work and reach your peak productivity.