Monthly Archives: July 2015

Using What If for Continuous Improvement, Creativity and Better Team Collaboration

What IfThe term what if has been used by motivators and trainers to encourage people to challenge their beliefs and think of new ways of doing things.

I have been using this lately to spark creativity and better collaboration and teamwork. You can do the same whether you’re a leader or a team member working on a project. This approach works best when working on a specific project but it can also work to spark ideas to improve an existing situation or process.

How it works

When working on a project with a deliverable by one of your team members there is always specific tasks or milestones to achieve towards realizing the finished product. When someone presents their work for review and approval we either approve it or tell the person what we think should be different. Rather than saying what you want them to change, you could use the what if approach to suggest the change. It may sound like the same thing but there’s a subtle difference, which can have a powerful impact on the way the other person perceives your feedback. By saying what if you are not insinuating that what they have done is wrong, but rather suggesting a modification or alternative.

Ideally you would combine positive feedback with the what if. You would say what you like about what they’ve done and then use the what if to suggest what could be improved or changed.

Example

Suppose someone is working on a PowerPoint presentation that you’ve requested. They send you a draft of the presentation and there are certain things that you like but several that you don’t. The first step is to tell them what you like about their work and then you use the what if to suggest the changes you want.

For example if you like the template that was chosen you would point that out and why. You could say “your choice of template was well thought out as it really represents the image we want to project for this presentation”.

But let’s say there’s too much text and not enough images on some of the slides. You could say “what if you use powerful images to represent the points and reduced the text to a few words to complement the images?” You could continue to add more what if’s  to suggest more of your ideas. Once you start with one what if more seem to flow easily.

Visualization

VisualizationSomehow using what if generates images in the mind, not only for yourself but for the person receiving your ideas. This helps everyone get a better picture of what the outcome should look like.

Motivational approach

This type of approach is more motivating for everyone as it stimulates creativity and collaboration. Rather than receiving negative feedback and then being told what to do, using what if feels more creative and collaborative.  And if you suggest that your team members use this approach as well you could bounce what if ideas off each other and come up with some really crazy concepts that just might work and make your project excel and standout.

Get going using this now and see what if!see what if

Stephen Goldberg

Are motivated and happy employees more productive?

happier peopleAre wealthy people happier? They may be more comfortable but it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re content. The same can be said about employees when it comes to the correlation between happiness and job performance.

Last week in my article and video on employee motivation I wrote about the importance of having a job that meets with your work and personal interests. That’s the core foundation for good performance on the job. However if someone lacks personal motivation and good work ethic they may not be the most highly productive employees.

The responsibility of the employer in today’s knowledge-based economy is to provide interesting work and to engage people in continuous improvement initiatives. This will provide an opportunity for diversity in the work and have them contribute to the success of the company.

right working conditionsThe employer must also provide the right working conditions, tools and support to the employee so they can get the work done efficiently. This includes knowing what is expected of them and having feedback on their performance. Surprisingly this is not always done well in many companies and ultimately it is the responsibility of the person at the top to make sure this is happening.

Happiness is each individual’s personal responsibility. Happiness is a feeling that comes from within. When you do something that you enjoy the feeling of happiness takes place on the inside. That feeling that resides inside can be accessed at any time by everyone. Once we become aware of this and we know how to access happiness within we become less dependent on outside circumstances people and situations to cause our happiness.

Last week I saw a news report about how some companies had embraced a new training program that teaches people how to be happy. It seemed to be working for two of the companies that were featured in the video and they also claimed that it was having a huge impact on productivity.

But imagine if on one hand you are implementing these types of trainings in your organization and yet on the other hand people lack direction, do not have the skills for the job and never receive feedback. How effective with this type of a training program be?

12 Steps to HappinessA few days after seeing the news report I came across this article with an infographic called the 12 Steps to Happiness That You Create. I have included it here as I think it is interesting for organizations to use to educate their employees and to promote a culture of well-being. In fact you can print this infographic as a poster and hang it up in your company. However it takes more than a poster on the wall to motivate people to become happier.

One thing leaders can do with this infographic is to involve employees in workshops to come up with ways to implement these practices in your organization. Companies are doing this and it’s paying off. I wrote an article and made a video about this last year after hearing two CEOs speak about this at the sea to NTL conference in Montréal. In fact one of the speakers Tony Hsieh of Zappos wrote a book on the subject titled DELIVERING HAPPINESS: THE PATH TO PROPHETS, PASSION AND PURPOSE.

Hiring motivated and happy employees combined with the right work environment and support will definitely try greater productivity and performance.

Stephen Goldberg