Bruce Thompson Coaching

The post back in December about Identifying Corporate Procrastination has sparked a bit of a debate about the relationship and difference between Procrastination and Overwhelm. While procrastination is an internal choice, albeit unconscious in most cases, some people have reasoned that overwhelm is a frozen state when one feels overwhelmed by external circumstances, and therein lies a trap for the unwary!

How Procrastination and Overwhelm Affects Business
It is easy to assume that a company in difficulties is the end result of taking wrong decisions. However, it is often the case that the problem is delayed decision making rather than making a wrong choice. The reason why Managers delay action in the face of emerging risks will be explored elsewhere, but the consequence of failure to make timely decisions can cost a business in a number of ways, including:

• Unsatisfactory performance
• Missed opportunities
• Inadequate damage limitation

What Have Procrastination and Overwhelm In Common?
It is not difficult to understand that procrastination is a an internal process, but spotting the similarities with overwhelm is a bit of a stretch.

In order to deal effectively with Overwhelm, it is important to understand the mental processing involved in order to feel overwhelmed. If we believe that Procrastination and Overwhelm are different then it makes a solution more complex, and hence a greater challenge. However once we realize that overwhelm is just another form of procrastination then the solution is much simpler. In coaching terms, once we understand the micro-strategy which is running, then we can make a conscious decision to change the strategy, and so behave differently.

A Typical overwhelm micro-strategy goes something like this:

• First imagine the task at hand as a gigantic, looming mass of work of incredible complexity
• This leads to feeling that the task is impossible to achieve
• Logically and rationally it is pointless starting an impossible task
• This feeling in turn leads to putting off doing the task
• But we are now in conflicted with the task imperative, so the result is overwhelm!

Put like that, being overwhelmed is more like a conscious decision not to start something, or failure to act for some reason, which is a bit like procrastination!

How To Overcome Procrastination and Overwhelm
The key to dealing with procrastination and overwhelm is to understand that they are the same thing, which is an internal response to external circumstances. Once we take responsibility for the internal process then it is easier to make the change. All we have to do is Decide, Commit, then Act.

Decide
Decision making can be regarded as the mental process which results in the selection of a course of action among several alternatives. Every decision making process produces a single ¹ final choice. With the right motivation, such as a clear positive vision of where you are going, then decision making is straightforward.

Once you rule out the environmentally damaging options, the do-nothing option (this is overcoming procrastination after all!), and any choice limiting options, what remains are candidate options. The question we must ask ourselves, is which of the remaining choices takes us closer to our goals and the vision? If you have multiple choices, with equal merit, then invite your team to chose, or toss a coin! The latter is quick and easy, while the former gets buy in from your team. Either would work.

Commit
When you commit to a course of actions, you cut yourself off from any other possibility, including the possibility of not taking the action. To use a skydiving metaphor, you are suited, booted and out of the door; you can decide on when to pull the ripcord, or your final approach route as you go. If you are CEO, you announce what the result will look like, even if you have no idea how to achieve your vision.

When John F. Kennedy said “We choose to go to the Moon” he personally had no idea how that was going to be achieved; he trusted his team, and put his vision out there. That is commitment!

Act
Once you have made your decision and committed to your course of action, then Act! As Jedi Master Yoda from Star Wars ² is renown for saying “Try not! Do or do not; there is no try!”

Conclusion
To overcome procrastination and overwhelm all we need is the right positive motivation, a clear vision of where we want to go, then decide, commit, then act.

Note 1. For the argumentative or miss-matchers who want to know what happens if you are looking for two options, or a top three, then it is still a single pair, or a single trio, or a single triskaidectet (13) which matches your selection criteria.

Note 2. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980) © and TM Lucasfilm Ltd.

Procrastination, or failure to act, is one of the biggest challenges in business. Regardless of whether you are CEO of a multinational corporation, MD of your own limited company or a solo entrepreneur, all businesses suffer from inertia or procrastination from time to time. Identifying Corporate Procrastination is the first step in overcoming it.

Sometimes procrastination can be as simple as overwhelm in an individual, which prevents them from seeing past the pile of paperwork on their desk or the unread mail in their in-box. At other times, this can be collective paralysis when the senior management team has too many voices with conflicting suggestions, which make it almost impossible to pick out the right message from the cacophony. Or it might be the inability of a large organization to alter course in response to a change in the business environment, because of excessive or constraining process or legislation, or an over-reliance on historical precedence.

Procrastination usually takes one of three forms:

• Individual Overwhelm
• Collective Paralysis
• Titanic Obliviousness

Individual Overwhelm
In the first case nothing ever gets done, because there is no place to start. This is sometimes colloquially known as rabbit-in-the-headlight syndrome. The deadline is past, the opportunity is missed, or an entrepreneur’s business venture never sees the light of day. There are plenty of statistics about how many business start and then fail within one, two or five years, but no meaningful information about how many great ideas never get off the ground through procrastination. For a business coach or indeed another person taking an interest, individual overwhelm is quite easy to spot.

Collective Paralysis
The second case, Collective Paralysis, the inertia is procrastination in stealth mode. The subjects will be unaware that they have a problem. If it is the senior management team, they will no doubt be able to show evidence of movement or progress, with minutes evidencing the steps towards a decision, but still the net result is no actual movement. Sometimes this covert procrastination is covered up by excessive requests for further information, and an almost obsessive need to overcome all objections. This can quite often occur at team level, when too many people are talking but no-one is listening.

Titanic Obliviousness
In the third example, it is not always obvious that anything is out of place. The organization is progressing according to projections, all the numbers are looking good, there are no alarm bells ringing and the ship is steady underfoot. Unfortunately, the potential danger may be the iceberg somewhere ahead, so it is no use just looking at the internal gauges of progress. The need to change course rapidly requires mental agility, which may not be the strong suit of the crew that got you where you are today. One possible warning sign of this form of procrastination is that there is a lot of talent leaving the organization.

Procrastination Worst Case
The worst case scenario is a combination of all three forms of procrastination! An organization which is steaming along nicely and does not realize what lies ahead, a dysfunctional senior management team too busy talking up their own interests to respond to new ideas from outside, and a Captain or CEO who has spotted the obstacle ahead but does not know what to do, or has too much work, or just does not realize what is possible. Do you recognize that scenario?

Where To Get Help
If you are a solo entrepreneur starting a new business venture, or the multinational CEO, the last thing you want to focus on is failure. But if you address the common reasons for failure, you’ll be much less likely to fall victim to them yourself. That is the purpose of a mastermind group, and why quotes from some of the greats can often help.

• One of my favorite quotes in business coaching is actually from Arthur C. Clarke: The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible. In other words imagine what might be possible, and try it.
• Another quote which works for me is from Samuel Johnson – Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome. Allow sufficient time for the objectors and nay-sayers to have their moment, and then make up your own mind. Decide on the new course, commit yourself to your chosen direction by documenting your decision, and finally act upon that decision.
• In case you fall into the trap of thinking that you still do not have enough information to make a decision, then heed the words of Albert Einstein: Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Conclusion
All businesses suffer from inertia or procrastination from time to time, but a good executive business coach can help us identify the problem and point us in the right direction. All we need then is a little imagination and the fortitude to decide, commit and then act.

Resources
The Seven Pitfalls of Business Failure And How to Avoid Them by Patricia Schaefer

As performance coaches, one of the fundamental questions that we sometimes get asked concerns the Nature of Motivation. At the risk of coining a catchphrase, There are two kinds of motivation in the world, toward and away from. More precisely, there are two motivational directions, and each has different properties and different results.

Nature of Motivation (Direction)
Motivation Direction is easily summarized as toward pleasure and away from pain. As living beings, we naturally avoid pain and discomfort unless there is a higher imperative at work. Similarly, if there are no competing environmental influences, then we will move towards comfort, pleasure, and reward. So how does that knowledge influence motivation and ultimately performance?

In NLP the choice of toward or away from depends on the employee, and their internal meta-programs. In management coaching, it is important to understand the relationship between the duration of the motivating stimulus, and the duration of the effect. In simple terms, which is more effective, the carrot compared to the stick? Which one produces the longer lasting effect?

Away Motivation
Away motivation can prompt an immediate reaction, such as the involuntary movement of ones hand away from a hot stove. However, once away from the direct stimulus, the effect is short lived. Once your hand leaves the vicinity of the heat source, there is no tendency to rush away to the gym and exercise for an hour, or paint the spare bedroom!

This can lead to cyclic behavior like so-called yo-yo dieting. We are overweight so we go on a diet. We lose some weight, so the motivation is reduced. We lose a bit more weight and are now cured, so we go off the diet. Our old comfort eating eating habits return and we put the weight back on again. Back comes the motivation to lose weight, and we are off round the circuit again!

Toward Motivation
Toward motivation on the other hand, may prompt only a slow reaction, but the effects can be much longer lasting. When a goal is clearly in mind, such as a the achievement of completing our first marathon, the incentive to start may be small. For some this may be too small to overcome our own internal inertia, sometimes known as procrastination. However, if the motivation is real, and we keep the vision in mind, then we can start training, at first a couple of miles a week, and build it up slowly. It may be raining, or we have had to work late, but the goal of completing the marathon will keep us on track.

Effective Motivation
There is an long running management debate about whether employees are best motivated by bonuses and rewards (theory Y) or by threats of punishment (theory X). Supporters of both theories can show that their cause has merit. Threats of punishment will often give a short lived result, such as a boost in performance, but may only work while the manager (for which read stimulus) is present, to reenforce the threats. Long term rewards can work if the workforce is moving in the right direction, but are useless if there is apathy or procrastination. But which motivation is the most effective?

When Motivation Goes Wrong
Setting performance targets is sometimes seen as a balance between carrot and stick, with the implicit or explicit threat of withholding a cash grant or bonus for poor performance. However, once people lose the belief that they might get the bonus, for whatever the reason, the motivation can quickly evaporate. This is because cash is often motivation away from poverty, or hunger, rather than the pure accumulation of wealth. It lacks a long term beneficial goal or strategic vision.

Worse still, targets can sometimes lead to undesirable result contrary to the interests of the target setters. Government frequently fall into this trap, but so to can businesses and financial institutions, encouraging staff to make decisions targeting short term personal gains at the expense of long term profitability. For examples of when motivation goes wrong, we need look no further than the crisis in the financial sector and the problem of sub-prime loans.

Motivation Objectives
Most management text will make reference to setting SMART objectives which means that the objective is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Bound. However there is less guidance about the nature of the motivation behind the objectives. So how do we set objectives and motivate people to achieve them?

Take the example of Health and Safety. Every good manager knows that they have a responsibility for Health and Safety. Every manager committed to improving the well-being and productivity of their workforce would encourage their workers to read the organizational Health and Safety policy and all risk assessments which relate to their job. We can even set a SMART objective about reading all the relevant documents by a given time, and providing evidence back to management. But how do you motivate the workforce so that they want to do it?

Motivational Vision
There have been many great leaders who have made motivational speeches which have become milestones in history. A few examples are listed here, but there are many more, with the same thing in common:

• “We shall fight them on the beaches” by Winston Churchill
• “We choose to go to the Moon” by John F. Kennedy
• “I have a dream” by Martin Luther King, Jr

They all provide a stirring vision which galvanized their audience into action, and in one way or another, changed the course of history.

It is often said that other people do not much care about what we want or need. Harsh, but sometimes true. However, if you inspire them with your vision, then it will become their vision too, and they will move in the direction of that goal; the result of toward motivation. All we need is a little away from motivation to overcome procrastination, and we are moving! It does not necessarily need the proverbial kick in the pants from us as a manager; any environmental stimulus will do. That takes us off in the direction of utilization, and the work of Milton Erickson, which is a subject for another day!

As an employer you have an obligation to tackle violence at work under health and safety legislation. Failure to deal effectively with violence costs you in multiple ways, with poor staff moral, poor organizational image and extra cost through absenteeism, higher insurance premiums and compensation payments. Making a start to tackle violence at work makes good business sense and could pay dividends in improved productivity and reduced absenteeism.

There are five main pieces of health and safety legislation which are relevant to violence at work:

• The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSW Act)
• The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
• The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences 1995 (RIDDOR)
• Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977
• The Health and Safety (Consultations with Employee) Regulations 1996

You have a legal duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of your employees, under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. This duty includes all forms of work-related violence, which HSE defines as: ‘Any incident in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work’. This means:

• physical violence – including kicking, spitting, hitting or pushing, as well as more extreme violence with weapons
• verbal abuse – including shouting, swearing or insults, racial or sexual abuse
• threats and intimidation

Violence at work can cause pain and distress for victims, even disability or death. Although physical attacks can have a obvious effect, serious or persistent verbal abuse or threats can also damage the health of employees through stress or prolonged anxiety.

If you have a violent incident at work involving members of your workforce it is important to act quickly in order to reduce the effect of long term distress. Plan to support your employees before any incident occurs, so that the support mechanisms are already in place. As an employer you may want to consider

• Debriefing to give victims time to talk through their experience
• Time off work, possibly with special counseling
• Legal help in serious cases
• Providing training for other employees to help them react appropriately
• Reviewing you policies and procedures to reduce the possibility of occurrence

As good employers we can all work to help reduce the frequency and severity of violent incidents at work, and provide support for the victims if it does occur. Act promptly to reduce the cost of workplace violence to your business, and have a safer and happier workforce as a bonus!

Additional resources to help tackle violence at work:

• HSE Violence at work: a guide for employers (PDF)
• RIDDOR Incident Contact Center
• TUC Know your rights – violence at work
• Victim Support (England and Wales)
• Victim Support (Scotland)

Remember the old joke about the two explorers on the plain in Africa when they hear the roar of a nearby lion. One explorer quickly starts putting on running shoes, to the amazement of the other. “You must be crazy if you think you can outrun a Lion” says the second explorer. “I don’t need to outrun the lion” responds the first explorer “I just have to run faster than you!”

There is an ancient African proverb. Every morning in Africa, a Gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a Lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest Gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a Lion or a Gazelle, when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.

Sometimes when we are faced with change, often perceived as danger threatening, there is a temptation to pull tighter round the metaphorical camp fire circle and wait to see what will happen. This is where comfort and familiarity can be found, and it is easy to associate with other people in the same mindset. There is a facile belief that Lions would not venture into such a safe place.

However if we are in business, this is exactly the wrong thing to do. The initiative rests with with the first one with their running shoes on. When circumstances change in business, when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.

I am often asked about the nature of motivation, and whether it is an internal or external phenomenon. In other words is motivate something you do to someone else, or is it something you do by yourself. The answer, of course, is that it depends!

Some people are entirely internally motivated, and need no other impetus to get them going. They are often known as self-starters, and will stand out as having get-up-and-go or some other phrase which indicates internal energy. They are also often can-do people who need little convincing about the merits of a project before they are contributing ideas of their own. If you give a self motivated person a spade and tell them where you need a hole, you had better tell them how deep you want it, or you may find you need to back-fill later!

On the other hand some people seem to be externally motivated, and may appear at first glance to need considerable external management in order to get them going. That does not mean that they are lazy, or in some way less than the self-starter, it is just that they will need a better business case in order to start work. They will also probably need more information about the size of the hole needed so that they can deliver what is required. This is really less about motivation and more about understanding the task in hand.

In practice, people are combination of types, and the ratio may even vary from hour to hour depending on their interest in the subject. Many people will recognize an individual who is keen to get out and polish the car on a Sunday, but less motivated to polish the ornaments on the mantle. Some may even recognize themselves!

To some managers, motivation is something you do to others in order to climb the ladder of success. It almost goes without saying that there is an assumption that the recipient requires the motivation, otherwise why would you even bother to do it. If you can motivate someone, then of course you should. Well no, perhaps not. What is the effect of applying your own model of motivation on an already internally motivation person? What is the cost of providing motivation, in the form of supervision, is that necessary, required, or possibly even counter productive?

A Motivated Person Digs a Hole
A story I sometimes tell, concerns a motivated person who digs holes for a living. As a self-starter, they enjoy digging holes, and work to their maximum sustainable capacity and can do no more. Their unit of productivity in this ideal scenario is one, that is, one person digs one hole in one unit of time, for the purpose of this story a working day. To further simplify things our digger is paid $1.00 per day, which makes the unit cost of a hole $1.00. If you need the motivated person to dig ten holes, you know it will take ten days, and cost you $10.00

Anyway, on a project that needs one hundred holes, the project manager wants the job done more quickly than one person can manage. The motivated digger brings along nine motivated friends, who manage to dig the first ten holes in one day. This costs the project $10.00. However, the project manager thinks it could be done better.

On the next day the project manager promotes the motivated digger to supervisor, with a promise of a bonus for increased productivity, and sets the party to work. The motivated digger uses all their skills, but the day’s output is only nine holes. The project manager demotes the previously motivated digger without paying the bonus, and promotes one of the other diggers. The project manager is not happy that the unit cost per hole has risen to $1.11.

The next day the previously motivated digger sets to work with the eight motivated diggers and newly promoted supervisor. To be honest the heart of the previously motivated digger really is not on the job. As a result the previously motivated digger only produces 90% of their usual day’s total, and the group’s collective output falls to 8.9 holes. The project manager is incensed because the unit cost per hole has risen to $1.12 and he reduces the new supervisor back to digger.

The third day the project manager appoints an external supervisor at a daily rate of $1.10, and sets the party to work. However, with two demotivated diggers, despite the supervisor’s best effort, the total output is only 9.8 holes. Although better productivity than the previous day, the unit costs have risen to $1.26, and the project manager is incandescent.

As a last resort, the project manager instructs the supervisor to personally motivate every digger for the next day’s work. Despite reservations, the external supervisor personally motivates every digger, and spends the whole day visiting each digger and exhorting them to greater effort, but with mixed results. Half of the diggers seemed to be motivated, and responded well to the additional exhortations, and gave 100% for the whole day. Half of the diggers were self-starters who resented the additional pressure and interruption from the supervisor, so only produced 90% of their usual day’s total. Despite the addition motivation, there were only nine and a half holes in total for the day. The unit costs are still too high at $1.17, so next day the project manager fired the external supervisor.

Now in despair, the project manager sat down and began to doubt that the project could ever be completed on time and within budget. Just at that moment a wise old sage happened along the road and asked the project manager what had happened. After a few moments of explanation, the wise old sage nodded and asked the project manager for permission to fix the problem, which the project manager quickly gave.

Picking up a spade from the nearby pile of tools, the wise old sage handed it to the project manager, with the instruction to begin digging in the nearest hole, and whatever the temptation, not to stop digging until the project was complete. Bemused, the project manager wanted to question the instruction, but because of the reputation of the wise old sage, reluctantly complied. The wise old sage whispered something while passing the diggers who had been gathered awaiting instructions, and then wandered off down the road. Even more bewildered, the project manager watched as the diggers started work unsupervised.

Unused to the hard physical work, the project manager struggled with the spade, which seemed to have a mind of its own. Occasionally the project manager noticed that one or other of the diggers seemed to be watching, but remembering the words of the sage, made no comment. At the end of the day the project manager had only completed half of the first hole, however the ten other diggers had completed a hole each, so the day’s total was 10.5 holes.

The next day the project manager set to work with the spade and completed the hole started the sixth day, and then got started on the next one. The project manager again noticed that one or other of the diggers seemed to be leaning briefly on the spade, watching, but as they mostly seemed to be digging, let it pass without comment. By the end of the day, the ten other diggers had again each completed a hole, the day’s total was 10.6 holes.

The next day, the eighth, the project manager almost completed the hole started the previous day, and the diggers had again each completed a hole, despite the occasional glances, so the day’s total was 10.8 holes.

The ninth day, the project manager completed 90% of a hole, and the diggers had again each completed a hole, so the day’s total was 10.9 holes.

On the tenth day, the project manager dug a complete hole as did the diggers, so the day’s total was eleven. Amazed the project manager checked, and all the holes for the project had been completed. The project was finished on time, so the manager thanked the diggers profusely, paid them what was due and waved them goodbye.

As the diggers went on their way, the project manager noticed the wise old sage coming back up the road. Greeting the sage warmly the project manager asked for an explanation of what had happened to motivate the diggers to work unsupervised.

The sage replied that there are three things to know about motivation:

1. You can’t motivate people, they have to motivate and empower themselves.
2. Enthusiasm is contagious. If you’re enthusiastic about the job you are doing, it’s much easier for others to be, too. Different people are motivated by different things, but leading by example usually works well, as it shows how keen you are to get the job done.
3. People are more inspired by your vision than by you telling them what to do

The project manager was starting to understand what had happened, and how the job had been finished in spite if the earlier interference, rather than because of it. As the wise old sage started to walk away, the project manager asked what had been said to the other diggers in passing to keep them working so well.

“Simple!” replied the sage, “I told them that you were so keen to finish the hundred holes that you might do yourself a mischief, so I asked them to keep an eye on you!”

“Change is inevitable. Change is constant.” Benjamin Disraeli

How people respond to change affects their personal performance and the results they achieve. Similarly the way that organizations respond to change is a mark of their performance and success, and is often reflected in their bottom line.

When we resist change, we knowingly or unknowingly behave in ways that attempt to keep things as they are, and so put ourselves out of alignment with our environment. This is often either an unconscious desire to remain safe and secure, or a conscious desire to avoid the unknown. Either way the result is discomfort and tension. If our attitudes and actions are not aligned with the new direction then we are out of flow and less productive.

This phenomenon applies equally to organizations as to individuals; it is just that the dynamic is sometimes different. An organization may have plenty of people who are innovative and respond positively to change, but if the senior management is fearful and change resistant then the organization can suffer. Conversely, if the leadership is flexible and positive about change and innovation, but this is not effectively communicated to the organization, then resistance may manifest as unrest and unproductive behavior, or even open rebellion.

Regardless of the nature of the challenge, the way we respond to change affects our performance and the ultimate result. It is much easier to cope with change if we have a positive attitude to changes in general. This should reflect in the language we use both to ourselves, as self talk, and when talking to others, singly or in groups.

This doesn’t mean that we always have to agree with the circumstances or the details of the change, but we can still adapt to it in a constructive manner. The mark of an entrepreneur is the way that they respond to change and the innovation they bring to challenges. For this discussion innovation is defined broadly as bringing any new, problem solving idea into use. Having a positive orientation towards change involves:

• knowing what we can and cannot control in a given situation
• recognizing that disruptions are a natural response to change
• being innovative and creative while looking for the opportunities that change creates
• recognizing that there are a number of right ways to do things
• utilizing all our personal resources and strengths to actively do the best we can

Taking these attitudes on board as individuals and organizations can improve performance and outcomes. If we respond positively to change we can grow as individuals. Organizations that respond positively to change and innovation from whatever source will also flourish and grow.

To put the earlier quote from Benjamin Disraeli into context here, it might be better to say that change is inevitable and constant, but growth is optional.

Install a Positive Attitude to Change and Innovation today and see how performance and results grow.

While you are busy scraping the ice off the car and wishing you could remember where you left your other glove, spare a thought for those less fortunate than you, and consider how lucky you are.

Because you are out in the early morning, it means you have a car, or a friend with a car who is going to give you a lift. Some people do not have that human warmth, or that material possession, so celebrate what you have.

Because you are out doing that job, at that moment, it means you have somewhere that it is important to go. Be it to work, or the shops, on the school run, or to visit friends or relatives, you have somewhere that it is important to be. Some people do not have anywhere at all to go, and may feel that they have lost purpose. Celebrate that you have somewhere important to go, and a reason to make the journey.

Because you can scrape off the ice, even with one hand in your pocket, it means that you have a degree of manual dexterity and mobility. Some people lack one, or the other, and would love to have the ability to scrape ice off your car. So celebrate what you can do, and use those abilities to help others if you can.

Suddenly, temporary cold fingers while you scrape the frost off the car windscreen seems like something to celebrate, now doesn’t it?

Who can you help today?