It's All About Me After All

Since May I have been working with a new client. It has always amazed me how much similarity there are between groups. Usually I am told that there is no way I can help them unless I know there business. But it is not about the business. It’s all about the “me” in the organization. That is the part that no one in the organization understands. This is the territory that I travel.

When working with teams, I no longer talk about having a positive attitude. Most people hear “positive attitude” as a platitude and they are tired of hearing that if they are just positive all the frustrating things will go away. The frustration remains because it has not been dealt with plus now they have to smile about it.

Yet it is all about the “me”. Not the attitude but rather the point of view of the “me”. What does the various “mes” feel about change the organization is taking? Point of view is defined as an individual’s opinions or set of beliefs which shapes their attitude. Many times these points of view are interpreted as a negative attitude. When in reality it is because from their point of view they do not agree with the direction.

The issue with points of view is that usually each “me” has already figured out what the fix should be. So any activity that doesn’t match what they think needs to be done (believe me they have been stewing over it for a long time) is not going to work. If I work with a production team, that is fully convinced that the issue is with sales, will not even want to think how their processes may be affecting the situation. “We are not the problem you need to fix sales.”

What many people don’t understand is that what appears to be working may only be working because it is a band aid to help the organization. But if the organization wants to succeed and grow then the band aids need to be removed and the real work of improvement needs to be accomplished.

Changing points of view is actually harder than changing their attitude. Actually you need to change the point of view before you can effectively change the attitude. Otherwise changes in attitude are false and end up negatively affecting the changes you want to make in your organization. People will do things because they are supposed to not because it is the best thing for the organization. So you now have individuals who don’t care but have a good attitude. You want them to care. So how do you change their point of view?

Here is where the work begins. When you think of point of view you may think of writing or movies. At least that is where I learned about point of view. In these fields point of view is important if you want to truly connect to your reader or viewer. But isn’t’ that want you want to do with your employees? Award-winning author Alicia Rasley in her book “The Power of Point of View” explains how point of view functions as a crucial piece of your story--something that ultimately shapes and drives character, plot, and every other component of your fiction. I believe that point of view shapes and drives everyone’s thoughts and actions. How can you find the points of view of your team and how do you shift it that is the question. After all it is all about “me”.

Have you been able to switch the points of view of your employees? Share your success.