Thursday, June 30, 2016

Discovering the WAY at Work

I have been a mind-driven person all my life, and only rolled my eyes in earlier years when people discussed their feelings. Needless to say, my relationships with my colleagues was a bit rocky on occasions, especially when I wanted to push through my ideas with the determination of a bull-dog, with little consideration of how people felt in the process.

But then halfway through my career I attended a seminar at which the presenter told us about the magic triangle of process, relationships and outcome. I took that to mean that of course we should try to get the desired outcome that we aspire to implement, but that we should be considerate of the opinions of others who might have different ideas, and work out a process that takes at least all views into consideration before we make up our mind.

Needless to say, I have become way more popular with my colleagues after I adopted this kind of approach in all of our group discussions. But then I took this whole concept to the next level thanks to the TAO. The WAY taught me that while having an opinion on the desired outcome is all good, but that this opinion is meaningless unless corroborated with the views of others, and the process that brings the different perspectives together. Thanks to the WAY I have made a 180 degree turn from being inflexible and set in my ways to being flexible and being curious what the problem statement is all about and how it can be solved with the help of everyone.

Today I specialize in leading a group of experts, and have become really good at it. The secret of the WAY is that everyone and everything matters, yet nothing does. Take everything into considerations, what others say, surprises, problems, hunches and straight-forward insights. Yet, at the same time, relax and don't take yourself so seriously. Simply follow the WAY to the best of your abilities, and your career, happiness and peace of mind will thank you for it.

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