Improve What You Do and Smile:

Performance Improvement Tips

If you are looking at this, chances are that you are driven with a passion or compelling need to do at least one key task better. Maybe you see yourself bumping against the limits of your ability. If you have a history of doing what you do very well, you may worry about losing your razor’s edge, or you may pressure yourself to sharpen that edge still further.

You try harder, but your results stay the same, get worse, or do not improve fast enough. The more frustrated you get, the more you criticize yourself and your work. You may say things to yourself you would not say to others. You become self-conscious when others sense your frustration.

Whether you are trying to make decisions calmly, quell the butterflies, or eliminate the yips from your golf game, you are discouraged with the results.

Here are three performance-stifling frustrations:
1. Not fitting the job or task.
2. Not fitting the work environment.
3. Accumulated experiences that undermine one’s sense of what is
possible.

Asking yourself the following questions may help you determine your specific struggle(s):
1. Is the skill or ability you wish to improve one which you already
enjoy, do well, and want to improve?
2. Is the skill or ability you wish to improve one that you used to enjoy
and do well, but something has changed so that you have lost
your edge? (A painful loss, a setback, deterioration in your work
environment.)
3. Is the skill or ability one that has never excited you and you battle
yourself to maintain or improve your current level of ability?
(Perhaps you got into it just for prestige or money, or because of
family pressures.)
4. Does your pressure to perform come from within yourself? If so, is it
a genuine enjoyment of your work that helps you excel, or a self-
criticism which saps your ability to just relax and achieve?
5. Does your pressure to perform come from other people or from your
situation (a boss, financial pressure, your work environment)? If
so, does it help you achieve your goals, or does it hurt your
ability to relax and perform?

Keep in mind that the following is not the complete picture, but simply high-lights areas for consideration.

Not fitting the work:
Common signs you may be in the wrong job can include hating to get up on work days, chronically putting off work tasks, living for the weekend, or disliking central aspects of your job. Over time, too much of this can lead to depression and burn out.

Should you conclude your “take this job and shove it” feeling has to do with the type of work you do, it is time to take stock. 

Here are three tips for beginning to figure out what work fits you:
1. Think about what you enjoyed doing in your childhood, particularly
things that came naturally for you (Winter, 1993), especially if
you lost track of time doing them (Blotnick, 1980).
2. Make a list of activities you have enjoyed doing in different settings
(work, home, with friends, hobbies). Nail down exactly what it
was about doing each of those that you enjoyed most. Notice
what these activities had in common.
3. Accept the idea that trying out different experiences and figuring out
what kind of work fits you constitutes a journey of personal
discovery (Blotnick, 1980). 

Srully Brotnick, Ph.D. concluded that job fit is a big deal after a twenty year study of more than a thousand people looking for the personal factors that lead to wealth.

His study found that the people who were most likely to prosper—including the 83 who became wealthy—were those who found an area of work that captivated them. As a result, they willingly devoted tremendous amounts of time and effort to excel at what they did. Their persistent dedication increased their worth to customers and employers. This in turn increased their potential to stumble into unique opportunities for wealth (Blotnick, 1980).

In stark contrast were those in the study who focused their efforts on making money.  They planned to get wealthy first, and then enjoy their wealth doing what they wanted. None of them actually got wealthy, or if they did, they quickly lost their wealth. In the meantime, work itself became a meaningless burden to
them. Their careers eventually stalled or deteriorated (Blotnick, 1980).

On close examination, you may discover the reason you feel stuck has to do with fear of taking risks, or guilt about struggling in the first place. You may benefit by assessing where you are emotionally. Do you chronically struggle with self doubt and worry? Did you grow up in a home full of disappointments?

You may need to do some basic emotional housecleaning in order to know and appreciate the range and value of your interests and abilities. (See “Accumulated Experiences” below.)

Not fitting the work environment:

This section applies to people who enjoy their work and have a passion to do it well, but the work environment gets in their way.

The issue of workplace fit will be unique for every person. Lack of fit can make doing what you love difficult to enjoy. If your workplace is demoralizing, this can undermine your ability to discover, enjoy and capitalize on your true abilities (Blotnick, 1980).

Lack of fit may primarily reflect differences in personal perspective, style, interests, or goals. You may be more laid back and relational, but your work environment is driven by an obsession with tasks—or vice versa. You may want to try new things, but your boss is of the “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” variety. You may need stability and predictability, but your workplace gyrates with constant change.

From a broader perspective, some business cultures tend to promote employee unhappiness.  The books In Search of Excellence (Peters and Waterman, 1982) and Good to Great (Collins, 2001) focus on how businesses become more successful and adaptable. Both also describe businesses that discourage motivated employees.  These are typically high control, high bureaucracy, and usually underperforming businesses and organizations.

Peters and Waterman in particular detail the problems of the strongly top down, high control, bureaucratic organization (Peters and Waterman, 1982). This kind of business, according to their research, undervalues employees and does not learn from customers. Management’s attitude is one of “thinly disguised contempt,” where superiors see underlings as incapable of making independent decisions about their own work. As a result, employees aspiring to excellence find it difficult to hone their own expertise or to see personal benefit from their efforts.

Companies in which leadership genuinely values and empowers the work-force stand in stark contrast (Peters and Waterman, 1982). These companies tolerate employees’ mistakes as learning moments in order to cultivate “champions.” They tolerate diversity as long as it is consistent with core company values. “Excellent companies” encourage their people to develop a motivating sense of owning their own work.

In The Addictive Organization, Schaef and Fassel focus on “why we overwork, cover up, pick up the pieces, please the boss, and perpetuate sick organizations.” According to them, work and management can become addictive processes.  Symptoms include widespread chronic stress, vague and confused communication (double speak), a prominent undercurrent of gossip, secretive decision making, and discouraging the honest discussion of problems. The corporate culture radiates denial, confusion, self-enteredness, dishonesty, perfectionism, and the illusion of control (Schaef and Fassel, 1988).

Options for making a difficult work place more livable include:
1. Keep learning. Where possible, find good books, audio tapes, CDs,
and DVD trainings to sharpen your cutting edge.  Go to outside
trainings, or find or start a group of people interested in
developing the skills that fire your passions.
a. People who consistently invest in their education and training
tend to pick up information and abilities that set them apart
performance-wise.
b. Over time, people who invest in their knowledge and skill base
tend to develop confidence in their abilities and point of
view.
c. Over time, capable people tend to get recognized for their
abilities, and rewarded accordingly (promotions, raises, and
opportunities). 

2. Learn and practice assertiveness skills. You may want to start with
a look at my tip sheet entitled “Be Heard!”  Your value to the
business increases when you can calmly and effectively
advocate from your perspective in a way that promotes the long
range good of your boss and the business.

3. Identify 8 to 10 specific things you want in a work place, and 8 to 10
things that drive you crazy. Rate them in order of importance.
Like looking for the “perfect mate,” if you can identify these, you
may put yourself miles ahead of the average job hopper. With
these in mind you can strategically interview potential employers,
not randomly job-hop and hope to “luck out.” You may want to
interview employees of the businesses you are considering on an
informal basis by asking for advice or getting their perspective on
where they work.

While no guarantees exist, your odds of finding what you want will
improve if you can recognize what you want. In addition, you will
likely appreciate a work place that gives you much of what you
have identified as important to you.

4. Do not burn bridges. An ex-supervisor who values you and your work
can be helpful. You can bump into your boss or former
colleagues with a clear conscience. You can ask for a
recommendation letter down the road with confidence. You may
be able to return or get useful advice if things don’t work out the
way you planned.

Accumulated experiences that limit you or get in your way:

From a very early age, we accumulate experiences that tell us how good or bad we are, how capable or inept we are, and how safe or threatened we are. We conclude whether we are lovable and forgivable from what these experiences teach us about ourselves. As children we gather them from our parents, our siblings, our friends, our school mates, our teachers and coaches. As adults we gather them from our partners, bosses and co-workers.

Early experiences strongly shape what we believe about experiences that come later. For example, if we grew up being criticized, we can easily discount heart felt compliments we receive now, or feel devastated by corrective advice.

In business, signs that these experiences are creating problems in your thinking, emotions, and physical body might include the following:
1. You chronically over-think decisions.
2. You are often anxious or afraid when doing certain aspects of your
work.
3. You never do enough or get things perfect enough to silence the
critic in your head.
4. You freeze, feel confused, or become enraged when dealing with
difficult people.
5. You find “everyone” is becoming difficult lately.
6. You defer to others when you are in the best position to make the
decision or take action.
7. You tend to make decisions that could be pushed down to the next
level. You do not get to do your job. Others don’t get to hone
their own decision making abilities.
8. You feel guilty asking others to do their job.
9. You have chronic muscle tension or stress headaches from
overwork.
10. You spend evenings at home and days off either working or
recovering from work.
11. You self-medicate with alcohol, drugs, or sex to find relief.

People who have benefitted from experiential process therapy typically describe themselves as being more synchronous with themselves and their work environment. They report the following:
•Controlling less and leading more.
•Taking meaningful risks more easily.
•Talking with others more effectively.
•Handling difficult people and situations better.
•Problem solving more effectively because they are more relaxed.
•Staying calmer and more focused on solutions.
•Picking up the phone instead of staring at it.
•Enjoying a better balance between home and work.
•Improving work and family relationships.
•Coming to terms with old mistakes and failures.
•Saying “No,” or “Yes” more easily.
•Asking for the sale more easily.
•Making better decisions.
•Finally deciding whether to leave or move on.
•Enjoying their work more.

Relating to sports performance, David Grand points out that the collagen in muscles’ connective tissue (fascia) can shorten and harden with chronic tension (Grand, “Brainspotting,” n.d.) The effect in sports performance is that a muscle or group of muscles can lose their fluidity of movement from repeated injury, which in turn can lead to the same happening in other muscles as they accommodate previously injured muscles. He states that the result over time the athlete’s performance deteriorates as a result. In working with athletes, he has adapted process therapies to address multiple past injuries and emotional traumas that include difficult coaches, childhood neglect or abuse, and traumatic events. Grand asserts his strategies often result in smoother, more relaxed motion leading to better athletic performance (Grand, “Natural Flow EMDR,” n.d.).

Dr. Grand has also adapted EMDR and his own Brainspotting techniques to help actors dramatically improve their immersion in the characters they play.

References:

Blotnick, Srully. Getting Rich Your Own Way. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1980. (Research funded in part by the National Science Foundation.)
Grand, David. Brainspotting. David Grand, www.biolateral.com., n.d.
Grand, David. Natural Flow EMDR (video training series). David Grand, www.biolateral.com., n.d.
Peters, Thomas J. and Robert H. Waterman, Jr. In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best Run Companies. New York: Warner Books, 1982. 
Schaef, Anne Wilson and Diane Fassel. The Addictive Organization. San Franscisco: Harper & Row Publishers, 1988.
Scher, Barbara, with Barbara Smith. I Could Do Anything If Only I Knew What It Was. New York: Bangam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., 1994.
Winter, Barbara. Making a Living Without a Job. New York: Bantam Books, 1993.


Copyright 2009 Gordon Glessner
Gordon Glessner, M.A.
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
At Link Care Center
1734 W. Shaw Avenue
Fresno, CA 93711
(559) 439-2647 Ext. 143