Workplace detox: Overcoming workplace insanity

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The toxic culture of your workplace has a huge impact on your productivity and performance. Even if you’re not the direct target of aggressors, the fumes may get you and affect your health and morale. For managers, managing daily aggressions such as bullying, incompetence, hypocrisy, and dysfunctional relationships, is critical in maintaining positive leadership and outcomes. However, leaders know that controlling what other people say and do is beyond their control, so often the onus is on their employees to arm themselves against their negative environments.

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It’s imperative to address workplace insanity at all cost. If you’re stuck in an environment that drains you of your energy, you should, foremost, remind yourself that your environment is not a reflection of who you truly are. It’s important to segregate the negativity of the workplace from your individual reality—both as a person and as an employee, in order to shield yourself from the demoralizing effects of your surroundings and maintain your performance.

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While it helps to cultivate positive relationships among your colleagues, finding and keeping valuable relationships can be a challenge. As you find and build good relationships, remember to focus on improving yourself, including your social and mental wellbeing so that you know how to protect yourself in case bad politics gets in the way. Never own up to other people’s behavior and direct your focus on the lessons you’ve learned from the experience. A moment of positive self-talk and detachment from your surroundings are as good as placing uplifting notes in your office or cubicle.


Emile Haddad is a principal consultant at Catalyst Business Coaching and Consulting, LLC, a Seattle-based business consulting firm that provides guidance and management tools for entrepreneurial success. Subscribe to this Twitter page for more links to informative sources on management and leadership.

Leadership in Business

Corporate culture and successful management relies on the interaction of teams and leaders in order to cultivate a positive environment. Leadership needs to be focused on not only overseeing projects and day to day operations, but also on encouraging team members to become independent of constant supervision. The best leaders create a positive morale to increase productivity throughout even the busiest times of the year.

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Unsuccessful managers and team leaders often make mistakes and believe that giving orders and double checking team work makes up all the responsibilities of any supervisory position. Theoretically, this is accurate; subordinates must follow instructions in order for a company to succeed. However, this management style almost always results in a less efficient department or team, as no one in the office believes or cares in the work they are doing.

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The best managers ensure that employees understand the reason behind each task, and foster an environment that encourages more output and better results through positive feedback, rather than fear of reprimand. Professional and constructive relationships need to be built between leaders and team members to improve team communication and efficiency when working together. Team members need to believe that management and leaders care about employees as people rather than business assets, which can be created through a positive atmosphere manifested by an effective leader. Regardless of the work load, employees rally behind leaders that show themselves to the company and make employees believe in them. Good leaders are magnetic in any setting, and make team members believe in a company message and culture. 

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Leadership is always far more involved than basic delegation of work. Leadership involves the management of people and finding effective ways to encourage and help employees. Visit leadership expert Emile Haddad’s blog for more information on leadership and how to apply effective leadership skills at any setting.

Leadership Involves Understanding the Logic behind Decisions That One Makes

You are leading a team meeting, and as you look into the eyes of your subordinates, a thought suddenly occurs to you: These individuals are quickly formulating opinions about whether you are a true leader or whether you are simply their “manager.” The two terms are quite different, particularly when the need to make a decision is at the center of the complex discussion.

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Many people who are in supervisory roles quickly discover the need to make important decisions effectively, but they often neglect the need to pay attention to the logic behind these decisions, according to Emile Haddad, a business consultant and coach. Understanding the purpose behind a decision that you plan to make will increase the chances that the decision will have a positive outcome

Knowing that you have to achieve a goal at your organization indeed is the first step toward experiencing success. Figuring out what you have to do in order to attain this goal is the next step toward success; however, many managers stop at this step. The third step that is critical in any decision-making process is pinpointing exactly why the decision has to be made in the first place. Knowing the purpose of the planned action as well as the expected outcome will enable you to determine whether the decision truly is the best option.

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People often explore the purposes of their decisions subconsciously, but they usually fail to discuss this openly, which allows for greater analysis of the decisions. Important decisions that may benefit from open discussion range from introducing a new product line at one’s company to merging with another company with the goal of maximizing one’s future profitability. When more people examine all sides of a potential decision and agree that it offers the best method for solving a problem, the chances are higher that the decision will have positive long-term consequences.

How sense of purpose drives businesses to success

Sense of purpose is the quality of having a definite goal for existence. In business, it encompasses the visions and missions of the company. It is also the clincher behind every decision.

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It is also thought to be the secret ingredient of successful businesses, like Virgin America, Walmart, and BMW. By sticking to their goals and principles, these companies have weathered the recession and have maintained a prestigious brand image throughout the years. An example of how sense of purpose works was when Porter Gale, former vice president of Marketing of Virgin America, turned down a lucrative offer by a company that manufactures juicy prunes. The deal was actually simple: the airline would get advertising revenue for sampling prunes on their flight. But Gale and her team refused the trade for the simple reason that the prunes didn't fit the vision of Virgin America's brand.

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Roberta Matuson writes on Forbes that a company's sense of purpose can be determined by one simple question: what difference is it trying to make in the world? Once the answer has been identified, it should be made known to everyone. By weaving it into the company's internal and external communication, it will become the core of the business' established branding and values. It will also serve as basis for hiring employees. Most importantly, it will provide a cautionary measure against activities that don't add value to the company. With a sense of purpose in the organization, everyone has a mission and everything works toward a common set of goals.  

Emile Haddad of Seattle is a business coach who helps various businesses build a culture of excellence in the workplace. Follow this Twitter page for more tips on business management.

Observation and the effective leader

Good leaders understand the value of observation.

One of the underlying difficulties in understanding just how effective leaders work is the depths one must go to observe.  Casual observation of effective leadership fails to take into account many aspects.  Upon closer look, one would notice that effective leaders tend to be very observant when it comes to personal matters. 

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Good leaders know how to observe themselves work, be it by introspection or through feedback from the people they lead.  By knowing and observing what they see in themselves, good leaders are aware of their own flaws and areas for improvement and can work toward self-betterment in due course.

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Fortunately for many who strive for leadership positions, the inner observer that is vital to the emotional development of a leader is present in some form in all people.  The task of developing this inner observer falls to the person.  Ways to accomplish this include, among others, undergoing performance evaluations and remembering criteria for judging performance.

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A clear understanding of oneself through one’s inner observer can help a leader develop and grow emotionally, which in turn can help the leader effectively guide and influence people to reach their common goals.

For updates from Emile Haddad, a business coach based in Seattle, visit this blog.

Authentic engagement: The first task of genuine leadership

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Honest. Courageous. Resilient. Real. These are some of the things employees look for in a leader with authenticity. As Forbes contributor Margie Warrell pointed out, “people crave authenticity,” which is why the most inspiring and influential leaders are recognized not "because of what they do but because of who they are."

This is something that Emile Haddad, a Seattle, Washington-based business mentor, agrees with. A genuine leader requires more than the usual set of management skills. Genuine leadership calls for authentic engagement which requires "a sense of presence to one’s environment."

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However, the path toward authentic engagement is not an easy road to take. Leaders need to be vulnerable in order to "get real," something that is not innate for most people as it goes against self-preservation. Leaders need to embrace their individuality without alienating those around them. They must learn to listen not only to their own ideas but to those they work with as well.

All leaders “have the capacity to inspire and empower others,” wrote George, et al. in the article Discovering Your Authentic Leadership published in the Harvard Business Review. However, they must be willing to devote time to personal growth and development to be genuine leaders. Unlocking the power of authenticity may be a tough task to accomplish for some, but those who are able to do so will foster a working environment where innovation, transparency, and enthusiasm thrive.

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Leadership essentials: Veering away from mental constructs

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Mental constructs, social norms, and conventions have made people slaves to a certain system, creating a barrier that may be preventing them from exploring new and potentially better things. Such constructs predispose them to certain assumptions or belief systems that influence their relationship to reality. Because they serve as “protection” to risks associated with life, these belief systems often restrict people from becoming productive citizens of the world.

Seattle, Washington-based business expert Emile Haddad writes that “when we are externally focused, we become unable to be present to what is alive in front of us in the moment; instead we are more likely to be responding to projections of our assumptions and mental constructs.” He compares such a set-up to impaired senses, where people only sort and filter for the familiar things that they want to hear or see. “In a way we are not quite connected to our center, nor are we connected to the environment around us; we are sitting at the edge of ourselves.”


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When projection is placed too far from reality, the thrill of life is diminished to its minimum. In business, for example, leaders and professionals in general are forced to comply with pre-determined tools, analytic criteria, forms, and processes. While these make thing organized, they also leave employees ungrounded and act in a less organic way. They may experience being directed to do the work, but not genuinely guided to display their best self.

“[Mental constructs] obscure us from the core experiences of reality, a reality in which each other’s humanity can be touched and attended to; an authentic experience in which our human frailties and vulnerabilities are accepted and attended to rather than avoided,” adds Mr. Haddad. Vulnerabilities serve as the epicenter of the human condition; acknowledging their existence can open doors to a myriad of possibilities.


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