Performance at work happens moment by moment.  And these moments add up to the tasks and projects that are your work and your career.  You can perform at your best by better understanding your behaviors in-the-moment, by training these behaviors to be more productive, and by establishing positive conditions for your success.  And as a leader or manager, you can transform your teams or your organization by putting in place behavioral fitness programs and the conditions that drive innovation and excellence.

AUTOMATIC Behaviors

Job performance happens, moment by moment -- in the meetings, conversations, and tasks that fill our work days.

When people are dealing with the pressure for results, tight deadlines and constant change, unproductive behaviors often emerge automatically, as if by default.  We may become poor listeners, give too little consideration to other's ideas, micromanage, or find ourselves fighting fires instead of working on our most important tasks.

What are the automatic behaviors you'd like your co-workers to change? And what might they want to change about you? Work should be about continuous development of these important in-the moment behaviors, but in most teams and organizations this is not what is happening.

By learning to be more aware of unproductive thinking and behavior in these daily moments, you and your teams can boost performance and head down the path to becoming more behaviorally fit.

BEHAVIORAL FITNESS

Well-intentioned managers and companies are spending valuable time and money to help their employees develop critical skills in areas such as emotional intelligence and teamwork. And working professionals seeking to get ahead turn to books, magazines, and other self-improvement materials.

But new motivation and a few days at the gym doesn't leave you physically fit, and likewise a few days trying to be a better listener or a more trusting manager doesn't make you behaviorally fit.  Changing workplace behaviors is difficult and requires practice, daily.

By thinking about the workplace like the gym, and using simple and science-based techniques, you can develop a training plan for transforming your unproductive habits and fine-tuning the behaviors that matter most to your own performance and the performance of your teams.

positive leadership

Leadership in my view is about putting in place the positive conditions that enable you and the people you work with to perform at their best on a daily basis:  the conditions that bring out and support individuals and teams in becoming more behaviorally fit.  

Yet, this kind of positive leadership is not widespread.  Large-scale studies by Gallup, Towers-Watson, the Corporate Leadership Council, Blessing White and others show clearly that across countries, sectors and roles, the majority of employees are not fully engaged in their work.  And research by the American Psychological Association reports high average levels of stress, with the workplace being among the largest drivers of stress. 

Using simple techniques grounded in hard-science, as an individual you can work more effectively by making simple and positive changes in the way that you think, feel, and behave in the everyday moments that matter most to your daily performance. And as a leader or manager, you can learn to put in place the positive conditions to allow your people to work at their best.