Penny Wise

Standing up and speaking up for what you believe in IS playing nice. That’s the paradox of the PLAY NICE system that I base my training and conflict resolution on.  We need to be assertive to balance our needs with the needs of others, and we don’t have to harm or hurt people, places or things in doing it.

Imagine you’re in a comfortable groove playing nice in the sandbox … and then everything changes.  Change is inevitable.  Things are always changing and we get off balance. 

A bitter phrase that I’m resisting is ‘the new normal’, because I won’t accept what currently is, for what will be. This is temporary in my mind, and in the words of my favorite author, Og Mandino, “this too shall pass” and it will. 

Getting back to business in this slower economy, gives us tremendous opportunity to sharpen our tools for business growth.  We can use this breathing space in the economy to strengthen our foundation of skills and knowledge to survive and thrive in difficult times.  As I always say, you can’t build a castle on quicksand.  Strengthening your foundation will help you make a MINT in this new economy. 

Connection…That’s the one thing that builds trust in remote teams.  Trust erodes with distance.  Our workplace sandbox has shifted, there are silos everywhere, and just the distance alone between us can crumble confidence. 

The grains of sand have shifted. People have settled into home offices, telecommuting has become the new normal for business, and the workforce connection is at an all-time low. There’s a better way to build value in training, educating and helping your team dig into the best sandbox play possible – Virtual Programming with my High Tech – High Touch Learning strategies.

In this time of social distancing and trying to figure out our new “normal”, many of us are isolated and learning to work from home.  Learning how to communicate and connect in this unprecedented time can be a struggle for many.   I recently had the pleasure and privilege of being interviewed by Paul Meyers of Clark Communications where we talked about staying connected and how to overcome some of these issues.

As I listen to managers of remote teams from across the country, the one consistent challenge is finding the right way to engage everyone. We aren’t passing each other in the workplace, gathering around boardroom tables, lunch room tables or the water cooler during these days because we’re physical distancing and many are #workingfromhome. So how do we stay connected to the goals of the organization, as a remote team?

What most people don’t know is how to ask for what they need. This is not a new deficiency. It’s old, and it stems from being reactive, versus being responsive. Asking for what you need can be humbling, and yet you can co-create your best results with this humility. Asking is an invitation. Telling someone to do something is authoritarian. You won’t have authority over other people’s behavior; you can however influence them with kind words.

Fear breeds conflict, and workplace conflict takes away from the resources we need to stay productive, peaceful and profitable in the currencies we are seeking.  Amidst this global pandemic, we are all affected in some way or another; from denial to fear and everything in between.