Getting Ahead in Unfair Places
If fairness fosters people and prosperity and its opposite strikes down talent, why are we missing its marks?
Getting Ahead in Unfair Places
More importantly, new research shows what happens when evenhandedness clearly goes missing. Far too many leaders have come to us at Mita, feeling beat down, bullied and helpless. You?
Heard frustrations recently?
Increasingly, we hear success stoppers being expressed in words such as:
“She interrupts me constantly yet refuses to hear my perspective.”
“He demands his way, restates his priorities and refuses to open to new approaches from others.”
“Putting others down to make herself feel confident, is a daily practice.”
“Politics plays a bigger part than talent or growth at work.”
“It’s all about money, and nothing about people or workplace wellbeing.”
We know that productivity goes up and frustration goes down in fair climates. So ….
How can you cultivate fairness that improves your situation?
It may be that greed that runs amuck at work. Perhaps people get trampled in unjust ways simply by being in a broken workplace. Have you seen it happen?
Contrary to popular belief, you can get good at creating sprite-like settings even while still stuck in resistant ruts.
On this note, I recently discussed how to design and enjoy a life worth living – with radio host Mandie Crawford.
Check out this Gratitude Radio Show to assess your opportunities to foster fairness.
Bridge where you stand to get to where you aspire
It’s possible to cultivate connections between where you stand now and that castle on the mountain top you’d like to occupy. Research shows people are most creative when they feel they are making meaningful progress.
Begin to outfox frustrations by risking a new direction toward better outcomes. How so? As a 14-year old kid alone on the streets in Halifax Nova Scotia, I reframed what to expect as fair.
Only when I focused on thankfulness, for example, did I find excellence in and around me. If I can can create fair pathways, why not you?
Build a quintessential roadmap for novel opportunities, through focusing on fair walkways, in spite of injustices you face. How so?
Strike at roots – don’t hack at leaves
The ability to shape ethical pathways forward is more essential than ever if you work in a cutthroat economy. It’s one thing to do well because you are treated well, but ongoing progress rarely rolls along an easy path.
Henry Thoreau claimed that for every thousand people hacking at the leaves of evil, there is one striking at the roots.
You cultivate your own fair setting when you look to your capabilities that produce sustained superior results. In the face of unfairness, top performers survive with 5 tools that flummox unfair opponents.
5 Tips to leap forward in unfair workplaces
1. Play, play, play. Take a golf lesson, Invite a friend for a tennis match or take a child fishing. Allow play to step you outside of work and your brain will rewire beyond adversity.
Play’s as innate to the human brainpower as waves to oceans, and yet it’s rarely found alive and well in unfair circles. Why so?
New evidence for the power of play shows how unfair settings develop and reward talent of a few only. Sir Ken Robinson, for example, illustrates how critical problems go unsolved while some of the finest minds get blocked from the learning process.
Play reaches beyond traditional games. Have you ever had fun with questions such as, What if…? or Have you thought about …? During playful exchanges, trust begins to build new pathways to grow fairness together.
2. Reset inner voice controls. Research shows how your inner discourse holds a mighty influence on mental and emotional health. Surprising as it may be to some, self-talk literally determines your success opportunities, and predicts your wins.
Does your inner dialogue fortify everyday possibilities?
Self-talk that fuels courage and confidence. It can free you to develop and use new talents. It’s merely a matter of upgrading from victim mode to possibility self-talk.
Reboot inner monologues before naysaying becomes your self-fulfilling prophecy.
3. Ask what if … and laugh. Humor opens new segues beyond unfair situation in that tensions flee in the wake of a simple joke.
Yes, you can boost brainpower to find more equity, over a funny faux pas, what holds you back at work? A Brain on Laughter may be the best elixir of humankind, and yet still tops the missing -list in most workplaces.
Does hilarity hail from your circles to replace the doom that comes from media or doom-sayers?
If you cut up over one-liners – you’ve likely also seen humor’s upshot into insights. You may not know however, that amusement’s even more effective when people laugh at themselves.
Smile to lift morale, reduce tension or communicate differences in side-splitting style, and expect wellbeing to follow.
4. Sketch a dream to chase and then take one step in that direction.
Change often feels anything but easy. In fact I published an ebook to show how to avoid tanking your talents, in the process of leading change.
It takes a mental makeover to find and capture a lofty dream.
Simply start where you stand. Transform stress into triumphs that come to those who us curiosity to chase a visible dream.
5. Thank somebody for something. Fairness doesn’t mean similar benefits to those who work hard and those who milk a system for handouts.
Rather fairness demands tough minded ethics and robust mindsets that deliver scalable benefits in return for efforts and talents worth thanking. To find worth and give thanks is to escalate fairness for all. How so?
You can create an oasis of sorts, even when confronted with unfair situations, by thanking those who level playing fields by fair practices.
Victor or Victim?
When words, actions and trust build together – possibilities open up – even in impossible settings.
So what shuts down new opportunities where you work?
Perhaps more importantly, What words, actions and trust tactics could move you beyond impossibilities today?
YOUR TURN! Join our Brain Based Circles! Would love to meet you at any of the following!
Brain Leaders and Learners Blog
Mita Brain Center Facebook
efweber on Pinterest
@ellenfweber on Twitter
ellenfweber on Instagram
Ellen Weber on Google+
Ellen Weber on LinkedIn
Created by Ellen Weber, Brain Based Tasks for Growth Mindset