Misc
The most common mistakes of rookie managers – #1
Years ago, I began compiling a list of the most common mistakes made by rookie managers. All of these I learned firsthand in my own management career or afterwards during 34 years of personally coaching thousands of new and experienced managers—from the Board and CEO level on down.
Not all of the insights arose from Instinx R&D, many predated it, but they were all given context and clarified by it, and certainly all of them arose from my lifelong fascination with the natural instinctive human learning process. So it is appropriate to include them on this Great Instincts platform.
I will share them here, one mistake at a time, in a series of postings … trying to keep them more or less in order of descending frequency, but sometimes the destructive consequences of a mistake will give it precedence over more common errors. On that note, one of the most common mistakes of a new manager, and certainly one of the most costly, is:
#1 – Forming a clique with subordinates who think more like you.
The most important advantage of having a team is NOT to share the load. That obviously helps, but even more important is—if you’re smart enough to arrange it—covering weakness with strength.
We all bring strengths & weaknesses to our work. Nobody is good at everything that is needed (although some might be good at pretending to be). The more you can arrange your team’s duties so every task is addressed with strength, the more effective you will be.
“The task of leadership is to create an alignment of strengths so strong that it makes the system’s weaknesses irrelevant.” —Peter Drucker
It may feel safer, when you’re green at your new role, to assign work to people with similar strengths to your own, but you will be wasting over 60% of the potency of your people. The primary psychological task of every manager is to discover and appreciate the differences in their team members; the primary supervisory task is then to harness them.
How not to think, if it makes your head or heart hurt
Answered on Quora today: What is the advantage of religious dogma over scientific evidence?
Gus Griffin’s answer: Religion is a great way to delegate the need to think, if you find that difficult.
Find someone—preferably imaginary—to do your thinking for you, and life suddenly becomes easier.
Not better on the outside, except in a lemming kind of way, but certainly easier on the inside. It works a treat to weed out all the imponderables and replace them with “should be’s”.
But surely it’s obvious?!
When others are oblivious to what is obvious to you, the same thing is happening in reverse. –Gus Griffin
Remember to celebrate the differences in people.
They did what???
For those of you who have felt puzzled or exasperated by the behaviour of far-right-wing voters in recent times, and their representatives, what you have been witnessing is an instinctively Associative behaviour pattern. This comment that I contributed on Reddit this morning will explain:
Their political orientation is a belief system – like a religion – not a rationale. They have elected some other trusted source to do their thinking for them, so you can’t get through by appealing to reason.
It’s not that wierd or complicated, actually. People who find it difficult to figure things out for themselves naturally fall into the habit of asking “What would so-and-so (Jesus, the Virgin Mary, Trump, Charlie Manson, etc) do” and acting accordingly.
The more people they see around them doing the same thing, the more sure they are that they are on the right track. Whether this produces positive or negative outcomes doesn’t come into it. It feels safer to be wrong together than trying to be right alone.
It’s deprogramming they need, not logical argument.
Well, actually, it’s Instinx they need, moreso than deprogramming, isn’t it?
Cheers, Gus
Are You Investing in the Right Solution?
More detail: The 8 Ways to Improve Quality of Life
OCD and Other Misleading Labels
I was asked a question on Quora today which is far too convoluted and long to quote but which amounts to: What can I do about my obsession re aging?
Here’s my reply: Thanks for entrusting your question to me. I’ll do my best to give you at least what I see as useful here.
Firstly, whenever we are dealing with conditions that are labelled by psychologists and psychiatrists – in this case OCD, Autism and other similar labels – we must remember that these labels don’t describe a discrete and unique condition like Mumps or Bronchitis. The difference here is that once the doctor knows that it is Mumps, then that diagnosis leads to a cure. Diagnosis should lead to an undoing of the condition. If it doesn’t, it’s not a true diagnosis but merely an APPROXIMATION OF SYMPTOMS.
The vast majority of so-called psychological diagnoses DO NOT cure anything – they simply point to what drugs to take to suppress the worst symptoms observed. In other words, the goal is not to cure, but to control.
So labels like OCD aren’t names that precisely reflect reality, they are simply category names for certain types of symptoms that can be affected by drugs in a similar manner.
In my opinion, these labels often do more harm than good. They give people the mistaken idea that their condition is understood by the experts. The only person who really understands a mental condition is the one who knows how to cure it so it is no longer present. Which means the vast majority of the psychological world are trained drug dispensers, not genuine mental therapists. (They may have started off in their careers wanting to cure, but they have taken their eye off the ball and settled for imperfect control instead.)
So when you say you don’t have OCD, but do have an obsession, the distinction is meaningless. Let’s forget about what the psychologists pretend to know from this point on and just look at what you know about what your mind is doing.
The broad thing you are telling me is that you have an obsession regarding the relationship between aging and certain numbers that makes you think along certain lines. I don’t mean to be rude in brushing away most of what you’ve explained to me, but the important thing to know here is the fact of obsession, not what the obsession is about. It’s like describing the pattern of bubbles that underlying rust is causing on your car’s paint job: it’s not the pattern that is important, but the fact of the rust.
Any obsession is a self-weakening mental condition which sucks your available attention away from other parts of life you could be attending to. To the degree that you don’t have power of choice over where you place your attention at any given moment of your waking hours, that is an undesirable and debilitating condition.
So the way to improve your mental wellbeing and improve your ability to live life as you’d like to is to increase your ability to PLACE your attention wherever you want to and reduce how much your attention is TAKEN by this aging/number obsession.
Deliberately and regularly performing a Mindfulness or Meditation technique is like “pumping iron” mentally: it gradually and inevitably increases your ability to focus when and where you want to. So I thoroughly recommend that you find such a technique you can stick with if possible. The Mindfulness technique I use regularly is here.
When a person has an obsession like the one you describe, it feels like the best way to deal with is to get to the bottom of it, to answer the questions it raises. This intuitive feeling is false: it is an illusion or even a delusion. The obsessed person is basically ADDICTED to chasing the resolution.
The way to conquer an addiction, such as being addicted to ecstasy, is to say NO to it: to refuse to respond to its demands. If you or someone you know is struggling with addicted to ecstasy, seeking help and support is crucial. It may seem as though this is impossible, that the addiction’s ability to command your thoughts is far greater than your ability to resist: but this also is an illusion. You CAN be stronger than your desire to resolve the issues you have with these numbers, and if you have an addiction to something like gambling there are always resources like a gambling addiction treatment which can help you with this. Additionally, there are great resources at this sites like www.private-rehab.co.uk. For those dealing with challenges related to addiction, seeking support from resources like celebrity rehab programs can be beneficial in regaining control over their lives. If you need help with cocaine addiction, you can click here for more information.
Like an AA member repeatedly affirming their commitment to resisting their alcoholism, you must develop an ironclad resolve not to surrender to the temptation of this obsession ever again. Remember, your determination can also inspire and help an alcoholic who is struggling on their journey to recovery.
There are far more interesting and productive and joyful things to be doing with your life that don’t involve thinking about aging or the number 2000 in any way – and the better you get at directing your attention where YOU really want it to go – and the better you get at saying NO to yourself whenever you feel tempted to go down that rabbit hole again, the better your life will get.
In closing, I will also add that IT DOESN’T MATTER how you got this obsession in the first place or how it might be an example of a logical response to life’s circumstances being displaced into inappropriate circumstances (which is the subject of my Quora answer). None of that needs to be understood at all in order to give you greater control over your life. Just keep on working on placing your attention where you really want to place it – and NOT where you don’t want to place it – and things will get better and better.
I hope you find this useful. I’m not saying it will be easy, but that is in fact the answer you have been looking for, even though it may not at first look like it to you.
Sigh …
Question asked on Quora today: What tools used in your profession get over represented by Hollywood depictions of your profession?
Reply from Gus Griffin: I cringe whenever I see a coaching session or a counselling session in a movie or TV show, because it’s always either a stereotypical rah-rah rant (like in Billions) or an overly cerebral fencing match … Well, what do you think that means? … (like just about every psych session in every movie since Prince of Tides.)
I have often thought of writing to the producers of some of these shows to offer some verisimilitude—but the truth is I’m just too damned lazy. Maybe some high-profile Hollywood therapist can help me with that.
Gimme some of that tuff luvin, Dr Phil!
Clay feet, who me?
Question asked on Quora: What do you do if a dad and his son walk by your son’s sandcastle on the beach and the kid kicks the sandcastle and the dad laughs and he’s enormous?
Reply from Gus Griffin: If I’d been clever enough to think of it at the time (usually I’m not) I would have called out: Do you really hate your kid that much?
When I had the guy’s attention, following up with: Keep on encouraging behaviour like that and you’ll ruin his life—if you haven’t done so already.
If he’s man enough to consider it, suddenly you’re into a conversation. If he’s not, chances are you still would have got under his skin, perhaps planted a little seed of doubt about his role modelling.
You’d be surprised what even hardened crims will take on board, when the welfare of their own children is called into question. Promoting survival of the next generation is probably the most powerful instinct we’ve got.
For the same reason, speaking up on behalf of his son is also unlikely to attract a physically violent rejoinder. (Expect verbal protest and defensiveness, though.)
(See also my posting from a few days ago: Naked ape see, naked ape do )
Change focus, change the situation
All mental problems are caused by looking in the wrong direction. All mental problems are caused by focusing on an inappropriate factor. All mental problems are caused by paying attention to an aspect of the situation which cannot result in a desired outcome.
Gus Griffin
Upset = impeded communication
Question asked on Quora today: Are lonely people more likely to start an argument just to gain attention?
Reply from Gus Griffin:
Well, I couldn’t rightly say one way or the other: I haven’t noticed that as a common behaviour pattern for lonely people, nor have I come across anyone expressing that viewpoint before. However, I like the way you are thinking.
Instead of just reacting to things according to their face value, looking for another way to view what’s happening is often extremely helpful.
For instance, the real underlying reason that any person feels upset is always because they are not feeling heard. Sometimes this has nothing to do with how well others are listening—it may be that the person is too reticent to actually express what they are feeling.
So they are preventing themselves from telling you what they want you to know. Nevertheless, they will be upset that you don’t know it. And it may appear that they are particularly upset with you, when mostly it is the situation and perhaps themselves that they are upset with.
Help an upset person to calm down and tell you what they want you to know about them—do it patiently, soothingly, letting them get it out in their own time—and you will be doing them a huge favour. Not to mention the significant improvement in relations that you are creating between the two of you.
