<h3 style="text-align: center;"><strong><img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/Tz9uKlZGTDG3jKHVI03T" alt="toon_Micromanagement:-Stress-Patterns..." width="402" height="402"></strong></h3>
<h3 id="stress-symptom-1-obsession-micromanagement"><strong>Stress symptom # 1</strong>: Obsession &amp; Micromanagement</h3>
<p>The first stress pattern is a reaction to a perceived<strong> loss of control.</strong> This pattern of stress often manifests as criticism about who (or what) impacts the efficiency or accuracy of work. What it&rsquo;s about (underneath) is a perceived loss of power or status. Since the underlying desire is control and the feeling is to strive for perfection or obsess about being right, this often shows up to others as micromanagement and being critical of others who are less efficient. If it goes too far, the person will resort to discounting another person or group entirely and referring to them as useless or messy.</p>
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<h2 id="two-internal-needs-">Two internal needs:</h2>
<p>This stress reaction helps one to save face with themselves by temporarily propping up their ego with a false feeling of <strong>power </strong>and<strong> status</strong>. This short-term reaction where the ego strives to be in control and above others is harmless unless it becomes chronic or extreme in a way that is harmful to others.</p>
<h2 id="what-s-good-about-it">What&rsquo;s good about it? &nbsp;</h2>
<p>All human patterns serve our survival in some way. The positive aspect of this reaction is that it gives the person a quick boost of energy needed to solve problems better and faster. While the trigger is in motion, there&rsquo;s keen alertness to details and a strong drive to solve complex problems that serve stability. While it doesn&rsquo;t feel pleasant to be on the other end of this interaction, if others learn to recognize that something good is going to come out of it and relax while the person does their thing, it can have very positive results.</p>
<h2 id="what-often-happens-instead-">What often happens instead:</h2>
<p>Instead of waiting to see any positives that may unfold under scrutiny, others often get tangled up in their fears and get involved in the person&rsquo;s stress reaction while it&rsquo;s underway. When this happens, it can trigger alarms in others that the person is &ldquo;out to get them&rdquo; or &ldquo;looking to find their error to expose them&rdquo; or &ldquo;take over their job or situation.&rdquo; &nbsp;No one enjoys having their work fall under close scrutiny, after all. But there&rsquo;s another, better way. If we can all learn to simply notice this pattern, recognize the person&rsquo;s temporary stress and respond mindfully, we can help the person do what they do best - execute brilliantly. This requires not &ldquo;taking the bait&rdquo; and reacting to their stress. An escalation of stress-induced emotion is almost always counterproductive.</p>
<h2 id="a-better-way-to-respond-more-consciously-">A better way to respond more consciously: &nbsp;</h2>
<p>A stress response always contains some kind of positive effect if it doesn&rsquo;t go too far. As such, it can be helpful to point out to the person having the reaction that you are noticing their distress and inquire about how you can help in some tangible way. They may not take you up on the offer, but merely witnessing their stress can help them see the potential impact they are having on others. This can alert them to their unintended effect, so they can proceed with more awareness and intention. If we can remain curious about their reactions and offer to listen it can be very helpful. Saying, &ldquo;I am noticing that you seem stressed about something and may even be triggered by it, but that may also mean it is important for all of us to hear. How can I help?&rdquo; &nbsp;<em>Just the act of caring and listening can sometimes be enough to <strong>surface &ldquo;the golden nugget&rdquo; of truth </strong>lying under the surface of the stress reaction. </em></p>
<h2 id="the-positive-result-">The positive result:</h2>
<p>The acknowledgment that ordinary people don&rsquo;t just dream up stress and react to it without a good reason is often enough to de-escalate the emotional charge that could tilt the tension over into drama and conflict. When someone experiencing stress feels witnessed, validated, and heard, they can relax and focus on solving the complex problem. Efficient execution requires focus, time, alertness, and mental energy that is served by the temporary adrenaline rush of good stress.<a target="_blank" href="https://bit.ly/35NBQVt" data-cke-saved-href="https://bit.ly/35NBQVt" rel="noopener"></a></p>
<h3 id="what-happens-if-it-becomes-chronic">What happens if it becomes chronic?</h3>
<p>Acute stress is often good stress that helps us power through tough circumstances. But chronic stress is another thing altogether and can become damaging for everyone involved. The persistent version of this stress reaction is to become an obsessive <strong>workaholic </strong>driven by unconscious ego-fear. Unhealthy patterns can result when one is triggered by inefficiency or imperfection too often. In this case, one can begin to take out chronic frustrations on others with enough frequency to damage relationships. If this happens, the best thing to do is get the person some coaching to address the underlying root cause and surface the underlying fear so it can be dealt with directly.</p>
<h3 id="how-to-use-laser-coaching-to-help-someone-who-is-obsessing-about-control-or-showing-signs-of-burnout-">How to use laser coaching to help someone who is obsessing about control or showing signs of burnout:</h3>
<p>Laser coaching sessions can help others open their eyes to the pattern and how it&rsquo;s harming their influence with others and thus, ultimately harming themselves too.</p>
<h3 id="coaching-questions-that-can-increase-awareness-">Coaching questions that can increase awareness: &nbsp;</h3>
<ul>
<li>What has you so concerned about efficiency/control right now?</li>
<li>What are you hoping to achieve through critical thinking right now?</li>
<li>What do you fear most that has you thinking you need to control the outcome?</li>
<li>What do you need to let go of that will require others to rise to the challenge?</li>
<li>What will others never learn if you keep controlling things for them?</li>
<li>What might you miss if you don&rsquo;t connect with others who can help?</li>
<li>What is possible if you let go of having to be perfect or get it right?</li>
</ul>
<p>Sometimes asking questions like this is all that is needed to raise self-awareness in someone under stress. As coach, leader, or colleague, you don't need to have the answers but can suggest they might benefit from pondering their answers in their own time. <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/how-to-manage-stress-in-your-team" data-cke-saved-href="/Blogs/ArticleID/8/How-to-Manage-Stress-in-Your-Team" rel="follow">Click here</a> to learn more about how to manage stress in your team.</p>
<p>Note: This stress reaction is most common in a STRUCTURE <strong>Master Mind </strong>personality profile. <strong>How can you actually use this? </strong>Learn more about your specific stress reaction pattern by taking the <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Pricing/All-Pricing" rel="follow"><strong>True Tilt Personality Profile&trade;</strong></a></p>
<h4>View related posts:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/manage-impulsivity-and-false-starts-in-the-workplace" rel="follow">Stress Symptom # 2</a>, <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/overwhelm-and-confusion-managing-common-workplace-stress-patterns" rel="follow">Stress Symptom # 3</a>, <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/resistance-and-analysis-paralysis-workplace-stress" rel="follow">Stress Symptom # 4</a></h4>

The underlying desire is control and the feeling is to strive for perfection or obsess about being right, this often shows up to others as m

Micromanagement: Stress Patterns in your Team

The underlying desire is control and the feeling is to strive for perfection or obsess about being right, this often shows up to others as micromanagement.

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<h3 id="tips-for-team-leaders-in-stressful-times">Tips for team leaders in stressful times</h3>
<p>Stress has always been a problem in the workplace, but rarely has it skyrocketed as it has in the 2020s. With so much change, our brains tilt to the max with environmental rife around us. The most worrying aspect of this problem is the considerable effect of stress on our teams&rsquo; health. Even before 2020, <a href="https://www.stress.org/42-worrying-workplace-stress-statistics" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.stress.org/42-worrying-workplace-stress-statistics">Forbes reported</a> that workplace stress was on the rise and has increased significantly in the last three decades. Technology has increased the speed of work exponentially, and it&rsquo;s simply hard to keep up with the pace of work today. Worse, this stress is contagious and spreads unless leaders know how to recognize it and use laser coaching techniques to address and reframe it rapidly.</p>
<h3 id="what-is-stress">What is stress?</h3>
<p>Stress is the physical and psychological reactions to events (stressors) that seem overwhelming. When most people talk about stress, they refer to bad stress (called distress), but stressors can also be positive and motivational. For example, events like promotions can be stressful, but many people actively seek this stressor. Differences in interpreting potential stressors demonstrate another critical feature of stress - it is highly individualized. The same event could be understood positively by one person and negatively by another. The interpretation often depends on the resources each individual has available to deal with the stressor. A promotion when you already think you don&rsquo;t have enough time to meet your responsibilities can seem overwhelming. Thinking about stress as a complex interaction between environmental stressors and the characteristics of the individual is necessary to learn to minimize unnecessary distress.</p>
<h3 id="the-effects-of-stress-on-our-teams">The effects of stress on our teams</h3>
<p>As a team leader, we must keep a close eye on the effects of stress on our top talent and coach them as quickly as possible. What are the most common clues? The list is long. Recent stats from the <a href="https://www.stress.org/stress-effects" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.stress.org/stress-effects">American Institute of Stress</a> reports that physical effects can show up in numerous forms of pain, like headaches, backaches, neck aches, increased heart rate, fatigue, weakened immune systems, insomnia, stomach aches, and weight gain. Emotional effects are common too. Signs to watch for include: anxiety, depression, anger, irritability, restlessness, racing thoughts, trouble with sleep, problems with memory or focus, lousy decision-making, overwhelm, demotivation, and general loss of engagement.</p>
<h3 id="the-impact-on-team-performance">The impact on team performance</h3>
<p>Job stress is not only detrimental to individuals but also organizations. Stress can impact everyday performance when people are in pain or if they are in a bad mood. It can also have substantial effects at the organization level. According to the<a href="https://www.stress.org/workplace-stress" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.stress.org/workplace-stress"> American Institute of Stress</a>, job stress costs U.S. companies over $300 billion a year! In your team, this can show up as people skipping work, getting sick, not working as hard, or even quitting. As a team leader, we should be especially concerned about our most talented team members looking for other positions when stress starts to bleed over into their personal lives. As a leader, your job is to create a culture where your people love to work. Doing so helps them to focus on the contributions that they have to make to their profession versus being distracted by people dynamics that distract them from being productive. &nbsp;</p>
<p><img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/YWvzqQLTHuDERCkDMnn2" alt="undefined" width="353" height="353" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"></p>
<h3 id="how-to-help-your-team">How to help your team</h3>
<p>As a team leader, we are responsible to the organization for our team&rsquo;s performance and our team members as individuals. Our job is to define our team&rsquo;s culture and provide a place where they can work effectively, including mitigating stress. The following steps will help you address stress in your team.</p>
<h4>1. Recognize stress</h4>
<p>The first step in helping team members through stress is recognizing when it happens. Looking at the long list of signs above might feel overwhelming. And stress looks different for different people because an individual&rsquo;s personality influences the experience of and reactions to stressors. This distinction for individual differences means you have to know each team member to understand recognize how their stress manifests. At Tilt, we&rsquo;ve noticed distinct patterns of tension that are common to different personality patterns. The profiles include <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/micromanagement-stress-patterns-in-your-team" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/blogs/micromanagement-common-stress-pattern/" rel="follow">Micromanaging</a>, <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/manage-impulsivity-and-false-starts-in-the-workplace" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/blogs/impulsivity-false-starts-managing-common-workplace-stress-patterns/" rel="follow">Impulsivity</a>, <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/overwhelm-and-confusion-managing-common-workplace-stress-patterns" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/blogs/managing-common-workplace-stress-patterns-overwhelm-confusion/" rel="follow">Overwhelm</a>, and <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/resistance-and-analysis-paralysis-workplace-stress" data-cke-saved-href="/Blogs/ArticleID/15/Resistance-and-Analysis-Paralysis-Managing-Common-Workplace-Stress-Patterns" rel="follow">Analysis Paralysis</a>.</p>
<h4>2. Find the cause of the stress</h4>
<p>Many large-scale stress management initiatives focus on how people can minimize the adverse effects of stressors. Programs including meditation, exercise, and cognitive behavioral therapy are useful for decreasing the consequences, but fail to address what causes stress in the first place. Many of the familiar sources of work stress at work include issues that can be resolved by team leaders. For example, people often complain about tedious work, meetings (and now zoom meetings), not having any control in their jobs, or understanding their role expectations. Giving sufficient autonomy and clear goals are best practices for leaders, and it can reduce stress. Again, it is essential to keep individual preferences in mind. What may be a source of anxiety for one person may be what another person wants.</p>
<h4>3. Address the cause with the person in mind</h4>
<p>Once you know which stress reaction you see,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/micromanagement-stress-patterns-in-your-team" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/blogs/micromanagement-common-stress-pattern/" rel="follow">Micromanaging</a>, <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/manage-impulsivity-and-false-starts-in-the-workplace" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/blogs/impulsivity-false-starts-managing-common-workplace-stress-patterns/" rel="follow">Impulsivity</a>, <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/overwhelm-and-confusion-managing-common-workplace-stress-patterns" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/blogs/managing-common-workplace-stress-patterns-overwhelm-confusion/" rel="follow">Overwhelm</a>, and <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/resistance-and-analysis-paralysis-workplace-stress" data-cke-saved-href="/Blogs/ArticleID/15/Resistance-and-Analysis-Paralysis-Managing-Common-Workplace-Stress-Patterns" rel="follow">Analysis Paralysis</a><a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/resistance-and-analysis-paralysis-workplace-stress" data-cke-saved-href="/Blogs/ArticleID/15/Resistance-and-Analysis-Paralysis-Managing-Common-Workplace-Stress-Patterns" rel="follow"></a>, you need to consider the right way to address it based on the underlying cause. As you might imagine, addressing stress with someone who feels the need to take over projects and push them forward the same way as someone who is too overwhelmed to do anything won&rsquo;t be effective. Our method for addressing stress is first to accept the stress reaction symptoms while reaching underneath to find the golden nugget of truth. After all, no one experiences stress without first being triggered by a personal fear. The key is to avoid getting triggered yourself when addressing a stress reaction in someone else. Let them know you notice their stress and want to understand the value of what&rsquo;s underneath it.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://meetings.hubspot.com/alec-osiecki/discovery-meeting" rel="follow"><img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/DslGOZgRqiAFUSAFnFMf" alt="Tilt-cert-more-info-cta.png"></a></h3>
<h3 id="leadership-in-times-of-stress">Leadership in times of stress</h3>
<p>Stress has always been a concern at work. Especially now, with the increased stressors of a global pandemic, potentially working from home for the first time, and the social and political climate, it is even more important to recognize and manage stress. What it requires in terms of leadership is courage and leadership with agility. More than ever, we have to confront discord quickly and refocus our teams on productive relationships.</p>
<p>What to do as a &nbsp;leader in such circumstances? Our findings demonstrate that the leader who stays centered in inner confidence amidst the chaos is best at managing others&rsquo; fears. They exude agility, face reality, and focus on the opportunity instead of the problems around them. They understand the importance of <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/how-to-use-laser-coaching-to-drive-agility-in-your-team" data-cke-saved-href="/Blogs/ArticleID/7/How-to-use-laser-coaching-to-drive-agility-in-your-team" rel="follow">laser coaching</a> as a skill set that keeps the team focused on the most critical priorities.</p>
<h3 id="how-can-you-actually-use-this">How can you actually use this?</h3>
<p>Remember that understanding your team members as individuals is essential for managing team stress. We recommend starting by taking the <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Pricing/All-Pricing" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/Products/Assessments/Tilt-365-True-Tilt-Personality-Profile" rel="follow">True Tilt Personality Profile&trade;</a> by yourself. The report offers helpful insights into your natural patterns and how you interact with others. After you understand your tendencies, ask your team to take the assessment, and generate a <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Assessments/Team-Assessments" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/Products/Assessments/Tilt-365-Team-Climate-Profile" rel="follow">Team Climate Profile&trade;</a>. This report shows team leaders the natural patterns of their team members and how they can work well or poorly together.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>

Stress has always been a problem in the workplace, and worse, this stress is contagious unless leaders know how to recognize it. Learn how!

How to Manage Stress in Your Team

Stress has always been a problem in the workplace, but rarely has it skyrocketed as it has in 2020. Worse, this stress is contagious and spreads unless leaders know how to recognize it and use laser coaching techniques to address and reframe it rapidly.

<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/06DEoF8RBmvVXN2aXHtg" alt="toon_how-to-use-laser-coaching.png" width="402" height="402"></strong></p>
<p><strong></strong></p>
<h2><strong>A four-step approach to keep the workflow moving during stress</strong></h2>
<p>The biggest thief of energy in any team during periods of chronic stress arises from the stories we make up. And these stories stem from hidden fears inside us that produce what motivational speaker Zig Ziglar used to call &ldquo;<a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-media-psychology-effect/201311/stinking-thinking-and-expectation-bias">stinking thinking</a>&rdquo; in the 80s. Stinking thinking happens when internal alarms get triggered, and we act out by releasing those inner fears in unproductive ways.</p>
<p>We&rsquo;ve all done it. Someone says the one thing that gets you where it hurts. The rest of the day, you&rsquo;re distracted, annoyed, and much less productive. Your emotional center in the brain is triggered physiologically, and the resulting stress hijacks your amygdala, diverting vital energy away from the more productive prefrontal cortex. Worse, rumination about how to respond to the situation to get things back into equilibrium occupies brain power and diverts time better spent on work and output. It can happen to anyone, but the best leaders recognize the debilitating effect on team productivity and have learned to nip it in the bud quickly. They don&rsquo;t call it coaching, but that&rsquo;s what they&rsquo;re doing. They ask, listen, and help others reframe their thinking to what serves the team&rsquo;s best interests. And they do it fast.</p>
<p>Agile leaders are excellent at keeping their team focused on the mission and vision, instead of dysfunctional dynamics. They naturally seek to build team trust and integrity, two values that are the glue for team stability. For years, we&rsquo;ve observed what agile leaders do best, and some of the skills we teach in laser coaching are natural to them.</p>
<h3 id="what-is-laser-coaching-vs-other-styles-of-coaching"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpatIvNxYWQ" rel="follow">What is laser coaching</a> vs. other styles of coaching?</h3>
<p>There are many forms of coaching used by the coaching profession and by leaders in organizations. Highly trained professional coaches are usually practitioners of either action plan coaching or transformational coaching. Action plan coaching is generally what new coaches are practicing and helps provide support and accountability for simple habit change goals. Transformational coaching is much more complex and requires a deep understanding of the human psyche and the unconscious patterns that often drive surface behaviors and outcomes. Many years of advanced study and practice are necessary to help clients transform their underlying drivers to a more productive manifestation of their true intentions.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/how-laser-coaching-upped-my-coaching-game" rel="follow">Laser Coaching is a different approach</a> from either of the practices mentioned above in some essential ways. Very experienced practitioners are often attracted to this method because it gets to the heart of the matter faster. For this reason, it can be beneficial for busy executives, but with one requirement. Since the method drives hard and quickly to the truth, it&rsquo;s vital to ensure that both the coach and the executive have a healthy self-esteem. The approach is courageous and straightforward. Thus, ego-sensitivities can be triggered, and the coach needs to know how to process reactions quickly. For example, a revealed truth can trigger anger, and the coach must know how to help the client direct that anger productively into action, not blame.</p>
<p>Surprisingly, as a twenty-year veteran coach, I&rsquo;ve noticed that great leaders are often excellent at laser coaching. It makes sense this might be true because they are often masters at helping people reframe their mindset and thinking to forward objectives. They recognize that coddling sensitivities will lead to corporate politics and drama, so they excel at a few &ldquo;super-skills&rdquo; that are observable in highly agile teams. Indeed, laser coaching is a skill that leaders in <a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/341439">exponential organizations</a> must have to ensure speed and high growth in innovation.</p>
<p></p>
<h3 id="four-observable-super-skills-in-agile-leaders-">Four observable super-skills in agile leaders:</h3>
<ol style="list-style-type: decimal;">
<li><strong>Speed.</strong> Just like the adjective that describes it, what&rsquo;s best about laser coaching is that it gets right to the point and redirects attention to what matters most before crucial time is lost. Agile leaders want their teams to focus on productivity, problem-solving, and innovation. None of those brain activities can happen if someone on the team is stirring up negative sentiments about one of their teammates. Even if there is some truth to the story (which there often is), that doesn&rsquo;t make it constructive use of time. Agile leaders regularly challenge assumptions and play &ldquo;devil&rsquo;s advocate&rdquo; to ensure everyone thinks things through honestly and wisely.</li>
<li><strong>Courage.</strong> It takes guts to take a problem directly to the person who has you concerned and annoyed. Instead, what most of us do is take our complaint to others on the team to check our point of view. But that&rsquo;s the ruse we play with ourselves, that if our point of view has merit to others, then it&rsquo;s legitimate. This method of avoiding direct communication is called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangulation_(psychology)" rel="follow">triangulation</a>, and unfortunately, it&rsquo;s deadly for team trust. Why? Because telling someone else your complaints only serves to spread negative views even further. Then that person also floats the negativity with others. During all this, the one who could clear it up is left out of the conversation entirely. The super-skill is to summon the courage to go direct or coach someone to do so as soon as possible. Directness is crucial and points the issue to the right source immediately.</li>
<li><strong>Realism.</strong> Another benefit we notice in leaders who use laser coaching is that they help everyone stay out of the story and focus on reality. When most of us make up stories about others, what&rsquo;s going on is unconscious fear that arises from the past or the future. Believing the story in our minds makes it impossible to stay in the present. The concern is about previous experiences that remind us of what&rsquo;s going to happen or about the future experience we dread might happen. Agile leaders speak their truth as they see it, and help others identify the facts quickly, so stories dissipate rapidly. Clearing the mind to focus on the reality of factual information enables us to move forward constructively.</li>
<li><strong>Responsibility.</strong> After abandoning the story, everyone can take ownership of previous unconscious thoughts and reframe their mindset to align with their true intentions. Very few people intentionally plan to harm their co-workers. Their concerns often have some legitimate basis that is best resolved in conversations so each person can assert what they need and take responsibility for getting those needs met. When everyone takes responsibility for their thoughts and feelings, the focus can shift back to tangible outcomes. By far, the exponential benefits are efficiency on tasks and the effectiveness of relationships. Trust is maintained, and healthy culture ensues.</li>
</ol>
<p></p>
<h3 id="laser-coaching-works-great-with-agile-"><a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Courses/Laser-Coaching-For-Leaders-Masterclass" rel="follow">Laser coaching</a> works great with Agile.</h3>
<p>The popularity of the agile method used to build software faster has always been paired with coaching by the scrum master at the end of a development sprint. By taking the time to coach clients and engineers in a review meeting, teams can iterate improvements in efficiency in between intense work periods. The crucial aspect of transparency is not for those who enjoy corporate politics or civility at the expense of quality. It requires forthright honesty and an ability to trust that colleagues have reasonably healthy egos. Those who are generally satisfied with their lives, hold themselves in high esteem, and operate from a strong internal sense of self can make continuous improvement a way of life. Those with low self-esteem or ego-sensitivities best find a corporate role somewhere that is not dependent on rapid and exponential innovation or growth. There&rsquo;s a place for everyone, thankfully. But if you want your team to be agile, building solid internal character strength and laser coaching skills are two imperatives. An ability to be tough while respectful can make for an intense work environment. But wicked smart talent who experience it, rarely want to go back to the games of corporate life.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://calendly.com/sean-tilt365/30min" rel="follow"><img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/DslGOZgRqiAFUSAFnFMf" alt="Tilt-cert-more-info-cta.png"></a></p>

Laser coaching is a skill that leaders in exponential organizations must have to ensure speed and high growth in innovation.

How to use Laser Coaching to Drive Team Agility

How to Use Laser Coaching to Drive Agility in Your Team

<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/krJVhhNQry8W7cFzFWnG" alt="why-we-built-better-personality-asses..." width="402" height="401"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p>It&rsquo;s no surprise that people who have spent time studying the traits of others are often more likely to have positive relationships. Luckily I was advised to learn more about this topic very early in my career after a particularly disappointing experience. I graduated from college and was finishing my first full year as a sales rep for a national home builder. At the conference, I won the Rookie of the Year Trophy for the highest volume of sales by a first-year associate. On our way home, a colleague told me that our Director of Sales was leaving to work for a competitor. My first thought was that the new opening meant a potential opportunity for a promotion in my career path. &nbsp;Given the award I&rsquo;d just won, I assumed I would be a candidate for consideration.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Much to my dismay, not only was I not even considered, my colleague got the job. Frustrated, I decided to visit the division leader and inquire about his reasons. As he explained, he handed me a book called &ldquo;Please Understand Me&rdquo; and told me that I should study it. He went on to say that I was one of the best new home sales reps he&rsquo;d ever seen, but that if he promoted me to management, everyone would likely quit because my standards were too high. He added that he believed me to be an impressive individual contributor but predicted that I would never be a leader. And further, that if I learned about personalities, I would understand that.</p>
<p></p>
<p>As I walked out of his office, I recalled taking a built-in assessment for personality for the organization called MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator) and a graphology test (analyzing my handwriting) before hiring me. <em>I began to wonder what these hiring tests told him about me. </em>As I left his office, I went straight to HR and asked for my reports. Reading them, I could see how the results confirmed what he said, but the outcome didn&rsquo;t sit well. I silently vowed to myself that I would prove him wrong one day. This moment would turn out to be the catalyst that triggered years of study regarding personality and leadership. Luckily, it proved to be profoundly useful too.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Five years later, in another industry, I was finally promoted to General Manager of a 35 million dollar luxury hotel. Two short years later, I was awarded the Chairman&rsquo;s Award for Leadership in a company of 80,000 people. Today, I believe the consistent trait of tenacity in my character is what made the difference. I genuinely believe people can accomplish great things when we dare to be bold.</p>
<p></p>
<p>What&rsquo;s the lesson in this story? It&rsquo;s enormously helpful to understand what drives our personality. But it might be even more important to grow beyond the self-limiting ideas imposed by tools like these too. Fast forward several decades, and we&rsquo;ve learned that brain plasticity is not only possible but probable in a global world that forces rapid growth on the modern leader. Personality is not only malleable; desirable behavior change can happen in as little as a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28054797/" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28054797/">few weeks</a>. As the mind evolves to greater complexity, we are quite capable of moving beyond many inherited traits. In fact, we can develop new behaviors that better define our personality, purpose, and overall career trajectory.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://calendly.com/sean-tilt365/30min" rel="follow"><img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/DslGOZgRqiAFUSAFnFMf" alt="Tilt-cert-more-info-cta.png"></a></p>
<h3 id="a-new-kind-of-personality-assessment">A new kind of <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Individuals" rel="follow">individual</a> and <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Assessments/Team-Assessments" rel="follow">team</a> personality&nbsp;assessment</h3>
<p>We set out to provide an <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Pricing/All-Pricing" rel="follow">agile assessment</a> tool that could resolve the issues we had with existing self-awareness tools. With that goal in mind, we&rsquo;ve spent the better part of a decade building a better personality assessment and positive influence feedback tools for individuals and teams in a work environment. The criteria we used to create them are perfect for integrative thinkers, and wicked-smart individual team members and organizations. We decided on 12 critical goals in developing<strong> </strong><a href="https://www.tilt365.com" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/" rel="follow">Tilt365 </a>to ensure product superiority and success in a world full of options:</p>
<p></p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Beyond a Type</strong>: An agile assessment has to show people their unique inborn traits that were inherited, but use language that invites people to grow well beyond them. We&rsquo;ve learned that agile personality characteristics will grow and mature with well-rounded character strengths.</li>
<li><strong>Memorable:</strong> It has to be simpler than other typology systems so that business leaders can remember it. Most business leaders don&rsquo;t have time to memorize 16 types or 34 strengths. If they cannot remember it, they are less likely to apply it too.</li>
<li><strong>Visual Framework:</strong> One of the things we disliked about other agile assessments is that they used acronyms and very few visuals. Another factor in being memorable is that we wanted to link style patterns to a visual business model. Colorful visuals enable people to remember things with both their left and right brain centers.</li>
<li><strong>Positive: &nbsp;</strong>For the agile assessment tool to be effective, it would have to be strengths-based, so it offers encouragement and evidence that people can grow and change over time. As opposed to a focus on only mitigating problems, a <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2000-13324-001" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.psycnet.apa.org/record/2000-13324-001" rel="follow">positive psychology</a> approach goes beyond being &ldquo;not as bad&rdquo; to excelling and flourishing.</li>
<li><strong>Actionable: &nbsp;</strong>Most personality assessments are mostly deterministic. Meaning, they tell you &ldquo;this is who you are&rdquo; and don&rsquo;t encourage much more than minor modifications. Thus, we felt that a clear direction of development that balances the most extreme personality traits is essential to address the &ldquo;what&rsquo;s next&rdquo; question that often arises. Personality modified by character choices is key to healthy development, continuous improvement, and transformation of an individual.</li>
<li><strong>Compelling: </strong>If the premise is that people are intelligent, then they need to know the underlying reasons for specific patterns and communication styles they may have developed. When a smart person knows why they do what they do, they are more likely to choose to change it.</li>
<li><strong>Rigorous Science: </strong>We noticed that the most popular personality assessments on the market were unreliable and had never accomplished much rigor in their validity. Even more concerning, and still valid today, managers make career-changing decisions using personality assessments that may not produce the same results a week later.</li>
<li><strong>Fast</strong>: We wanted to push the edge of modern scientific methods and build a highly reliable assessment tool that is fast enough to pass the short attention span of contemporary work life.</li>
<li><strong>Playful: &nbsp;</strong>Personality is personal, and changing well-worn patterns can be daunting. To make it easier, we decided that the approach had to be fun and playful. Our goal was to get people laughing at themselves and with each other, which would serve to improve teamwork.</li>
<li><strong>Reduce Biases: </strong>One of our biggest concerns was that we often don&rsquo;t see ourselves clearly and need some input from others. But biases can be projected onto others with the &ldquo;be like me&rdquo; mindset. We built a second agile assessment that we designed to reduce biases from others while giving us valuable feedback about observations by others that we might miss in ourselves.</li>
<li><strong>Dynamic: </strong>To stand the test of time, we also wanted to design a suite of tools that grow with us over the years as our personality evolves with character strength development. It had to be highly actionable, help you see how much you&rsquo;ve changed due to the context or role, and grow relationships by understanding the four most common patterns of behavior at work.</li>
<li><strong>A common language for teams: </strong>Last but not least, it had to use simple business language that applies to performance versus acronyms, colors, or obscure psychological terms that an expert has to explain.</li>
</ol>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Pages/Certification-Courses" rel="follow"></a></p>
<p><strong>A <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Individuals" rel="follow">personality journey</a> that grows with you</strong></p>
<p></p>
<p>I am happy to say that great things can come from not-so-great experiences. Case in point, not getting a promotion many years ago was the fuel that has driven years of research and a strong drive to build a better personality assessment and a suite of tools to help people in business measure personality and grow as leaders.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Some of our best ideas may arise from our most painful experiences. This is also precisely the time we need to listen, learn, and be bold.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>

Personality is not only malleable; desirable behavior change can happen in a little as a few weeks.

A Better Personality Assessment for Agile Teams

Personality is not only malleable; desirable behavior change can happen in a little as a few weeks.  As the mind evolves to greater complexity, we are quite capable of moving beyond many inherited traits.

Why We Built a Better Personality Assessment for Agile Teams

<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/B0HLuKGSnOGdj54nr4S2" alt="toon_how-to-create-an-agile-culture.webp" width="404" height="404"></p>
<p>Everyone is talking about &ldquo;agile.&rdquo; &nbsp;Agile culture. Agile executive. Agile organization. Now that it&rsquo;s reached popularity in the masses, the term has become muddled, overused, and distorted into &ldquo;something we&rsquo;re doing&rdquo; without understanding what it means. Yet, it is crucial to a team&rsquo;s ability to move quickly and innovate to drive competitive relevance. Most leaders don&rsquo;t know that it's much more than &ldquo;flexible&rdquo; or &ldquo;adaptive,&rdquo; words often used interchangeably for agile.</p>
<p>What it requires of the people who drive agile behaviors is even more essential.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Character-Science" rel="follow">Our research</a>&nbsp;has demonstrated that strong internal character is the central ingredient of an agile culture where innovation is likely to occur. Way beyond &ldquo;soft skills,&rdquo; being agile means showing up focused, influential, and driven towards a common goal. Specifically, it means operating from wisdom, courage, resilience, and humanity all at once. That&rsquo;s no small feat.</p>
<p>Agile leaders with strong internal character are often the primary source of organizational courage and catalyze change with ease and grace. They use plain language, practice respectful honesty, and bring out the best in those around them. We&rsquo;ve found evidence for&nbsp;twelve character strengths&nbsp;that drive generative culture and innovation. Here are some of the strategies we&rsquo;ve employed that keep our great team culture agile and fast.</p>
<p><em>Seven Strategies for Building an Agile Team Culture:</em></p>
<p>We&rsquo;ve found that the best approach to keeping our team balanced and healthy is about monitoring the team&rsquo;s mood and then coaching immediately to remove blocks. It&rsquo;s also essential to set up the workflow to help everyone understand how to succeed in an agile environment. For this, we borrow from the agile method used by technology teams. Following are a few of the tenets of agile that are immediately useful:</p>
<ol style="list-style-type: decimal;">
<li><strong>Transparency:</strong>&nbsp;One of the leader&rsquo;s most important jobs is to remove obstacles from the workflow and provide resources quickly. We&rsquo;ve used the<a href="https://www.atlassian.com/agile/kanban">&nbsp;Kanban</a>&nbsp;version of the agile method supported by software that ensures teammates or leaders do not block workflow. (we use&nbsp;Trello). This method enables real-time communication and full transparency, so the leader can ensure that team members&rsquo; work is unblocked and resourced just in time for workflow continuation. This transparency enhances accountability among team members who might not be comfortable communicating with candor one-to-one.</li>
<li><strong>Clear Expectations:</strong> Another valuable component of this method is that complex projects chunked down into tasks that can be accomplished in the current <a href="https://www.atlassian.com/agile/scrum/sprints" rel="follow">sprint</a>&nbsp;(two weeks). By time-blocking work in this way and keeping all other ideas and projects in the backlog, your team will feel their work is more doable. Approving the feasibility of the current workload weekly also serves you as the leader, so your expectations are clearly stated and satisfied. Everyone is clear about how to succeed each week.</li>
<li><strong>Radical Candor:&nbsp;</strong>The first two mentions above also help teams learn to speak more directly and resolve differences with the support of all perspectives, including the leader in a weekly review called a <a href="https://www.atlassian.com/agile/scrum" rel="follow">scrum</a>. For example, if someone&rsquo;s progress on work is blocked because they are waiting for a teammate or vendor to get back to them, it is clear that there is an obstacle the leader can help remove. This clarity allows relationships to stay positive and productive too.</li>
<li><strong>Remote work:&nbsp;</strong>Some of the best agile teams are remote workers and love it. We&rsquo;ve been &ldquo;remote&rdquo; for a decade and would never go back. People are social beings and, when presented with social distractions during work hours, will often choose to jump into watercooler-talk, gossip, speculation, and more. Ten years ago, we leased office space for one year and saw a massive drop in productivity. That&rsquo;s because we are acutely aware of the unconscious activity of ego-games, an awareness that most teams don&rsquo;t understand. <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Assessments/Team-Assessments" rel="follow">That&rsquo;s what we do.</a>&nbsp;We help teams become aware of this phenomenon and reduce it significantly to grow a culture where people love to work.</li>
<li><strong>Trust &amp; Responsibility:&nbsp;</strong>Sadly, many leaders still operate from an old paradigm that people will slack off and not be productive if they work remotely. Our view is that hiring the right people makes all the difference. If you employ responsible, self-initiating achievers, then it is also appropriate to trust them. We use real-time software (Slack) to connect throughout the day, which helps me, as a leader, stay tuned into the workflow. When people need uninterrupted time to concentrate and focus, they go offline and let each other know they don&rsquo;t want to be disturbed. If we hire mature adults, we should also treat them this way.</li>
<li><strong>Limited Meetings:&nbsp;</strong>We only have one meeting a week about workflow. And concise meetings for sub-teams to discuss specific topics and workstreams. That ego-game drama mentioned in #4 above is what happens when people are in meetings all day. The ego is quickly lured into drama and unconsciously seeks approval, attention, recognition, power, and status. These strivings are not bad in themselves in moderation, but when you are sitting alone with your work, you&rsquo;re more likely to be productive and creative.</li>
<li><strong>Social Connection:&nbsp;</strong>Lastly, because we all want to feel part of a strong team, we use the first 10 minutes of every weekly scrum to connect and check-in on our personal lives and news. As a remote team, this employee engagement is an integral part of how we show our humanity and connect personally. We sympathize with tough news, laugh about mishaps, and celebrate good news. As a leader, I&rsquo;m also scanning for signs of stress and making mental notes to follow up with those who need further discussion or <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/how-to-use-laser-coaching-to-drive-agility-in-your-team" rel="follow">laser coaching</a>&nbsp;sessions to alleviate symptoms or shift to a more positive mindset.</li>
</ol>
<p>Agile strategies serve to reduce stress in both the leader and the team because individuals have time to reflect, concentrate, and work without as much interruption every day. We&rsquo;ve found that we can be exponentially more productive and creative because of the extra space. Working remotely also enables us to mix work and life responsibilities with ease. Because we are all trustworthy, responsible, and dedicated, we also trust one another.</p>
<p><em>The most crucial thing you should do right now</em></p>
<p>Since culture sets the overarching tone of how we interact, building a team culture is the most vital strategy to reduce stress. Having stated values for how your team agrees to work with one another is crucial. It&rsquo;s also essential to have a cadence of regular team building, educational growth, and planning meetings in person (or, for now, virtually). The most important lever we&rsquo;ve learned has also become the core product we offer on our mission to help team leaders <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/" rel="follow">build a culture</a> where people love to work. Our personality and development assessments teach everyone how to recognize and help colleagues when their stress reaction kicks in. Once the four Tilting patterns become part of a common language, everyone can quickly lend a helping hand when someone falls into stress instead of judging them, which creates divisiveness. Above all, this team-building tool helps each member of the team show up at their best more of the time.</p>

Tips for how to create an agile team culture, manage stress in the workplace, and build a culture of agile leaders where people love to work.

How To Create An Agile Team Culture

Everyone is talking about “agile.” Agile culture. Agile executive. Agile organization. Now that it’s reached popularity in the masses, the term has become muddled, overused, and distorted into “something we’re doing” without understanding what it means.

How to Create a Team Culture of Agility

<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/k0rSQTewQhGe86r0dwVO" alt="tilt-unique-amplifier.webp" width="404" height="441"></p>
<p>Yesterday I was debriefing a <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Pricing/All-Pricing" rel="follow">True Tilt Personality Profile&trade;</a>, and the overall profile was <strong>Clarity, the Quiet Genius</strong>. It was no surprise to me that she considered herself a nurturer of harmony. Her occupation is a coach, and she was a nurse in her previous career. These careers are typical for the Clarity Pattern, who loves to serve others, and tirelessly helps those in need one by one.</p>
<h3 id="the-tilt-stack">The Tilt Stack</h3>
<p>Next, we proceeded to look at the Tilt Stack, which for her, put Humanity at the top, so she confirmed that she leads first from the heart. She is also very scholarly in her interests, and therefore, the Wisdom quadrant being second in her stack also resonated with her. Being a coach who has been a seeker of self-knowledge for many years, it was no surprise that she also had an awareness that she had integrated much of her shadow parts, the Courage character strengths, and the Resilience character strengths. In fact, in her spiritual journey, she had a keen interest in character strengths before encountering Tilt. She was even working on a collection of Virtues from her Jewish tradition. Wow.</p>
<h3 id="the-unique-amplifier">The Unique Amplifier&trade;</h3>
<p>Of course, the next thing we looked at together was the Unique Amplifier&trade;. I explained that although her most natural patterns aligned with the Clarity pattern of preference, the Unique Amplifier would tell us how she differs from others grouped into this pattern. In short, her signature amplifier and identity story. As I clicked on the page, I had a sudden awareness that the pattern was extraordinary in some way. Although I had never encountered this particular pattern (there are 1296 potential combinations of patterns), it somehow felt familiar and significant. As we discussed the significance of the expansive aspects of the primary polarity of vision, where the Scholar balances the Visionary, I could feel the power of this combination unfold. Then looking at the two reserved emotional components, balancing Trust and Integrity, completed the picture for me. I have always said that these two sub-personas are the two anchors for the stability created by the Wisdom quadrant. So putting them as anchors for the Vision polarity is quite extraordinary.</p>
<p>We wrapped up the conversation with some general discussion about harmony and scholarly endeavors and concluded the call. I am sure we will revisit it sometime later as it settles within her awareness.</p>
<h3 id="2020-the-year-the-world-stood-still-">2020, the year the world stood still.</h3>
<p>What happened after the call was, without question, a eureka moment for me when I realized that the image was the peace symbol. I am always looking for signs from the still, small voice of the divine creative at times like now. I've thought of this time as the year the world stood still and reconnected with their families. I've wondered about the message mother nature has for us as we wait and listen.</p>
<p>The message is perhaps about peace and compassion. It supersedes the divisiveness and extreme polarization of the election and the world of fear. It is about slowing down. About safety being at the base of our needs. About being with the most important people, we are responsible for loving. Connecting with and <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/sustainable-leadership-starts-with-humanity" rel="follow">caring for one another</a>. Doing the best we can. It is also a reminder of mortality and the precious gift of life and what we choose to do with it.</p>
<p>There will be those who sit still and listen during this time. And there will be those who don't. But always, there will be karma to deal with when it's over. So we would be wise to listen to this message of reflection and peace, while our sisters and brothers fight this battle for us. They will be our heroes. Is it our role to stay put and reduce the spread of illness, and thus, fear. To stay centered and figure out how to serve the world when it subsides.</p>
<p>So, peace be with you and yours. Do something important right now.</p>

Learn to find peace, stay centered, and figure out how to serve the world when peace subsides.

The Unique Amplifier of Peace. A message?

Learn to find peace, stay centered, and figure out how to serve the world when peace subsides. Based on the Tilt 365 Personality Assessment framework.

The Tilted Edge