Mojo Magic

Firstly, I'd like to say that I hope you don't know what I am about to discuss from personal experience. But from my experience, coaching sessions with clients and talking to friends and colleagues, I know the consequences of working in a No-THING workplace.

Unlike the Every-THING workplace, where your head is spinning like a catherine wheel with so much and so many things to do - none of which get the attention they need to do them well or have a lasting impact - the No-THING workplace is where that happens. Nothing!  And there can be lots of reasons for this, and some of them sound rational to someone.

We need to consult further - Fair enough.

We need to get more information before a decision can be made - Okay.

A manager needs to review it (and they are too busy, or it's not one of their immediate priorities) - Oh.

It needs to go to another committee first - A seventh committee?

We need to put the idea or proposal in another template or format - What the?

Motivation naturally falls when working in an organisation or team where it is difficult to realise outcomes. A sense of learned helplessness develops when things are experienced as negative, beyond our control over an extended period. We stop trying because it seems pointless to do so. And that is pretty rational.

But the impact is a decline in the health of the individual, team or workplace, and the likelihood of an increase in poor behaviours. The impact can be more devastating than for those in the Every-THING workplace, where people feel exhausted and overwhelmed. The loss of purpose and a sense of value can be felt deeply and for a very long time.

There are often only imperfect partial solutions to this at an individual or team level - because it can be a systemic issue - but that is where the pain is. And it spreads fast to infect and impact others.

ONE partial and imperfect THING that helps with the symptoms is to help focus on what is in your control and find a sense of achievement there. Rebuilding a sense of agency and restoring goodwill will take time. But little can be achieved in teams or with individuals that don't feel valued until you can start to restore faith in their abilities.

Find ONE THING to start to rebuild confidence and self-worth. I'm not much for team-building activities that don't relate to what we do. I like to find a project that creates solutions to how teams work and positively support each other. Working together on a shared solution to something in their control can help build connection and autonomy and get their mojo back. It's only then that people and teams can tackle the underlying cause of the problems and start to create the magic that people are capable of.