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Can you handle your own truth? Better get used to it.
By Francie Dalton
Remember the last time you stared into one of those bathroom
magnifying mirrors? Or asked your personal trainer what specific areas
you needed to work on? You may have noticed, amid your squirming,
that considerable discomfort is attendant to submitting to scrutiny.
It's a discomfort universal to your personal and professional life - and
one necessary to both.
The observations of others are likely to evoke both resistance and
resentment, and neutralizing these will require commitment, courage,
and a willingness to subordinate "comfort" to the pain of meaningful,
substantive growth.
But comfort cannot be the yardstick by which we measure success,
personally or organizationally. "Comfort" simply isn't how we as
professionals get to the top of our game; and it's not how we lead our
organizations to peak performance. Indeed, the more we mature the
more we realize that it is the very antithesis of comfort that produces
success.
If you decide to make scrutiny a more robust part of your life, you'll need
to choose which of the three levels of intensity is right for you at this point
in your life. In order of least to most intense, they are: (1) large groups
where your presence or absence wouldn't necessarily be noticed and
where verbal participation isn't required; (2) small groups where both
your presence and participation are required; and
(3) one-on-one arrangements where you invite a specific individual to
hold you accountable for a specific outcome.
Next, assess your level of resistance by determining which of the
following four truths about scrutiny makes you most anxious. This will
help you develop the requisite intellectual and emotional endurance
for the growing pains to come.
Truth 1: The more you need scrutiny, the less receptive to it you'll be.
Being put under a microscope is tough, particularly if you already know
your performance to date has been less than optimal. Although we can
all avoid scrutiny for a while, ultimately it'll become inevitable, at which
point it's likely to be exponentially more painful.
Truth 2: The more successful you become, the less you feel you need
scrutiny. Shift your focus away from how good you are at the moment
and on to "How good you could be?" Don't allow yourself to get so cocky
that you no longer vet your behaviors and your results through the lens of
the old axiom: "Tomorrow isn't guaranteed." Are you prepared to
second- guess yourself?
Truth 3: The more you resist scrutiny, the more at risk you become.
Scrutiny reveals boundaries; clarifies expectations; and identifies the
parameters within which we need to function to be successful in a given
endeavor. Scrutiny identifies the thresholds beyond which our risks
increase. In application, scrutiny functions as a fence does for a beloved
pet. You can choose to dig under or jump over your "scrutiny fences," but
you'll do so with greater awareness of the risk of becoming road kill! Are
you willing to establish boundaries?
Truth 4: Implicit in the imposition of scrutiny is the expectation of change.
Scrutiny reveals what isn't that should be, and what is that shouldn't be.
Scrutiny illuminates that which is out of alignment,
and demands action to re-establish alignment.
Are you ready to act?
An openness to scrutiny, better yet, a welcoming of it, along with a
willingness to change, despite the attendant dis- comforts, affords a state
of being that few organizations and even fewer individuals enjoy: the
state of alignment.
FRANCIE DALTON IS FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT OF DALTON
ALLIANCES, INC., A PREMIER BUSINESS CONSULTANCY
SPECIALIZING IN THE COM- MUNICATION, MANAGEMENT AND
BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES. PHONE: 410/715-0484 WEB SITE:
WWW.DALTONALLIANCES.COM | EMAIL:
FMDALTON@DALTONALLIANCES.COM
About the Author
Article Source: http://www.simplysearch4it.com/article/32394.html
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