Middle Way Management and Taking Action

In my last post, I discussed many aspects of fear in the workplace. It’s been a while since that post for several reasons. First, I’ve been super-busy consulting and bringing the practice of Middle Way Management to organizations in the real world. Second, I’ve been ruminating on the mitigation of fear in the workplace and the management of its attendant emotions once it arises; both of these require pre-emptive action and reactionary moves.

As you may have noticed, I’ve exchanged the idea of “intervention” (from psychology) with “action”. I chose this exchange based upon my own experience and from recently reading an article in which the authors actively promote the idea of combining conviction with compassion, resulting in a scholar who “dares to care.” In this article, they advocate for the passionate, courageous researcher who not only speaks out, but acts. We are taught at the university to view management and leadership in purely scientific ways, which are, at the end of the day, pretty dispassionate means for viewing just about anything. An activist scholar is a rare things these days.

What the authors of the article are really calling for is action, a kind of positive action based upon fundamental, closely-held values that require the courage of holding convictions dear as ideas are presented to the world. By creating an assessment instrument, consulting with organizations about how to apply it, and writing fairly extensively about it, it has been my intent to put Middle Way Management into action. Is this a courageous act? Only time will tell.

Back to the mitigation of organizational fear.

Pre-emptive Mitigation

I am not now nor have I ever been an advocate of pre-emptive war. The pre-emptive mitigation of fear is another matter entirely. The most critical aspect of any pre-emptive action is a necessarily overriding concern with making the right move at the right time. As you can imagine, it is never possible to plan for or prevent every possible cause of fear, especially in a workplace with so many souls who all have their own ideas about what makes them fearful. The best we can do is take action to clear the air of anything that might create an environment (i.e., culture) of fear.

 When taking action to clear the organizational air, deciding about what does and does not cause fear is crucial to a successful effort. In the context of organizations, several actions and, frankly, inactions create a culture of fear. For instance, feeding and then allowing the rumor mill to take its own negative course is a deadly concoction of action/inaction that will create a fear-filled environment and destroy morale across the board. A great way to accomplish this is to lay off several employees with no open discussion about why they were laid off or what the future holds for everyone else in the organization. This seems like common sense, yet you would be shocked at how many organizations mismanage even this seemingly obvious task.

The Heart of the Matter

At the heart of every negative emotion lies a black, smoldering core of fear. For example, a manager who feels he should have been promoted to vice president by now is driven by the fear of failure and of how his colleagues, peers, family members, and friends view his apparent failure with organization. In his mind, he has so tightly linked and defined himself by his job title that he has no choice but to create his own suffering by thinking he is not measuring up to preconceived idea about where he should be in his career at any point in time. In this way, he lets fear rule his life by conquering his mind with thoughts of inadequacy.

I call this “Willful suffering.”

Such thoughts and attitudes can be changed, yet many of us choose to measure ourselves against a fanciful standard that does nothing more than create suffering. Of course, we should all have goals, yet those should never create anger, frustration, sadness, embarrassment, or other emotions that lead to suffering. The magic is clearly in how we view ourselves as we pursue our short-term, intermediate, and long-term goals. If you are content with your progress, you will avoid the type of fear-based suffering that leads to hasty decision-making, bad choices, and deep personal misery.

As a Middle Way Manager, you must constantly value the progress you have made and are making. This is not dwelling in the past; rather, it is a recognition that remaining mindful and living in the present have worked to put you in a position where you can realize more good, meaningful accomplishments in the present and moving forward. You are a model to those you lead and it is encumbent on you to present a clear, coherent vision to your team members that helps them manage their own emotions with patience, empathy, kindness, and compassion.

So, go now, and management with compassion!

Onward! Darin

Article mentioned in this post:

Adler, N. J., & Hansen, H. (2012). Daring to care: Scholarship that supports the courage of our convictions. Journal of Management Inquiry, 21(2), 128-139.

Copyright © 2009-2012, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.

Middle Way Management and Fear

In my last post, I considered how boundaries create respectful fences that help us develop healthy self-compassion and reduce overcommitment and other behaviors that can lead us into stressful situations. In this post, I discuss how fear as conscious and unconscious process acts as an inhibitor of creativity and innovation in the workplace.

The Only Thing to Fear is...
Fear is an emotion we must all deal with on a daily basis. While this may strike you as a bold statement, it is true: we experience fear and engage in fear reactions many times throughout our busy days. In fact, fear and the fear response are fundamental parts of what it means to be human. Without fear, we would rush into situations that compromise our integrity, our relationships, and, at worst, our physical well-being; on the other hand, it can lead to debilitating emotion and reactive behaviors that stop our progress dead in its tracks.

Fear is our greatest gift, and our greatest curse.

Fear is created in several ways. The first and most obvious is the result of an overt physical threat that sends the heart racing and the brain looking for a way out or a way to fight back. This is the classic "fight or flight" response that pulses adrenaline throughout the body, changing our physiology in significant ways. As a manager, you can experience this in the workplace as a reaction to a non-physical business situation involving a boss, a peer, a customer, a team member - just about anyone with whom you interact can push you into a fear reaction.

The second way fear is created is through our own thoughts. We can run "what-ifs" and "coulda-woulda-shoulda" scenarios on the movie screens of our minds, creating fear that is as real as any created by external sources. This can occur in the workplace as a manager considers the potential ramifications of a tough decision that might affect his own position within the organization. This sort of scenario often results in "analysis paralysis" or ends up prompting either hasty or overly cautious decisions that do not reflect the manager's true decision-making skill or personal ethics; a poor outcome, indeed.

Finally, a leader-manager has many opportunities throughout the day to create fear. Attending to one's language and understanding how one's words can land on another are crucial parts of an effective Middle Way Management™ practice. Along with this, subtle body language cues can create the type of fear that results in damage to team morale or the destruction of a business relationship (explained in greater detail below). The true Middle Way Managemer™ neither creates nor promotes fear in any form.

Regardless of how the emotion of fear is created in one's mind, it is real and we are geared as a species to react to it in very specific ways based upon brain function and neurochemistry that are the results of millennia of natural selection and evolutionary refinement of homo sapiens.

This is Your Brain on Fear
In the classical systems theory sense, the brain really is more than the sum of its parts. Pull out one component and others will surely fail, as well. We see evidence of this in people who suffer serious brain trauma. Along these lines, specific parts of the brain are implicated in the creation of and reaction to fear. When those parts are damaged or in some way incapacitated, fear can be emphasized or displaced depending on the injury. Likewise, a malfunctioning part of the brain that works with another to encode memories important for self-preservation based upon the fear response can inhibit such activity, compromising a person's personal safety.

Fortunately, most of us never experience such injuries and our fear functions remain fully intact and operational for the duration of our lives. Implicated in the creation of the fear emotion and responses are several key parts of the brain; specifically, the amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, prefrontal cortex, thalamus, hippocampus and other structures (don't worry - no more brain terms will be forthcoming). The point here is that the human brain is wired to detect and react to fearful situations, even when they are created within our own minds based upon nothing more than thoughts (which are, by the way, things).

A recognition of the role of the nearly autonomic response to fear by the human brain is necessary because serious implications exist for how you deliver your daily Middle Way Management practice in light of fear's impact upon human behaviors. Two example illustrate this point nicely. First, we have evidence from neuroscientific studies that body language can induce the fear response (via the amygdala's ability to catch such signals). Based upon this, the Middle Way Manager must not only attend to language, every subtlety of every interaction must become a matter for utmost concern.

Second, we have evidence, also from neuroscientific studies, that communication between the two hemispheres of the brain via the corpus callosum (the thick, fibrous material that connects them) is inhibited as part of the fear response. This means the necessary functional components of creativity and logic are seriously hampered, thereby stifling the processes so necessary for people to provide the innovation that is a critical part of any vibrant organizational culture.

Interventions or Remedies?
In psychological terms, a solution designed to remedy fear is called an "intervention". I will not make suggestions for interventions in the post, saving them for my next submission. My point here is that there are interventions that a Middle Way Manager can include in her practice to mitigate the perceptions of and reactions to fear in the workplace. It is not always possible to avoid fear incidents, yet it most certainly is possible to practice the sort of mindfulness that allows us to recognize potential fear-inducing situations and to react to them with equanimity, patience, kindness, and compassion, all hallmarks of the true Middle Way Manager.  More to come on this topic in my next post.

Go now, and manage with compassion!

Onward! Darin

Copyright © 2009-2012, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.

Middle Way Management and Boundaries

In my last post, I discussed the role humility plays in a Middle Way Manager's™ daily practice. Humility is a necessary part of Middle Way Management™  because it removes many ego drives and allows a Middle Way Manager to approach those he manages with grace and respect. In this post, I discuss how boundaries can help a Middle Way Manager maintain a vibrant, healthy workplace environment.

Whenever I bring up the topic of boundaries, a negative connotation threatens the model. Boundaries are not negative. In fact, they are a very positive thing for both the person setting them and for those on the receiving end. Boundaries show respect in two ways: to yourself and to those around you. Setting boundaries is a clear form of communication, one that establishes expectations and provides a framework for gentle accountability, a hallmark of the Middle Way Manager.

Autocompassion

A topic that I have not touched upon on in this blog is self-compassion. Many of us spend a considerable amount of time practicing patience and kindness, ensuring we do not pass unfair judgment on others, yet we are relentless critics of our own behaviors. I am surely my own harshest critic. I do not afford myself the forgiveness I offer to others nor do I always take the time out of my busy day to think deeply about my actions and motivations. Clearly, I have yet to fulfill on the Middle Way Management idea that we must set boundaries with ourselves first.

How do we set boundaries for ourselves first? We set our own boundaries by practicing self-compassion and recognizing when we might violate our personal standards of integrity. An example self-boundary might be telling the truth in all situations, even when it is hard. Such a boundary can be difficult to maintain, especially if you are someone who wants “everything to be okay.” Trying to not cause harm to anyone by equivocating (or outright lying) ends up harming everyone involved in the interaction – you and the persons with whom you are involved. For instance, telling an executive manager that a team is making good progress when it is not with the intent of shielding the team from potential managerial chaos is a lie (no matter how small) that will catch up with you and your team. In such a case, you have put the organization, your manager, your team, and yourself at risk of failure.

Respectful Fences

Another boundary in the workplace that is often crossed results in overcommitment, leading to task or job failure. Of course, a manager can do the same thing by overpromising on behalf of the team. In the case of a team member, a manager might ask him/her to take on an unforeseen task when the team member is already overburdened with other work. Rather than respectfully declining the request in the interest of not putting everyone involved at risk of failure, we will often accept such requests with the full intent of fulfilling on our promises. Usually, the result is a plunge from hero to zero, which serves no one involved. Setting a clear boundary in this case is a compassionate way to avoid potential failure by allowing the requesting manager to seek help where resources might be more plentiful or appropriate to the task. It also preserves a healthy self-compassion and self-respect.

Until recently, I was one of those people who would over-promise and then either harm myself by working too much, too hard, and on the wrong things to fulfill on my commitment or simply fail at the job. By honestly and forthrightly saying “no” when appropriate, I am showing both myself and the person requesting my help a higher level of respect. Of course, my previous interpretation was that saying “yes” to everything asked of me shows a healthy measure of respect when, in fact, it does not – it only puts myself, the person requesting my help, my team and my organization at risk, which is where none of us wish to find ourselves. Saying “no” in love and compassion sets boundaries that are well-defined and results in success for everyone involved. Try it today – you will be amazed at the results.

Onward! Darin

Copyright © 2009-2012, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.

Middle Way Management and Humility

In my last post, I discussed how to recognize and relieve suffering in the workplace. As a Middle Way Manager™, it is your special responsibility to work with those you manage to relieve their suffering, regardless of its origins. In this post, I will consider what it means to be humble and how to practice humility on a daily basis as you develop your Middle Way Management™ practice.

It's Hard to be Humble
It truly is hard to manage with humility in an American-style organization, especially if you live in the United States. Are we not taught that the leader charges ahead of the pack, relying only on his wits and wisdom to lead everyone else into a brighter future? That it is not only desirable, but necessary, for the leader/manager to recognize, develop, and loudly proclaim her leadership strengths? That a humble person is soft-spoken, walks with his head down, eyes directed at the floor, never acknowledging his own self-worth? None of these attributes should be a part of your daily Middle Way Management practice and here's why.

The Bold, the Proud, the Humble
Personal pride should be a fundamental part of your Middle Way Management practice. You simply cannot develop a solid, congruent management practice - of any kind - without it. Is this the sort of pride that is boastful and arrogant? Certainly not. Is this the sort of pride that recognizes you as a special person here at a special time to fulfill a special duty? Certainly! Taking pride in your own achievements is a healthy way to build your own commitment to an organization while developing a trust relationship with those you manage. Yet, how does this fit with humility in the workplace?

Humility is a special quality that requires both introspection and honesty. The humble manager understands her strengths and weaknesses and works to maximize her effectiveness within the context of the organization. Humility does not promote boasting or sycophantic behavior; it requires a manager to think, speak, and act with clarity of purpose and to view himself as a critical part of the organization's success. The humble manager understands that his success depends entirely upon the team. In this way, the manager only ever operates in a support role - as a facilitator of success. When you are humble, honest, forthright, and clear, trust will abound and the team will excel.

Back to the Breath
Because humility falls under the "way of being" rubric of Middle Way Management, the single best way to become humble is to reflect upon it during your busy work day. Once again, taking time to sit quietly and concentrate on your breathing will prepare you to move into concentrating on humility. Breathe in and recognize your breath, breathe out and recognize your breath.  Breath in and consider humility, breath out and consider humility. It takes very little effort to incorporate ideals like humility, compassion, and accountability into your thought processes simply by concentrating on them for a few minutes every day. Of course, deftly applying the Middle Way Management practice methodology will also help you change your habits and behaviors in long-term, lasting ways, as well.

In my next post, I will discuss boundaries and how they can help you develop your Middle Way Management practice based upon trust, a basic requirement of the true Middle Way Manager.

Until then...go now, and manage with compassion!

Onward! Darin

Copyright © 2009-2012, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.

Middle Way Management and Suffering

In my last post, I discussed freedom - the sort of psychological freedom that leads to right thought, right speech, and right action. In this post, I consider how the true Middle Way Manager™ addresses suffering at the individual and organizational levels.

Suffering in the Workplace
As one of the Four Noble Truths of Buddhist traditions reminds us, suffering exists, and it exists in many forms. Psychologists tell us that the suffering caused by depression, a mental malady, causes real, physical pain. Considering this, we must remain attentive to those who suffer in the workplace - for whatever reason. As we consider suffering in an organizational context, we understand that suffering at the individual and organizational levels causes intense pain that dictates behaviors. A person who is suffering is often angry, spiteful, and hard to work with. Likewise, the suffering organization creates an environment of anxiety that represses creativity and inhibits innovation. Clearly, suffering in the workplace must be recognized and relieved, which is a mandate of the true Middle Way Manager™.

What is Suffering?
People and organizations suffer in so many ways it is impossible to catalog them here. Middle Way Managers cannot always completely understand the causes of suffering, yet they can certainly recognize the symptoms. The suffering organizational member is contentious and quick to judge others. S/he is often late for work or does not complete tasks on time. The suffering organization is ineffective and inefficient with a dark cloud hanging over all. Organizational members work in vacuums and teamwork simply does not take place. The culture of the organization encourages backbiting and gossip and little real work gets accomplished. When both individuals and organizations are suffering, organizational members work in an environment of fear, uncertainty, and doubt (the good, old FUD Factor).

Individual suffering can be caused by issues in the home and at work. Regardless of the origin, it is suffering nonetheless. So often, managers are prisoners of a mindset that considers only work-related issues to be of any importance in a person's work life. Unfortunately, it is inevitable that people bring their suffering to the workplace. Even those who try not to let personal matters affect their work performance struggle with hiding thoughts and emotions throughout their busy day, which, of course, affects their work performance. Issues between organizational members (including managers and those they manage) can seriously affect performance on both sides of the relationship. Regardless of the cause(s), it is the responsibility of the Middle Way Manager to recognize suffering and take measures to relieve it.

Organizational suffering is caused by leaders and managers. Because these people set the policies and often create the procedures of organizations, it is their responsibility to see that their work does not create undue suffering. Draconian managerial edicts and treating people like children cause suffering. Encouraging a culture of duplicity and allowing people to treat each other poorly cause suffering. Handing down goals and objectives that are impossible to meet causes suffering. Considering people to be nothing more than resources to be manipulated in the interest of profit, rather than vital human beings, causes suffering. It is the special responsibility of leaders and managers to recognize their roles in the relief of suffering in organizations.

The Relief of Suffering
Like suffering, its relief can take many forms. Many organizations have policies and procedures in place to help relieve the suffering of organizational members. Employee assistance programs, health insurance and counseling availability, and plain, old-fashioned personal interest are excellent ways to help relieve individual suffering. Managing  with compassion and gentle accountability creates an environment in which people understand that it is okay to suffer and that there are ways to relieve their suffering. Encouraging organizational members to seek help when it is needed and to offer the time for them to do so must be a part of your Middle Way Management practice. Helping people change habits and behaviors by applying the Middle Way Management practice methodology can help move people into a new thought space that relieves their suffering on several levels.

Regardless of the method(s) you choose, the relief of suffering at the individual and organizational levels is a crucial part of developing your Middle Way Management practice. You will find that relieving the suffering of others with compassion and empathy increases your own happiness and makes working at your organization a more fulfilling and rewarding experience.

In my next post, I will consider the role of humility in your Middle Way Management practice.

Until then...go now, and manage with compassion!

Onward! Darin

Copyright © 2009-2012, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.

Middle Way Management and Freedom

In my last post, I discussed three prevailing views accessible to us in the Western world today: premodern (ancient), modern (scientific), and postmodern. Recognizing your dominant worldview at any point in time is crucial to mindfulness and critical to creating and maintaining a successful Middle Way Management™ practice. In this post, I consider freedom in the context of Middle Way Management.

What does it mean to be truly free?
In the Buddhist traditions, freedom from desire is the ultimate goal of all believers; yet, what does it mean to be truly free in a world that values above nearly all else aggressive behaviors and the accumulation of  more wealth than one could possibly spend in a lifetime? Buddhists think about freedom in two basic ways. First, they consider freedom from desire to be one of the main pursuits of practitioners. This sort of freedom is a psychological benefit that includes the ability to say "no" to desires as they arise in the mind. In this way, they break the intellectual and psychological bonds holding them to a course that is potentially disastrous. Often, this takes the form of restraint - restraint of thought, speech, and action - that pushes them into a new reality.

Second, freedom can be represented by choosing to say "yes" to something as it arises. For instance, a behavioral restraint is almost always accompanied by an alternate choice that substitutes an incongruous behavior with a congruous one, resulting in a triumph over prejudicial thought. A choice is made that leads to right speech and right action, both fundamental behavioral characteristics of the practicing Buddhist. Because these efforts take place in the mind, is it not possible for someone to let go of desire, a psycho-intellectual longing, in favor of release from wanting? In this way, even someone who is unfairly incarcerated can achieve a freedom and internal peace that might not be possible if s/he were living in the outside world.

Freedom in the Workplace
Because the practice of compassion in the workplace is the primary goal of the Middle Way Manager™, freedom is a building block on the road to achieving that goal. The Middle Way Manager has a special responsibility to help people earn freedom from oppression, subjugation, exploitation, and needless worry in the workplace. Of course, how this is accomplished can take any one of an endless number of forms. Can a Middle Way Manager help someone achieve complete freedom from desire? Most probably not. Can a Middle Way Manager help someone shift perspective or change a habitual behavior in favor of one that produces a more desirable outcome (for both the individual and the organization)? Most certainly.

As with mindfulness and compassion in general, the Middle Way Manager's practice must begin with the self. Self-compassion, compassion, and mindfulness cannot be taught by someone who does not already practice them. Not only would this be hypocritical, it would be fruitless because it would be tantamount to allowing, say, me to teach someone how to run the particle accelerator at CERN. Not a good idea - at all. My lack of knowledge and experience would surely result in catastrophe. Likewise, a Middle Way Manager who practices and manages hypocritically is inviting disaster into his or her own life, the lives of those they manage, and the organization at large.

The Ultimate Goal
Regardless of how the Middle Way Manager chooses to promote freedom among those s/he manages, and there are many ways, the end result must be an increase in the level of compassion at the individual and organizational levels. An organizational member whose mind is free of fear, uncertainty, and doubt (the FUD Factor) is one who can offer creative and innovative solutions, rather than create more chaos around an issue in the workplace. The truly free organizational member operates at top capacity with love, energy, and excitement. This is the person who gets up in the morning excited about what the day holds at work. Just remember that you can create this energetic environment simply by helping the people you manage achieve some level of intellectual and psychological freedom in the place where they spend a majority of their waking time - your workplace.

In my next post, I will consider boundaries and how a healthy respect for your own boundaries, as well as those of others, can help make your Middle Way Management practice more vibrant and productive.

Until then...go, and manage with compassion!

Onward! Darin

Copyright © 2009/2010, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.

Middle Way Management and Three Worldviews

In my last post, I discussed respect, or the lack thereof, and how it is both essential for the practice of and a result of Middle Way Management™ efforts. Another excellent way to practice respect is to understand your own worldviews, even as they are compartmentalized and manifest in different ways during your busy daily practice.

Western Worldviews
In the Western world, we have three worldviews at our disposal: Premodern (Ancient), Modern (Scientific), and Postmodern. These predominant views span specific time frames of Western history, yet all are in active practice today. How you compartmentalize them and how they affect your practice of Middle Way Management are the primary concerns of this post. Be assured: you will view the world in different ways throughout your busy management day.

We can hold all views simultaneously, depending on context:

Premodern (Ancient)--->Modern (Scientific)--->Postmodern

The Premodern (Ancient) Worldview
Premodernism spans the time from the dawn of humans (alternately 200,000 years or 6,000 years depending on your premodern belief system) to the Age of Enlightenment period that ended roughly in the late 18th century. The Premodern period is characterized by a belief in a higher power that controls our destinies and interacts with us through supplication (on our part) and reward for good behavior (on the higher power's part). This has historically taken the form of a cosmic contract type of worship that includes rituals such as worship, sacrifice, and prayer, among others. Organized religion is a recent development in the history of humans, which has acted as a formalization of these practices and has guided our premodern beliefs even through the modern and postmodern periods.

The Modern (Scientific) Worldview
Modernism began with the development of the Scientific Method as a way to test and verify the assumptions we make about the world. This is strikingly different than accepting edicts handed down from religious leaders who we believe represent a higher power with ultimate knowledge. The Scientific Method is accretive and progressive so that we truly do create knowledge upon the shoulders of giants, or at least those who have gone before us. This Modern viewpoint took root during the Age of Enlightenment and  is, like Premodernism, still quite active today. We see this in the language we use including words such as scientific, experimental, and hypothesis, to name but a few.

The Postmodern Worldview
Postmodernism really took off after World War II and reflects a viewpoint that recognizes neither a higher power nor a scientific approach to how we view the world. Postmodernism understands that each person has a unique, complete story and that individual phenomena offer as much, if not more, analytical value than aggregate observations. Postmodernism values complexity and chaos and non-deterministic outcomes.  Postmodernism offers critical assessment intended to not only describe and explain difference, but to hold it in the highest regard; it teaches us that objective and subjective reality exist only as paradoxes based upon modernistic understanding and that there is a different way for us to think about the world that is grounded in an acceptance of ultimately not finding all of the answers we seek.

Why Do These Matter to Middle Way Management?
The three worldviews are important to Middle Way Management because they affect how we manage people and processes in an organizational context. Since we are rationalizing creatures by nature (based on that pesky big brain), we all practice these worldviews throughout the day. For instance, a manager might offer up a quick prayer to the Christian God on the way in to work: "Oh, Lord, let today be a good one and help me make it through this latest downsizing exercise." Once at work, he analyzes the data and decides upon variables to be used for the downsizing efforts. Then, while meeting with people to lay them off work, he tries to offer personal assistance by actively listening to them, valuing what they have to say, and working with them to "understand that unknown outcomes are okay, too, and that this is a transition period to something better." That something better is, of course, never really defined.

This is a simplistic example, yet it illustrates how we can compartmentalize our worldviews as we interact with people and do our best to fulfill organizational goals and objectives. Because the single driving goal of the Middle Way Manager™ is the relief of suffering at the individual and organizational levels, it is imperative you understand your worldview(s) as you develop your practice. This understanding and recognition speaks to congruence and integrity, both of which are necessary for compassionate practice and gentle accountability, all hallmarks of the true Middle Way Manager. So, as you navigate your busy management day, remain ever mindful of the worldview you are bringing to your practice - it may just determine your success as a Middle Way Manager.

Onward! Darin

Copyright © 2009/2010, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.

Middle Way Management and Respect

In my last post, I considered the role courage plays in your Middle Way Management™ practice. It takes an enormous amount of courage to stick to your commitments and Middle Way Managers™ can act courageously because they have considered the ramifications of their own words and actions. In this post, I consider how respect affects Middle Way Management and vice versa.

Where, oh where, has all the respect gone?
At the risk of sounding like a grumpy, old curmudgeon, I'm going to take some space here to lament the general lack of respect I see in the world today. From a "no problem" response, rather than a simple "thank you" from a service worker, to the political turmoil and complete lack of respect for any public office we see every day in the news media, a lack of respect has infected our society and is threatening our very existence.  How can Middle Way Management help solve such a pandemic?  By providing the guidelines and tools for injecting respect back into our daily lives.

The link between respect and compassion is a clear and solid one. Before we can show compassion for others, we must engage in healthy self-compassion, and so it goes for respect. Whenever I observe a lack of respect in action, I consider how much the person really respects him/herself.  I also consider how that person is respected by everyone above him in the chain of command.  A surly employee almost always means they are treated that way by their supervisors and managers.  The good and the bad both run downhill in American-style business.

Compassion in Action
Showing respect for others is what I call "compassion in action." Because compassion is a term packed with meaning, one of the nuances we can draw from it is how we treat others in our daily lives. This is not relevant only to the workplace. We should not compartmentalize the respect we show to others, we should share it freely all day long with everyone in our busy lives. Only by respecting others enough can we begin to empathize with them. Only through empathy and understanding can we begin to practice compassion. Only by practicing relentless compassion can we call ourselves true Middle Way Managers.

The Compassion Challenge
Today, I challenge you to practice a single instance of respect. Practice it anywhere - in the workplace, at home, in a public place. Respect someone on your commute home. Respect someone who shows you none. Respect yourself.  You will find that it becomes easier and more natural with practice. You will begin to view everyone you meet in a new way and out of this new viewpoint will spring compassion on a level you did not think possible. Rise to the challenge - I know you can do it!

Go now, and manage with compassion!

Onward! Darin

Copyright © 2009/2010, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.

Middle Way Management and Courage

In my last post, I discussed the role integrity plays in Middle Way Management™. A Middle Way Manager's™ practice must be both integral and congruent, or it is nothing at all. In this post, I consider courage and how it both affects and is an outcome of practicing Middle Way Management.

If I Only Had Some Courage...
In the past, I behaved much like the Cowardly Lion in the workplace. In the face of fear, I would simply curl my tail between my legs and slink off to lick my wounds under the fluorescent light of my gray cubicle. Sometimes, the fear was held only in the space between my ears, at other times is was a nearly-visceral reaction to vicious and unrelenting criticism from a manager. Most of the time, I did not live and work by the courage of my convictions, choosing, instead, to accept any and all forms of fear as a consequence of working in an American-style organization. I held no one accountable for their words and actions nor did I hold myself accountable to the high standards of Middle Way Management.

Now, times are different, and I am different. Today, I am a Middle Way Manager. I face difficulty with a quality of mind and spirit that help me overcome my fears. Some consider this sort of courage to be synonymous with bravery. I consider it a way of being and a framework for action in the context of Middle Way Management practice. In this way, we must practice self-compassion first. Without self-compassion, we cannot give ourselves the space and respect necessary to have compassion for others. Without practicing inner compassion, we are doomed to withhold our empathy, patience, kindness, and abiding love for others. Practice compassion for yourself first, only then will it come naturally for others.

Courage in the Workplace
Because courage is a response to fear, it is sorely needed in today's American-style workplace. People are scared; they are scared of losing their jobs and they are scared of their salaries being cut or their benefits being reduced. People are scared of where the economy and their organization are headed and where they will end up when it comes time for blessed retirement (if there is light at the end of that tunnel at all). They must all act professionally in this fear-charged atmosphere and some simply do not know how to do that because fear has gotten the better of them and they are engaging in acts that are not representative of their true characters. They know they are not their behaviors, yet they catch themselves behaving in ways they do not understand, resulting in disappointment and even self-loathing.

It takes courage to break this negative cycle of fear and reaction, this organization-based suffering. Middle Way Managers must sometimes practice the approach without the institutional support of their superiors and organization. This is possible because the understanding, mindful awareness, and way of being that is Middle Way Management can be practiced within a larger organizational context without the organization's "official" sanction. In fact, this is one of the most effective ways Middle Way Management will gain notoriety over the long term. It takes courage to execute a management approach when others are ridiculing it or simply do not understand your motivations. Charge ahead and let the results speak for themselves - and for you.

Courage from Your Position
The idea of leading from one's position has gained increasing traction over the last few years. The good news is that it's absolutely true: Anyone can lead from their particular organizational position. This takes a certain amount of courage because leadership requires decision-making and action-taking, which are inherently risky endeavors. Organizations that encourage leading from one's position must allow organizational members the freedom to make mistakes in order to learn from missteps. In today's business environment where crisis management has become something of a norm, this sort of freedom may not always be allowed. If this is the case within your organization, you must decide how much risk you are willing to shoulder while remaining true to your Middle Way Management practice.

At the end of the day, your single, driving goal as a Middle Way Manager must be the practice of mindful awareness that leads to the reduction of suffering at all levels of the organization. Accepting this mission can be a courageous act on its own. Conventional American-style business wisdom tells us that informed self-interest and the accumulation of vast wealth are the only worthy goals of our pursuits. When you practice true Middle Way Management, your sphere of concern extends beyond yourself. This may be viewed by some in your organization as a "weak" approach, which they will then project upon you. Are you willing to take this risk? Are you willing to create a positive ripple effect that will cut across the organization and across time? Are you willing to be a Middle Way Manager?

In my next post, I will consider three views that shape the way we view the world and our place in it.

Until then, go, and manage with compassion!

Onward! Darin

Copyright © 2009/2010, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.

Middle Way Management and Integrity

In my last post, I discussed how shared vision is a moral imperative of the Middle Way Manager™. In this post, I consider the role of integrity in your Middle Way Management™ practice.

Both Integral and Congruent
As I reflected on what I would say about management integrity for this post, I thought immediately of several characteristics that represent a manager without integrity! We all have these examples in our heads. Rather than dwell upon what it means to conduct yourself without integrity, I'd much prefer considering the role it plays in a positive, integral management approach. By this, I also mean a congruent approach able to produce the types of consistency and equanimity that are hallmarks of a true Middle Way Manager.

As you walk your Middle Way Management talk, you actively engage in truthful, candid, compassionate, and empathic accountability with the singular goal of relieving organizational suffering at all levels in your workplace. When you do this in a congruent way so that the various characteristics of your practice are never in conflict, you are a manager of integrity. For instance, what sense would it make to be truthful, candid, compassionate, and empathetic, yet never hold anyone in your organization accountable for their words and actions? A lack of integrity in this way will not only damage the efficacy of your Middle Way Management practice, it will result in significant organizational suffering - all created by you!

A Way Out of Organizational Suffering
The practice of Middle Way Management offers a way out of organizational suffering.  In fact, it's the third tenet of my adaptation of the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism:

1. Organizational suffering exists,
2. Organizational suffering is caused by the habits and behaviors of managers,
3. There is a way out of organizational suffering, and
4. The practice of Middle Way Management is a way to end organizational suffering at all levels.

As you practice Middle Way Management, you must constantly remain mindful of your habits, behaviors, and actions to ensure your own integrity. As you find chances for improvement, you will work with another to deploy the methodology I've described in other posts. This will offer an excellent example for those you manage. If you can monitor your own habits and behaviors and adjust them when necessary, the people you manage will be more inclined to do so when you ask them to monitor and change theirs.

An Integral Management Practice
So, start today - as you engage with others, particularly the people you manage, check to see if your practice is integral and congruent. A great way to do this is to take some quiet time early in your day to reflect on how things have gone to that point and to visualize how you want them to go for the remainder of your busy day. If things have not gone in an integral way up to that point, it is your opportunity to change them and move into a more positive, productive space. In the end, you must ask: Do I want to be an honest, candid, empathetic and compassionate leader/manager or do I want to be something else? As a practicing Middle Way Manager, the answer to this question is nearly rhetorical and easily discovered.

Go now, and manage with compassion!

Onward! Darin

Copyright © 2009/2010, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.

Middle Way Management and Shared Vision

In my last post, I discussed setting goals in the context of Middle Way Management™. No matter what goals the Middle Way Manager™ is promoting, his/her primary objective is to relieve suffering at all levels of the organization. In this post, I will discuss how vision is a moral imperative of the Middle Way Manager.

A Moral Imperative?  Really?
Morality and ethics are the foundation of Middle Way Management. Several options were available to me when I began creating this approach. Some types of ethics emphasize rules and how those rules act as constraints upon our behaviors. Others emphasize only outcomes. In this way, the end justifies the means while remaining mindful of how one can maximize the good for all parties concerned. This does not mean all parties achieve fair and equitable results, only that the inequities they suffer are minimized. Another approach relies upon personal virtue as the guideline and measure of success. This "virtue ethics" approach, combined with a Buddhist-based ethic, is the one upon which Middle Way Management is based.

All ethical approaches assume the active application of a particular moral sensibility. Morality can be culturally relative, yet we must proceed with caution down such a path. It is certainly acceptable in our Western world to consider certain behaviors universally immoral; robbery, rape, and murder come immediately to mind. In the case of Middle Way Management, compassion tempered by accountability rules the day just as virtue ethics requires us to ask, "What sort of person am I?" whenever we are confronted with a situation requiring a moral decision. Because this approach relies on the personal virtue of the manager, it is important she understand clearly her moral foundation and how it informs her daily management practice.

Vision as Morality
If you have ever worked for a manager who has not supplied the team or organization with a coherent vision, you will understand why vision is so important. For those of you who have not, an example: I once worked for a VP who supplied an overall technical vision for a product set and then sat back content in the knowledge that the entire IT organization would rise to the occasion to fulfill his dream. The only trouble was that he had neither provided information about why the technical solution was the best choice under the circumstances nor had he entertained any input whatsoever from the people who would actually be doing the work. In the end, the organization experienced an annual turnover rate of 40% and he was left mystified as to why such a thing could happen on his watch.

What the VP failed to recognize was the inherent morality in the act of inclusion and in providing an overall business-level vision that speaks to goals, objectives and, heck, the reasons why we would all get up and come to work in the morning. The organization at large produced and maintained testing and assessment data for children. If he had only tied the technical vision into the larger motivational goals that really did bring people to work every morning, he would have had another problem: holding people back so their enthusiasm did not cloud the technical vision! Naturally, this man was not a Middle Way Manager.

As I watched the drama of the sinking ship unfold, it occurred to me that the VP's personal philosophy was not congruent with the organization's nor did it serve his work teams. After all, a true Middle Way Manager serves first. As he continued to task the teams unreasonably while not providing an overarching vision, he was acting in an immoral way because a) he was killing the motivation of the IT organization, resulting in significant individual and organizational suffering and b) he was not fulfilling his role as leader and/or manager by working with his teams to create a shared vision. His paycheck was contingent on the understanding that he would provide sufficient quantities of leadership and management and he was doing neither.  By doing this, he was accepting a (very large) paycheck on fraudulent grounds. Of course, no organizational accountability existed, which speaks to leadership and management at higher levels, but I digress.

Being a Middle Way Manager
As I've stated in previous posts, Middle Way Management is as much a way of being as a way of doing. While I've provided a solid practice methodology, a major part of being a Middle Way Manager is understanding your own morality, including your strengths and weaknesses, and trying hard to practice compassion, empathy, and kindness with a good dose of accountability thrown into the mix. This can take some hard work on your part - not everyone is born a Middle Way Manager (in fact, I would argue that no one really is). But, if you are sincere about changing your viewpoint and work daily to bring your habits and behaviors into alignment with your stated philosophy, you will succeed and you will earn the right to be called a Middle Way Manager!

Go now, and manage with compassion!

Onward! Darin

Copyright © 2009/2010, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.

Middle Way Management and Setting Goals

In my last post, I discussed how Aristotle and Buddha have offered us complementary ways of being based upon virtue ethics and a recognition of suffering and its alleviation. In this post, I consider goal setting within the context of Middle Way Management™.

The Middle Way Management Context
What do I mean by "the context of Middle Way Management"? I mean the practice context in which you find yourself as an active Middle Way Manager™. Middle Way Management includes two major aspects of Buddhism that I have modified to dovetail with organizational management goals and objectives. The first is similar to the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism:

1. Suffering exists within organizations at the individual, team, and organizational levels,
2. Organizational suffering is the direct result of managerial practices,
3. There is a way out of organizational suffering, and
4. The way out of organizational suffering is through the practice of Middle Way Management.

Along with the Four Noble Truths, Buddhists find their way out of suffering by treading the Eightfold Path. This path is comprised of three sections: Morality, mindfulness, and wisdom. While the Eightfold Path includes wonderful ways to reach a state of ultimate awareness that includes right thought, right speech, and right action, I have chosen to replace them with the Cognitive Domains™ as a means of practicing the Middle Way Management approach. It is mere coincidence that I have identified eight Cognitive Domains. I can clearly see a time when I will add more or refine the current list as new knowledge and insights reveal themselves to me.

Setting Your Goals
Most goal-setting exercises emphasize three types of goals: Short-term, intermediate, and long-term. It is vitally important that Middle Way Managers set realistic goals of all types. This speaks to vision (a moral imperative of the Middle Way Manager) and motivation. A team cannot move forward without vision and vision cannot be formulated without active goal-setting. Likewise, goals act as motivational milestones at the individual, team, and organizational levels. How such goals are set is an opportunity for the Middle Way Manager to practice inclusive leadership that is such a vital part of Middle Way Management.

Contextualizing Your Goals
As a Middle Way Manager works with his/her team during goal-setting exercises, it is important that all participants remain mindful of the primary goal of Middle Way Management: The relief of organizational suffering. For instance, a work team might embark on the exercise of setting sales goals for the year. The aggressiveness of the sales numbers will be determined by two questions: 1) Are the numbers (i.e., goals) realistic - if they are not, they will create a significant amount of suffering at all organizational levels as they are not met and 2) Are the target numbers designed to truly reduce suffering within the organization - an instance where they might not is one in which support workers cannot support the numbers of widgets sold.

In the end, the reduction of organizational suffering is the primary focus of the Middle Way Manager's goal-setting activities. This includes the adoption of a realistic view of organizational capabilities, as well as consideration of team capacities, support team availability and capacities, and overall organizational goals and objectives (to name but a few). The Middle Way Manager does not set goals and, hence, vision in a vacuum. The Middle Way Manager always emphasizes the relief of organizational suffering tempered by accountability inside and outside his/her work team.

In my next post, I will consider the importance of vision to the Middle Way Manager. As I've said here and elsewhere, vision is a moral imperative of the Middle Way Manager, one that must be executed with care, precision, and joy.

Go now, and manage with compassion!

Onward! Darin

Copyright © 2009/2010, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.

Middle Way Management and Virtue Ethics

In my last post, I introduced and discussed the Cognitive Domains™ of Middle Way Management™. As Middle Way Managers™ work to practice compassion, they can now put team members' habits and behaviors into meaningful contexts in order to effect the changes necessary to relieve their suffering. In this post, I will consider the complementary relationship between Middle Way Management and virtue ethics.

A World-class Crisis
As I teach MBA and doctoral-level courses in management and leadership, I like to remind students that my favorite oxymoron is “business ethics.” I also remind them that I’m mostly kidding. I’ve spent many years as an entrepreneur with and without partners. I’ve contracted to organizations of all sizes, bought and sold businesses and started them up from scratch. I can say with complete confidence that the single most significant, ongoing crisis in American-style business is a large and expanding deficit of ethical behaviors.

The Philosophers’ Big Idea
We have many options available to us when considering ethics. As a branch of philosophy, some of the greatest minds of all time have mulled over and presented their ideas in the context of everyday life. Business leaders and managers have easily adopted these approaches and continue to define and refine what it means to be ethical in daily practice. Some do their best to maximize the good for all according to an accepted set of rules. Some carefully consider the consequences of their decisions and actions in the organizational context. Some don’t really care about what happens to organizational members as long as the outcome is an inflated bottom line.

One ancient and eminently useful approach available to us today is virtue ethics; it is based solely upon the virtue, or moral character, of a person and was originally presented in Western literature by Plato and Aristotle. Virtue ethics took a back seat for many, many years to utilitarian (consequentialist) and deontological (rule-based) approaches. Now, with the advent of leadership approaches such as Servant Leadership and my own Middle Way Management, virtue ethics is making a comeback worthy of Elvis in ’68.

The Virtuous Person
What is a virtuous person? This question lies at the heart of virtues ethic and is probably debated more than the legitimacy of virtue ethics itself. Aristotle presented the idea that the ultimate goal of the virtuous person is living well (his term is eudaimonia, but I won’t bore you with the definitions here). Of course, in ancient Greek thought, this was not related strictly to physical comfort, pleasure or luxury, though these could be the outcomes of being a virtuous person. No, a virtuous person is someone who always does the right thing for the right reasons.

If we think about virtue ethics in the context of organizational culture, we see that the rules (policies and procedures) and consequences (strategies/tactics and planned outcomes) have already been created for us. These constraints are necessary for an organization to operate efficiently and effectively, yet how do they influence the virtue of organizational members? As many of you are intimately aware, managing people is a delicate undertaking that requires compassion, empathy, patience, and kindness on the part of the manager. HR policies and procedures are the beginning of the people management process, while virtue ethics allow us to practice in meaningful ways on a daily basis within those necessary constraints to discover equitable and fair outcomes.

In the end, virtue ethics is a way of being, rather than a way of doing. Rather than asking “What are the rules for proceeding?” or “What are the consequences of my actions?” when confronted with situations requiring ethical choices, the manager who practices virtue ethics will ask herself, “What sort of person am I?” For instance, an employee who consistently shows up late for work when his timely arrival is crucial to the success of the organization may be managed in two ways: 1) according to organizational policies and procedures with little to no regard for root causes or 2) with compassion and care while seeking to understand root causes and then finding a remedy within the constraints of company policies. Interestingly, both of these approaches offer a maximization of good for all parties concerned, even the organization, yet only one of them relies on the personal virtue of the manager to find resolution.

Big Decisions for a Small Business
Over the years, I’ve come to the decision that I will never have another employee – period (perhaps I will regale you with the stories behind this decision in a future post). This puts me in the same position in which many of you find yourselves: Singletons in a sea of organizations. As such, we are left asking ourselves how the people management aspects of virtue ethics apply to our work lives; they do, but in different ways. In our cases, we can call upon virtue ethics in every business relationship and interaction. As we engage in commerce with customers, suppliers, competitors, government regulators, and others, we are in a position to frequently ask that important question: “What sort of person am I?”

Like you, I have many examples of how asking this question might have saved me and others from imminent grief. If you have not considered this question in any kind of detail, take some time out of your busy day and begin the process of defining yourself within a virtue ethics context. This way, the next time you are confronted with an opportunity to exercise your morality, you will be crystal clear on what to do and why you are doing it. This may seem like an effort at defining the obvious, yet I know from personal experience that my workload has prevented me from making decisions in the past based upon what sort of person I am. In the rush to make a decision, any decision, I have compromised my ethics and inevitably regretted the decision. Now, I am able to pause and ask the question before making any ethical decision.

Virtue Ethics in Action
As you think about virtue ethics, you may be wondering how one might fit them into an existing leadership or management approach. In my case, I have settled on virtue ethics as the foundation of Middle Way Management. While Middle Way Management is based upon Buddhist ethical concepts, it is very much linked to Western ideas about virtue ethics, especially when and where the rubber meets the road—during daily practice.

Middle Way Management emphasizes the practice of managerial compassion as a way to relieve suffering at the individual and organizational levels (yes, organizations can suffer, too). As a Middle Way Manager goes about managing team members with compassion, he must remain mindful of his values and of the sort of person he is because both are basic parts of his daily practice. In this way, Buddha meets Aristotle and both leave us examining ourselves in fundamental ways that increase our chances of success in the competitive marketplace.

What sort of person are you?

Onward! Darin

Copyright © 2009/2010, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.

Middle Way Management and the Cognitive Domains

In my last post, I discussed the primary role compassion plays in Middle Way Management™, at both the theoretical and practice levels.  Well, after a long and interesting conversation with a working manager, it became clear to me that focusing the practice methodology on compassion alone is not the answer.  I've devised several "Cognitive Domains™" that work hand-in-hand with the practice methodology.  Only by recognizing and working within these domains can a Middle Way Manager™ fulfill his vital role.

The Practice Methodology
Before introducing the cognitive domains, I thought it would be handy to review the practice methodology. As you may recall, this methodology is comprised of six steps:

1. Team member agrees to work with the manager to change a habit/behavior,
2. Manager identifies the habit/behavior domain to be changed,
3. Team member collects complementary stories within the habit/behavior domain and shares them with the manager (resistance will be encountered during this stage and must be overcome in a positive, encouraging manner),
4. Manager checks in weekly with the team member and provides positive encouragement,
5. Manager and team member observe changed behavior(s) during the process,
6. Manager and team member wrap-up the process and make an assessment of status.

As I stated in my previous post on neuroplasticity, this approach works because the act of collecting and sharing the stories over the course of 30 days puts the team member's brain into "alpha wave" mode in which implicit memories are encoded and habits and behaviors are permanently changed for the better.  Though the process is foolproof, the manager will experience resistance from the team member.

Not to worry - this is a natural and expected part of the process because the ego resists change at all costs.  This manifests in different ways; typically, the team member will stop providing the stories and will shift to providing excuses such as, "I don't have time in my busy work day to send you stories." The manager must remain positive and encourage the team member to resume sending the stories.  Once this hurdle is overcome, it is usually smooth sailing until the 30 day process has been completed.

The Cognitive Domains
In my last post, I explained how I realized that compassion is the end-all of Middle Way Management.  I have not changed my position on that point, yet I recognize that managers are suffering, too.  While discussing Middle Way Management with the manager I mentioned above, he expressed concern over how to remain compassionate in the face of challenges that might result in a team member's termination. I quickly realized the manager was compassionate, he just did not have the knowledge and/or practice methodology to go about helping his team member.  Enter "Cognitive Domains."

You can think of the Cognitive Domains and meta-categories of behaviors. For instance, the first domain, "Mindful Awareness," is composed of several characteristics used to identify a team member's challenges in that domain. These characteristics, while stated in the positive such as, "Exercises acute workplace awareness at all times," can be used to identify team member deficiencies within that domain. The identification process is a key component of applying the methodology within the context of Middle Way Management.

The Cognitive Domains of Middle Way Management are:

1. Mindful Awareness
2. Compassionate Practice
3. Motivational Disposition
4. Expanded Worldview
5. Knowledge Creation
6. Systemic Outlook
7. Focused Framing
8. Coaching Skills

As I spoke with my manager friend, we explored the habits and behaviors of the team member about whom he was concerned.  Over the course of our conversation, it became clear how the team member's attention to detail (i.e., limited view of his role in the organization) was contributing to his under-performance in ways that were threatening his continued employment with the organization.  In this case, he exercised Focused Framing well, yet lacked sufficient Systemic Outlook that allowed him see his own place of importance in the larger organizational context. This results in a lack of motivation that seriously affects the team member's performance.

Applying the Methodology
Because my manager friend is a good Middle Way Manager, he does not want to terminate the team member. He believes the employee is fully capable of performing in stellar ways. This is an important point because the buy-in of the manager supersedes all other efforts here. If a manager does not want to work with a team member and would rather terminate him/her, what's the point of applying the methodology? Then again, a true Middle Way Manager will act with compassion and demonstrate a level of commitment that will move him into a positive, helpful space in which he can help an employee change his or her habits and behaviors.

As I explained how the methodology consists of the six practice steps above, I could see my manager friend become more comfortable with applying it in his workplace, though he did voice some concern that an initial application would require some support, namely from me. I explained to him that the forthcoming book and accompanying Web site would help with Cognitive Domain identification and practice support, which will be available to all who purchase the book.

The Whole Point
The whole reason for this post is centered on my new understanding of how important the Cognitive Domains are to the practice of Middle Way Management. While compassion as the relief of individual and organizational suffering will remain at the heart of Middle Way Management, a compassionate manager will be able to relieve team member suffering by applying the practice methodology with the help of the Cognitive Domains. And s/he will do it with all of the aid and support I can offer (more on these upcoming offerings in a future post!).

Go now, and manage with compassion.

Onward! Darin

Copyright © 2009/2010, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.

Middle Way Management and Compassion

In my last post, I discussed the MWM-AI™ Study that produced the (free) survey instrument intended to measure the "level" of Middle Way Management™ in an organization. I like to administer the MWM-AI at the outset of a consulting relationship and then again once organizational members have had time to work the methodology. Today, I will be discussing what is perhaps the fundamental aspect of Middle Way Management: Compassion.

It's the Compassion, Stupid!
As I've worked these past few months on producing the seminal book on Middle Way Management, Middle Way Management: Where Compassion Meets the Bottom Line, I came to the realization that the approach is about one thing: Compassion. I had visions (delusions?) of grandeur that Middle Way Management was the answer to every leadership and management scenario. Well, in some ways, it is, yet I am comfortable with the fact that in many ways, it is not.

The English language is composed of complex words intended to convey subtle and layered meaning using a single set of phonemes. While our language is a wonderful tool for communication, it is often inadequate to express the full meaning of our intent. In the case of compassion, the subtlety and layers are manifold and encompassing. While waxing poetic about words such as empathy, kindness, acceptance, and love, I understood in a flash one night that compassion truly is all things to everyone, especially Middle Way Managers™.

What does it take to practice compassion? It takes a healthy respect for our fellow humans. It also requires patience, empathy, openness, and a heart-filling dose of good, old-fashioned love. Compassion requires us to reveal and revel in our better natures; it is patient and kind and somehow elevates us to a higher level of being. It is the be-all and end-all of Middle Way Management.

To End the Suffering
As I have developed Middle Way Management, I have adapted the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism to my own ends. This is meant as a sign of respect and it is not my intent to impugn in any way the long tradition of  study and practice represented by that religion. As a reminder, the Four Noble Truths are

1. Suffering exists,
2. The cause of suffering is desire,
3. There is a way out of suffering,
4. The way out of suffering is walking the Middle Way (i.e., Buddhism).

I have resisted relying upon a dictionary definition of compassion, yet a fundamental part of any definition of the word is centered on the relief of suffering. As I have developed Middle Way Management, I have never lost site of the basic truth that suffering exists at the individual and organizational levels. I have seen it with my own eyes and felt it with my own heart. This experience is the sole driver behind my motivation to develop and offer Middle Way Management to the world.

Thus, I re-phrase the Four Noble Truths in an organizational context as

1. Suffering exists at the individual and collective levels within organizations (I would even argue that organizations suffer),
2. The cause of organizational suffering is a lack of managerial compassion,
3. There is a way to relieve suffering at the individual and organizational levels,
4. The way to relieve suffering at the individual and organizational levels is through the practice of Middle Way Management.

How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?
The answer to the question above is well-known: Practice, practice, practice. Though I developed Middle Way Management as a leadership and management approach based upon sound theory, I recognized early on that any approach without a solid practice foundation is doomed to either grow slowly or to die on the vine. I am highly motivated to release Middle Way Management to the wild (so to speak) and see what happens, and the best way to accomplish this is to provide a proven practice methodology. My fondest desire is that others smarter and more erudite than myself will take up the mantle and create a leadership and management approach at home in the 21st century and beyond.

The practice approach of Middle Way Management is simple: Be compassionate. So, this begs the question, how does one be so? One person's compassion is another's so-what.  This is where the MWM-AI and the neuroscientific methodology come into play. The results from administering the MWM-AI can be used to focus on the various subtleties of Middle Way Management upon which organizational members can improve. For instance, if a lack of acceptance (the opposite of which is judgmentalism) is evident, the methodology may be used to develop and encode acceptance into the implicit memory of organizational members. In this way, the flexibility of Middle Way Management becomes an asset in the development of compassion in the organization.

Go Now, and Manage with Compassion!
As you grow your own Middle Way Management practice, you must keep in mind the central role of compassion as the only way to end suffering at the individual and organizational levels. People in our American-style organizations are suffering. We see this manifest as illness, tardiness, low productivity, and in  a million other ways. Suffering is miserable. Now is the time to end the misery, to put a stop to the suffering. I offer the tools to help you accomplish this - please use them with care and diligence, remaining mindful of the special responsibility you have as a Middle Way Manager: To end the suffering at the individual and collective levels in your organization.

So, go now, and manage with compassion!

Onward! Darin

Copyright © 2009/2010, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.

The Middle Way Management Assessment Instrument (MWM-AI) Study

Research, Research, Research
Any rigorous research project takes time, energy, and good, old-fashioned elbow grease. Fortunately, I was able to convince several amazing people to help me complete the Middle Way Management Assessment Instrument™ (MWM-AI™) study. Special thanks go to Dr. Debra Elliott, James Rivera, and the inimitable Dr. Theodore Kariotis. These brave souls provided resources, comments, and encouragement throughout the process.

The Process
The process of completing a mixed-methods study is a lengthy one. In my case, it was composed of several steps:

1. Delphi study to define and refine survey/questionnaire items,
2. Limited field test of survey/questionnaire instrument - testing for validity, reliability, and internal consistency of items,
3. Full-scale administration of validated survey/questionnaire instrument,
4. Statistical analyses and write-up of full scale survey.

The Delphi Study
A Delphi study is simply a qualitative, panel-of-experts effort intended to create a reliable outcome based solely upon the expertise offered by the panel. In this case, the panel of experts was comprised of leaders and managers in several industry segments. This group included managers with years of experience at various educational levels, including undergraduate and graduate degrees.

A typical Delphi study allows the panel of experts to initially suggest several items for inclusion in a survey instrument. Since Middle Way Management™ is my own, new construct, I offered 100 items to the group along with an explanation of the guiding philosophy of Middle Way Management. Most of the panel participants had already been exposed to the approach via this blog or through personal communication. Regardless, the group completed two passes at the list of items. They eventually settled upon 25 items that I could take out to a limited field test.

Jim Rivera was instrumental in this phase of the study by pointing out that an executive manager's (e.g., C-level, President) point of view might be decidedly different than a front-line manager's. Based upon his input, I created a final instrument that captures the respondent's organizational level and branches to appropriate items. Thanks, Jim.

The Limited Field Test
Once the survey instrument had been defined and refined, I could embark upon the quantitative portion of the study. As a member of LinkedIn, I actively recruited several of my links to participate in the limited field study of the MWM-AI. I also recruited friends and colleagues, many of whom graciously participated.

In the end, 27 people completed the MWM-AI, a small sample, yet sufficient to test reliability using Cronbach's Alpha (this measurement essentially confirms that groups - in this case, all - of survey items measure "the same thing"). I was delighted to discover an alpha coefficient score of .964 over the 25 items of the instrument. Conventional social scientific wisdom dictates an acceptable level of > .80, though some researchers suggest > .70 is also acceptable. Either way, I was good to go - time to take it to a larger group.

The Real Deal
This is where Debra Elliott stepped up to the plate. Debra successfully negotiated with her organization to administer the final MWM-AI across all levels of her organization. Thanks, Debra. The results were interesting (I'm summarizing them in an article and won't bore you with the details here) and I was able to run Cronbach's Alpha on a larger sample of 137. The result: .966 across all 25 items. Again, good to go!

Future Directions
Now that I've validated the MWM-AI, it is truly ready to be delivered to the world. In fact, you can visit the survey here:

The Middle Way Management Assessment Instrument (MWM-AI)

Go ahead and punch away at it. I would be very interested in any comments or suggestions you may have to improve the instrument.

Now go, manage with compassion!

Onward! Darin

Resources that helped determine proper sample sizes for Cronbach's Alpha:

Duhachek, A., Coughlan, A. T., & Iacobucci, D. (2005, Spring). Results on the standard error of the coefficient alpha index of reliability. Marketing Science, 24(2), 294-301. doi:10.1287/mksc31040.0097

Duhachek, A., & Iacobucci, D. (2004). Alpha's standard error (ASE): An accurate and precise confidence interval estimate. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(5), 792-808. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.89.5.792

Copyright © 2009/2010, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.

Middle Way Management and Human Neuroplasticity

In my last post, I detailed my return to this blog after a long and fruitful absence. In this post, I will explain how a new neuroscientific methodology can help you take Middle Way Management™ to the next level. You will see that Middle Way Management is not just a theoretical approach to leading and managing people, it offers a proven methodology for practice where the rubber meets the road - in your daily organizational life.

Middle Way Management and Neuroplasticity
While conducting the MWM-AI study and fleshing out the first book on Middle Way Management, I came across several interesting ideas that I realized would significantly enhance the practice strategies of Middle Way Managers™ everywhere. These ideas are centered on the latest neuroplasticity research designed to help people purposefully change the neural pathways in their brains with the intent of permanently changing personal habits and their subsequent behaviors.

An additional benefit of this process is that managers working with organizational members will effect habitual and behavioral changes of their own! I sincerely believe many of the behaviors evident within work teams often reflect those of the leader/manager. This includes both positive and dysfunctional habits and behaviors. By working with team members to change their neural maps, Middle Way Managers will become more efficient and effective managers with little direct effort of their own.

Cognitive Neuroscience
The science behind all of this is grounded squarely in the discoveries of cognitive neuroscientists over the last 20 to 30 years. It uses stories as a means of communication and takes place over a 30-day period. The specific science that works to re-map the neural pathways happens when the organizational member's brain waves shift into "alpha mode" and the brain's subconscious storage processes take over (i.e., during the third step below). This way, team members are changing their habits incrementally and permanently in no more than five minutes per day!

The steps of the methodology are

1. Team member agrees to work with the manager to change a habit/behavior,
   
2. Manager identifies the habit/behavior domain to be changed,
3. Team member collects complementary stories within the habit/behavior domain and shares them with the manager (resistance will be encountered during this stage and must be overcome in a positive, encouraging manner),
4. Manager checks in weekly with the team member and provides positive encouragement,
5. Manager and team member observe changed behavior(s) during the process,
6. Manager and team member wrap-up the process and make an assessment of status.

Team members' habits and behaviors are typically changed by step 6 above. Conventional wisdom exists that suggests at least 21 days before the change(s) becomes permanent and can be observed in the workplace. Unfortunately, this 21-day period is not based on demonstrated science, yet the anecdotal evidence is sufficient to at least mention the duration. Naturally, the longer a team member practices the story collection/sharing process, the stronger the newly mapped neural nets become.

Next Steps
To help managers become proficient in the identification of the behavioral domains that become the loci of change for the team member, I will be offering a free tool designed to help them make the correct diagnosis. This Web-based tool will be available via the Middle Way Management website and I will post a major announcement on this blog when it becomes available for unlimited, free usage. Until then, I will work to complete the book, including detailed information on this new methodology.

Until then, manage with compassion!

Onward! Darin

Copyright © 2009/2010, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.

Back in the Game!

I'm Baaaaack!
After a long absence during which I was conducting the Middle Way Management Assessment Instrument™ (MWM-AI) study and writing the first Middle Way Management™ book (it's almost ready for prime time), I'm back! Fortunately, I've learned a lot along the way and have much to share with you in the months ahead.

New Developments
Two new developments will prove crucial to the continued development of Middle Way Management as a valuable leadership and management approach: 1) The MWM-AI and 2) A new neuroscientific approach to changing habits and behaviors in the workplace. While the MWM-AI offers a metric for initial and ongoing organizational assessments, the neuroscientific approach I am proposing is based upon the latest in neuroplasticity studies; it's grounded in Science and is a methodology proven time and again in the workplace.

Because these two topics offer enough information for several articles, I will reserve detailed comment about them for subsequent posts. Suffice it to say the MWM-AI study produced a reliable survey/questionnaire instrument of 25 items that is valid, internally consistent, and ready for action! I will be offering this instrument free of charge to anyone interested in developing a Middle Way Management practice based upon solid research and statistical analysis.

I could write an entire book on the new neuroscientific approach alone - and probably will. The approach utilizes stories, easily overcomes the inevitable resistance, and acts to physically create and re-map neural pathways in the brain. This way, Middle Way Managers™ can work with team members for mutual benefit. Yes, you understood me correctly - the act of working with a team member will also change the habits and behaviors of the manager for a success double-whammy. This is based upon prior and developing research, all of which I will document in a subsequent post or two (maybe three).

Future Topics
Finally, as a means of whetting your appetite, I'll list a few upcoming blog topics:

• Middle Way Management, Honesty and Candor
• Middle Way Management and Vision
• Middle Way Management and Tipping Points
• Middle Way Management and Daily Nutrition
  
• Middle Way Management and Competence
• Middle Way Management and Laughter
• Middle Way Management and Three Worldviews (pre-modern, modern, and post-modern)
• Middle Way Management and Language
• Middle Way Management, Conflict and Compromise
• Middle Way Management and Engaged Listening
• Middle Way Management and the Three Ds (debate, discussion, and dialogue)

I hope this makes you want to read more. I know I'm interested to see what I come up with.

Until then...manage with compassion!

Onward! Darin

Copyright © 2009/2010, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.

Middle Way Management and Vulnerability

In my last post, I discussed how you can find your refuge, both real and imagined, and take sanctuary in it whenever appropriate, or necessary. In this post, I consider the role vulnerability plays in your daily Middle Way Management™ walk.

Vulnerability in an Egoistic World
In our egoistic world, vulnerability is largely viewed as a weakness. Why is this? I believe it's because vulnerability is the outcome of practicing a management approach that is open, honest, candid, and, yes, compassionate. The typical American-style manager perceives him/herself as "tough but fair." Usually, they are just tough. They have no room for vulnerability because their self-identity is so wrapped up in their job title that they are operating from a position of fear at all times. Fear of looking bad before those they manage, fear of looking bad to their boss(es), fear of being perceived as weak, fear of the unknown.

Ego and fear are the enemies of vulnerability.

I recently completed the first and second phases of the Middle Way Management Assessment Instrument™ (MWM-AI™) study. The first phase was completed with the help of a panel of leadership and management experts. This group helped me define and refine a list of behavioral, leadership, and management characteristics that exemplify the Middle Way Manager™. The second phase was the development of a survey instrument for field testing. As I created the instrument items, I became keenly aware of the importance of vulnerability to the practice of Middle Way Management. A few items from the survey are

My direct manager...

...shows compassion for others at all levels of the organization.
...is sympathetic when needed.
...is not dogmatic in his/her beliefs (i.e., does not always need to be right).
...works to build and promote the team over self.
...is accountable for his/her actions to organizational stakeholders.

While these may appear to be the characteristics of any good manager, they are not always evident in the behaviors of American-style managers. These characteristics require a level of vulnerability that sidelines ego in the interest of others and the organization, and we know that the ego is always on the playing field in American-style management doing its best to look good--if it's not, it's on deck warming up.

It's Okay to be Vulnerable
The message I want to leave you with in this post is that it's okay to be vulnerable. Vulnerability does not denote weakness, it denotes honesty, candor, compassion, and empathy. When you are patient and kind, you are vulnerable. When you manage with vision and courage, you are vulnerable. When you put the interests of your team members before your own, you are vulnerable. And this is okay.

As your Middle Way Management practice matures, you will find that the outcomes you realize from your efforts overcome any perceptions of weakness. Walk your talk and embrace your vulnerability with mindfulness and purposeful intent and you will realize results that surprise even your harshest critics.

In my next post, I will discuss Middle Way Management and the role vision plays in your daily practice. It is a moral imperative of the Middle Way Manager to provide a clear, concise, achievable vision for the team. Providing vision builds trust and supplies a set of common goals that create the sort of "buy-in" money simply cannot buy.

Onward! Darin

Copyright © 2009, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.

Middle Way Management and Finding Your Refuge

In my last post, I discussed how viewing stress from the perspective of creative tension is a great way to enhance your Middle Way Management™ practice. By morphing stress into creative tension, you increase your ability to manage with compassion, empathy, patience, kindness, and sympathy, all necessary aspects of your Middle Way Management daily walk. In this post, I present ideas about how to find and then take refuge from a sometimes chaotic organizational environment.

Finding Your Refuge
Refuge in the context of Middle Way Management can be real or metaphorical. Either way, your refuge should be a place where you go to reconnect and sort things out. Of course, you can, and probably should, have more than one refuge space upon which you rely. Your refuge can be at your place of work or somewhere outside (e.g., walking path around the office building). Your refuge can be purely imaginary--a "happy place" you go to when things are spinning around you. As a Middle Way Manager™, you will seek real or metaphorical refuge depending on immediate circumstances.

For instance, it's probably not appropriate to excuse yourself to take a walk during an important meeting because you want to exit a negative situation and feel the sun on your face. It's also imperative that you remain "here, now." I've certainly let my mind wander to more pleasant scenes during a meeting or two over the years. Invariably, someone then asks me for my opinion on a matter to which I've paid virtually no attention. Because it's one of the primary responsibilities of the Middle Way Manager to be present at all times, you should guard against this and take refuge when and where appropriate.

Taking Refuge
In an earlier post, I recommended taking time out of your busy schedule to engage in reflective thought. Hopefully, you are able to accomplish this in your own office with some privacy or in a room set aside by the organization for rest and relaxation. This is a case of real refuge, one that you can count on (remember to schedule out the time as a meeting) to recharge and rejuvenate, especially if your day has been hectic. I know that I eagerly anticipate my self-sanctioned "timeouts" as a way to collect my thoughts and plan for future events.

Other forms of real refuge can be spending quality time with sympathetic colleagues during work hours or after work. You can schedule lunches with friends or family and even skip lunch altogether in the interest of simply getting away from the workplace for a little while. I once read an article by a guy who espoused using a toilet stall as a form of refuge to take a quick nap. While I don't think lurking in the restroom is a great idea, I do believe his point that a place of refuge should include some solitary time to recharge your managerial batteries is a good one.

On the metaphorical, or imaginary, side, refuge can simply be a way to calm your mind, even briefly. In an earlier post, I suggested reflective thought and breathing exercises as ways to settle your busy mind. Bringing yourself into awareness through concentration on your breathing is a great way to keep yourself in the present and focus your energies. In fact, breathing in awareness may be the best approach because it helps you focus intently on the present, preventing the wandering of mind that is so easy to slip into when refocusing.

The Purpose of Refuge
The purpose of taking refuge is to help you calm yourself in the midst of the storm. As an active manager in an American-style organization, you will typically reside in the eye of that storm when you take refuge. Remember, though, that the storm is always moving. Eventually, it will wash over you once again and you will be right back in the thick of things. By calming yourself in the midst of the storm, you allow yourself to re-energize your daily Middle Way Management practice. Only when you are calm and composed will you be able to manage with compassion, empathy, sympathy, understanding, and kindness.

In my next post, I will consider how practicing Middle Way Management requires you to be vulnerable in the face of egoistic and aggressive forces that are part and parcel of American-style organizational management. Only by acknowledging and embracing our vulnerability can we practice the level of compassion necessary to relieve suffering at all levels of the organization.

Copyright © 2009, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.