What I Read Today - Sunday September 4, 2011

From:   The Oz Principle - Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability
             by Roger Conners, Tom Smith and Craig Hickman

HOW TO RECOGNIZE WHEN YOU’RE BELOW THE LINE

Whenever you get stuck in the victim cycle, you can’t get unstuck until you first acknowledge that you’re functioning Below The Line and paying a high price for it. Only with that acknowledgment can you begin assuming a See It attitude that gives you the perspective you need to get Above The Line. Oftentimes, unable to overcome the inertia of the victim cycle on your own, you need feedback from an objective person such as a friend or spouse, or as in the case of GE, a customer in Philadelphia with a failed refrigerator compressor.

However, you can greatly improve your ability to recognize your predicament by looking for one or more of the following telltale clues:
 • You feel held captive by your circumstances.
 • You feel you lack any control over your present circumstances.
 • You don’t listen when others tell you, directly or indirectly, that they think you could have done more to achieve better results.
 • You find yourself blaming others and pointing fingers.
 • Your discussions of problems focus more on what you cannot do, rather than on what you can do.
 • You fail to confront the toughest issues you face.
 • You find yourself being sought out by others so they can tell you what someone else did to them this time. • You resist asking probing questions about your own accountability.
 • You feel you are being treated unfairly and you don’t think you can do anything about it.
 • You repeatedly find yourself in a defensive posture.
 • You spend a lot of time talking about things you cannot change (e.g., your boss, shareholders, the economy’s performance, government regulations).
 • You cite your confusion as a reason for not taking action.
 • You avoid the people, the meetings, and the situations that require you to report on your responsibilities.
 • You find yourself saying: “It’s not my job.” “There’s nothing I can do about it.” “Someone ought to tell him.” “All we can do is wait and see.” “Just tell me what you want me to do.” “If it were me, I’d do it differently.”
 • You frequently waste time and energy “boss or colleague bashing.”
 • You spend valuable time crafting a compelling story detailing why you were not at fault.
 • You repeatedly tell the same old story about how someone took advantage of you.
 • You view the world with a pessimistic attitude.