Kaizen your career

Good Morning. For the next 5 minutes, your career is the most important thing.

In today’s email:

• Kaizen your career

• Louder! How to project your voice to be more persuasive

• Seek excellence, not perfection, to get stuff done

• Expressing gratitude makes us happier

• Create a third space for work-life balance

ON YOUR CAREER

Kaizen your career

Kaizen is a Japanese term meaning ‘change for the better’ or ‘continuous improvement’. It reflects a growth mindset. Kaizen became a feature of many Japanese businesses after World War II. It has been an essential part of The Toyota Way with Toyota now the largest seller of vehicles in the world.

Kaizen may produce a large, innovative project. It may also produce many small but valuable changes.  Combined, these small changes produce a resilient, competitive organization. All team members have a role in the organization doing better.

Kaizen questions to ask — how are we:

• Becoming more efficient?

• Lowering costs?

• Adding more value to clients?

• Learning useful skills?

• Taking better care of our colleagues?

• Being more persuasive?

Kaizen is within the reach of every one of us, every day. These daily actions compound to excellent performance. And an excellent career.

COMMUNICATION

Louder! How to project your voice to be more persuasive

We can apply kaizen to be more persuasive at work. Our voice pace, depth, and volume influence how we are perceived. Many people do not speak loudly enough. Here are two simple, physical changes to try:

1. Open your mouth wider

People who speak with their lips too close together have voices that can sound thin and strained with a tone that is similar to when we complain. It can also be hard to hear and understand. Opening our mouths wider means our voices are louder and deeper.

2. Straighten-up

When we slouch or are hunched over in our chairs, it is difficult to push sufficient air across our vocal cords. Sit straight at a meeting table. Emphasise diaphragm-up, not shoulders back, to provide a natural posture to project your voice. Standing while we speak on the telephone provides us a louder and deeper voice than if we are sitting. This is useful when we are selling or negotiating.

Some people are hesitant to speak, or don’t speak loudly enough, in team meetings because they are not confident that their opinions are important. If so, the following may help:

3. Be confident in what you say

Preparation is the foundation of sustained, self-confidence. Know your job well and practise speaking in succinct points about your projects. Nervousness is common, especially early in your career or when starting a new job. People will respect you for speaking-up despite you feeling nervous. Deep breathing techniques pre-meeting, and contracting your lower body in meetings, can lower your stress and keep you in the zone of high performance.

PRODUCTIVITY

Seek excellence, not perfection, to get stuff done

Having a goal of perfection is counterproductive to productivity. Perfectionism is a common source of procrastination, delaying action because accomplishing a perfect standard is daunting. The pursuit of perfection also leads to diminishing returns.

Having a goal of excellence is easier to define, more realistic, and more productive than a goal of perfection. We can optimise our efforts. We can complete our goal at an excellent level and move on to another goal to create more value.

1 MINUTE TO INCREASE HAPPINESS

Expressing gratitude makes us happier

Expressing gratitude releases dopamine and serotonin. These are feel-good neurotransmitters that boost our mood and increase our happiness.

Maintaining a gratitude diary has been shown to lower anxiety and depression, increase our empathy, and make us more resilient.

Saying ‘thank you’ or expressing gratitude in an email can produce immediate positive emotions in us and others. Gratitude deepens our long-term social bonds. Strong social bonds with others is a formula for long-term happiness.

Is there a colleague who is helpful to you who you could thank today?

GET SMARTER

Creating a third space for work-life balance

Dr Adam Fraser coined the term ‘the third space’ which refers to the transition space between work and home. This space is often the commute home. But if you work from home, it can also be taking a walk around the block at the end of your work day. It is a shift in mindset. A shift that means you can:

• Be more present for family and friends

• Re-charge for your next period of work

• Have leisure which is part of an enjoyable and wise life

Many things can help us change from work to non-work focus. One of our coachees locks his telephone in the glovebox of his car and spends uninterrupted dinners with his family. Another coachee walks from the train to her house and in the final minute imagines hugging her children and husband and asking about their day. Being other-directed works. Listening to music, playing an online game, or exercise can all be effective circuit-breakers. Any of these can quickly form a habit.

If you have specific feedback or anything interesting you’d like to share, please let us know by replying to this email.

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