Two Ways to Find More Time in Your Day

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I often hear the complaint, "But I just don't have any more time in my day!"  or "There is only 24 hours in the day, how can I possibly get everything done?"

Time can be one of our most valuable assets.  One of the major goals I had for myself this year when I planned it out (see How to Plan for This Year's Goals), was to "find more time" in my day where I can be focusing on thinking and writing, rather than running all over.  Three weeks in, and things are not perfect (always room for improvement!), but I have managed to create a system to allow for more time in my day to think, read, and write.  Here's how I did it.

1) "Limit Screen Time": Phone, iPad, TV

There are lots of new movements out there with the rallying cry to limit screen time (see Arianna Huffington's "Thrive" movement).  Part of my ongoing issue with screen time is that I operate 75% off of my phone for marketing on social media, as well as operations through apps.  I have been noticing more tension headaches since the end of last year, so I decided to try to focus on it.  My first attack was to just be more mindful of the time I was on the phone.....that did not work.  I'm a visual person, so then I decided to practice what I preach, and utilize Applied Behavior Analysis strategies (see How to Use ABA to Improve Productivity), and made things visual.  This was accomplished by setting alarms on my phone to remind me mid-day to shut off my phone from 12-2 (Lunch), and then at 8:30pm to shut it off for the night.  I have to say, the annoying alarm worked!  I went from being focused on the phone from 7am-10pm, to having a few more hours in my day where I could unplug and decompress, and allow for time to think and write.

2) Timeblocking

This strategy has taken me more time to do (no pun intended), but I am seeing improvements in using this strategy to where I feel I am seeing more strategic tasks being accomplished.  The concept of timeblocking has been around for awhile.  Cal Newport can be credited with the idea in his book, Deep Work.  My personal strategy for using timeblocking has been to block off portions of my day where I am limiting screen time, and focusing on one specific task.  I have organized my calendar in this way, so that way I know I am busy at that time, and do not overbook myself.  I have also started setting calendar alerts to remind me 15 minutes before that time starts to wrap up what I am doing, and start the new "deeper" work.  This has been extremely helpful because then I am sticking to my commitment.

What other strategies do you use to find more time in your day?  Leave a comment below!

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How to Use ABA to Improve Productivity

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"Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is the science, derived from the principles of behavior, applied systematically to improve socially significant behavior."  -Cooper, Herron, and Heward (2007)

With that said, how can we use ABA to increase our productivity in our day to day lives?  The key here is the phrase "applied systematically to improve socially significant behavior."

So what are the "socially significant behaviors" that we need to increase in order to maximize our productivity? This is the first question we should ask, before we come up a productivity plan.  By first defining the behaviors we need to improve, we can then hone in on strategies to increase the occurrence of these behaviors in our everyday lives.

I recently completed this exercise myself at the start of the New Year, and my outline of my goals for my "12 Week Year" (see the blog post, "How to Plan for This Year's Goals").

First, I defined the behaviors I needed to increase (for me, they were: delegating, organizing my current systems, and creating engaging content).  Then I came up with a plan for each that included antecedent strategies to make these behaviors more likely to occur.  Some of these strategies included visual deadlines outlined on my 12WY spreadsheet, downloading and learning social media marketing tools to assist in creating engaging content, and developing task analyses for each of my systems so that I would be able to delegate to staff.

For each of these behaviors, reinforcement is built in to their performance.  By delegating and organizing my systems, I will have access to more time to spend doing more preferred activities in my businesses, or more personal time to meditate and read.  By creating engaging content, hopefully, I will be helping others develop, which for me is a major reinforcer!

Have additional strategies to use ABA to improve productivity?  Leave a comment below!

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Three Steps to Teach Preschoolers to Follow Directions

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Guest Post by Jill Fuller, MEd.

There is a myth that applied behavior analysis (ABA) can only be used for individuals with disabilities. Well, I am here to tell you this practice can be used for any individual, in any setting! Additionally, you can use ABA to help with teaching preschoolers to complete adult requests, a task previously thought to be impossible by us mere mortals, the parents of preschoolers. How you ask? Read to find out!

Before getting into how to increase your preschoolers’ completion of adult requests, I must provide some notes.  It should be noted that preschoolers are not expected to be 100% compliant, as it would be dangerous to teach a child to comply 100%, because then you could inadvertently teach them to comply to inappropriate requests from peers or strangers.

Stephenson and Hanley (2010), provides us with some research to support teaching preschoolers to perform adult requests. The results established two conclusions. First, the probability of compliance to requested tasks increases when you use the proximity, position of adult and child, physical contact, and vocal attention. Second, the researchers found that when you pair these with an adult using three-step prompting, the probability of the child performing the requested task is even higher.

Three step prompting can be remembered as “tell, show, do.” 

1) Tell

Step one: provide the preschooler with a request. Then wait three to five seconds to see if the child will perform the request. If the child does, provide positive reinforcement promptly “(I love how you followed my instructions!”). If they do not, move onto step two.

2) Show

Step two: repeat the request, while at the same time modeling or gesturing to what you want the child to do. Again, wait three to five seconds to see if your child completes the request, and if they do, provide reinforcement promptly.  If the child still does not perform the request, move to step 3.

3) Do

Step three: repeat the request, in combination with going over to the preschooler and then physically prompting them to what was requested, an example would be hand over hand. Continue to provide physical prompting until the task is complete.

If you apply these strategies, not only will you be happier, but your child will be as well!

 

References:

Stephenson, K. M., Hanley, G. P. (2010). Preschoolers' compliance with simple instructions: A descriptive and experimental evaluation. Journal of applied behavior analysis. 43. 229-47. 10.1901/jaba.2010.43-229.

Wilder, D. A., Allison, J., Nicholson, K., Abellon, O. E., & Saulnier, R. (2010). Further Evaluation of Antecedent Interventions On Compliance: The Effects of Rationales to Increase Compliance Among Preschoolers. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 43(4), 601-613. doi:10.1901/jaba.2010.43-601

How to Plan for This Year's Goals

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*Please Note: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. 

Back in July of 2017, I took the leap to form Shaping Development, my first venture in owning my own business.  In October of 2017, another opportunity presented itself and I also formed Operant Coffee.  Starting both LLCs took an amazing amount of courage, but thanks to my executive coach, Dave, (see Coaching for Leaders) for introducing me to the concept of The 12 Week Year* by Brian Moran and Michael Lennington, I was able to strategize and organize my tasks into the remaining 12 weeks of the year. 

In special education, the process of breaking larger tasks into smaller tasks is called "chunking."  In behavior analysis, we call it a "task analysis."  Whatever you want to call it, I think the only way I was able to accomplish as much as I did the last three months was by breaking everything down into the 12 Week Year.

The concept of the 12 Week Year is simple.  Ultimately, you break three months of tasks into 12 weeks (or 3 months).  The first 12 weeks are laid out with the tasks per week, and then the 13th week is set aside as a planning week for the next 12 weeks (52 does not evenly divide by 12 :-).  The idea is that instead of focusing on the whole year, which can seem overwhelming, you focus on your goals for 12 weeks at a time, allowing that 13th week for troubleshooting. 

Moran and Lennington have lots of tools to assist you in doing this when you purchase their book/system.  It also can be done simply using an excel spreadsheet as I did, where I just outlined the 12 weeks by date, and divided the sheet up between the two businesses.  As I move forward into the next year, I am spending this week reviewing what I accomplished, and outlining what's next for the next 12 weeks.  I hope that you will also find this system helpful as you move in to the next year!

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How Parents Can Build Social Skills Through Behavior Skills Training

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Guest post by: Jill Fuller, MEd.

As a parent, you want to do everything in your power to help your child. The question often becomes how to go about helping them? This question may be more complicated to figure out if you have a child with a developmental disability.

Individuals diagnosed with developmental disabilities often have deficit in social skills. While the clinicians you work closely with try and improve your child’s social skills they may have trouble improving this deficit because their access your child is limited to how many hours of services per week they see your child. The clinician can only expose the individual to a limited number of environmental settings. However, it is important for your child to practice the social skills they learn in different environments and circumstances, and with variety of people. This is where parents can really be wonderful facilitator in their child’s treatment. Parents are with their child in novel settings, situations where the parent can help facilitate acquisition.

A proven and researched method that parents can use to improve social skills is social skills training. While there are many types of social skills training, one proven intervention that increases social skills is a multicomponent treatment package, sometimes known as behavioral skills training (BST). BST is comprised of four components: instructions, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback.

1) Instruction

During the instruction component of BST, it is important that directions be understandable and specific.  A parent can do this by providing a rationale for why the skill is important. For example, one such rationale may be “it is important to say, ‘excuse me’ so others know you want to get by and can move over.” Other ways a parent can insure their instructions are understandable and specific are to state all the steps to complete the skill either visually or vocally, and then have their child demonstrate understanding by asking questions about the instruction, or receptive directions (i.e. “Find the card that says “My turn.”)

2) Modeling

The modeling phase of BST allows your child to have several chances to view you perform the desired skill. There are five methods that can be use during the modeling phase to make sure your child benefits from modeling.  First, say that you will be modeling the skill while they observe. Next, verbally describe a scenario, or physically set up a scenario where your child will need to use this skill. For example, “you are on the playground you want to play with a friend.” The parent then follows the scenario by modeling the correct, and if appropriate developmentally incorrect, behaviors. To make sure your child is clear on what steps were done correctly the parent should explain what steps were shown correctly. Finally, allow time your child to ask any questions they might have.

3) Rehearsal

During the third component of BST, the rehearsal phase, your child will practice the skill being taught. They should be told directly that it is now their turn to practice the skill. The parent then verbally describes a scenario, or physically sets up a scenario where they need to use the skill, and your child can practice the steps and skills previously modeled to them.

4)  Feedback

The fourth, and final component, is feedback phase. During this phase it is important that the feedback is given quickly after your child’s rehearsal; in the best-case scenario within ten seconds. This feedback should include at least two positive comments. The feedback should contain more praise then correctives. Finally, if your child skipped a step during the rehearsal phase the parent should repeat that step and return to the rehearsal phase.

 

References:

Dogan, R. K., King, M. L., Fishetti, A. T., Lake, C. M., Mattews, T. L., & Warzak, W. J. (2017).  Parent-implemented behavioral skills training of social skills. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 50 (4), 805-818.

Miles, N. I., & Wilder, D. A. (2009). The effects of behavioral skills training on caregiver implementation of guided compliance. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 42, 405-410

Stewart, K. K., Carr, J. E., & LeBlanc, L. A. (2007). Evaluation of family-implemented behavioral skills training for teaching social skills to a child with Asperger's disorder. Clinical Case Studies, 6, 252-262.

 

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Five Skills Of Healthy Teams

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Recently, I was asked the question: what are the five components of healthy team behavior?

This question made me think about the teams I have been a member of, managed, and lead.  After much thought, I came up with these five skill sets: organizational skills, functional communication, social skills, problem solving skills, and emotional regulation.

1) Organizational Skills

Organizational skills are essential in teams to make sure key tasks are broken down and defined clearly.  Once this occurs, responsibilities of the team as a whole can be shared, delegated, and everyone is clear of their job and responsibility.  This is also where clearly defined job descriptions and performance expectations are outlined and communicated to all team members.  For assistance in organizing these tasks, see this blog post:  How a Task Analysis Can Transform Your Life.

2) Functional Communication Skills

If there is a want or a need from the team, this is expressed and carried out by leadership.  Leaders of teams should hold 1:1 meetings with team members to make sure their individual wants and needs are being met, but also as a collective whole, giving all team members a safe space to communicate their needs.  For more information on holding 1:1's see this blog post: Four Strategies When Holding 1:1s.

3) Social Skills

Key social skills that need to be displayed by all team members are the following interpersonal skills: eye contact when communicating, polite tone of voice, and making sure there is a safe space for transparency among team members.  Team members should be able to hold conversations with all members of the team, in a healthy team culture.  For more strategies on building a healthy team culture, see this blog post: Two Ways to Build Team Culture.  

4) Problem Solving Skills

Problem solving skills are essential to any team.  These behaviors include conflict resolution when there is discord with team members, but also includes those moments where there is an issue with a client or customer.  It is important to observe and measure how the team works together to problem solve, as opposed to relying on just one team member or a few of the team members to problem solve.  Once these data are collected, team performance goals in this skill set can be created and shaped.  David Marquet's book*,

is an amazing testament to this as he discussed how he turned his ship, the Santa Fe, into the worst performing ship in the US Navy to one of the best performing ships in the US Navy.  

5) Emotion Regulation Skills

Emotion regulation skills of a team can be defined as providing support to one another when a team member needs assistance in those moments of conflict or in those moments of frustration.  As team members, however; we should keep in mind the larger picture of the team's performance goals, so that in our assistance, or conflict with a fellow team member, we can avoid an escalation in conflict by displaying verbal outbursts or passive aggressive behavior.

Have additional skills to suggest as "healthy team behaviors?"  Leave a comment below!  

*Please Note: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. 

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Two Ways to Build a Team Culture in the Workplace

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How can we build team culture in the workplace?  This is a question that comes up often when new leaders take over teams.  Here are two ways behavior analysis can help with this.

1) Define Your Team

The first step to building your team is to define who makes up the team, and what behaviors they will need to perform.  Often, leaders come in to situations where the team has been divided up, either by the tasks they are to perform, or by preference of whom they want to interact with.  In defining your team, you need to know how all of the people who are assigned steps of the operational process (see last week's blog: How a Task Analysis Can Transform Your Life) can work together and perform with direct and clear communication.  It is also helpful to create a mission statement (even if it is an informal one) for your team so that everyone is working towards a common goal.  Often, leaders create this mission without input from team members, but it is helpful to hold one-on-one sessions with team members so that all have a say in the mission (see: Three Questions to Ask When Creating a Mission Statement for further information).

2) Motivate Team Performance

Once the team and the behaviors are defined, now is the time to come up with strategies to motivate the team's performance.  Many organizations use incentive systems of positive reinforcement, where "points" or "bonuses" are tied to specific job behaviors to increase performance.  Leaders should not just use these systems to increase job performance (or use revenue as a method of measurement), but define measures to increase social performance and communication of team members in the workplace.  

Environmental changes can also motivate team performance.  If the organization has a "closed door" culture, encourage open doors, or an open floor plan meeting space with refreshments for employees to take breaks away from their desks and engage in dialogue.  Depending on the budget, team building days where team members can pair up with people they don't normally interact with in an activity outside the office can also help increase communication.  Holding informal lunch meetings can also help to increase dialogue among team members, and as the leader you can invite and facilitate these meetings, but be sure to group participants in groups that normally do not interact, giving them space to engage in open communication with each other.

Have additional strategies to build team culture?  Leave a comment below!

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How a Task Analysis Can Transform Your Life

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Picture the following scene.  You are ready for lunch and all you can think about is making a grilled cheese sandwich.  What are all the steps involved in that process?  

1) Locate the bread

2) Locate the cheese and butter

3) Open the bread and take out two slices

4) Spread the butter on both sides

5) Put the cheese on the bread

6) Put the pieces of bread and cheese together, etc.

...well you get the idea. 

In behavior analysis, this process is called a task analysis--and it can transform your life.

When teaching children, we often use task analyses to teach daily living skills such as brushing teeth or handwashing, but most behavior chains (skills that involve multiple behaviors) can be broken down into a task analysis.  This includes organizational behaviors such as standard operating procedures, as well as executive functioning skills such as decision making and problem solving. 

So how can this transform your life?  The biggest way a task analysis can transform your life is by combating that overwhelming feeling you have when you have a large project, or a goal for skill acquisition that you need to shape in a client or staff member.  By breaking the large skill or project into a sequence, a task analysis can help you focus on one step at a time and organize the process.  By breaking it down into small component parts, you can also collect more accurate data to measure skill acquisition, thus giving you information on the specific steps you need to focus on, as opposed to having to focus on the whole large process.

Have a strategy to share on how task analyses have transformed your life?  Comment below!

Want more ideas on skills you can focus on for a task analysis?  Check out our ebooks!

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Six Books to Shape Leadership Development

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*Please Note: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. 

People often ask for book recommendations, especially when it comes to shaping leadership development.  To assist, I've compiled a list of six books that have shaped my leadership development, in the hope that you will also find them helpful!

1) Pivot by Jenny Blake

This book came for me at a time that I was experiencing a leadership crisis.  I was feeling burned out as a leader, and I needed to figure out how to "pivot" my role in the organization or in my career.  The guidance in this book helped me to structure my daily activities, and create goals with actionable plans.

2) Deep Work by Cal Newport

As a self-proclaimed "multi-tasker," I wore that label as a badge of honor--a behavior that had been reinforced as I moved along in my career.  This book effectively changed that behavior. Newport discusses the benefit of scheduling blocks of time to limit distraction.  Instead of focusing on many "tasks," the blocks of time are guided by your focus on one task at a time that will have a greater impact on your development as a leader. 

3) Good Authority by Jonathan Raymond

This book is probably the only book that I have purchased for people in my organization who I was shaping into leadership positions.  Though Raymond is not a behavior analyst, he illustrates many principles proven through organization behavior management, and illustrates through his stories, the necessities of effective delivery of feedback.  This was incredibly helpful for me as I was developing my staff in their roles.

4) Bringing Out the Best in People: How to Apply the Astonishing Power of Positive Reinforcement by Aubrey C. Daniels

This book was my first primer in leadership development, as I read it during my Master's program, studying Organizational Behavior Management.  Of particular note, this book was the guiding force behind the "Kudos" system I implemented with my direct reports, to shape their behavior interacting with each other in the workplace.

5) The Five Temptations of a CEO by Patrick Lencioni

This book was the book I wish I read when I first entered a leadership position.  Lencioni tells a tale, in a "Christmas Carol"-style to illustrate behaviors to avoid as a leader, and the simple behaviors we should perform while in those roles.  You should also check out the other titles by Lencioni: Four Dysfunctions of a Team and Death by Meeting.

6) Start With Why by Simon Sinek

This book forced me to look at my narrative as I was addressing my staff.  Instead of focusing on statements such as "We need you to..." and "We have to do x or z," it helped me to think about crafting a narrative for my staff when discussing protocols and instructions, to show the larger picture of why we were doing what we were doing.  This was also the book that helped me narrow down a mission statement for my organization, and to use that mission to guide our "daily huddles."

Have any additional books to add?  Leave a comment below!

 

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Teaching Problem Solving Skills to Teenagers

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In 2016, I presented at an ABAI symposium in Chicago.  I was recently going through my old research, and came across this study I completed: "Teaching Problem Solving Skills to Teenagers Diagnosed with Autism," and I thought it would be helpful to share the results, so as to hopefully help parents and educators when targeting skills to teach teenagers diagnosed with developmental disabilities.

"Teaching Problem Solving Skills to Teenagers Diagnosed with Autism"

For many teenagers diagnosed with autism, problem solving can be a complex skill to teach.  Research indicates that using video modeling can be successful when teaching children with autism skills such as reciprocal conversation and play, but few studies address video modeling to teach problem solving skills (Charlop-Christie & Milstein (1989) ; Charlop, etc. al. (2000)).  Bellini and Akullian (2007) completed meta-analysis of video modeling studies, finding many studies supported video modeling.

During the intervention phases, video modeling was introduced for each step of a problem solving task analysis in using the phone to call a parent for help, then faded as participants demonstrated the skill independently. We then focused on generalization of skills from direct instruction, in contrived scenarios with parent participation, throughout the participants’ day where they would need to call their parent for help.  

For all participants, maintenance probes were completed one year after the initial training.  Following intervention, all three participants completed 100% of the problem solving task analysis independently.  One year later, two out of three participants maintained the skill at 100% of the task analysis. 

Results:

 

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For additional strategies on teaching transition skills to students, please see our eWorkbook: Transition to Adulthood Series: Supports and Services!

 

References

•Charlop, M. H., & Milstein, J. P. (1989). Teaching autistic children conversational speech using video modeling. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 22, 275–285

•Charlop, M.H., Le, L., & Freeman, K. (2000). A comparison of video modeling with in vivo modeling for teaching children with autism.  Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30(6), 537-552

•Bellini, S., & Akullian, J (2007). A meta-analysis of video modeling and video self-modeling interventions for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders . Exceptional Children, 73, 261-284

•Collins, S., Higbee, T., & Salzberg, C. (2009). The effects of video modeling on staff implementation of a problem solving intervention with adults with developmental disabilities.  Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 42(2), 849-854

 

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Four Strategies When Holding 1-on-1s

By: Daniel Soeiro Sanches, Guest Post

www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-sanches-ab56a52

I took quite some time until I found out how 1:1's would work out well for me and my team--it actually took me a year. When I look back and think about what has actually helped me in having constructive 1:1's, I have 4 points that I follow:

1) One Size Doesn't Fit All

People are so different from each other and have so many different interests and ambitions (personal and professional) that even though you might standardise on a template or a series of questions, the most important is that over time you understand how to get each person talking which will be unique.

2) Understand Why You Need to Have 1:1’s

Across the different types of people that I have managed, driven by their uniqueness in styles and background I have found out extremely useful to understand why I need to have 1:1's. The most frequent whys that I have discovered are: 1) a need for coaching; 2) a need for getting up to speed on the small details that are not talked in the drumbeat team meetings; 3) provide a safe environment for feedback and discussion and any other topics that could be affecting performance; and 4) provide a time slot to discuss career and ambitions.

3) Good Quality 1:1's Require Preparation

This can be done via a template, but what I typically do to make sure there is always something to discuss is: 1) note down three to four things concerning the person's work that I want to know more about; 2) note down specific feedback from the past week/weeks (and this alternates between feedback on how to improve, and recognition for work completed); and 3) always request feedback on something I may have done over the past time period since we last talked.

4) Some 1:1's Should Be Strategic On a Quarterly Basis

I always ask my reportee to review her/his workplace and provide me with an overview of the results achieved to date and whether they are on track/off track. This provides room for discussion, open and honest feedback and typically also supports my building of a story for the person when the performance review time comes up. It also makes sure both of us are up to speed.

For more information and to connect with Daniel, please see his LinkedIn Profile:  www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-sanches-ab56a52

 

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Three Questions to Ask When Creating a Mission Statement

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Simon Sinek, in his book, Start With Why, makes it clear that leaders must ask the correct questions when guiding their teams.  Sinek believes that this question is "Why--" to determine why the team exists, and their purpose.

This purpose can be summed up in a mission statement.  From a larger company level, or a specific team level, all teams need to have a mission statement to guide their work.  Though Sinek makes a compelling argument to "Start with Why," I feel that there are actually three questions we must ask when we are creating the mission statement for our team: 1) Who, 2) What, and 3) Why.

1) Who

The "who" is important because it describes who is responsible for carrying out the mission of the company or the team.  It is helpful to list this out from a broad (company) perspective, but also at a specific team level, so that all can adopt the mission statement as part of company or team culture.

2) What

The "what" specifies what the company or team will be doing on a day to day basis.  This can describe from a broader sense what it is the company does, or from a team level the work the team accomplishes.

3) Why

The "why" is the third question teams should ask when creating the mission statement.  The "why" describes the purpose of the organization, and why the team exists.  This is the goal of the organization or team.

By answering these three questions, we can create mission statements that unifies our team to actions that accomplish our larger goals.

For more strategies on creating mission statements, see our eWorkbook: How to Create A Mission Statement.

References:

Sinek, Simon. Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. New York: Portfolio / Penguin, 2011.

 

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How to Create a Culture of Openness During Transition (Parents/Educators)

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Transition times are always difficult for parents, teachers, and students.  The most salient transition time period (at least in the United States) are the years between 14-21 for special education students.  During this time, school districts are legally required to begin the transition process, and to start the dialogue and programming for transition goals.

Unfortunately during this time, students may have many different support systems and providers in place, and parents and educators can be overwhelmed with streamlining communication between these systems.  Often, some supports providers are invited to key planning meetings, while others are left out of the loop, either by design or by mistake, creating confusion in the midst of a difficult time period.  In more instances than not, the student is not part of these meetings, and is left out of the decision making process, even though the team is planning for their transition to adulthood.

In his article (2016), "Integrating Organizational-Cultural Values With Performance Management," Carl Binder discusses a process of creating a culture of "openness" on decision making.  By creating a culture of openness, the team can focus, as a whole, on discussing the value of all of the opinions in the room during a planning meeting (including the student's in whatever mode they are able to communicate).  The individual student should be the center of this meeting, as it is their adult life that the team is planning.  From personal experience, when working with teams that have this culture of openness, decisions are able to be made in a streamlined fashion, and priorities are able to be accomplished more quickly than when there is a culture of safeguarding information.

Ultimately, this is an exciting time for the student's life and it should be celebrated.  Planning for adulthood can be overwhelming, and it is a time for the team to come together to support the student, instead of dividing into silos.

To help guide parents and educators through transition, we have created an eBook series called Transition to Adulthood.  Our first installment: "Supports and Services" is available here.

References

Binder, C (2016). Integrating Organizational-Cultural Values with Performance Management. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 36(2-3), 185-201

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What You Should Know About Leadership and Management Roles

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In my career, I have held management positions where I was actually a leader, and in leadership roles where I was in a management position. As I reflected this week, I wondered, what is the difference?  Can someone be a Manager and a Leader?  Or does it have to be mutually exclusive?

Carl Binder, in his article "Integrating Organizational-Cultural Values with Performance Management," (Binder, 2016) writes that it is actually "work output" that defines the role (he takes it a step farther to define work output as the metric for defining company culture, but that will be an article for another day, so stay tuned...)

"Work output"  (Binder, 2016; www.sixboxes.com) can be seen as analogous to Thomas Gilbert's* concept of "accomplishments (Gilbert, 1978)."  It is the product of the behavior, or the goal of what the person needs to accomplish.  The following outlines the differences in work output between a manager and a leader.

1) Leadership

For a leader, work output must be defined from a telescopic viewpoint.  In this job description, we are focused on the "big picture"--the vision of the company and how to incorporate that vision within the metrics of the business as a whole.  The leader focuses on the purpose of the business, and work output is focused on incorporating that purpose within everything that management and employees do in the day to day.

2) Management

The manager's work output can be defined from a microscopic viewpoint.  The manager is focused on the day to day operations, and making sure that everything from an operational standpoint is running smoothly.  In other words, widgets are made, staff are performing, and deliverables are shipped.

Can a leader be a manager and a leader at the same time?  From experience, I say yes, depending on the resources the leader has at their disposal.  If a leader is able to delegate, the microscopic work outputs can be moved to managers, leaving the leader time to think about the big picture and ways to constantly evolve the business; however, if the resources are not there, the leader must take on multiple hats.  This is possible as long as the leader can make time to take off the management hat, and put on the leadership hat, so that they can continue to focus on "big picture" projects.  A business will not be able to grow and scale unless it has managers and leaders...even if they are the same person.

References

Binder, C (2016). Integrating Organizational-Cultural Values with Performance Management. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 36(2-3), 185-201

Gilbert, T.F. (1978). Human competence: engineering worthy performance.  New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Book Company

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Three Strategies to Organize Your Workflow

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This last week I have been working through David Allen's book, "Getting Things Done,"* and it has really helped me to organize my workflow.  Three strategies he discusses in this book are to 1) Capture the Things that Might Need to Get Done, 2) Direct Yourself to Make Front End Decisions, and 3) Curating and Coordinating the Content.  How do I know it helped? I took a count of the tasks per day I completed.  Prior to reading this book, I was completing an average 2 tasks per day.  Last week, as I worked through the book, I completed 6 tasks per day, and also freed up some of my time to focus on strategy for my business by utilizing the methods outlined below.  

1) Capture the Things That Need to Get Done

In his book, Allen talks about the necessity of having a place to write down your task list, so that you can "close the loop" in your head and you are not focusing on your to-do list.  He explains that if things are not written down, there will be an internal "open loop" and you will continue to focus on those tasks.  By writing them down, you can effectively get them out of your head, leaving you to focus on the next strategy.  My own strategy in doing this week, has been to use my phone's task list to write down all of the tasks that need to be completed this week, along with alert reminders and due dates.  After they were written down, and my mind started to focus on those tasks, I redirected my mind to "close the loop," since it was written down with reminder alerts.

2) Making Decisions on Tasks

Once you have effectively captured the task, now it comes to prioritization of those tasks.  Some tasks will be "low hanging fruit" that you can get done in the moment and be done with it, while others will require more thought and time, or will require delegation.  See last week's blog on "How to Get Tasks Done Using Behavior Momentum" for more strategies on this step.  I went through each task per day at the start of my day to make decisions on each one as far as the order of accomplishment.

3) Curating and Coordinating the Content

For this strategy, I focused on taking those reminders and tasks on my phone, and using my calendar to block off time in the week to complete those tasks.  This way, instead of of having short blocks of time to complete tasks, I was able to block off time in a way that would allow me to be more productive and focus on my workflow.  Part of this strategy also involves committing to the calendar you set, and learning to say no to activities that would interfere with your time you've blocked off to complete tasks.

Often, our tasks build up and they can seem overwhelming.  By using the strategies outlined above, we can effectively free some time to accomplish the things we want to do, instead of being bogged down by our workflow.

 

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How to Get Tasks Done Using Behavior Momentum

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"If you want to change the world, start by making your bed."

Admiral William McRaven, University of Texas-Austin 2014 Commencement Speech

I recently watched this video on Youtube, and found it very much in line with my recent quest to optimize my workflow and processes.  It is an interesting concept, and something that appeals to people within all professions: teachers, parents, and business executives.  The concept is called behavior momentum.  Admiral William McRaven goes on to state that "If you make your bed every morning, you'll have accomplished the first task of the day"  thus making it more likely you will continue the other tasks you have yet to accomplish.

Behavior momentum is a theory that has been studied for decades in the field of behavior analysis, featured in studies focused on working on task completion with individuals with developmental disabilities (Mace et al., 1988.), and described by Nevin, Mandell, and Atak (1983) as a "persistence of behavior."  To take it a step further, Mace and Belfiore (1990), defined behavior momentum as a persistence of behavior following a shift from high probability behavior (easy task) to a low probabilty behavior (hard task).  

Fast forward from the 80s and 90s to present day, where Admiral William McRaven provided this salient advice to the graduating class of the University of Texas-Austin.  By doing one task per day that is automated (easy, high probability), your behavior will persist to the harder tasks on that daily checklist (see "The Art of the Checklist").

I encountered this first-hand when I started working on developing my own business.  My schedule was extremely chaotic, and I had many tasks to complete throughout the day.  Though I was familiar with the use and benefits of a checklist to organize my tasks, there seemed to be too many on the page to complete, and I felt extremely overwhelmed.  Soon, nothing was accomplished, and my performance decreased rapidly.

That's when I turned to behavior momentum as a strategy to help automate some of my routine, so I would be more motivated to take on the harder tasks.  I created an ideal schedule of what I wanted my day to look like--scheduling blocks of time with tasks from when I woke up to when I went to bed.  I made sure to put the easy tasks in the beginning of the day (walk/feed the dogs, make breakfast/coffee), and as I moved through my schedule, I could focus on the more complex tasks.

 By using behavior momentum and scheduling my day with those blocks of time, I was able to perform more and more complex tasks throughout my day, thus increasing my performance and productivity!

References:

Mace, F. C., Hock, M. L., Lalli, J. S., West, B. J., Belfiore, P. J., Pinter, E., & Brown, D. K. (1988). Behavioral momentum in the treatment of noncompliance. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 21, 123-141.

Mace, F.C, Belfiore, P (1990). Behavioral momentum in the treatment of escape stereotypy. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 23, 507-514

Nevin, J. A., Mandell, C., & Atak, J. R. (1983). The analysis of behavior momentum. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 39, 49-59.

 

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Two Ways to Make Your Job Feel Like a Vacation

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Dirty Heads,""Vacation""*

I am obsessed with this song.  

This song got me thinking, though.  So many of us, whether we are teachers, parents, or business leaders do not love our occupation.  Why is this?  What are the environmental variables that effect our performance, or "satisfaction" in our occupation?

I think it is the classification of reinforcement that effects our behavior.  If we attend our occupation (though we may not find it motivating or enjoyable), there is something reinforcing our behavior of at least attending to it every day.  I recently surveyed students in my current undergraduate course about why they think people attend their job everyday, even though they may dislike it.  Their answers varied in content, but had the same theme.  Most stated that avoiding the "loss of the job" or "loss of pay" would be why most people continue to attend their job.  In behavior analysis, this is what we would refer to as negative reinforcement. (For more on this see: Behaviorspeak: A Glossary of Terms in Applied Behavior Analysis by Bobby Newman*)

When I surveyed them again as to why they thought people attend their job, who "love their occupation," they stated that people who enjoy their job do it because they "enjoy the  work that they do," or "like how much they get paid."  These statements, would lead me to believe that those who love their occupation find working positively reinforced by internal or external positive feedback, or by gaining compensation.

Once I sorted out the consequences surrounding the two groups of people: those that love their job, and those that hate it, I started to think of potential additional environmental variables that could also effect performance in various occupations.  I reflected on my own work experience in this.

I have worked since I was 13 years old in various jobs and places of employment.  Some jobs I absolutely loved (disclaimer: though I left to take on new projects, I still loved them), and some were not a good fit.  In thinking back on the antecedents that were present in the environment for the jobs I loved versus the jobs I disliked, I was able to come up with two environmental variables that effected my satisfaction.  

1) System Automation

In the jobs I loved, the environments had streamlined processes with systems to automate workflow, so I could be free to spend more time thinking creatively and creating new projects than completing repetitive tasks.  In the jobs I disliked, the environments were often chaotic with limited processes or systems present to aid in workflow.  Tasks were presented with little instruction on how to perform those tasks.

2) Feedback

Feedback (though not always positive) was effective and provided often.  These environments allowed me to shape my own development, and to learn new skills.  In the jobs I disliked, feedback was limited when those tasks were performed.  I did not learn new skills when in these positions.

Looking back, I could have easily changed those environments by thinking of ways to help automate my workflow, and seek feedback and instruction elsewhere if I did not find it within the environment of the job, so I could have taken those opportunities to learn new skills.  I could have changed the environment, and maybe enjoyed the work a little more.  If this didn't work, I could have sought work elsewhere, which is what happened anyway, so I had nothing to lose in trying.

As educators, parents, and business leaders, we are tasked with creating environments that shape the development of those we teach, raise, or lead.  It is also important, that we also create environments that shape our own development, so that we can also "love our occupations."  Instead of spending time and energy hating our job, we can all find ways to change the environment to find joy in our work.

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How Practicing Mindfulness Can Shape Development

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The practice of mindful meditation has recently been very much publicized in the news and the interwebs lately, and for good reason.  In fact, I recently did an online search at a bookstore for the topic and it came up with 2,231 search results for book topics and related material!

Practicing these behaviors have been shown through empirically validated research to reduce stress and anxiety, and increase emotion regulation and focus (Davis & Hayes, 2011).  Steven Hayes also provides support for the practice of mindfulness within Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, an empirically validated intervention, which exists within the one of its six tenets: "Being Present (Hayes, 2004)." (see also  Acceptance and Commitment Therapy)* With the benefit of modern technology, the practices of mindfulness and meditation are no longer accessible to those traveling to far off places who participate in retreats or structured classes, as many applications and books provide support in the practice, teaching beginners and advanced learners.

I have to be honest, I was incredibly resistant to engage in mindful meditation.  However, as a highly (self-proclaimed) anxious individual, I read countless articles proclaiming its benefit  to increase productivity and decrease anxiety and stress...so I decided to give it a try.

I started to notice a difference in my thinking and reactive behavior after the first week, though I'll be honest, and I almost gave up after the first or second session.  I scheduled time first thing in the morning to block off five minutes where I would sit in silence and "practice" mindful meditation.  I focused on my breathing, and tried to simply "notice" my thoughts.  The first two sessions were a disaster, and my thinking just kept racing at quick speeds about everything I needed to do that day in my business.  The third day, I was on the verge of giving up, when it finally clicked. One of the practices of mindfulness, advises people to think of a metaphor of a "Passenger on a Bus," to practice noticing your thoughts.  In this metaphor, the person practicing meditation imagines that they are a passenger on a bus, and all the thoughts and feelings present in the mind, pass by out a window as if you are a "passenger on a bus."  As soon as I visualized that scenario, I was able to think more on my breathing, and react less to the thoughts and feelings occurring.  By the end of the first week, I already saw a difference in my thinking and reacting to stressful situations.  By the end of the second week, I was able to stretch the practice time to 20 minutes instead of just 5 minutes.

As a skill set, practicing mindfulness, shown through both research and my own experience, has allowed myself and others to access more information, focus on work, and reduce stressful thinking practices.  If all leaders: teachers, parents, and business executives learned to practice this skill, and then in turn teach the skill to those they lead, we could all develop new ways to combat stress and anxiety in our daily lives!

*Please Note: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. 

References:

Hayes, S.C (2004). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and the new behavior therapies: Mindfulness, acceptance and relationship. In S. C. Hayes, V. M. Follette, & M. Linehan (Eds.), Mindfulness and acceptance: Expanding the cognitive behavioral tradition (pp. 1-29). New York: Guilford.

Davis, D.M & Hayes, J.A.(2011) What Are the Benefits of Mindfulness A Practice Review of Psychotherapy-Related Research. Psychotherapy 48(2) p 198-208

 

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The Art of the Checklist

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I have a secret...I am a checklist junkie.

Checklists have an amazing amount of stimulus control over my everyday life.  After reading Atul Gawande's book The Checklist Manifesto * it is clear they should for everyone.  As a surgeon, Gawande provides stories of how checklists keep surgeons organized, save lives while patients are in triage, and provides many additional examples of how checklists have saved and changed lives.

Though I am not a surgeon, and would not dream of comparing my mundane everyday life to the life in the ER, there are parallels in how I use the checklist to "triage" the tasks I need to complete everyday.

The field of Behavior Analysis also has shown the benefit of the use of checklists to shape behavior.  We have demonstrated their success in classrooms to set the occasion for responding to problem behavior in children in general education classrooms (Witt, Noell, Lafleur, & Mortenson, 1997), as well as to increase the rate of safety behavior in the workplace, especially when used to support managers in providing feedback to workers (Cooper, 2006). 

 As business leaders, parents, and teachers, we need tools to organize our daily lives and to serve as reminders of the  tasks needed to complete everyday--to help us triage, but also to help us set the occasion for the behavior of those we lead and teach.  When we get overwhelmed with the tasks we need to complete, or the people around us need support, we can use checklists to change our behavior, and the behavior of those around us.

  **Please Note: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. 

References:

Witt, J.,  Noell, G.,  Lafleur, L. & Mortenson, B. (1997). Teacher Use Of Interventions In General Education Settings: Measurement And Analysis Of The Independent Variable. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 30(4), 693-696

Cooper, M.D. (2006). Exploratory Analyses of the Effects of Managerial Support and Feedback Consequences on Behavioral Safety Maintenance. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management 26(3), 1-41

 

The 3 Assessments Every Leader Needs To Guide Their Organization

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As a behavior analyst, I have always used assessments to guide my decision making.  Prior to making any recommendations to a client, or feedback to staff working in the field, it is necessary to have data to support recommendations or feedback.  This is where assessments become important and valuable tools.

Assessments can come in two forms: objective and subjective.  Behavior Analysts typically favor objective assessments, but in my experience, subjective assessments can also have a purpose when a leader wants staff members to provide a self-report on their behavior, or when a leader may also want to do some self-assessment on their own behavior.  Here are the assessments that I typically use in my practice:

1. Performance Checklists

This is the primary objective assessment I use, in which measurement is based off of direct observation of staff, performing their assigned tasks during a specific time period.  The manager in this situation, would write out (using behavior-specific definitions) the responses required in each task outlined in a person's job description.  Once defined, the manager can than observe the person performing the tasks, and then derive a score based off of performance.  Ideally, the manager will then use those data to create a performance development plan for the individual they are supervising (Note: it is always best to provide feedback following the observation, as soon as possible, and allow the person to remediate the skill that was not performed with criteria outlined.)

2. Leadership Practices Inventory

This assessment was created by James Kouzes and Barry Posner.  It divides leadership skills into constructs of leadership practices which are: Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart.  Based on self-report, answers are ranked with a ratings scale and the inventory provides a rating score for each heading.  Kouzes and Posner have developed a workbook and a book that is based on these principles to help leaders develop skills, and can also be used to develop managers in your organization.  The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen In Organizations by Kouzes and Posner* is a great resource for leaders to develop managers in their organization, as well as to develop their own leadership skills.

3. StrengthsFinder 2.0

This is an assessment created by Donald O. Clifton and Tom Rath in collaboration with Gallup.  The purpose of this assessment is to "help people discover and develop their natural talents."  This is a great tool for leaders to use to assess staff strengths, and then create job descriptions and performance development plans based off of those strengths.  This assessment can be found at: http://strengths.gallup.com.  Ideally, this is an assessment you would complete during the orientation period of a staff member, however, it can also be utilized during staff promotions or when there are changes in the organization that would effect an employee's position in the organization.

 

Whatever tool or assessment you use, keep in mind that leaders should always use data to drive decisions when guiding their organizations!   Subjective assessments in conjunction with objective measurement of performance, are useful tools in shaping the development of staff and leaders.

 

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