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WHAT APPEARS TO BE

Is there someone in your office whose head bobs as they dodge accountability? Someone whose “gobble-gobble” backward-focused diatribes gobble up precious minutes in meetings? Someone who thinks they’ve earned their feathers – yet the feathers can’t even lift them off the ground to fly?

If yes, then you’ve got a turkey in your office.

 

WHAT MIGHT BE

How do most people deal with the turkeys in their office? They dream of grilling them and serving them to the dogs.

Ironically, the most common tactics in dealing with office turkeys are to:

 

1. Get angry with them;

2. Spread the anger to others through gossip;

3. Wish management would commence turkey hunting season; and

4. Enter into the same “gobble-gobble” non-sense the turkey is using.

 

Logically, the above strategies are flawed. There is another way – and while radical, it’s nearly fail-proof at eliminating turkeys.

 

WHAT CAN BE

How to eliminate turkeys: give thanks for them. No, this isn’t a once-a-year, ’tis the season strategy. The following four steps are a legitimate and proven approach to eliminating turkeys:

1. Accept them as they are;

2. See them for what they are: an opportunity for you to become more effective at managing and leading yourself;
3. Develop a relationship with them (people don’t change because their enemies say they should, they change when their friends assist them); and
4. Tell the truth openly about what behavior is important – and why – to move forward.

 

The fact is everyone is someone else’s turkey – including you. If we go around identifying the turkeys in our office, we turn the place into a turkey farm. Make this a Thanksgiving to remember by being grateful for the lessons the turkeys in your life are bringing to you.

 

What is the difference between what “might be” and what “can be”?  You decide.

 

BUILD THRIVING, SEAMLESS ORGANIZATIONS

BUILD THRIVING, SEAMLESS ORGANIZATIONS

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