TGIF – “Teamwork Is A Lot Of People Doing What I Say”

As the week winds down, we wind down with some tidbits for your information, education, health, and enjoyment.

Quote of the Week: “It’s easy to get good players. Getting them to play together, that’s the hard part.”  Casey Stengel

Humor Break: This story has been around a long time.  It is still a personal favorite:

There were four people named
Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it.

Everybody was sure Somebody would do it, Anybody could have done it but Nobody did it.

Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job.

Everybody thought Anybody could do it but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it.

It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

Stats of the Week: Do you want more highly motivated employees?  The linked article in this paragraph suggests when we choose for ourselves, we are far more committed to the outcome — by a factor of 5 to 1. If your team wants what you want them to want, you are five times more likely to get it when people make their own decisions.  This week’s stats come with a bonus – near the bottom of the article is a list of 4 questions every leader should be asking employees (really, really good questions).

Action Tip: If you are a manager, try out the four questions from the above article.  A word of advice though – you need to answer the questions yourself before asking others.

Weight Watch – Week:  (A personal 16 week Healthy Life style report)

The 9th week’s results are in: I LOST 3.6 pounds on the official digital scale.  Nine weeks into the program and I am down 15.8 pounds.  This week was a real struggle.  I spent an unexpected, unwanted, and uncomfortable afternoon at the local hospital.  Nothing long term, but I did go two days without exercise and shortened my schedule for the rest of the week.  I also attended a pool party where I overate and had desert for the first time in 9 weeks.  I expected to gain weight, instead I had my second biggest weekly loss.  One of my coaches on this Blog wrote me and encouraged me to not get too high or low on the weight gains/losses – just focus on the healthy life style and the weight will take care of itself.  Thanks coach.  (And the rest of you, keep those comments coming.)

Does anyone else see the irony in a visit to the hospital during a Healthy Life Style program?  (Please note, the event and program are not related).

I have come across one of the best articles I have seen on why weight loss takes such a long time.  The article was both interesting and educational.  I really urge you to read this short interview: A Mathematical Challenge to Obesity.

However, if you are short on time, there are two quotes I would like to share with you: “One of the things the numbers have shown us is that weight change, up or down, takes a very, very long time. All diets work. But the reaction time is really slow: on the order of a year.”

“People don’t wait long enough to see what they are going to stabilize at. So if you drop weight and return to your old eating habits, the time it takes to crawl back to your old weight is something like three years. To help people understand this better, we’ve posted an interactive version of our model at bwsimulator.niddk.nih.gov. People can plug in their information and learn how much they’ll need to reduce their intake and increase their activity to lose. It will also give them a rough sense of how much time it will take to reach the goal. Applied mathematics in action!”

In closing, remember when it comes to weight, Losers Live Longer.

Bill Bradley

Bill Bradley (mostly) retired after 35 years in organizational consulting, training and management development. During those years he worked internally with seven organizations and trained and consulted externally with more than 90 large and small businesses, government agencies, hospitals and schools.