New Jersey Entrepreneur

Every article on organizational performance stresses the importance of keeping your key employees engaged to drive creativity, execution and profits.  But paradoxically, engagement increases significantly… when you also stress the “The Power of Disengagement”.  

Disengagement is essential to help us reflect, prioritize, listen, collaborate, energize and make better decisions.   Consider these ideas to ensure you are optimizing your organizational dynamics by combining engagement with a healthy dose of disengagement.

1.)    Disengage While on Vacation – One of the best pieces of advice provided to me and preached by the world renowned Dan Sullivan of The Strategic Coach- a true vacation and the opportunity to really re-energize occurs only when you have no contact (email, blackberries, voice mail, telephone) with the outside world.  Ditto for many nights and weekends, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

2.)    Disengage to Innovate - There’s a reason why our best creative ideas happen while exercising, relaxing or sleeping; we are disengaged from our daily business activities and have expanded our minds to new perspective and ideas.  An incredibly gifted CEO I work with preaches to all key employees to do nothing but think, while on the job, 20 minutes a day, and write down all ideas and actionable items which come their way.  

3.)     Disengage to Listen and Collaborate- Many of us fall into the trap of being too immersed in the conversation at hand.  Step back, ask more questions and really focus on improving your listening skills to intensify your collaborative experiences.   You will expand both your decision making and creativity by drawing from the collective knowhow of those around you.

4.)    Disengage by Utilizing Coaching or Consulting Guidance- Coaching has taken on a “zen-like” aura the last decade, providing the “coachee” an opportunity to step back in order to step forward.  Similarly good business consultants provide important guidance based upon their ability to be objective regarding company performance rather than being too engaged in your daily activities.

5.)     Disengage to Organize and Prioritize - While we instinctively value goal setting and re-prioritizing frequently, we often lose this focus because time is precious and daily fires must be contained.  The only way to prevent these fires from reoccurring is to solve the inherent problems at hand and maintain focus on the core priorities and goals of your organization.  

Eric Frankel is a diversified Entrepreneur running Frankel Corporate Consulting since 1995 to serve the needs of growing, profitable Companies requiring “out of the box” organizational guidance to drive profitability and shareholder value.  His new business, 10 Minutes to Change, harnesses his unique gift to assess talent, delivering essential perspective to Business Professionals in a positive, constructive manner.  10 Minutes to Change has achieved prominence as an innovative leadership development tool, a unique approach to talent management and a highly effective means to affordable outplacement.