- Taking responsibility. This week with your quad, explore how you as individuals could take more responsibility for influencing or changing your circumstances by working with requests. Here is your discussion prompt:
“Something I could (request, propose, take action on, etc.) tomorrow to change something I am not happy about is ________________.”Example: “I often complain that I get overlooked when it comes to the really great opportunities. Something I could do tomorrow to influence that is to share with my manager the kind of opportunities I am looking for. I could give her three specific areas in which I’d like to stretch myself and I will make sure to frame my statements in terms that are realistic and specific enough so that my request is actionable. By making sure I am being realistic and specific, I can do my part to enable my manager to help me figure out how to let others know I am available to contribute in a bigger way.”
- Supporting your quad. Discuss with your quad how you can be a source of accountability for each other’s development. Consider: What do you need? Is there a request you might want to make of each other? One way to use peer accountability in support of this lesson is to agree you will check in with each other at the end of each day over the next couple of weeks as the new habit solidifies with a status on how you’re doing with your complaint-free commitment. You can do this on IM or email. Check-ins need be only a simple sentence or two.
Here are some suggested check-in prompts you can use verbatim for this purpose:- “Today, I complained a lot” or, “Today, I didn’t complain too much.”
- “Today, when I caught myself in the act of complaining, I was able to turn my complaint into a powerful request. One example of how I did this was ___.”
- “Tomorrow, I am re-upping my complaint-free commitment.”
- “Today, when someone came into my office with a complaint, I ___________.”
- “When I first read this lesson, I didn’t think I was a complainer, but ___________.”
