Creating A Personal Culture…Why Having Agency Can Improve Your Experience in Work and Life

Mar 1

In this issue: Creating A Personal Culture… / 9 Breathing Exercises to Relieve Anxiety/ The Biggest Earners May Not Be the Smartest Workers, Study Says / The Lighter Side of Agency

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I'm Andrea J. Miller and this is my “On Leading Well” Newsletter. I send this to people in my networks, people I’ve met recently, and friends I want to keep in touch with. You can unsubscribe (SEE THE VERY BOTTOM OF THE EMAIL) anytime, I won’t be offended

Creating A Personal Culture…Why Having Agency Can Improve Your Experience in Work and Life

Culture is complicated…as I’m regularly reminded by my clients and my life.

No matter how well-intended and no matter how much we want to, it’s impossible to really control our colleagues, or for that matter our family, friends, or even that barking dog at the gym (though she does respond better to treats than any of the other groups :).

The only person we truly have any control over is ourselves, though personally even that’s debatable at times.

At its biological roots, culture is defined as maintaining conditions suitable for growth.

While most believe organizations should nurture their cultures and ensure they’re creating healthy environments that not only allow, but encourage their people to grow, the truth is that that’s not usually the reality.

However, there is a choice that we still get to make, and that’s in how we respond and show up in these situations.

It’s easy to allow the sometimes (or often), negative decisions of others, to take over our thinking and by extension, our lives.

So, the more conscious we can be of the role we get to play in this process, and what we’re either adding to or taking away from the experience, the better off we’ll inevitably be.

The renowned positive psychologist, Martin Seligman refers to this as our agency.

He defines agency as a mindset, consisting of our efficacy, optimism, and imagination. And he said that when cultures believe in individual agency, that’s when progress occurs and conversely when they do not, it can lead to stagnation.

To break it down a bit further, he discussed its three components:

Efficacy - the belief that we’re capable of making a difference
Optimism - the belief that good and positive things will happen in life
Prospection – imagination about the range of scenarios and situations that we have agency over.

In his research, Seligman found that when we’re faced with events that we feel we can’t control and don’t have agency around, we’re more likely to fall apart, and show signs of depression and anxiety.

However, he found when we feel we have some agency, we’re better able to fight depression and anxiety.

Creating Agency and the Power of Tiny Interactions

COVID left many of us feeling more disconnected and like we had less agency.

We lost that sense of control.

For some, it’s been more difficult to regain agency.

We’re habitual creatures and two years without it had a lasting, though not irreversible impact.

Change begins by making small (and sometimes big) choices.

For me, COVID and working from home brought out my not so hidden introverted side. Even though I knew that I’m happiest when connecting with others (most of the time :).

To make this change, I had to be more intentional and look for opportunities for genuine connections with the people I met.

The research agrees.

Psychologist Gillian Sandstrom found that minimal social interactions with weak ties and strangers can make our lives a little more joyful and maybe even a little less lonely.

Whether it be a random stranger at the Whole Foods Market, whose little girl was just too cute that I had to stop and chat or the wonderful people at my friend’s Church where I go to listen to jazz most Fridays (not your typical Shabbat :) these moments allow me to have agency and create a more joyful micro-culture of my choosing.

While not dramatic steps, the experiences are cumulative.

Every time we choose to act and have agency, we become that much more resilient and better able to handle the inevitable disappointments that life sends our way.

And while this may not change a bad boss, boring work or a less-than-inclusive culture, it can make your days and those of the people you choose to connect with that much more engaging and purposeful.

Which in turn, can potentially have a positive ripple effect (for another post),

In the end, it’s still your experience, what will you choose?

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RECOMMENDED LISTENS, READS And other interesting things

9 Breathing Exercises to Relieve Anxiety

The next time you’re feeling anxious, there are a variety of anxiety breathing exercises to try. Learn how to use breathing exercises to help relieve feelings of anxiety and stress.

The Biggest Earners May Not Be the Smartest Workers, Study Says

“It pays to be smart, or so the saying goes. But the biggest earners may not be the workers who are the brainiest, according to one recent Swedish study.”

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The Lighter Side of Agency

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Andrea J. Miller

+1 (646) 556-5401 (Whatsapp)