1.
Surviving
Complexity
(Working More Hours Isn’t the Answer)
Ed Muzio
CEO, Group Harmonics
Author, Make Work Great (McGraw-Hill, 2010) &
Four Secrets to Liking Your Work (FT Press, 2008)
©2008 -10 Group Harmonics, Inc. - All Rights Reserved

2.
STRESSED OUT
is
“IN”
Integrate What Resonates™
©2008 -10 Group Harmonics, Inc. - All Rights Reserved

3.
Culture
a set of assumptions
about how to get things done
that worked in the past
and is taught in the present
Edgar Schein, MIT Sloan
Integrate What Resonates™
©2008 -10 Group Harmonics, Inc. - All Rights Reserved

4.
New Patterns
Verbalized Summary
Objectives
Visibility Into Progress
Drama Triangle Avoidance
Integrate What Resonates™
©2008 -10 Group Harmonics, Inc. - All Rights Reserved

5.
Lack of Verbalized
Summary Objectives
• SYMPTOMS
– Difficulty articulating your purpose (even to self)
– Hard to immediately answer “what is most important?”
– Danger of dropping items
– Endless to-do lists
• SOLUTIONS
– Create VSO’s
– Memorize them
– Verbalize them to coworkers, staff, employees, etc.
©2008-10 Group Harmonics Inc. - All Rights Reserved 5 Integrate What Resonates™

6.
Lack of Visibility
Into Progress
• SYMPTOMS
– Inaccurate predictions of completion date or run rate
– Last minute scrambles to meet formal checkpoints
– Difficulty answering the question “how are things going?”
– Unclear on what constitutes a “fair day’s work”
• SOLUTIONS
– Choose one item to begin
– Determine whether that item is methodical, quick-fix, or long-
range work
– Create and use an appropriate visibility system to self-monitor
progress
©2008-10 Group Harmonics Inc. - All Rights Reserved Integrate What Resonates™

7.
Failure to Avoid
the Drama Triangle
• SYMPTOMS
– Roles being played in place of information exchange
– Escalation of emotional intensity disproportionate to actual
issues
– Role swapping and increased drama
• SOLUTIONS
– Behave and speak as if “the role isn’t real”
– Define the questions that need to be answered
– Define the best issue-centric approach to be taken to the
individual
– Clearly define the most limited possible need for agreement
©2008 Group Harmonics Inc. - All Rights Reserved 7 Integrate What Resonates™