Monday, March 23, 2009

Don't Bring it to Work

I read, "DON'T BRING IT TO WORK Breaking the Family Patterns that Limit Success" by Sylvia Lafair.

When I first saw the title I thought the book would be about separating home from work or home and work balance (A key reason to study Time Management). I found that the book is not about that at all.

Lafair approaches things largely from a psychological point of view (she is a psychologist so go figure...) and the impact that our families have on who we are and what that means when we bring it to work.

This is a meaty book that requires work and thought to dig into and do properly.

I am sure Lafair's points are completely valid on what we came from and how our families and backgrounds impact who we are at work and how this can create challenges in a work environment.

She talks about 13 common patterns and what the impact is in the workplace; for example, super achiever, rebel, procrastinator, etc. She then goes on to talk about how these can be transformed from super achiever to creative collaborator and from rebel to community builder, etc. The book has tools on how to map who is where in a work environment.

I think the book would be of interest to anyone in an HR capacity or anyone who manages people and wants to understand more on how to maximize team performance.

This is an excellent researched, in-depth book.

Quote for the day:

Other things may change us, but we start and end with family. - Anthony Brandt

1 comment:

  1. Very interesting, I'll have to check it out. I agree that we bring a lot of our "patterns" from our family of origin into the workplace. Usually we don't notice.

    Thanks for the recommendation!

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