Understanding the Nature of Problems

Problems can be behavioral, contextual, simple, complex, environmental, unique, common, specific, general, and on and on. Some problems seem to repeat themselves while others disappear forever after being solved. We can also classify problems as hard-skills or soft-skills, and technical or non-technical. You see, problem solving is complicated no matter what. Simply classifying a problem type is itself a problem. No wonder many people just walk away when a problem quietly emerges or suddenly “pops up”seemingly out of nowhere.

Believe it or not, some people earn a living by solving the problems caused by other people. There are a lot of names for people like these. And then there are those people who assist other people with solving their own problems. Some people refer to them as Coaches, among other things. What people call them depends on whether their own Coaches succeed or fail. The names for successful coaches are always good. The considerable number of names for unsuccessful coaches can not be repeated here. Luckily I still have the name I was given upon my birth. That would make my mother and father very proud. You see, I specialize in “Applied Intuitive Solutions™” or AIS™. These are Dr. Ray’s evidence-based coaching solutions” derived from professional application in real world settings. These are the solutions that have a history of solving specific problems perpetually. Dr. Ray has developed the world’s most extensive library of Applied Intuitive Solutions™. Intelligence is never artificial. Dr. Ray offers an entire catalogue of soft-skills courses to assist clients with deepening their personal potency. —Ray Newkirk, UlThule™ Leadership Mastery Specialist.

Note from Ray Newkirk

Hello. Welcome to my Workplace Relationships Skill Building Program. Do you know that most people focus so completely on developing their technical skills that they overlook the necessity for learning how to master their workplace relationships? Apparently people believe, and falsely I might add, that workplace relationships take care of themselves. After all, people have been forming relationship since they were born.

Technical skills alone never make a good career. Mastery of workplace relationships propels one from the basement of oblivion to the rarefied atmosphere at the “pinnacle of decision-making.  Ray Newkirk

Successful people do indeed possess notable technical skills. Even more than this, they also are quite intelligent socially. They are masterful at forming and maintaining potent workplace relationships, the kind of relationships that can energize your career or immobilize it. Also, they are very good at avoiding the relationships they should avoid and getting out of the workplace relationships they need to exit. Your ability to form and maintain the types of relationships that enable you to foster a note-worthy career depends on your social understanding, insight, discipline, and character, especially your beliefs and values.

I have spent many decades in organizations from every corner of the globe gaining career defining insights about the nature and character of workplace relationships. This is why I have developed this curriculum. I want you to be “really prepared” to go into the workplace and fit right in. I want you to be able to go in from the get-go and carve out your little bit of territory that will eventually expand into an empire of achievements for your employer and yourself, for both of you. This is the reason you should take any job, to accomplish great things in your life. Please think about what I am saying here. You cannot achieve anything of significance professionally if you cannot form potent workplace relationships. They are this vital to your professional welfare, and your private life.

Our WPRs Program emerged from the conviction that we need to present today the separate disciplines of technology and life-skills development as an integral program of professional education. It is news to many people that there is such a thing as life-skills development which can be experienced. The enjoyment of potent workplace relationships is the birthright of every man and woman, not only of senior executives and the lucky few who attended just the right training programs. I sincerely hope your life is enriched by an abundance of wonderful Workplace Relationships.

The Emerging Epidemic 

Poor Workplace Relationships (WPRs) and weak social judgment have become the new corporate epidemic. Its symptoms mask a deeper plague that reduces the effectiveness of entire teams and can even destroy the future of promising careers. The symptoms are everywhere: Unproductive teams, failed projects, workplace violence, reduced productivity, low morale, poor or indifferent communications, lack of cooperation, absenteeism, lateness, and high employee turnover rates. The epidemic festers in small and large companies alike. Its onset begins with the germination of poor WPRs that gradually disrupt the cooperation of entire teams. Eventually the epidemic erodes the confidence of managers and workmates and shuts the door to future career progression.

If you are a conscientious, career-minded person, you should be concerned about the depth of your WPR skills. Poor relationship skills put your career at risk. Intuitively many people recognize the risks and hazards of poor WPR skills. Nevertheless, they do little to nurture those relationship skills that make their careers successful. We are concerned about this threat to your career and offer this Program as a way to navigate your way through it.

This series of courses will enable clients to recognize the kinds of relationships that exist in the workplace and how to politically respond to them. You will learn how to enjoy the WPRs you should enjoy, avoid the relationships you should avoid, and wisely get out of the relationships you should carefully flee. We designed a series of highly focused courses to increase your effectiveness as stewards of your own professional success. You might want to think of this Program as your own personal roadmap for showing you how to navigate the pitfalls and tar-pits of WPRs.

The Leadership Remedy 

I designed this Program to enhance your career well-being. The power of the Program springs from its flexibility, inter-connectedness, and customization. Although I offer a recommended course of study for the convenience of learners, I designed the Program to work best when Leaders pick, choose, and otherwise customize a desired course of study by selecting from my continually evolving Catalogue of Courses. Leaders self-design their Program according to the contingencies, needs, and characteristics of their specific workplace challenges. Leaders are also free to request a special course in the event they do not see the desired topic in the catalogue. I refer to this as the “Relationship Effectiveness Self-Design Process”.

Newkirk’s 20 Prime Laws of Successful Workplace Relationships

Over the last several decades working in organizations from many corners of the globe, I have observed that the following Prime Laws of Successful WPRs never fail. Ignore them at your own peril. These are enduring principles of human behavior that are always in the background of human experience. They never go away. Smart people regard them as cosmic constants. Life gives us the galaxies, stars, and planets, and then it gives us these Laws. Master these and you will progress in your careers. Mess with these, and they will mess with you. You can take this wisdom to the bank. 

1. Plato is still right: Honesty without kindness is cruelty.

2. Character defines the outcome.

3. A wasted minute is forever wasted.

4. Individuals are strong and resilient, WPRs are fragile.

5. Successful WPRs are counterintuitive. They will always surprise you.

6. Two words describe WPRs: “Be prepared”.

7.  Successful WPRs require intelligent boundary management.

8.  If you open your boundaries too broadly, you lose yourself in the relationship.

9.  If you close your boundaries too much, you lose your potential to achieve potent WPRs.

10. You cannot enter the same relationship twice.

11.  Relationships are transformational.

12.  Relationships are not procedures; they are processes of continual change.

13.  Successful WPRs result from consistency in thought and action.

14.  In successful WPRs, “I can” is better than “I.Q”.

15.  In WPRs, impressing other people depresses oneself.

16.  Human knowledge is finite; human ignorance is infinite.

17.  The secret of human achievement: Overcome the limitations placed on us by the limitations of other people.

18.  One life is not enough, so good enough is good enough.

19.  Life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved.

20.  This year’s solution is next year’s problem.