100 Great Leading Through Frustration Ideas

by Peter Shaw

Overview

In this latest addition to the highly successful 100 Great Ideas series, readers will find a comprehensive guide to overcoming one of the most frequently felt emotions at work today: frustration. Frustration comes in many forms and from many sources—bosses, colleagues, staff, clients, and not to forget, oneself. If left to fester, frustration can quickly impair a person’s ability to work and to lead, and potentially hijack the performance of the entire team and organisation. 100 Great Leading Through Frustration Ideas provides a practical framework for leading yourself and others through frustration. Starting from a simple 5-step plan—Understand, Plan, Act, Observe and Reframe—this wise and wide-ranging guide shows you how to address your frustrations in a fresh and constructive way, and use them as a springboard to new breakthroughs. Author Dr Peter Shaw, who has written three other titles in this series, distils 100 learning points from his vast experience in business and government, and conveys them in a highly personable, easy-to-read style.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789814841474
Publisher:	Marshall Cavendish International (Asia)
Publication date:	01/20/2020
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Dr Peter Shaw is a founding partner of Praesta Partners and works with individuals, teams and groups to enable them to grow their strengths and tackle demanding issues confidently. He has held a wide range of board-level posts covering finance, personnel, policy, communications and delivery, and worked in five UK Government Departments. He is the author of 28 influential books on leadership.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements x

Foreword Duncan Selbie xii

Introduction xiv

Section A A five-point plan for leading through frustration

1 Understand 2

2 Plan 4

3 Act 6

4 Observe 8

5 Reframe 10

Section B Understand

6 What are the reasons for your frustration? 13

7 When are you the cause of frustration in others? 15

8 How best have you handled frustration in the past? 17

9 What aspects of your personality magnify the frustration effect? 19

10 When is there a risk of you enjoying being frustrated? 22

Section C Plan

11 Discriminate between the frustrations you can do something about and those outside of your control 25

12 Think through which frustrations need to be addressed first 28

13 Recognise when shared frustration is leading to unhelpful groupthink 31

14 Decide on the steps to address particular frustrations 34

15 Take time out to put frustrations into perspective 37

Section D Act

16 Recognise when frustration can lead to positive change 41

17 Accept that some frustrations won't go away and have to be lived with 44

18 Recognise that you need to be in the right frame of mind before you can act effectively 44

19 Recognise when you have been able to take forward positive steps 49

20 Know who are your allies and supporters 51

Section E Observe

21 Observe how others handle similar frustrations to yours 54

22 Recognise how the way you handle frustration affects others 56

23 Be mindful of the difference between constructive frustration and resentment 59

24 Watch if you project your frustrations onto others 62

25 See the pattern of your reactions to frustration as a helpful insight 64

Section F Reframe

26 Believe that good can come out of any situation 67

27 Be as dispassionate as possible about issues causing you frustration 69

28 Block out interfering noises in your head 71

29 Believe that a step forward is a step forward, however small it is 74

30 See continuous learning as never-ending 77

Section G Internal frustrations

31 Disappointment 81

32 Reluctance 83

33 Resentment 85

34 Pessimism 87

35 Over-optimism 89

36 Anxiety 91

37 Physical pain or disability 93

38 Anger 95

39 Feeling stuck 97

40 Feeling misunderstood 99

41 Living with past misjudgements 101

42 Feeling undervalued 104

43 Self-criticism 106

44 Lack of self-belief 108

45 Imposter syndrome 110

Section H Frustrations caused by others

46 Responsibility without authority 113

47 Rejection 116

48 Feeling bullied 118

49 Sadness 121

50 Stress 123

51 Reputation 125

52 Feeling let down 128

53 Discrimination 131

54 Prejudice 134

55 Ageism 137

56 Favouritism to others 140

57 Mixed messages 143

58 Broken promises 146

59 Changed assumptions 149

60 Being misrepresented 151

61 An outdated reputation 153

62 Lack of alignment 156

63 Being ignored 158

64 Losing your job 160

65 Continuous criticism 165

Section I Handling frustrations with specific people

66 Your boss 166

67 Senior leadership 168

68 Colleagues 170

69 Your staff 172

70 Clients and customers 174

71 Sponsors 176

72 Critics 179

73 Turncoats 181

74 Family members 184

75 Your children 186

Section J Handling frustrations with policies and processes

76 Technology that does not do what you want it to do 189

77 Sporadic Wi-Fi connections 191

78 International time zone differences 193

79 Different interpretation of rules in different contexts 196

80 Different accepted levels of behaviour 198

Section K Leading through frustrations caused by specific prompts

81 Social media campaigns 201

82 Gossip 203

83 Changing fashions 205

84 Political decisions by others 208

85 Misleading communications 210

86 Emotional outbursts 212

87 Frenzy for action 214

88 The unexpected 217

89 Discourtesy and rudeness 219

90 An outburst of hate 221

Section L Keeping cool through frustration

91 Learn how best to put events into perspective 224

92 Be compassionate to yourself and others 226

93 Recognise who cares about your well-being 228

94 Remember that others may be even more frustrated than you 230

95 Know how best you 'let off steam' 232

96 Know how to relax and what refreshes your thinking 234

97 Park a frustration for a period and then return to it 236

98 Remember those who have kept their cool through bigger frustrations than yours 239

99 Say 'Hallelujah anyway' 241

100 Remember that there is a new day tomorrow 243

Books and booklets by Peter Shaw 246

About the author 248