I love Zumba. People get together to dance, have a great time and get a fantastic workout. But what always intrigues me is the number of folks I hear saying they don’t go because they aren’t a good dancer, are not in good enough shape, etc. In other words, I can’t do it (or don’t want to do it) for a variety of reasons. The irony is the age range is quite wide with people into their 70’s, all body shapes and all levels of fitness and ability to dance. The difference is the people in the room have decided that they are going to have a great time and get a fantastic workout, no matter their age, physical condition or dance abilities. They decided to go in with the mindset of “I can.”

This mindset pervades every area of life, including how work is approached. There are many sayings such as “attitude determines altitude.” And it’s true. I’ve seen people accomplish great things with the mindset of “I can.” How is your mindset? Are you limiting your potential or opening yourself to the potential of having an “I can” mindset?

Over the last few weeks, I’ve had conversations with a number of people who are the highest producing, highest performing people in their organizations. In each case, the individuals are at or nearing the point of leaving their organization. Why? They are not supported in what they do day to day and do not feel appreciated for their contributions, and do not feel heard.

Unfortunately, these situations are common in business and result in the loss of good people. Many times the leaders in these organizations don’t realize the extent of the issue and mistake the reason the person left for something other than what it is.

How are you engaging your people and making sure you aren’t showing them out the door?

After Zumba (a dance exercise class) today, I got into a conversation with a woman who had a great workout, but struggled a bit to learn the songs. While she had great fun, she remarked that it was hard to pick up the routines. She comes regularly, but not to that particular instructor.

There are a number of “regulars” in Zumba. Each time a new routine is introduced, they have it down by the second or third time the song is played. They have learned how to learn quickly. They know that certain moves repeat each chorus and have figured out the pattern of repetitive steps. While the teachers may vary, there are always basics that hold from teacher to teacher and once you figure them out, you can pick up most songs pretty quickly.

Zumba is no different than business. In business, there are sets of norms and practices in each function, area, industry, etc. Once you figure out how to learn, the pace of business can quickly increase and staying on top of trends and changes can become much more easy and digestible. How are you learning to learn?

Over the few weeks I’ve been in a series of meetings and conversations where a decision was being pursued or communication was seen as lacking. In all cases, it was clear that a significant level of discussion was ongoing. The challenge was that key information was not being distributed evenly. In other words, some people had a lot of information on the topic and others had very little. Or, there was an even level of information, but the information was different. As a result, getting to a desired conclusion was difficult. People walked out of the meetings and into side discussions feeling frustrated and unclear as to what was trying to be accomplished. The reason – information is asymmetric.

These situations occur regularly in business. Being clear with the desired outcomes and decisions needed in the meeting, communicating key information ahead and making sure the right people are in the room can help get to the desired outcome. Most importantly, don’t assume people know the background information. Recap it quickly or in detail depending upon the circumstances. Information is asymmetric. How are you keeping that front of mind when trying to move forward?