I've seen whine factor derail projects and people in my twenty years in management. Whining shifts a mindset from can do to can't do, allows potholes to become sink holes, turns challenges to complaints and reframes opportunities into woe is me.

You can use your own whine factor as a barometer to keep you on track. If factor is high, be alerted that your actions are, most likely, becoming less accountable. That should signal you to tune into what you can personally do to control, adjust or correct current course so you can deliver expected results. I think that point is worth repeating because it differentiates performance in significant ways. If you want to control outcome, you'll need to get your hands a bit calloused along way.

Learning to listen to your whine factor is a helpful self-feedback mechanism to guide you towards greater accountability and winning at working behaviors. Less whine means more accountability. Higher accountability typically means better results. And better results are what most of us are after.

(c) 2004 Nan S. Russell. All rights reserved.

Sign up to receive Nan’s free eColumn, Winning at Working, at http://www.winningatworking.com. Nan Russell has spent over twenty years in management, most recently with QVC as a Vice President. Currently working on her first book, Nan is a writer, columnist, small business owner, and instructor.