Notebook #7 25 ways to take responsibility
Make a list of 25 ways I could take responsibility (without authority) if I cared more about changing things than credit, authority, or blame:
- Start a book club
- Join the local chamber
- Present at a local conference
- Speak more politely to customers. Take an interest in their professional goals
- Set personalized professional goals and have coworkers encourage/keep me accountable
- Create an “elevator” pitch to be used in public
- Start a snap chat account
- Volunteer
- Follow up with clients after work is done
- Put in extra time to make sure projects are fully complete and technicians have the proper tools needed to finish
- Document tasks that need to be documented.
- Encourage coworkers
- Begin building better culture
- Plan offsite after hours social gatherings
- Start a newsletter
- Start a blog documenting what I learn each week
- Learn about client’s business hurdles and become familiar with their industries
- Say thank you to every delivery person or customer who enters our building
- Search for potential new employees while interacting with others
- Write a potential business plan for the office and present it to the boss
- Take a class or online course to further my personal learning
- Find an industry best practice that isn’t being followed and start meeting it
- Take out the trash or clean the dishwasher or sink
- Bring in asnack
- Provide better coffee
- Show appreciation of “extra” work with small token or gift
- Be the first to answer the phone every time
- Answer the phone after 1 1/2 rings every time
- Show early
- Fill up the company car and take it through the car wash
Notebook #6 Happens to be Don't forget Rule #6
If I were a better person I'd share the exact name of the person who shared the story, but I'm not. So I guess you'll have to give Acumen $$$ and take the Seth Godin Leadership course to figure out who this came from. The crux of this lesson is that a dignitary was visiting with the Prime Minister and during the meeting two individuals walked in at separate times screaming that the sky is falling (one's hair was on fire). Both times the Prime Minister calmly stated "Don't forget rule #6" and the individuals went on their merry way. The dignitary asked what rule #6 was and the Prime Minister replied "Don't take yourself so ____ seriously". You can figure out what the ____ is but for proper citation it would rhyme with something that holds water back.
The Assignment:
1. What happens when you bring mindfulness to the project?
2. Is the Project the same as you? The project is serious. There is a lot on the line. But what happens if you take yourself a lot less seriously? Many people find it makes it easier to take a problem seriously if they let themselves off the serious hook a bit.
3. Give an example of a moment in the past when you forgot Rule 6... and whether, in retrospect, those behaviors paid off. When someone asks why you're not panicking, perhaps the answer might be, "would it help?"
So what does happen when you bring mindfulness to the project? Well I suppose I'd have to know what mindfulness really means, but I'm a stubborn old soul who doesn't really take the time to understand the new fad of "mindfulness". When I was younger, didn't they call that cool under pressure? A calm demeanor? Some might argue that the opposite of mindfulness is mindlessness, but I'd say the opposite is panic. Panic is rarely a good thing and so as best I can I am mindful of the situation as often as I can be. I used to be the IT guy in an environment with 500 computers and 900 potential users. (Give or take a few, my blog I get to fudge a bit) When things would break I could easily have more than a dozen people telling me to fix it all with the best intentions. At that moment I had two choices. I could get frustrated at all the people telling me things are broken, or I could step back and look at the problem as a whole. Backup and look at the cause rather than the symptom. Freaking out about a flooding basement and the insurance claims and the lost baseball cards might be an acceptable thing to do. Don't you think turing off the faucet or plugging the leak would be a better place to start? Perhaps in all this the short answer is that brining mindfulness to a project really brings clarity towards a solution. I can't believe I didn't mention that the best cure for being serious is to be funny. I can't always pull this off, but in the case of extreme anger or frustration to be able to drop a one-liner that puts it all into perspective is so important. It is way more fun solving an incredibly stressful problem with humor than letting the stress eat you up.
Is the project the same as me? Of course not. Unless I'm the project, in which case you'd have to talk to my wife, she'd know more. The project is never the same as me. I'm the doer, the maker, the solver. The product or project is a creation or collaboration that I played a part in. It may contain my preferences or biases, but ultimately it is something I've done, not something I am. The success of the project has very little to do with my value as an individual. Zig Ziglar used to say that "Failure is an event, not a person". What a great quote to answer this question... as much as I (all of us?) like to make our work an extension of our selves as individuals the reality is the project is a thing, not a person. The success is an event. Cherish the time you spend working or the discoveries you make along the way to creating the project, but if it gets turned down pick yourself up, crank some Pearl Jam, and move on to the next one.
Remember what I said about listening in the first giant run on paragraph? Listen, listen, listen, then solve? When I don't listen I jump to conclusions and when I jump to conclusions I'm usually not right. I can't think of a specific example to share, but in general it goes something like this:
a. I see what I content is a problem
b. I create my own reality around the situation
c. I ask for some clarity from someone else
d. Before the person has said the fourth word I freak out and go off on a passionate and angry tangent. This is awkward because I'm not usually serious, so to be angry and serious at the same time only to find out that...
e. I'm wrong. It's awkward. My blowing up because I didn't listen and I forgot rule #6 and I made the problem about me solved nothing. It also made me look bad, and I'm not a looker to being with.
There is a definite line between being in a high stress situation and completely freaking out, and acting like nothing is going on. Find that line and walk it like a tight rope. In my role as an employee or even as a leader is to listen to a problem and make sure it goes away. That is different than solving because sometimes people bring problems because they have the answers, they just need to vent. Which is why you listen first, talk third. In the middle you should listen some more.
In the end panic solves very little. Using your talents and abilities to create and do boldly without being too attached solves a great deal.
Acumen Leadership Notebook #4
Tell the right story to the right people
- Are you telling a story about your goal that resonates with the people who are ready to hear it?
- Tell your story four ways, all true, all based on different worldview, for different audiences.
In the video lecture preceding this assignment Seth mentions something about "being naked..." I got lost at naked, but boy is that how I feel now. It is one thing to tell stories, another to tell stories you heard from other people, but to tell people a story about yourself and your goals? I sure feel a bit under dressed. I even cheated and read these questions prior to the lecture and I'm still at a loss, but here goes.
To the people who pay the bills (Boss, investors, mom and dad): In the venture that you are helping finance I want to be successful on my terms. That doesn't mean I don't want to make a profit, nor does it mean I want to charge the customers an exorbitant rate so I can pay people to care for the three beach houses I see once a year. This venture needs to be one based on trust, relationships, and an understanding that we will not compromise our culture in order to get ahead or to make more money. To you I will define success as being able to pay the bills, pay the employees, and have enough left over to make sure that you are compensated for your trust and investment in me. Our riches will be defined by our experiences and our memories, not strictly by your ROI.
To the staff: First and foremost I can't believe you are here reading and listening to me. I've always wanted to be the boss and now that I am I fear I lack the patience, grace, and wisdom that you need to succeed. As I told the people who pay the bills above our success will be defined by our relationships with our clients and the trust that we develop with them. There is no better differentiator or "value add" than customer service that exceeds expectations. If you stick with me we will work and learn together through the peaks and valleys and when we emerge from the other side we will have stories to tell, memories to hold on to, and someday wages that allow you open the mailbox (or email) without fear of the next bill. I want to stop thinking about money, and I want to provide the same for you. Additionally I'm learning that putting the customers first might be the wrong move... I will work to put you first in hopes (and expectations) that if you are happy you will treat the clients as you have been treated.
To my family: Thank you. I had a wild dream and found the right people to help me get started, as well as a work force crazy enough to go along with me. I couldn't do this without you. I told the people who pay the bills and my co-workers that this will succeed on relationships and trust in one another... which happens to be something we've been working on at home. I know that this might be scary for you, or that my schedule may change, but I feel called to do this and I promise to see your dance recitals, soccer games, and gymnastics performances. I'll even be sure to set aside time to speak to the principal about why you had to visit him/her... again. (I hope my kids read this in 10 years) Thank you, I love you.
To the customer: Thank you. This venture would not succeed or even have a need if it weren't for you. With my staff and family I talk about relationships and trust. Both take time to build and both are easily lost. I ask that you trust us as we get off the ground and continue to do our best to serve you. Throughout the course of our work together I will listen, I will remember things, I will probably Google you (I won't be creepy) because I want to know who you are and how you work best. I want you to see that we are an organization who puts you first. We are here to serve and to "win" with you. I want you to be proud of the work we do together and when some one asks "do you know any one who ______" our name is the first (and only) response you have.
I feel like there were a few soap boxes here... I'll get down now. Thanks for reading.
Notebook #3
What does it mean to do the right thing even when there's a popular shortcut?
From a strict business perspective isn't the obvious answer differentiation? If you are the one company doing things the "right" way even when a popular shortcut exists then by nature you stand out in a crowd. You are choosing to do something that no one else is doing and therefore you stand to gain attention. Of course I suppose I should opine that doing the right thing for the sake of getting the attention isn't the right thing at all... it is simply gaming the system to "win" which might work in the short term, but what are the long term consequences of selling your soul for the short game?
My daughter is taking piano lessons and one day I heard her practicing a portion of scale as fast as she could. I suggested that perhaps she slow it down and practice each note one at a time until she plays the grouping flawlessly. She disagreed. Instead she continued to hit the keys as fast as she could until she made a sound that looked like what was written in the music. For this short term performance she wins. Long term though she loses. What happens when the next scale comes up? What happens when she needs to run her fingers up and down the keys in a quick but controlled manner? She won't be able to because she didn't stop and do things the right way (practice slowly, learn the fundamentals) so she will not have the tools to cope with the change. If instead she practice the scale slowly, learned the mechanics, the notes, the progressions, and really trained her hands to play things correctly instead of just good enough, she'd be much further ahead than she is now. Thankfully she's young and has plenty of time to learn this lesson. Others thought might not be so lucky.
To put it succinctly, I think doing the right things regardless of shortcuts available means you are instilling a sense of pride, tradition, and resilience that will not be cast aside at the first sign of change. Doing it the right way means never needing to question why you did it in the first place.
Consider the journey that you and your team are on. Do the ends justify the means? Which means? What's right and where do you draw the line? Does everyone in your culture draw the line in the same place?
I struggle with this because at the moment the only team I have is my family. I have co-workers, friends, and other groups I'm a part of. However I have yet to cultivate a team that is willing to follow me. (That has to be a blog post sometime right?) For the sake of discussion, and as a believer in God, the line needs to be drawn in the sand when things start to contradict what I've been taught from the Bible. In over-arching and simplistic terms this is mostly the golden rule - do on to others as you would have them do to you. Be honest, lead and work with integrity, be polite and courteous, and if I may be so bold as to add one of my own, tell a stinking joke once in a while. Any culture without laughter isn't a culture I want to be a part of.
As individuals I don't think everyone has to have the same line in the sand. As a team though it is absolutely necessary that each individual conforms to the culture of the business and is able to discern what is right and wrong in the context of the team. This falls on the shoulder of the leader to lead by example and to make the expectations painfully clear. I don't want a team full of facsimiles of one another, individuality is good, but as a business a common culture and set of values is imperative.
What sort of control are you willing to give up to get closer to your goal?
None. I'm a control freak and this is counter intuitive. If I had to give up something, and let's face it I'm going to have to, I would be willing to give up everything. On one condition. I used to hate boundaries, now I love them. Not because boundaries are rules that I get to govern or dictate, but because without boundaries there is no creativity, there is no discovery, there is nothing new. I'm sure at least half a dozen times in the last year I've been angry enough at someone because they challenged me (how dare my boss challenge ME) on an opinion or a piece of work that I did. After pouting like a child and thinking about how ridiculous people were being I came up with a solution. All the boss did was give me boundaries within which to work and the boundaries provided the answer.
That might be a tangent, but take a team of smart individuals, give them a common goal and a set of clearly defined expectations and boundaries within the context of the company culture and I'm sure the group would make any product I came up with look like garbage.
My gut reaction again is I'd give up nothing, but I like winning and I'd like to think that I'm maturing to the point where I can give up control, within the context of a healthy culture, to get the goal.