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"How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours." ~ Wayne Dyer
Do you react to other's emotions and behaviors or do you keep your focus on the goal? Can you see them as being separate from you?
Do you know your "buttons"?
List 5 things you can do to be proactive vs. reactive. After all...you create your own karma.
In today's reading "Thank You for Doing Your Job", Whitney Johnson argues the value of saying thank you for routine work that contributes to the organization's well being:
Early on in my career, I had a boss who discounted my ability to connect with clients. My numbers for meetings and phone calls with clients was 40% higher than the firm average, but he brushed off these efforts because I clearly enjoyed that part of my job and it was easy for me. Later, a different boss recognized and encouraged my talent for reaching out to people, and his praise enabled me to further develop that skill. It had a far-reaching impact on my job performance at that company, and in everything I've done since. As my HBR colleague Peter Bregman wrote, "there is no more powerful way to acknowledge others, than to be thankful for them just as they are."
Today, there is too little praise or appreciation voiced in our work environments. In fact, I remember an organization that almost prided itself in being a "praise-free" zone. Yet genuine gratitude goes a long way to engage people and bind them together, to say nothing about strengthening an building relationships.
So, my challenge to you:
Every day find at least one opportunity to express appreciation particularly for ordinary things done well that make you, your team, your organization work extremely well. Be specific. Explain what was done and the impact that it has. And, as Tom Peters wrote: "It takes more time, but one at a time, 15-second praising is 10x more valuable that a group 'way to go, gang'."
Have a great week. . . . jim
To some extent, and more so for some than others, we are all problem solvers. Most of the time we use ad hoc, informal, personal processes to solve problems. And, these often work at the "good enough" level. However, sometimes we miss good solutions, and even fail to identify the problem correctly in the first place.
Today's reading focuses on an eight-step, problem-solving process, the Simplex Process, created by Min Basadur and presented in his book, "The Power of Innovation." The reading itself is a description of the process - "The Simplex Process - Problem Solving Training" - from the Mindtools website.
Please note that many of the document's embedded links take you to the fee-based, Members Only section of this website. I've found other good references to these topics in Wikipedia and elsewhere on the web.
The Simplex Process is a simple, yet powerful method for solving problems and executing projects of any scale. The process, instead of being represented as a single, straight-line process is represented as a circle. This reminds us of the importance of continuous improvement, both to us and to our clients.
The Eight Steps
(1) Problem Finding: Often the problem is obvious. But, sometimes the obvious problem we see addresses the symptoms and not the root cause. So, it's helpful to stop before jumping into solution mode to ask some questions:
(2) Fact Finding: What do I know about the issue?
(3) Problem Definition: Now that you understand the problem area, you can define the specific issue you are going to address. You need to get the issue bounded appropriately. Too broad and you'll not have either the time or the resources to address the issue effectively. Too narrow and you may only address the symptoms. Basadur suggests asking "Why?" to explore broadening a question and "What's stopping you?" to narrow one.
(4) Idea Finding: Here you generate problem solving ideas. Talk with your team and your colleagues. Use focus groups or brain storming. This is a step of generating ideas, not of analyzing or critiquing them.
(5) Evaluation and Selection: In this step, you evaluate the ideas that have been developed and choose one to take forward. That choice might be very obvious. If not, you evaluate the options:
(6) Planning: Once you've made a choice, it's time to plan the implementation. For solving small problems or executing small projects, a set of action steps, like the IT Leaders Program uses for setting personal goals, may be adequate. Larger problems or projects will benefit from using a more formal project management approach.
(7) Sell the Idea: If you have not already done so, now is the time to let the stakeholders associated with your idea in or what you and your team are up to. (This may be an appropriate time to flip back to the pages in your Leaders Program workbook to the discussion there about stakeholder communication. Since larger solutions will involve culture, internal politics, and change, you may want to scan those topics as well.)
(8) Action: Now that you have finished your preparation, it's time to get to work on the solution. Here's where the careful thinking and planning pays off with a faster, less eventful solution.
Although following these eight simple steps may seem laborious, my experience is that it pays off even for simple problems. Think of these steps as a plan, a simple check list:
The next time you take on a project or have a problem to solve, think of giving this approach a try. I believe that you will find it helpful.
. . . . jim
"If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning." ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Do you say "I can't", "I don't know how", or do you say "I don't know how yet"? List what you have wanted to do in the past that you dismissed. Why?
List what you would like to do in the present and future, without thinking of reasons why you can't. Create actions steps to move you towards that goal. It's about action.
Sherry Turkle, the Abby Rockefeller Mauze Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT, has a new book, "Alone Together." In the book, Turkle raises an interesting point about how we get and maintain each other's attention in our always-on-connectivity culture.
In one review - MIT News' "The lonely crowd" by Peter Dizikes - we are challenged, the next time we are in a public space where families naturally gather (a playground, or a kid's soccer game, or a museum) to note how many parents are focused more on their mobile phones than on their kids. In a similar vein, many high schoolers complained to Turkle of parents who enter the "BlackBerry zone" and completely ignore them at meals.
And, we've noted people sitting around tables during a break at IT Leaders workshops focused on their mobile devices rather than interacting with each other.
In Time Magazine's book review of "Alone Together", Lev Grossman notes about Turkle that "nobody has ever articulated so passionately and intelligently what we're doing to ourselves by substituting technologically mediated social interaction ... for the face-to-face kind."
Turkle's point is that the compulsive attention people give to their mobil devices is shaping social norms rather than social norms shaping how we use the technology. She asks, why do we have to sacrifice sociality for currently popular application. In a recent interview she argued that people do have the ability to make sure that technology is not controlling their lives.
Are you at a point where technology controls you more than you think appropriate? Perhaps, it's time to ask what change you can make (to reduce technology's control) that requires no one's permission, and intentionally make that change. Maybe, you, like me, need to think a bit more about how to put technology in its place and keep it there.
. . . . . jim
Wayne Turmel, writer, speaker, president of Greatwebmeetings.com, begins today's reading, "Virtual Meetings Are Like Broccoli", by saying "Running good meetings for remote teams is like eating our vegetables: we know we should do it, we know how to do it, it's critical to our health in the long run, and we rationalize our way out of it every chance we get."
Turmel takes his "8Tips" from a longer piece by Chris LeCompte, Running More Effective Project Meetings. (LeCompte is a web designer and project manager based out of the Washington, D.C. area):
Only hold necessary meetings. (Where have you heard this before!)
Have a clear purpose.
Clearly list your objectives. Be very specific.
Know who really needs to be there.
Prepare an agenda. Clarity. Details.
Enforce the agenda.
Identify and state action items that come from the meeting - what, who, when.
Follow up. Team leaders have the responsibility of making sure that the action items are really completed.
Say, this really makes a good list for meetings where everyone is sitting around the same table.
So, the next time you are setting up a meeting, pull this short note out and read the full post as well as LeCompte's more detailed piece. Also, take a look at "3 Reasons Not to Run Your Own Virtual Meetings".
. . . . jim