Bridging Leadership Lessons from the Workplace and Those Experiences Shaping Today's Youth and Tomorrow's Leaders
I have shared several posts about the power of Jon Gordon’s book, One Word That Will Change Your Life, and this time I will take you back to December of 2016 and explain how I found my first word, LISTEN. My family and I flew to California over the Christmas Break to spend some days in the sleepy, seaside village of Cambria with the in-laws. I have been reading several Jon Gordon books and the latest I downloaded on my iPad was One Word That Will Change Your Life. As I have written before, the book guides you to reflect on your life, where you are and where you want to be. You ask these three questions:
When you have your list compiled and have it thought through, it turns spiritual and directs you to seek quiet, and to pray and ask, “What do you want to do in me and through me?” I have never been very active in my religious beliefs. I have been a believer but never a person who prays. I didn’t regularly read the bible or attend church. I was never comfortable in that aspect of my life but had started gaining interest due to my mentor, Steve Moles. I read the book on the flight and repeated the mantra over and over asking God, “What do you want to do in me and through me?” I didn’t get an answer. One morning I got up early, put in my earbuds, turned on some podcasts, and walked to the rocky ocean shore. The water in Cambria is cold, regardless of the season, and it is not a sandy beach like you have in the southern part of California. I combed the beach looking for shells (there are not any but incredibly smooth stones) and trying to spend time in prayer asking the question and hoping for an answer. The sound of the surf crashing against the rocks in the early morning hours was incredible. So loud that I recorded it on my iPhone and commented how loud it was. Frustrated that I still didn’t have an answer to my One Word, I decided to continue my morning walk through the streets to head back to our rental. I put my earbuds back in and continued the podcast. As I moved away from the shore and along a coastal reserve, an older man walking his dog approached and said something to me. I removed my earbuds and apologized, explaining I didn’t hear him. He said, “The ocean is loud this morning.” I agreed and shared how I recorded the sound of the surf. He responded, “The ocean has a lot to say if you listen.” I chuckled and told him to have a good day, returned my earbuds and continued my walk. When something hit me about what he said. “The ocean has a lot to say if you listen.” So, I turned off the podcast, removed my earbuds and BAM! It hit me just like in the movies as images came flashing in my mind's eye. Listen to the sound of the ocean. Listen to my body as I was overweight and struggling physically. Listen to my mind as I was battling with anxiety and challenges internally to me. Listen to those who are providing guidance to me at work - not just the words but the advice. Listen to those who have different opinions - they have value and deserve to be heard. Listen to my soul that was saying something needed to change. I had chills running up and down my body as I stood there, staring straight ahead as my mind raced - and then I smiled and laughed out loud. I turned around to share this revelation with this older man who was walking his dog… but he wasn’t there. Nowhere to be seen. No house that he could have walked into or a side street that he could have walked down to escape my view. He just wasn’t there. It may be that what felt like only a split second was actually a longer period of time that allowed the older man to move on to the next street or house and disappear. I don’t know. But what I do know is that moment changed me and my outlook. I had a smile on my face the entire walk back and felt an extra bounce in my step as I got back to the house and shared my experience with my family. LISTEN was my One Word in 2017 and served me well. That doesn’t mean that suddenly I became a better listener, it means that I became more aware of my challenges and therefore could remind myself to stop and listen instead of just acting… sometimes! It helped me with relationships as I shared my One Word with others and how I was trying to be better in that area. Sometimes, all you need do is LISTEN to have One Word that will IMPACT you and those you care about Beyond Today. PREVIOUS POSTS ABOUT ONE WORD: One Word Can Have an Impact in 2022 Focus on One Word One Word for the New Year
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Most people are familiar with the English proverb, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” I have written about this topic several times with the most direct being Taking Action is Key to Breaking out of the Planning Loop. In these cases, I typically am talking about achieving a goal or finishing a project that is impactful to you and your company/family. Today, I’m looking at the Impact you make in relationships with others, whether coworkers, family, friends, or complete strangers. Those moments in time where a simple gesture or word can create a ripple across multiple people. This anomaly became known as the butterfly effect based on the observations and writings of Edward Lorenz. I am that “good intentions” guy. I think about sending a card to someone during times of grief - but I never do. I think I should reach out and give a person a call or text congratulating them on the promotion - but I don’t. I have these great intentions, these feelings inside of me that I know I should act on but because of fear, laziness, or anxiety, I don’t. The book Leadership and Self-Deception by the Arbinger Institute talks in detail about Self-Betrayal in a very relatable story format. It was a punch in the gut when I read the book. The authors define Self-Betrayal as “an act contrary to what I feel I should do for another.” The book goes on to state that when you betray yourself, you start to look at the world in a way that justifies your actions/feelings or your self-betrayal. Then, when you start to see the world in a self-justified way, your view of reality becomes distorted. Wow. That’s me. A guy who thinks he is a good friend but in reality, tends to fall short of meeting my expectations. I intend to be a good friend, but I get busy and justify why I don’t reach out, stay in touch and follow-thru with what I know I should do. I bring this up to encourage you to read the 3 books from the Arbinger Institute. They talk about Outward vs Inward mindsets. In the book The Outward Mindset, they write “...someone with an outward mindset holds himself accountable both for his own actions and performance, and for his impact on others actions and performance.” When I went back and re-read the highlighted portions of the book to support this post, I was blown away how my One Word for the year, IMPACT, was so prevalent throughout the book. I saw first-hand in October of 2021 how the willingness to put yourself out there can have a positive impact on others. A coworker of mine was feeling stressed and struggling at work. I was at a conference in St. Louis and had exchanged some texts and emails during the day. The frustration was understandable and very evident in our communication. On my way home, I decided to make the call (yes, I actually took ACTION instead of just thinking about it!) and we talked. I shared my perspective and feedback that I had received from others on the value this employee brought to the company. He thanked me and I was happy that I finally chose to act instead of intending to act. The next day, my coworker and I were talking when he asked me to shut the door. He proceeded to thank me and the sincerity in his voice was evident. It wasn’t easy for him, and it wasn’t easy for me to receive it either. But at that moment, the power of sharing oneself was never more evident to me. Seeing the way it made him feel and in turn how I felt was very powerful. Two days later, during a Teams video meeting, I received a chat message from a different co-worker. He shared fond memories from the early days of working together in the company. Unbeknownst to him, that was exactly what I needed at that moment in time as I was struggling with my own positivity and mindset. I sincerely thanked him for reaching out and sharing and honestly, I probably made him a little uncomfortable as I’m sure he couldn’t comprehend the IMPACT those messages had on me. If my coworker, two days earlier, had not shown the heartfelt appreciation, I probably would have blown off the comments with a funny response or some thumbs up. But knowing how it made me felt, I knew I had to show this person the same courtesy and respect. German philosopher Friderich Nietzche said “A ‘thing’ is the sum of its effects.” The effect of taking action instead of just intending to take action has a tremendous IMPACT on the three people in those two different interactions. Who else was impacted by the ripple of reaching out, choosing to share a little bit of yourself and making sure that your IMPACT is felt Beyond Today. The title would probably be closer to the truth if I replaced “Leaders” with “Managers” and “Young” with “New” or “Inexperienced.” I bring this up because in the post I share something from my early days where at the time, I thought I was being a leader, but in reality, I wasn’t. I was an ineffective manager, let alone a leader. During the Christmas break, I was going through old boxes while cleaning out my office and I came across a letter I received on February 2nd, 2001, from a retired coworker, Herb Lambert. Herb was an icon at Brewer Science and in the industry. He worked on the first chips produced at Princeton Bell Labs. He was a chain smoking, red wine drinking, share what he was thinking, Penn State loving curmudgeon. Boy, did he have an impact on my younger self. There are so many entertaining stories about our times spent traveling and visiting customers or sitting in the office working through challenges or sitting with him at his smoking area as he shared stories of the love he had for his wife who had passed or his granddaughters. But many of those stories are best left to closed doors and after hour drinks! I had tremendous respect for Herb and cared deeply for him and his opinion of me. I had returned from being stationed in the field (Texas) in 1998 and had been promoted to Customer Support Manager. It was a new position that brought together Logistics, Order Entry, Applications and Customer Service. While I was a new manager, I was familiar with most of my team through my previous years at the main office and through our working relationships while in the field. Many of those in the Applications area would be more technically savvy than myself, but that didn’t bother me as I would let them be the experts and I would focus on the relationships and “leading” my people. While being an inexperienced manager would have its challenges, what added to the difficulty is that many of the people on my new team were older than me, had longer tenure at the company and essentially knew more. Herb was one of my teammates and was close to retirement, so he took on the fatherly role of advice giver. I valued his wisdom - not only technically or with his critical thinking approach, but with his simple view on life. Needless to say, I had some issues as a new manager and those will be left for future posts. Right now, I want to share a letter Herb wrote to me after his retirement. One last piece of wisdom to share with an inexperienced manager and a want-to-be leader. February 2, 2001 Looking back, I could have gotten mad or defensive. I could have quit because a mentor just looked at me and found me lacking. But I kept that letter and used his words to remind me of my shortcomings and the importance of continued learning and growth. I have talked to people through the years about this letter, the tough and direct advice from a friend, but until now, I have never shared it with others. Herb was a Person of Impact. He had the Courage to Challenge. He Expected Excellence. He Empowered Others. This letter IMPACTS me today just like it did 21 years ago. It is reflections like this that drives you to be better. A challenge that fuels your inner fire. I hope that by sharing this letter from my coworker, my mentor, my friend Herb, that it will motivate you to continue your journey of growth so that you too can IMPACT someone Beyond Today. Over the last month and a half, I have introduced the concept of the Pillars of Impact and how they are 3 key principles that are critical to achieving success. I explained that when I look for future teammates, I try to make sure that these traits exist in them and before they are hired, I have a conversation about my expectations related to those Pillars. The three pillars are: As I mentioned above, when a person is hired into my group at whatever position, I try to have a quick phone call with them before the offer is made. I started this several years ago after a conversation with our Company's President and CEO. We were discussing how difficult it is to get new employees acclimated to a culture that has been building for so many years. New employees don’t remember the challenges we faced when employees were forced to wear many hats to make sure we could provide products to our customers. So much of what has made us who we are isn’t documented in processes and procedures but in the sweat, frustration, and excitement that we lived over those many years. I realized that there is no better way than sharing my own experiences and delivering, first-hand to the prospective employee, my expectations to be part of our team. During the conversations with the future employees, I never called out the Three Pillars of Impact. That idea had not occurred to me until I was sharing the concept of these conversations with someone and felt it would be a great topic for a blog post. But I would deliver the same talk, focusing on these three points, to every employee. I might use different examples based upon the person’s background or position they were seeking. But I always finished with this simple statement, “If you don’t think you can commit to these things, then please don’t accept the position. Wait for a job that is a better match. Because if you can’t do these three things, then you will not reach your potential in our group, and it will be a waste of time because you won’t be here for the long haul.” Courage to Challenge It’s extremely important to challenge the status quo. As a new employee or new to a process, it is your obligation to ask why and to understand not only the process, but the expected outcome and benefit of the process. Without the questions, how will there be any improvements? There is a fine line between challenging and creating negative conflict. This is a tough one for me and I struggle with many people on how I approach the challenge. There are two key ingredients to make the challenge a positive experience: 1) respectfully challenge the process not the person and 2) create an environment that is conducive to challenge. Insecure leaders try to squash the challenges or get defensive. I talked in a previous post about Trust in Vulnerability in which good leaders are confident and open to feedback. They look for opportunities to improve because the success of the organization is bigger than their ego. Expect Excellence When I talk about expecting excellence, it is both about the standards to which you hold yourself accountable as well as what you expect from your teammates. In my conversations with the potential new hires, I tell them that they need to have the courage to challenge me as well. If we are not living up to what I have talked to them about, if I’m not delivering the excellence I expect from others, then I need to know. I am not talking about perfection. I’m talking about the mindset or the culture of excellence. The pursuit of excellence can be more important than a goal or metric that you are chasing. This is easier to grasp when you are part of the shared vision, you understand where you are going, why it’s important and most importantly, what you and your teammates can do to travel that path. Empower Others Just get out of their way. Best set of advice for a new manager. Just like in sports, every new coach must realize that they cannot control every aspect of their team or call every play. Sometimes the best thing a coach can do is nothing. Now, it’s not really nothing but as a leader you are responsible for helping to build and reinforce the culture that moves the organization forward. You do that by the shared vision we talked about above and creating an environment of trust and vulnerability. Where they know that they can try, fail, and are expected to get up and try again. Not to be ridiculed or condemned, but to be rewarded for getting up and learning. We are now an ESOP, an employee-owned company. While it may have only become official in the last year or so, I have felt and acted like an employee-owner since I started in 1993. I can tell you by the commitment of their actions and the quality of work that my teammates feel the same way. Whether you are a new employee or like me, one who has been here for 28 years, I would ask you the same question. If you can’t commit to these Three Pillars of Impact, then maybe this isn’t the right place for you. Embracing and executing on these three key principles, these Pillars, is a sure way to maximize your Impact so that it stretches far Beyond Today. I am going to connect several key principles that I feel are critical to success and are traits that I look for in future teammates. I refer to these as Pillars of Impact as they are foundational to move from making yourself better to helping others get better as well. The first Pillar of Impact is the Courage to Challenge. The two main words in this pillar infer some type of conflict. But it doesn’t have to be a negative experience. For the Courage to Challenge to be in a positive place you need to have two ingredients:
Respectfully Challenge What you need to focus on is the question itself. How to respectfully ask a question that challenges the status quo. This is always easier when trust has been established and your credibility helps the recipient understand that you have the best intentions in mind. If not, you need to focus your questions on understanding. To learn more about the perspective, not to say they are wrong, but to increase your understanding of their perspective. In a prior post, I talked about my Mentor asking the simple question: “Is what you are saying helpful or harmful?” You have to consider how your question will be received because while your intention might be helpful, it could easily be perceived as a negative challenge and cause walls to be put in place. Creating an Environment There are many reasons why a person chooses not to challenge. Hierarchy, confidence, experience, or they don’t want to look stupid. As leaders, we need to be clear that there are no stupid questions and that everyone’s input will be respected and is encouraged. Do you promote the asking of questions in your group or do you deter the questions by always delivering answers? Do you get defensive and protective of your position? Do you feel that questions are directed towards you, the person, or the process or situation that exists? Do you interpret questions as rebellious and disruptive to the harmony of your group or do you see them as opportunities to learn and grow? Promoting critical thinking is a popular topic, but typically when you are talking about another group or people listening to your suggestions. How do you respond when critical thinking is directed towards your decision or actions? I can tell you from first-hand experience, this is really difficult. Being open to what you feel is criticism is challenging to say the least but absolutely critical if you are going to gain from the collective wisdom and experiences. Becoming a Pillar While this approach has always been part of who I am, I didn’t quite appreciate how critical it was for a team's success. I had encouraged it within my team, but I was viewing it as something I liked - almost as a personal preference - instead of as a key principle in the overall success structure. It came to a head when I attended a critical internal meeting to discuss a problem with our product with a customer. The investigation had stalled as the questionable batch, A, and a known good batch, B, had the exact same signatures. It was defying logic. When you evaluated the charts, your assumption led you to believe that either they would both have to be good, or both have to be bad. To make matters worse a third batch which looked like it should be bad, was performing well at the customer. I kept challenging the graphs and pointing out to the team that it was illogical and if A=B and B=C then A must equal C. I had frustrated everyone in the room and despite some “Master of the Obvious” comments along with some eye rolls and head grabbing, I would not let up. Finally, someone got upset enough that they pulled up the original data to “shut me up” and the person said one word…”oh.” When the presentation was made, the person incorrectly marked the graph of which batch performed well at the customer and which one did not. A simple mistake that was not challenged, propagated until it became fact. Those attending the meeting day after day, had been trained to accept it as truth as it was presented. Once the issue was identified, everything fell into place, the root cause was identified, and the problem was addressed satisfying the customer. There were a lot smarter people than me in the room. I know people had asked questions and challenged the assumptions but either they had their concerns addressed or didn’t want to ask again. Many chose not to push back because of the dynamics in the room with leadership. A fear of angering a top manager. Being viewed as disrespectful. Not wanting to risk being ridiculed if they were wrong. But I didn’t focus on why they didn’t challenge, only on how we move forward to resolve the issue. I made a statement at that point that became a mantra for Operations over the next two years: “I don’t care what you know, only what you can show.” We know the problem with assumptions. We know the problems with memory. Show me the data, validate your actions. We supported that mantra with “Peel the Onion” encouraging people to dig deeper. The discussion with my team was a lot more direct. I stressed that if they could not challenge, then they couldn’t lead and they needed to decide if they wanted to lead or not. I already knew the answer when I asked it and boy did they lead! The environment in that meeting was not conducive to challenging - so I had to force a change in that environment. By not backing down, I was taking the position that it was okay to challenge and that we must challenge. Breaking out of groupthink is critical to move people and organizations forward. Stagnation is not planned but a result of inaction and the Courage to Challenge the status quo is what moves you Beyond Today. Boundaries are found everywhere and serve a multitude of purposes. When you think of boundaries what comes to mind?
What is interesting is how people react to boundaries. As a child you seek boundaries. As a teen you test boundaries. As a college kid there are no boundaries. As a young adult, you once again seek boundaries for comfort and understanding. In the workplace you seek job descriptions and expectations for clarity in your role and those of others. Using Boundaries to Engage But what if you didn’t? What if there were no boundaries or constraints? Only engagement. When I was reflecting on the word “engage” 3 things came to mind: 1) Engage the enemy 2) Put into gear and move forward 3) create a relationship or commitment. In all of these cases, you are moved to action with purpose. Facing Boundaries At work, you are faced with boundaries when a process is owned by another organization. If that process impacts your work or team, how do you respond? Do you stare at the boundary and complain to others? Accept it and walk away? Look at the boundary and say “not my job”? Or do you engage the owners of the process and explain the impact on your role? You must engage or move to action with purpose so that the process is not a boundary but a shared process When there is a tree overhanging the property line, do you say it’s not my property or do you engage the neighbor to find a solution to trim the limbs? When you see a teammate is hurting, do you say, I’m not crossing that boundary between work and personal or do you reach out and engage them as a human and let them know you are there for them? Boundaries have their purpose and have recognizable value in the basics of relationships. In every case, a boundary serves as a way to separate or segregate. But as we grow, boundaries become opportunities for engagement with others to expand our understanding and influence. So ultimately, boundaries do not limit us but instead expand us to a potential that exists Beyond Today.
As a wily veteran of parenting and corporate management, what I appreciate most is the ability to watch my kids grow into adults where you can share and engage them in more modern styles of leadership. A shared leadership of trust and transparency where servant leadership begins to take root.
The challenges associated with raising young kids are squarely at odds with leadership today. The autocratic style where you are the ultimate authority setting boundaries and providing discipline is not found in successful companies. Do you want to see someone head straight to ZipRecruiter, treat them like a child. New managers may not always have the leadership understanding fully in place as it is something that is typically learned through experience and observation. Many times, the experience that they do have could be as young parents managing the challenges of raising kids. The Trust is not built-in as with the relationship with your kids, at work it must be earned by your actions and deeds. Helicopter Parent vs Micromanager Just like it is much easier to recognize when another parent is a helicopter parent, so too is it easier to recognize when another leader is a micromanager. We all know the well intentioned parent who schedules every play date and can be found hovering nearby to prevent their fall or paint their picture. Planning out the lives of their kids, orchestrating every step and decision to ensure that they do not fail. We also are familiar with the micromanager boss who proofreads every report, makes you run every decision through them and wants to be copied on all of your emails. It doesn’t seem like a plan or experiment is ever correct unless they are able to add a change to make it better. You are not sure if they don’t trust you or if they don’t think you are capable of doing the job. Don’t Make My Mistakes The need of parents to protect their kids is natural. You try to teach and prevent mistakes from happening. You don’t want your kid touching the stove to see it’s hot like you did. So you go out of your way to make sure that they don’t make the same mistakes you did like quitting the track team, dumping your date the day before prom or jumping your bike off Rabbit Hole Hill. You have probably heard the definition of FAIL: First Attempt In Learning. At work, we can use processes and procedures to help provide guidelines, but employees need to understand challenges and risk mitigation. They don’t need to be told what to do and simply execute, they need to understand so that they can grow and help their job improve and develop. Sharing experiences and wisdom is a lot different from telling people what to do. Personally, my leadership mistakes are vast and cover the gambit. I do try to share my experiences with others so that they can add to their collective knowledge base, to help make them aware of potential risks, but in the end, it is their choice on whether or not to accept the advice. Shared Vision vs My Vision Studies show that the more recent generations that are entering the workforce have a greater need to be impactful and part of something larger. Because of this, it is extremely critical that leaders are able to work with their team members to create and refine a shared vision. In past generations, the leader would set the vision and everyone would then work towards that vision because it was their job. But today, people want to understand the why and even want to have a say in the vision. Communicating early and often is essential to aligning and growing the vision. In his book Stop Living on Autopilot, Antonio Neves states ”The best thing that happened to you hasn’t happened yet!” How powerful of a message is that? Whether talking about your kids or your work team, the goal is for them to fly so that they can soar on their own. My Way or the Highway “Because I said so.” How many times was that phrase uttered in your house growing up? Again, it might have been effective back then but this is a different time. Heck, it was a different time when I, as a Gen Xer, was growing up as I always wanted to know why - even to the point of frustrating coworkers. But I needed to understand the reason so I could get on board and be part of the solution. At work, you empower your team and work with them on skills and relationships so that decisions are made by those closest to the action and not having to “run them up the ladder” and await the blessing before moving forward. In a lean, fast paced company, waiting for bureaucratic responses is the difference between World Class and shutting the doors. Empower Others Leaders lead. That’s what they do. Whether they have the title to back them or not. Be empathetic. Treat people with respect. Encourage ownership of the problem AND the solution. At work, you earn the trust of your employees base on your actions. You walk the walk. You live the values and demonstrate your foundational principles. You show respect for the rules and processes. The love you show them and that they see in you. The respect you show them and others and the respect that others show to you. Living life with them and not through them, is the key to seeing them take flight Beyond Today. Celebrities and sports figures are paid millions in endorsement deals as corporations count on the familiarity with John Q Public to lead to a natural sense of trust. You see them on a regular basis on your television. You read about their families and their personal tragedies that establish a connection as if you know them personally. While it may help influence your clothing selection, are you honestly going to stake your employment opportunities on the right arm of Patrick Mahomes or the voice of Carrie Underwood? Trust is more than keeping your word. Trusting someone is critical to a good working relationship but trusting IN someone is more personal. You must build a personal connection if someone is going to put their trust IN you. There are people that you can trust to tell you the truth, but would you follow them with absolute trust? Transparency and vulnerability are two critical components of establishing that personal connection. Transparency is being open. Not hiding an ulterior motive. Both sides are up front with their WIIFM - What’s In It For Me. People mistake this for selfishness, but in reality, it simply is the human need to know that they bring value. When you connect at that level showing that they bring value, then they make the connection that they HAVE value. Vulnerability comes in sharing that personal side, your own mistakes. It’s extending Trust first- openly and without fear. It’s saying “here are my flaws. I know them and you need to know them too, so we can overcome them together.” It’s exhibited when a member of our Manufacturing team is recognized in a meeting for scrapping an intermediate batch of our product because he put in the wrong amount of an ingredient. We gave him a gift certificate for his catch, because he knew something was wrong, investigated, pulled in an engineer and they stopped the batch. Being forthcoming might have cost us some time and dollars, but not nearly the value of a final batch and the potential negative impact to the customer. He did the right thing by being transparent and we rewarded his trust. It’s not simply sharing a secret that you don’t want shared. It’s sharing your place in the story with that person, creating a personal connection. There is no place for ego. You can’t “create” vulnerability, you can only exhibit vulnerability. Most will see it as not being genuine or simply fake. You may fool someone at first as they simply want it to be so, but when the truth comes out, as it always does, the trust will be forever broken. Being vulnerable isn’t a sign of weakness but a demonstration of strength and courage. People want that in their leaders. People need to believe that their own flaws and mistakes do not define them. By being vulnerable, you build trust and are showing them that their past is not limiting them but another connection to get them Beyond Today.
UPDATE 12/21/21: As I prepare for my 2022 One Word, I like to look back at the process I used to select previous One Words and also assess how that word helped me navigate the year. Last year's word of FOCUS was a tough one for me... but the right one. I was able to focus in on some key areas of my life but also struggled to focus in on consistent effort in other areas. That is what makes this process so exciting - the ups and downs, the momentum and turbulence. It IS life! Good luck on finding your One Word for the new year.
In the final 2020 post of Beyond Today, I introduced you to Jon Gordon’s book, One Word That Will Change Your Life. I really hope you had a chance to read the book and if not, I suggest you visit the website, https://www.onewordchallenge.com/ to find out more about the concept.
Part of the value in the One Word process is to share your one word with those you care about and who care about you. Those who are committed to your success that are comfortable to challenge and encourage you on your journey. As fellow employees and friends, I want to share with you my one word for 2021: FOCUS. 2021 Goals: I will focus on…
As I mentioned in the previous article, the journey to the word is not always straightforward. I first landed on LEGACY which really hit home for where I am at in my life with the passing of my own parents and as I prepare for a 3rd child to head to college. But soon I realized that FULFILLMENT was required before I could establish a legacy. This word was reinforced through conversation with various people and mentors and each time I heard it, it would trigger something in me. But then I realized I had been here before and found myself needing to recommit… to RENEW my previous goals. Now it was becoming clear. I couldn’t deliver a LEGACY without FULFILLMENT but I would not reach that without a RENEWED effort. As I was writing down what I needed to do it literally came into focus… I must focus on renewing this… I must renew my focus on that.. Everywhere I looked I realized my life was littered with crumbs of partially focused events - whether at work or at home. Distractions prevented me from moving down my path not because they were obstacles that I could not overcome, but because I was not focused on moving them or simply ignoring them and stepping over or around them. I encourage you to begin the process, if you haven’t already, to find your One Word for 2021. The process as described by the author, Jon Gordon is to ask yourself 3 questions: What do I need, What is in my way, and What needs to go. Then you begin to pray asking God what he wants to do in me and through me. That’s it. When you find your One Word, you will know it. I am confident that I will be able to adjust my FOCUS in 2021 to what is critically important now, but not lose FOCUS on what lies Beyond Today.
Have you ever had an opinion of a person but once you spent time with them you gained a better understanding and your opinion changed? Many times those opinions can be difficult to change - just open up your favorite social media app and check out any posts regarding the 2020 election!
Peter Senge wrote about Mental Models in his book, Fifth Discipline. Senge described Mental Models as “deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations or even pictures or images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action.” The scary part about his description is the last part about how we act based upon those mental models. Acting out of a bias or possible false view of a person or situation can lead to potential failures and negative impacts to us and our customers. We are all guilty of this behavior at work, with friends, on social media. We can quickly establish a view of someone based upon Mental Models that have been created over time - the way people dress, the way people look, the way society promotes certain activities or how the auto market can be impacted by views on style or quality. Mental Models are not always wrong and in some situations may be accurate, but the potential for mistakes is always there. The point being is that we ALL have Mental Models whether we are aware of them or not. The challenge for us as engaged employees and community members, is to recognize those Mental Models and make sure our actions are not based solely upon those views but on actual data and information as it exists. In an interaction with another employee, it would be helpful to share the Mental Model that exists so they know up front what your perspective is and then it can be out and on the table. What if our Mental Model lies below the surface and we are unaware that they exist? We can end up contributing to conflict by making assumptions and then we base our response on those assumptions and not on the reality that exists. That is why we need self-reflection and the ability to critically challenge our ways of thinking. To be open to influence and engagement. Reflection is a skill that should be practiced. By bringing your mental models to the surface, you provide transparency and lay the foundation on which to build trust. Challenge your own perspective and search for your own biases and Mental Models that may exist. Ask yourself questions. Assume good intentions in others and that they are being forthright. By taking these approaches, you can engage in what Senge calls “learningful” conversations in an open environment where truth and understanding can be at the center of the discussion and not the defensiveness of blame or protecting a position. So often we avoid opportunities to change or grow because we limit ourselves to what is familiar to us - in how we think and act. Einstein said, “Our theories determine what we measure.” So during a conflict, instead of blaming someone else, ask yourself how your actions or thoughts contributed to the situation? Don’t let Mental Models restrict your ability to grow. You must seek them out, challenge their validity and share your findings with others. Using transparency to share your Mental Models to build trust with those you engage will truly help you make a difference Beyond Today. |
AuthorTom Brown - a husband and a father who is simply trying to make a difference. Using my experience as a Manufacturing Executive to connect leadership from the boardroom to the hardwood to help teams grow and develop to make a difference in the lives of others. Archives
April 2024
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