The much-anticipated blizzard did in fact come, and dumped about a foot of white stuff in my yard. I dutifully was out in the morning and shoveled my driveway and sidewalks.
Just as I was admiring my handiwork, the snow plow came by and blocked my egress with another large, back-breaking pile. Grr! And then the thought occurred to me that he was just doing his job. His job negatively impacted my “job”.
I wonder if there are similar situations that occur in my actual workplace. Are there things that I do that have an adverse effect on other people or offices? The impact may not be as immediate or visible as the plow blocking in my driveway, but they may be there nonetheless.
Take a moment to consider your processes and timing. Ask questions and seek feedback before making procedural or policy changes. Think about who is the recipient of your work and who is the next step in the implementation. Don’t unintentionally plow in your colleagues, even if you do so in the process of just doing your job.
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
Month: December 2012
#202 the end
As I write this on Wednesday night, we are under a blizzard warning. When I pulled into my driveway at 6pm, we had zero snow on the ground. Depending upon your source, we are due to receive anywhere from 8-19 inches of snow by the end of day Thursday.
What if the snow never stopped? Is this what the end of the world would look like — going from nothing to more than a foot of snow overnight? According to the Mayan calendar, this would be my last blog entry as the world is to end tomorrow (12-21-12). Maybe instead of fire and brimstone the end would be cloaked in snow and ice??
I admit that I am a skeptic about the Doomsday predictions. Our calendar ends every year on December 31 and yet (obviously) the world never ends on those days. So I doubt that these words will be my last.
But what if they were? What if you knew tomorrow was THE day — what would you do? Can you follow the advice of Tim McGraw’s lyrics and “live like you were dying”? Can you do something today that makes yourself, your organization or the world a better place?
Do more with today than just shovel snow.
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
#201 cave days
I don’t really like the word “retreat”. It conjures up either literal images of armies retreating and being pushed back in defeat, or the more modern-day images of sitting in long meetings with flip charts posted throughout the walls. I do, however, believe in the power of going off-site and changing the environment in order to do some strategic thinking or more intentional planning.
So we call our version of deep thinking “Cave Days” — as in going away to hide in a cave to escape the daily distractions. I spent yesterday afternoon out of the office at such a Cave Day experience –clarifying the transitions and processes of new staff. The informal environment allows people to be more focused and candid and, as a result, we were able to have discussions that could have never occurred sitting around a table in a meeting setting. By dedicating a significant chunk of time to this topic, it signified the importance of it. I hope it also heightened everyone’s commitment to achieving results and then implementing them.
I encourage you to think about the key things you need to discuss and commit to a Cave Day-type environment in which to process them. Sometimes we need to alter our routine in an effort to alter our thinking — and changing when/where we broach the topic can have an immediate impact on that.
— beth triplett
#200 gardening
It is natural that as people advance in a field, they often spend less time on the practice of their discipline-specific talents and more time on general organizational matters. One CFO candidate said to us: “I used to spend the majority of my time on finances, but now that I am CFO I spend half of time time with people, human resources and organizational issues.” This is true for most people who grow into a supervisory role.
The problem is that many times the people who become supervisors have lots of formal training on their subject matter expertise, but little to no training on being a supervisor. How did any of us learn to be a good supervisor? Most create their own style by crafting lessons from how they were supervised — modeling what to do and not to do based on what was done to them. Others attend a workshop here or a seminar there to pick up tidbits, but it seems like a lackadaisical approach to something of such importance.
I think part of the problem is that many supervisors see their primary job as still doing their content area, when in reality I believe their #1 job is supervision. As head of enrollment, my primary responsibility is to hire/train/evaluate/motivate/provide resources for my staff so that they can increase enrollment. The head of facilities is primarily a supervisor of a large crew of people with the knowledge and ability to keep the facilities in top shape. The head of a company is to set the vision and tone and work with his/her direct reports to infuse it into corporate-wide operations.
Supervision isn’t something that happens after you do your “work”; if you are a supervisor it is your work. The more attention you pay to that portion of your responsibilities, the more effective your results will be. I am reminded of a quote by Will Rosenzweig, Founder Republic of Tea:
“A real gardener is not a person who cultivates flowers, but a person who cultivates the soil.”
Pay attention to your soil more than to your flowers, and your garden is more likely to flourish.
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
#199 the industry
There is a body of literature calling for higher education to change and a host of research saying that change happens through people. So, many moons ago, I wrote my dissertation about whether there was an intersection between these two — in other words, was higher education doing anything to educate its faculty and staff about the academy as an enterprise. The answer, not surprisingly, was no. Millions of dollars are spent sending the history professors to history conferences, the financial aid administrators to financial aid workshops, presidents to presidents summits, etc. but little is done for campus-wide training about the needs of higher education as a business. If you asked most employees on a campus what they do, they would say “I work in admissions” or “I teach art” or “I am an accountant at X College”, but their first affinity isn’t naturally to higher education, or even to the education sector. I imagine the same is true in most large organizations.
It is a lost opportunity that more isn’t done with mid-level managers and beyond to help them understand the bigger picture and conditions under which their organization and industry is operating. A more robust understanding of the challenges could lead to initiatives, opportunities, and new ways of conducting business. By keeping people in discipline-specific silos we are only encouraging greatness in that area rather than the interdisciplinary collaboration that will be necessary to have true innovation.
Take a step back today and think about your organization from a more macro-level. What are the environmental and social factors that are influencing your work? What is looming on the horizon? What is happening beyond your isolated organization that should matter to you? It may be a great way to start the new year by involving people from all levels of your organization in a discussion about the industry. Have them do some homework and really think about the business they are in.
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
#198 timelines
A great icebreaker exercise (that also works well for groups where some members know each other) is to do a timeline. Give participants about a yard of adding machine tape if you can find it, or just do so by pretending that each is crafting a timeline of their life. Most timelines run from birth to present.
Have participants indicate (or draw) three or four “dots” of things that would be noted on their life’s timeline — beyond the obvious. So instead of indicating the birth of a child, one may put “falling out of a tree when I was 7 years old because that’s what led to a career in physical therapy.” Or “volunteering to do canvassing for an election”, because it led to a position on the city council. Or “taking Mrs. Weiler’s English class in high school” because it gave me the confidence to write. Etc.
When finished noting the dots, participants either share with each other or with the whole group. It’s a wonderful way to do some self-reflection, to recognize the impact of little things on our life’s outcomes and to learn more about each other. Think about your timeline — what dots would you draw today?
— beth triplett
#197 naming
Our university works with a grant-writing consulting firm. A group of their employees known as “The Red Team” provides a review of our proposals before submission. Think about the alignment of expectations and reality that is achieved through that name. The Red Team = red marks on the draft. You expect them to make marks, instead of being disheartened by it. You know it is their job to make corrections, instead of feeling that it is personal. The simple naming of this process goes far in setting the clients up for what happens in reality.
Think about unpopular processes that your organization must conduct. Is there a way to increase the esprit de corps of the people performing them by giving them a name that gives license and credibility to their task? Can you help align the perspective of those receiving the service to know what lies ahead?
Words and names are powerful tools. Use them to your advantage.
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
#196 idea files
I have two spiral notebooks — one full and one in progress — that I use to collect exercises to use in training workshops that I conduct. When I need a certain participatory activity on a topic and I am stumped, I can refer back to these notebooks and see if something triggers my mind.
The notebooks are full of ideas from a random collection of sources: workshops I have attended, magazine clippings, items from newsletters, emails I have sent to colleagues in response to their questions about training techniques to use for X scenario, emails from friends helping me in reverse, book reviews, copies of letters from my sisters describing what they have done, and an assortment of other random inputs. The notebooks have been invaluable in many situations.
I encourage you to start a notebook/file folder/electronic document that provides a mechanism for on-going capture of ideas in an area that is relevant to you. Maybe it is sales promotions, orientation activities, interview questions, recognition techniques, baby shower activities, presents/themes for children’s birthday parties, samples of great direct mail, construction layouts or decorating tips. Having your own “trigger file” at the ready can be just what you need to get past that block and onto the productive, creative path.
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
#195 icons
Regular readers will remember that I was eligible for a free upgrade on a perfectly functional phone (#157), but I declined. Until last week when my phone’s plastic keys decided that they no longer needed to connect electronically to the corresponding letters! So, like millions of others, I got a new iPhone. And, to fully capitalize on this technological marvel, I had my dogs purchase me a new computer as a Christmas gift, so now I am modern and integrated (oh yes, and poorer).
Since I had been living in the dinosaur age, I had no need to shop for any accessories. Now I see that an entire industry has emerged while I was sleeping. There are more peripherals and decorative accompaniments to “i”-everythings than I can assimilate into my brain. I went to download a basic calculator app and had a choice of 9,000+ options. For a world that didn’t even think it needed a tablet, Apple surely discovered a subconscious desire. Any of the initial jokes around the name of the iPad now seem ludicrous — say “pad” and no one is thinking of feminine products like they were when it was introduced.
“App” has become a commonplace word in our vocabulary; there must be an app for everything imaginable. I think about the demand there must be for app developers. People are rapidly becoming accustomed not only to electronic access to everything, but to EASY access to it. Our world is being delivered through icons.
When you think about your work and what you contribute, how would it be represented in an app icon? If your organization is the tablet or phone — full of a litany of apps — what is the key element that YOUR app contributes to the overall array of applications that others bring? The “i” revolution is modeling the trends of specialization, personalization and choice that are seen throughout other elements of life. How are you identifying your gifts in a succinct, “iconic” way and specializing in something that integrates well and contributes to the overall functionality of the whole? If you’re stuck on your answer, I’m sure there’s an app to help you clarify things for you!!
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
#194 chess
We recently had a candidate on campus who framed decision making in an interesting light. He said that the hard part about making a decision isn’t making the decision; it is looking ahead at the chessboard to understand the implications of the second and third move. Understanding the consequences of making the decision — or of not making the decision — are what constitute the hard part of the process.
During the course of my day, I am asked to make many decisions. For the most part, I am equipped with enough information to have the context required to make a choice. But in those cases where the decision isn’t clear or when I don’t really understand the nuances of the options, I am not shy about saying that I need more time to “ponder”.
The world is moving fast and we all need to act quickly. But decision making, like chess, is a game that requires thought. Don’t act so fast that you fail to take time to consider the impact of your choices.
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com