Month: January 2013

#234 dreams

January 21, 2013by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

I have been intrigued by the American Family Insurance advertising campaign with the tagline “Your dream is out there. Go get it. We’ll protect it.” It has always caught my attention because usually insurance is there for when the dreams are shattered or catastrophe happens — most insurance companies don’t seem to be in the business of fostering dreams. But AmFam has taken the dream theme seriously, including offering a “Dream Camp” and a whole website with dream stories and interactive exercises to help you find yours.

One of the sections is entitled “Why Dreams?” (I guess I wasn’t the only one wondering how they landed on this!) Their answer: ‘We believe in the power of dreams. At their very core, dreams help define us, empower us, and make us happy. Dreams compel us to improve ourselves and our communities. Dreams make the world a better place.”

Today this nation commemorates the birth date of one of our country’s greatest dreamers — Martin Luther King, Jr. His words from August 28, 1963 still ring true today: “And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…”

In the midst of fiscal cliffs, political bickering, schoolroom shootings, superstorms and drought, I hope that we can all reflect on MLK’s dream and re-envision ourselves as a cohesive community. Today pause to commit to your role in shaping our future. “With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.”

— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com

#233 lessons from a coyote

January 20, 2013by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

Even though I am a VP, I still have a rather large stuffed Wile E. Coyote in my office. He serves as a reminder to me about several important lessons:

> Persistence. Even though Wile has been unsuccessful in his pursuit of the road runner, he continues to persist in his quest.

> Creativity. Wile is not trying the same method of capture over and over and over — he continually alters his methods and tries new ways to catch the bird.

> Focus. Wile is focused on one thing. His efforts are not scattered trying to catch anything that comes his way — he cares about the road runner and is focused on capturing it.

I have faith that someday Wile will win. Until then, he serves as a mascot to remind me of three important elements of the chase. What symbol can you use as a visual reminder of the traits you need to exhibit in the pursuit of your reward?

— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com

#232 loyalty

January 19, 2013by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

It is 2013 and I am still using many of the same products that I started using as a teenager: Noxzema, Johnson’s baby powder and baby oil, and witch hazel. There have been thousands of beauty products developed since I started their use, but I remain loyal to a handful of brands.

I have been exposed to millions of dollars of advertising and product placement trying to lure me away from these traditional products, but I am satisfied with their performance and price and feel no need to experiment. Best doesn’t have to be new. Expensive and fancy don’t mean better.

It’s OK to stick with something over the long term if it’s working for you.

— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com

#231 early

January 18, 2013by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

The act of creating capacity in others requires involving them when things are in the listening stage vs. when they are in the telling stage. If you have a new program or idea and it is fully formed before you share it, you end up telling the potential partner about the program. But if you share things when they are new ideas or still a drafty concept, then you are open to listening what they have to say about how they can shape its formation.

I like to involve large groups of people when we host a consultant on campus — then they can hear the ideas directly, understand their context and have input into how they are ultimately shaped — vs. just being told afterwards that X change needs to occur.

Involve others early in the process. You may be amazed at how much better they make you and your ideas look!

— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com

#230 privacy

January 17, 2013by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

I inadvertently learned of a friend’s medical condition through a lapse in someone else’s judgment and their loose lips. An emergency responder, in a spirit of caring I am sure, told about a call he had made to assist my friend. He is clearly mandated to follow the HIPAA regulations prohibiting such disclosure, but shared nonetheless.

Now I know about this situation. I can ignore it, but I still know it. Nothing I do or don’t do will change the fact that the story has been shared.

I am reminded of a maxim I learned in a graduate communication course: “You can’t un-ring a bell.” The lesson was an admonishment to watch carefully what you did communicate, because as much as you try to “take something back”, refute it with other information or apologize for sharing it, it is still out there regardless. You may overlay a different message to negate what was shared, but once something is communicated it has been communicated for all time.

Think twice before you share information — good intentions don’t override the right for private things to remain private.

— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com

#229 depth

January 16, 2013by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

When we previewed a new technology module, people were excited and many were eager to purchase it. Others felt like they needed to compare the software to other products that were out there to ensure that this was the best product to meet our needs.

This layer of decision making involved depth — doing research to compare one choice with another. It is a necessary and valuable function, but it is only part of the equation.

I also advocate for decision making that utilizes breadth. So not only did we need to weigh one software system against another, we also need to evaluate whether any software purchase was the best use of our capital funds. Should we buy software, put on a new roof, replace furniture, repair a sun deck or equip a department with iPads? All these choices are competing for the same dollar.

Don’t limit your decision making to comparing one vs. another. Be sure to ask if you’re even asking the right question or whether it should be one vs. what else.

— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com

#228 Q2

January 15, 2013by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

One of Stephen Covey’s most profound concepts was his articulation of the time management matrix — he divided into four quadrants along urgent/not urgent and important/not important. In Quadrant 2 (Q2) were things that were important but not urgent — like working on relationships, planning, exercise — things that you should be working on but don’t have a deadline so often you aren’t working on them. He advocated spending more of our time there and less time in Q1 (the urgent but not important — like responding to the email “ding” each time it goes off).

I think many of our school systems and even colleges do a disservice to students by being so structured. Students become driven by assignments that have rules and deadlines and accustomed to only doing things when they have to. Many schools don’t teach students how to do important things that only have a self-imposed deadline.

How can we make independent study — and preparation for it — become a required part of the curriculum? It would be a true life lesson if students left the educational enterprise having mastered Q2 skills. Think how far we all we would go if we truly spent our time on the important instead of just the urgent.

— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com

#227 Harley

January 14, 2013by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

I spent yesterday traveling to attend the wake of my sister-in-law’s father. I have known him for over 20 years and he felt like a part of the family to me too.

My brother was asked how they were doing. “You can’t cry for 24 hours straight,” he said. “So you cry some; then you tell stories; then you laugh some; then someone else comes over and you start crying all over again.”

We all react in our own way and express our emotions at different times and in different ways. At a funeral or as part of organizational life, acknowledge the range of emotions and let people move through the full spectrum of them. Harley would have wanted you to laugh too.

— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com

#226 extreme

January 13, 2013by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

As I was driving home the other night, I saw a line of cars along a normally empty frontage road. It caught my attention as I wondered why 20 cars were in line for the stoplight when normally there are none. The answer: an extreme body shaping class was just letting out.

For decades, boot camps were reserved for military recruits and seen as less than desirable. Now, ordinary men and women by the hundreds are paying large sums of money to sign on voluntarily. It used to be that a videotape of Richard Simmons or Jane Fonda got the job done, but now many have come to need G.I. Jane to shed the pounds.

When did it become fashionable to require extreme measures to do normal weight loss and toning? Is going to a regular gym no longer enough? Did the neighborhood gym become over populated with overweight, casual patrons and the “serious” gym rats had to find a new venue?

The bar keeps getting higher and higher to keep ourselves stimulated and motivated. If the extreme body shaping works for you, I wish you great success. And if “just” walking the dog is your exercise of choice, I hope you can take extreme satisfaction in that as well.

— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com

#225 one-to-one

January 12, 2013by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

Due to a recent staff departure, I have three new direct reports. As we were meeting to discuss items to be addressed in the interim, I raised the question of one-on-one meetings. They had not regularly done this in the past, but I assured them that they would while they were being supervised by me.

I am a firm believer in regular, one-on-one meetings. I have no doubt that without them I would still be kept abreast of most things that were happening. Email or “doorway conversations” — where people pop in your office and let you know about a problem or ask a question — serve to keep me in the loop for most of what is going on.

But in one-on-one meetings I have the opportunity to chat about what isn’t going on — what the long term needs are, what should be on the radar screen and what is important but not urgent. I use my one-on-one time to do development of my staff and to really engage in planning conversations.

If you don’t have regular times for your direct employees on your calendar, I would encourage you to add them. You would be surprised at what you learn when you actually sit down and have thoughtful conversations instead of just hearing bullets of what is going on.

— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com