Month: April 2013

#323 be proud

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If you are ever in St. Louis or have an opportunity to see a Clydesdale horse somewhere else, you should do so.  They are huge, majestic animals, and those lucky enough to be a Budweiser Clydesdale lead a life of pampering that most humans would envy.  They are coddled and groomed, and live in palatial, temperature-controlled stables with caretakers that tend to their needs.  It is all very impressive.


I have a friend that believes we should treat ourselves like a Clydesdale instead of like the water boy:
> Clydesdales are pampered every day, strictly for the purpose of doing what they do best 
> The horses work as part of a team; rarely do you see them solo
> Their environment is reflective of their Clydesdale status
> At the core, Clydesdales are work horses, not just show horses, so they can do the work of pulling a wagon and gear as well
Do you treat yourself like the water boy or a Clydesdale and ignore your health and fitness needs?  You deserve to pamper yourself and your team.  Be proud of your heritage and do a little prancing today.

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

#322 survivors

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After years of trying to convince my sister to join me, I finally made it to the Oklahoma City National Memorial to commemorate the bombing of the Alfred Murrah Federal Building.  It was one of the most moving tributes I have seen, including recognition of those who lost lives and those who survived.  Today, I am reminded of my visit, as it is the 18th anniversary of that act of terrorism.  

What stuck with me most was the entrance to the exhibits.  It depicted the morning of the bombing — beforehand — as “a day just like any other.”  There is a replica of a lawyer’s office where someone is recording a hearing, and moments into it you hear the bomb go off.  It sends chills through visitors, even though the volume and tremors have been subdued.

As we witnessed in Boston, Waco and on a personal level many times over, what starts out as an ordinary day can suddenly, inexplicably and permanently change our lives forever.  

I think of a 1983 quote by Mister Rogers:
When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers.  You will always find people who are helping.”  To this day, especially in times of “disaster,” I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers — so many caring people in this world.

If today is the day that your life is beset by tragedy, accept the love and allow those around you to be helpers.  And if you are fortunate enough to have “a day just like any other”, take on the task of being the helper to someone in need.  It’s never an ordinary day for everybody.

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


#321 energy sources

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We interviewed a candidate this week who said “I’m an introvert.  And I’m a professional extrovert.”  I feel that way myself.  Given my druthers, I would be home alone with a couple of dogs and a good book, but my job requires me to interact with people most of the day.  I have done professional training in front of hundreds; I make presentations to large groups on a regular basis, and I talk with families in our office every day.  I’m even pretty good at it.

But the social interaction drains me.

It is a distinction that only serious students of Myers-Briggs or introversion/extroversion studies understand.  Introversion/extroversion is about preferences, not skills.  

Introverts can be as gregarious as extroverts when the situation warrants, but they will go home exhausted.  Extroverts become energized in group settings and the interactions pump them up rather than tax them.  

It is important for you to recognize your own preferences, rather than skills, so you can align your work with responsibilities that will regularly stimulate you and you can make accommodations for the times where it can’t.  We have battery usage monitors on our phone — develop a personal gauge so you can retreat into your cave or go out into the commons when your own indicator warrants.

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


#320 duality

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As I think about what makes an employee successful, I am reminded of a graph that a former colleague shared with me.  On one axis is competence, and on the other is relationships.

To be a valuable contributor to a team, a person must have both high competence and high relationship marks.  Someone who is technically proficient, but can’t communicate with others is often relegated to the proverbial back room and doesn’t add much value to the overall team. Someone who is well liked but ineffective finds themselves lacking as well.  

It is easier to fire the first person, because in all probability, they aren’t well liked, but it is equally as important to divest of people who are lacking on either axis.  Examples come to mind of both types of employees, and neither images are positive.

To be an effective employee, you must be proficient in both variables. On which aspect do you rate yourself higher?  What can you do to ensure that you are tending to both aspects of the equation to help your organization advance?

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



Idea from Wanda Ryan

#319 for your eyes only

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Sometimes when I am plucking my eyebrows, I think of a comment a friend once made in puzzlement as to why I spend the time on a few stray hairs: “no one can even see them.”

I think about all the work that I do that no one sees.  Who would know if I analyzed those numbers or just filed away the report?  Would anyone notice if I skimmed meeting materials instead of studied them?  I receive daily journals and trade publications — would anyone know if I never read them?  Would it have a negative impact if I didn’t rewrite that proposal or failed to proofread it one more time?

Everyone has work that they do that no one else sees.  And mostly it would not matter if you skipped a week of analysis or never read an issue of a publication.  If you failed to make a phone call or reach out to a client.  One wouldn’t matter, but would two?  Or three?  Or four?  When does something begin to have a cumulative negative impact?  

It is hard to know, so try not to skip the one.  Even when you are the only one who sees it.

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


#318 time’s up

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In Blog #178 in November, I wrote about JCPenney’s new CEO Ron Johnson and his attempts at revitalization of the chain.  “I hope the board gives Johnson enough time for his efforts to have a chance,” I wrote.

They didn’t.  

After just 17 months on the job, he was fired.  What is worse (in my opinion) is that to replace him they brought back the former CEO Mike Ullman!  If Ullman was so great, why did they need Johnson to get JCP out of a mess in the first place?

According to the Wall Street Journal, “Ron Johnson’s downfall wasn’t necessarily due to his vision for J.C.Penney, but in the way it was executed, say retail analysts and industry experts.”  The sense is that he went too far, too fast, and should have experimented with the new pricing and boutique concepts before trying to implement them nationwide.

I think that if he would have done that, the same analysts would have said that he was moving too slow; that he needed to act quickly to transform the entire chain rather than doing it piecemeal.  In short, it is hard to win when you are a change agent.

The one who has the strongest shield against criticism is now Mike Ullman.  If something works, he is a genius.  If it falls apart or the chain closes, it certainly is because of the mess that Ron Johnson made.  He’s a lot less vulnerable than when he left the post in 2011.

Once again, I applaud Johnson for trying to do something bold.  I’m sure if he had to do it all over again, he would do things differently, but I hope that he would still have taken the job.  

If you find yourself faced with a Herculean task, you need to get buy-in for both the idea and the execution plan.  Don’t go it alone, but do go.  We need leaders willing to take risks to make things better for all of us.

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

Wall Street Journal, 4/10/13 p. 2B

#317 on topic

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As the facilitator of meetings, it is up to you to set some ground rules in the beginning that empower all the members of a group to play a role in keeping the meeting on track.  Especially when the same group of people meet regularly, there are a few easy things that can be done which allow everyone in the group to have a role in meeting management rather than relying only on the facilitator.

Here are some ideas:

1.  Certain topics are bound to be raised over and over.  While appropriate re-discussion may be warranted, at some point it is counter-productive to continue.  We have a small plastic horse and when someone has “beat the horse to death”, a member of the group just tips over the plastic horse as a sign to all that it is time to move on.

2.  Another meeting hazard is when the conversation sways off-topic.  One point leads to another and soon the whole group is off on a tangent.  Give members permission at the beginning of the year to utilize the basketball “T” technical call — and allow people to “call a T” when the conversation is wandering off on a “T”angent.

3.  Participants often bring up topics over and over again so they feel heard.  Assure them that the item won’t be forgotten by keeping a running list on the bottom of the agenda of “future topics” that need to become agenda items. 

4.  If you’re only together as a group for one day (such as a retreat) where there is no “future agenda”, you can also defer side conversations by hanging a piece of flip chart paper and labeling it as a “parking lot.”  “Park” the off-topic ideas there to be either addressed later or included in the notes for other types of follow up.

Don’t let your agenda be derailed or your time wasted by meetings that go astray.  See if the above tips — broadly and openly shared with all — can be deployed to maximize the productivity of your valuable time together.

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




#316 modeling clay

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Pretty soon my staff members will accuse me of having nuggets* at our meetings so I can steal them for my blog!  But I learned another lesson this week from Amy with a nugget about play dough.  

Play dough was given to a group of 10 children and 10 adults.  The kids tore theirs open and made crazy things with it.  They combined colors and shared their dough to make mythical creatures and abstract designs.  They had fun!

The adults took their own dough and each made an object with theirs.  No sharing, and instead ended up with monochrome, common items such as snakes, snowmen and houses.  Dull!

How often do we act like adults with our resources and just make things that are the “same old, same old?”  How can we capitalize on the childlike energy that new staff members bring to an organization or consciously force ourselves to push the limits of what has become routine?  Maybe you can take a container of play dough to your next meeting and see how the clay can be a model for new configurations of ideas.

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

* see #108

#315 muse

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I have spent two days this week crunching numbers and devising strategies with our consultant. Most of my staff was there with me, including one who voluntarily participated via FaceTime from Chicago (brownie points for her!)

Our consultant is a variation of Yoda — he has more questions than answers.  Since I have been known to ask a fair amount of questions myself, some people wonder why I continue to use him.

Certainly he qualifies for the “50 mile rule”, the old joke about how someone coming in from more than 50 miles away has more credibility saying the same thing as on-site staff.  But mostly I bring him to campus for two reasons.  First, it forces us to dedicate time for long-term planning and analysis.  I can guarantee that we would not have spent two days reviewing our situation and making alterations if Bill had not been on the calendar.  (And we are better off because we did.)

Secondly, I look at Bill as sort of the general education component of my professional development major.  Bill helps my staff learn how to think about the issues that we face.  He builds capacity in my team by asking those pesky questions and pushing us to craft the answers ourselves.

No matter what field you are in, it is easy to become insulated and to take things for granted.  I encourage you to find a muse who can act as a provocateur to your thinking — challenging things in a realistic way — but doing so in a manner that makes you less dependent upon them instead of more.  You should bring your consultants back by choice, not because they are the ones who hold your secret formula.  

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


#314 an original

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Even though I no longer live in St. Louis, my area code remains 314.  When I moved to Iowa, I was happy to keep my number and avoid the hassle of changing it.  Now I am sentimental about having one of the old-time, original area codes.

When I was growing up, you knew geography by area code because you could have many of them memorized.  From 1947 until 1988, the entire northern corner of Illinois was covered by the 312 area code.  Now, the metro area alone has eight different codes:  312, 630, 331, 708, 773, 847, 224 and 872.  The proliferation of cell phones, fax machines, credit card machines and the like have caused the expansion far more than a population explosion, but a common identity has been lost nonetheless.

AT&T developed the area code system in the 1940s, and there was a method to the madness in their designations.  States with a single area code had a zero as the middle number.  States with multiple codes had 1 as the center digit, with the first and third numbers allocated according to population density.  The most populated areas received the lowest numbers to make the rotary dialing easiest to call!

What started as a system with only 86 codes for all of the United States and Canada has now grown to over 390 prefixes.  The legendary “800 number” is now really 800, 888, 877, 866 and 855 — with more to come I’m sure.  Today, the area codes have little sentimental or geographical meaning to most people — they are just one more component of an dispassionate address to be keyed into contacts.

While I wouldn’t trade my iPhone for a rotary land line, I am glad that my modern technology can carry with it a piece of nostalgia.  Is there something in your organization that may engender fond feelings to a segment of your population?  Can you capitalize on that link to your past and share a bit of history in the process?  Can you help those with a link to the past become aware of and celebrate that link in the present?

Many changes evolve slowly and we forget from whence we came.  Take a moment to look back and see if there isn’t something in your history that still rings true today.

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

Source:  area-codes.com