Month: March 2021

leadership dot #3201: generosity

March 21, 2021March 20, 2021by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

As a follow-up to an estate planning webinar, I contacted the investment advisor with questions about a trust. He is with a firm that currently has none of my business and, even if I signed with them, would not receive any fees from me until I became incapacitated. (Hopefully, that is a long time in the future!)

Nevertheless, he scheduled a Zoom call with me and patiently answered my questions for a full hour. He made it seem like I was his only concern that day, and I’m sure he would have continued if I had more questions. He provided referrals to legal counsel and offered to review the trust document before signing if I wished, also for no charge.

While there may have been an ulterior sales motive, it did not feel that way. Instead, it felt like I was talking with someone who genuinely wanted to be helpful and was willing to invest the time to help me understand a complicated process.

How can you model this behavior and offer your time to someone who could benefit from your knowledge? It may be helping a neighbor with a DIY project, providing insight to a colleague in another department, or taking the call from a friend-of-a-friend who could use some information about your industry. Be generous, with no strings attached.

leadership dot #3200: TLC

March 20, 2021March 19, 2021by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

Think about all the extra care that is given to bananas to prevent them from bruising. They must be delicately harvested and carefully wrapped in special packaging to prevent premature ripening during their long journey to market. In the stores, they sit on padded shelves. The fruit is gently placed in the cart or cradled by the shopper, and many homes have special hooks to suspend the fruit before eating.

It’s not just produce that requires extra care: some people also need an extra dose of TLC. Think about who the “bananas” are in your orbit. Is there a relative or colleague around whom you should be more gentle? Does someone require special handling to avoid being bruised? Do you need to provide different accommodations to another?

Not everyone has hearty outer skin. We adjust for the sensitivity of bananas; surely we can acknowledge the different emotional needs of other people.

leadership dot #3199: period

March 19, 2021March 18, 2021by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

I recently facilitated a workshop on clear writing and provided tips to strengthen the clarity of prose. Most know that concise writing is harder to accomplish but more effective communication. Oftentimes, people attempt to tighten writing by cutting out excess adjectives and adverbs, or by eliminating “filler” words such as “just” or “that.” Both are excellent suggestions.

A technique that is often overlooked is to simply stop writing once you have made your point. Many excess words fall at the end of sentences as the writer rambles on.

Examples:

— Many excess words fall at the end of sentences [insert period here] as the writer rambles on.

— Please find my revised proposal and an attachment that provides additional detail [insert period here] and descriptions about the programs we discussed.

— I hope this proposal meets your needs and we are able to work together [insert period here] in this way.

— As always, if you have any comments or concerns, please feel free to reach out [insert period here] at any time to discuss.

If you delete the words after the [insert period here], you’ll be left with a shorter sentence and no lost meaning.

The next time you’re writing an email, blog post, or other correspondence, take a moment to consider where you end. The early period is your friend.

leadership dot #3198: hunters and gatherers

March 18, 2021March 17, 2021by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

In the book The Growing Season, author Sarah Frey distinguishes between two types of employees she has in her company: hunters and gatherers.

She describes gatherers as the ones who “keep the tires full of air and make sure the paperwork is in order. In the wild, they’d be cleaning and cooking the wild game. They are there every day, the most solid team members that you can have. They are extremely important — as important as, if not more important than, the hunters.” In contrast, hunters (by her definition) are “the ones who are always thinking ahead to the next deal, the next kill.”

Every organization needs employees in both categories and everyone needs to recognize the gifts the other temperament brings to the organization. Without vision and funding, the group’s work stays small; without implementation, the ideas remain just a dream. Too often we fail to appreciate the contributions from those whose work and style are so different than ours.

Think not only about where you fit into Frey’s classification but also whether your organization has an appropriate overall mix. It’s tempting to look for others who operate as we do, but we need to both hunt and gather the intellectual fuel in order to thrive.

Source: The Growing Season: How I built a new life and saved an American Farm by Sarah Frey, 2020, p. 183.

leadership dot #3197: benchmark

March 17, 2021March 16, 2021by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

Author Seth Godin laments that we live in an outcome-focused culture, and that “lost in this obsession with outcome is the truth that outcomes are the result of processes. Good processes, repeated over time, lead to good outcomes more often than lazy processes do,” he writes.

A friend recently gave me an illustration of this concept in action. As with all workout programs, the physical changes don’t immediately manifest themselves (the outcome) and often discourage people from continuing their exercise program (the process). As a way to motivate members to press on, the Orange Therapy facilities hold “benchmark days” where members do a certain exercise and measure their performance. Progress can seem elusive, so the results of these benchmarks allow people to see objective measures that they are making progress over time, even if it doesn’t feel like it or yet look like it.

The same concept applies at work and in many other settings. How can you develop benchmarks or milestones that allow you to objectively assess how far you’ve come? Sticking with the process is a long and lonely road without some sign that you are on the right path. Building in incremental motivation is an essential component so you know there is movement long before any outcome is visible.

Source: The Practice by Seth Godin, 2020, p. 22-23

leadership dot #3195: rest time

March 16, 2021March 15, 2021by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

A sleep specialist suggests that on long road trips parents should pull over for 30 minutes during the children’s normal afternoon nap time and refer to it as “rest time.” Dr. W. Christopher Winter avoids the word “nap” because he believes it adds unnecessary pressure. Instead, it’s just a “rest time”, and whether everyone is asleep or wide awake, the trip resumes after a half hour.

I love this idea of minimizing the hype of a situation and achieving the same result by easing into it. People should plan to just lay down and rest, and hopefully, sleep will follow, rather than admonishing themselves for not falling asleep instantly. Instead of building up expectations that you are going to finish a project, be more reasonable and say you plan to make progress on it for a set period. Commit to doing the less daunting initial stretches instead of feeling like you need to gear up for a full workout.

Be intentional about the words you use to describe what is difficult for you to do. Language can break down or build up those mental barriers of resistance. Rest time anyone?

Source: Tips for taking a road trip this spring by Catherine Hamm for the Los Angeles Times, in the Telegraph Herald, March 14, 2021 p. 4C

leadership dot #3195: look inward

March 15, 2021March 15, 2021by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

Many of the issues that arise with employees actually have a root cause with the supervisor rather than with the employee. Yes, I believe supervisors create supervision problems as often as staff do!

Supervisors who fail to set clear expectations for their employees are responsible for the miscommunication that results. The same is true for leaders who do not give clear guidance on priorities or provide the resources necessary for staff to succeed: those failures I attribute to the supervisor.

More of the issues occur because supervisors fail to hold their staff accountable, usually because they themselves are uncomfortable with conflict. By avoiding immediate confrontation, the supervisors allow poor performance to continue until it becomes impossible to ignore. By this point, the situation is often irreparable and the employee pays the price for the supervisor’s neglect.

Colin Powell said: “Leaders who do not have the guts to immediately correct minor errors or shortcomings cannot be counted on to have the guts to deal with the big things.” It’s harsh, but true.

if you’re a supervisor, do some serious reflection about your role with your “problem staff.” Have you been clear in your expectations and hold people accountable for meeting them? Have you provided the tools and information necessary to accomplish the work? Do you provide timely feedback while there is still time for a course correction?

Look inward to correct your own problems before you attribute your concerns to staff.

leadership dot #3194: diagram

March 14, 2021March 12, 2021by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

Miro.com is an online whiteboard application that allows users to electronically simulate sticky-notes and diagrams in a collaborative fashion. What impressed me though wasn’t the technology itself, but the plethora of templates that it offers. There are literally hundreds of formats to visually represent information, including everything from PEST to SOAR, SWAT, SMART, and SIPOC just to name a few.

Miro templates — or their low-tech physical whiteboard equivalent — are used in research, agile workflows, projects, strategy, planning, mind maps, storyboarding, measurements, concepting, meetings, and design. Scrolling through the pages and pages of template options made me realize that knowing which format to use to visually share information is a key communication decision in itself.

Whether you use the software or not, it’s worth your time to look at the site to expand your visual toolbox. Knowing your options could make all the difference in your ability to communicate effectively.

leadership dot #3193: binge box

March 13, 2021March 12, 2021by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

Netflix has engaged many people in the joys of binge-watching, but our library has developed its own way to share a similar experience for free through series of “Binge Boxes” that pre-package five movies all loosely related with a theme.

I’ll bet someone had fun coming up with these combinations: Bad jobs, “girl” in the title, historical events, staring “a Chris”, TV show remakes, “man” in the title, mostly true stories, on the sea, funny ladies, planets, books to film, and more. It makes for an easy way to get a weekend’s worth of entertainment without having to search through their vast selection of titles.

The Binge Box section was a relatively inexpensive and easy way for them to repackage existing videos into a new combination and they seemed quite popular with patrons. How can you take a lesson from the library and offer a fresh take on resources you already possess? Maybe it’s time to curate your own mix to help something old gain a new life.

leadership dot #3192: could

March 12, 2021March 11, 2021by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

One of the most common topics with my coaching clients is addressing negative self-talk. At times, I’m guilty of it myself even though I know that what I think often manifests itself into reality.

It seems simple to reframe your negative language into positive thinking but it doesn’t always feel easy to do. A helpful technique is to banish the word “can’t” and replace it with “I could if I…” It’s a trick practiced by teacher and author Jim Wiltens, who believes so much in the power of words that he has offered his students $100 if they ever catch him saying “I can’t.” (Now that’s one way to hold yourself accountable!)

Too often we get stuck due to self-imposed barriers, and the “I could if I” phrase forces us to articulate what would make something possible. Language has power; harness it to positively influence your actions just by thinking in the affirmative.

Source: Creative Confidence by Tom Kelley and David Kelley, 2013, p. 198-199