Month: June 2021

leadership dot #3282: Tomorrowland

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In a recent workshop to help a new staff configuration intentionally craft a culture, I referenced the 2015 Tomorrowland movie and challenged the staff to create their own version of this mythical place. Tomorrowland is “a place where the best and brightest people in the world came together to actually change it.” The dreamers and thinkers unexpectedly received a T pin as their invitation and were transported to this new world where nothing was impossible.

While the movie was “meh,” I have always liked the concept of having a place where dreamers and thinkers come together to do magical things. I thought about this movie again when reading No Rules Rules about Netflix’s “high talent density” culture where they pay top wages to assemble the best people in each position and if you are only “good, not great” you are given a generous severance package and asked to leave. It reminded me of this utopian Tomorrowland but showed that creating the impossible is actually feasible if the right assembly of talent comes together.

You may not be able to shape the whole world as in the movie or even the entire culture like at Netflix, but can you provide metaphorical “T pins” to invite a collection of stars to convene on a specific project? Is it an option for you to identify those worthy of a pin in your organization and afford them latitude to think and dream on company time? Or could you create literal “T pins” as a form of recognition for those who demonstrate that change is possible?

Sometimes we need the arts in order to push our boundaries and set our sights higher. Take steps now to get one step closer to your Tomorrowland today.

No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer, 2020.

leadership dot #3281: caboose

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If you conjure up the classic image of a train, it likely would look something like the one below: an engine, a few boxcars, and a caboose. For decades that would have been accurate, but the traditional caboose has gone the way of steam engines and the pony express. Today, modern trains zip by without the benefit of the watchdog end car, relying instead on technology to switch tracks, signal imbalance, and light the rear of the train.

The demise of the caboose serves as a metaphor for most projects: there is no definitive ending. No one is assigned to “bring up the markers” (as the red lights on the caboose were called) and verify that all have passed through safety. We speed through projects and only look forward, valuing the start of the next project more than truly finishing and reflecting on the details of the first one.

There are functions involved with driving the engine and others that require tending to the finish. Structure your next project like the iconic train and value both.

leadership dot #3280: touch

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At a dedication ceremony for a new Veterans’ Memorial, the speaker reminded us of the importance of recognition that allows us to touch it, providing us with the opportunity to feel closer to those being remembered. Touch is an important aspect of all memory: we take photographs and buy souvenirs from vacations, bring home seashells from our walk on the beach, keep ticket stubs or pressed flowers from significant dates, and have boxes of crayon-filled artwork to remind us of childhood. Memories in our minds are enhanced by a physical trigger.

But those tactile accompaniments often mean little without the story that ascribes its meaning. The same is true for artwork. The sculpture at the Veterans’ Memorial means less if you do not know the significance behind it. Entitled “Skyward,” it gives visitors a view of the sky, the last thing hometown hero Chaplain Aloysius Schmitt saw while pushing sailors to safety through a porthole in a damaged ship in Pearl Harbor before perishing himself. Standing inside the sculpture and looking upward creates much more emotion than just thinking of the tragic scenario.

It’s nice to give people verbal kudos and pats on the back but remember the value of adding something lasting that you can touch. Touch plus story equals a powerful combination of recognition.

Speaker: CAPT Daniel L. Mode, Fleet Chaplain, SEVENTHFLT

leadership dot #3279: pressure

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There was a buzz in the sports world last week when Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open rather than face the post-match news conferences that are a mandatory aspect of participation. Osaka was ranked Number 2 in the world and won her first match but could not bear the pressure and anxiety that meeting with the press caused her. Rather than suffer the anguish, she forfeited the tournament and its potential cash prize, instead prioritizing her mental health.

Maybe the post-event interview has been an accepted ritual in sports, but should it be? Consider how you would feel if you were publicly challenged, immediately after your performance, with your response broadcast around the world. Because of Osaka, other athletes, as well as the media, may rethink the format for press conferences in the future.

Think about whether you have a practice in your organization that has gone on so long that no one questions it — but they should. Does your process for letting someone go truly treat them with dignity? Do you provide advance notice regarding agenda items instead of putting someone on the spot in a pressure-filled situation? Have you considered how you make announcements about layoffs, new supervisors or transfers to allow those affected private time to process their loss?

Individuals bear responsibility for their mental health, but organizations also need to be conscious of their impact on employees’ wellbeing. Conduct a pressure audit and remove pain points that unnecessarily are causing people stress.

leadership dot #3278: honor system

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While I was in Texas, I stumbled upon this beautiful garden adjacent to the parking lot at a winery we were visiting. Only no one was there. I couldn’t believe that all these plants were left unattended until I read their sign: it was a self-serve nursery that operated on the honor system.

Each plant was identified with a QR code and you shopped via your smartphone as if you were ordering from an online store. You scanned the item, put it in your virtual cart, paid as if you were remote only instead of shipping, took it home with you. It worked like a charm.

Think about how you could apply this same technology to a product or service that you offer. Honor system for fountain drinks in your break room. Self-serve checkout of materials. Produce stands that use QR codes instead of paying for staff. Check-in at entertainment venues or fairs.

Presuming that people are honorable may be more likely to make them so.

leadership dot #3277: retired

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Cannabis is now legal in 17 states. In addition to having an impact on police officers and the courts, the change in laws is necessitating changes in another place you may not have considered: marijuana-sniffing police dogs are being removed from duty since they cannot be un-trained to detect the now-legal drug.

It costs $15,000 to train a police K-9 making these early retirements problematic for many jurisdictions, but cities are prohibited from using the dogs to detect illegal drugs if they are also trained to sniff marijuana due to a legal loophole that could call the whole search into question. It’s an implication that I doubt was considered when the laws were changed.

Do you have the equivalent issue on your team — where someone’s once valuable skills are no longer useful due to an external change? It’s easy to look back and see examples: the wizard typist who has been replaced by a computer or the engineer’s proficiency on a slide-rule that is no longer needed.

But look ahead. What changes are afloat in your industry that may impact what is valued in your organization in the future? Prepare now so you aren’t following the path of the K-9s and retiring too soon.

Source: Since the nose doesn’t know pot is now legal, K-9s retire by Denise Lavoie AP in the Telegraph Herald, 5/30/31, p. 19A

leadership dot #3276: clean

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Airlines are a $700 billion industry and if you pay attention at an airport, you’ll see that a large portion of their budget is dedicated to specialized equipment. There are luggage trains, jetways, cargo belt loaders, stair trucks, tugs, and tow tractors just to name a few. It seems that everything function has its own piece of equipment to handle the job.

So, imagine my surprise when I saw a worker stick his head out of the cockpit window and wash the jet windshield with a rag he pushed with a mop. It doesn’t get much more low-tech than this. It reminded me of an inner-city street corner where a guy jumps out and washes your windows by hand!

I’m sure, for the right cost, Boeing could have designed wipers that are able to withstand the 500 mph wind but someone decided that what is standard on all cars was an unnecessary expense for planes.

Maybe there is a lesson for your organization from this situation. Sometimes manual functions are better than technology. Not everything has to be automated or sophisticated. Clarity can also be found with a good old-fashioned rag.

leadership dot #3275: limbo

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As mask mandates have been lifted and phasing out of pandemic precautionary behavior has begun, I am reminded of a change theory I wrote about in 2018 (dot 2301) in which I shared a model used by nonprofit Alia. The diagram represents the “old way” on the left being phased out as the organization heads toward the “new way” on the right. However, in the middle there is an overlap of the two ways of operating, lovingly referred to as “crazytown” because some processes are the old way and some reflect the new way, often making for crazy times as people attempt to figure out how to behave.

I feel like we are all living in crazytown lately. I went to one store that required masks and across town the same franchise did not. One store has its dressing rooms open while those at the adjoining store remain closed. Some establishments have reverted to extended hours and others remain on condensed schedules. Some dine-in options are available while others continue to operate as drive-through only. A commercial on the radio today promoted a product for when you’re “stuck at home baking” followed by another ad for entertainment options that now exist. I flew on planes at full capacity, yet there was hardly any place open in the terminals.

The old and the new are intersecting at a slower pace than when we shut down. But before you rush back into doing things “as they were” reflect on what practices from the new way you wish to preserve. Our school district is continuing remote learning as an option. My salon has loosened some of its protocols but will continue bringing dryers to the individual chairs instead of in a central location. I think sanitizer has become a permanent fixture in my car. My pre-ordering of food via an app will continue as it eliminates waiting in line.

What will you add? What will you let go of? Take advantage of this rare period of system-wide limbo to make choices that will benefit you long after social distancing has been forgotten.

Download the diagram here.

leadership dot #3274: decision

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A friend lamented about how his wife could narrow down books of upholstery swatches to the final five in about 10 minutes but then struggled for days to select the ultimate choice. “This calls for a decision, not a discovery,” he told her. “You can look until the end of time but what you need is to pick one.”

Think about the situations you find yourself in. Are you making quick decisions when you would benefit from a bit more discovery — or do you avoid making a decision under the guise of needing more information when really what should occur is taking decisive action?

Keep the metaphor of the upholstery books in mind: do you need to look through more samples or do you need to place the order? Clarifying the distinction between a decision and discovery can go a long way toward improving your relationships and your work.

leadership dot #3273: spread

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I know of two leaders who worked for several years to instill a culture and implement amazing programs in their organization, only to be forced out by a board that feared change. After the leaders left, several members of the organization voluntarily departed as well.

The good part is that they all took their knowledge and conviction with them and are now spreading it throughout other organizations in the field. Some could even argue that they are having a wider impact than before. The values and principles that served as the foundation for the initial change efforts are being instilled in their new positions, fostering a wider network of support and bringing many others into the fold. They call themselves dandelions, spreading the message of change far more broadly than if they had stayed at the one organization.

Today is the conclusion of Year 9 of leadership dots. I like to think that the dots are like dandelions too, spreading seeds to readers as they spur you to see connections and dots in your own world because of what you have read. Hopefully, you’ve learned some things that have helped you work easier or think harder.

Please do your colleagues, friends, or family a favor and act like a dandelion today. Spread the dots to someone who could benefit from joining along as we begin Year 10 of the journey. Subscribe via email or via follow via Facebook or LinkedIn. Thanks for reading!

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