21Feb/14

The Dance

February 21, 2014BlogCommunication, Courage, TrustVictoria

Somewhere in the dark, the music starts to play with a low and steady beat. Slowly, two dancers make their way from the back of the room and walk to the middle of the floor. They dance here nightly and the audience gathers round with anticipation because they’re not sure how it will end tonight– they’re never sure. Slowly, Communication holds out his hand silently waiting for Trust to join him in the center of the floor. When she does, he takes her lightly about the waist and starts to glide in small, smooth circles feeling her relax in his arms but suddenly he trips; nothing sensational; just a small misstep which lasts but a fraction of a second but that’s all it takes. The mood is broken and Trust is not as willing a partner as she was a moment ago. She feels uneasy; she now has questions where there were none before. Was it foolish to let her partner lead her around without knowing if he even knew the steps? Trying not to think about it, she cautiously allows him to start again but this time both dancers are wary.

Neither knows what will happen next and Trust is one step away from retreating into the crowd, letting him take his chance with someone else. Communication feels the tension in her movements and tries even harder to guide her smoothly around the floor. The harder he tries, the more he trips. The more he trips, the more she tenses and on it goes until she attempts to retreat to the safety of the silent audience; once again safe in anonymity.

But tonight, an unexpected change occurs. Trust straightens her shoulders and walks back to the center of the floor firmly placing her hand in Communication’s. Her actions relax him, he knows that there will be no more missteps – the message was clear the moment she offered her hand. Slowly they start to glide across the floor and with each step Trust relaxes a little more. As she relaxes, Communication gathers the courage to let the music determine his moves assured that he will not let her fall. As the music ends the pair slowly leaves, passing through the parting crowd – knowing that tomorrow the dance begins again.

01Feb/14

Why Ask Why?

February 1, 2014BlogCritical Thinking, Growth, Planning ChangeVictoria

There’s a story about a mother and daughter making pot roast for dinner. As they prepared the dish, the mother cut off on both ends and placed them on top of the roast. The young girl looked at her mother and asked “Why do we always cut the ends off of the meat and put them on top?” Mom thought about it for a minute and finally said; “I don’t know that’s just how my mother taught me.” A moment later, she picked up the phone and called her mother. “Mom, why do we cut the ends of the pot roast and place them on top of the meat?” She heard a chuckle on the other end of the line right before her mother replied, “I don’t know why you do it but I did it because the pan was too small”.

This is an old story but it proves a point. How many times do you simply accept the way things are done is because they’ve always been done that way? If you don’t question the status quo things stagnate. Growth requires change; however, not all change results in growth. Before change can be meaningful you must know what needs changing and one of the best ways to understand the” what” is to understand the “why”.

I’m talking here about a deep down understanding. Don’t ask why one time and think you’re done. Take a look at these examples to see what I mean:

Example 1 [incomplete understanding]:

Person A: We need to schedule 3 hours to rearrange the supply room
Person B: Why?
Person A: Because the boss wants us to.
Person B: OK

Example 2 [complete understanding]:

Person A: We need to rearrange the supply room
Person B: Why?
Person A: Because the boss wants us to.
Person B: Why?
Person A: Because people are complaining that they can’t find things so we just keep reordering them. The boss is concerned that we are overspending our supply budget every month to buy things we already have. We need to make things more accessible to fix this. The supplies are here, they’re just stowed away in the cabinets and no one can find them easily so he wants us to rearrange things.
Person B: Maybe we need to take the doors off of the cabinets instead of rearranging the whole supply room. That should take about 20 minutes instead of 3 hours.
Person A: Great idea – We can try that first and see if we really need to rearrange everything. I’ll see what the boss thinks about doing that first.

This is a very simplistic scenario but the first example happens every day in organizations. I suggest that you answer each “why” with a “because” and question each “because” with a “why”. Eventually, your critical thinking skills will lead you to a “because” that (a) you can no longer question, or (b) leads you back to the original “why”. At that point you will have reached the AHA moment that drives the lasting, meaningful change you seek. Then, and only then, can you answer other questions that allow you to plan the change: Who will do it? When will it get done? What do you need? Where will it happen? How will it happen? But it all starts with “Why”.

03Jan/14

Permission to Fail

January 3, 2014BlogCritical Thinking, Decisions, Failure, Knowledge, Problem SolvingVictoria

When we don’t accomplish an intended objective we say that we failed. Everyone knows that failure is a part of life; however, we’re still terrified when it happens. So why are people so afraid of it? Simple – that same “everyone” wants to be a winner and by definition we can’t win if we fail. But are all failures really bad for us? Not necessarily – it depends on the circumstances. It depends not only on how but why we fail. Since this is a blog about good management practices you can bet that I believe some failure is necessary. If it moves us and/or the organization forward, the occasional failure can be a good thing.
Here’s why:

•Failure forces us to be better. In other words, without failure there is no growth. Without growth people no longer feel challenged which can lead to dissatisfaction and boredom with the job. Now, I’m not talking about an “up or out” kind of growth but personal growth. The kind that satisfies the challenge to build a better mousetrap. Thomas Edison once said that he did not fail 1000 times while inventing the light bulb but that the light bulb had 1000 steps.

•Failure forces us to re-evaluate our objectives. We must remember not only to look at the things that went wrong but also what went right. All too often we only see the mistakes and not the lessons. Remember Edison – failure is just research in progress

•Failure proves that we’re only human. For managers, especially new ones, this may be difficult to grasp but it is important. As the boss, you may believe that you have to be perfect but guess what? Everyone and I mean everyone knows that you aren’t. Not only do they know you’re not perfect, they are waiting for you to screw up. Here’s the thing – if you didn’t blow it once in a while no one would trust you. As odd as it sounds, employees not only want but need to humanize the boss – especially ones that have promoted from their peer group. The occasional foible proves not only that you don’t know everything but that you can be taught. You immediately become easier to work for. More importantly, it gives them permission to fail and as we have seen above, that can often make us better.

Remember failure does have its place in an organization. When we understand the cause and nature of the small failures, we can engage creativity and problem solving that will help avoid the catastrophic ones in the long run. I challenge you to embrace your failures and use them as a catalyst for improvement. I hereby give you “permission to fail”