performance

Ten things you don’t need to know

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I described last year as a, “black ice drive“. I didn’t realise then that 2012 was only a warm up act. 2013 has been memorable, I can at least say that.

I could now tell you about the testicular cancer of my dog, my guinea pig’s genital warts, or some other contrived tragedy, in order to make you feel sorry for me. I could plead exceptional circumstances, reach out for the community love. But you know what, as I’ve said before, I’m one of the lucky ones.

Things have happened, things are happening, things will happen. That’s the rub. That’s life

So here are ten things that I’ve learnt in 2013 that you don’t need to know,

1) There are good people out there doing good work, daily. They don’t feel the need (get the space) to tell the world.

2) Winning stuff and being recognised. That’s nice. But not the point.

3) Laugh in the face of adversity. Constantly.

4) The most supportive and helpful people aren’t the ones who talk about how supportive and helpful they are.

5) Until you’ve sat and broken bread with someone, you don’t know whether you’ll really like them.

6) SoMe is full of guff. Period.

7) The real conversation isn’t happening where you think it is, it’s happening where you hope it isn’t.

8) Given a choice, most people would elect for self interest over collective benefit.

9) 90% of debate results is nothing more than intellectual masturbation. Fun, but unproductive.

10) Never listen to a blogger that thinks they can summarise a situation in 10 points.

Happy Christmas one and all.

Neil

PS. That’s me done for 2013. I may be back in the new year, who knows?

Two magic things

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I want to introduce you to two magic things that will make your work easier.

Two things that will make you a better leader.

Make you a better a manager.

In your darkest hours there are two things that you can look to hold on to.

The only things you’ll need to move onwards.

If you want to be a better person, be a better you.

Take the two things, “Thank” and “You” and combine them together.

Rejoice in them, use them, spread them liberally.

Live them, be them, make them your own.

Every day, you can let people know that you’re grateful.

The big, the small and the middle.

Because the magic can exist for everyone.

If only we’d let it flow.

Acting is happy agony

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No-one remembers the 32nd person to climb the Berlin Wall.

Or the 7th person to step on the moon.

We don’t hold the 26th person to cross the marathon line in more esteem than the 400th.

And the 40th person to stand up against oppression, is a statistic like the 43rd .

There are leaders and there are followers. There are doers and there are repeaters. There are thinkers and there are those that regurgitate.

We know the difference, we see the difference, we feel the difference. And yet at the same time, we seldom call it out when we do.

Regardless of what we do, each week provides a million opportunities to lead, to step to the front, to put our necks on the line. We have the chance to change things, to say things, to do thing, to become things.

And yet we wait, we hesitate, we defer, we absolve ourselves of responsibility and we look to a darkened horizon to provide the hope and the inspiration that we each hold within us.

We have the ability to act. We just don’t have the courage.

I don’t believe in an after life, I don’t believe in resurrection or absolution. I believe in the here, the now, the moment and the challenge. We have a chance every day to be something that makes a difference. We have a chance to be leaders of ourselves and of others.

Be brave, step out, and leave your legacy today. Tomorrow is there for the forgotten.

Define the why of I

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In our imperfect world we talk of skills, we talk of structures, we talk of competency frameworks, of behaviours and values. But for some reason, we rarely speak about beliefs. We focus on so much else, but give little, if any, time to define the why of I.

I’ve been mulling this one over for a while and my friend and co-conspirator Michael Carty recently caught the debate on this here. The thing that struck me about this brief foray, was how quickly the conversation turned away from beliefs back to behaviours.

Like so much of our work, we focus on the how and the what. But not the why.*

You see, it seems to me that if we can develop this, if we can define the belief system we work within, if we can create a shared higher purpose for our work, then we are simply more likely to taste success.

Let me give you something more concrete to consider:

–       I believe I can make the workplace a better place for everyone

–       I believe that everybody comes to work to do their best

–       I believe I have as valuable contribution to make as everyone else

–       I believe everyone is allowed to be wrong, including me

If you want to change behaviour, you need to address the beliefs that underpin it. Contrast with this. How many HR people come to work, instead with a mindset that says:

–       I believe that people don’t take me seriously enough

–       I believe that people don’t value HR

–       I believe that managers are incompetent

–       I believe that employees are always trying to get one over us

And what different behaviours would be demonstrated by someone with each of these set of beliefs?

The challenge I’ve had thrown at me is that organisations drive the belief systems. That’s rubbish. They can influence it sure, but only the individual truly controls their own beliefs. Almost every inspirational character in history has held a belief system that wasn’t dictated by their environment.

You can fiddle with the behaviours, you can focus on competencies, you can tinker with your structures. But unless you identify the belief systems that underpin them, my guess is, you’ll find yourself just a busy fool.

* (A hat tip to @GrumpyLecturer for that one).