Monthly Archives: September 2016

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Leadership versus Knowledge skills

Leave a comment

In general your skills fall into two categories.  First, knowledge specific skills, those that are focused on a function or subject area , for example plumbing, law, medicine or construction.

The other main skill category falls into the leadership classification.  Things like empathy, optimism, self awareness and communication.  Often called the soft skills.

Identifying Managers/Leaders

Many organizations promote to managerial and leadership roles based first on “hard knowledge” and leadership skills are often just an after thought.

Often the new managers, very capable in their knowledge areas, flounder when it comes to managing or leading.  The skill requirements are actually distinctly different.

While  capability in subject matter expertise can complement leadership skills, it will not compensate for their absense.  The results  are often frustration both for the newly appointed leader/manager  and their teams.

My advice to hiring managers/leaders is to always start with validation of the so called soft skills   (unless the role is purely technical/professional).

A qualifier about this would be no role is purely focused on knowledge skills and things like self motivation and ability to communicate clearly are always required to some extent.

Understand the Mix

The mix between leadership and knowledge specific skills can be highly variable and is very much role dependant.  Typically the more senior your role in an organization the higher the requirement for leadership focused capabilities.

If you are in a selection role for vacant or new posotions keep this in mind.  Consider carefully what the mix should be and take this into account when validating the canidates fit to the position.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Seeking Patience

Leave a comment

My younger brother is the administrator for my mothers estate.  Getting probate, gathering, disposing and distributing the assets takes time.

My other brothers and sister are possibly feeling like I do, that in this case, the time it is taking is a bit too long.  My younger brother explains, “I’m on it”

Sounds okay until you realize thats what he said after buying new hardwood flooring material for his kitchen.  “We asked when it would be installed , I’m on it he said”

Ten years later he returned the hardwood floor in the original packaging and Home depot gave a refund. I guess ” I am on it ” does not necessarily mean it will get done.

Last week my younger brother asked me for one thing.  “Can you just give me one thing bro”. “Sure I said innocently, what do you need?”  “Just patience” he replied

And there it is, a request for me to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.  It got me thinking, why not.  Probably a very reasonable request and ultimately the anxiety and frustration that usually go hand in hand with lack of patience would dissipate.

The value of Patience

On pondering this  simple request I quickly realized lack of patience was not a pleasurable state to be in.  And for what.  Certainly everything unfolds in the fullness of time (love that phrase) .

So why suffer the anxiety,  when it is unlikely to change anything anyway.  Maturity has taught me, if I can’t change or control it, why sweat it.

And so, in the fullness of time my mothers estate will be resolved, and I’m okay with it.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Over Communicating

1 Comment

On the weekend I made a same day trip to Vancouver to attend the ceremony for the internment of my mothers ashes.

Although she was cremated some time ago, it took a while for us to make the arrangements to bury the ashes in the same plot as my Dad so they would be together.

Air Canada Pilot Shares

After we boarded the flight to Vancouver, we sat at the gate for about 20 minutes until the pilot came on the intercom and shared some information.

First of course, he welcomed us on board.  He then advised the visual inspection of the plane had identified a dent in the engine cowling.  The plane probably hit some birds when landing in Edmonton.

He was not sure how long it would take to resolve and he would update us when he had more info.

In the continued vein of open communication and sharing he also noted the back-up generator in the rear of the plane was on the fritz.  This meant he would start the left engine at the gate per normal but not the right engine until they were on the runway.

About ten minutes later he updated us , the dent was of a size that a safety report was required and the paperwork wpuld take another hour or so.  (He did not sound too impressed)

Nervous Traveller

At this point I suggested to my wife we should get off the plane, we were probably going to miss the internment anyway.  I was advised “You are a nervous traveller, relax all will be fine”

And 5 minutes later the pilot came on with good news saying the issues was resolved and we would be departing in 10 minutes or so.  And we did.

We made it to the internment on time and returned to Edmonton safely (by plane against my better judgement).

Not sure if there is a point to the story, but I found living it interesting.  Also some people may think worrying about a dented cowling and faulty generator is silly nervousness, but I am not one of them.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Through the Past Darkly

Leave a comment

A quote from a training course instructor was shared with me today and it really resonated.  “The older I get , the better I was”.   Living on past glories does have some real benefits.

Reliving the past positively can have some real benefits.  This is just the opposite of the title of the Rolling Stones second greatest hits collection (Through the past darkly).

Of course there is a risk to recollecting your past too optimistically lest you start to believe in your super human capabilities.  On the other hand though, it is a way to feel good about yourself, an esteem booster if you will.

How Real is It

Memories are what we make of them and often our recollection becomes our reality.  As long as no one invents a time machine I will be okay, if validation of past experiences becomes possible, I might worry a little.

It’s hard to imagine relating a story from the past in which I do not stand out.  Of course, my past is all about me, and I was perfect, so why modify it.

Getting Better with Age

While your personal stories of past experiences probably do get somewhat embellished with time; like a good wine getting better with age, your current stories are enhanced by your past experience.

That is, getting older does me getting better – don’t let anyone kid you “old is the new young”.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Contemplating Change

Leave a comment

Most people spend a significant amount of their adulthood in a selected occupation or occupations.  Things like homemaker, doctor, teacher, banker and so on.

You might be engaged in your occupation to earn money or just for satisfaction  (e.g., enjoying the results of spending your time child rearing)

You could be self directed or taking direction from others within an organization.  In all cases your personal values and those associated with the organizational culture either map or they don’t.

If you are self directed there is a mapping of values by default.

Your Values don’t Align

Invariably value mis-alignment results in one of the four things:

  1. You elect to change organization and/ or occupation.  You can initiate this or the organization might.
  2. You need to change your values to align with those of the organization  (unlikely, but depending on the level of difference between your values and those of the organization – does happen)
  3. Change your behavior to be consistent with the  organizations values so you fit in.  This happens regularly over the immediate term but is normally not sustainable and usually ultimately ends up with option one .  This approach can provide some breathing space as you plan out your options.
  4. Work to influence change within the organization leading to a shift in values more aligned with something you can live with.  This approach requires a lot of effort and patience, but can be satisfying.

Be Self Aware

Given we spend the majority of our adult years in some occupation or a number of occupations one key factor towards ensuring ongoing happiness is early recognition  of value mismatch.

When you identify  a mismatch plan on how to deal with it (most likely one of the four options listed).  Just acknowledging the situation  to yourself and understanding how you will deal with it starts the road to serenity.

If you do end up with option one occurring, organizational rather than self initiated, just be thankfull the mismatch is ended (that is a really good thing)  and plan your next occupation/organizational move.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Your most powerfull tool

Leave a comment

A friend shared this quote  the other day.  It fits well with my own post of yesterday and so I wanted to highlight the quote and explore its meaning a little.

“Your mind is a powerfull thing.  When  you fill it with positive thoughts your life will start to change” –  Zig Ziglar, motivational speaker

Your Most Powerfull Tool

We all use tools to help us achieve our goals.  From a rake to a car we use tools to help us carry out a paticular function.  Things we probably could do without the tool become easier and usually are done with a higher quality when the tool is employed.

You can get from A to B without a car or get all the dead grass off your lawn without a rake, but I can’t imagine doing either of those things without some tool.  There are so many available.

Your mind can be used for many functions (a multi-use tool if you will) yet so many of us ignore the potential uses.  Frankly we take our minds for granted.

Many don’t even view their mind as a tool that we can employ to assist us.   Time and again athletes are quoted as saying “it wasn’t the skates, or the stick or the bike; I focused my mind on the achievement, that was the critical factor” .

So you want to be happy and successful, start with your mind.  It’s yours to command, take charge, visualize the positive and it will be yours.   Don’t wait, start now.

(If you achieve monetary success as a result of the concepts noted in this post, remember I am not adverse to financial gratuity.)

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Accentuate the Positive

Leave a comment

Are they issues, challenges or opportunities.?  You can be relating a story to your friends, family or colleagues.  The same details could be presented by you as challenges you face, issues that are bugging you or opportunities for improvement.

The spin comes out in the way you tell the story.  The listeners filters kick in and they percieve your story as an issue , or opportunity or a challenge.  (Or perhaps they are just bored.)

Perspective Matters

The same set of facts can be used to send very different messages, with assocoated different results.  Additionally the interpretation will very, although inflenced by the presentation the recievers perspective has great impact on the interpretation.

Positive Spin/Negative Spin/ No Spin

As a general rule telling the story with an optomistic perspective gets better results.  A positive spin is more likely to not only position your audience  for a positive reaction, but truth be told, it makes you feel better as well.

Percieving the story as an issue or challenge can be daunting.  How we view a situation drives our subsequent behaviors.  Positive feelings are morelikely to be associated with positive reactions.

For Example

Here are three story summaries.  The event being described is the same in each case:

Issue

  • I was late for work and the boss yelled at me, boy is he insensitive

Challenge

  • Late for work today and the boss called me out on it, I need to find a way to avoid this

Opportunity

  • The boss set me straight about being late for work and I am going to prove this was just a one off.

So think about how you want to tell the story, the way you tell it can impact the outcomes very differently, including how others view you and how you view yourself.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Organizational Chaos

Leave a comment

Anarchy is a legitimate political ideal, like democracy, communism and fascism.   Each of these ideologies represent frameworks for managing and behaving within societal groups.

The anarchy model definitely has a chaos like component .  It is basically  a state of disorder due to absence or nonrecognition of authority, i.e., chaos.

Like the proponents of anarchy, I do believe there are probably some aspects of this model that could fit within an organization.  Perhaps better than a disciplined highly mature process structure.

What, organizational chaos might have some value!  Nonsense, you say.

I would argue there is a contextual case where the organizations obectives might be better supported by some degree of chaos (but not absolute like anarchy implies).

Consider a University

While the capability/maturity model I posted about yesterday suites most charitable, non-profit and corporate organizations institutes of higher learning promote academic freedom, because it is percieved to have a proven value.

This freedom requires loose application of authority, not to the extent of anarchy, but approaching.  It is a careful balance and success requires a culture of respectful dialogue.

In this case, the organizational maturiy is defined by how well the culture reflects ill defined processes (purposely so) that are still practiced in a highly capable ways.

The lines of authority and boundaries of consistency need to be open enough to foster the freedom to think innovately most of the time while still having enough structure (boundaries) to ensure the outcomes have value and are not consumed by chaos.

This is a careful balancing act indeed.  Not easily done and at times can be frustrating to the participants.  I call this organizational process “planned chaos”.  A bit of an oxy-moron.

Within large universities sub-organizations, focusing more on the operational than the academic, do need to focus on the standard capability maturity model as a guide to more efficient practices.

Overall though, the culture needs to reflect, accept and thrive on a culture of “planned chaos” all the while being focused on all the institutional goals.  Whew, what a job.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Organizational Maturity

Leave a comment

There are many models and much consulting provided around an organizations capability and maturity.  My favorite framework for an insttitutional capability / maturity model is based on the following concept.

The level of maturity (see definition) is assessed and then coupled with the organizations capability (see definition)

 The overall capability / maturity rating depends on the assesment of both these factors and could be low even if maturity was high but capability was low (or vice-versa)

Maturity and Capability Definitions

Maturity – degree of formality and optimization of of the organizations processes.   This can range from largely ad hoc practices (no maturity) , to formally defined steps (low maturity), to managed result metrics (medium)to active optimization of the processes (high).

Capability – the consistency of execution and quality of the result is based on defined measures. These can range from following the process occassionally making it up as you go along (low, sporadic capability),  to one hundred percent uniformity in both practices and results (high capability) proven by real artifacts.

The Maturity Trap

Some organizations have well defined processe and practices which are largely ignored by the organizations human resources as they go about performing their roles each day.

The organizations stated goals (it’s reason for existing ) might be achieved  – or might not and this success or failure is largely “figured out” as time goes by.

This might be an organization with some maturity, but capability (do you perform?) could be sorely lacking.

In a truely capable -mature organization his would not be the case.  Outcomes can always  be accurately predicted in a highly mature /capable organization .  That is in fact, a key defining attribute of such organizations.

In short, a highly capable and mature organization will have clearly documented, well defined processes together with “artifacts” to prove they were executed and the expected results achieved.

In essence they ,say what they do and prove they did what they said.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Avoiding the Rabbit Hole

Leave a comment

Some people avoid doing things using what I heard referred to by a colleague of mine as the rabbit hole technique.  This practice has many names, like “road block, ” passive avoidance” and so on.

The rabbit hole resonates for me because as an analogy it provides insights about things to do and things to aviod.  Lets explore the rabbit hole model for accepting accountability while trying to avoid actually doing any work.

The set up

This starts with a request; in this example let’s say a service request to an IT group to take on accountability for support and maintenance of a new application.

The group knows this is their accountability but are not ready to take on the work so they go into avoidance presenting you with the first “rabbit hole”.

“We don’t have enough trained staff, can you help us out by sharing some resources. ” This is a very clever gambit , because if you accept and enter the hole it’s unlikely you will get out in the near term. if ever.

The advice here is be polite but firm, refuse to go down the hole.  For example; “No we are understaffed at the moment which is why we made sure your resources had the training needed for support, before starting the project”

This leads to rabbit hole number two.  “We cannot do this without documentation”. This is an IT favourite blocker.  Again, don’t go down the hole “We have been sending you the documents for review since the project started, here is where they are located.”

The rabbit holes will probably continue. (Who is paying for this, what are the roles and responsibilities) all the while refusing to get involved or start anywork till the hole is filled.

Exercise Caution

The most important advice I can share at this point is never go down the holes, you will regret it.  Always fill them up and force them to move on.  Ultimately the blockers run out , just hang in there.