Monthly Archives: December 2018

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Celebrate

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The holiday season (largely North America) or just the holidays (in many Western influenced countries) occur this time of year. To coin a common song lyric “T’is the season to be jolly.”

I often wonder why we designate a time of year for celebration. Granted though in the Northern hemispere where many Christmas traditions arose (a hallmark of the season) it is dark and cold, not a bad time for a celebration.

Life Long

While it is definitely a bit idealistic, I wonder why we don’t all treat our lives as a year long celebration. It is nice to have designated highlights, whether religious, political or just historic; however outside of these organized holidays, why not be joyous year round.

To some extent the answer probably lies in group think. A common belief that this is the time to rejoice makes it easier to participate. Everyone is doing it so we feel peer pressure to participate.

Motivated by Desire

Of course in the case of pleasurable activity the peer pressure does not need to be strong, as most want to join in anyway. Except for the odd scrooge participation in the holiday happiness is usually virtually unanimous.

With few exceptions, the pursuit of happiness is a common human behaviour so participating in the theme of the holiday season is not hard to do. It is easily embraced and hence successful.

Keep it Going

Although this is not a unique thought, I am sure it has been said many times and in many ways, this year consider keeping it going. stay in the holiday spirit year round. You might be surprised how it is not only better for you but for those around you as well.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Escape

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Many of us our trapped in daily activities that don’t give us maximum pleasure. For example a job you don’t like or a leisure activity that is repetitive and boring, or many other things you wonder why you are doing regularly

Escape is only a choice away. You are in control of your destiny and accepting a fate that is not meeting your expectations is a choice. Sometimes we believe and easier choice than breaking out which is why we accept our circumstances.

It’s up to you!

This probably sounds like the advice your parents gave you, or maybe the army, but choosing to “be all you can be” is one-hundred percent up to you.

You may win a lottery or be given a dream job or find the house of your dreams for half price, it is possible, but don’t count on it. The best goals are the ones you define and achieve yourself.

The most satisfying approach to achievement is when we exercise accountability. Others may guide, consult and assist, but it honesty feels best when we can include ourselfs as a key factor in the win.

It’s Hard

My Dad used to always say it is not about the effort (hard or easy) it is more important to be clear about what you want and then get it, as long as its not at the expense of others.

So whether you think it will be hard or easy, focus on the result, what is wrong with getting what you desire. Nothing.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Challenge/Stress/Anxiety

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Anxiety is a natural response to stress or lack there off. Most associate anxiety with the presence of stress, however, the absence of purposeful goals (with their associated stress) can also be worrisome.

While anxiety is typically a feeling of fear or apprehension about what’s to come a lack of naturally occurring challenges or potentially stressful scenarios drives us to find things to worry about.

Making it up

In the absence of things that create stress we will often imagine potential worrisome scenarios. Interestingly, having nothing to do can be as stress as the more commonly recognized scenario of having too much to do.

Our minds are always active with conscious and unconscious thought. Thinking is a constant activity, we cannot avoid brain activity. If your environment is not stimulating you, often you will imagine issues – a car running out of gas, slipping on ice and hurting yourself.

Stress drives behaviour and sometimes is harmful, however no stress can cause us to make up stressful scenarios because we need some stress.

It’s a Balance

Too much stress can affect your help, lead you to unsocial or even unacceptable behaviour while too little stress can actually have the same results.

The key is finding the careful balance between too much and too little stress. In essence this equates to manageable or unmanageable stress.

Anxiety arising from manageable stress can be resolved and in and of itself the resolution activities are healthy. Unmanageable stressful situations should be avoided, both circumstantial but more particularly those of your own design.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Understanding

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Don’t just wonder about the things around you, figure it out.  If knowledge is lacking, create personal understanding proactively.

In the words of Lennon/McCartney (Beatles songwriters) “There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known, Nothing you can see that isn’t shown” 

Take Charge

If you are puzzled, wondering why something works the the way it does (or doesn’t work, but should) don’t passively accept it. 

Take charge of your life, seek knowledge and understanding of everything.   Others can help with this but you need to ask.  

Motivation

There is a strong rationale for building your personal knowledge base.  Understanding the underlying explanations for all things can enable proactive response.

This really falls into the root cause discussion.  To act appropriately, reacting to the symptoms can provide positive results) or it may not but typically they would not be sustainable. 

Understanding the real nature of things provide a framework for action.  Just wondering and accepting things as the way they are will not provide the benefits of exploration, that is research. 

Integrating with Others

Spending the time to understand why things work or behave the way they do allows us to plan the best and most beneficial response. 

Seeking a broad understanding is not a one time exercise but rather a constant quest. 

Knowledge can make your interactions with others become both more rewarding for everyone as well as raising your own profile.

So, don’t be passive, embrace the opportunity to expand your understanding of the world.  Seek answers, figure it all out. 

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

HelpIng Others

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When you are accountable  (others may be executing the tasks required to meet the objective) the consequences associated with the outcomes fall to you. 

There is a delicate balance between directly assisting (hands-on), providing explicit instructions (micro-managing), gentle guidance (mentoring) and full empowerment (hands-off).

Choosing Wisely

Accountability often entails getting things done through others.  How you assist them is a choice and is very dependent on the situtation.  

The option you choose (from hands-on to hands-off and everything in between) will be a significant contributing factor toward success or failure of the activity. 

The key is not to let anxiety about your accountability override the focus on enabling others to excel.  That is, getting things done through others is not about you, it is about them. 

Helping Unostentatiously

Providing help to others achieve the defined objective (your accountability), regardless of which approach you select (hands-on/hands-off), should be characterized by a lack of vulgar or pretentious behaviour which is designed to impress or attract notice.

The most effective assistance, (that is the actions and results are improved), is seamless, not even noticeable.   Helping others without them knowing is always the best approach.  

Everyone is Important

Sometimes the top level accountability is translated into importance.  Importance is associated with the role and location in an organizational or social heirarchy. 

Others performance,  that is the action of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function, is dependent on the importance you place on it.  

Helping someone accomplish their task should not displace the importance they should feel with your own importance (organizational, structural or otherwise) 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Leadership Pyramid

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Human organizations typically have a single accountable role that leads them.  This applies whether the group focus is political, corporate, social, charitable and so on. 

The concept of having one leader accountable, that is the place where the buck stops, is an endemic design that repeats itself through the ages. 

Co-Leaders

A simple definition of leader is the person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country.  Significantly by definition we consider the term leader to be singular.  

This is a simple way of defining accountability and limiting our own responsibility.  When something bad happens we can point to the leader saying “They are in charge, they are responsible for the consequences.”

The use of a single leader gives us the ability to defer accountability with clarity and having multiple leaders would make this confusing and potentially obfusticate the issue.

This likely is a key contributing factor as to why we have not seen many instances of co-leadership (there are some) or even multiple leaders. 

Efficiency and Effectiveness

Surprisingly, although teamwork is often recognized as more efficient than individual effort and ultimately producing higher quality results, we stick to our old standard of a single leader at the top. 

For many of us, it is easier to follow than to lead, taking direction requires less effort than participating in developing of the strategy and than supporting the execution (i.e., leading).

And so, albeit a model that logically is not optimal – that of a single leader overall – is the model we stick with.  Interesting, a simple and obvious innovation yet few organizations can make it happen.  

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Objectivism

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Novelist Ayn Rand founded the philosophy of objectivism.  The philosophy promotes the belief that certain things, especially moral truths, exist independently of human knowledge or our perception of them.

In essence, this is an argument that existence exists.    Contrary to the implication of the question, “Does a sound exist ,if we do not hear it?” objectivism answers clearly, yes.  Sound exists because of its very existence. (i.e., if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around, does it make a sound?  Yes it does.)

Accessibility

Rand’s novels incorporate the philosophy of objectivism within the story and so make it accessible to all.  Rather than just being a intellectual concept which is hard to translate to reality, Rand creates a picture we can identify with. 

My own personal justification for life and my associated behaviour, which I have noted in these blogs from time to time, fully integrates with objectivism. 

Basically considering my life as a search for maximum pleasure (happiness) as long as it is not at the expense of others, maps to the belief there is no greater moral goal than achieving happiness. 

Objectivist and Proud of it

This is a simple philosophy easy to understand and link to our behaviour.   Our society benefits from achievers who build businesses, invent technologies, and create art and ideas. 

While achievement depends on our innate talents and on trade with other independent people,  the ability to succeed is real, anyone can work to reach their goals.

Other people has said I am an objectivist, in a derisive way.  I am and proud of it and ignore the derision.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Reality, Who cares

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I have noticed that leaders often say what they believe their folloers or constituents want to hear.  This is not just politicians but successful Corporate and other group leaders (e.g. religous, charitable, etc.)

Human nature, the basic framework for average thinking processes is architected to allow for us to pull the wool over our eyes and believe it.

Desirable or Possible

My own believe is we should set our objectives based on the possible.  That is the high level goal should be analyzed for feasibility together with how long and how much effort is needed. (part of the feasibility).

Most often the accountable leader constructs the doability of an objective around the perception it creates.  That is, they say they will do something not because they know it can be done but rather because they beleve it makes them look good.

Conflict of Interest

The people responsible to execute the leaders vision and objectives are often frustrated because of the lack of buy-in.  Both theirs and the leaders, one thinks it can be done and the other not.

This dichotomy can lead to confusion and is a underlying cause of why goals often take longer to achieve than original publicized.  Both because of lack of buy in/support and because the leaders pronouncement have no foot in reality.

Instant Gratification

Our culture, particularly corporte and political environments, are founded on the concept of immediacy.  For many, long term strategies have no merit.  

I want it now is the primary thoughtprocess and therein lies the problem.  Changing cultural beliefs, so all understand the value of being real even if it sounds like it is going to take longer.

We can try to change the thinking but most often we just struggle with the unrealistic.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Feel It

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Feelings are a key influencer of your behaviour, sometimes your resulting actions could be questionable as emotional responses are not always well thought out. 

Taking control of responses motivated by emotions can be very difficult.  Immediate response must be checked before a thorough analysis is completed. 

Conscious Response

Often we will react based on an emotion (e.g., anger, frustration, affection, etc) without conscious thought.  The action is not based on a reasoned analysis.  

Sometimes, in the interest of expediency, for example in the case of fear, responding quickly is very appropriate and could be the best way to avoid disastrous, even deadly outcomes.

Why Difficult

In the case of emotions the bodies reactions, both physical and mental are pre-programmed to a large extent.  Conscious control of the brain is not a natural practice in these cases.  

Instinctual behaviour is a key part of our lives and strong emotional responses largely fall into that category. 

Anger takes over the analytic and rational functions of the brain, fear can be associated with hormonal releases geared at making you more physically able to respond, and so on. 

 Taking control of the brain in this cases requires strong awareness and motivation.   In essence you need to override your genetic programming. 

Take the Time

Emotions are often associated with behaviours that are time sensitive.  We often don’t take conscious control as that does involve time (and effort) sometimes the best approach analysis can take a long time.

We do have a natural instinct to act quickly, hence, pausing to reflect, analyze, think about it, is often not even a consideration.  This can be to our detriment.   Taking the pause that refreshes is always the best approach, even when danger is imminent. 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Down the Funnel

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Groups of people gathered together with a common purpose constitute a team.  Intuitively team work can be both more efficient and higher quality than that of an individual or a group of individuals working together not necessarily with the same goal. 

Teams typically begin with a bunch of disparate views and ideas.  Think of these as filling the top of a funnel.  To gain the maximum efficiencies and quality the ideas need to be filtered, sharpened and moved down the funnel

Each move down the funnel focuses the work and thus fine tunes the objective so by the time it pops out the end of the funnel is is clean, clear and complete. 

Facilitation

Progressing down the funnel typically does not occur naturally.  Some finesse is required.  Having one member of the group accountable for facilitation (that is making the finesse happen) is a really good idea. 

Very simply stated, facilitation is behaviours focused on making an activity or process easier.  Taking a wealth of valuable input from the team and enabling them to uncover the  gold, that is the powerful product that comes out of the small end of the funnel, is a critical and invaluable skill.

Facilitation is a delicate path as true facilitators are like a catalyst,  helping the reaction procced but not actively part of it.

The first step is recognizing the team needs a facilitator, the second is appointing one and finally supporting them as they help the team achieve it’s goal.