All posts by steve@kerrzone.com

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Process and Behavioral Maturity Link to Performance

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Both from a personal and organizational perspective high performance is integrated with the overall maturity of both processes and behavior.

Today’s post explores these concepts in a little more detail, still at a high level.  More detail and examples to come in future posts.

Behavioral Maturity

Maturity is about responding to your environment in an appropriate manner.  The higher the level of maturity the more closely aligned and effectively integrated are both response and environment.

Process Maturity

Processes maturity can be described as a ladder of increasing effectiveness in the employment and practice of the associated activities.    Using high level descriptors a five level maturity model could be defined as:

  • Level 1 –  Chaos  (processes are not documented, inconsistent and mainly adhoc focusing on whatever works.)
  • Level 2 –  Superman (processes existed but are scantily documented and not consistent.  A few practitioner are found to get things done – somehow.  These super people (trying not to be sexist) drive the performance and results.  Given they focus on “getting it down” this can leave a pile of dead bodies (metaphorically) in their wake.
  • Level 3 – Institutionalization (one clearly documented process exists for each activity and controls exist to ensure they common processes are followed consistently by all.  Communication of where the process library is confirmation everyone knows about it is key to ensuring standardization.
  • Level 4 – Continuous Improvement ( the institutionalized processes are constantly reviewed and improved)
  • Level 5 – Ongoing Measurement (confirming process effectiveness through defined metrics while practicing – e.g., continuous checking of the quality of a product being created while it is being created.

Performance

And topping it all off, where do high levels of behavioral and process maturity get you?  Intuitively is your actions are fully aligned with the goals (environment) and the tools exist to support execution of these actions efficiently (clear processes) the overall outcomes (performances) will improve.

Think about it, give it a try!  More details to come in future posts, comments and questions will be responded to.  ( The processes are in place here at Kerrzone and the behavioral maturity is high).

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Celebrating Failure

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Seems odd to celebrate failure, in fact there is a lot of strong rationale for this practice.

What is failure

There can be a few nuances to the definition of failure, for the purpose of this discussion let’s view it as not achieving the desired or intended objective.

Success is basically the opposite, that is achieving the desired or intended objective.

Both success and failure have an associated order of magnitude.  Sometimes they can be very close.

For example, the objective could be to make revenue of $100,000 in a given month.  If the actual revenue is $98,000 the goal was not achieved (failure) while revenue of $102,000 exceeded the goal (success).  In the overall scheme of things there is not much difference in this performance.

Failure does not sound good, why celebrate?

Although Yoda (a deeply philosophical character from the Star Wars movies) states “there is no try, do or do not”; and it sounds good, the reality is if you don’t try you are almost assured neither do nor do not states will be achieved.

Celebrating failure has an interesting ring to it and usually get’s peoples attention when I talk about it.  The intent is to recognize the attempt.  Recognition has been demonstrated in numerous physiological tests to be an effective motivator, a way to encourage repetition of a behavior.  Celebrating failure is just a form of recognition (read on …..)

Setting a stretch goal, should result in failure more often than not – I would argue it’s hard to classify as a stretch goal if you can always attain it.   So we should all fail on occasion.

Acknowledging, recognizing, even encouraging the behavior that led to the failure provides reinforcement of the effort.  Although it’s a simplistic statement, consider; “if you did not make the attempt it’s unlikely you will achieve the desired result”.

Motivate through recognition

In a leadership role I often hosted team sessions to review and discuss results, both bad and good (i.e., success and failure) to encourage a continued drive toward achievement.  To be clear, these were never about criticism or what went wrong, but as Mary Poppins sang – “accentuate the positive”.

The results spoke for themselves.  Instead of failing which can demotivate and result in a downward spiral (losing teams continue to lose) concentrating on the positive aspects stopped the downward slide (it’s not bad, it’s really good and here is why).

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Respectfully yours ……….

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I have shared some of my thoughts about respect in previous posts.  The other day I had a very animated discussion on the topic which added to some of my ideas about the meaning of respect.

One of the real joys I find in my current stage of life is the ability to learn with fewer constraints.  I have less preconceived notions,  derived from my personal needs.  As I have fewer personal needs  I find it helps me be more open minded, leading to very interesting discussions. (Although I admit this has always been a struggle for me)

What is respect?

During our discussion it was proposed that for a teen age gang member with a long heritage of reduced circumstances and historical prejudices owning a gun is just a tool used to get respect.

I have a gun, so you better respect me.

Personally I am not sure if I totally agree with this concept, although I can see the where the intellectual underpinnings of this theory rise from.   Still, the key question for me is what is respect?

Having a gun enables you to practice certain behaviors you might not be able to get away with if you did not brandish the weapon.  The fact others may “respect” your wishes (that is do what you ask) may be your motivation for owning the gun; I wonder though if there is more to it.

How do I know when I have respect”

Behave towards others as you would like them to behave toward you and mutual respect will exist.   Is this statement true when your behavior is violent.  Even though you are okay with violent behavior in return does that constitute mutual respect?  Can two boxers respect each other?

It’s a two way street

As is often the case during interesting philosophical discussions I am not sure a definitive conclusion was achieved.   It was clear though, however you define respect there is an implied mutuality, respect is not achieved on a single vector of belief or activity but must traverse both directions of a personal interaction.

Pointing a gun at me may give you a feeling of respect, you could say I am respecting you now; however,  I might classify my behavior more as fear than respect.

In a group youth gang environment the ownership of the gun could result in the group as a whole granting the holder respect and treating them as the leader (interesting).

I have a feeling this discussion is not finished and I respect my friends right to raise the topic again (oh boy!).

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Charging your batteries

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Humans store  energy within our bodies via a chemical reaction and when needed the energy is released via a chemical reaction.   Humans process of storing and releasing energy is known as the Krebs cycle.

Car Batteries

For the traditional combustion engine automobile, when you start your car the battery discharges electrical energy which is used to get the motor started.

During operation the motor (now running on petro energy) the battery is re-charged with electrical energy converted from the mechanical energy supplied by the motors rotation.  This chemical reaction of the battery is reversed preparing it for the next time a charge is needed to start the car.

If you don’t properly maintain and charge your car battery, you can encounter times when your car won’t run.

Human Bodies

Similarly the energy stores of the human body need to be restored occasionally (or you are in danger of stopping).

Food provides the chemicals the body needs for the Krebs cycle and this is a very basic way we recharge ongoing (i.e., by eating).  Of course the myriad of chemical reactions that go on within the human body are a bit more numerous and complex than just the Krebs cycle.    The complex series of chemical reactions occurring within our brains (7 days a week, 24 hours a day) all need some form of recharging, whether through addition of an energy source or just through rest.

Different Levels of Recharging Needed

How much and how often and what kind of recharging each of us need is unique to each individual.

Sleep is one of these recharging processes and although there is a medium desirable amount of sleep each day (currently assessed at about 8 hours) on a person by person basis this need can vary dramatically from light sleepers (2-3 hours a day) to deep sleepers (needing up to 12 hours a day).

Interacting with others

Whether our basic personality is introverted or extroverted also has a major impact on the need to recharge.

An introvert who spends a few hours in extroverted activities can find themselves needing hours of alone time to recharge while an extrovert can participate in hours of robust social interactions with others and needs little rest time afterward.

Self Awareness

It is of great personal value to be aware of your limits and pay attention to your personal need to recharge (whether through sleep or time spent on your own or other relaxation activities )

To operate at optimal levels and enjoy yourself, and interact best with others an understanding of and acting on your personal recharging needs is required to stay healthy, happy and well rounded.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Listen to the Music (cont’d)

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On Oct 25th I started a post series that would be about the 37 live rock concerts I have attended in my life so far.

Over time,  I am listing the next three best.  Three posts so far covered the top nine (listed below), today’s covers ten to twelve.

Just a reminder; 1) Paul McCartney, 2) Led Zeppelin, 3) Elton John 4)Alice Cooper 5) Al Stewart  6) Queen 7) Bee Gees  8) Deep Purple  9) James Taylor

And today’s list

10) Blue Oyster Cult –  I have actually seen this group live in concert on multiple occasion.   I also saw them in relatively intimate settings, once I was so close to the band I could have reached out and touched the players.  Most well known for their hits like Godzilla , (Don’t Fear) the Reaper, and Burn’in for You this band does not have a song in their repertoire I don’t like.    Hence the attendance at multiple shows.

11) Johnny Winter –  Blues and rock and roll fusion extraordinaire, Johnny is definitely in my top five guitarists of all time.   The show is all about him although the side men I saw him with were highly skilled professional’s, the show is all about the blazing guitar – and what a show.

12) Uriah Heep –  I once read a review about this band calling them the Beach Boys of heavy metal.  The music has always been fabulous and a real favorite of mine.  The band membership has been a bit like a revolving door and the show while fully competent was just a basic heavy rock show – competent replication of the album material.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Staying Happy

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Perhaps one of the eternal questions for each of us to ask ourselves is “How do I maximize my personal happiness”.

What makes you happy?

As I have stated before (in slightly different wording) one constraint to your search for maximum pleasure (assuming that makes you happy) is the caveat that what you need cannot impinge on or detract from the pleasure of others.

Also to clarify, if, for example,  you require pain to achieve a state of feeling happy satisfaction (i.e., pleasure) that’s okay.  For some, pain can enhance pleasure, as long as it does not detract from others pleasure, then by all means proceed.

Thinking about happiness!

I have recently had a couple of discussions about Buddhism.  There are a number of different views within the various schools of Buddhism.  My discussions focused on the Mahayana school (most common in Japan) or “Pure Land Buddhism”  which views the afterlife (at least in part) as a ‘heaven-like’ place that is free from fear, want, or sadness.  This ultimately leads to nirvana.

This got me wondering, why could I not make my own earthly life heaven like.   The emotions of fear, want, and sadness are mine to control so I should be able to manage and control them to meet my personal need.

I can control my fear, want and sadness such that I only experience levels and types of these emotions commensurate with my personal happiness goals.

Self Awareness/ Self Control

Through effective exercise of self control, coupled with a strong level of self awareness as to what makes me happy (i.e., what my heaven looks like) maybe I don’t need to wait for the afterlife.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Are you a scholar?

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Depending on the context, the definition of a scholar can vary. A very simple way of describing a scholar is a person who has studied a subject for a long time and knows a lot about it : an intelligent and well-educated person who knows a particular subject very well.  The scholar is a fount of knowledge on a topic.

In the specific cases of academic or religious scholars,  the context narrows the definition, that is specific parameters and measures are used to indicate when scholarly status is achieved (for example a cleric title or a degree – e.g. PhD) beyond the simple definition above.

Knowledge

I have always enjoyed the simple quadrant model of knowledge

Knowledge 3

From an individual perspective, for any subject, there are the known aspects (Q1 and Q3), things others know but you don’t (Q2),and the totally unknown – no one knows (Q4).

Arguably for a scholar the majority of information about a topic is known (because they have studied it).  This correlates to Q1 and Q3.  For a scholar, quadrants Q2 and Q4 should very small (the scholar knows everything so it is unlikely you know something they don’t or that nobody knows)

A Lifelong Search

A true scholar believes the knowledge only others know (Q2) or no one knows (Q4) is always present and they are engaged in a life long search to uncover it.

Who Cares?

Scholars, whether in the areas of research, education or religion are of value to society if they are willing (and capable) of sharing their knowledge.

Everyone can classify their personal knowledge quadrant on any topic.  A scholar (with information in Q2) can share with you by moving their knowledge to Q1 or Q3 and benefiting not only you personally but all of society.

False Knowledge

The caveat both about sharing and receiving scholarly information is the need to validate.  Not everything shared with you is correct or accurate.  Of course you could always do a google search on the internet to find out if the knowledge being shared with you was accurate (joking).

The Final Conceit

As this blog is sharing scholarly information I hav,e which you may not have (that is my quadrant 2) I guess I am a kind of a scholar.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Consulting Magic

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Over the years I have been directly employed by a number of large organizations.  During that time I have seen consultants engaged on numerous occasions.

The most commonly communicated reasons for this are:

  • capacity, that is we do not have enough internal resources to complete the required investigation/analysis/ actions
  • knowledge/skills, that is we do not have the expertise internally or organization structure restricts capability so outside opinions are sought.

I wonder if in fact these rationalization are really no more than lip service to justify the perceived value of hiring an external party.

In many cases the consultant is engaged to provide strategic direction; whether it be organizational goals, directional strategy or issue specific (like revenue optimization).  It’s been my observation the consultants skills, knowledge, experience and expertise are not the ultimate driving factors for either their initial selection nor length they remain engaged.

If not knowledge, than what?

The bar to engagement as a consultant is obviously skill related as demonstrated by track-record, experience, reputation and so on.   That is, of course, at least the minimum knowledge bar must be met.  However, the most important and interesting attribute to being engaged and remaining engaged is presence.

In reality large organizations have the resources to acquire the skills and expertise directly (usually at a must lower cost than external consultants).  So the question is what “magic” does the consultant bring that causes them to be engaged even at the higher cost.   There must be a value equation that is positive or at least perceived to be so.

Consultants or would be consultants take note

The key here to being engaged as a consultant is the ability to sell yourself.  In a nutshell, it’s about your personality and presence.

Consider the expert in the news room who has a critical and key understanding of major news events, but these get communicated on the daily news broadcast by the good looking person with a well modulated voice (who also has some understanding of the news).  The person with the ultimate news gathering skills and knowledge of the integration of events that can provide in depth analysis and they are valuable but the star is the news caster, the one with the presence to go on camera and grab the audience.

What they think of you outweighs your skill. 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Highway of Death – No More

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Over the last several years I have driven Alberta Highway 63 from Grasslands Alberta to Fort McMurray Alberta a number of times.  Due to the high number of fatal accidents on this route the road was called the “Highway of Death”

Young people and single lanes

The median age of the population of Fort McMurray Alberta is about thirty.  As a young man in my late teen years and through my twenties I certainly felt immortal on occasion and behaved accordingly.  My driving technique was styled accordingly.

Insurance companies have known this about young males for years (based on actuarial analysis) and rates for this gender and age group are accordingly high to reflect the risk of insuring them.

When I first started traveling on the “Highway of Death” it was single lanes in both directions for the full route (with the occasional passing lane  on hills).

In addition to pick-up trucks and passenger vehicles, large tanker, construction vehicles and oil equipment trucks regularly transverse this highway – bringing supplies to Fort McMurray and dead-heading back.    Typically these vehicles travel slower encouraging the more agile vehicles to attempt to pass in the oncoming traffic lane.

Males that believe they are invincible, single lanes and slower large vehicle traffic combine to create a perfect storm, hence the high fatality rate.

A real example

I have an interesting personal example of incredible reckless driving to share  ( unfortunately only one of several).   This occurred in December several years ago.  It was snowing, visibility was a couple of meters at the most and I was at the end of a train of four vehicles traveling around seventy to eighty kilometers an hour due to weather conditions.

The car behind me swung out into the oncoming traffic lane and sped past my own and the other three vehicles at probably more than one-hundred and twenty kilometers, on a snow covered road with little visibility.

If not a death wish than the driver must have believed they were invulnerable.  Fortunately good luck prevailed on this occasion.

Two Lanes

On my last trip, a week ago, the twinning of the highway (which has been under construction for the last five years) was virtually finished, with only one small five kilometer section of single lane left to complete.

What a difference.   Kudos to the builders of the highway, this was badly needed although the timing for the finishing is a little off given the current oil industry doldrums.  Oh well, guess it will still be two lanes each way when the industry gets back into an up-swing.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

If I say I will, then I will

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One of my personal core values is a strong commitment to fulfilling my promises.   This could be simply stated as “If I say I will, then I will”.

Politics and Promises

During the election campaign, the recently elected federal government promised to bring 25,000 Syrian refuges to Canada by December 31st, 2015.  Shortly following the establishment of the newly elected government this “promise” was adjusted to 10,000 by the end of 2015 with the balance to come in 2016.

And here we are on Jan 1st 2016 and a little less than 6000 refugees have arrived.

Whether an individual, politician or an organization a promise should only be made when there is a good chance of achieving the stated goal.  Obviously there is always a risk this will not occur, hopefully due to some unknown factor or a change that was outside your control.

Where commitments begin

My own observation is for promises to be met the most important factor is the level of commitment by the person making the promise.  They must believe keeping a promise is critical and putting aside any physical consequences of not doing what you say (for example, a fine) the key is a personal standard of behavior.  That is the belief that the mantra “If I say I will, then I will” is all important and should always be adhered too.

Our current prime minister and his minions are pretty confident they won’t be turfed from office for not meeting the refugee promise and by the time of the next election it’s highly probably it will be forgotten and even if not will have little impact.

Interestingly another time sensitive promise is related to tax reduction and lowering the TFSA limit.  Since the TFSA limit is effective on January 1st, bringing forward the legislation on Dec 15th is pretty lame, obviously it will not be passed before Jan 1st 2016.

If that had been my election promise I would have either qualified the change would not be in place by Jan 1st 2016 or immediately on election I would have ensured as leader the party worked diligently to have the legislation forward and passed by Dec 31st.

New Years Resolution

In general our society will benefit significantly from a larger percentage being committed to completing their promises (not just politicians. )  Why not take a personal step this new year and give it a try.