Tag Archives: behaviour

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Maturity

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The concept of maturity is about behaviour.  In essence, the greater ability to respond to the environment in an appropriate manner, the higher level of maturity.

Maturity responses are generally learned/ experience based rather than instinctive or emotionally driven.   Mature behaviour is reasoned and results are usually positve.

Capability and Maturity

The ability to perform effectively (skill/capability) does not in and of itself equal maturity.  That being said, mature actions require capability to execute.

Ability is easier to measure objectively.  For example a high jumper who has the ability to jump higher than all others in a particular competition is clearly demonstrating strong ability.

If their winning high jump is followed by a dropping of shorts and waving a bare bum at the crowd in a victory salute, many might question the maturty of their behaviour.  On the other hand a slight bow and gracefull acceptance of the applause might be considered more mature.

Both these assessments of matuity level are subjective,  based on perceived acceptability of the given behaviour.

The Value of Maturity

Albeit a subjective assessment, on the whole,  mature behaviour coupled with average or better capability will generally produce better results.

The principle basis for this derives from the fact maturity is experience based (i.e., learned behaviour) and so the results are predictable.  That is based on past experience you know what to expect.

Maturity does not just apply to individual behaviour  but can be applied to a collective whole.  As a group behaves at a higher maturity level the results improve are more consistent and sustainable.

Sadly even with a wealth of experience, behavioural maturity can still be average or even low.  Maturity is gained through experience but having experience does not necessarily mean your behaviour is mature.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Sharing Information

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When I was a child we used to play a game called broken telephone Or some called it just the telephone game.  It was an educational exercise geared to demonstrate how easily verbal communication can go off the rail.

It’s a simple exercise where a group of five or ten people whisper a word or phrase to each other down a chain.  The original information (the word or message) rarely (probably never) survives intact to the end of the chain.

The last person states what was passed to them and everyone has a good laugh.  For example start with lock and don’t be surprised to see it morph through several whispers as clock,block, rock , and finally emerge as possibly love (where did that come from).

The confusion grows with the use of phrases ,for example try ” Two tiny toads ate flat flying flies.”

The point

This exercise  clearly show how small misconceptions can end up making a huge difference.  It is  a fun way to highlight the  importance of active listening.

Most importantly though it shows just how hard it is to share information accurately.  The last person in the game thinks they are replicating the information, it was just the simple sharing of a word or phrase, after all.

Don’t be fooled

You may be positive your information share was clear, however, more often than not this is not true.  Don’t assume the meaning of your message (communication, information share) is interpreted the way you understand it.

There are many techniques associated with good and effective communications but the most important one is restating.  When you have finished communicating, ask the other party to repeat the message.  Don’t be surprised at how often this leads to the need for clarification.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Emerging Markets

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Less developed countries or the more politically correct term,  Emerging markets, refer to  countries that have some characteristics of a developed market, but do not meet standards to be a developed market. Frontier market is used for developing countries with slower economies than those of emerging countries.

This is a bit of a subjective classification.  What are generally considered to be obvious examples of each category are:

  • Developed – U.S., Japan, Canada, U.K., France
  • Emerging – India, Russia, Brazil, china
  • Frontier – Kenya, Cote de Ivoire, Nigeria

Capital Investment Opportunities

A colleague and I recently had a fascinating discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of investing in Emerging and Frontier economies.

The number one benefit is the opportunity for outrageous returns.  Return on capital of 1000% is not unknown – this over a short term of 5 to 10 years.

Of course the risk of losing everything is very high.  The more “frontier” the economy the greater the risk.   In short investing in emerging or frontier markets follows the basic axiom; high risk, high reward.

Mitigation

A key driver of the potential for poor results or significant losses arises from the environmental unknowns.   Things like political maneuvering, cultural norms (e.g., are bribes allowed, even expected), material constraints and so on.

My colleague suggested  these risks can be easily overcome by employing locals inhabitants or management firms who can guide your  investment past the trip wires.

My question was, why would I take these risks when my North American investment capital could return me 100% over 5 to 10 years with none of the environmental risks or unknowns?

Simply put why venture into the unknown when the known works just fine.  I guess ultimately it boils down to your appetite for risk.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

What is Retirement?

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Typically we would say retirement is a point where a person ceases employment completely.  This is differernt from ceasing employment voluntarily (quitting) or involuntarily (fired or laid off).

Of course, we often think of employment as the condition of having paid work.  So if you do volunteer work or focus on raising children or other ways of spending your time, other than paid employment, with no intention of ever taking up paid employment; are you retired?

Out of Retirement

If you cease employment completely (so you are “retired”) but decide to take up employment again at a later time, are you “unretired” or just employed again.  Or is the paid work called your retirement job?

That is, you retired and elected to receive a pension.  You then seek and gain employment and so have two incomes – one income for doing nothing and paid employment.

Why Retire?

Interestingly many cases of working in retirement have little to do with monetary status (although some do). Studies have shown after a lifetime of focusing on participating in paid employment, stopping suddenly can effect a big psychological impact, a negative one.

Suddenly stopping your paid employment has been  shown to be a statistically valid causal factor in early demise.

Working in paid employment or unpaid employment (e.g. volunteering) provides a purpose .  Leisure activies, technically not classified as work also provide a purpose.

In considering retirement, it is important to remember the key factor is not always financial.  Although it is nice not to worry about income, the psychological impacts of not having a purpose or objective could be deadly.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Making Mistakes

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When your action or judgment is misguided or wrong we call that a mistake.  Regardless of the magnitude or visibility, acting or deciding wrongly is a mistake.

Of course, the outcomes and consequences of the mistake might not be in accordance with the type or level of the error.  That is to say a small error could have serious consequences.

And the Oscar goes to……..

Last Sunday was an obvious case where a small slip has disasterous results.  A accountant who works for PWC (Price Waterhouse Coopers) gave the wrong envelope to Warren Beatty on Sunday.

This minor slip resulted in the wrong movie being given the best picture Oscar for a brief two and a half minutes.  More than long enough to create a massive, even monumental fuss.

Fate Intervenes

Warren got the wrong envelope with the wrong contents and under usual circumstances, you would expect he would recognize the winners card was incorrect and stop the train before the crash.

To be fair, Mr. Beatty is 79 and was slowly working through his mind  the puzzle of the strange winners card .  Faye Dunaway, his co star in the 1968 Oscar Best Picture nominated movie “Bonnie and Clyde” , was the co-presenter.

Unfortunately, the relationship between Faye and Warren was a little acromonious.  In particular she is known to have little patience with his slow considered approach.

So Faye, loosing patience with Warrens slow progress, snapped the card from Warren , glanced at it, and read the wrong winner.  And so the error that began with the wrong envelope was exposed.

Fortunately!

In this case the impact is large but certainly not irrepairable, after all  the winning movie was recognized.

I am a little sad for the PWC accountant who will probably bear the brunt of consequences  but really to some extent was only a victim of circumstance.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

The never ending quest for balance

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Basically our daily lives are filled with a series of behaviors ( and the associated actions).  That is, what  we do results in outcomes, that is why we do it.

The outcomes are either satisfying or not.  Very simplistically stated, we do stuff to cause stuff and then we die.  (We may die because thats the natural outcome of the stuff we do, but that is a different deep  conversation).

Sounds boring

We do stuff that causes stuff to happen over and over.  On the surface it seems repetitive and unmotivating, why bother?  The key to managing the outcomes in a fun and motivating way is  through the practice of balance.

This requires analysis and planning.  Balancing the things you do to achieve better results more efficiently can be invigorating.  It puts a lot of spice into your activities.

How does it work?

Practicing balance is the process of determining how much time, effort and what kind of time and effort is best used to achieve the result you seek.

For example you need groceries because you are hungry.   You are low on funds so you will need to balance what kind of food you buy against what you can afford, yet still satisfy your hunger.

You are hungry now but you need to balance speed ( by car -low on gas) with walking ( slower but definately better on gas).

These simple examples highlight the competing choices we encounter all day as we figure out if we should do this or do that or some combination.

Frequently we need to balance the options carefully to attain the best result.  The simple emotional approach to resolve the need directly is often not the best.  Take your time, plan it out, incorporate balance.

For example, building on the above scenario,   you are hungry so  drive to the store intending to buy what you want.  Unfortunately you may run out of gas or money so can’t afford what you want and end up still hungry.

Remember, things are not always as straightforward as they initially appear and a considered balanced approach might not only be more satisfying, but could also achieve a better result.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Adversarial Conduct

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Adversarial discussions are characterized by conflict or opposition and lurking  beneath the covers, probably some hostility.  Too often, these conversations stem from assumptions of intention.

It may start with some innocent questions for clarification.  The other stakeholder assumes you are against what they are trying to achieve and the adversarial dance begins.

Sadly!

A simple misinterpretation of intentions can derail a potential productive interaction which should have gold at the end of the rainbow.  Even clarifying intentions often won’t put it back on track.

Sadly this type of behavior occurs regularly in most organizations.  It is of course exacerbated by cultural bias, but it is not unusual to see the dance occur, regardless of culture.

To my amusement, often I observe  those who are actually in violent agreement (based on what they are saying) but appear to be just the opposite (i.e., violent disagreement).

Just Listen

The root cause of this type of adversarial discussions lies with  misunderstood intentions.  These stem from listening skills.  That is not just hearing the words but rather the message.

For me as I watch the head butting, or even when I am the object of head butting it never ceases to amaze how agreement is manipulated into disagreement.

Don’t Get Hooked

The way out of these situations is to ensure you are not “hooked” by the others.  That is often the intention of the other party.  They believe if they can just get the hook firmly embedded in your throat they can hall you in.

Unfortunately the result is usually dissatisfaction to all which is of course really unfortunate since the whole situation was actually on the brink of a great collaboration.

Ah, to behave like a human – we are just animals after all.

 

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Leaving your comfort zone

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Routine activities can provide you with a feeling of comfort.  By definition these are things you do regularly.  Overtime they become intuitive, there is little unknown and risk , doubt, stress levels are low.

Routine things are part of your comfort zone.  Knowledge, experience, and  skill levels are all high when you are in the zone. So why leave there?

Challenge Yourself

At the risk of being trite, life is meant to be lived to it fullest.  Staying in your comfort zone does not typically reflect living to the fullest. That is experiencing new things, embracing challenges and figuring it out.

Stay Balanced

This is not to suggest moving to an extreme behaviour and living on the edge.  There is the need for a balance between living in relative safety and stretching the envelope.

This balance is very personal and attached to you as a person.  For each of us, the amount of time spent in your comfort zone versus that spent bursting out of it  works best when it is the right mix that conforms to our personalities, value system and so on.

For Example

You may have worked for others as an employee for a long time, this is your comfort zone in the employment space.  You decide to change to self employed or become entrepreneurial and strike out on your own.

A balanced approach to this change could involve taking a part time job initially doing something you know well and are familiar to balance against the unfamiliar activities you are trying out.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Behaviour and Motivation

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Everthing a person does can be classified as behaviour.   Simply put behaviour is the way in which one acts or conducts oneself.  It’s probably safe to assume there is some motivation for your behaviour.

Why do you behave the way you do?

However you act, most likely the ultimate motive is self serving.  Cynically speaking even a charitable behaviour could be motivated by a personal need to be viewed as a caring and thoughtful person.

However, while a persons actions are exclusively self controlled the motivation (and therefore the resulting behaviour) could be influenced or impacted by others.

For example when you exclaim “you made me mad” to someone , it is an acknowledgement of their influence on you. To be correct though, only you could choose to be mad, regardless of the level or force or influence the other might have exercised.

Typically though, the influence of others can be a key motivator to our behaviour at any given time.

Leaders and Behaviour Motivation

A key leadership skill is to be able to behave in a way that results in the actions of others leading to positive outcomes.

A critical skill leaders can use to influence others is through awareness of the impact their behaviour is having .  That is the leader needs to do a real time assessment of the impacts they are having and changing focus accordingly, if needed.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

What state are you in?

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Regardless of what you do every day (e.g., work for money, pleasure, charity, retired etc) you can classify how you feel about the surrounding culture/ environment into one or more of four categories.

Each category defines your behaviour and motivates your actions. These are:

  1. unsatisfying/ does not meet your needs
  2. a good match that inspires you
  3. not perfect for you but presents an opportunity to influence change
  4. not to your liking but you accept it

Recognizing your environmental category is an important skill (self awareness) .  It helps you conciously act on the unconcious behavior drivers associated with the culture you are emeshed in.

Self awareness is an empowering skill that allows you to ensure your behaviour is appropriate to the circumstances.  That is, control how you act separate from how you feel, to ensure positive outcomes.

Unsatisfying

Typically you would be motivated to leave this environment as soon as feasible.  This is not usually a happy place for you.  Don’t let your feelings drive bad (inappropriate ) behaviour.

Good Match

Embrace the environment.  That is, embrace how things are and thrive.  Should not be hard.  In this case, you are fully comfortable with the culture.

Not Perfect

There is a real opportunity here to create an environment you would consider a good match and it’s worth trying to do so.  Impact and influence behaviours are key.  Have fun with it.

Not to your liking

This situation is the hardest to take and can morph into deciding to leave.  Normally there is some real motivation to stay (e.g., need the money and cannot readily find a replacement).  Usually you feel trapped, unhappy and stressed.  This is a category you want to move away from as quickly as possible.