littlebluepenguins.com

Equlibrium vs. Balance

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 05:20:01 GMT

In Nancy Ortberg's book unleashing the POWER of rubber bands she briefly mentioned there was a difference between balance and equilibrium. I've been thinking about that and she's right there is a difference. Managers strive to keep things in equilibrium while leaders work to move the equilibrium from the lowest level of stability to a higher level while maintaining a balance.

Managers manage, they maintain. That implies they keep things they way they are. In a lot of organizations it is easy for people to adapt to the current situation and to get comfortable. From my perspective that's what a manager would be good at, keeping people comfortable and managing the forces that are trying to pull the current situation out of equilibruium.

Leaders are different in that they take themselves and us to a different place. That means that sometimes they have to make us uncomfortable and upset the equilibrium to push it into a higher place. That's balancing! Balancing the status quo for what we can and need to become; the way we do things with the way we need to start doing things; current infrastructure with new technology, methods, and attitutdes. Raising the standards is risky. It takes constant attention and constant adjustments. To physically balance an object you keep your eye on the top while making adjustments on the bottom. That is what a leader does! The leader keeps their focus on where they want to go while making adjustments in the present. Balance and equilibrium are different! So are managing and leading.

Intentions and Actions

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 11:00:50 GMT

Driving my youngest to school every day can lead to some unexpected lessons. Most of the time we listen to the radio or talk about what she’s going to do in school that day but occasionally the traffic is a little too much for me to engage with her. This past week with all the snow was one of those times.

Because traffic was coming to a complete stop ahead I got off the free way an exit early. At the end of the ramp there is a stop sign. For a right hand turn, which I needed to make, there are two lanes of traffic. The farthest lane was bumper to bumper but the lane I needed to pull into was empty. So I pulled out and stayed even with the bumper to bumper traffic as it moved forward looking for a place to merge. No go. In fact a lady in the right hand lane keep me boxed out all the way up and yelled an obscenity at me. I thought I was doing the right thing but obviously she didn’t and she felt pretty strongly that I was cutting in on her and the rest of those in line.

My intention wasn’t to be what she called me out her window but somehow my actions, or perceived actions, conveyed another message. Not to be too nice here I wasn’t happy with her actions either.

Let me ask you a question…Are you an honest person with integrity? I hope you answered yes, yes I am! We will judge ourselves based on our intentions but the only thing we can judge others on is their actions. That lady in the car didn’t know me and had no reason to believe my actions, or how she perceived my actions, were anything but selfish even though, in my mind, I wasn’t trying to be selfish.

I would like to think if we could have talked about it we could have worked it out. Where in your work life might there be some miscommunication or understanding about intentions and actions? That is a vital conversation to have.

Humor at work?

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:41:17 GMT

Humor at work, is it an oxymoron?

Can you have fun at work? Should you have fun at work? Well the short answer is yes to both. Humor in the workplace is not an oxymoron and in fact has been shown to have positive impact on creativity and productivity in the workplace.

The effects of humor at work, as long as it is positive humor, are numerous. One interesting effect is that it increases employee citizenship.

This refers to employees helping each other, being loyal to and showing pride in their organization.

Fortune Magazine rates the top 100 places to work every year. One of the differences that has shown up between great and good companies is if employees think it is a fun place to work. Employees at great companies report far more often that they work in a fun environment.

If you want more information I’ve posted a short presentation on line. If you want to see that short video click the picture of me and the "fish."

Real Change Happens

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:37:56 GMT

In his latest article Testing, Testing in the New Yorker Atul Gawande presents a model for taking on health care reform by linking it to the model the USDA used to improve farmers yields over a hundred years ago. In the early 1900’s 40% of a US family’s income went to buying food and it took about 50% of the US labor force to produce the food. It wasn’t a very efficient or effective system.

In other countries in similar situations the government went in and dictated how farming would be improved. In many of those cases disaster resulted and thousands starved. In the US with our strong sense of individualism a different method was used. In short, instead of telling the farmers how to farm one lone Extension Agent (Seaman Asahel Knapp) convinced one farmer (Walter C. Porter) in Texas to experiment with a mere 70 acres of cotton. When that little experiment yielded the farmer an extra $700 (that’s a lot in 1903!), despite the boll weevil blight that year, other farmers took notice and changed their methods.

Gawande makes a great argument but this method isn’t just about the health care debate. He has outlined a process that underlies all real change. A lot of folks in leadership positions believe they can mandate change from their position of power. That usually gets the opposition to circle the wagons and prepare for a fight. What the USDA knew, or stumbled upon, was A. change usually starts on the outside and B. we believe the results we get for ourselves. As Seaman Asahel Knapp said "What a man hears, he may doubt; what he sees, he may possibly doubt; but what he does himself, he cannot doubt."

When that first farmer was convinced other farmers took notice and wanted in on the new methods too. The change started out small as a pilot away from central headquarters and worked its way into common practice. What changes need to happen where you work? What can you do to put some small pilot programs in to practice to see what works? When you find some new practice that works spread the word.

Stewardship vs. Ownership

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:02:49 GMT

Looking through the book Teach Your Team to Fish by Laurie Beth Jones I was struck by her discussion of the differences between stewardship and ownership. She’s right! Leaders trying to get their teams to own their work are setting up behaviors that they don’t want. Owners have the view that this is mine. When I have that view then I can do with “it” what I want. I can love it, hate it, improve it, or even ruin it. It’s mine. I am accountable to me.

But stewardship implies that we don’t own “it” we are just taking care of “it” temporarily. That creates a whole different attitude, doesn’t it? Now I am responsible to those who follow me. I now know that I will some day pass this “it” off to someone else for safe keeping. That makes me accountable to someone else. I don’t want to turn over my job, my responsibilities, to someone else in bad shape. That would make me look bad and point out that I haven’t been doing a very good job.

What a difference that little change in words can have on our attitude. There has been a lot of talk about getting employees to take ownership of their work. I know I have said that in my training classes. That will change. Stewardship of their work is what we want our fellow workers to have and that change will lead to better teamwork and outcomes.

TEDx Rochester, NY

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:52:34 GMT

The first TEDx Rochester conference was held this past week. If you don't know what a TED Conferecen is, check out their web site at www.ted.com. What a great event. I was honored to be an invited guest of one of this year’s speakers, Larry Moss. The program was made up of 14 presenters from around the Rochester area and two videos of TED Conference presentations. We were treated to a wide breadth of information from building communities, nano technology, sustainable architecture, virtual world animation, to performance dance. Each presentation was between 10 and 18 minutes long and they were all interesting and very informative.

The whole idea of TED conferences (TED standing originally for technology, entertainment, and design) is an old idea made new. It seems to me to be a call back to the time before television when people would go out at night in search of education. Some would certainly look for entertainment but others would attend lectures. The TED franchise seems to have taken that idea and brought it forward changed the format from one speaker to many and shortened the time for each presenter to adapt to our modern attention spans.

For me personally I heard presenters, good presenters, talking about topics I would normally never seek out. Who knows where the cross pollination of ideas might lead? This could also be done, and is, on Youtube or on television, but the conference gives the audience the treat of seeing it live and also the opportunity to talk to the presenters in the lobby. There is a value in that that cannot be replicated. It was a well run, entertaining, and informative event and I hope there are many more.

Breakfast with Elmo

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:18:50 GMT

Joel Goodman puts on a Humor Conference every year in Saratoga Springs, NY area. It is a very well run and informative conference and I highly recommend it. When I attended, Kevin Clash, aka the voice of Elmo, attended and received an award for his outstanding work. One morning during the conference I had the pleasure of having breakfast with him and getting to know him a little bit. Several times during that brief time someone would come over and say hi and mention that their 2 to 4 year old loved Elmo. Every time Kevin did the same thing. He asked where their child was at the moment. If they were home and near a phone Kevin would offer to have Elmo talk to them. You can imagine how each parent felt that they had arranged for their child to speak personally with Elmo! That had to make their day, week, month!

I asked Kevin about it. He explained that most of the time he is completely anonymous, that Elmo has given him a great life that isn’t in the public eye and that when he can he is more than happy to give of himself and Elmo.

What a great lesson. Kevin recognizes those great things in his life and how Elmo has made it all possible. He is very appreciative and doesn’t hesitate to show that appreciation. Take time today to look at what gifts we have in our lives and show that appreciation.

Yet Another Reason I Juggle

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 07:47:17 GMT

If you've been reading this blog and looked at my web site you must know by now that I am an avid juggler. Here's a link to an article outling just another reason why I think it is a great activity.

BBC News

Taking One for the Team

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:45:37 GMT

Growing up I’ve had some interesting and not so elegant jobs. Early on in my working career I cleaned sewers for the McDonald, Ohio Street Department. When I worked for a summer at Cooper Weld Steel in Warren, Ohio I hooked pink steel bars in an area called the cradle for the cranes to pick up and move. Another job I had at that mill was to jump down on the rail tracks and shovel the steel slough out from between the rails and scramble back out before the next railcar came with another red hot ingot. Talk about sweating on the job!

In all sorts of organizations there are jobs that have to be done whether they are pleasant or not. It doesn’t matter, they have to be done. Some will complain and others don’t but the people who perform those tasks do the whole group a service, right? As for those other employees, I’m sure many feel that they are just glad someone is doing it and that it isn’t them. The attitude of the workers who are doing the must do jobs tells us a great deal. We’ve got to admire those people who take on those tasks with good humor.

This week I saw a job that raised the idea of taking one for the group to a whole new level for me. I had the pleasure to tour a small plant that is part of the Heluva Good Cheese Company. This little manufacturing plant in Wolcott, NY makes horseradish. They grind horseradish for 10 hours a day four days a week. Frank is the grinder. His work station is kept behind a large plastic barrier. I took one step into his space and my eyes instantly teared up and closed, I couldn’t keep them open. Frank is in there for most of the day four days a week. I asked him if you desensitized. His answer was simple and straightforward. “No.” His supervisor told me, he never complains. When Frank isn’t grinding he’s picking up other parts of the line to keep it moving. He is a real team player!

What does that mean to the group? No one has it worse them Frank in that plant. He comes in gets his job done and helps out. He brings a lot to his team and they are lucky to have him!

If you’ve got a Frank make sure he knows how much you appreciate him!

What do groups want vs. what they need.

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 04:22:37 GMT

What do groups want from their leader(s)? After years of watching groups do initiative problems, like the ones you’d find on a ropes course, I have come to a conclusion. Groups don’t know best.

I say this because, time after time as groups attack these initiative problems there comes a moment when the group is floundering and someone, or a couple of someones, tells the group what to do. “Move this way, do it like this” or some other command is issued and the group follows their orders. That’s all fine and good until that idea or line of thinking doesn’t work. Then it is the leader’s fault not the group’s fault. Yet that is exactly what the group wanted, they wanted someone to take charge and tell them what to do. Without input there will be no buy in. So what is a good leader to do?

Rarely does someone step in and control the group conversation and how they work together with comments like “Wait a second, let’s listen to everyone’s ideas,” or “Hold on we can’t all talk at once.” Both of which would be a good start on effective problem solving. Unless the group has been really coached they won’t listen to each other and break the problem down to attack it step by step. This isn’t new thinking, it’s been around forever but it just doesn’t happen without the leader making an inordinate effort to guide the group through the process. In fact the group will often attempt to overpower a leader trying to lead this way, because they just don’t want to take the time.

So the leader is in the double bind of not giving the group what they say they want and giving them something they don’t welcome. But that is why being in a leadership position is hard, important, and necessary, because groups may know what they want but not what they need.