SparkPilot blog

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

- Eleanor Roosevelt -

I was born and raised in Africa and like most places in the developing world (politically correct term for 3rd world) , culturally, we looked to the 1st world countries for leadership and guidance. As a teenager, I was fortunate enough to be exposed to a number of visitors from various 1st world countries. This exposure allowed me to see, firsthand, some of the cultural generalizations.

Working with American, the first thing I noticed was how they increased the volume of their voice when they perceived that someone did not understand them.

The second thing I noticed was their optimistic mindset.  They were always willing to give someone the benefit of the doubt and listened to their input, ideas and feedback in a non-judgmental manner. I watched in amazement how these people responded very well to this behavior. They changed from being interested parties to involved participants. It was awesome to see how the energy levels increased and how the folks cooperated together.  Needless to say, the goals were achieved quickly and with little fanfare.

I believe that one of the biggest advantages that the Americans have, is their optimistic mindset.

Over time, I have come to realize that the behavior that I was exposed to as a teenager was a combination of the optimistic mindset and also an ability to listen.  Listening is a skill that all managers should have in their arsenal and constantly practice.  For some of us, this does not come easily, but for the sake of your people please continue to work on it.

I recently came across a post regarding 10 reasons why people fail.  For the folks that know me, I prefer to focus on the positive but in this case I do believe that there are some great points raised. I have taken the liberty of changing the ranking sequence listed in the original post slightly.  I also inserted a number of  items of items of my own in the list.  Please refer to the original blog post for details on the reasons that are from the original post that can be found here:  10 Reasons Why You’re Probably Going to Fail

And the 13 Reasons…..

• It’s not your passion
• You don’t have a plan.
• You’re waiting for it to be perfect
• You’re afraid of failure
• You’re not willing to work hard
• You don’t have the skills or knowledge
  • Not knowing what to do becomes  tends to cause more paralysis the longer the challenge stays without a solution.  Here are some tips that can help:
    • Break the problem into smaller pieces
      • Large problems generally consist of lots of smaller issues/challenges.  Think of the problem as Thanks Giving dinner – eat it one mouthful at a time with a smile
    • Separate the problem from the solution
      • Define and understand the problem first.  When the problem is defined and clear, then work on the solution for each problem.
    • Put your ego away and ask for help
      • To soften the blow on the ego, you can do brainstorming sessions to elicit help from others.
      • Discuss the situation with your mentors and get their input.
      • Enlist help from team mates, when part of a team, it is less about asking for help and more about collaborative teamwork.  Remember, your baby is never ugly, so get people to help you make the baby.
    • Fill in the skills Gap
      • Attend a class
      • Do research and Read – books, blogs, Internet searches
      • Ask for help
• You don’t trust yourself
  • Or put differently, I don’t have the self confidence
    • The first thing here is to stop stabbing yourself with the butter knife!!!  Come on, putting yourself down like this is no different from stabbing yourself with a butter knife.  Your get to stab but no one knows that you are stabbing yourself because it is not life threatening.
    • Build yourself up through supportive statements
    • Trust in your instincts / gut, afterall in most case, your manager would not have hired you if you could not deliver the goods
    • Start small and build up slowly and regularly.  Succeed at least once a day!
• You do not have the support
  • We cannot succeed alone and we all need support.
    • Start by supporting yourself!!!  When others see that you are supporting yourself, they will follow your lead and support you too.
    • Support generates support other in a genuine manner because then they will support you
    • Ensure that you goals align with your manager’s because then they are incented to support in return
    • Teamwork and collaboration is the best source of support
    • Get a mentor(s) and/or a coach
• It’ll outgrow you
• You’ve had success in the past
• You’re unwilling to stop doing something else
• You won’t build a team of friends
• You won’t have the tough conversations

With the current Twilight craze going on, everyone is talking about Vampires and Wolves.  This got me thinking about the various “personalities” that we encounter at the office, more particularly High Performance Teams.  The three that came to mind, are the Vampires, Wolves and Zombies.

Vampires – there are different types of vampires.  The vampire that comes to mind is the blood sucker or the Sang Vampire or Sanguinarian Vampire as the smart people call them.  There are a number of other types but the one that I will touch on here is the Psychic Vampire or Psi Vampire.  These folks will either conscious or unconsciously feed on the life-energy of others.  In the majority of cases, they will feed from the energy from groups but the ones that we need to be aware of,  are the ones that suck the energy from us individually.  For me, the best way to handle these folks that come to drain our energy is just to say “No!”.   It does not make them bad people and often they do not realize what they are doing, they just find it energizing to be around you or in large groups.

Wolves – These guys & gals have their territories and search for food in those territories, they run in packs and will defend against anything that they perceive encroaches on their turf.  Because they are pack animals, the key is for them to see you as part of the pack and to achieve this, the key is to remind them that the enemy is not inside the company.  The enemy is outside the company and in most cases it requires management support to define the common enemy.  That is why they are called competitors.  Internally in the company we call the people that we work with colleagues.

Zombies – these are the folks that come to the office because they need the paycheck.  I am not judging this behavior, I am pointing out that the problem with this behavior is the impact on the rest of the High Performance Team who are busting their humps to solve the business need in the most expedient manner.  Therefore as managers, these folks are our biggest challenge because we need to help them with their self awareness, so that they can see the impact of their behavior on the rest of the team.  I have found that they tend to be blissfully unaware of the impact that their behavior is having on the on the team.  They tend to be horrified when they see how their lack of commitment is impacting the team. They are stunned when they see that their team mates are having to fill in for them not being fully engaged.  In certain cases, some of the team are putting in 110% to make up for them just cruising at 60%.

If the zombie chooses to make the transition back the land of the living, they will struggle with the change in priorities.  Often they are unprepared to handle the sacrifices that the changed priorities demand.  Managers need to be there for their folks to help them and coach them through these new challenges.  As the zombie reengage with the High Performance Team, often they will dedicate a significant amount of time and effort, they need to search for alternative techniques and skills that will allow them to meet the biz needs in a more efficient and sustainable manner.

I don’t know about you but I have run into the situation where a great employee  is not delivering the results that the business needs.  Here is the question that I ask myself:

If I put that person in a Life or Death situation where they face death if they are unable to deliver the results.  Are they able to deliver the results?

And the options are:

• if they are able to deliver the results: – then there is a motivation issue
• if they are still not able to deliver the results: -  then there is a skills issue

I do not recommend that you put any of your people in a Life or Death situation.  For me, the ideal approach is to have conversations with them to determine what the issue(s) are.  As long as you have already established a culture where they can share issues without any repercussions, they will share with you.

by Cherie Carter-Scott

1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it’s yours to keep for the entire period.
2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called, “life.”
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The “failed” experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately “work.”
4. Lessons are repeated until they are learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.
5. Learning lessons does not end. There’s no part of life that doesn’t contain its lessons. If you’re alive, that means there are still lessons to be learned.
6. There” is no better a place than “here.” When your “there” has become a “here”, you will simply obtain another “there” that will again look better than “here.
7. Other people are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.
8. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.
9. Your answers lie within you. The answers to life’s questions lie within you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.
10. You will forget all this.

I come from a software development background and this is an age old discussion.  When should we buy technology or product and when should we build it ourselves.  As engineers, we tend to believe that we can build it better than anyone else.  As a result of this mindset,we tend lean towards building it ourselves and then rationalizing the decision.  Therefore I use a number of evaluation criteria to help overcome this bias and to ensure that we make decisions that are beneficial to the company.  Some of the evaluation criteria that we use are: time to build, predictable costs of buying, risk of building, specific / customized requirements, discovery of unknown issue(s) during building, scope creep, and of course time to market.

Now, let’s go back to management and look at a similar decision that we have to make on how to staff our teams.  Do we bring in talent from outside (buy) or do we grow (build) someone that we know into the position?

some of the benefits of growing a known person into the position

• known entity – we know how they will fit in with the team and have existing relationships inside the company that they can leverage
• risk - Because they are a known entity, they are a known risk
• employee motivation – when the company is prepared to invest in people, it definitely helps boost the team morale which helps motivate people to grow
• integrated into culture – the person is already integrated into company culture and therefore there will be able to operate within the culture
• team player – because they are known, you know if they are a team player or not

some of the cons of growing a known person the position

• growth time – it takes time for a person to grow and acquire the skills needed
• training – not only is there the financial investment with training but there is also the question that the training investment will be able to be converted into results
• errors – mistakes are part of the learning experience
• risk – it is possible that the person will not be able to perform at the higher level
• company focused growth – as the person grows into the position, their growth can easily be customized or focused to meet the company / team needs
• personal investment – for the employee to grow, they will need to invest in themselves and often they underestimate the investment needed or are not willing to make the sacrifices needed to learn and grow

some of the benefits of bringing in new talent

• fresh perspective – new people bring their perspectives and experiences that can greatly contribute to the team diversity
• exact skills needed – because require skills are available immediately, the results are delivered with a shorter wait
• acclimatization only – because the new outside talent already has the skills needed, all that remains is for them to acclimatize

some of the cons of bringing in new talent

• unknown entity – we will still need to discover what the person’s weak point are
• integration into the team / company – how will the person mesh with the company culture / team climate
• resume inflation – does the person really have the skills that they claimed to have?

So, after looking at these Pro & Cons, is it better to build or buy your ideal employee?

Although, I have a preference to build.  It really depends on the business need.  Do we have the time  to invest in our people and still achieve the business results?

In the end, the decision really boils down to the person.  Here are some of the additional items that I take into consideration.

• drive / self motivation – Is the person a self starter?  Do they turn into a victim when the going gets tough or do they persevere through challenges?  This is so much easier to evaluate with a known entity.
• team work – are they a team player?  Again definitely easier with a known entity.
• work ethic – I am one of those that does not believe that it can be learned?
• feedback – How do they respond to feedback?
• mental horsepower – simply put, gotta have the mental capability and be able to use it to solve the business challenges on hand

I recently attended a talk by a famous professional photographer.  At one stage in his career he had grown his company to a point where he was hiring a lot of people, wearing a suit and no longer shooting photographs himself.  Therefore he was looking for and hiring talented photographers, to do the shooting, while he ran the business.  He started off basing his hiring decision on the normal criteria of skills, work ethic, interpersonal skills and sales ability.  Often he had numerous candidates that all had the same skill level and could all perform the job.

Over time he found that the folks that were passionate about photography, would go the extra mile needed to do a great job thereby ensuring a higher level of customer service and satisfaction.  Therefore he came to conclusion that passion should be his primary decision making point, followed by the rest of the criteria.  As a result of this change, he found that his pool of candidates was significantly smaller.  Surprisingly he also found that his pool of candidates had a slightly lower skill level but were more than willing to go that extra mile to ensure a great job.  So he took a chance with the lower skill level and moved ahead.  It was a successful gamble and he now attributes this change of hiring policy as one of the pivotal points that contributed to his business growth.

The image on the right, shows quite a gap between what is needed and the skills and and passion combination.  This gap (the visible red portion) is a massive opportunity that someone else can easily step into.

As I am writing this post, a rerun of Hells Kitchen was playing in the background.  Gordon Ramsey said the following to one of the contestants:   “I can teach a chef to cook but I cannot give you a heart.”

So is Passion a key element for success? I believe that passion can be a key differentiator.  It can be a great multiplier for your capabilities and can help close the gap between skills and the need.  (as shown in the image on the left)

I say that passion can be a great multiplier because passion is a blade that can cut both ways.  You need to channel your passion in a manner that complements your capabilities and not against your capabilities.  For example, throwing a temper tantrum when things do not work out your way is a good example of passion going against you.  Leverage your passion to complement your capabilities while being very aware of the possible price of passionate behavior.

So if passion is so important, what do I do if I am not passionate about what I am currently doing?  The answer is short and simple.  Do something that you can be passionate about.  Go and experiment and try different things.  A well known author only discovered her passion when she was her early 40′s.  It took her 8 years to write the book and it has since been reprinted 43 times.  Those culinary blood hounds will know that I am referring to Julia Childs.  So if you do not know what your passion is, go an experiment, learn from failures and try new things until you find your passion.  Until then be very passionate about what your current word provides you with.

When you do what you are passionate about what you are working on, it comes through in not only the results but also in how you go about your efforts.  Not only will your passion be evident to others but it also provide you with an additional level of energy.  When channeled appropriately it will provide yu with an additional 10% without you realizing it.

I have been reading various articles and books by ED Hirsch; his writing is thought provoking.  Although the most of his writings are focused on the state of the American schooling and how the reading and comprehension.  Naturally, I am trying to apply his perspectives to my life as a hi-tech professional.

My takeaways from his writings are:

• Reading is the comparatively simple exercise of deciphering the letters and words
• Comprehension is the more complicated effort where the intent behind the words needs to be understood.
  • As part of our daily interchange we often need to understand what is being not said as well as what not being.  After all we need to understand what the person is trying to communicate and what what they say sometimes…..
  • We need to have a baseline level of knowledge about the topic to understand what is being communicated.  He used tennis example and conveyed the message very well because if you do not know that the games stops for rain or a baseline game is, you will not be able to follow the conversation.

These points got me thinking about these points and the lessons that can be taken across to the work environment.

Here are Ed Hirsch’s books on Amazon:

One of the PMs in my org shared this with me earlier today.  Thanks Susan!   It is a slide show from Netflix titled: Reference Guide on our Freedom and Responsibility Culture. 

Although I really enjoyed the deck, here are some of the messages that really resonated with me.

Slide 19 – The 9 behaviors and skills: Judgment, Communication, Impact, Curiosity, Innovation, Courage, Passion, Honesty, and Selflessness.

Slide 33 – It’s about effectiveness – not effort – even though effectiveness is harder to assess than effort.

Slide 38 – The Rare Responsible Person – Self motivating, Self aware, Self Disciplined, Self improving, Acts like a leader, Doesn’t wait to be told what to do, Never feels “that’s not my job”, Picks up the trash lying on the floor, and Behaves like an owner.

Slide 77 – The best managers figure out how to get great outcomes by setting the appropriate context, rather than by trying to control their people.

Slide 78 – Context – Strategy, Metrics, Assumptions, Objectives, Clearly-defined roles, Knowledge of the stakes, Transparency around decision-making. Exceptions (emergencies, learning, wrong person) slide 79

Slide 82 – Good Context – Link to company/functional goals, Relative priority (how important/how time sensitive), Level of precision & refinement (no errors, good enough, rough), Key stakeholders, Key metrics/definition of success

Slide 115 – High performance people are generally self-improving through experience, observation, introspection, reading and discussion.

The slides can be found here: http://www.slideshare.net/reed2001/culture-1798664

Business has changed:  We have moved from business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) to Consumer to Consumer(C2C) model.  20 years ago C2C was pretty much limited to a swap meets.

I believe that the face of management has also changed.  There is a move from the pure hierarchical model where top-down rules to a more social form of leadership where the followers get to choose who they want to follow.

To me, there is a new social era of management where leadership plays a much larger role than before.  This is especially important when working with Millennials.

Here are some  key elements:

• put your followers first
  • if you put yourself first, they will follow your lead
• listen to your followers
  • feedback from your followers is important – listen to it!
• grow your followers
  • provide feedback consistantly
• trust your followers
• share information with your followers
• step out of the way and allow your followers to step into the vacuum – enabling you to move into something else

I came across this blog post yesterday; it is by F. John Reh and titled Hire Talent, Not Just Skills – http://management.about.com/b/2009/07/06/hire-talent-not-just-skills.htm.

It got me thinking about how hiring the right person can solve both the short term and also the long term challenges that the business is facing.  Even the most talented candidate will require time to acclimatize before they can work on meeting the business needs.

However even with someone with immense talent, in addition to time, it takes an investment from the manager to provide the candidate with regular coaching sessions and also ensure that the opportunities are provided for the candidate.

I have seen managers totally ignore this responsibility and as a result not only does the company lose because it takes longer for their investment in the talented candidate to mature.  The candidate also loses because their career does not progress as they expected, which often creates a negative perception about that company.

The candidate is not without responsibility in this equation.  The candidate needs to evaluate both the managers and the company culture on growth.  After the candidate has joined, they now need to manage their growth and totally embrace the opportunities presented.

Over the years I have had many discussions around setting career goals.  Many of these discussions centered around people not knowing what they want to do when they grow up.

Here are some suggestions that have helped folks in the past.

• Identify some roles that sound interesting and go and speak with the folks who are already in those roles.  In most cases they are willing to discuss it and share what it takes to fulfill the role.  If things still sound interesting then take it to the next level and see if you can shadow the person for a day or two.
• Often it is easier to start with what you do not like. Create a list of roles that are not attractive at all.  Analyze those positions to determine what it is that is distasteful to you.  Convert the dislike list to a like list and simply use it to identify possible roles that meet those criteria.  Evaluate the roles as per the previous point.
• If your company has a website that lists open positions.  Find some positions that you find interesting and would like to have in the future.  Go the the hiring manager for those positions;  explain to the hiring manager that although you know that you are not currently qualified but you would like to understand what they are looking for in a person to fulfill that role.  After a couple of these discussions, you have a clear understanding of what the hiring managers are looking for.  Now do a self assessment and create a GAP analysis between where you are today and what you need to be.

Hopefully by following some of these suggestions and merging them with your own ideas, you will have worked out what it is that you want to do or where you want to be.

To build the action plan:

• Write down the end goal
• Working backwards from the end goal write down steps along the way back to the present
• These steps are your roadmap to that goal
• It is much easier to determine what it will take to achieve the steps along the way

Review the roadmap and discuss it with your mentors, coach or boss to gather feedback.  To take this to the next level, put dates to each step.

Work at each step and do not forget to hold yourself accountable.

During one of my mentor sessions, I was educated about a bit of American history, specifically about a lady called Harriet Tubman.  A short biography can be found here:  http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761567329/Harriet_Tubman.html and  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Tubman

I was struck by how she overcame so many obstacles to make such a significant impact on the lives of so many others.

• Born to slave parents and therefore she was destined to be a slave too.
• She was a woman at a time when women had few rights.
• She was African American at a time when racism was deemed acceptable in the South.
• She was hired out as a slave while she was still a child.
• She was beaten and whipped on numerous occasions.
• She was illiterate.
• As a teenager she was almost killed after being struck in head by a weight that was thrown at her by the overseer of an escaping slave.  She suffered from headaches, seizures and bouts of sleeping spells for the rest of her life because of this injury.
• Despite numerous attempts, her poor health meant that she could not be sold.
• Her family was split up because they were sold as slave to out-of-state masters.
• She used to work as a domestic worker to make enough money so that she could head back to the South to help free slaves.
• Despite working for the military for no pay, she was denied a military pension after the war too.
• She struggled financially her whole life.

Despite these obstacles, her achievements are astounding!

• She managed to escape from slavery in the South.
• She worked as a domestic worker to raise funds that enabled her to return to the South to free more slaves.
• She then returned to free her family from slavery.
• Her military service started with her serving as a cook and nurse before she migrated to a more active roles as a spy and scout behind enemy lines.
• She continued to return to the South and liberated a reported 70 to 300 slaves. (exact number is unclear)
• Her nickname was “Moses”
• She never lost a single slave on her many rescue missions.
• After the war she cared for her parents.
• She started a new career as a community activist, humanitarian, and suffragist.

I am in the hi technology industry and therefore I am very comfortable working at companies that are growing and leading teams that are growing.  Now let’s take a look at this year-to-year growth where the ellipses show the needs of the business.  In this example our employee, which we will call Mo, is represented by a star.

Year 1

The blue ellipse shows the business needs for Year 1.  Mo is doing pretty well in Year 1 because his skills put him on the high end of the business needs.  Therefore he is well within his comfort zone to deliver against the needs of the business.

Year 2

The greenish ellipse shows the business needs for Year 2 have moved on from where they were in Year 1.  Mo is not doing very well here though because he barely has the skills needed to successfully meet the business needs.  Mo is going to have to have to step up and grow his skills.  Mo needs to either have the self awareness that the business needs are changing or he could be caught unawares that his skills not longer meeting the business needs.

Year 3

The orange ellipse shows the business needs for Year 3.  Mo is in serious trouble here because he does not have the skills needed to meet the business needs.

The disadvantages of this model

• In Year 3 Mo might find himself unemployed or marginalized due to his skills not meeting the business needs.
• In Year 3, the business might need to go through the expenses of recruiting someone that can meet the needs of the business.
• Replacing Mo will not only disrupt the team dynamics but it will also take time for the new person to acclimatise to the business.

Improved Situation

Now let’s take look at another scenario where Mo is not stagnant and grows his skills in a similar direction to what the business is moving in.

Year 1

The blue ellipse shows the business needs for Year 1.  Mo is doing pretty well in Year 1 because his skills put him on the high end of the business needs.  Therefore he is well within his comfort zone to deliver against the needs of the business.

Years 2 & 3

The greenish ellipse shows the business needs for Year 2 have moved on from where they were in Year 1.  Mo’s skills have improved too and he is keeping track and staying aligned with the needs of the business.

The benefits

There are significant benefits to Mo growing his skills.

• People that are growing tend to find their work roles to be much more rewarding and therefore are much happier employees.
• If one person grows, they tend to drag the rest of the team along the road too, ultimately resulting in a team climate of growth.
• Because Mo’s growth is parallel with the business needs, they both win because he can customize his growth to meet the needs of the business.  The business gets someone that is really closely aligned with the needs.
• The team dynamics continue to improve and grow because people get to knw each other better and therefore they are able to work better as a more cohesive unit.

Recently I had a conversation with a colleague about my post on “hiring the best”.  Our conversation hinged on the implications on the manager of hiring less than the best.  Here are some of the key points from our discussion.

less overhead on the manager

Both of us were of the opinion that it is much easier on the manager to have more capable people on our teams.  Although both of us had many exceptions come to mind where some highly skilled people lacked certain soft skills.  We are of the opinion that well rounded and skilled people  need little to no guidance from their manager. These people are also able to offload work from us, thereby allowing to focus our time in other areas.

impact on the team

Will Smith’s interpretation of an old Confucius analect  is: “You are who you associate with” and this is definitely holds true.  In my experience, all it takes is for one person to raise the bar resulting in a positive impact on the team and those who deal with the team.

irritation factor

Then there is the irritation factor.  This is when the junior person is not able to meet the expectations, or  interrupts fellow team members to ask for guidance.  The irritation level can grow quickly if the person does not have the soft skills needed or the mental horse power needed to learn quickly and perform.

learning vs adaptation

A junior person requires time to learn and get up to speed.  They have to improve on multiple fronts:  They need to learn how to fulfill the role and also learn the skills needed to deliver the goods.  This takes time, drive and effort.  To contrast this where the more experienced/senior person can adapt to the new environment.  Because they already have the skills, they are able to simply slot into the role and start to deliver the goods.

financial impact

Having spent many years with startups; I am sensitive to the impact on the cash flow that a senior and experienced person can have.  I do believe that hiring the best that you can afford is the best option for all concerned.  The return-on-investment (ROI) for the more skilled person far outweighs costs and in most cases I believe that a skilled person with soft skills is worth way more than a more junior and less capable person.

time

For the most part, the more junior the person, the longer it takes for them to be fully productive.  The more senor people are able to be productive in days or weeks and not months or years.

flexibility

This can be a massive challenge and I have seen ot go both ways and therefore is one of my hiring requirements now.

capability

By hiring the person that is most capable also increases the team’s capability to deliver more and faster.  Because the team is more capable, they are able to achieve more and therefore win more.  Winning leads to more winning.

In a previous post, I wrote about a lesson that I learned almost two decades back. The post can be found here:  http://sparkpilot.com/blog/?p=1034

During a recent continuing education session, the instructor covered these five stages of competence, she was not able to cite a source.  Here is my interpretation of the lesson.

Five stages of competence

• Stage I – Unconscious incompetence – the person is blissfully unaware of their ignorance
• Stage II – Conscious incompetence – the person aware of their skills shortage
• Stage III – Conscious competence – the person is able to demonstrate their competence with a high level of concentration or focus
• Stage IV – Unconscious competence – the person is able to demonstrate their competence with a low level of concentration or focus
• Stage V – Shared competence – the person is able to teach others by explaining not only how but also the the why’s to achieve a level of competency

Since this training session, I have come across many references to the 4 stages and one or two on the 5th stage.   However the areas that seems to get little attention is what it takes to move between the stages.

Now let’s look at how we can move between the various stages, after all isn’t that what it is all about?

Feedback

Feedback is the catalyst that enables someone to start this journey because it creates the awareness.

I have covered feedback in previous posts:

• Why should I listen to feedback? – http://sparkpilot.com/blog/?p=1098

• Feedback – http://sparkpilot.com/blog/?p=850

• Feedback for Managers – http://sparkpilot.com/blog/?p=996

The key thing about feedback is that the person that is receiving the feedback can choose to act upon the feedback or disregard the feedback.  I have found people disregard very good and accurate feedback because they were not ready to change or because they did not like the messenger.

Remember the following quote: “There are only two people who can tell you the truth about yourself – an enemy who has lost his temper and a friend who loves you dearly.”

Knowledge

According to Sir Francis Bacon, “Knowledge is Power” and in this case it is the power to move from Stage 2 to Stage 3.  I look at knowledge gathering and continued growth as stocking my bank account.  Just like the real world where I need to work and gather funds to store in my bank account for a rainy day, the same holds true for knowledge. I personally do not believe that we ever leave this stage because the pursuit of knowledge and growth is a never ending journey.

books – I used to have a direct that diligently would get books from the company library but left them on his bookshelf until the recall notice.  This does not help!!  Osmosis simply does not work with books!  Schedule time to read every day, if you read for 30 minutes every work day, that gives you more than 120 hours of reading per year!

mentoring – Getting a mentor because it allows you to learn from other peoples mistakes and experiences.  Basically it allows you to leverage lessons that others have paid the price for.

peer learning – learning from your peers is an opportunity that most people do not make use of.  I have learned so much from peers that now I search out people in different organizations with different skills so that I can learn from their totally different perspectives.  When I was in startups, I used my network with people in other companies.

Internet – there are so many resources on the Internet that are free.  The selection of  blogs, podcasts, videocasts, youtube videos and free monthly articles from reputable magazines is mind boggling.  Use an RSS feed reader to know when new items are published.  Beware that just because it is free, it is not always right and sometimes you get what you pay for!

self-study – sometimes it just takes a lot of hard work.  Approach this skills and knowledge gathering and growth effort with the diligence and dedication that it takes to achieve a degree from from a top notch university.

Experience

The Stage 3 to Stage 4 step is often the most difficult step because it requires you to implement the knowledge gained and to put it into practice.  Take those book smarts and put them into practice by creating an action plan on how you  are going to action the knowledge that you have gained.

The experience step is a learning step and not just the execution step!  It is imperative to implement the knowledge, learn from the experience of implementing the knowledge, gather feedback on how you implemented the knowledge, learn from the results or the lack of results.  And remember that it takes time for people to process your attempt at execution.  This is the piece that differentiates the fresh MBA graduate from the real world.  Take that knowledge, even if you gained some of it through an MBA and turn it into experience.

Learn from your experiences and continually improve!

Share

Although this is an optional step, I believe that this sharing step is the one where you can learn the most.  If you think you know how to do something, try to teach it to someone else.  As the saying goes “the best way to really learn something is to teach others” really does hold true and therefore I believe that learning to share your knowledge and skills really helps you perform better too.

This week I had a discussion with a program manager about assumptions and not asking the customers / users open ended questions to fully understand the problem.

I asked him to remember this saying:

“When you assume something, you make an ass of u and me“

Today during a 1:1 with one of my directs, let’s call him Curly, we spoke about feedback and people not behaving defensively when they receive it.  We discussed the mandatory response of “Thank You” .  Curly shared a slightly off-color piece of guidance that he was given at a training session earlier this year.  The guidance was:

“Curly, when you are with a woman and she gives you guidance on how to turn her on.  Do you follow it or do you ignore it?”

After this piece of guidance, he has not been able to be defensive about any feedback that he is given and his heart felt response is always “Thank You”

I have no idea what is going on at the moment but clearly the market reset is creating a bit of a silly season.  The Seagull Syndrome is when some senior person flies in, eats your food, squawks at everyone and finally craps on you as they fly out.  Generally this occurs on a monthly or quarterly basis and other than these visits, you never hear from these people for the rest of the time.  In the past, I have the misfortune of calling people that behave like this management.

Despite the label associated with this behavior, it is extremely destructive to the people on the receiving side and the people quickly learn to brush off the behavior and often land up disregarding what the “seagull” might have to say.  The seagull also pays a price because their credibility starts to deteriorate with the people.

The loss of credibility for anyone is damaging but it is especially damaging for a manager.  As managers we need to be aware of any inconsistant behaviors that we might be demonstrating.  As employees, we should provide feedback to management so that they can be aware of their actions and the impact on us and the need for consistentincy.