Technological Accountability

A few weeks ago I signed up with a site that helps people track what they eat and share it with others if they wish. My hope is that this process of recording my consumption will help me be more aware of my food intake and result in weight loss as well as healthier habits. So far I think it’s doing a pretty good job, although I do still have a bit of a willpower issue.

As I considered this new technological accountability partner, I began pondering other ways technology plays a part in my productivity and success. It turns out that I use technology to help track, remember, and organize

• tasks;
• projects;
• events;
• what I read and when;
• meetings;
• breaks;
• written communication;
• notes;
• contact information; and
• interpersonal connections.

I have several technologies that assist with all of these things and I cringe to think what would end up slipping or not getting done if they were not in place. Technology is sometimes used as a scapegoat or point of failure for various life situations, but we can really only hold ourselves accountable as users for any personal deficiencies. For example, Facebook cannot be blamed for relationship failures. Outlook cannot be blamed for communication failures. It’s the user. By the same token, however, these technologies can be powerful accountability tools when used properly. It’s just a matter of finding the right combination of skills, time management, and tool sets in order to optimize them. And, of course, having the discipline and sense of responsibility to do so.

~ John

Standing Up

This week I have been approached by several people who informed me that there are other people starting to stand at their desks like I do (something I’ve done for over a year now). Today I am analyzing the situation to see what kind of leadership lessons might be gleaned from it.

When I began standing at my desk, I was in a rather closed-off part of a fairly small building with very little traffic. The past eight months, however, I have spent in a new location that has fairly high visibility and a good amount of traffic. Not only is my desk right next to a major pathway through my floor of the building, my head sticks up over the cubicle walls a bit, so it is fairly obvious that I am doing something different from everyone else. Here are a few observations I feel may be valuable and/or applicable for other situations:

• When you do something different, people notice. This may sound tremendously obvious, but how many of us purposefully stay under the radar by not standing out? Is that a good thing? Different takes a lot of forms and fashions, but it doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It is fun and rewarding to be different in a good way.
• People are interested in the difference. I cannot count the number of people who have stopped and asked me about standing up at work. I get to enthusiastically tell them about the health benefits and how it’s not as painful as they think. Some of these folks are the very ones that are trying it out for themselves. Many of them walk away seemingly unaffected by the conversation. It will be interesting to see how those people change as this practice catches on.
• People will follow your lead in making a difference if they perceive value in it. All of the folks I know of who have tried standing at their desks seem to have an interest in improving their health. Perhaps they even place more value on their health than on any perceived discomfort from standing. I’m sure there are a lot more factors that go into one’s decision on whether or not to stand at work, but I can’t help but think that seeing me stand day after day while staying positive and upbeat helps to drive their initiative and resolve.
• Adoption of change is not quick. This also seems like a statement right out of Captain Obvious’ book, but it is extremely important for us all to remember. Countless projects and initiatives are abandoned prematurely due to low adoption rates. Although I have been standing at work for over a year, I am just now seeing people giving it a serious try. If I were to make an active effort in communicating to more people about the value of standing, adoption would probably go up. It is worth noting here that adoption cannot be attained by implementation alone.

~ John

Understanding the Importance of Understanding

Early in my career, I was once asked to express what the most important attribute of a good trainer was in one word. My answer was understanding. I provided an explanation for my answer, which included some of the thoughts below, but I learn more and more every day how important understanding is in everyday life.

• Understanding that not everyone understands the same way I do.
• Understanding who I’m talking with.
• Understanding that mistakes are made, accidents happen, and no one is exempt.
• Understanding the difference between thoughtlessness and maliciousness.
• Understanding I need others to succeed.
• Understanding others need me to succeed.
• Understanding what is out of my hands.
• Understanding what is in my hands.
• Understanding when to speak and when to listen.
• Understanding how to speak.
• Understanding the value of time.
• Understanding that what I do matters.

Most of these are more developmental efforts than a “once and for all” understanding; however, working toward an ever-better understanding of each of these things has been invaluable. What understandings have been most important to you?

~ John

Your Domain

I listened to an intriguing talk recently by Jason Fried of 37 Signals in which he expressed the value of sharing knowledge about your domain and how it can be a powerful tool for marketing yourself and/or your company. As I listened it dawned on me that, in order to provide real value in the things we share with the world, we must have a clear understanding of what our domains are. Jason was primarily speaking from the perspective of business, but it seems to me that this concept applies to us personally as well. Whatever it is that we do, it behooves us to understand our particular domain so we can be focused on the right things.

The same night I listened to Jason’s talk, I read an HBR article in which a large part of Steve Jobs’ (and subsequently his company’s) success was attributed to his focus on doing relatively few things really well rather than attempting to provide products and services that were all over the map. This made a lot of sense to me and has caused me to more closely consider my domain so I can make the most impact. For example, based on my job description I am essentially a system administrator, but my domain is not system administration. My domain is helping people work smarter, more efficiently, and with higher quality by using technology; and it is actually that domain that led me to become a system administrator in the first place. So for me, developing myself within my domain and sharing the results will yield the greatest value to others. For someone else, his or her domain may truly be system administration and sharing knowledge of that domain will be of greatest value for that person.

This is not to say that your domain is not multifaceted. Developing skills in system administration is definitely going to improve my contribution to my domain, but it is important for me to understand that it is not my entire domain. This is also not to say that we do not have multiple domains. So far I have only touched on my professional domain. It would behoove me also to develop into a better husband and father in order to bring additional value to my home domain.

Whoever we are and whatever we do, it is worth asking, “what is my domain and how can I best contribute?” I wonder how many are out there who are oblivious to this. They go to their jobs, they manage their households, they go to school…and all the while they have a sense that they are just going through motions, not having an impact, and not feeling fulfilled. Perhaps it is all because they do not understand their domain and the difference they have the potential to make.

~ John

Being of Value

Human beings all have intrinsic value. It’s a shame that they are not all treated that way. Every time someone is directly or indirectly told he or she is worthless, a bit of their spirit diminishes. It’s amazing the different ways people are told they are worthless. Indifference, unreturned emails or phone calls, getting ignored, being left alone, getting told “it’s not my job,” being read a script rather than being talked with. Any of these sound familiar? Many of them are customer service faux pas…several of which I encountered just today. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve gotten that fits nearly any social situation is to treat everyone as a customer. It seems odd to me that we all know how we wanted to be treated as customer, but how seemingly few there are who actually know how to treat others that way.

In my job, there are few things that give me as much satisfaction as when my “customers” express the value they see in me as a result of something I have done for them. As I reflect on these times, I am reminded of some things that make for a great customer interaction and, consequently, great personal interactions of any kind.

• Greeting the customer in such a way that he or she still feels like a person and is being noticed.
• Letting the customer know what’s going on, even if the news isn’t so good.
• Doing what is promised. (By the way, if you say it, it’s a promise.)
• Doing more than what is promised…and without being asked.
• Doing anything of value for the customer without being asked.

I wonder how many of these things I miss doing day to day.

~ John

Plans Versus Reality

I remember a preacher once saying, “Man plans and God laughs.” As I have matured, I have learned more and more what he meant. It’s amazing how the execution of a plan is always different from the conceptual plan, even if only by a little bit. For example, my intention (or plan) was to write a blog post every day this year as part of something I am calling Learning 365 (Yes, I know this year has 366 days in it. Stay focused, smarty pants). I have learned some interesting things attempting to stick with this plan that I feel are very applicable to every plan or project in which we engage.

• Plans are a great launching point. Regardless of whether everything goes to plan or not, something will get done once the commitment is made to execute. Learning will occur, life will happen, and things will change, but we’re better off than doing nothing or going nowhere.
• Plans are rubber; we’re glue. Plans should never be considered concrete. Concrete breaks. Plans that are treated as rubber, however, can be made with the knowledge that they will change. Make contingency plans. Build in some fudge room. Rubber also bounces things back that should stick with us to be carried forward.
• People are more important than plans. If sticking rigidly to our plans is going to squash people, the plans need to be changed or dropped. With this blog, for example, spending time with family and getting proper rest to keep myself healthy, alert, and productive are all more important than forcing out posts. Consequently, posts will not be written every day as originally planned, but I’m okay with that. Posts will still be written.

So the next time we make some plans, let’s plan for some change and flexibility, knowing that the outcome is likely be different from what we expected…hopefully even better than expected.

~ John

Active Filtering

It is amazing how much stuff we filter through our senses at any given time. It is equally amazing how selective our filters are. For example, when we are sitting in restaurants or crowded rooms, it isn’t terribly difficult to filter out all of the surrounding conversations and noise in order to focus on a single discussion in which to participate. If someone were to say our names within an earshot in the same crowded area however, we would distinguish it from the other noise and redirect our attention. This type of filtering is actually mostly involuntary and something our brains do out of necessity. However, it seems to me that we could use the same filtering principles in many other situations in a more intentional, active way.

• Dealing with difficult people. I have noticed in recent times that, believe it or not, there are some good things to learn from those people we dislike or with whom we find it difficult to talk to or deal with. If we can take a moment to identify what it is about someone we are not crazy about, we can actually “turn on” a filter to weed out those things in order to sift out the nuggets of knowledge, etc. we can benefit from.
• Staying on task. I’ve seen a couple of blurbs recently about keeping a “To Don’t” list in addition to “To Do” lists. This is a rather creative filtering technique that I am interested in trying out. It goes back to the idea of identifying those things that are “noise” and keep us from being productive. Perhaps if we keep a list of things we should avoid in front of our faces, we can have better success in avoiding them.
• Prioritization. Similar to staying on task, filtering can be applied to priorities on all different levels. On a micro level, we can set priorities every day and filter out anything that does not fall within the scope of the top two or three priorities. On a macro level, we could have some overarching life priorities that can help us filter out any activities that fall outside of those. This falls along the same lines as writing an objective statement for every task and filtering out anything that does not work toward that objective.

At any rate, I am hoping we can all take advantage of the amazing power of our filters to become better. What filtration methods do you use?

~ John

Mini Mob Mentality

For my daughter’s fifth birthday, we had a sleepover for several of her friends. As some of the parents and grandparents left their little ones behind, they expressed their expectation that they would receive a phone call later that night from a little girl who wanted to come home. The next day when these same parents and grandparents came to pick up their little girls after not receiving such a call, they expressed how proud (and surprised) they were at how well the girls did.

One observation I made through our ordeal of having these six little girls stay at our house overnight was their sense of togetherness. When one wanted to color, others did too. When one wanted to play baby dolls, so did others. When one found it fun to use me as a human jungle gym, I got mobbed by all of the others who (thankfully) took turns doing the same. I believe it is this togetherness that gave them all the strength and wherewithal to make it through the night and into the next morning without an overwhelming need to go see their mommies.

I feel that this is a great, little picture of how we can get through life in togetherness and that there are some things we can learn from it.

• Have strong supporters. Although the little girls didn’t have their own mommies and daddies, they did have me and my wife. We did everything in our power to help them feel safe, secure, and taken care of. We all need people to fulfill this kind of role for us, so it behooves us to be the kind of people for whom others would want to engage in such a role.
• Have good peers. What ever the girls did, they always had a partner. We don’t always get to choose our peers in all situations, but we can choose which ones we will trust and rely on. We all need others to bounce ideas off of, to help us in some capacity, or to simply be there. So it also behooves us to be the kind of people others want to be around.
• Be both a leader and a follower. I noticed that there was not really a clearly defined leader among the girls, but they all took turns offering ideas and activities in which to engage and there was always at least one other girl who would go along with the idea offered. There will always be opportunities for us to both take initiative and support others in theirs. We must be aware of and take advantage of both types of opportunities.

~ John

Lessons from Manual Labor

While on staycation one week, one of my objectives was to eradicate some unwanted shrubs in my front yard. After cutting them off at ground level, I decided to cut the remaining stumps out of the earth with an axe. As I uprooted each stump, I was struck with some similarities between my experiences in the yard and workplace learning and performance.

Cut at different angles. As I buried the axe head at the base of each stump, it became obvious I would have to cut the roots from all sides of each trunk and at varying angles and depths. This is also true of the challenges we face during our workday. If we take on any issue from only a single perspective, we will certainly fail to achieve the best solution. However, if we effectively utilize our resources and collaborate with our coworkers, we have a much better chance of developing robust solutions based on multifaceted inputs.

Real learning and experience comes only from doing. During my chore of chopping, I became aware of the fact I was getting better at removing stumps as I moved from one to the other. While this may seem like a no-brainer, this concept is not always translated into workplace learning and performance and is evidenced in a couple of ways:

• We often think demonstrating something or telling someone how to do a task is instructionally adequate for them to effectively do it on their own. Instead, the experiential part of learning and performance must be considered and implemented.
• We are often hesitant to take action when we are not certain our efforts will result in the ideal outcome. Instead, we must be willing to do things in order to learn from them even if the result is not exactly what we desired. After all, none of the great advancements of our day came without hundreds of experiments, versions and trials.

Let the axe do the work. This is a phrase my dad used and has stuck with me from my youth. The concept is simple—don’t waste your energy trying to swing the axe harder or faster; instead let the tool and gravity do most of the cutting. Likewise, we have a plethora of tools available to us which tend to go underutilized, thereby resulting in suboptimal performance. These tools can be as simple as a word processing function or as complex as a relational database. It makes sense then to learn as much as we can about our tools so we can let them do some of the work while we create and innovate.

~ John

How We Do

One morning I dined in at a local fast food place for breakfast. I was greeted and served by the manager, who did all of the right things in regard to customer service, order placement and delivery. As he was doing everything technically correct, he asked, “So y’all don’t have today off, huh?” I replied, “No, this is not one of our holidays.” to which he responded, “We only get Thanksgiving and Christmas off. This restaurant used to care about their customers and employees, but now they only care about their money.” This extremely negative comment, of course, tainted the entire rest of my experience at that morning. Interestingly, even though everything was performed technically perfect, none of it seemed quite right after the manager’s attitude was revealed.

I immediately began thinking about my own performance and reexamining how I do things in addition to what I do. I can easily see how I could do all of the right things efficiently and punctually, but with the wrong heart and ruin either the end result or future dealings with my internal or external customers. It has made me wonder how many times I have become consumed with getting something done without stopping to consider the way in which I was doing it and how it affected others.

The very next day I gave blood at a local blood drive. Once again, I could not have asked for a more technically perfect experience, however, every question, statement and instruction felt as though it was being read straight from a script without a hint of compassion and, in many cases, even without eye contact. If it were not for the guy running the registration and refreshment table who took the time to actually talk with people rather than talk at them, I would have felt like just another item on an assembly line for processing.

As we work with one another, create deliverables for others and conduct our interactions in general, let us use these experiences as reminders that how we do what we do is equally (if not, more) important as what we do.

~ John