I’ve always loved swimming. In fact, I was actually part of a synchronized swimming team in college. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that one swimmer I’m always excited to see is Katie Ledecky. World record holder, winner of nine Olympic medals (including one as the youngest swimmer ever to win Olympic gold), and 21 world championships, she is widely considered to be the finest woman swimmer in the world. So how did she get there?
In her book, “Just Add Water,” Ledecky notes that a strong genetic line of persistence runs through her whole family. Once one of them gets an idea, they execute it. And that, in large part, is what has driven Ledecky since she started swimming at age 6. She hasn’t always had the best technique or the most natural ability. But when her coaches through the years have been asked what has enabled her to swim the way she does, their answer is inevitably the same: hard work. Ledecky has always believed that the effort she puts in today will pay off down the road. She believes in the swimming mantra “no shortcuts”. There are no shortcuts to developing the skill and stamina required to compete at the highest level, just as there are no shortcuts to the end of the pool…you have to swim all the way. Powering to the wall is how she wins races.
Ledecky has taken to heart a key theme I’ve seen in successful leaders in a variety of fields. She thrives not on winning, but on continuous, unrelenting improvement. A knowledge sponge, she takes feedback eagerly and implements change as soon as she can master it. Never one to hit the snooze button, she is willing to set scary goals and take the steps necessary to achieve them. For example, she has long set what she calls “want times”…ambitious swim times that were private, but which became more and more reasonable as her swimming improved. So, let me ask…are you setting stretch goals for yourself? Are you willing to seek out feedback, even if it might be hard to hear? Above all, are you willing to implement change and work diligently at that every single day?
Above all, Ledecky remembers the most important life lesson of all. Doing right takes commitment. And being successful hardly matters if you can’t look in the mirror and be proud of who you see looking back at you. Above all, what everyone else does in the pool isn’t your business. Your business is to do your absolute best with complete integrity. Every single lap.
As former White House press secretary Jen Psaki notes in her book “Say More: Lessons from Work, the White House, and the World” the first step in successfully navigating a difficult conversation is to accept mutual discomfort as inevitable. Someone is going to be uncomfortable saying something, and the other person is going to be uncomfortable hearing it. Whether it’s discussing the realities of racial and economic inequality, dealing with subpar employee performance, or announcing a new direction for your organization, we’re all going to feel that squirm inside.
One way to minimize the squirm is to remember the famous quote attributed to Maya Angelou: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” How we feel is closely tied to a sense of being truly hear. So, if you want to navigate difficult conversations, become a better listener. Learn to let people feel heard.
The best listeners do a lot more than just nod. Paying attention to what someone is saying is all about being present in the moment. Good listeners make the process collaborative and interactive. They lean in. Use what they already know to make a connection. Ask questions. Probe for more information. Repeat back what they think they’ve heard. And they’re willing to be a bit uncomfortable if it lowers the barrier to engagement.
In an environment where it seems everyone is shouting instead of engaging, learn to listen. It’s often the quietest voices in the room that have the most to say. No matter how hard the conversation might be, let them be heard.
I recently read “Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All”, by Tom Kelley and David Kelley. I’ve always known that creativity is a key leadership competency, and it has been an integral part of ISI Consulting because we embrace its power. The authors, though, stress that creative confidence is like a muscle – it can be strengthened and trained through effort and experience, and anyone can build it.
Creativity happens whenever we have the opportunity to generate new ideas, solutions, or approaches. It’s why we recognize that there can be many possible approaches to a problem, although all of them might not be worth implementing. Sometimes we don’t know until we try them out. Failure can be a great teacher. Remember, you didn’t learn to ride a bike by simply hopping on and riding off. You fell – probably more than once or twice – and then figured out how to balance better and pedal harder. Don’t be so afraid of failure that you don’t give something a shot.
Another way to spark creative action is to put a fence around it. I know, that sounds odd, but it’s not. At the end of a brainstorming session, you might have a hundred ideas on Post-It notes. Constrain the excess by focusing on a doable piece of the problem. What ideas could you explore in the next two hours? How can you make progress right now? This will keep you from the “everything, everywhere, all at once” dilemma.
Finally, create milestones. I’ve always found it incredibly helpful to have “mini-deadlines” to keep teams focused and their energy up. Especially during a long project, if you have a small portion due or a dry run scheduled, it’s easier to stay on track. And don’t forget to celebrate when you reach a marker…it will encourage everyone.
No matter what your next project is, I challenge you to unleash your creative confidence to empower your team and practically guarantee success.
A team member and I had a disagreement recently – she said family was an example of a value. I adamantly disagreed. “No,” I said, “family is a noun…it’s not a value.” That discussion led me to do some reflecting on what constitutes a value and what doesn’t. What I realized is that values are verbs. They are things we DO. They are how we ACT. And we live them out every day.
All too often, we talk about our core values, but we don’t live them out. As leadership guru Patrick Lencioni noted in a recent podcast, we stick them on a poster or a t-shirt, but we don’t operationalize them. They don’t become a part of how we act…every day, in every situation. An organization can claim integrity as a core value, but if they’re busy stealing intellectual property from a competitor, that claim quickly falls apart.
ISI Consulting just worked with a community group that identified “accessible” as a core value. Now, if you look it up in a dictionary, accessible is an adjective, not a verb. But the group’s description was all about actions and behaviors. They understood that any activity or initiative they undertook must be user-friendly, understandable, and easy to navigate. Now, do I need to see framed artwork in their conference room with the word “accessible” on it to know that this is a value? Heck, no! I see it on their website, in their presentations to the community, and in the programs they offer. Everything they do looks, feels, even tastes and smells, accessible. They live this core value.
Your organization should be the same. Your core values (and you shouldn’t have but two or three) should saturate every action you take. They should be behavioral attributes that everyone in the organization exhibits all the time. If they’re not, board members and team members should speak up. Ask yourself, “Are we really honoring this value?” If you’re not, it’s time for a change.
Are you prepared to navigate conflict in your workplace?
Conflict is everywhere – around the globe, at the capital, in your city, at the local gas station this morning, and probably at your office (whether it’s in-person, hybrid or virtual). Recent surveys show that managers are using all of their conflict resolution muscles and more to combat simmering disagreements between team members. And that simmering pot isn’t going anywhere.
Are your new leaders and managers prepared? Probably not. Do they know how to engage in meaningful conflict? Or facilitate it with others?
No one is born with skills in conflict resolution. It is a skill that is learned over time, and your new managers and leaders need concentrated skill-building and coaching opportunities to grow in this area, or it’s going to eat them alive. Good leaders know this and make it part of their leadership toolkit; bad leaders ignore conflict resolution and pay the price, personally and for their teams.
Everyone likes to feel heard, seen, and respected…whether you agree with them or not. Below are just a few pointers that are helpful as we all grow.
Set the Stage (Accomplishes shared expectations and meaning.)
What are your boundaries? What are their boundaries?
Does your group have touchstones/community agreements/group norms that describe the behavioral expectations for your team?
How are you going to frame the conversation? What is the purpose of the conversation?
Where will it take place? For how long? When? In-person or virtual?
Invite Participation (Accomplishes confidence that their voice is welcome.)
How do you know if the team member feels that they are being acknowledged?
What do you do when you need to call out behavior that goes against your team’s community agreements/touchstones?
Is everyone being held accountable to the same degree?
I know this can seem like a lot to digest and to implement. If you are interested, I would love to talk with you about providing a customized training for your new managers and leaders in the upcoming months. Call me at (803) 920-1736 to schedule a time to talk.
As you know, I LOVE the Olympics. The pageantry, the competition, the reward for years of tireless practice and labor…the ups and the downs. What the athletes in these various events accomplish is truly awe-inspiring.
We hear constantly about the dedication and hours…even years…of practice it takes to get to this level of perfection in a sport. The sacrifices made, the injuries pushed through, and the disappointments suffered are all a well-known part of the process. We recognize and even celebrate those as part of the medal-winning formula. But never forget that success for one person is often built on the foundation of many helping hands.
What about all these behind-the-scenes heroes? The parents who drove those athletes to 5:00 am practice sessions in the dead of winter. The siblings attending untold numbers of competitions to cheer on that brother or sister who otherwise drove them bonkers. The unnamed coaches who caught sight of – and nurtured – a glimmer of talent in a squirrely-headed eight-year-old. The high school, college and professional coaches combining to hone raw talent into world-class skills. And even the parents or coaches or friends who were honest enough to say “You lost because that just wasn’t your best effort. You haven’t been concentrating or working hard enough. How badly do you want it??” True success is built on more than mere boosterism. It always includes a hefty dose of brutal honesty and accountability.
There are stand-out stars in your organization, I’m certain. But there are also far more behind-the-scenes heroes. Make sure that you look for and recognize them. No trophies or medals needed. A simple “Thank you…I needed to hear that (or be held accountable)” is enough.
GEPO – “Good Enough, Press On”. I heard this saying for the first and only time in Banf, Canada while at a collective impact conference (in 2015, I believe) and it’s stuck with me ever since. Groups are forever overthinking, creating bottlenecks that are not useful or necessary, and getting stuck. They forget that sometimes a plan is good enough and it’s time to press on to implementation.
So, since I live in South Carolina and need to add a little Southern charm to the mix, I’d like to make a little change to this acronym. Organizations, your “idea/concept/plan” is Good Enough, Please…Press On! (GEPPO). There is always more information you can collect, more data to analyze, one more survey to send out…one can always dig, and dig, and keep digging. However, the very information you need is right at your fingertips, if you will only recognize that fact. It’s real time data from your customers, from your clients, patients, board members, team members. Success will only happen when you stop analyzing the data or information and start implementing. Your plan is good enough, so please, press on!
When you start implementing (on a small scale, because we are all about quality improvement), what happens will not be perfect. And that’s OK. You are going to get great info and then make changes, tweaks, and enhancements and watch to see what happens. And then do it all over again. That’s the whole point of continuous quality improvement. Your idea is GEPPO, so keep moving! None of the articles, artificial intelligence robots, or pivot tables are going to tell you this. You are going to know this because you’re savvy enough to aim for good enough and not the ever-elusive perfection.
In the summer, I think there’s nothing like a good hot dog with chili, coleslaw, and some shredded cheese. In addition to tasting fabulous, sometimes a good chili dog teaches you a lesson (other than don’t wear a white shirt while eating it!). Just this past week, I was making our homemade hot dog chili, and an incredible revelation hit me. You see, I had all of the ingredients – lean ground beef, yellow onion, garlic, chili powder, mustard, etc. – but I could not make the chili. There was no ketchup to be found anywhere in our kitchen. No Heinz. No Hunts. No house brand even. Nada. No ketchup, no chili. It only takes a cup and a half for my recipe, but it’s an essential ingredient with no substitute. And then it hit me….what I was staring at looks like a lot of organizational teams. They have the people, the plans, and even their “special differentiating factors” but they are missing the one crucial ingredient needed to make things work. They’re a chili recipe with no ketchup.
As I see it, the ketchup for groups is protected time to implement plans and new changes. You see, without the ketchup (and you really don’t need that much) you do not have hot dog chili. Groups need protected time – time when they don’t have a meeting, a phone call, a looming deadline, or whatever, to actually implement the work that has been decided. It doesn’t take a lot – I think for most groups if you just gave folks a day and a half of protected time to process the proposed changes, discuss new goals and objectives, call some key individuals to figure out what is needed, or update key documents with new work flows, you would get to effective implementation a lot quicker. If you don’t, your organizational team is likely to wander around without really accomplishing what you all hoped for.
So, this summer, I encourage you to make some hot dog chili with your team (for real and metaphorically). Dust off the plans and give folks protected time and space to move some ideas closer to the finish line. I promise you’ll enjoy the results.
If anyone knows me or ISI Consulting, you know we take great pride in never (or almost never) doing the same thing with a group or organization. I don’t ever want to be considered a “one-trick pony” facilitator. That’s just unfair for everyone. It’s painful for a group who experienced that same activity a year ago to be forced to do it all again. And it would be just plain boring for me.
However, I have found myself using the same open-ended question for lots of groups lately and I’m not tired of it yet. And the groups I’ve used it with have found this question extremely helpful. So, what is it? “What conversation, if begun today, could ripple out and create new possibilities for the future of ___________?” That blank could be women leaders in higher education, philanthropic funders, dental hygienists…whatever! You fill in the blank, and then just let folks go. I promise you will be amazed and encouraged by what comes out of your group. The wisdom it needs is already present and accessible. What are you hearing? What contributions are emerging? What ideas are beginning to connect? What new possibilities are you noticing?
I encourage you to use the Ripple Question at your next team meeting, staff retreat, board meeting or even with your small group of confidants. This question alone can fill 30 minutes, or even an hour, of time with worthwhile discussion. To start, I like to have small groups (no more than 7 participants) wrestle with the question. Then I move to a medium-sized group (about 14 participants), before bringing all the themes together with the entire group. This ensures everyone’s voice is heard and helps keep the groups focused.
You don’t need to hire a consultant to help you start thinking strategically as a team. You simply need to carve out time and space for reflection. Then use the open-ended Ripple Question for your team to engage in, ponder over, and explore. But, hey…if you do need a consultant to help get your team back on track or moving forward to the next level, I can help with that, too. Give me a call today, and let’s make a plan.
“You are most powerfully positioned to serve the person you once were.” Rory Vaden, NY Times bestselling author, entrepreneur, podcaster, coach and speaker.
This past week I was in Baltimore, and I saw a beautiful thing happen…I saw this very quote lived out. I facilitated a small group discussion with community members, Community Health Workers and a few public health folks who were defining key messages needed for a specific population. Once I opened up with questions, the feedback poured in – not just with words, but with confidence and conviction. The community members knew what was needed, because once they were in the same position as the moms and families they’re now trying to help. They didn’t need a textbook, a podcast or a 50 PowerPoint slides to tell them. They knew what was needed – and what was not needed – and in what order things need to happen. They were perfectly positioned to serve the person they once were.
The community members and Community Health Workers around the table knew what it was like to not have dental insurance, to be unable to find a dental home, and to be treated unkindly by providers. They know what it takes to move from being the victim of a system to becoming an advocate for their own health and that of their children. The most effective way to get anything accomplished is for those closest to the issue to create solutions and find pathways that will work. They were doing just that.
Where are YOU most powerfully positioned to serve the person you once were? Is it in a board room? Is it at a soccer field? Is it in a leadership role? Find it, and you’ll find the place you can serve with success and passion. Sadly, too many board rooms and conference tables are missing individuals with lived experience. It’s time not just to ask those folks to serve, but to wholeheartedly welcome them, listen to them, and even to let them lead the way. After all, they’ve walked this road before. (And please, whatever you do, pay them… life is hard enough already.)
