Month: March 2022

The Power of Consistency

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Since the change to daylight savings time two weeks ago, I have been exhausted. It took me almost two weeks to realize that while I had shifted my wake-up time to match the new time, I had not changed when I was going to bed. That meant that I lost 14 hours of sleep over two weeks. The effect was cumulative and noticeable.

Once I noticed that pattern, I committed myself to starting my bedtime routine an hour earlier. Of course, I have not done it perfectly, but I have gone to bed earlier in the few days since I made that commitment, and I feel better rested and focused.

The impact of small consistent changes over time must not be underestimated. It is the most effective way to move us forward.

One of my favorite books is The Power of Story by Jim Loehr, which talks about how energy is the foundation of excellence for individuals and organizations. First, we create habits to save energy. Being aware enough to understand whether our habits are undermining our energy and goals is the first step. The second is making a small adjustment to move us toward our ultimate goals.

This ability to make small, consistent changes is a superpower each of us can develop. What minor changes have you made that have had an enormous impact? What minor changes can you make this week to move you and your team toward your goals?

What’s in a Question?

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One of the most useful and perspective-changing trainings that I ever went through was “Managing to Learn(link is external)” where I learned the A3 management process that is foundational in Lean Management. For IT folks, it is helpful to understand that Agile Programming and DevOps are based on Lean Management theory. A foundational Lean Management philosophy is that a manager’s job is to help their team members develop clarity of thinking and strategy by asking open-ended questions that probe the thought process of the other person without trying to guide them.

The goal of the training was to be able to create a one-page A3 strategy map that started with a one-sentence description of the problem each participant was trying to solve. Distilling a problem into a single sentence is extraordinarily difficult to do. Answering the question, “what problem am I trying to solve?’ is a way to better understand the core problem and examine assumptions so that you do not immediately move to solutions.

I have heard many leaders opine that the answer is in the room and that the leader’s job is to uncover the answer. This is not what I believed or practiced early in my leadership journey. I thought it was my job as the leader to have the answer, define a solution and drive everyone toward it.

Personally, it was illuminating for me to understand how often I was using closed-ended questions to guide other person to my solution rather than actively supporting them in identifying the core problem and developing a solution that would work for them and their team. At home, I realized that I was asking my children leading questions most of the time without any awareness.

What I learned through painful experience was that driving my solution and vision without meaningful input from others wasn’t very effective. It built resistance and compliance rather than cooperation and engagement. One of the most powerful tools we have as leaders are open-ended questions that invite others to identify which problem we need to solve and co-create a solution.

The questions we ask are clues to our mindset and markers to others about whether we want their true input and ideas or if we just want them to agree with us. A great podcast on the subject is Design Thinking 101: User Research and Asking Better Questions with Michele Ronsen(link is external).

My challenge to you this week is to try to shift your questions from closed-ended to open-ended and see what you learn. I would love to hear about your experiences.

Fighting Fatigue: Stop, Collaborate and Listen

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The last few weeks have been tough for me. I felt like I was slogging through and not making much progress on several fronts. Part of the reason that I write this blog is to self-reflect and check in to see if I am being the leader that I want to be. When I checked in for the last several weeks, I was not feeling like an incredibly positive leader and instead of forcing it, I did not write any blogs. 

Last week, as I was preparing to teach a leadership class about energy and habits, Jenna Price shared concerns that she had been hearing from the group about the overwhelm they and their teams were feeling. She also shared a link to this video(link is external) about managing ourselves so we can creatively solve problems. Both were so helpful! I developed an exercise so that the leaders could identify the root causes for why they felt overwhelmed. And before we did the exercise in the training session, we watched the video(link is external) that Jenna shared.

This experience of co-creating the training and then using the training session to co-create solutions reminded me that so many people want to help and contribute their amazing insights, skills and passion. Unleashing that potential was so much fun and made me very happy. 

The next time you feel like you are slogging through, how can you invite others to co-create solutions with you?