NoviceDevelopment

My early years of professional service were spent pretending to be an athletic coach. 

I heard Nicholas Keith of the Texas Education Association speak this week to to the powerful progression recipe for learner development:

> Acquisition (initial learning of the knowledge/skill)     

   > Fluency (practicing for speed and accuracy)

      > Generalization/Adaptation (applying the knowledge/skills into real-world contexts)

The best coaches I have known over the years use this very formula toward the development of athletes.

The wisest teachers, leaders, and mentors I know do exactly the same thing.

MatterMaking

We all want to feel like we matter.

The wisest leaders I know are masters of helping us feel like we matter.

How do they do that? They...

• LISTEN to us, intently.
• ASK us questions, to probe our perspectives, opinions, assumptions, values.
• TREAT us as equals and volunteers, not subordinates.
• INVITE us into conversations and explorations around consequential stuff.

The very best of those leaders do these things, not as an act, but because it's part of their fabric.

MonsterFighting

My lovely bride of 49 years has oft reminded me that we're ALL fighting monsters of some kind. She asserts that everyone is dealing with some issue or challenge, and in many cases, multiple monsters at the same time.

The Love of My Life also encourages me to remember that almost all of these monster-fighters are "doing the best they can" under the circumstances.

Her wisdom in this regard has caused me often in life to observe more closely, care more deeply, discern more keenly, listen more intently, forgive more easily.

I wanna be like her when I grow up... 

(Fighting off a few monsters of my own.)

Decision-itis

Over 50 years of professional service, I've worked for some bosses who thought they needed to be involved in every decision, provide their approval for every transaction, be leading every consequential conversation. They got in the way quite a lot. 

I tend to think of those folks as having the malady of Decision-itis. It's an inflammation of the frontal cortex of the brain, causing extreme overactivity, generating an aura of self-importance. 

I've also worked for a few who seemed completely unable or unwilling to make a decision. These suffered from IN-decision-itis. This disease presents as an apparent complete malfunction of the executive function of the brain. It's almost like an allergic reaction to the need to make a decision.  

Finally, I have worked for a precious few bosses who carefully gathered evidence, sought multiple perspectives, examined best practices, carefully forecasted potential outcomes, and then....................... made a good decision. These I deem to be the Judicious Deciders. 

Any guesses on which are the best to work for?

BEcoming

The day we stop learning is the day we put the first foot in the grave. Becoming the very best version of ourselves is a learning journey, from the first breath to the last.

Existing, however, is not the same as living a meaningful life.

Some things that help us BECOME all that we can be...

• Remain curious - enough to keep asking questions.
• Learn - purposefully, in a fashion of daily discipline.
• Care - for others, for the earth, for the future (and show it).
• Exude transparency - in all ways being genuine and authentic.
• Forgive - freely, often, and with the knowledge that the blessings flow in both directions.

That'll be a day's worth of work. 

Rather, more like a life's worth.

Energizer

A car without fuel won't go. An electrical appliance that is not connected to a power supply won't spin, chop, heat, cool, light, jiggle, or ??? A sailboat without wind drifts. A solar panel without sunlight won't generate electron activity.

Stuff that requires energy to work............requires...........ENERGY!

Same goes for organizations that are trying to accomplish important things. Same goes for individuals that are trying to live impactful and meaningful lives.

Energy comes in all kinds of packages: physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual.

WE -- you and I -- can be the source of energy provision......for ourselves and for those who depend on us.

Being an ENERGIZER is a daily learning journey.

Time to power up!

CollectiveIntelligence

I read a book about 20 years ago in which the author asserted there is no such thing as individual intelligence, that it's ALL collective. A good point, it seems to me. To wit: everything we know and can do is built on what someone else knew or could do, before us.

Another angle to this argument is relevant when we're dealing with sticky and complex problems. Putting multiple minds, experiences, and perspectives on developing a solution to a sticky/complex problem almost always results in better solutions. 

When we try to leverage the wisdom of the group, the results are always better when we...

• Stay relentlessly focused on the facts.
• Divorce the conversation from political concerns. 
• Are committed to outcomes that are good for the whole (not just some).
• Build flexibility into the deployment processes.
• Abandon the desire for perfection.

Did I mention "sticky" and "complex"?