Nimbleocity

 Nimbleness and Speed are not the same thing, but they're first cousins.

In a fluid and dynamic world (regardless of our professional place in it), innovation and adaptability are key to survival and success.

How do we do that?

• Be crystal clear about direction and intentions.
• Build deployment flexibility into the pursuit of that direction and those intentions. 
• Communicate and coordinate frequently on the success level (and, thus, viability) of those varying deployments.
• Abandon the lost causes quickly (and forget about sunk costs).
• Quickly flow resources (tangible and intangible) toward those are that gaining traction.

Do all that stuff again tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after......

ContinuousUN-improvement

Continuous Improvement is tattoo-worthy stuff. The most impactful people I know and the highest performing organizations I've seen are intensely focused on continuous improvement. 

Sometimes UN-improvement -- the lack of progress -- seems to be the most common and continuous effect. 

Being "stuck" is a clear indicator that it's time for something to change. 

InterVerse

Each of us is associated with multiple groups (I'm intentionally choosing NOT to use the word "organization"): Families, houses of faith, HOAs, country clubs, workplaces, professional associations, etc. Each of those groups has a unique and dynamic culture. We are both shaped by those cultures and also shape those cultures, simply by our affiliation and participation. 

We can view that mishmash membership as a set of sub-universes, each one with the word INTER at the front.

INTERtwined -- Like a tangled skein of yarn, we are loosely intertwined with others in our groups. Sometimes we know the others well, sometimes we don't. Sometimes we cross paths frequently, sometimes we don't. Yet, there are numerous commonalities between/among us due to our affiliation with the group.

INTERwoven -- The coordination of effort, systems, and processes within these groups is far more intentional. This social space resembles a tapestry in which the "weave" is tight, well planned, made of high-quality inputs. Groups that effectively achieve this state are generally intensely focused, well coordinated, extremely collaborative, and high performing. 

INTERconnected -- Via digital connectivity, we now have immediate access to job-alike and life-alike people around this entire planet. From each we can learn what works best, what doesn't work at all, what might work in the right circumstances, what's yet to be tried. Never in history have we had such instant access to others, both inside our groups and outside. 

INTERdependent -- There is a high degree of interdependence between and among those who share the affiliation with us, whether our group is efficacious or not. The satisfaction we experience and the quality of service we provide both trend steeply upward when that interdependence is understood and leveraged. THEN, it becomes a force multiplier. 

INTERVerse -- This is the totality of those other INTER-spaces above. 

Members we are, of each and every one of those INTER-spaces described above. What we choose to do with/for each group is purely up to us. Having a good sense of our InterVerse is the first step in us becoming who we want to be. 

EnemyIdentity

What happens when we discover that we're our own worst enemy? When our habits, our behavior, our interpersonal failures, our lack of empathy, our failure to trust, our inability to "let go," become so glaringly visible in the mirror? When we painfully discover that the source of most of our frustration lives within us.

We really can't engage in meaningful battle until we've clearly identified the enemy. 

Now that we know 'em, we can get to work on making life better for everyone. Including ourselves.

As always, it starts with the daily choices we make. Which ones shall we make this day?

PainInducers

Some folks are just painful to be around. When they're the boss, their ability to induce pain for/in the rest of us is amplified.

As always, anti-example is just as instructive for us as the study of exemplars. So, here goes. Some archetypes of pain-inducing leaders:

• Worry Warts -- To these folks the sky seems always falling.

• Po Po Pitiful ME-ers -- The world seems to have targeted them for misery, and us to hear about it.

• Micro Managers -- Even when we get it 98% right, they'll perseverate on the other 2%.

• Drama Drummers -- As if accomplishing important work is not hard enough, they adeptly find a way to stir up trouble amongst and between us.

• Artful Dodgers -- When there's work to be done, they're nowhere in sight. 

• Blame Throwers -- Masters at faulting others when things go sideways.

We know what they look like. We know what to call 'em.

What do we learn from these powerful anti-examples?

We can put that learning to work. Now is an excellent time to start.

GraceDenied

When we choose to withhold GRACE,

we choose to eschew PEACE.

Our own.

When we choose to decline GRACE extended,

we choose to eschew PEACE.

Our own.

We get to choose, as always. 

CapacityVeracity

Any leader worth their salt knows that important work cannot be done without a high-performing and highly committed team.

Some of the best leaders I've observed over 50 years use the following strategies to build and bolster the teams they work on/with:

• Provide a steady drumbeat of the WHY.
• Put in place guardrails rather than regulations/rules.
• Stay out of the way, but ever present to help when needed. 
• Remain always open and accessible for feedback and dissent. 
• Push, pull, prod, incentivize, expect, and model continual learning.
• Continually monitor and discuss progress (and lack thereof) as a team. 
• Push, pull, prod, incentivize, expect, and model continuous improvement.

Plenty on that to-do list. We can start now.

StaringAtThePliers

Tools have forever pushed and accelerated the accomplishments of the human race.

Consider levers, wheels, pulleys, paper, ballpoint pens, hammers, pliers, telegraphs, etc. We could spend the rest of the day naming tools of advancement, both simple and complex.  

Enter the cell phone in its current iteration, perhaps the most powerful tool yet invented by our species. It now has the power to quickly make available to us any morsel of the sum total of human knowledge, show us our location on the planet, reliably predict the weather, immediately communicate with others at any point around the world, provide pictures of our favorite celebrities enjoying their vacations. And so very much more!

Tools have always been "neutral" in that their ability to affect good work or harmful has rested in the mind and hands of the user. That remains the case for the little computer-communicator we all carry around with us.

What's different with this latest tool of our conjuring is that we seem enamored with it to the point that many are willing to let relationships with other humans slip away due to the adoration of the tool. 

Imagine a person staring persistently at their pliers while ..... walking down the street or driving or eating a meal or sitting on a train or attending a meeting or while in a room with their very favorite person. 

A little disconcerting, huh?

As is always the case, we get to choose...

IncidentalStimulants

So very often the simple choices we make in relation to kindness extended, courtesy afforded, support provided, blessings shared, and mentorship freely given goes scantly recognized.

Rarely are we witness to the downstream fruit such seed planting produces.

Someone (usually many someones) helped us up ... out ... forward ... upward.

We get the chance to do the same for someone else almost every day. And should! Perhaps the stimulus we choose to provide is not so incidental after all. 

First, we pay attention...

Beatings

Why does "fat chance" and "slim chance" mean the same thing? Why does "beat down" and "beat up" mean the same thing?

When we choose to accomplish difficult, noble, BOLD work, the inevitable "beat downs" and "beat ups" will come our way.

The grandstands are full and the social media platforms awash with critics and naysayers.

Until they join us in the work, maybe we should take their "beatings" with a grain of salt. 

And get back to work...

AccoladeConditions

We love our heroes and heroines. The ones atop the medal stand, the all-stars, those who carry the GOAT designation.

Almost always, even in the individual sports and contests, the hero/heroine is one member of a team of folks. All share in the blood, sweat, and tears that come with preparation, training, execution, and excellence. 

Success rarely, if ever, is the result of solo performance.

And the more important the endeavor, the greater the necessity of having a committed and skillful team playing alongside or supporting us on the way to the top.

DecisionSteroids

The collective intelligence of a team can be thought of as an organizational "brain."

Our personal brain processes millions of bits of information, every moment of every day. So does the organizational brain.

Our personal brain automates as much decision making as possible so that it can focus its precious attention and energy on the tricky, the novel, the complex decisions before it. So does the organizational brain.

The best leaders of teams I know use some or all of the following when facing complex decisions to be made by the team:

• Include relevant others in the decision.
• Express gratitude to those willing to help.
• Take the allowed time to make a quality decision.
• Invite, consider, respect, provide safety for dissent.
• Practice and insist upon transparency in the process. 
• Etch early decision iterations in pencil, not pen or granite.

If it were easy, anyone could do it. It's not, and they usually don't. 

ConnectivityPower

We all desire to be effective and successful. It's in our DNA.

In almost all circumstances, we are more likely to be effective and successful if others lend us a hand in the process.

How can we better connect with others?

• HELP - when we help others, they almost always try to help in return.
• ASK - seek to understand others better, and more personally.
• FORGIVE - easily and often.
• FLEX - to others, without trying to change them.
• LISTEN - with our ears, with our eyes, with our heart.

Funny how kindness, helpfulness, and generosity have a reciprocal nature to them.

Showin'Up

One of my impactful mentors, Dr. Mike Moses, was fond of admonishing us as developing servant leaders that "90% of it is showing up."

That assertion of Dr. Moses has proven true time and again since I first heard him say it some 25 years ago. 

Why does showing up prove so impactful for us as servant leaders? It affords us opportunity to...

• CARE - for the people doing the work.
• ENGAGE - with those who are engaging with our stakeholders. 
• LEARN - about what's happening in and around the organization.
• OBSERVE - the processes, workflows, successes, champions, bottlenecks, etc. 
• LISTEN - to the concerns and comments of both internal and external customers.
• SHARE - with the team the good things and good people that make our work meaningful. 

On second thought, Dr. Moses may have missed the calculation a bit. Perhaps "showing up" represents closer to 100% of our success. 

TeamDream

What fun it is to play on a high performing team!

What if we had the power and ability to shape the performance team of our dreams. What would those team members look like?

• Curious
• Relational
• Self starting
• Not risk averse
• Systemic thinker
• Emotionally intelligent
• Intrinsically motivated
• Socially intelligent
• Outcome focused
• Team oriented
• Collaborative
• Energetic
• Creative
• Fun

Perhaps we do have the power to shape the team. 

Perhaps it begins with the way we post the job and conduct the interview. 

Perhaps it begins with us knowing what we're looking for before we put the hook in the water.

We can begin today...

Activation

Most of us wish we could be and do better.

Some of us even go to the trouble to think about ways we can be and do better.

Yet, nothing happens on the wings of wishing and thinking about.

When we take action to try different behaviors, adopt new habits, abandon old habits, alter comfortable practices, change concretized ways.........................we begin to move the needle toward betterment.

The wishing and thinking are the top of the line up. The action is in the clean up position. 

Time to step up to the plate.

Problem&SolutionComplexity

Complex problems seem not to have simple solutions.

Complex problems require multiple and combined engaged minds to craft workable solutions.

Collaborative attempts at applying efficacious solutions to complex problems is messy, time-consuming, confounding, and often frustrating work. 

Those that drop problems on our door step thinking otherwise................are usually not all that interested in finding solutions. Neither are they often the ones to sign up for the difficult work required to craft and attempt to deploy those evasive solutions. 

Picking our team wisely makes all the difference in the world. 

SlippedGear

From time to time, someone on the team slips out of gear. For a variety of reasons a good and proven performer sometimes, somehow, someway, disengages.

What causes folks to slip out of gear? A variety of possibilities exist. They might be... 

• Dealing with personal crisis
• Ill
• Feeling devalued
• Want something they're not getting
• Deem they're being marginalized or pushed out

How we respond can make a lot of difference on whether or not our teammate RE-engages with us. We can...

• Show we care, without being intrusive
• Let them know the Team is not as strong without them
• Give them some space and time
• LISTEN carefully...to what they say, what they don't say, what we see

To be sure, performance matters. Sometimes, however, we can allow performance to slip out of gear for a bit in order to allow our valued Team member to slip back into gear.

Whether or not we rescue or recover our valued Teammate depends on the relationship we nurture with them.

Wishing-vs-Aspiring

 "Wish" and "Aspire" are both verbs that hint at some eventual improved state. However, they imply very different things.

If we "wish" for something, it suggests that we're victims, somehow at the mercy of circumstances (of all kinds and varieties). To "aspire," on the other hand, implies intent and action on our part. 

"Wishing" might make us wealthy if we win the lottery. "Aspiring" will make us wealthy(ier) as result of purposeful decisions and work on our part.

Some interesting questions for those of us who ASPIRE to reach the best versions of ourselves:

• How well aligned are my aspirations to a worthy and lasting purpose?
• To what degree am I redirecting ALL the resources at my disposal - both tangible and intangible - toward achieving those aspirations?
• How much clarity am I using in articulating my aspirations?
• In what meaningful ways am I monitoring and tracking my movement toward accomplishing those aspirations?

Getting better. Every day. On purpose.

Not the work of sissies...

InfluencePeddling

Authoritarians ply their trade in directives and compliance, rules and regulations. 

Leaders that choose to be non-Authoritarian operate on from a different mindset, and their teams achieve higher levels of performance and efficacy of deployment. These wise leaders understand that what team members do when the boss is NOT in the room or at the work site is much more important than what happens when they are.

The wisest leaders I know are excellent influence peddlers. They make a strong case for high performance, ethical behavior, lofty and ambitious goals. Then they pull others into the work by providing the resources, training, recognition, praise, and compensation that "influences" rather than "demands" the desired outcomes.

Time to polish up on our influencing skills. Then peddle as fast as we can.