Wednesday Words
To Go Where Your VisionPoints, a few inspiration points for you and your business.
Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.
—Tom Robbins
Hate to admit you’re wrong? So do I. Everyone’s focusing on their own issues, but at the moment when I’ve got to say, “I did it wrong, let’s try another way,” I feel like all eyes are on me. The big screw-up. When the fact is, no one cares unless it affects them.
Tom Robbins’ wise counsel came to me some time ago and I’ve tried to keep it with me ever since. It’s saved me a lot of those all-ego moments. How?
The way I use his advice is this: I don’t commit to the path, and I sure don’t commit to My Way. I commit to the desired outcome. Then it’s not “I did it wrong, My Way doesn’t work,” it’s “We haven’t gotten to where we need to go with the path I outlined. Anybody see another way?” As long as we get there, I don’t care whose approach we use.
How about you? Do you find yourself frustrated because the approach isn’t working, forgetting it’s the results that you need?
Will you zag if zigging isn’t working?
Grow and be well,
Kelly Erickson
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4 March 2009, 11:42 am
Awesome, awesome, awesome. You and Tim are bang on. It is so hard to forget what we are trying to do and take it personal.
I drive people nuts at work because I am so results oriented I usually stomp on people’s egos on the way there. I’m sorry, but get over it. We are here to get a job done not make you feel good.(although I hope a sense of accomplishment makes them feel good)
However, I will keep that quote in mind next time I see a squished ego and hopefully they will see the light.
On the otherhand I work with three outside contractors, (geeks a plenty) and we all check our egos at the door, but not our sense of humour.
Last year we had a crisis and we responded so well, so quickley with such positive results, no one could believe it. So the next meeting we had we invited the higher ups to sit in. They could not understand how we focussed on the problem at hand so well. I wish I had that Tim Robbins quote with me.
Thanks Kelly! Good post.
Eyeteaguy
Eyeteaguy’s last blog post…I’m tired
4 March 2009, 12:37 pm
I honestly wish that some of the execs where I work would follow this quote. I have seen hundreds of millions of dollars go down the tubes in the last 9 odd years because people let ego get in the way.
There is no I in team, folks. A corporation is in it together, if you spread out the egg so that it covers 5000 faces instead of one it amounts to but a morsel to be wiped from each face with a tissue.
Admit it, get over it, fix it, succeed.
4 March 2009, 3:01 pm
Francis,
Thanks very much. Tom’s a pretty smart guy. It was my own ego I was thinking of, but yeah, it’s a handy thought when staring down a coworker’s ego, too. You’re right, checking everybody’s egos at the door can make for an amazingly fast working process.
Brett,
LOL, I want your execs to be reading here, too, because moving The Factory toward Maximum Customer Experience is some seriously low-hanging fruit—you know what I always say, send ‘em the link!
If they made use of a tenth of what we’ve all discussed in the last 300 or so posts, you’d never go home from work with a headache again, eh?
Regards,
Kelly
4 March 2009, 3:14 pm
I reread you post again and I cannot for the life of me figure out why I leave my ego at the door. (I’m not gloating here, just curious) I of course would like to do it my way but usually the first question I ask is “how would you do it?” Nine times out of ten we end up with a combination of all the approaches.
How do you teach that?
Brett’s company and mine could very easily be more efficient, more productive and be a better place to work with just a few small changes. Low hanging fruit as you say.
Why do so many companies not get it?
Eyeteaguy
P.S. Who is this Francis guy you keep talking about, wasn’t he a talking mule or something?
Eyeteaguy’s last blog post…What does your vehicle say about you?
4 March 2009, 3:46 pm
That’s why when I picture Brett, I see Donald O’Connor.
I’m sorry, were you saying something?
4 March 2009, 3:50 pm
How do you teach that, why do folks not get it…
The bigger the Factory, the harder the bottom has to fall out for there to be interest in real change.
Sad, but true, IMO. Small businesses have to be a lot more responsive to changes, because the bumps hit them so much more obviously and directly. When things get rough they have to examine how they caused it, and make change now, not “burn cash reserves” and hope for better days a-comin’.
Until later,
Kelly
4 March 2009, 4:06 pm
Trend Micro has listed your site as suspicious. Same with 6weeks.ca. Hmm, I sense a conspiracy. Good thing I know my network administrator, he added them to the exclusion list.
I have worked for many small businesses. And I would have to say that in my experience when hard times hit, they don’t change, they hunker down. Most go out of business because they can’t change.
The only business I saw change was Nortel. They hit a snag in the 90′s and they looked at their organization from top to bottom. In the 5 months I was there I saw real change. They may be the exception to the rule.
So many businesses do it bass ackward. We have yet again hit hard times here and we cut our workforce. We cut the cheapest, best workers and kept the worst expensive employees. Do we do this out of some sense of loyalty?
Kelly, you are the expert. How do you get the people you work for to see the end result and not their personal gain. How do you get the people around you to move forward without management buy in?
Am I asking too much?
Eyeteaguy
Eyeteaguy’s last blog post…What does your vehicle say about you?
4 March 2009, 4:31 pm
@Kelly,
Yeah, I have shares in Tylenol I think. Either that or Captain Morgan…
And I thought *I* was the ass, or talking out of my ass, or something
@Kelly & Eyeteaguy,
True about small companies – they are capable of being so dynamic, and they have to be dynamic during times of change, and yet why do so many do nothing?
I’m tempted to see if I can get some sample material from Cali & Jody and put it forth at work – to see if people would buy into ROWE where I am. It might work. Maybe send it to the CEO, and tell him I’ll lead the charge and the focus group?
@Eyeteaguy,
Yeah, you gotta watch MCE and 6Weeks – subversion all around on those sites…
^ ^
. .
^
o
Brett Legree’s last blog post…viking fridays – the mind and the heart.
4 March 2009, 4:54 pm
@Brett
I like Cali and Jody’s website. (Actually, they’re pretty HOT!)
4 March 2009, 9:56 pm
Francis,
I am very suspicious. I want too much from everyone and darn it, I will have buy-in at all levels. They’ve pegged me correctly.
Now, as to the serious questions: here are two things I see. From companies who don’t come anywhere near hiring us, I hear tales of utter woe. These come from the ranks, naturally, where folks like you and Brett and Friar and so many others who see how much better things could be, would like to get something going. As a secret idealist I’d love to believe in true change through the ranks without management buy-in.
I’d also like to believe in the lottery fairy whooshing into my wallet and rearranging my numbers tonight.
In a smaller company, maybe. But the truth is, that would be the staff in a smaller company finding ways to influence management and at last get their buy-in, eh?
Brett’s reading Tribes right now (I think), and I don’t see why intelligent, devoted folks can’t try to earn that buy-in, leading the Tribe from the ranks upwards. But to do what needs to be done, really and completely without it? I don’t know about that.
The tales of woe I hear that have green behind them are the other way around: How do we get buy-in from all these slacking nukoolar engineers we’ve let turn into blogging watercolorists who’d rather play with duck-tollers than write our 77,000-page papers?
The funny thing is those top Factory brass don’t want to see the forest, either, they just want some miracle to clear away the trees. (Have I mixed metaphors enough here?)
Here’s when it works best: when enough folks realize they’ve hit a wall, that what’s in the interest of the company IS in their own interest. So they don’t have to fight that whose-interest is this fight anymore.
When enough folks at the top see that, they’ll make quick work of finding enough folks in the middle who see it… and then it’s time to start making a new strategy for going forward.
SO if you need the folks you work for to see it… little nudges. Big nudges. Do the wonderful things that get you noticed so you can get the ear of the folks you need. Or drop subversive hints in whatever way you can, looking for a way to get the buy-in at last. The truth is (no offense to my bitter, disillusioned readers, if I have any) it’s a lot better for your own mental health to keep trying, than to give up, isn’t it?
A talking mule in the cafeteria ought to be a big enough hint.
Brett,
Those are the other small guys, the ones who probably got me into this blog—the ones who don’t look to solve problems, but look to ignore them. I have this notion that one person might read just the right post, on just the right day, and decide NOT to keep his or her head in the sand. The folks who do nothing pain me, as I’ve written a few times in the past (actually finishing a post on that very topic right now).
(Brett, how’s Tribes? Did you spot me on the jacket? Yeah, it’s a great book, but what about mememe?)
Friar,
Anybody who’s all about results and treating adults like adults is definitely hot. Agreed.
Later,
Kelly
4 March 2009, 10:25 pm
@Kelly
Yes…precisely. It’s the results-oriented philosophy that attracts me to them. Yeah…that’s it.
Friar’s last blog post…How to Reduce Morale and Sabotage your own Company
4 March 2009, 10:51 pm
You, too, huh?
5 March 2009, 2:37 am
This is why I have a hard time with business plans. I get the plan done then I learn something new and the approach changes slightly and the plan is immediately out of date. I could spend all my time doing plans (and I’ve done that) or I could focus on the goal and find my way there with flexibility with my approach.
Alex Fayle | Someday Syndrome’s last blog post…Finding people who want in on your stuff
5 March 2009, 7:45 am
Kelly,
Tribes is good (haven’t found you yet though – when I do, I’ll circle your picture and scan the jacket then send you the PDF!)
5 March 2009, 7:50 am
Ahhahaha!
Top left corner of the letter R.
Sonia Simone’s on there, and Chris Brogan, and a few other folks I “know” from the www, too. But it took my reading glasses and a good magnifying glass to find anyone, even myself.
Tribes ROCKS.
5 March 2009, 7:55 am
Oops, hi Alex!
I hear you about out-of-date plans. They have to be a working document or they just don’t… work. That’s what I like about Tim Berry’s Plan As You Go business plan book, which I mentioned a couple of Saturdays ago.
The document’s stale before the ink dries, normally (though I do love mine, it’s very pretty gathering dust on its shelf). His book is all about flexibility. Why didn’t he write it ten years earlier??
Flex, flow, and stay committed to your decisions. What a great talk we’ve been having on this one!
Later,
Kelly
5 March 2009, 8:30 am
Kelly, I love this perspective. When committed to the way, ego hinders progress but it also hinders innovation. When we are so focused on self, we are afraid to fail and discover. I love this advice to commit to results and not the path. I am going to tape this to my desk.
Karen Swim’s last blog post…A Novel Approach to Picking up Customers
5 March 2009, 9:23 am
Patton said that plans work very well right up until the first shot is fired. Then you have to improvise and be flexable.
Thanks for your excellent response. I am going to really stuggle to implement it. We are very old school here. Work until 7pm because that shows you are committed. That will change when the current old guard retires in the next 18 months.
Even from within the ranks it is hard. I used to get the folks together after work to discuss ideas, boost moral and generally get people to know each other. It turned into a bitch-fest and eventually they turned on me. (questioned my motives)
Like you say, I’ll keep trying but I’ll have to be innovative, and patient.
Eyeteaguy
Eyeteaguy’s last blog post…What does your vehicle say about you?
11 March 2009, 8:28 am
I had to come back and read this again. Your interpretation is excellent. “I commit to the desired outcome.” That speaks volumes to me.
I had a meeting yesterday with the President and a GM (not THE President, my president)
It started as an overview of how things were going wrong (or sideways as I call it). There was finger pointing, lots of stories of things going wrong. I had to wait for a pause (lowest on the totem pole you see). Then I simply asked where we wanted to be? That was easily answered. Then I said the path we were taking is not getting us there, what path will? Within 10 minutes we had a new action plan.
Thanks Kelly, your Points really do bring Inspiration.
Eyeteaguy
Eyeteaguy’s last blog post…I don’t know