I get it, we're all smart...

The following is the original and the rewrite can be found by clicking here.

I know a very savvy leader who once started a meeting by saying, "I get it, we're all smart... let's get over it." I found it funny, profound and it set a tone that I had rarely heard before. 

In one simple statement he created a PUSH for everyone in the room...created common ground and checked egos at the door; he reminded us that we wouldn't be at the meeting if we were not smart, skilled and of value to the company. (For those who are not familiar with the term PUSH, it is used in Blackjack when the value of the player's hand is the same as the dealer's; this is considered a tie with no winner or loser and all bets are returned.) But it isn't always a PUSH, as we all know those people who simply set themselves apart. And why is that? -  More often than not, somewhere on that list of qualities, will be Trustworthiness... the firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone (or something). 

When you tear away all the formal structure, governance and process of business, in its simplest of terms, ,you are left with a group of relationships... be it internally among employees, or externally with customers. And like all relationships, the best ones are built on a foundation of trust... as the old African saying goes, "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." 

We all gravitate to those people that we can "trust"... be it to get the work done correctly and on time, because they do what they say they will do, are honest in their pursuits, and so on. All of these characteristics will serve a person very well and it is something we should strive for - But here is the thing, trustworthiness alone will not guarantee a strong business relationship. 

You can go fast with trustworthiness, as it can sometimes be a lonely venture, but if you want to go far, you need Mutual Trustworthiness... it is the knowledge and belief there will be reciprocity. This will build real relationships and create the "runway needed" to make great things happen. In the end, it becomes important to understand mutual levels of trustworthiness and how they are aligned; some will be evident though action and some will have to be taken on a little bit of faith.   

• As individuals, we should ask ourselves what characteristics make us "Trustworthy"?
• As leaders, we should ask what aspects of "Trustworthiness" do we want to foster on our teams?
• Does "Mutual Trustworthiness" exist in our business relationships?

Symbolically, when you shake someone's hand, you are saying, "Trust me, I have no weapons". Do you know what else does your handshake says? 

This is how you will go far.

gpe

Ideas, prototypes and Murphy's law...

The following is the original and the rewrite can be found by clicking here.

To this day I remember this short engagement between a sales professional and a "hardened" General Manager (hGM)... it went something like this - 

Sales Professional: "I think we need to do this... I would do it this way... It would be great for the company and I know people who could help us get it done."

hGM: "Great idea... You have my support to do it. Let me know if you need anything."

Sales Professional: "Really? Great... I'm going to do it."

There was some more enthusiastic discussion about the idea and then the sales professional moved off to another discussion.

hGM: "He will never do it you know"

I looked at the hardened General Manager and sipped my wine. He was right, the sales professional never did what he was so enthusiastic about. His idea never happened... either because he had no intention to do more than talk about it (as the hGM surmised) or maybe, he simply didn't know how to bring it to life. 

An idea, in the end, is just "cocktail conversation with a hGM" until you are able to bring action or tangibility to it and make it physically real. So what does it take to bring an idea to life?

Well in my experience you need...

a Time and Event Schedule To Make IT Happen (TESTMITH): This is a detailed calendar of events broken into weekly blocks that outline all the activities needed to progressively build your idea and make something tangible with it. It usually starts with a completion date in mind and then you work backwards identifying all the activities needed to develop something real. The order of these activities need to be reviewed as some activities build upon others, and so forth; my experience is bringing ideas to life is an iterative process. There is an important mechanism that comes with the TESTMITH - A weekly review, as well as creating a simple dashboard using GREEN for complete, YELLOW for in progress and RED for not started. This makes it easy to map your progress, communicate and identify future roadblocks. Plus it's very colourful.

To build a Prototype: Prototypes are exciting for a number of reasons!

• Your idea is now real... you can touch it, you can see it, and more importantly, so can others. 
• You have insight into what is needed to build it, the challenges, and what will be needed to build more (aspects of scale up).
• You now have the first iteration that all other improved versions will be build from.  
• They help show progress, as some prototypes are needed for the next activity in your TESTMITH.

Resources: Approach all of this with the assumption that resources are slim; more often than not it will be you, and if lucky, a trusted few to make it happen. And you will have you roll up your own sleeves, as there is not much opportunity to delegate here; people and processes are not used to making small quantities or "one offs". More often than not you will have to be creative with material and the resources needed to "build it". It is even tougher when money is in short supply -  Creativity, inventiveness and resourcefulness come in handy.

And this brings it us to Murphy's law, which states, and I quote, "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong." 

No mater how well you have planned, reviewed and controlled, something inevitably comes along and throws a wrench in your plans. Just imagine working on 20 prototype kits, where each prototype has over 50 pieces and each needs a label... now imagine, spending a day hand labelling all those pieces just to come back the following day to find a majority of the labels were peeling away. Five days later, more labelling and testing, it turns out the room was much too dry to let the glue on the label cure properly. Who would have thought? I sure hadn't when I started.  

Business literature is filled with characteristics of the human condition that help us deal with Murphy's Law and make our ideas real - Persistence, resilience, courage, conviction, determination, belief, sacrifice, etc. It is here that all ideas become real, and everything else is just "process".

So when Murphy's law strikes and the labels fall off, dig deep into the human condition.

gpe 

They say they want different, but do they really?

The following is the original and the rewrite can be found by clicking here.

I heard someone say this other day, "People say they want a different way of thinking and operating at work; when it is offered up, it turns out they really don't". I have also experienced this first hand and want to ponder it for a while - At face value this simply doesn't make much sense... but then again, maybe it does. 

Humans have been very successful and are at the top of the food chain mostly because we have been able to control our environment - Be it keeping the rain off our heads, the wild animals at bay, or building a state-of-the-art process to manage customer orders and ship within 12 hours (guaranteed). We control and bring predictability to things. We are successful for it, and this "request for different" simply seems to flies in the face of it. So begins the "rub"*. 

This "perceived contradiction" is created as we work hard to bring control and predictability to what we do, and then want to work outside of what we have created to bring improvement and growth; all the while putting up roadblocks to prevent it from happening. Examples abound of "the wild project" that could not get support, but with some inventive "skunk works activity"** becomes a big hit that everyone rallies behind. The fact that no one originally wanted it, is forgotten.  

I call this a "perceived contradiction", as this dynamic may seem as much, but will argue it is more of a check and balance to manage success and sustainable growth - Successful and viable businesses need to have systems, processes, operating mechanisms, business rhythms and measures that are all in control or they simply will not be sustainable. The coveted new idea or different way of thinking can, and will play havoc on the way a business is run if not kept in check. These roadblocks that arise and push back on a "different way of thinking" are to vet out what is viable and what is not. Simply put, the good will find their way, and the bad will "die on the vine". 

When you hear someone say, "They want a different way of thinking" or "They want to do things differently" take this into consideration:

• They truly mean it.
• Up front you should know that anything new, different, and "outside the box" will be challenged, dismissed, and you will hear various versions of the word "no".
• The burden is on the person with something different to "sell it", not for others to "buy it". 
• Without breaking the law or the guiding principles of the company it is "on you" to make it work... this is where that expression "Good People Find a Way" probably came from.

So how do you work through this "perceived contradiction" to make different a reality? Success stories abound, so know that it is done all the time and these are a few things that come to mind: - 

• Be persistent. If you are not willing to be the champion and a loud advocate, it simply was a "passing idea"
• Not everyone will say "no", search them out and leverage their voice, skills and funding (if they have it) and build momentum.
• Just make it happen and prove its success. You know that old adage "It's better to beg for forgiveness, than ask for permission". ***

So good luck with your different ideas and remember - The company is truly a a safe place to vet everything out, as when you get into the open market, it is a ruthless, hostile and unforgiving place.

gpe

* An idiom derived from how irritating it is for the animal when you rub it's fur the wrong way, 

** A skunk works is a group of people that, in order to achieve unusual results, work on a project in a way that is outside the usual rules.

*** There is no doubt that there is "risk" that comes with this, but anything worth doing, always comes with risk.