Today I caught myself. I'm out on an audit, working with a peer I haven't worked with before. With the holiday weekend we were behind my normal timing for an audit. I was lamenting the fact that, with the managers schedules, we were having further timing issues and that we were not going to be able to have the meetings we need to have when I usually would have them.
He commented that we could rearrange some things and still get fully back on track. I started to protest, and then I really thought about it. I caught myself holding on to a way of doing something that was solely based on habit. There was no reason I couldn't rearrange my meeting order, and his plan was simply more efficient.
It amazes me how often we do things because we've always done them that way. There is an old business fable about this very topic.
I've decided to set a new guideline for myself. If I become frustrated with something, the very first question I'm going to ask myself is why I'm doing it in a way that frustrates me. If the only reason I come up with is because I've always done it that way, I'm changing things!
Tuesday, 13 November 2007
Saturday, 20 October 2007
Servant Leadership
One of the key characteristics I am striving for as a leader is service. I believe that, to be a great leader, one must serve others. Recently though I've been feeling a bit like a doormat.
I think there is an interesting tension between service and surrender. When I forgo my own wants and likes to accommodate another's wants and desires, I think that I am serving them. However there comes a point where I no longer am fulfilling my own needs.
Lately I think that's been preying on me more and more. I want to be a servant to others, but it is beginning to feel like I am surrendering who and what I am to them.
This came to a head recently when a peer I was working with was very tense and began to take it out on me. The right thing to do was probably to remain calm and recognize that her tension was the source of the abuse. Instead, I bit her head off, and reflected the very behaviour that I was receiving. This was about the least productive thing I could have done. I knew it at the time. I certainly know it now.
Now I need to figure out how to serve and stand my ground.
I think there is an interesting tension between service and surrender. When I forgo my own wants and likes to accommodate another's wants and desires, I think that I am serving them. However there comes a point where I no longer am fulfilling my own needs.
Lately I think that's been preying on me more and more. I want to be a servant to others, but it is beginning to feel like I am surrendering who and what I am to them.
This came to a head recently when a peer I was working with was very tense and began to take it out on me. The right thing to do was probably to remain calm and recognize that her tension was the source of the abuse. Instead, I bit her head off, and reflected the very behaviour that I was receiving. This was about the least productive thing I could have done. I knew it at the time. I certainly know it now.
Now I need to figure out how to serve and stand my ground.
Friday, 28 September 2007
The Brutal Facts - Part 2
I know I've drawn a number of posts from Jim Collins' Good to Great, however I think it is one of the most thought provoking books I've read in a long time. I want to revisit the concept he calls Confronting the Brutal Facts. Collins posits that one of the key characteristics of the organizations that were able to make the leap from Good to Great was that they were able to confront the brutal facts.
Back in March, I wrote a post about how companies seem filled with people who want things spun rather than being willing to face the brutal facts. At that time I was working as a quality analyst and had contact with some peers in other organizations who were able to validate my perceptions based on their own experiences.
I'm now an internal auditor for the same company, which brings this whole issue home again. Yet I now begin to recognize the critical nature of the duality inherent in what Collins calls the Stockdale paradox. The Stockdale paradox is based on the story of Admiral Jim Stockdale. Stockdale was captured in the Vietnam War, and was tortured numerous times during his incarceration. He never deluded himself with false hope, yet he retained a faith that he would survive. That faith, coupled with the stark acceptance of reality allowed him to survive the horror in which he found himself. It also allowed him to lead others in a way that enabled them to survive as well.
So what does that have to do with auditing? I think a key characteristic needed to be a successful auditor is to face the realities I find as I audit. But I also have to retain the faith that all the problems will be overcome and we will make this a truly great organization.
I will confront the Brutal Facts so that I can help build the company to be all it can be.
Back in March, I wrote a post about how companies seem filled with people who want things spun rather than being willing to face the brutal facts. At that time I was working as a quality analyst and had contact with some peers in other organizations who were able to validate my perceptions based on their own experiences.
I'm now an internal auditor for the same company, which brings this whole issue home again. Yet I now begin to recognize the critical nature of the duality inherent in what Collins calls the Stockdale paradox. The Stockdale paradox is based on the story of Admiral Jim Stockdale. Stockdale was captured in the Vietnam War, and was tortured numerous times during his incarceration. He never deluded himself with false hope, yet he retained a faith that he would survive. That faith, coupled with the stark acceptance of reality allowed him to survive the horror in which he found himself. It also allowed him to lead others in a way that enabled them to survive as well.
So what does that have to do with auditing? I think a key characteristic needed to be a successful auditor is to face the realities I find as I audit. But I also have to retain the faith that all the problems will be overcome and we will make this a truly great organization.
I will confront the Brutal Facts so that I can help build the company to be all it can be.
Monday, 24 September 2007
Leadership in New Roles
Today was my first day in a very new role. I've gotten very used to what leadership meant in my old role, but today I realized that I have to define what leadership will come to mean to me in my new role.
That need is based on a number of different considerations.
Expertise
In my former position, I was one of the experts in my area. I was mentoring others in much of the work I did, and I was looked to as the final authority on matters of the quality philosophy.
In my new position, I have a great deal of expertise to bring, but I don't yet know what expertise will be worthwhile, and what will be irrelevant. I also am not yet recognized for that expertise, and I need to build that credibility before my expertise will be as significant a leadership characteristic.
Peers
In my former position, I was very unique. I was the only Quality Analyst. I am now one of seven auditors. While I've been proud that I've avoided making relative position very important in my leadership style, relying more on influence, character, and passion, it still is different to demonstrate leadership as part of a team of equals.
Control
Previously I had a great deal of control over the work I did, deciding what was important. I had mandated deliverables, but I also had time that I could allocate to those projects I felt were most critical. Now I'm not going to have that kind of luxury.
It will be interesting.
That need is based on a number of different considerations.
Expertise
In my former position, I was one of the experts in my area. I was mentoring others in much of the work I did, and I was looked to as the final authority on matters of the quality philosophy.
In my new position, I have a great deal of expertise to bring, but I don't yet know what expertise will be worthwhile, and what will be irrelevant. I also am not yet recognized for that expertise, and I need to build that credibility before my expertise will be as significant a leadership characteristic.
Peers
In my former position, I was very unique. I was the only Quality Analyst. I am now one of seven auditors. While I've been proud that I've avoided making relative position very important in my leadership style, relying more on influence, character, and passion, it still is different to demonstrate leadership as part of a team of equals.
Control
Previously I had a great deal of control over the work I did, deciding what was important. I had mandated deliverables, but I also had time that I could allocate to those projects I felt were most critical. Now I'm not going to have that kind of luxury.
It will be interesting.
Friday, 21 September 2007
One Day More
I'm in my last day of my present position with my company. Next week I start a very different job.
It's a very weird feeling in some ways. I leave my present position, knowing intellectually that I've had a strong impact. I've helped increase our client's satisfaction with us, I've increased internal team efficiency, and I've helped an amazing number of people in big and small ways. However, I'm having a hard time separating all that from the feeling of failure for all I did not accomplish.
I know that, no matter what, there would always be more I 'should' have done. There will always be those people whose buy-in I couldn't achieve, those problems that I couldn't solve, and those cool things I couldn't build. But I feel that I should have.
I set unreasonable expectations for myself. Sometimes that pushes me to unexpected excellence, and has been the secret of my success. Sometimes it just leaves me feeling like a bit of a failure.
It's a very weird feeling in some ways. I leave my present position, knowing intellectually that I've had a strong impact. I've helped increase our client's satisfaction with us, I've increased internal team efficiency, and I've helped an amazing number of people in big and small ways. However, I'm having a hard time separating all that from the feeling of failure for all I did not accomplish.
I know that, no matter what, there would always be more I 'should' have done. There will always be those people whose buy-in I couldn't achieve, those problems that I couldn't solve, and those cool things I couldn't build. But I feel that I should have.
I set unreasonable expectations for myself. Sometimes that pushes me to unexpected excellence, and has been the secret of my success. Sometimes it just leaves me feeling like a bit of a failure.
Tuesday, 18 September 2007
The Problem is in the Meta-Planning
Over the course of the last couple of weeks, I've been taking some time to clean up my den. I'm a pathological pack-rat, and this is no small task.
One of the challenges I've faced is that I tend to look at everything before deciding what to do with it. This makes things very time-consuming, but it also allows me to find the occasional treasure. This morning, as I reviewed a notebook that was on the top of one pile, I found some notes from the Leadership Training course I completed last year. One note, in particular, stood out.
"How do we plan to plan?"
I instantly recalled why I wrote that down. As part of the Training Session, we did a number of activities. We worked in small groups, and my group was exceedingly successful at the first activity. We jumped into the next activity with gusto, and failed miserably.
The problem we faced was that we hadn't really agreed on a planning strategy. We all just threw in our ideas, without a way to collect them, and without a decision making strategy. Since we were in a time sensitive exercise we ended up running low on time and jumping into an ill conceived (and ill understood) plan that ultimately failed.
So ask yourself. Do you have a plan to plan?
One of the challenges I've faced is that I tend to look at everything before deciding what to do with it. This makes things very time-consuming, but it also allows me to find the occasional treasure. This morning, as I reviewed a notebook that was on the top of one pile, I found some notes from the Leadership Training course I completed last year. One note, in particular, stood out.
"How do we plan to plan?"
I instantly recalled why I wrote that down. As part of the Training Session, we did a number of activities. We worked in small groups, and my group was exceedingly successful at the first activity. We jumped into the next activity with gusto, and failed miserably.
The problem we faced was that we hadn't really agreed on a planning strategy. We all just threw in our ideas, without a way to collect them, and without a decision making strategy. Since we were in a time sensitive exercise we ended up running low on time and jumping into an ill conceived (and ill understood) plan that ultimately failed.
So ask yourself. Do you have a plan to plan?
Sunday, 16 September 2007
It Lives
I was there to see it breathe for the first time!
Yesterday my best friend (JP) and I did some massive computer work. We fired up his new machine (a Core 2 QUAD!) system. Admittedly, all did not go smoothly, but after about 3 hours of tension, we figured out that there was a memory configuration issue. Fixing that allowed us to boot the single most powerful computer I've ever touched.
After about another 3 hours of installing and updating Windows, we finally got to see it in action. I literally sat their with my jaw between my knees as Bioshock ran flawlessly at maximum settings.
I was there!
Yesterday my best friend (JP) and I did some massive computer work. We fired up his new machine (a Core 2 QUAD!) system. Admittedly, all did not go smoothly, but after about 3 hours of tension, we figured out that there was a memory configuration issue. Fixing that allowed us to boot the single most powerful computer I've ever touched.
After about another 3 hours of installing and updating Windows, we finally got to see it in action. I literally sat their with my jaw between my knees as Bioshock ran flawlessly at maximum settings.
I was there!
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