The Fire Within

Do you ever wonder what would happen if our society today was faced with a situation like World War 2? Would people of this time be known as the Greatest Generation part 2? Do you ever wonder what our world would look like if large segments of the population at the time decided to not take the smallpox vaccine or the polio vaccine?  I have felt a downward shift in our society's unity over our lifetimes. Part of me felt like a crisis of the scale of COVID-19 might be a spark our society needed to unite us, bring us closer together. Then I read articles about the numbers of people not planning on getting vaccinated and the impact it could have to actually eradicate the disease. The longer it lingers the more it will mutate into other strains. There is a reason we see influenza come back every year, because a new set of strains run through our society.  Most people don't get their flu shot every year, and it is perfectly within a persons rights to deny getting vaccinated for COVI...

I hate email. Which is kind of unfair, because my real issue is any type of communication when it is inefficient. Today we have so many different methods of communication. On a typical day at work I will get messages in email, Teams, Slack, Basecamp, three different service desk ticket systems, project tickets and issue logs. Every tool has its purpose and value. I work in a world with different clients and vendors who all have different preferences and tool sets. I don't really mind it. What never ceases to amaze me though is the number of times I will get a message in one medium asking if I saw a message in another.  Now, to be fair, I'm probably just as guilty as the next person. I can recall sending a Teams message to a developer asking if they saw the update in Basecamp and if they need me to create a Jira ticket for it. That is insane. Here are the rules I try to live by to hopefully make sure I'm not adding to the problem any more than is absolutely necessary. Other ...

I live in a very competitive house. My wife and I don't really play games together because neither of us like to lose so it tends to get a little too tense. Being great parents and all we have passed that competitive spirit down to our kids, who all stomped off after losing in a kids vs. parents Pictionary grudge match. My girls also dance so they have had it ingrained early from their very first dance competition. Competition is just a part of life.  Competition is funny though because it can be a good thing, but if taken too far or not looked at correctly it can become a problem. You see on any team you have internal competition and external competition. For instance in sports, you have competition on a team where you have to see first who is going to make the team, then when you figure out who your starters are going to be. So the competition is also your teammate. When you are teammates you then need to work together to beat the competition. Whether you are the starter or the b...

In my last post I talked about controlling your thinking. Very internally focused. However too often we get focused on others. Not only what they are thinking but what they are feeling. When someone doesn't think like we do, we want to change their thinking. We want to tell people not to feel what their are feeling. Neither actually works. You can't control what people think and what they feel. The only thing we can do is understand them and build a relationship with them. If we have a relationship and care about that relationship we will work to understand what they think and how they feel. We see it too often in our world, nobody cares about what someone else feels, and we are surprised when there are tensions stemming from it. Sides are chosen and the war to change the other persons thoughts and feelings begins...and never ends. Not until one side chooses to understand the other. When the choice of peace and unity becomes stronger than the choice of war and division. 

One of my favorite movies is National Treasure . I am a history fan and enjoy stories that involve solving a puzzle so it is right up my alley. Towards the end of the movie as the cat and mouse game with the bad guys comes to its climax there are a few lines about maintaining the status quo that have always stuck with me. The good guys and bad guys are working together because they both have a piece of the puzzle.  Patrick: Look, cooperation only lasts as long as the status quo remains unchanged. As soon as this guy gets where this thing ends, he won't need you anymore. Or any of us. Ben: So we find a way to make sure the status quo changes in our favor. Status quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs. This idea of maintaining the status quo to retain your position, or your bargaining power is all to common. Individuals want to maintain everything  they currently have and expect in a negotiation the other side concede to their wishes. Of course the other sid...

To be a good team member, you have to adapt and be willing to help the team succeed. Sometimes it means doing things which aren't your strengths, or even things you don't like to do. If there is a process in place everyone else follows it is important as a team to follow that process. It is also important for you to remember you are a unique individual. You have different strengths and talents. You might have a different approach than others do. You see this a lot in sports where someone has an unusual stance or throwing style. Everything says it shouldn't work but it is effective for them. The same is true for you, you bring a unique view of things.  You also may see something that is a problem that others don't. Even if you follow the policy you know you are still going to have an issue. You need to be able to speak up, take a stand when something is not right. It is one of many dichotomies in life. You need to be a good team mate, but you also need to be the best ver...

The phrase, "I didn't want to step on your toes" has been said a number of times at my work place lately. I find it interesting that in our society we don't seem to care who we offend, but at our jobs we try so hard not to offend we become more passive then we need to be at our job.  You need to have good working relationships with people so it is right to try not to offend anyone. We don't need to be scared so we aren't doing what we need to though. If we are focused on the same goal, I should never be offended by someone trying to get some work done.  When you are learning to dance, there is a good chance that you will make the wrong steps, even step on your partners toes once in a while. If you are dancing a cha-cha and your partner is dancing a waltz it is going to be ugly, there is even a chance someone could get hurt. But if you are dancing the same style, your goal is the same. It might be a little rough at first but with practice and learning about eac...

We all know that crazy things will happen in life. There are daily risks and opportunities to learn something. For many of us sometimes we have to walk through a challenge to learn our lessons. When we are young our parents told us a thousand times to be careful by the stove, it is hot. It often never really stuck with us until the one time we accidentally touched it and we learned what they meant when they said it was hot. Next time I guarantee you were much more cautious around the stove. We protect our kids, when they are really little we don't let them near the stove. When they get older we might stand next to them and warn them as they get too close. Protection makes sense up to a point. If your kid is about to go off to college and you've never let them in the kitchen for fear they might get burned you are going to have a problem. Sheltering them is not helping to protect them. Any team, any relationship, you want to have a culture where everyone feels others have the...

There is a lot we don't know. Not only is knowledge increasing over time giving us more to learn, it is impossible for a person to know everything. We can pick and choose what we learn. We have our interests and what we are required to know for our jobs or our families. There are many questions we get asked where the answer is, "I don't know." What happens next is where the true value comes. First there is the information where you don't know and you don't care. Some people might be asked this week who the starting quarterbacks are in the Super Bowl. For many they don't know and they don't care. That information is of zero value in their life. If the information provides no value to you, then not caring is an okay response. The other clear area is when it is information you need to know. Information vital for your job, knowing when you have to pick the kids up, or what time your meeting is. If you say I don't know for these your response is g...

Delegation is a concept heard a lot in the business world. Most people think of it as the boss dumping the work they don't want to do on their employees. It can certainly happen that way, but I think it is far more complex. Delegation is getting a team to work as efficiently and effectively as possible. It becomes less about getting rid of work and more about  having the person that is best suited for a job doing a task. For instance, I know how to open Photoshop and I can do some very basic things. I am not going to be quick about it and the product I produce nobody would want. Taking longer for a worse product is the exact opposite of what we are aiming for. If I have a project that needs design work, I need to delegate that to a Graphic Designer, it is more efficient and effective. Learning to delegate involves knowing the skills and abilities of the people on your team and being honest about what you aren't good at. Delegation is also about time, there is a transfer of kn...

If you've ever studied how lions hunt you will see a pretty simple pattern in their hunting style. Their goal is to separate one of the slowest and the weakest from the rest of the herd. A lion facing a herd of water buffalo will easily be killed. But if he can scare the herd into thinking about self preservation, they will scatter and the slow and weak members of the herd will be left behind. While it may seem like we aren't in a survival mode like in the wild, we do face the same tactic. Bullies at any level try to separate and take people on one-on-one. If you are the biggest kid in the class you can probably beat up anyone if they are by themselves. But it is highly doubtful you will see someone take out multiple people at once. When the herd unites and turns to face the lion, the lion will back down. The divide and conquer strategy is one of the oldest tricks in the book, yet we continue to fall for it. We should always be aware. There are extremely serious situations ...

There are times when changes need to be made, as a leader this is one of your most critical times and it will probably define if you are successful or not. It doesn't matter what the change is. It could be having to lay off a bunch of workers, bench your player that has started all year, or implement a new process or policy. The way you handle communication during those moments of transition are vital. The most common mistake people make, they think they are clear. They explained it once, sent out a memo or told their direct reports and told them to pass along the information. Whatever method you used I guarantee you it wasn't enough. Change is hard and you need to repeat the message to make sure it is clear, consistent and everyone is actually on the same page. The other factor that most often gets overlooked is how much people will talk to each other. You can end every email, speech and memo with an invite to ask any questions, yet people will talk to each other more than...

Are you clear about what your role is? I'm not talking about your job or position, because that should be pretty clear. But your role can change project-to-project or game-to-game. I'll use a sports analogy because it is pretty clear, if you are a wide receiver, that is your job. But your role can change depending on the game, the opponent, the score and the play called. If it is a running play your role as a wide receiver is to block down field. If you run a route on a running play trying to get open to catch a pass it doesn't help your team at all. Everywhere else is it is the same. My job is a project manager, but at times I have to be a business analyst, systems architect, tester, trainer, etc. It changes by project and by what is needed in the moment. The clarity that is needed is by being on the same page with the other people on the team. At the start of the project if roles are defined you don't just decide to change unless the whole team is clear with the c...

Nobody does anything on there own. If you work for a company, are a member of a sports team, a production group, or any other organization you are on a team. Even if you are a sole proprietor or independent freelancer, your team includes your customers and your suppliers/vendors. Your family is a team. Unless you are off the grid, living off the land and have no interaction with another human being you are a member of a team. Since you are on a team, is it about you or is it about the team? One of the simplest yet most profound tests you can use to determine how much it is about the team is to measure your use of I/me/my and we/us/our. Listen to yourself and others. Read through emails or messages and see how often you talk about yourself versus the team. We all want to feel appreciated and to be recognized for our accomplishments. Nothing will erode others views of you faster though than putting yourself above the team.

You've just been assigned a new project, made a team or have been reassigned to a different department. You quickly asses who else is on the team with you and you aren't happy. Some of the other members of the team are not exactly what you would call A players. A few you are shocked actually made the same team as you because they are more suited for JV or the easy projects. You complain to others who think the same way as you so you can feel vindicated in your assessment. Of course they agree with you, why wouldn't they? You feel insulted. You may even contemplate quitting because if they think you are on the same level then they must obviously not value your skills and abilities so you might as well take them elsewhere. It is easy to feel this way, we've all felt it because we've all been a part of a team. Choose to be better. There are a number of things you should keep in mind before you make those judgments. If it isn't your job to pick the teams o...

The last couple of months has been an interesting set of events reminding me just how small the business world is, and the world in general is. The first time was when I was hired by my current employer because they knew about me from over seven years ago. Back then I was in charge of building a new Web site and was part of selecting them as our provider. I wouldn't be at the job I am without that relationship. The second one came about that a man I last worked with over 10 years ago saw that I got a new job on social media. It just so happens he was searching for a new partner to help his company build a new Web site and recognized a fit. We wouldn't be working on this project if it wasn't for that relationship. They always say you never want to burn bridges, which I can see. You never know where life and your career might take you 5, 10, or more years down the road. It also is a good reminder how important it is to invest in relationships as the return you get out of ...

Success can come in many different forms, which makes success hard to achieve. There isn't a magic set of steps if you follow them you will succeed. It is why people will often try to replicate the acts of those who are successful but find it a harder road than expected. Because there are so many paths to success teams can easily find themselves debating about what is the right path they should be on. Each person has different experiences, strengths and knowledge that make different methods more or less appealing. The larger the team the more opinions. The more opinions the more room for debate about which one is right. I believe success has far less to do with finding the right method and far more to do with everyone on the team buying into the selected method. If you can't support the decision then you are actually hurting your organizations chance of success. You are allowed to disagree and debate with others, but if a decision is made that you don't agree with you s...

I know nothing about rugby, that needs to be stated out of the gate so if I have any rugby enthusiasts reading this I hopefully won't offend them. But I need to talk about rugby and probably the most famous rugby team, the New Zealand national team called the All Blacks. I recently finished Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About the Business of Life by James Kerr, which talked about the culture and changes the team made over the years to maintain their elite status and rebuild when they weren't meeting their own expectations. You don't have to know anything about rugby to recognize their dominance. They hold a 77% winning record against their international competition. Since the inceptions of the World Rugby Rankings they have held the number one ranking longer than all other teams combined. Part of what is intriguing about the All Blacks is their deep sense of culture and tradition. To wear the All Blacks jersey isn't something to be taken lightly. As a play...

I've realized that one of my goals in life is to experience being part of a high performing team. I've always been a part of a team, and almost every team has been made up of great people working together. But when I say high performing team it is another level. In high school I played basketball and baseball. I played on teams and we won some games, I would never say we were a high performing team at any time. A high performing team is one that wins or competes for championships. You watch them and there is something special about them. Everyone else gets pumped up when they have to play them because they know they are going against the best. High performing teams are identified from those outside, others recognize their greatness, it is never self proclaimed. When I look back on my 20+ year career I don't believe I could say I've ever been on a high performing team. The closest I've come was a 3-4 window where we had all of the right parts but just didn't qu...

Another dance season has passed us by as we wrapped up the end of the year recitals this past weekend. It is always a mixed emotions time for me as the exhaustion from a long weekend makes you happy that it is over but then I realize we are another year closer to it being done. Watching my daughters dance has been a major part of my life for the past 12 years, and when I think about how fast that time has gone the fact that I only have 3 years left to watch my oldest leaves me searching for a way to slow time down. I only have one more father daughter dance left with her too. She might tell you that she is excited that there is only one more chance for me to embarrass her though. I hope that she, and my other daughters always knows how much I love being on stage with them. Any chance to have a little fun and spend time with my girls is worth it. I've been asked before if I wished that any of my girls played sports or did something other than dance. I've never minded that th...