supporting people in the vital work of changing their minds
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Good morning from Vancouver in Spring! There is a bad nor’easter pounding Atlantic Canada as I write and the folks there are in my thoughts and prayers.
I’ve been thinking recently about disasters; the loss of Malaysian Air flight 370 and the mudslide in Washington State are just two that are showing up in my news screens. The way most of us receive news of these disasters is through some kind of medium; twitter, radio, TV, and newspapers. An impact of that mediated information is that we can find ourselves an audience, as opposed to engaged and participating. In the theatre, for example, cast and crew are very aware of what’s called the 4th wall. Surrounding the three sides of most stages are three walls, the 4th wall is the invisible wall between the audience and the actors on stage. In very rare occurrences some plays will ‘play’ with the 4th wall and have a character that speaks to the audience, but for the most part the play happens and the audience watches. We might be moved, we might laugh or cry , we might be inspired etc. but we don’t actively participate in the play itself. The same is true in our mediated news experience; there is a kind of 4th wall between us and the people actually participating. It’s one of the reasons we are glued to our screens when, for example, the county sheriff gives a press conference about the missing people in the mudslide; s/he is a participant in the search and takes time to turn to us the audience and give us a report through the 4th wall. As an audience feel more closely linked to the action, as it were.
One of the challenges as we face as leaders and managers I submit, is breaking down the 4th wall, especially around conflict. One of the default places we go is to talk about an employee’s performance or a conflict we might have with an employee, rather than talking with the employee. What we’re doing in such cases is acting like an audience member; we may be moved, we might laugh or cry, or wonder what will happen next, but we’re not actively participating in the play itself. And the result is, the play goes on with or without us! If you really want to make a difference in your department, or your organization you can’t be an audience member, you have to be an actor in the play itself. That means you have to talk with and communicate with the other actors, not just talk about them.
Here are three deceptively simple guidelines for actually acting in the ‘play’;
1. Listen to what the other ‘actor’ is saying, both with their words, their tone of voice and their bodies. Respond to what they are saying, not what you think they are saying, or what you hear yourself say while they are speaking.
2. Truth is not only good, it’s what drives the action of the play forward. I may have a different perception of what the truth is, but I don’t have the whole truth. The way to uncover the whole truth is to balance advocacy with inquiry. In dialogue we are more likely to uncover more of the truth than we have individually. Candour therefore is absolutely vital.
3. Watch out for drama. In plays drama is vital, it is what entertains us. In real life, and especially in organizations, in the words of my friend and mentor Jamie Powers, “one should have only as much drama in one’s life to be entertaining at dinner parties.” Drama in organizations often increases with two factors, the length of time the issue, performance problem or conflict festers and the number of other people getting involved; drama triangles becoming drama octagons for example! Two people, listening to each other, and advocating and inquiring about truth will be able to do far more, far more effectively than 3 or 5 or 8 people trying to act as heroes or ‘help’ resolve the conflict.
May this week be filled with each one of us getting on the stage!
Good morning from a rainy Vancouver. TED is here, the rain eases off this afternoon and the flowers are blooming! It’s all good!
Watching TED updates on Twitter this week, it is very interesting that the winner of this year’s TED prize is Chairman Gooch and their work in identifying anonymous corporations. http://www.ted.com/participate/ted-prize This is really important work, and means that slowly but surely corporations the world over may find themselves not only enjoying the perks of ‘personhood’ but the responsibilities as well. And I was thinking when the announcement was made last night; what about us as anonymous persons?
Now I don’t mean that we are trying to get away with crimes like the anonymous corporations, but simply that so many of us go through our days and work lives anonymously, ‘you keep on paying me, and I’ll keep lifting” as the old “Doug and the Slugs” song goes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZTwXl6yuVE And this is especially true in our relationships in our communities. There is an ancient idea that the health of a city or nation is to be found in how it treats its most vulnerable. How you and how the organization you work for and with treats the folks in your community says a lot about who you and the organization are. I was reminded of this this week where over the past two days I’ve watched three people on three different occasions give bags of food from local restaurants to folks begging on the streets of Vancouver. The exchanges a brief, but warming to witness and to participate in. And the week before last a friend and I were having lunch in a local restaurant and a group of nurses came in for lunch. They were attending a conference at a hotel across the street and were wearing jackets and shirts with the BC Nurses union logo. As we finished lunch my friend and I went over to thank the nurses for all they do in our communities. We shared a laugh or two had a nice chat and went back to our seats. As the bill came, one of the nurses came over and picked up our bill. She said, “please pay this forward” and went off to the till to buy our lunch. It was an amazing moment of connection between people who did not know each other, but were far from anonymous with each other.
May you find an opportunity to know and be known in your community this week
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Alisdair
Good afternoon, from a sunny, and warming (2 degrees C) Brandon Manitoba! It’s good to be back.
I had the honour of hearing my friend Ellen Clark King speak on Sunday morning. http://www.cathedral.vancouver.bc.ca/2014/03/10/sermon-by-archdeacon-ellen-clark-king-mar-9-2014/ Ellen is a brilliant theologian and writer and her words exploring the ancient story of Adam and Eve and the serpent are worth listening to regardless of your own religious convictions. What she does is interpret the story and provide us with a challenging and engaging interpretation of it.
One of my points in sharing this with you (besides giving her a broader audience), is that she is expert at what I believe is a key competency for all leaders. She is expert at hermeneutics. Now this word, most often associated with theology, philosophy and even art history, means ‘interpretation’ of texts. What does the text tell us? Who wrote it? What was the context? What were the issues of the day? What are the relationships between the characters, as well as what they say? How have others interpreted this text? As you listen to Ellen’s words, you’ll hear her ‘unpack’ this story by asking such questions indirectly.
I believe that as leaders we need to be able to ‘unpack’ the information we receive especially in financial data, in the same way. Who wrote it, what was the context, what are the issues around the writing and the writer, what are the relationships between the numbers as well as what they say? how have others interpreted this report? These questions will help us get closer to the bottom of what the financial data is actually trying to tell us. We need to be much better at reading the story the numbers are telling us. If you’re a leader or a manager who shies away from finance because it appears to be ‘complex’, my best advice is get over it, I did. I’m not a CA, far from it, but by sitting next to people who were CA’s, by asking for points of clarification, comprehension, and implications, I’ve become more financially literate, and as such, a better leader. Find someone who can ‘read’ the story in the numbers, to help you learn how to ‘read’ the story in the numbers.
May we find this week the opportunity to learn more about the hermeneutics of financial reports.
Good afternoon, the sun is poking through scattered clouds and the flowers are peering out of the soil! After 3 days of snow earlier in the week, it is wonderful to see and smell Spring arriving. I hope it arrives for you literally and metaphorically soon!
I’ve been sifting through this month’s Fast Company magazine in between projects. There is a great piece about the “Most Creative People” and in the midst of the article, a small little graphic about the biggest barrier to creativity in business. In ascending order, the barriers are government 1%, office politics 2%, conflicts with others, 3%, quarterly profit demands 11%, bureaucracy 23%, inertia 28% and fear of the new 32%. (Fast Company February 2014 p, 49)
Now there are a few directions we might take with this little bit of data. I am though intrigued by the three biggest, bureaucracy, inertia and fear of the new. I am reminded of one of my favorite books, business or otherwise, of the last 20 years, Gordon MacKenzie’s https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/100469.Orbiting_the_Giant_Hairball . This remarkable book explores the question, where is creativity in business. MacKenzie relates a wonderful story of creating a job at Hallmark, where he worked for 30 years. The job was called the “Creative Paradox”.’ He would sit in his office, and people would come in from all over the massive organization and pitch ideas to him. He would say simply, “yes, sounds like a good idea.” Every single time. Yes. And so the pitchers would go back to their respective departments and say something like, “Creative Paradox at head office likes the idea”, and hearing that management would more than likely agree, not wanting to risk the wrath of someone at head office called the “Creative Paradox”! In one fell swoop MacKenzie had reduced the bureaucratic barrier, the inertia barrier and the fear of the new. Frankly, not all of the ideas actually had legs, but some did, and they were implemented to the benefit of the organization.
Now, some 16 years after he wrote the book, and 15 years after his untimely death, Fast Company notes that the issues MacKenzie fought so hard to change still remain. While the job title of Creative Paradox might not work anymore, his main role, to say ‘yes’ certainly would. We live in a time filled with fear. We live in a time when our governments, our mainstream media and our own conversations with each other, often turn to fear and fear mongering. We are enslaved by fear. So here are three things you can do starting right now to break the chains of fear:
1. Do something different every day. Come home or go to work by a different route, go to a different restaurant, have a different date night with your partner, go for a walk through the neighbourhood, rather than watching TV tonight….
2. Say yes to yourself about a dream. If your dream has been to go skydiving, go for it, if it’s been to learn to sing, go for it, if it’s been to ask someone out, go for it.
3. Smile at people on the street. Seriously, smile at people on the street. There are no zombies, there are no vampires, the people on the street, or the subway, or the bus are people just like you and me and they are generally speaking not dangerous at all. So smile at them. You’ll feel better and so will they. And slowly but surely, you’ll find that you are more courageous, and the community you live and work in is no longer as scary a place.
And we’ll see that creativity appears that much more regularly in our working and social lives.
May this week give us time find some creative courage.
Good afternoon, the sky and sea are grey today, but it is an improvement from Sunday morning’s snow! Snow in Vancouver in March?! It was a shocker! The snow stayed away just long enough for a very special event in our part of ‘church land’ here. Melissa Skelton was consecrated and then installed as the 9th Anglican Bishop of New Westminster on Saturday. It was an amazing day for her, I’m sure, as it was for me and my friends in the diocese.
Being a Bishop is somewhat like being a CEO, and Melissa’s credentials, including an MBA from Chicago, executive experience at Proctor and Gamble and Tom’s of Maine will serve her well in the many parts of her new role that are very CEO like. In all the pomp and pageantry (as only Anglicans/Episcopalians can really muster), one moment stood out for me. Having been consecrated Melissa approached the doors of the cathedral and knocked on the door. http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Video+Melissa+Skelton+installed+bishop+Diocese+Westminster/9568483/story.html The knocking is analogous to the CEO knocking in the doors of the head office! You see, in the Anglican tradition, the executive leadership, the Bishop, asks permission of the community to enter, and therefore to lead. (For those of you in the Commonwealth, you’ll immediately see the similarity to the Royal Representative or the Queen, knocking on the door of the House of Commons to read the Speech from the Throne.) The symbolism is profound; leaders lead only because there are followers. If the followers do not trust you, the end of your power is very close. It was a profound moment to hear the knock, and to welcome the new Bishop in to her/our cathedral.
And then I read this piece my friend and colleague Dixie Black offered in the Notes for this past Sunday’s Bulletin. It’s the late poet and philosopher John O’Donoghue reflecting on leadership. I hope you’ll take the time to reflect on it.
May the gift of leadership awaken in you as a vocation,
Keep you mindful of the providence that calls you to serve.
As high over the mountains the eagle spreads its wings,
May your perspective be larger than the view from the foothills.
When the way is flat and dull in times of gray endurance,
May your imagination continue to evoke horizons.
When thirst burns in times of drought,
May you be blessed to find the wells.
May you have the wisdom to read time clearly,
And know when the seed of change will flourish.
In your heart may there be a sanctuary
For the stillness where clarity is born.
May your work be infused with passion and creativity
And have the wisdom to balance compassion and challenge.
May your soul find the graciousness
To rise above the fester of small mediocrities.
May your power never become a shell
Wherein your heart would silently atrophy.
May you welcome your own vulnerability
As the ground where healing and truth meet.
May integrity of soul be your first ideal,
The source that will guide and bless your work.
May we find this week the courage to knock on the doors to see if we’ll be invited inside the lives and work of those with whom we work.
Good afternoon from an overcast and windy Vancouver. I count myself fortunate though not to be covered in snow and cold, like so much of the continent. Spring is coming, really, Spring is coming!
I’ve been reflecting today how really strong our ego’s can be. By ego I mean that part of us that thrives on being praised, acknowledged, given pats on the back and generally admired. Some of us have quite powerful egos, (like me) and others are blessed with different gifts! One of the challenges for us as leaders is to navigate the stormy waters between healthy self-esteem, and a Gollum like ego that hungers after attention. (I wrote back in November about that Gollum part of us http://www.alisdairsmith.com/index.php/leadership-notes/78-gollums-and-intention )
Once again I am reminded that we do not clear our egos/Gollums aside as we mature and grow, rather we can find a way to respect and honour them, to bring them into our lives, but not let them run our lives. And then, every now and then, something will trigger their return to the fore. What is important is to recognize that they have returned, and not to lose control of our actions and behaviours. And this can be a very difficult thing to do in a leadership position, when the ‘slings and arrows’ are flying in every direction, and the situation in which we find ourselves is precarious or frustrating. I was thinking of this kind of thing when reminded the other day of the sad ‘meltdown’ of Kony2012 film maker Jason Russell after very public criticism of the Kony2012 story and video.
If you find that your Gollum, or your frustration has been triggered, here are a couple of simple steps to help alleviate the situation and to help ensure that you do not hurt anyone, including yourself.
1. Work out. Go for a run/walk, lift some weights, do yoga, whatever it is that gets oxygen to your brain. Your brain knows that your ego is there, and with oxygenated blood flowing, it will more likely be able to help calm the ego down a little and get some perspective.
2. Remember, your ego is telling you a story. And it’s only a true story if you believe it to be true. During a dark time in my life, I learned to use a breathing exercise with a sort of mantra. Breathing in and out I would focus on my breath and say to myself, breathe in reality, breathe out fantasy. I’d do this a few times and find myself getting clearer that my ego was a great story teller, but would often be making assumptions about what other people were doing or thought.
We all have our moments. We have good moments and mad moments, but those moments do not make up the whole day.
May this week give us time to honour our ego/gollums, again.