Manage To Change

A Blast from the Past

Liz Strauss challenged several people today to look over their blogging history, dust off five posts they’ve written, and share them again.

What an interesting exercise!

While a lot has changed over the past 18 months (just look at the fonts I used to use), many things have stayed the same.

Character and Context are still more helpful in personal development than focusing solely on strengths and weaknesses.

Strategy without execution is still philosophy!

Structure and rules have their uses but they still should never be considered a substitute for original thought: What are rules for anyway?

Many people are still seeking balance, while I prefer blending.

And, I still look up to a very special man who showed me that we learn by taking chances: Putting Holes in Walls.

Thanks Liz.

Marketing to Me

Professional marketers need to define some new demographics.

Age, for example, doesn’t seem to be an accurate indicator of someone’s desire to get their news from the Internet, to buy new gadgets, or to research medical conditions on the web.

For many products and services geographic location is irrelevant (other than to determine tax rates).

Gender, again, seems to be of limited use in predicting behavior as is the fact that someone is a parent or the number and age of their children.

I don’t cook. I don’t read glamour magazines. My favorite color is black. I have been known use online publishing, Twitter, and Facebook. I’m over 40.

I could be your biggest fan if you’d just give me a chance. I am just as likely to talk about your product’s virtues as I am its deficiencies and I am very well networked.

So PLEASE find a way to market to me that doesn’t insult my intelligence or assume I’m someone I’m not.

Managing Goal Fatigue

(Lessons from the Treadmill)

Half way through my hour on the treadmill, it becomes very hard to keep going.

It’s exhausting and the goal seems so far away.

I find it’s a lot like implementing change.

Do you think the strategies to manage “goal fatigue” on the treadmill could be adapted to managing goals in an organization?

Know Your Team and Manage Perspective

I start my workout with the treadmill display showing Time Elapsed. Being full of energy at the onset, watching my progress toward goal is invigorating.

When I start to get tired, I switch to the Time Remaining view. As I watch the time between me and my goal decrease, the probability I’ll abandon my workout also decreases.

Set the Pace and Enable Interim Celebrations

My playlist is ordered to inspire a fast start, followed by a solid pace, a burst of energy in the middle, and then another solid pace carried through until the end.

When I start to get tired midway, up-beat songs come on to get me moving. They are both rewarding and motivational.

When I’m exceptionally pessimistic about my ability to continue, I set mini goals.

I might time how long it takes for me to go a quarter mile, calculate at what time the next quarter mile should elapse, and then see how close my prediction was to the actual time. Increasing my accuracy becomes its own reward.

Keep it Attainable and Make it Public

Ever since I decided to write about my treadmill experience, it’s harder to quit before I’m done. It’s like you’re all watching.

How could I say: “Well I run into trouble about halfway through my workout and quit when I’m three quarters of the way done.”

How helpful is that?

We could probably all agree that the best part of working out is when it's over.

What a great feeling!

But remember this, the difficulty of the task is one of the reasons it feels so good to complete it.

Gender, Diversity, and Learning

I believe that men and women become more effective leaders when they are willing to respect, learn from, and even adopt each other’s strategies and tactics.

Over the decades, I’ve noticed men become more collaborative and supportive, women become more adept at focusing on core issues, and both genders develop their abilities to balance head and heart.

Gender is not the only variable in the workplace. There are ethnicities, generations, personalities, nationalities, learning styles, communication preferences, job functions, and many more.

Imagine if these differences did not represent barriers to learning as much as opportunities to expand our thoughts and capabilities!

Diversity may contribute to the complexity of an organization, but it also increases innovation, problem solving skills, and even market relevance.

Let’s take a minute and consider what we could learn from the very different people that are around us.

(Pay particular attention to anyone you find really annoying!)

Let’s also consider what we’re missing if everyone around us is just like us!

Lessons from a Restaurant

All I needed to know about people I learned when I was a waitress.

When someone comes in, say hello. Do it quickly - even if you can’t get them what they want right way.

If someone shows up often, let them know you’ve noticed. Try to make them feel at home. 

If someone asks you for something you don’t have, tell the truth.

Don’t waste their time and don’t insult their intelligence. Do what you can to meet their needs, but admit when you can’t meet them exactly.

Admit when you don’t understand them.

Where possible, offer them alternatives.

At all times treat people (even difficult people) with respect.

Keep an open mind and try to understand their perspective. 

Difficult people are the ones that teach us the most.

A Recipe for Mediocrity

Our competitors usually aren’t cheating.

They aren’t “gaming” the system to look better than us.

It’s not that they have better connections, steal our ideas, or undermine our success.

If they’re winning, there’s a reason.

If we’re not, there’s a reason.

Perhaps we should stop lamenting about our position and start looking for those reasons.

If we don’t, we’ll always be trying to catch up and we never will.

Lights Out

I try to write every day.

But sometimes it’s hard to get started.

Nothing comes to mind.

Or what does come to mind doesn’t seem very note worthy.

There’s something there – a thought or an idea worth sharing - but it isn’t within me to tease it out and develop it properly.

Little things get in the way. My head hurts. I only have a half hour (what can I possibly accomplish in such little time). I’m tired. It’s raining out.

(Whine, whine, whine)

Together they conspire to undermine my progress.

Other days I can stare them in the face and tell them to back off, but not today.

Today I’m going to give in to life’s little annoyances.

Sometimes the best thing to do is walk away and come back fresh tomorrow.

As long as those times are the exceptions, we’ll be fine.

So what does this have to do with change?

Everyone needs a rest occasionally

--- even if it’s just a little nap.

See you tomorrow.

Great Finds

If you’re self-employed and have ever struggled to articulate your business strategy, Tony D. Clark, Success from the Nest, has written a must read series about the business hierarchy of needs.

While Tony’s intent is to assist the self-employed, I feel his hierarchy can be applied to any information or service oriented business as a way to understand the value it offers its customers.

Hierarchy of the Successfully Self-Employed (part 1)
Freelancing is for Suckers (part 2)
All the Aggravation of Employment, Without All the Perks (part 3)
You May Already be an Expert...You Just Don't Know It (part 4)
Gurus Share More by Doing Less (part 5)

Another one of my new favorite blogs has been Michelle Kraft’s The Krafty Librarian. She discussed the pros and cons of UpToDate on two separate blog posts.

Are Your Doctors Addicted to UpToDate?

UpToDate Discussion Continues

For those of you not familiar with medical publishing, “UpToDate is designed to get clinicians the concise, practical answers they need when they need them the most - at the point-of-care.”

Plus, here’s one more from Michelle that points to some great reference material: EMR and the Role of Librarians.

If you’re in the medical information business, Michelle’s blog is a great find!

Negativity

The line between positivity and negativity is action – productive action.

I believe that it is almost always within our power to make things work better.

Pointing out where and how problems can be addressed is not negativity when our intent is to solve the problem.

Negativity exists when there is no hope or no desire to change.

Negativity flourishes when talking about problems is more attractive than solving them.

Better Late or Not?

A friend and I were reminiscing about a past job.

He remembered how “the important people were always late.”

I remembered that we always had a difficult time executing anything.

I wonder if there was a connection.