Rosa Say's Blog: Managing with Aloha, page 26

Inaugural Address 2013: “We are made for this moment.”

I like words. I love using vocabulary as the practical yet robust tool it is. I think language is one of our profound human blessings, unique to our species and magical in our expression of it. To choose our words before we speak them, is to constantly recall our blessing, and share in it with everyone else, as we honor it.

Our voices can always carry that beautiful melody of our Language of Good Intention, spoken with Aloha, as it becomes our “Language of We.”

So as you might imagine, I love being pulled into the We.

“That is our generation’s task – to make these words, these rights, these values – of Life, and Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness – real for every American.”

– President Barack Obama, January 21, 2013

Being pulled into the We willingly, ready to engage and be part of it in whatever way you can, is to succumb to our human sense of belonging. We are reminded of our Sense of Place, and we feel that wealth of well-being.

So I look forward to events which have the potential to showcase inspiring speeches. They are often those special times when we can listen to, and listen for, the Alaka‘i leadership and Mālama stewardship of all the values we revere and hold dear.

The speeches intended for our entire citizenry, as any U.S. inaugural address is, will usually give us this snapshot in time of which values are currently voiced loudest and with an appealing, resonating sense of urgency: Believe in me now. Work on me now.

Make me come true.

We think about the day-to-day roles we identify with quite often — mine are repeated in the footer of every post I write here! Yet how often do we have the opportunity to think about our role as citizens? Not often enough.

In case you missed it, here is the full text of President Barack Obama’s 2013 Inaugural Address: Which of our 19 Values of Aloha do you hear when you read this?

Vice President Biden, Mr. Chief Justice, Members of the United States Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens:

Each time we gather to inaugurate a president, we bear witness to the enduring strength of our Constitution. We affirm the promise of our democracy. We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names. What makes us exceptional – what makes us American – is our allegiance to an idea, articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Today we continue a never-ending journey, to bridge the meaning of those words with the realities of our time. For history tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they have never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth. The patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with the privileges of a few or the rule of a mob. They gave to us a Republic, a government of, and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our founding creed.

For more than two hundred years, we have.

Through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slave and half-free. We made ourselves anew, and vowed to move forward together.

Together, we determined that a modern economy requires railroads and highways to speed travel and commerce; schools and colleges to train our workers.

Together, we discovered that a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play.

Together, we resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable, and protect its people from life’s worst hazards and misfortune.

Through it all, we have never relinquished our skepticism of central authority, nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society’s ills can be cured through government alone. Our celebration of initiative and enterprise; our insistence on hard work and personal responsibility, are constants in our character.

But we have always understood that when times change, so must we; that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges; that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action. For the American people can no more meet the demands of today’s world by acting alone than American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or communism with muskets and militias. No single person can train all the math and science teachers we’ll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores. Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation, and one people.

This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. A decade of war is now ending. An economic recovery has begun. America’s possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it – so long as we seize it together.

For we, the people, understand that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it. We believe that America’s prosperity must rest upon the broad shoulders of a rising middle class. We know that America thrives when every person can find independence and pride in their work; when the wages of honest labor liberate families from the brink of hardship. We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American, she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but also in our own.

We understand that outworn programs are inadequate to the needs of our time. We must harness new ideas and technology to remake our government, revamp our tax code, reform our schools, and empower our citizens with the skills they need to work harder, learn more, and reach higher. But while the means will change, our purpose endures: a nation that rewards the effort and determination of every single American. That is what this moment requires. That is what will give real meaning to our creed.

We, the people, still believe that every citizen deserves a basic measure of security and dignity. We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit. But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future. For we remember the lessons of our past, when twilight years were spent in poverty, and parents of a child with a disability had nowhere to turn. We do not believe that in this country, freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few. We recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us, at any time, may face a job loss, or a sudden illness, or a home swept away in a terrible storm. The commitments we make to each other – through Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security – these things do not sap our initiative; they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great.

We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity. We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms. The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it. We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries – we must claim its promise. That is how we will maintain our economic vitality and our national treasure – our forests and waterways; our croplands and snowcapped peaks. That is how we will preserve our planet, commanded to our care by God. That’s what will lend meaning to the creed our fathers once declared.

We, the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war. Our brave men and women in uniform, tempered by the flames of battle, are unmatched in skill and courage. Our citizens, seared by the memory of those we have lost, know too well the price that is paid for liberty. The knowledge of their sacrifice will keep us forever vigilant against those who would do us harm. But we are also heirs to those who won the peace and not just the war, who turned sworn enemies into the surest of friends, and we must carry those lessons into this time as well.

We will defend our people and uphold our values through strength of arms and rule of law. We will show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully – not because we are naïve about the dangers we face, but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear. America will remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the globe; and we will renew those institutions that extend our capacity to manage crisis abroad, for no one has a greater stake in a peaceful world than its most powerful nation. We will support democracy from Asia to Africa; from the Americas to the Middle East, because our interests and our conscience compel us to act on behalf of those who long for freedom. And we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice – not out of mere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those principles that our common creed describes: tolerance and opportunity; human dignity and justice.

We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.

It is now our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began. For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law – for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity; until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country. Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm.

That is our generation’s task – to make these words, these rights, these values – of Life, and Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness – real for every American. Being true to our founding documents does not require us to agree on every contour of life; it does not mean we will all define liberty in exactly the same way, or follow the same precise path to happiness. Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time – but it does require us to act in our time.

For now decisions are upon us, and we cannot afford delay. We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate. We must act, knowing that our work will be imperfect. We must act, knowing that today’s victories will be only partial, and that it will be up to those who stand here in four years, and forty years, and four hundred years hence to advance the timeless spirit once conferred to us in a spare Philadelphia hall.

My fellow Americans, the oath I have sworn before you today, like the one recited by others who serve in this Capitol, was an oath to God and country, not party or faction – and we must faithfully execute that pledge during the duration of our service. But the words I spoke today are not so different from the oath that is taken each time a soldier signs up for duty, or an immigrant realizes her dream. My oath is not so different from the pledge we all make to the flag that waves above and that fills our hearts with pride.

They are the words of citizens, and they represent our greatest hope.

You and I, as citizens, have the power to set this country’s course.

You and I, as citizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our time – not only with the votes we cast, but with the voices we lift in defense of our most ancient values and enduring ideals.

Let each of us now embrace, with solemn duty and awesome joy, what is our lasting birthright. With common effort and common purpose, with passion and dedication, let us answer the call of history, and carry into an uncertain future that precious light of freedom.

Thank you, God Bless you, and may He forever bless these United States of America.

Archive Aloha with related reading:

The Language of We
Next-stepping and other Verbs
Ethos: Be true to your Values
In search of the ultimate Freedom
Valuing the Vote: What is it we really feel?

For more reading paths, go to New Here? or click on the tags found in the footer.

Revisiting the Daily 5 Minutes: Lessons Learned

I was talking story with a manager who has been a reader of my blogs for a very long time, as long as I’ve published online, dating back to August of 2004 — 3 months before my book was released. She asked a very perceptive question of me: “Rosa, why isn’t D5M (the Daily 5 Minutes) in residence on your current Managing with Aloha blog? I’ve noticed that when you link to it, you’re linking to the book excerpt, or to the workshop; why no reference page here, like there was on your other blogs?”

Short answer: It’s coming, for I absolutely positively agree the Daily 5 Minutes needs to be here. I’ve been working on a Resource Page I can add to the others (listed on the right-side column of the site) — perhaps sharing my response for her with all of you will push me toward getting it done!

Longer answer: We have learned more about the Daily 5 Minutes practice, and need to talk about our learning. Our D5M reference page will be different than before, with a stronger emphasis on readiness, and how we prepare for D5M. Here’s why…

For best results, let’s seed fertile ground.

There was a time when I’d repeatedly insist that if you aren’t doing the Daily 5 Minutes, you aren’t a manager who truly is ‘managing with Aloha,‘ not completely… and I still feel that way. D5M is the conversation in which a manager learns all they need to learn about their own people, just 5 minutes at a time in daily bites — that’s why I included it in my book within the chapter on ‘IKE LOA, the value of learning, and why I now link to a free excerpt to give readers fuller context the first time they read about D5M.

Yet I now know I pushed too hard. I’ve pulled back on my singular insistence that managers do it, and do it now, because there are other entry points to Managing with Aloha, even though I personally feel D5M is the best tool in our day-to-day kit, and that it will turn out to be an Alaka‘i Manager’s habit keeper. Once you do the D5M, and do it well, you never want to let it go. Aha! moments abound in the D5M conversation: It’s constant input, and it’s the most relevant workplace input a manager can have as a culture-builder. D5M solves so much in its bite-sized agreements, and it grooms extraordinary partnerships.

What I’ve learned in my last decade of workplace culture coaching however, is that there’s a big difference between me doing it (and yes, I still do!) and teaching other managers to do it: I’ve got to teach it better when I’m not the boss present to support them in their day-to-day efforts. I don’t want you to feel you may fail when there is so much good in store.

Teaching the Daily 5 Minutes is actually the easy part though. I’ve mostly learned that a company culture has to be primed to be ready for it. If ‘normal, civil conversations’ aren’t within that culture — and it’s astounding to me how often that’s the case — D5M hasn’t any chance of taking root at all.

Managers can be wary, and rightfully so: They fear that initiating a D5M practice will mean they’ll bite off more than they can chew, and it’s better not to open that can of worms! My case history (in coaching across various industries) has proven to me that every time D5M didn’t take hold in a company those apprehensive managers were right — they weren’t ready.

That’s the rub of opening yourself up to asking any question, isn’t it? Particularly a question leading toward new and uncharted ground. You may get an answer that you won’t like. You may have to solve a messy problem or pending issue first. A workplace culture must be healthy enough to field that possibility, and deal with it honestly.

Those are the questions we now reckon with in my D5M workshops as given today. My clients will often ask that I coach both managers-as-D5M givers, and staff-as-D5M receivers. On the receiving side, I have listened to the employees who’ve told me, “I want the Daily 5 Minutes, I really and truly do, but I hesitate to participate in it with my manager.” I have remembered all the groundwork laid when I first initiated the Daily 5 Minutes in my own career, growing as any manager must.

The Daily 5 Minutes is conversation extraordinaire for good managers.

The art of conversation which listens to collect D5M inputs, and responds in the Language of We, makes good better, and stops the germination of not-so-good from happening.

Are you good yet? Have you answered the Calling to great?

A Manager’s Calling: The 10 Beliefs of Great Managers

We fear the Myth of Pandora’s Box.

The myth is that there is only evil in that box; we forget the part of the story where HOPE is released, and Ka lā hiki ola, it’s “the dawning of a new day.” I prefer to think about all the good that is unsaid, and I encourage you to let it out because of ALOHA — that guarantee that your people are inherently good and innately wise.

That said, I now realize I have to help make it easier for people in whatever way I can, particularly those who are book-or-blog readers only — we may never have the good fortune to talk story about this personally, and in the context of your own Managing with Aloha journey. Becoming an Alaka‘i Manager is all on you.

So I’ve pulled back on my “Do the Daily 5 Minutes, and do it now!” insistence in favor of more patience that we’ll arrive at the practice in good time. I’ve learned how hard it is for managers to adopt and keep up with D5M if they don’t prepare well for it first, and I don’t want that difficulty to discourage them. I want you to have early wins as you work, manage, and lead with Aloha, and I’ve come to better understand how those early wins will eventually prepare you for a Daily 5 Minutes practice when you’re ready for it — ready to embrace it, and milk its goodness for all it’s worth.

Thus my encouragement to managers today, is this:

Strive for D5M: Make the Daily 5 Minutes conversation your goal.

Prepare well, so you can implement it as soon as you can.

Set the D5M Goal today, and begin to prepare for it.

Here are some thoughts on how you can prepare, starting today.

ONE: Don’t try to change whole-company culture; improve your own corner of it and go for a ripple effect where good begets more good. There are as many cultures within a company as there are managers: Own the one you primarily dwell in — own your team’s working culture first. Focus on being a better manager in the space of your own influences. Be an Aloha Energy Bunny, one obsessed with the basic happiness of their well-being ~ Happiness is readiness.

TWO: Increase your face time. Our need for person-to-person interaction grows every day! Don’t text, or send an email, or leave a voicemail, whenever you can have a personal conversation with someone instead. Conversations do take practice, and the goal is to improve the circle of comfort you have when you converse with the people who surround you. Yours, and theirs. Become attractive as a conversation magnet. Write down this affirmation: “People like to talk to me, and I enjoy talking to them too.” Read it every day, and Ho‘o — make it come true.

THREE: Work on your listening skills in each and every conversation you have. Each and every one. Ask for clarification on anything you don’t understand, or might misconstrue. Listen for the values which are at the root of whatever is being shared with you, and respond with the Language of We. Walk away from conversations making a small agreement that honors that value (and thus, that person) whenever you can.

Listen so others feel heard:

“It is astonishing how elements that seem insoluble become soluble when someone listens. How confusions that seem irremediable become relatively clear flowing streams when one is heard.”

- Carl Rogers -

FOUR: Learn about the Daily Five Minutes – study it to aspire to it – and elevate D5M as a conversation goal you will graduate to. Then, honestly assess the conversational climate of your workplace culture as it now stands, to work on the good health of existing communications. Take personal responsibility for your own conversations: What do you talk about with ease, and when do conversations get difficult? When are conversations delayed, or swept under a rug and ignored? Be more courageous about the conversations you should be initiating — you know which they are.

FIVE: Earn a reputation as an investigative problem-solver. Tackle small issues and grow yourself toward solving larger ones by merit of more personal experience. Others will value conversation with you once they see you as their go-to source of possible answers. No one expects you to know everything, or have all the answers, but great managers are expected to be great finders who look for answers in the right places, and take initiative in correcting course.

If I may be more direct, you approach FOUR and FIVE above with an open-minded willingness to tackle any old baggage. I see a manager’s D5M readiness as a clean slate, NOT as wealth of experience. Those who are immediately successful with adopting a D5M practice are often fledgling supervisors, newly promoted to managerial positions for the first time, and elevating conversational smarts from the get-go. Smugness doesn’t suit the Alaka‘i Manager, and being a veteran can give you blinders: How can you return to your newbie advantage?

Footnotes:

1. If this is the first you are hearing of The Daily Five Minutes, read about it in this free book excerpt from Managing with Aloha, Bringing Hawai‘i’s Universal Values to the Art of Business.

2. If you are interested in the values-based workshop I now offer, you can read about it here: D5M: The Daily Five Minutes

Alaka‘i Managers are the new Energy Bunnies

You know the Energizer Bunny, right? “He keeps going, and going…”

If you are a manager, assume the role of Energy Bunny in your workplace.

Change the title on your business card to Energy Channeler; come on, I dare you. Whatever you have there now is probably more normal, and normal is boring. (Did you know that there was a Duracell Bunny before the Energizer Bunny became its parody?)

Your greatest RESOURCE in any workplace is NOT time (and NOT financing), it IS the ENERGY required to make the time and other resources you have available count for something worthwhile and meaningful.

Your greatest ASSET in the workplace is NOT your people per se, it IS those people with the most consistent energy levels; energy to dream, create, evangelize, and perform magnificently.

So how are those conversations going?

Getting the Old to Become New Again

Human Energy as Your Resource

Energy powers your production capacity.

Energy powers your service delivery.

Energy will excite and embolden you, your co-workers, your peers, and your partnerships.

Energy will dazzle and delight your customer.

Energy is what sustains a vital business, and a lack of energy is what will kill it.

Mediocrity and complacency are your red flags that energy is missing, and let’s be honest: You see these culprits by seeing listless or boring people. However that’s never a situation that a great manager can’t fix, and fix pretty quickly.

To Start, Be Kūlia i ka nu‘u Contagious

Great management takes great work and there are no magic pills: You aren’t going to get a complete how-to in this one blog post. The over-arching goal of what I write for you is to trigger possibility, help you reach higher, and break things down into week-to-week actions you can work on, continuously recharging your own battery cells of self-motivation.

What we can do today, is remind ourselves of the big picture view, while making that big picture embraceable and achievable: We can set the stage for positive energies to grow and flourish more than they presently are.

Here are three ways you can begin to be the Workplace Energy Bunny you need to be, starting TODAY, and using two of our Managing with Aloha value champions to support you. HO‘OHANA and KŪLIA I KA NU‘U are heavy hitters.

1. Be Contagious, for Energy begets more Energy

HO‘OHANA: Work on you first, and produce the best work you possibly can on a daily basis.

As far as your staff and partnerships will be concerned, self-management must be in residence within the person in charge before they’ll allow any management or leadership direction to step foot in their door (hey, you have the same attitude about your boss!). Your reputation for being a self-managed individual will be key to the privilege you earn in your calling for managing and leading others.

Then, get excited again: Tap into company vision by remembering why you are in your particular business in the first place, and set your sights on making magic happen. Yep, magic. When you really think about it, the HO‘OKIPA we crave as result will be great, but you want more than deliriously happy employees and customers, don’t you. Of course you do! You want magic in your own life, so go for it. Magic for you doesn’t happen in boring work. Amp it up, take some risks and have some fun while you work, and set the best possible example for others to follow. Make room for them so they can join you, and co-lead with you (everyone can be an energy creator). There will always be enough followers, but there are never enough leaders.

2. Avoid the Middle and Work on the Edges

Commit to the value of KŪLIA I KA NU‘U: Excellence generates enthusiasm and is contagious; everyone loves excellence and everyone wants it.

However excellence isn’t ordinary or normal. When something enters the realm of the normal it’s no longer viewed as excellent, but as commonplace. Commonality gets us to conform in a comfort-zone kind of way, and commonplace is not conducive to looking for breakout and breakthrough moments. The more something is thought of as normal, the more ho-hum boring, complacent and mediocre it eventually becomes.

Even if you copy the best practice of something, it’s still a copy and is no longer as compelling, exclusive, cool or sexy. That transition from Duracell mascot to Energizer parody is a great example. Both were pink bunnies… do a Google image search; one went for cute, one went for cool.

Therefore, if you want excellence (and really, why bother with anything else), you’ve got to be willing to push at the edges of virtually everything, and nothing can be sacred — absolutely nothing. In fact, the more unexpected your targets and projects the better. Constantly ask your team “Why not?” about every wild idea which comes up, and be enthusiastic in recognizing and rewarding their creativity. You have to pursue what others think of as impossible, and you must repeatedly insist: Everything we know of was impossible until the first person did it. Let’s be daring. Let’s be first.

“First” is found on the fringes and way up in front. “First” leads and never follows.

3. There can be no Basic Standards, only Excellent Initiatives

At this point I can guarantee some of you are getting an attack of the “yeah, but”s and are thinking, “Well Rosa, reality bites. I can’t work on cool, sexy and edgy until I can clear my decks of all the existing normal stuff.”

You know what? You’re right.

However it’s also true that the minute you “clear your decks” something else lands on it — something which is also in that category of the ‘normal day-to-day stuff’ and did not arise from your own initiative to seek progress. You feel like you’re caught in a vortex or vicious circle, yet you let it happen! While there is a good case for the importance of ritual, disciplined habit and standards, they really can hold you back and weigh you down unless you are more intentional and deliberate about choosing them in a self-discerning way.

Dave Navarro wrote a good essay about this: Why You Do What You Do (And Why It Should Scare You). I highly recommend you give it a read.

There is really only one answer: Kill two birds with one stone. As you “clear your decks” you need to tackle them with the first two approaches we’ve spoken of:

HO‘OHANA: Be relentless about being the best yourself.

KŪLIA I KA NU‘U: Excel in every goal you tackle.

“Go to work” each and every day with the attitude that you are arriving at that work for the first time. Fresh eyes = Fresh sights. Newly evaluate every system and process in your workplace as you use it — even, and especially those day-to-day ones. Question the normal, and replace it with a more excellent gradient: Grow it, and graduate it.

As you do this, eliminate or reinvent any system or process which drains energy instead of generating it. If it doesn’t excite you or anyone else, it’s a drain. Energy drainers do not deserve any of your attention, other than your efforts to banish them from your workplace once and for all.

We used to call it “Continuous Improvement.” Today we’ll call it ALOHA ENERGY.

And don’t you dare wimp out and stop at systems and processes! Be the Best Boss with the highest value standards and develop your people: Not only do people love and want excellence for themselves, they want to be surrounded by it, finding it in their peers. No one wants to be associated with a mediocre workplace which is populated by mediocre people.

Ready to Roll?

If I am missing anything here I would love to hear from you: Let’s make our Aloha Energy happen as the healthy human energy it truly is.

Is there anything else you feel is critically important in the big picture view of creating and channeling energy in your workplace?

If you don’t want to publicly comment here for me, that’s okay — IF you talk about this with your own workplace team. Keep yourself in business by harnessing those energies.

Archive Aloha with related reading:

Getting the Old to Become New Again
They seem happy enough. — Goal!
What can you Stop, and, what Must you Continue?
The ‘But’s Which Work to Favor
People Who Do Good Work

For more reading paths, go to New Here? or click on the tags found in the footer.

Getting the Old to Become New Again

Most of us relish the newness of January, when the calendar conspires with us to ramp up energies again. And that ramping-up is very inclusive, corralling all energies, whether personal, professional, or randomly inspired.

Then we go back to work.

My coaching will always reveal a manager or two who grumbles about January’s scattering of attention: They’ll say things like, “We need to get back to business.” and they ask, “How can we move to what’s next, when so much remains undone and poorly finished?”

For some reason, that ‘manager or two’ grew to six or seven this year, and so I wonder: Are you in their company? Did January come much too soon for you? Are you feeling more unsettled, and less excited? Let’s talk about it.

Alaka‘i Managers Channel Good Energy

It’s best to nalu it right now — go with the flow, and work on constructing new pathways. Energy is a resource, a magnificent one! Grab hold of it and milk it for all it’s worth!

Workplace energy functions the same way batteries do for your favorite electronics: You can have the most high tech camera in the world, and it will do absolutely nothing if its battery is dead.

I LOVE looking at the M / L complement through this energy comparison, creating (L) and then channeling (M):

LEADERSHIP is the workplace discipline of creating energy connected to a meaningful vision.

MANAGEMENT is the workplace discipline of channeling that mission-critical energy into optimal production and usefulness.

Great managers cannot channel good energies they are unaware of, or energy which doesn’t exist.

— from a conversation we once had on Talking Story

Any scattering of workplace attention is a golden opportunity for an Alaka‘i Manager to step in, and be welcomed for doing so. You’re the one everyone else relies on to have the Big Picture, and to rally the forces so the good of Vision will triumph as important and meaningful work.

So repeat after me: Energy is a resource, and I’m making it mine!

Start by Identifying that Energy

Identify those energies person by person (managing well is one-by-one work) so you can better see your possibilities. Give them your value-verbing and next-stepping names.

Usually, getting organized is the first order of business, and to do that, you have to organize people. Make yourself available to everyone on your team for some meaningful one-on-one conversations — what are they thinking right now? Do you know? What are they excited about, and why? You’ve got to make those discoveries so you can channel workplace energies in the best possible way.

The worst thing you can do the New Year, is to be a damper on the emerging energies of your team: Let them flow, and direct them well. Step in to help channel them productively so they can secure small but early wins — harness those energies, and put them to work where you can use them, and where the person possessing those energies remains charged up and excited, kukupa‘u:

Learn to love projects, for

Good Projects will lead to Great Pilot Programs

Relinquish control (you don’t need it)

Use Who You Are to do What You Do

— All headings in: Choose your next Project Kukupa‘u

Now be careful: One way managers will put a damper on fresh energies is by recycling poorly instead of reinventing wisely — don’t stop at putting new clothes on an old project or an assignment that has gotten tired and worn for good reason: Your skills come into play with investigating well (why was the work abandoned?) and being more creative about alternative action, so new is really new for people, and not dressed-up old.

Energy is a Contagion: Get Infected willingly!

Something very special happens when managers seek to be workplace enablers: They soak in the goodness of infectious energies and begin to feel their own energy levels rise again. There’s a multiplier effect, where what you thought of as one-on-one work became a contagion.

Your best work as a manager is the development of the people who work for you. You continually assess what they may be ready for. You count your successes, by counting the successes they attained under your watch and guidance.

Get Value-Verbing to help you: As you listen to your people in those new conversations you’re going to have, listen for these entry points. Are any of these values being voiced as a connection you can make to channeling their energy into concrete workplace opportunity?

‘IKE LOA: They want to learn something — what is it, and how can that learning be used in the work they must do?

MĀLAMA: They feel a need to take care of something — how can their stewardship become the ownership of workplace responsibility? (KULEANA.)

ALOHA: They’re tired of being professional (it happens, a lot) and they want to feel a more personal connection to their day-to-day work — how can you help them make that connection? (Think of a “how-to in Grace and Kindness.)

LŌKAHI: They crave a new partnership or association of some kind — can you make an introduction for them (sometimes that’s all it takes) or put them on a new and different team? (Their energy interjection might be just what that team needs…)

You get the idea. If you need more listening prompts, use one of the following 2 Value Listings as reference pages: Skim it after your discovery conversation (ask for time to think about the conversation, and say you’ll get back to them) and see if you can identify the personal value which was voiced.

The 19 values of Aloha
Going Forward into 2013, with Aloha

A review of this posting might help as well, as you contemplate the possibilities of your follow-up: Managerial Batching: 1, 2, 5 and 7

Start smart: Have those one-on-one conversations as your own Best Work this January. Everything starts there: All Conversations Are Not Created Equal.

You, the Alaka‘i Manager, are the one people count on so the work makes sense, and you do it with Aloha: Speak up, I’m listening.

Doing the Drill Down: Less is More

Preface: This is a repeat of a posting I’ve published before (it originally appeared on Talking Story in September of 2011). I think it connects well to my last one here (This January, Slow Down) and I’ve been working on my own drill-down, deciding on what I should add for 2012-into-2013 — you’ll see the list I started with in the text below.

When I look back on my working history — not job or career wise, but considering my own Ho‘ohana emphasis as a manager and coach whatever my position or entrepreneurial stripe at the time — the evidence of my doing the drill down is unmistakeable.

As I’ve heard someone define ‘movement’ recently, mine hasn’t just been spurts of passion, but a collective shout. The spurts have been passionate for sure… ‘less is more’ and ‘smaller is better’ and ‘focus like a laser’ among them. The shout is Focus.

You can’t save the world, but you can effect good change in your corner of it. Do one thing at a time, and do it well.

I call it ‘doing the drill down’ for I see that I keep moving from being a generalist to a specialist, and from making lists of possibilities to eventually working on just one thing on that list — especially when I’m coaching others. If they’re to succeed, we have to choose our habit-changing battles or creative reinventions carefully, and then we have to go all in, and focus on very specific action.

No action, no change.

No stickiness.

Examples are helpful, I know, so to respect the privacy of my clients we’ll use me as an example. My own drill down has looked something like this:

School’s over. Time to be an adult and go to work.

Why just have a job? I’ll be a manager; it suits me.

Managing is a profound responsibility; I’ve got to manage in a Pono way.

Values-based management is clearly becoming the way to go for me.

Leadership? Not there yet. Let’s talk Sense of Place.

Now let’s talk managing with Aloha.

Being a manager requires answering a very specific Calling.

We need The Daily 5 Minutes for better listening. We need to learn from people.

Now let’s talk business model for all of this. As a sensibility for work.

We need to define Culture, don’t we” yes, in our Language of We-Intention.

Now is it time for Leadership? Break it down… to creating more Human Energy.

Technology is changing the game radically. So is generational demographics.

Yikes! Where is the conversation? “Let’s talk”� isn’t happening as much as it should.

We need The Daily 5 Minutes for speaking up. As an acquired wisdom.

I could probably tweak it even more specifically, but that’s a pretty good draft.

Doing the drill down takes time — that phrase ‘all in good time’ comes to mind — for I’m talking about years of Ho‘ohana movement here. In my case (my habit rhythm, my value-driving) ‘Ike loa, the value of learning, always looms so large. I love study, and wayfinding. Learning exploration factors into that listing of possibilities I’ll do, as a kind of thinking exercise with qualifying my drill down: When all is said and done, and I make my choice (with the next drill down I take) will I be okay with knowing what I’ve eliminated, or put aside as periphery for now?

I’m starting to wonder just how specific and focused it’s possible to get. How far can doing the drill down actually go, and be successful?

One thing is for sure: In my Ho‘ohana, ‘Less is more’ makes me much happier.

Archive Aloha with related reading:

On that collective shout of the MWA movement: Like it? Might love it? Run with it.
You can thrill to the work, no matter what your job might be right now: Beauty in the Work: “Things Occur to You.”
As an Alaka‘i Manager, help your team gain traction: A Gift of Focus … and this post may help, paired with the previous one: The Workplace Mixology of ‘Ohana
On doing one thing at a time, and doing it well: Accept your Small Wisdoms with Grace
If you are a tracker and documenter, consider this as another example where Less is More: The Victory of Continuous Celebration

For more reading paths, go to New Here? or click on the tags found in the footer.

This January, Slow Down

I’ve been using these ebbing days of my holiday sabbatical to check in with family, customers and friends. Know what I’m noticing? A very ambitious rush, where their ‘lists of opportunity’ are multiplying like the infection of a rampant virus.

The new year has barely begun: Goodness gracious, slow down!

Here’s what I know: An opportunity needs a champion to own it completely before it can amount to anything worthwhile.

And not just any champion. A devoutly committed, singularly devoted and passionately vocal champion, not someone who dips their toes in the water of one opportunity while looking around for the next one.

Meaningful convictions are kind of rare. However they aren’t rare due to limited availability, they’re rare because we human beings are so fickle and impatient; we flit and flutter from one thing to another and don’t execute as well as we’re able to.

If you were to choose one opportunity — perhaps one value, or one key concept — and be its champion, looking no further than that for now, you can wallow in the joyful exploration of all its connections. You can foster all the partnerships it can reveal for you, and you can be inspired by every single facet of its character, fascination, and potential for learning. You can see, hear, and otherwise sense that opportunity for all it is, and all it can be.

That’s what I’m going to do.

Somehow, I just know that I don’t need a bunch of lists in 2013. I just need to concentrate on what’s directly in front of me, focus on it completely, and zero in on all the opportunity it will offer me. I just know it, because I feel it, and I’m willing to trust in the feeling.

I may not be privy to the everything of what’s going on with you, so make your best decision. However consider a more singular focus on your most interesting opportunity, would you? If nothing else, have that best shot be the way you prioritize your lists.

Other opportunities will be waiting in the wings for your Ho‘ohana signature if they’re meant to be. This January, slow down. Enjoy this time, enjoy your presence within it just as it already is, and then, enjoy the striving on the opportunity (or the singular value) that you choose.

Keep me posted on what happens, would you?

Archive Aloha of our recent conversations:

They seem happy enough. — Goal!
Going Forward into 2013, with Aloha
A Gift of Focus
Just 5 Over the Holidays
Your In-house Training: Do it!

For more reading paths, go to New Here?, follow the embedded links, or click on the tags found in the footer. Talk story with me in the comment boxes!

They seem happy enough. — Goal!

“They seem happy enough.”

Does that sentence bother you? It bothers me, for it was said by a manager about his team.

Things are not always what they seem.

And why “they” instead of “we?”

Is there really an “enough” which can contain true happiness?

Here’s a goal for the Alaka‘i Manager to consider in this shiny new year:

Define true happiness in your workplace.

Then ask yourself, “Are we happy?”

If the answer is anything but an enthusiastic “Yes!” you’ll need to get to work to make it so.

I don’t think I need to extol the virtues of happiness for you. Happiness is good — it’s great, and we know it’s far better than all unhappy alternatives. Happiness is a fantastic beginner’s place, from which we’ll leap forward toward creativity, imagination and hope with positive, abundant energies.

Our “seem happy” workplaces can cover a gamut of less than happy circumstance. Survivor guilt and all its hangin’ around relatives are common culprits, where “seem happy” actually translates to “well at least I have a job” or “I guess it could be worse” or “I just don’t have a better idea/option/chance/expectation/opportunity right now; this will have to do.”

None of those things sound very happy, do they. Settling for second best means complacency and boredom have set in, and all striving for better has been derailed.

I truly don’t mean to be negative as the year starts. Knowing the nature of January, I want you, as the Alaka‘i Manager you seek to be, to “Get Real” (in that Pono state of mind described here) and set great goals for yourself this year.

Great goals need not be strategically detailed and pompously complicated; they just have to be good. They have to be worthy.

To set a goal like this —

“I’ll work daily

to assure we are really, truly happy in our work.”

— is SMART: Specific [Use next-stepping. Go for small wins.], Measurable, Aloha-Abundant, Rewarding for everyone involved (including you, Kākou), and Trustworthy. Achieve it, and you’ll be able to trust in the continual success of your culture-building because your best possible foundation is in place; people Ready (see ‘Ike loa for 2013) for Ho‘ohana intentions and Ho‘ohanohano behaviors.

Happiness is readiness.

If you’re looking for a place to start in 2013, managing with new energies and smart intentions, get happy. Happiness in the Aloha Workplace is the best start to have as you Rally your ‘Ohana.

Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin.

Beginning makes the conditions perfect.

- Alan Cohen -

Postscript: The links I have embedded in this posting primarily go to only 3 other articles, connecting their dots: Have you read them?

Going Forward into 2013, with Aloha

ALOHA ~ In Grace and Kindness
HO‘OHANA ~ The Worthwhile Work of our Choosing
‘OHANA ~ Rally your tribe
KĀKOU ~ Speak with Aloha, and Receive with Aloha
‘IKE LOA ~ Student, be Ready
HO‘OHANOHANO ~ Demeanor is your Open Door
ALAKA‘I ~ Answer your Calling
MĀLAMA ~ Serve to Honor
PONO ~ Get Real! Visceral is good.
KA LĀ HIKI OLA ~ Back to the Beginning is Opportunity


The 10 Beliefs of an Alaka‘i Manager
The Language of We

Going Forward into 2013, with Aloha

With each New Year, I think about how our 19 Values of Aloha have evolved as timeless, yet newly-freshened themes because of our last year’s influences. What has strengthened about each one, and where has new complexion been gathered up, pū‘olo mea maika‘i, in that “bundle of good things you return home with.”

Theme is a great companion to value. Where value is driver, borne from passion, conviction and belief, insistent and sure, theme becomes value’s melody, musically sweet, varied and open to interpretation, pleasing and gentle in its own kind of insistence and certainty.

I rose early on this last day of 2012 to find the thoughts were already actively stirring, urging me to wake and capture them. This article is what I came up with: It’s a longer one, and if you have favorite values you’ll be tempted to skip ahead and find them, but I recommend that you read this sequentially — grab a cuppa coffee or your favorite tea and get comfortable. As I wrote it, I was reminded of why my book ended up with these values in this order, building upon each other as they do!

Aloha ~ In Grace and Kindness

In most of my teaching, I encourage people to see Aloha very personally, as who they really are in spirit. As 2013 dawns however, I feel this need to keep Aloha close and ever-present as how-to — as how we are who we are, with others.

Ho‘ohana ~ The Worthwhile Work of our Choosing

The work we do has been in reinvention mode for several years now, and I see 2013 as a sorting-it-all-out kind of year, where many will make new choices. In the Great Recession these choices felt forced upon us — there were lay-offs, yes, however several job types simply ended and are no longer needed. You know what never changed though? Attitude determines outcome. It’s time to put all other causes to rest in our acceptance of them no matter how they happened. It’s time we’re willing to be our own cause. Choose your work, design it your way, and Ho‘o — make it happen.

‘Imi ola ~ Seeking New Life

Connected to Ho‘ohana, our ‘Imi ola mission will be to see the new life in our new livelihood, and to see vision in sustenance of choice. I keep thinking about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, where we grow from a sense of security, to belonging, and eventually returning to that pinnacle of self-esteem and self-actualization.

Ho‘omau ~ Cause the Good to Last

Our persistence has been somewhat gritty in the past few years, don’t you think? Our patience is wearing thin though, and I see some good in that impatience: We ask ourselves, “Why bother, really?” with some things, and “Why not push harder, or push differently?” with others, and we want goodness to prevail.

Kūlia i ka nu‘u ~ Name your Peaks, and Camp for a while

We go mountain climbing in our Managing with Aloha chapter 5 metaphor, remember? We climb toward excellence and achievement. In 2013 I urge you to enjoy the mountain. Stop often to take in the view, and take your footholds one at a time, taking each in good time. I have named our peaks Living with Aloha, Working with Aloha, Managing with Aloha, and Leading with Aloha in our curriculum here. Personally I see my 2013 efforts concentrated on the Living and the Working peaks; how about you?

Ho‘okipa ~ Decide to Serve

There have been so many recent events in the past few years — oh so many! — which have caused me to reflect: The world would be a much better place if people chose to serve each other well in all they do. When we serve others we get better, but it does take some focused intention to serve others without feeling we deplete ourselves. It’s possible, and it’s a worthy goal.

‘Ohana ~ Rally your tribe

There are times we retreat into a quieter and more comfortable solitude (I did this a lot in 2012, and I feel healthier for doing so), yet if there’s anything I’ve learned and relearned continually over the years it’s this: Life is not a solo proposition, and we humans aren’t meant to be alone. Stowe Boyd has proclaimed that “The single most important decision we can make in a connected world is who we follow.” and it’s a worthy mantra for 2013: Rally your family, rally your chosen communities (and be selective about them), rally your mentors and heroes, and return to what true ‘friending’ is all about.

Lōkahi ~ In Harmony and Unity

The mainstay of Lōkahi in Managing with Aloha has been its value-driving for teamwork and collaborative work, and you may decide that’s what you’ll need. In my own day-to-day laboratory I’m expecting Lōkahi to be a kind of shepherd for me, driving the harmony and unity I want between the values I’ll be working on, particularly in regard to ‘Ohana, Ho‘okipa and Aloha. I see it as my strongest bridge builder between the two peaks I’ll be concentrating on this year in Kūlia i ka nu‘u.

Kākou ~ Speak with Aloha, and Receive with Aloha

I did not state this quite as explicitly within the pages of my book as I do now, these 8+ years later: Kākou is the value of Aloha Communication. To “speak with Aloha” requires the grace, kindness, and intention to serve I have mentioned before, and it also requires ‘Receiving with Aloha,’ something we have talked quite a bit about in the context of The Daily Five Minutes, where being a “good and gracious receiver” is essential — it’s something we must keep in mind in the context of much, much more.

Kuleana ~ Engage with the Bounty

Ah, responsibility. Bane, burden, or bounty? The bounty within responsibility can be hard to see, and even harder to claim, yet please believe me — it’s there! Allow 2013 to be the year you Hō‘imi your Kuleana — you look for better and for best; for the bounty within whatever responsibility you engage with and take ownership of, willing to be held fully accountable for optimism and your positive expectancy. Kuleana need never be bane or burden, for there are always options with handling it, even when assignments are not of your own choosing.

‘Ike loa ~ Student, be Ready

My blog stats tell me that this was, and remains, the most popular post in my 2012 archives: When the Student is Ready, the Teacher Appears. I wasn’t surprised. I can so clearly see 2013 as the Year of the Student — the student that is within all of us, aching to learn more, and learn it exceptionally well. We want to feel that connection between our needs, our wants and our talents’ innate skill in serving those wants and needs. We are ready in spirit, and must be ready to receive. So here is my coaching for you, as it was said in that post: “Whatever it is you want to do, find the person who does it best. Then see if they will teach you.”

Ha‘aha‘a ~ Student, be Humble

Once you allow ‘Ike loa to set the course of your chosen Curriculum of Wanting (go back one section if you jumped ahead to read this value!) be humble. Be willing to learn all there is to learn so you can make good choices (read Ho‘ohana and ‘Imi ola again!) This is what leaps off the page in my book’s chapter on this value (yes, I reread it too!): “Ha‘aha‘a teaches the how… In coaching other managers, I have discovered that grooming humility is the key difference between being tough and tough-minded… it helps them strike a balance between getting results and how they go about getting them.”

Ho‘ohanohano ~ Demeanor is your Open Door

One of the best definitions I’ve ever heard for humility is this one: Humility is an act of courtesy. We can never have enough courtesy, can we! Ho‘ohanohano — conducting ourselves with distinction — can simply be defined as behaving well, so that ‘with Aloha’ gets more naturally, and genuinely connected to everything we say and do. I think of Ho‘ohanohano as a good 2013 partner to the value of ‘Ohana as I described it earlier: When you rally the people you want in your life, be the open door they’ll eagerly step into to be with you.

Alaka‘i ~ Answer your Calling

Imagine a balance scale. Ho‘ohanohano is the center stand of the scale itself. As for the two balancing trays, Ha‘aha‘a (humility) forges one, and Alaka‘i (the value of leadership) forges the other. What we each want those trays to hold will differ, based on what we choose as our personal and professional goals. I think of different values in each tray, knowing values as the drivers of belief, conviction and spirit they are. As you can guess from what I’ve written so far, my Ha‘aha‘a tray holds what I feel I must learn; my Alaka‘i tray holds who I want to become as I allow 2013 to further shape me. Through the effort of both, I must answer my calling in truth and honesty. So must you, whatever your own choices. Define your calling within those choices and answer it.

Mālama ~ Serve to Honor

What I see for me as need satisfied, and brashly hope for everyone else, is that Mālama and Ho‘okipa forge a stronger partnership in 2013, so that eventually, it becomes an unbreakable bond between the two in our Ho‘ohanohano behaviors. I think that the stewardship of Mālama “to protect and care for” is a bit easier than the service of Mālama, where we “serve to honor” within our care and compassion. In 2013 I want to grapple with the complexion of honor more than I have in the past, revisiting some oldies but goodies, like work ethic, loyalty, generosity (Lokomaika‘i) privilege, and most of all, respect.

Mahalo ~ Invest in Elemental Living

Mahalo is ‘thank you’ as a way of living. I spoke of ‘bounty’ with the value of Kuleana (responsibility), and if you feel you need help seeing it, have Mahalo be that help in 2013, for Mahalo is pure abundance. No matter how bleak times may get or a situation may seem to be, there is always something to be thankful for. There is always something we can better appreciate, and thus, explore the true depth of. Rather than depth though, I love thinking about the elemental nature of human effort. I do believe that this is where trends like minimalism, greening, and even urban living are finding their senses of well being. Mahalo is revealing: It reveals the elemental goodness within the way we want to, and need to live our newly reinvented lives.

Nānā i ke kumu ~ At Source is one’s Place, and one’s Health

Nānā i ke kumu: “Look to your source, find your truth.” This is a value which always rises to the occasion when we need it! Sometimes, the place of Nānā i ke kumu is one’s place of personal integrity, pulling at our Aloha Spirit. Sometimes, the place of Nānā i ke kumu is literally and tangibly a physical place we feel pulled toward, knowing it’s somewhere we need to be, or a ma‘alahi place (calming, for contentment) we need to create for ourselves, if only as temporary and rejuvenating retreat. In both instances place is a grounding force, and a place of well-being for us. In 2013, get pulled to places which are healthy for you: You know the difference.

Pono ~ Get Real! Visceral is good.

I’ve urged you to do some naming in this listing of Managing with Aloha values for 2013; name your peaks (Kūlia i ka nu‘u)… name your elements (Mahalo)… name your learning (‘Ike loa)… name your work (Ho‘ohana) and your service (Ho‘okipa)… Name your place (Nānā i ke kumu). Names give honor, and naming your efforts for the year to come turn them into the privilege of your Aloha-filled life. Then, just when you need it to, Pono rises to the occasion just like Nānā i ke kumu does. Pono connects your dots, but it also forces you to get real about what you can handle, and what you can’t, what you took on as some ‘shoulding’ or p.c. effort (politically correct) versus those of true, personal, gut-level intention. Be Pono. Pono prepares you for giving (and helps you say no when you really should!)

Ka lā hiki ola ~ Back to the Beginning is Opportunity

I’m quite certain that most of us will need the beginner’s mind in 2013 because there’s already been so much sorting out in the past decade: It’s time for new choices and we know it. We’ve been living through some monumental change; the Great Recession became a Global Recession, and many still believe they’ve yet to emerge and heal. The social and technological landscapes have changed too, with even more effects on how we live, work and play. Our youth were born into this world, not knowing any other! So here’s my resolution, and I hope it’s yours too: No more whining and complaining, no more pointing and blaming, no more stewing, crying or waiting. It’s all on me and my Aloha, and I’m seizing the opportunity within Ka lā hiki ola, “the dawning of a new day.”

We’re going to have a fantastic year in 2013, I feel it in my soul. Elemental, visceral, and all good.

Mahalo nui loa, thank you so much for reading, and for being here at ManagingWithAloha.com with me.

We Ho‘ohana together, Kākou, and with Aloha,

~ Rosa

Own this: Get Personal

I gave in to some personal choices in writing this listing today, and I encourage you to give some ‘all about ME’ time to yourself too. As you read through this article, you likely agreed with some of it, but not all of it. Feel free to adopt whatever you’d like as your own and re-write the rest of it! Be my co-author :)

This post can be easily copied to your own document draft – go for it! (Nothing on this site is write-protected, see the publishing rights in the footer.)
Delete the paragraphs that don’t resonate with you – not the value heading, just the paragraph I wrote.
Write your own paragraph for that value, and see what you come up with in the context of your own calling, goals, and 2013 intentions.
If you need some help or another idea, click into the individual value pages of the site (use the navigation bar right below the heading).

Enjoy the day! You will love the clarity of your Ka lā hiki ola — I guarantee it!

A Gift of Focus

“I have spent more hours than I can count holding a focus for people while they purged tons of undone, incomplete “stuff” lying around their life.”

— David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, and founder of The David Allen Company, a global training and consulting company, widely considered the leading authority in the fields of organizational and personal productivity.

When I read the sentence above, within one of David Allen’s newsletters, I nodded my head in silent agreement thinking, “Me too.” There are two interactive exercises which consistently prove to be the most powerful ones I do within my Managing with Aloha workshops: One is a team expression of Aloha, and the other is what Allen refers to as “holding a focus for people.”

It’s quite simple, really. Focus time is something all managers can easily do for their own teams. It can be a gift, and usually is, because as easy as it is, we rarely give each other the time and relevant camaraderie to actually do it, and do it successfully.

Focus time done successfully is mostly a matter of context, for focus time is essentially the opportunity for self-reflection with good reason. I’ve taken a David Allen seminar, and we do our focus times the same way: We present our workplace concepts first (productivity for him, managing with values for me) to provide that thought-provoking context that will cause people to stop and think within our parameters of good intention, pushing all other busyness out of their mental awareness for an hour or so. We then have participants sit with pencil and paper, to write down their own answers to a series of questions we’ll ask, questions meant to turn on that tap of self-reflection and personal focus.

“… And one of the most difficult exercises for teams is their ‘disengagement’ strategy—what do we need to stop doing, in order to stay focused on what we have to accomplish?”

— David Allen

We now know the Mayans were wrong (thankfully!) for our world didn’t end on the 21st. Life goes on. How will that happen for you and your team?

As I look at the calendar, it strikes me that Monday, December 24th truly offers up this context of being a gifting day if yours is a workplace where you’ll spend part of the day together. It’s a day when providence conspires to help us be happy, hopeful, and optimistic. If you are a manager, consider giving your team the gift of some focus time:

Stop all the busyness and relax. Sit together.

Present your context — simply share your thoughts, just as I would share Managing with Aloha if I was there with you; in 2012, what has been your Ho‘ohana of worthwhile work together?

Ask others what they think, or when they felt you were all at your very best — what is relevant for them?

Ask how your workplace can be better in 2013;

Ask what will make it healthier.

Ask what will make it come alive with new energy.

End by simply and sincerely, saying “Mahalo — thank you.”

You can do this quietly — with pen and paper and self-reflection.

Or you can do this in conversation.

Perhaps you’ll do both.

This is what I know: When the Aloha of good intention is in the room with you, everyone walks out with that gift of relevant camaraderie. It becomes Ka lā hiki ola; the dawning of a new day.

Mele Kalikimaka; the merriest of Christmases to you,

~ Rosa

Just 5 Over the Holidays

Remember this? Managerial Batching: 1, 2, 5 and 7. Let’s focus on the “Just 5” part of it with practical, relevant, and useful holiday batching.

This is the season, where Less, is definitely More. To save you a click…

Just 5

In MWA culture-building, ‘Just 5’ carries two meanings.

Just 5 minutes each day for The Daily 5 Minutes. We say, “If you aren’t doing the D5M you aren’t managing with Aloha” and we mean it, for conversation reigns supreme in our daily practice. (Find our newest reference page for D5M here, and learn about its history in this book excerpt.)
Just 5 is our list bucket. We “Take 5″ to contain any and all list-making within 5 items max, feeling that more is likely to be unreasonable. We feel that “Less absolutely IS More” and having to stop at 5 helps us focus on what is most important and deserving of our attentions. (It’s a condensation.)

In regard to number 1., The Daily 5 Minutes is the best gift an Alaka‘i Manager gives to their staff, for it’s the gift of unconditional understanding and generous co-authorship they give all year long (within the 2 by 2 batch). It’s also the best gift an Alaka‘i Manager will give to themselves, so they can constantly learn from their people. If you haven’t started your own D5M practice, this is the best time to start, for the holidays seem to open us up to each other more easily.

If you’re working, stop procrastinating and do it, and D5M well.

If you have time off now, make the D5M commitment once and for all, and prepare to do it when you return to your workplace.

Our list of 5 is what I’d like to focus on with this Holiday Batch.

Many business coaches will tell you to ramp up your business focus now, for this is a time when most of the world slows down business-wise (other than retail) and you can seize those curtailed attention opportunities to competitive advantage. That has never been my approach, for much as I love my business playground, the Managing with Aloha culture requires a healthy balance (PONO) of the personal and the professional. I prefer to have the Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Years holiday season be a time of personal emphasis with professional support.

My own business, Say Leadership Coaching, is therefore on annual sabbatical for four weeks, the last 2 weeks of December, and the first 2 weeks of January — I shut it down completely, hanging that “Closed” sign on the door so I and all my partners can take the time off and make it personal. This season, we’ll be back to our SLC work on Monday, January 14, 2013 and I expect we’ll be raring to go then as we usually are, personally fortified (NĀNĀ I KE KUMU) yet ready with new ideas to share with each other for the New Year (KA LĀ HIKI OLA).

We have done this since my MWA coaching business was founded in 2004. Our annual SLC sabbatical is currently number 1 of our Just 5 batch as the supportive, professional contribution. Numbers 2, 3, 4, and 5 in the batch are personal.

We know we are fortunate, and you may not have the same freedom or professional permissions in the field or company you have chosen to work within, however I encourage you to adopt Just 5 as your holiday batching now too.

Give yourself a break, and enjoy the holidays as much as you possibly can. Defer the new, focus on streamlining the old that will be your keepers, and direct your best attention and intention to a Just 5 which is meaningful for you. The world conspires in this season of good cheer; don’t deprive yourself of that Lokomaika‘i generosity.

To illustrate, this is my own Just 5 Holiday Batch right now, including their value drivers and/or Key Concept parameters:

1. ALAKA‘I: Lead the annual SLC sabbatical energies by merit of my own good example.

2. Ho‘omaha: Reflect on the past year (what worked, what didn’t), make my ‘keeper’ decisions, and prepare in the best possible way (‘IMI OLA) for the new year to come.

3. Define my next BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal, coined by Jim Collins), a personal one. This sabbatical I am happy to say goodbye to 2012, for I was dealt a crushing blow, and had to accept that I failed with the BHAG I had been working on for more than a decade now. Those possibilities dried up, but the possibilities with a new BHAG are abundant (Palena ‘ole, Key 9), and I must choose from among them and imua, go forward with a positive expectancy.

4. Reckon with the internet, and with ‘the cloud’ in my ‘Ohana in Business modeling (Key 6) and Sense of Place landscape design (Key 7). It is time for me to conduct another digital purging. No new apps (and thus, outpost communities) until I optimize my existing ones which are true keepers. Optimize the tools (e.g. Evernote, Kindle Direct Publishing, and others with good contribution to my productivity) over the toys, but keep the joy in working them.

5. Numbers 1 through 4 are a lot. Be thorough, and be complete with them, and trust in my intuition. Don’t bite off more than I can chew, replace well with no additions, and go for the beauty in the work. Invest in each process, and learn as much as I can from them (‘IKE LOA). Recognize this Just 5 Holiday 2012/2013 batch is prep for 2014 – The 10th anniversary celebration of Managing with Aloha.

So dear readers, I may be very quiet between now and January 14th. The quality of my sabbatical is dedicated to my family first and foremost.

In the Talking Story years of my online publishing I planned an editorial calendar that would fill up any publishing void, but here on Managing with Aloha (dot com) I want to be true to number 1 in my holiday batch for you too, and not expect you to keep up with any extra reading from me. If I do send an update to your inbox or RSS reader, it will be a follow-up to this post in some way. If you want even more, I encourage you to make this particular reading complete, and follow the archive links I have embedded within this post for you (like this one, about vacationSTRETCH and sabbaticals.)

But first, grab your journal, and start to draft your own Just 5 batch for over the holidays. My coaching to you is to make it personal — gift yourself to the rest of the world. A healthy and happy you is the best you can do for all of us.

And lastly, choose to spill your spirit. If there is any way you surrender now, give in to that abundance within you, for surrendering to the thinking of your ALOHA will always bring you far greater clarity.

Ua ola loko ‘ao i ke aloha;

ALOHA provides life and learning from within.

I wish you every blessing of this merry, magical holiday season.

~ Rosa