Becky Robinson's Blog, page 44

6 Ways Your “Ideas” to Solve a Problem Backfire

We’re throwing it back! This week we’re showcasing a guest post from Nat Greene about the theme from his latest book, Stop Guessing: The 9 Great Behaviors of Great Problem Solvers , which launched on April 3rd.

People love coming up with ideas. When there’s a problem, everyone jumps to the fore with ideas about how to fix it. It’s very exhilarating and feels great to have all the energy and collaboration in the room.

But coming up with “ideas” is a form of guessing at a solution. Brainstorming is group guessing. “Hypotheses” are — you guessed it — guesses. When we’re guessing at solutions, it means we don’t really understand what’s going on with the problem. It may help us solve easier problems that have only a few possible root causes, but it will simply fail to solve hard ones in complex systems that have hundreds or thousands of potential root causes. Worse, guessing often just makes things worse.

We guess because it’s a natural brain function. In our prehistoric days, we faced problems such as, “what tool should I use to prevent this sabre-toothed tiger from separating me from my larynx?” We didn’t have the cognitive capacity or the time to thoroughly investigate a problem and understand why it got there in the first place. Guessing is also rewarded all of our lives: in school, we’re asked to raise our hands with an answer. Even when we’re wrong, the teacher praises us: “Good guess!” And in work, it’s the same thing: when there’s a problem, people want actions now. They want ideas. They don’t want you telling them, “I’m going to go study this for a while.” But no matter how ingrained, guessing simply won’t solve the hardest, most valuable, and most important problems.

If you and your team really want to solve a hard problem, get rid of the guesswork — because guessing has negative consequences:

1. Guessing leads to complex solutions.

When you guess at a problem, it’s because you don’t really understand what’s going on behind it. If you knew, you wouldn’t need to guess. And when you don’t really understand what’s going on, you’re not going to be able to solve the root cause of the problem. This means your “solution” is a work-around that is tedious or expensive. Perhaps you set up a new training program, install expensive monitoring equipment, or replace a system entirely. When you guess, you develop a far more complex solution than if you had found the root cause.

2. Guessing is a waste of time.

Spending hours testing different guesses is expensive. I was at a factory where a machine broke down, halting production. A mechanic spent eight hours “troubleshooting,” changing half a dozen parts until he finally found the broken one. “First I changed out this part, but that didn’t fix it, then this other part, but that didn’t work…” and so on. If he’d investigated the root cause, he could have gotten production back online faster. His approach assumed that six parts of one machine were equally likely to fail at the same time, which is highly unlikely. He didn’t problem-solve, he solution-guessed.

3. Guessing can create new problems.

Hard problems might have hundreds or thousands of potential causes, and often, the actual root cause is obscure or hidden. As you try out guesses, you’re very unlikely to mistakenly trip across the root cause. And as you might know, adding new bolt-ons to a business process or physical asset is going to create brand new problems. Integration will run into headaches, new physical additions will hiccup. You’ll need to solve all of these new problems, and you’ve actually taken a step back.

4. Guessing is a huge distraction for a team.

Tasked with solving a problem, teams often mistakenly launch into a brainstorming session. Brainstorming has its place where creativity is required, but solving hard problems is not one of them. Dressed up in an elaborate “process” for prioritizing guesses, such as a fishbone diagram, it’s still just group-guessing — adding further complications, like groupthink and politics, that drive managers nuts. And people tend to get attached to their ideas, dig in, and play power games, so the guess tested first is the one made by the most powerful person in the room. If the team brainstorms dozens of “possible root causes,” all must be tested. One diplomatic solution: get it out of everyone’s system by writing all the guesses down. It’s fun to play “who guessed right” after the fact. But you haven’t wasted endless time and resources belaboring through the hit-and-miss.

5. Guessing doesn’t teach you anything.

Even if a guess eventually works, you’ve spent lots of time on guesses that didn’t, and you probably won’t have any deeper understanding of the problem than you did in the first place. Be aware that any time you “come up with” many possible causes to check, you are guessing. If someone gives you a list of 10 “potential” root causes, they don’t know what’s happening. If your team comes up with 200 potential root causes, no one does. That’s far too many ideas to explore before you run out of time, resources, and energy, and you still won’t know what’s happening. Worse: when a team doesn’t understand a problem or the system behind it, odds are the true root cause isn’t even on that list.

6 – Guessing has side effects.

Say you got lucky: you guessed a solution and implemented it effectively. Unfortunately, this rare victory has some bad side effects. First, you’ve reinforced the habit and fooled yourself into thinking it’s a good strategy and will work again, making it harder to break in the future. Whether or not guessing works, it’s easy, and we find comfort in that. Second, you haven’t developed any deeper understanding of the problem. Instead of spending time building knowledge (since future problems will inevitably pop up), you’ve spent your time guessing and checking. Next time it happens, you’re back to square one. Third, you’re not becoming a better problem-solver. You rob yourself and your team of critical skill development. When you get to truly hard problems, you’ll need all the skills you can get. If you don’t practice using the right behaviors and methods to solve moderate problems, you’ll never master them. You’re going to get shellacked when you try to tackle the hard problems.

I’ve worked with bright talent, fresh out of universities like MIT and Cornell, brilliant young people with technical degrees and a deep scientific foundation. They’ve synthesized complex chemicals and built robots, but facing their first hard practical problem, they all resort to guessing first. It’s a natural compulsion, even for them. They’re trained to solve problems, so realize quickly that guessing inhibits their progress. Once they set guesswork aside, they’re tackling hard problems with panache.

Remember, your brain is going to guess. When it happens, recognize it for what it is — a primitive survival instinct. Then, stop guessing — and get to work.

What strengths do you bring to the table that help your team get past guessing? Find out with this online quiz!

How to Influence Without a Title

We all recognize and understand the clout that comes with a job title like “Manager,” “Director,” or “CEO.” When people with those titles walk into a room, they exude power and influence. People flock to them, wanting affirmation that they’re doing a good job, and confirmation that they can take the next step forward. So how does one get to be in a position like that? Or better yet, how does one yield that kind of influence without the position title?

The possibilities are endless, but here are a few that are 100% guaranteed to bring you more influence within your team.

Build Relationships

Just because you’re working a steady job doesn’t mean it’s time to quit networking. Continue building relationships with people outside your company, but also with those in your company. Learn about your co-workers: What makes them tick? What are their strengths? Their weaknesses? What are their pet-peeves? What’s their Enneagram or Myers Briggs or StrengthsFinder result? Figure out how to be the best possible co-worker and you will gain so much respect and influence in their eyes.

Encourage Others

It is unbelievable to me how much of an impact people can make with just a few encouraging words, and how little people actually do it. How often do you think to yourself, “Wow, she’s really good at that. I’m so thankful she’s on my team!”? Tell her! It will brighten the day of anyone you talk to and it will take you one step further in the building of your relationships, and people will naturally want to be around you more. And the encouragement doesn’t just have to be horizontal . . . in fact, I encourage you (ha!) to encourage those below and above you, as well. Thank the custodian for continuously working so hard to keep your building clean, and let your boss know how thankful you are to get to work under his/her leadership. Everyone needs to be encouraged.

Never Say No

When you’re asked to do something, what’s your reason for saying “no”? Is it because you don’t have enough time? That’s completely legitimate. Is it because you don’t know how? LEARN. Google it, YouTube it, ask someone else to teach you. This doesn’t mean lying and pretending like you already know how to do it–it means saying, “I don’t know the answer, but I’ll figure it out.” The more you figure things out this way, the more people will come to you as the resident expert in things other people don’t know. My husband is the prime example of this. When he first got hired at his current organization, he worked as the project manager of the creative team for 2 years. His job was to make sure projects remained on the correct timeline, and he did a great job at that. When people would come to him needing help on graphic design stuff, instead of saying “no” because it wasn’t his area of expertise, he said “yes” and figured it out. Same with video-editing, writing, copy-editing, etc. Soon he became the go-to guy when people needed something done quickly and the resident experts didn’t have the time.

Do What You Say You’ll Do

This one doesn’t need much, if any, explanation. Doing what you say you’re going to do brings with it so much influence because you become known as someone others can trust. I worked with someone once who so often failed to do what she said she would do, and our working relationship became toxic because I stopped trusting her and she grew to resent that. If you know you won’t have time to do something, don’t agree to do it in the first place. If you say you’ll do it, make sure you do it.

Grow Where You Are

If you want people to recognize you as an influential presence in your organization, make sure you are constantly learning and growing in your current job. Become the very best at what you do. Make it impossible to be fired because no one can do what you can do. When you become the expert at your job, people will see you as hardworking and trustworthy, and their respect for you will skyrocket–meaning your influence will too.

Have a “Same Team” Mindset

A little healthy competition never hurt anyone, but remember that at the end of the day, you’re all on the same team. If your co-worker doesn’t win, your team won’t win. Celebrate the success of those around you instead of wishing it had been you instead. When you see someone struggling, jump in and help them paddle to shore, instead of letting them sink so you look better.

Become a master of growth, learning, integrity, encouragement, and team-oneness, and you’ll become a master of influence in your organization.

 

 

Three Blocks To Compassion And How To Overcome Them

We’re throwing it back! This week we’re showcasing a guest post from Monica Worline about the theme from her latest book with Jane E. Dutton, Awakening Compassion At Work , which launched on February 17.

The science behind compassion demonstrates that this crucial aspect of human existence is more than a feeling or an emotion—it’s a complex, four-part human experience. It consists of noticing suffering and interpreting it in ways that dispose us to feel and act to alleviate another person’s pain. Researchers who study compassion have focused on these interpretations—what they call “appraisals” of suffering—and found three that are critical to either blocking or unlocking compassion in our work lives.

Appraisals are tricky to see, because we make them at lightning speed. Our brains jump to these interpretations so fast that the process may be invisible to us. Recall a moment when you thought to yourself about someone else: “You made this mess; now you have to suffer the consequences!” That’s an appraisal; an interpretation of someone else as worthy of blame.

Are They Responsible for Their Suffering?

When we construe someone as blameworthy, we block our compassion. Research demonstrates that we feel less empathy and concern when we determine that someone is responsible for his or her own suffering. Think of the last time someone made a mistake at work and you had to deal with it. Did you immediately say to yourself, “Oh, I bet Nancy was doing her best and this was just an oversight?” Or did you say to yourself, “Oh, I had a feeling Nancy wasn’t well trained! Now we’re all going to pay for her incompetence!” If you fall into the latter interpretation, you’re not alone. Most of us have to train ourselves to make different appraisals to overcome this block. With practice, we can learn to jump to the former conclusion—the one that tells us Nancy is good and capable and this was just an oversight.

Do They Deserve Your Concern?

A second block to compassion comes when we jump to the conclusion that someone doesn’t deserve our concern. Often these interpretations are swayed by stereotypes or stigmas. For instance, recall a time when you passed someone who seemed homeless or impoverished on the street. Did you say to yourself, “If he’d just get a job, he wouldn’t have to be begging on the street!”? Overcoming this block involves retraining our minds and hearts to remember that we are all susceptible to suffering. To unblock compassion, we can say to ourselves something such as: “There, but for grace and circumstances, go I. We’re all in this life together.” We all suffer. We all deserve compassion. Reminding ourselves of this unblocks our capacity to care.

How Can You Respond?

Finally, a third block to compassion involves how we understand our own ability to respond. When someone who is suffering really needs help or support, we can feel overwhelmed. If we jump to the quick conclusion that we don’t have the resources or the time or the energy to respond, we stop compassion in its tracks. Remember the last time you said to yourself, “I just can’t handle this right now!” It probably wasn’t that long ago! Overcoming this block requires that we retrain our minds to pause, slow down when we feel overwhelmed, and remind ourselves that even a small gesture is enough. Compassion is sometimes easier than we think. We don’t have to solve the problem—in fact, often we can’t solve the issue that is creating suffering. But we can smile and offer a hug. We can write a card. We can offer to deliver a meal on the weekend or make some other compassion move. And all of these small moves make a big difference to someone in pain.

Many factors play into our automatic interpretations of suffering—including work experience, training, organizational culture, heritage, national culture, family traditions, position in the organization, and the implicit biases that we develop simply by internalizing stereotypes. And we all carry around internalized cultural assumptions about suffering that can block compassion.

Recognizing them, challenging them in ourselves, and becoming more aware of how to change them in our own minds and hearts is key to overcoming them and awakening compassion at work .

Growing Your Career as a Stay at Home Mom

Stay-at-home mom and career woman are not two titles that are traditionally put together. However, in today’s increasingly digital and flexible world, more and more women (myself included) can stay home with their young ones while advancing their careers at the same time.

No, I am not saying you can “have it all”—staying home with your kids in and of itself is a full-time job. And it’s basically not possible to have two full-time jobs. Yet, despite what feels like an endless hustle to keep the house from falling apart and praying that the baby will keep napping while conducting cross-continental video conferences, I feel so grateful that I live in a time where I can really grow my career —not just scoot by with a side income—through part-time work from wherever I may be, as long as I have a laptop and reliable internet connection.

Over the past year and a half, I have learned a thing or two about how to maximize my professional growth while fulfilling my lifelong dream of staying home with my child when she is small.

Use Non-Work Time for Continued Education

For the most part, I stick to a schedule of when I work and don’t (though times always come up where I need to quickly distract my daughter while responding to an urgent email, this schedule generally works for me). When I am not working, I like to listen to podcasts related to my industry or other industries I am interested in learning about. There are thousands of podcasts on all kinds of topics—which are great to listen to when preparing dinner, playing legos, folding laundry, pushing the stroller, or any other activities around the house. Listening to podcasts on a regular basis keeps me thinking about my work and ways to grow, and gets me excited to get back to work at my next opportunity.

Ask for Opportunities to Do Something Different

If you are as blessed as I am to have a job or freelancing situation that affords you the flexibility to stay home with your kids, you most likely have gotten stuck in the all-too-common rut that work-from-home employees or contract workers can fall into: task-based work. It is much easier to get involved with new initiatives when you can collaborate in person with other employees and company leadership. Sometimes when you are tired and cranky, checking tasks off a list seems much more comfortable than potentially getting stuck with a new initiative you don’t have experience tackling. Resist that comfort! Sometimes the lack of direction that virtual employees face due to time-zone or other constraints can be a breeding ground for tremendous creativity and growth. Of course, you should always make sure that you have the liberty to take some risks in your work, but in general, you will be surprised how much the self-starter attitude is appreciated, even outside the office.

Know How to Step Back

Having your work/home/personal life all wrapped up into one location—your house—can be, to say the least, overwhelming. Since my daughter was born, I have had to change my definition of “organized” or “scheduled” quite a bit. One thing that really helps me to differentiate between “work” and “not work” time is my family’s weekly observance of the Sabbath on Friday night to Saturday night. During this time, we don’t use phones, computers, cars, etc., don’t cook (we do the cooking beforehand), don’t work; and we spend our time having big meals with family and friends, going for walks, reading, sleeping in (okay I don’t do this so much now with a toddler, but I will eventually!), and just hanging out together. Having this dedicated time makes such an enormous difference in my attitude and capabilities the rest of the week—it’s absolutely the most peaceful and rejuvenating time, and I know that my work would suffer immensely without it. Even if you don’t plan to take a whole day off from life’s hustles and bustles like I do, I highly recommend having designated no work/screen/phone time on a regular basis.

Yes, my life is chaotic at times, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything! I truly believe that the opportunity to exercise my brain and grow my experience and nurture my talents makes me a better, more confident mom.

It’s often a juggling act in this house, but one well worth it!

Embraced By The Wind

We’re throwing it back! This week we’re showcasing a guest post from Art Barter about the theme from his latest book, Farmer Able . We also worked with him on The Servant Leadership Journal , which launched on March 4.

The pigs are running the farm. So begins the story of Farmer Able. Everyone on his farm—people and animals alike—are downright downtrodden by him. He’s overbearing and compulsively obsessed with profits and productivity. He’s a typical top-down, power-based manager, forever tallying production numbers in his well-worn ledgers.

But the more he pushes the hoofs and horns and humans, the more they dig in their heels. That is, until one day, when he hears a mysterious wind that whispers: “It’s not all about me.”

Can he turn things around and begin attending to the needs of those on his farm, thus improving their attitudes and productivity?

EMBRACED BY THE WIND

The farmer attempted to reassure himself and remain buoyant. But he knew that any tender shoot of change is always the most vulnerable, so he was worried this new plan might just wilt away. The good farmer grew anxious.

He plopped down in his office chair one evening and found himself compulsively wanting to pencil in those declining numbers—as if that would change things!

Unimagined by the farmer, these quivers in his heart actually made their way out to the wind. For if the wind is anything, it is keenly aware of a human heart’s fluttering. The knothole was a two-way corridor. Out went the farmer’s fears, and within only a few breaths, in came the swirling wind. It whistled through the knothole with new wind words, starting with: Believe . . .

The farmer was, or at least had tried to be, on board with this high-minded idea. But “shame” rattled his keys again, as Farmer Able realized he was actually faltering in the “believe” category.

The wind gathered itself and finished its refrain: Believe what you believe.

At first this was a puzzler. To Farmer Able, it seemed a bit redundant, as in, “Of course I believe what I believe; otherwise I wouldn’t believe it.” But then he chewed on the deeper meaning.

What do I believe . . . really?

As he pondered this, he looked over on the wall. He had hung a few framed photographs. There was his wife and daughter, Patience and Sunny, of course. In the center of this grouping was one of those aerial shots of his farm. His family farm had come down to him from his father’s mother’s father. It wasn’t just land and lapboard buildings. No, it was . . . well . . . him. He “believed” in all it stood for.

It suddenly dawned on him. He was terrified of losing it. If he lost the farm, he wouldn’t just lose a home and the security that came with it. No, he’d lose himself altogether. He would be a loser. A failure.

Just then he wondered: Had he believed only in what he feared? Had fear been driving him all these years? Is this why he was so rough on himself and everything around him? He had to make sure, come heck or high water, that the farm wouldn’t go under—that he wouldn’t go under.

As these questions wafted through his head, the wind gusted again. Farmer Able heard the little singsong in the knothole. He was reminded that the creak of the wind had irritated him before. But now he found himself actually yearning for it.

He sprang from his chair and flung open the old granary window. Whoosh! came the wind. He shut his eyes and threw back his head, letting it rush over him like a cavalcade. Ahh, the vitality of the spring breeze as it brought up the newness of the freshly planted fields was like music to his ears.

Farmer Able looked back as he stood there in the breeze: What’s there to fear? I’m a unique person in the world. I have something to offer. I’m embraced by the wind itself. And because of that sense of belonging to something beyond myself, I can inspire others with their own self-worth. Yes, that is what I believe.

That evening, the wind carried away his shadows. In this new light, Farmer Able saw one thing he clearly had to do. He looked over at the photographs of Patience and Sunny. He had always justified his bad behavior, thinking, I’m doing all this for them. But that dusky excuse just had to go. He knew he had to set things right.

 

Back-scratching in the World of Public Relations

It often comes up in conversation with clients–what influence do we, public relations professionals, have on the media?

Unfortunately, the answer isn’t simple. Some research shows that up to 80 percent of media coverage is influenced by public relations. But this number has been heavily scrutinized.

Today, journalists are working to satiate an ever-hungry media monster. Deadlines are tight and novelty is crucial. It takes both luck and skill of the PR professional to give journalists what they want or need. But the better we PR pros can scratch journalists’ backs, the better back-scratch we will likely get in return.

Here are four ways PR professionals can influence media personnel.

Be a friend.

Relationships are so important in the world of PR. Journalists need to ensure they trust the person who is giving them information, since they are essentially the horse’s mouth. Once a PR professional makes a contact, it’s up to them to prove their trustworthiness by citing past articles and then maintaining contact. Socially sharing a journalist’s work is a great way to get in their good graces–as well as, obviously, reading/viewing/listening to their work and being familiar with the topics they cover. At Weaving Influence, we work to keep track of all our media touches and continue to foster those relationships for future benefit.

Be on time.

Many of our clients take advantage of our HARO and ProfNet services. These services feature inquiries from reporters looking for interviews. Being timely in responding to these, or any media inquiry, is so important. When I was a reporter, I often ended up interviewing whomever got back to me first in order to meet my deadline–not who was the best interview. After all, I had a beast to feed. Keeping a journalist apprised on your progress on an article or of your schedule is key. There’s no quicker way to kill a media friendship than to mess up their deadline.

Snap a selfie (or a photo, at least). 

Journalism has drastically changed over the past decade or so. Newsrooms have shrunk, and budgets along with them. Thus, it’s up to PR professionals to make journalists’ jobs easier by giving them everything they need to assemble a story–this can include ready made quotes, videos, and pictures. With the growth of online, the demand for information is high, heightening the burden on journalists’ time. PR pros can achieve their own goals (and their clients’) by supporting journalists in saving them time, providing access to information and facilitating opportunities.

Get to the point.

Did I mention journalists are short on time? When I was a reporter, I’d get so frustrated with interview subjects who would talk my ear off or want me to interview everyone in their organization–and then I’d get frustrated with myself for getting frustrated! I relished working with PR practitioners who knew exactly what I wanted–appropriate background, easy access to leaders/interviews, good visuals, and answers to follow-up questions–all in a timely manner. If a PR pro is pitching a story, it’s important they let the journalist know right away why they will care–and then make putting the story together as easy as can be.

Good public relations is about mutually beneficial partnerships with the media. It is about sharing information that the public wants or needs to know.

It was once believed that PR professionals and journalists were adversaries. Not any more. We need each other to do our jobs. We need each other to scratch those itches we can’t reach.

Self-Awareness: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

We’re throwing it back! This week we’re showcasing a guest post from Mark Miller about the theme from his latest book, Leaders Made Here , which we launched on March 13th.

Have you ever noticed that the more you look for something, the more you find it? Like when you get a new car – the next week, you see dozens of them. That’s what I’m feeling right now about this topic. I’ve been shocked by how many leaders I’m encountering who have low self-awareness.

Self-awareness is huge for leaders. You can argue it’s important for everyone — but for leaders, a gap here may be the determining factor in your ability to lead at all.

How self-aware are you?

An exercise I often ask leaders to do is write down three strengths and three weaknesses. I’m amazed how often this activity is futile. If you overstate your strengths and minimize your weaknesses, you will end up in trouble as a leader. My best advice on this topic is to be ruthless in your evaluation of yourself . . .  and get help.

We all have blind spots. Regardless of how hard we try, I’ve met very few men and women in my life who have been able to pierce these blind spots on their own. However, if you and I get help and we’re willing to embrace the truth, we can identify the strengths we need to leverage and the gaps we need to mitigate.

Here are a few ideas to help you shed some light on your real strengths and weaknesses.

Conduct a 360 assessment.

This can be done in a survey or an interview format. If you do a traditional survey, my recommendation is to get a third party to process the results. This will make those reluctant to participate for fear of retribution a little more likely to tell you the truth. If you don’t have the budget for this, you can do it yourself. If you want deeper insights, hire someone to do face to face interviews on your behalf.

Conduct a Stop – Start – Continue survey.

This is another form of a 360 assessment, but much easier. You ask only three questions: What should I STOP doing? What should I START doing? What should I CONTINUE doing? I do this every few years. I’m always amazed at what I learn.

Build a circle of trusted advisors.

The leader who doesn’t have truth tellers in their life will always be on the brink of disaster. You can include anyone you like in this group as long as you have them on your team. For me, my wife and my son are the first on my list; my administrative assistant is next; followed by a few of my co-workers and a group of men who I’ve been meeting with for over 15 years. I’m counting on these people to care enough about me to tell me the truth. They help minimize my blind spots.

Truth is a leaders’ best friend. The truth about your leadership is perhaps the most valuable truth of all.

Use Influence as a Tool For Positive Change

Growing up as the oldest sibling of four, my parents repeated the phrase “you have to be a good influence.” At times throughout my childhood, this would cause me some frustration, because it felt like an attack on my individual freedom. I later realized it was a blessing, but without a doubt also a challenge, to be a “good example” role in my younger siblings’ lives, let alone anyone else.

This lesson became the foundation of the way I understand influence; yes, we all have an individual will, but society plays a big role in the way we perceive and act in the world. Each society progresses, regresses, or pauses due to the actions of the people within it. However, not everyone has the privilege to influence society.

In today’s world, anyone with technology capable of accessing the internet can access masses of people. Nevertheless, as many know, the web is extremely crowded; so becoming influential in any way has many avenues, but remains a challenge. Further, once you obtain influence within a particular popular culture or any other subculture, it’s an even greater challenge to maintain one’s influential space.

People from a variety of backgrounds throughout history have long been oppressed, but the web gives those who suffer a voice, with an avenue to expose the truth behind oppression they specifically endured or presently endure or witness.

Allowing people who had little-to-no approach to influence the world to change and move forward from some of its most hateful ways has become ideal in the hearts of many, but now the challenge is to keep that influence planted there.

Again, not everyone has the privilege to influence society — so if you do, be a good one!

Five Truths I Discovered about People in My First Five Years in Business

My team and I recently passed the milestone of five years in business. While I’ve written previously about lessons I’ve learned as an entrepreneur, I wanted to take a moment to share a few truths I’ve discovered about the centrality of other people to building a successful business.

Other people make it possible. 

It sounds cliche, but I could not have gotten to where I am on my own. First, there’s my husband, who has supported me emotionally and practically, and who has financially supported my dream. He’s the one who didn’t blink in the early years when I had to write personal checks to the business in order to cover payroll. Early on, I found out that I couldn’t even meet clients’ needs without involving others, which led to my building a company bigger than just me from the start.

I could write thousands of words of thanks to countless others who have supported my work: coaches and advisers, both paid and unpaid; team members; collaborators; partners; clients; friends.

It would be absolutely impossible to do this alone.

Other people make it challenging. 

Working with people is messy. Team members have sick kids and off-days. Clients have urgent deadlines and colossal expectations. Most challenges are people challenges, and working through those people challenges keep me growing and learning.

Other people make it bearable.

The kind words of a friend who listens through my tears and withholds judgement. The people I can count on to answer my calls whenever I need a boost. The understanding acceptance of a client who sees my mistakes and remains open to our work. The loyalty of long-time team members who lean closer when times are tough. The people who step up in a crisis to get work done or meet an emergency need. It is other people who make the hard work of building a business bearable.

Other people make it better. 

Not only bearable, other people make building a business better. Others share: skills, insight, creative ideas, process improvements, wisdom, suggestions, edits, refinements, advice, encouragement. Doing this work with others makes the work I am able to do far more excellent than it might be if I worked alone.

Other people make it worthwhile.

Why does anyone work hard, if not to create value for others? It is the people I work with and for who make our work worth doing. Seeing my clients win is one of my greatest joys. There is deep satisfaction in work I do well, but even greater satisfaction in seeing my team members reach their goals, as they grow and thrive.

While metrics matter, it’s the people who motivate me to work toward achieving results so that my company will thrive in the next five years and beyond.

3 Tips for Developing Optimism

We’re throwing it back! This week we’re showcasing a guest post from Nate Regier about the theme of developing optimism.

Optimism is not just seeing the glass as half-full. It’s about doing what it takes to fill it up.

Optimism is not wishful thinking. Not even a hopeful attitude. Optimism is the discipline of envisioning and pursuing possibility, against the odds. Optimistic people are this way because they work at it. They don’t just see the glass as half full, they push through to keep filling it so that potential turns into reality. Optimism takes perseverance, grit, and belief in the power of a vision and of the people pursuing that vision. Optimism doesn’t give up when the going gets tough. Optimism never quits looking for opportunity, potential, the possibility everyone else missed, the faint light at the end of the tunnel.

Jon Gordon, an ambassador of positivity, wrote this about optimism:

“Now, more than ever, optimism is a competitive advantage. Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, was asked the most important characteristic of a leader and he said “Optimism.” After all, it’s not the pessimists who will grow this economy. It’s the optimists who believe in a brighter future that will take the actions necessary to create it. Optimism will also help you navigate the set-backs, challenges, naysayers and Energy Vampires as you seek to grow your business. You have a choice. You can believe success is impossible or you can believe that with faith, hard work and an optimistic attitude all things are possible. To grow your business, choose the latter.” Read the full article here.

Tips for Developing Optimism

Focus on what’s working. It’s human nature to dwell on what’s broken, missing, or doesn’t work. Take time each day, with each project, to list and celebrate what is working or what went well. The more you do it, the better you will become.
Overnight success is “a thousand problems solved.” When asked about the magical success of the movie Toy Story, director John Lasseter recounted all the ways in which the movie was doomed from the start: an unlikable main character, the first fully animated motion picture, and the list goes on. They key to success, he shared, was that the team simply solved one problem after another, not focusing on the doom and gloom, but instead on each new problem to solve. When the going gets tough and the summit seems far away, this orientation is a great way to continue having small successes along the way.
What could go wrong vs. what didn’t go wrong. Recently, Next Element was an exhibitor at a national trade show. Instead of having our exhibit booth shipped via a national hauler, we did it ourselves to save money. We rented a Sprinter van, loaded up our stuff, and drove to Colorado. There were lots of things to worry about, like driving an unwieldy vehicle through urban traffic, in and out of tight parking garages, loading and unloading precious cargo, or where to park the beast. We solved most of these problems and picked up a few bumps and bruises along the way (one of them on the back bumper of the van when I got stuck in a parking garage!). On the way home we narrowly missed colliding with a car that had been rear-ended in the oncoming lane of traffic, careened across the median, rolled, and come to rest directly in front of us. We were the first ones on the scene and were able to help. Nobody was seriously injured. And it could have been a lot worse. As we’ve recounted our stories from this trip, we’ve realized that some things went wrong. And, some very big things that could have went wrong, didn’t. How do you want to remember your life? What went wrong — or what could have gone wrong that didn’t? I’d prefer to feel lucky rather than worried!

Anyone can be an optimist if they are willing to dedicate themselves to the discipline.

It doesn’t happen by chance and it doesn’t come for free. And the benefits are well worth it!

 

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