One simple, but hard place to start is to eliminate words like vs., or, either, but, from our vocabulary. Sound silly? I believe eliminating those words– those ways of setting up our thinking might lead to a profound change.

Here is where it gets tricky because I need for you to do some thinking to illustrate this point.

Below are word combinations that represent duality (for me). Here is the exercise. Where you see the dash- put in the default words above. Choose anyone of them, doesn’t matter. Choose one combination at a time and play with where that sends your thoughts.

For example, think about the relationship of :

Divergent Thinking vs Convergent Thinking (Photo credit: visualpun.ch)

 Convergent thinking or divergent thinking.

Convergent thinking vs divergent thinking.

In a process driven, data analyzing, looking for the best way world we have lived in, we have been taking what we know– the information that we have and applying critical thinking to choosing a path. (Should we use convergent OR divergent problem solving?)

But in a world where we are at the boundaries of what we know…where all the data isn’t in…where we need discovery, imagination and leaps of iconoclastic thinking– is there another frame of reference– another way of communicating value that opens up communication, exploration, collaboration and allows for new possibility?

Let’s go back to our example: Convergent thinking-Divergent thinking and this time let’s explore what happens when we use an AND context to direct our thinking. (What happens if we use convergent AND divergent thinking in our problem solving?)

Convergent thinking and divergent thinking?

 Both convergent thinking and divergent thinking?

It’s different isn’t it? I notice for myself when I am having a conversation with someone and trying to explore new options, the later way of having the conversation reduces the tension in the conversation and allows us to talk about how we want to balance the duality. Having an AND point of reference invites a dialogue and discovery instead of debate.

Can you see how discussion invites more opportunity than debate? This all sounds so basic, so obvious– until you observe yourself.

Take time to notice the vocabulary you use in the next couple of days.

Are you using choice by default or opening a conversation to discovery?

We are in between. We need different ways of engaging our thinking and the way we interact with others and ideas if we are going to create or innovate new ways. Being aware of dualities and the opportunities they present opens conversations and thinking.

Does this shift in vocabulary open a door for you?

Below are some additional word combinations expressing duality. Take some time to play by taking each combination and substituting or/vs, with both/and to see what opens up!

Image via Wikipedia

One-Many

Doing-Being

Artificial Intelligence-Human Intelligence

Yin-Yang

Principles – Holding truth in more than one perspective

Narrative-What lives outside the story

Truth-What we believe

Duality-All is One

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• Creative | How to be a Creative Person (atlasofmind.info)
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To construct something really new, we need to deconstruct what we have…pull it apart, take a look at the pieces and purposefully decide what we’ll use in creation 2.0. A lot of the call yesterday talked about management models, leadership and the current paradigm for how we think of leaders. For me the most interesting takeaway was this big juicy question:

 If as a leader, you did not have situational authority and no ability to sanction others, could you get things done?

This question gets at the heart of what it means to be a leader–not in an ordained, conferred sense…but it a true sense of:

Do you have the personal capacity to draw the best ideas out of those you come in contact with?

Do you have the emotional centeredness to self manage, support and develop others?

Do you have the ability to persuade?

Do you have the personal capacity to embrace a variety of perspectives and points of view while new ideas unfold?

I can go on…but you get the picture. Leadership is composed of qualities of who we are as human beings…how we interact with and affect those we come in contact with.

 It has nothing to do with a title or our role.

The other thing that Hamel’s newest book, What Matters Now: How to Win In A World Of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition and Unstoppable  Innovation does, is to take a closer look at organizations experimenting with challenging traditional leadership roles and eliminating hierarchical management structures altogether.

The experimentation takes on all shapes and sizes…sometimes with just one tiny piece of an organization truly innovating the PROCESS and PEOPLE part of how they get things done, taking the learning and massaging and analyzing it before deciding if it is scaleable.

This kind of innovation of management models and process is an exciting part of the discovery of what it will take to have sustainable innovation down the road.

Everyone expected to exhibit true leadership qualities without the structure of their formal role? It’s provocative thinking to be sure.

Related articles

• Are You Inhibiting Greatness? (dystopianpresent.wordpress.com)

We are a culture addicted to doing–rolling up our shirt sleeves and digging in, getting busy, solving problems. But where do we start when we don’t know where we are going?

We can start by drawing a distinction between change and transition so we can clearly articulate what effort is needed.

A change has a quality of tweaking our system or process, adding to a foundation of knowledge or information. It is what you do when you know what you want, you know what is in the gap between what you have and what you want to accomplish, and you have identified the steps you need to take to close the gap.

A transition is what you face when what you must create is unclear or unformed. Even strategic planning and thinking fall short of mapping a plan when the fog is thick. A transition is characterized by that space of not knowing while you wait for what is emerging. But who can afford to wait? What do we do in the meantime?

We can start by asking “do we need to change or do we need a plan for transition even if we don’t know what we are transitioning to?”

If we determine a transition is needed, the next step is a celebration of accomplishments and preparation for saying goodbye to the way things were. The celebration is followed by the psychological preparedness of shifting from the familiarity of execution mode, to exploration, discovery and the willingness to make mistakes as a trade-off for new learning. Not everyone will want to take this journey into the unformed.

Transition includes a purposeful review of what we are willing to get rid of or leave behind? What has outlived its usefulness? Are we willing to purge what no longer works? It invites a study of the pieces of our process and system that are so wired into our thinking that we have stopped scrutinizing their usefulness. It means current metrics may not take us far enough toward what we need to become. What do absolutely need to carry with us? How will it serve our unfolding purpose?

We overwhelm ourselves trying to change and cobble on new solutions when what we  need is to transition. It is too hard to carry dead weight when you need to be nimble and to free up space for what is emerging and newly useful. Change doesn’t create enough space for discovery, the unexpected or unanticipated that are markers that can inform a transition.

Image via Wikipedia

Maps for change start out illustrated primarily with where you have been…charted territory. Bring your explorer tools for new transition journeys: a compass that points you toward important values; a journal to record your observations; scouts who go out ahead and send back suggestions for best routes while monitoring changing conditions; a willingness to learn from new cultures, and foreign ways.

Be prepared for surprises, setbacks, and storms that accompany new discovery.

And be prepared to bring back the unexpected gifts you would have never found otherwise.

There are very real benefits to getting curious about how your body “registers” information before it hits your conscious awareness. For example, learning to “tune in” to signals that alert us to tensing in our muscles is useful bio feedback. We may need to change our posture, breathe more deeply at the computer keyboard to avoid fatigue, or even give ourselves over to muscle memory to improve our athleticism.

But why do we stop there?

Our personal resilience is impacted  and drained by dissonance we sense–

but over-ride.

Personal resilience is a key leadership competency. Leaders must quickly adapt to and lead change as well as bounce back after adversity. But resilience is not a bottomless energy resource that we can dip into continually and not replenish. People who respond to tests of their resilience as measures of strength and fortitude are at risk of depleting their resilience when they simply push on rather working to resolve tension and dissonance. I disagree with the folk wisdom that says what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I don’t think your leadership is served by trying to constantly rely on coping mechanisms aimed at ignoring the elephant in the room.

Interestingly, one of the social emotional competencies many leaders rank most poorly on is the ability to work through conflict management. Avoidance and denial flank the path of least resistance. But the dissonance you feel even as you avoid facing the challenge is eating away at your resilience.

The first step to shoring up your resilience is to pay attention to what your body is saying.

What are you doing to resolve dissonance? Could you improve your social skills to productively manage conflict?

What are you doing to replenish the energy drain?

What are you doing to acknowledge the bodily symptoms before the constant siege takes its toll on your resilience, your leadership and ultimately your health?

Resilience between a rock and a hard place

]]> https://whatisyourrealquestion.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/resilience-underpins-the-foundation-of-your-leadership-but-are-you-letting-it-erode/feed/ 0 whatisyourrealquestion IMG_0109 https://whatisyourrealquestion.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/how-do-leaders-suspend-time-and-pause-for-honest-reflection/ https://whatisyourrealquestion.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/how-do-leaders-suspend-time-and-pause-for-honest-reflection/#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:45:02 +0000 whatisyourrealquestion http://whatisyourrealquestion.wordpress.com/?p=1329 Continue reading →]]>

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This search, “How do leaders suspend time and pause for honest reflection” was on the dashboard of my “what is your real question” blog. I’ll share some thoughts in the hope that the individual with this question finds their way back.

I get curious about a couple of things in this query.

First, to the “how do leaders suspend time” part of the question:

 When a leader sets priorities, is reflection one of them? One of the biggest mistakes many of us make is treating information and requests as urgent simply because of the immediacy in which we receive them. We think we are multi-tasking but that constant state of flux robs us of the opportunity for deep thinking and reflection. Some may see this is a time management challenge.  I think of it as managing our attention and the energy we devote to true priorities. When reflection is a priority, we allocate space and “time” for it to occupy 100% of our attention…no kidding.

As for the “pause for honest reflection” part of the question…boy.

What comes to mind when YOU read the word honest? Without the opportunity to ask for clarification or follow up, I wonder what the reader struggles with where honesty is in play?

Honesty and trust are core ethical values, aren’t they? If honesty is at stake, this has nothing to do with suspending time, but might have more to do with suspending values or ethics.

Dear reader, I am sorry if this falls short of an answer to your question.

My best counsel at this point is to ask yourself…”What is my real question?”

Is this a question about time management or a core value being stepped on?

Does not actively listening weaken trust? I believe it does. While the foundational cracks not listening causes might be small in and of themselves…over time, the sheer volume of them can cause serious rifts. Can you catch yourself in the act of not listening ?

• Where have you stopped actively listening?
• Who are you no longer actively listening to?
• What will a lack of trust do to this relationship?

To get purposeful about active listening, reflect on these points to look at the quality of your listening:

Image via Wikipedia

•  What did you hear that stirred your curiosity?
•  What did you hear that was interesting?
• What open-ended question do you need to ask to learn something new from this person…regardless of how much you think you already know about what they would say?
• Did you put your telling aside?
• How are you signaling that you are listening?
• How do you listen actively…even when you disagree?

Related articles

• Want to Build Trust? Speak Less and Listen More (leaderchat.org)
• To Listen Well Is As Powerful a Means of Influence As To Talk Well (popiwinters.wordpress.com)

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I often encounter folks who are out of sync with their work. One of the many causes that contribute to that “trying to fit a square peg in a round hole feeling” is when your strengths are mismatched to your current role. The mismatch can happen due to a change in job function or even the radical reshaping of corporate culture due to a disruptive marketplace or something as commonplace as a change in senior leadership. This mismatch is not good for smooth operations for the company but it also takes a toll on an individual’s engagement and self-esteem.

I was reminded of a Gallup study that got the ball rolling on discussions aimed at trying to better align an individual’s strengths with their roles at a networking breakfast this morning. One of my new acquaintances asked if I had ever taken a strengths based leadership profile. I had back in 2009 as I did my own self assessment when contemplating my encore career change.

The Gallup study sparked a number of best-selling books one of which was Strengths Based Leadership written by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie. I purchased the book and took the online assessment that came with it. Over the years, I have recommended this book to others who want clarity on their own leadership strengths and how best to leverage those traits by aligning themselves with organizations and leadership roles that position them to get the most out of their strengths. Even though the book has been out for a bit, the self-reflection spawned by a clearer understanding of what your strengths are is timely.

A time of disruptive change is a perfect opportunity for reasserting what strengths we can count on.

If you have never taken the test, it is easy. When you purchase the book, you get a unique access code from the back of the book. Once you have your results, you use them to look at the nature of the work you are doing and the environment you are in and ask yourself if you are positioned for your best success or, if the tension you feel and the energy drain might stem from a mismatch of your strengths vs what the position needs.

My number one strength? Individualization.

According to the authors and the research,

“People strong in the Individualization theme are intrigued with the unique qualities of each person. They have a gift for figuring out how people who are different can work together productively. The book goes on to give advice for people wanting to leverage this trait. For example: Let people know that despite the rules or classic wisdom, you will take their unique talents and needs into account when making decisions about opportunities they can pursue”.

This is a very abbreviated look at this particular trait and advice, but I wanted to excerpt a bit of what resonated and inspired me to look closer at other options for my leadership. There were other traits I learned about as well. I journaled and reflected on each as a way to chart my best opportunity for aligning my leadership strengths and values with a role best suited for my personal fulfillment and success.

What about you?

What might be better if you were positioned in a way that maximized your leadership strengths and what you do best?

What would your life be like if you experienced the flow that comes with less tension, less friction and a better fit?

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I never heard of Hebb’s Law, Hebbian Learning or Anti-Hebbian learning before reading You Are Not Your Brain: The 4-Step Solution for Changing Bad habits, Ending Unhealthy Thinking and Taking Control of Your Life.  I was curious to learn what other options I have for making behavior changes with something besides will power. (Every diet I ever undertook failed miserably when I relied on will power. I ended up gaining weight.)

What I like about Dr.s Schwartz and Gladdings work is that they focus on giving the reader tools to form new habits. “Neurons that fire together…wire together” is a foundational premise of Hebb’s law. If you associate something you find appealing with the new behavior…your brain can eventually wire those positive associations with the new habit (learning) with something you desire.

This linking of the behavior with something you desire has much more power for making lasting change than using your will power which eventually gets fatigued.

The more you focus attention on the desireable outcome in combination with the new behavior, the more likely you are to reach a tipping point the authors refer to as the attention density your brain takes to officially wire in the new habit!

Image via Wikipedia

Visualizing great results and benefits–putting your attention there while performing the new behavior activates new neural pathways…but you must use repetition to insure that these neural pathways stay activated long enough wire together. The authors suggest that you continue with putting your focus on the outcome you desire as you practice your new habits…even if you experience a bit of discomfort while you practice the new learning.

Eventually by rewiring your neurons, the new behavior becomes the new habit!

You consistently focus your attention toward the things that are important to you. This is how the mind changes the brain and why learning how to recruit your mind to focus your attention is so critical. (pg. 65 You Are Not Your Brain)

 

I recommend you read the book. It is filled with practical exercises for building innovation capacity. Another big takeaway? Companies who are have the most consistent performance for innovation had innovative leaders at the top through all product cycles.

The authors take time in the book to distinguish between the leadership skills that are needed for solid execution…and those behaviors that foster innovation. (We rise to the top of an organization based on our abilities to execute strategy and deliver results.)

The potential pitfall is believing that execution and delegation skills are sufficient to support innovation.

The challenge for translating the learning and the point of this post? Take the mirror test.

1. You can’t change what you don’t see.
2.  Behavioral changes are possible…but require motivation, tenacity and the self-discipline to consistently focus on choosing the new behaviors in spite of occasional set backs.

Those are the same challenges we face when we set any goal predicated on behavioral change.

What to do?

Learn about the behaviors identified in the research, but the real journey begins when you…make the behavioral changes.

What would you gain by being more innovative in your life? New possibilities? New opportunities?

What support systems have helped you make behavioral changes in the past?

Are you willing to ask for help?

Related articles

• The Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators (blogs.hbr.org)
• How to Facilitate Innovation (facilitativeleadership.wordpress.com)
• Innovator’s DNA (strategyprofs.wordpress.com)

Who said you had to give it up:) ?

As an adult, how do you play?

• with art?
• by playing music?
• by writing?
• with acting?
• by dancing?

I want to draw a distinction between play and recreation in this post.

Many of us participate in recreational pursuits like traveling, playing sports, watching movies or videos, listening to music, playing video games, etc.

While recreation and creative play can both cause us to relax and unwind, I think it is important to draw a distinction with this question:

–does play add value by reconnecting us to our imagination and creativity in ways that recreation does not?

I am not saying that recreation is inferior. Far from it. But by drawing this distinction, have I reminded myself of yet another way I can add a quality-of-life dimension that I felt was missing? I think so.

Do you take time to play?

Can you play without turning it into something about work or accomplishment…play purely for the sake of reigniting your imagination and creativity?

Image via Wikipedia

Many communities are mailing adult education brochures for their winter and spring courses at the end of the year. I found a class for Japanese Taiko Drumming I have signed up for.

What can you find that recharges your imagination and sense of play?

You may not have that far to go to find that spark that comes from feeling timeless, energetic, without limits…and creative!

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