The Circle of Life

I grew up in a rural community and enjoyed friendships with several boys and girls who lived on farms. Their lifestyles always intrigued me and it wasn’t until later on, as an adult, that I began to understand why. They seemed to have developed an understanding of, as described in the Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, “the cycles of cause and effect” that those of us who lived “in town” had no awareness of at all. I quote from a section of the field book. “They see the links among the milk the cow gives, the grass the cow eats, and the droppings which fertilize the fields. When a thunderstorm is on the horizon, even a small child knows to turn off the floodgate on a spring-water well, for fear that runoff carried downstream by the rains will foul it. They know that if they forget to turn off the gate, they’ll have to boil their water, or carry by bucket from far away. They easily accept a counterintuitive fact of life; the greatest floods represent the time when you must be most careful about conserving water.”

So too does the proud lion ruler, Mufasa, in the Walt Disney classic, The Lion King. By teaching his son Simba “the circle of life,” he is explaining the interrelationships between the forces of nature. He is demonstrating the ability, again from the Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, “to pay attention to the world as if through a wide angle, not a telephoto lens, so you can see how actions interrelate with other areas of activity.

I once worked in a company where management created a “systems thinking team” and charged it with the task of examining the processes we used to do our work. Over and over we discovered paradoxes. The procedures we used to generate the highest productivity ultimately drained our resources most quickly. The harder the leadership used tactics to push the employees to obtain goals, the more they undermined the chances of achieving them.

Point #1 Understanding these paradoxes is what allows us to discover where to channel our energies in order to produce profound and sustainable change.

In its simplest form what we are talking about, in this context, when we use the term “systems,” are stories, simple stories, that when told describe a series of steps that complete a cycle. They all begin with an action, grass grows, which leads to another action, cows eat the grass, and on to another action, the cows produce fertilizer, which leads to grass growing, thus closing the loop.

Examples of what we are talking about abound. Look around in your own life. Have you ever done something that sets off a series of events that eventually leads you right back to the exact thing you were trying to avoid when you started? Sure you have and so have the organizations that you have been, or still are, a part of.

I feel strongly that if the leadership of organizations consciously develops the art of systems thinking with a critical number of their members, this team will begin telling one another different kinds of stories, stories that can change the collective understanding of the organization which, in turn, can change its operation.

Point #2 Putting together a team is imperative to getting good results from your systems thinking efforts. Good results in a complex system, as any company or organization is, depend on as many perspectives as possible. I think it would be safe to say that you would get many different perspectives, even of “The Lion King,” if you brought together an audience that included both young and old, city folks and country folks, male and female, etc., versus an audience of just yourself.

So, as emphasized in the Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, “a team of people that represent all the necessary functions in your organization, a team cleared from top management to propose cross-functional solutions, regardless of sensitivities and politics, a team that includes a variety of learning styles” is important.

If you would like some tips on getting a systems thinking group started or some simple techniques to use when your team of “systems thinkers” get together, please request in the comments space or email me at stu@simplegrowth.com.

The Five Why’s

By special request I am posting this article again. I will follow up with the story behind the story next week.

When I was a special education teacher I spent my summer vacations running SOAR, Summer Organized Activities of Recreation, a recreational day program I developed for kids between 6- 14. The staff for the program was chosen from a pool of local high school students who were part of VISTA, a federal program designed to help students from underprivileged homes find income producing work.

This story is about one of those students.

Connie was the best recreation counselor at SOAR. She was bright, hard working, and dependable. She had a remarkable way with the kids. While some of the staff struggled with some of the rowdier kids, Connie seemed to gain their respect immediately and could coach and counsel as well as any of my adult staffers. Our staff was small and, spending as much time as we did together, we got to know each other quite well. Connie’s story was unbelievable. At 15, she left an abusive situation at home and took her 12 year old brother with her to live with an aunt. She pretty much raised herself and her brother on her own. She made the honor roll every semester, had perfect attendance, and worked an evening janitorial job five hours a night from nine to two in the morning so that she would be home with her brother afternoons and early evenings.

A lot of the faculty took a special interest in Connie and we all went out of our way to encourage and support her in any way we could. During her senior year, she applied and was accepted to her first choice of colleges. My colleagues and I were tripping over one another trying to be sure we found every possible scholarship and resource that she might benefit from. During this time we discovered a side to Connie we had never seen. She avoided all of our attempts to get her to apply to the programs that would avail her of financial assistance. This stubbornness grew in intensity to the point where I finally insisted she sit down with me and explain herself. The conversation went as follows.

“All right Connie,” I said, “What’s going on?”

Her emphatic reply, “I don’t need help and I don’t want help!”

“Connie,” I said, “Don’t be silly, the programs were designed to help deserving people in situations exactly like the one you’re in.”

“I don’t care, I don’t want the help.” She repeated.

“Why in the world would you turn down help that would obviously make your life easier?” I asked, getting a little exasperated.

Turning away from me, she said, “You wouldn’t understand, Mr. Anderson.”

“Why wouldn’t I understand, Connie?”

“Because you have no clue what it is like be a ‘charity case.’”

“Wait a minute,” I said, my voice getting a little emotional now, “you’re not a charity case, you’re the last thing from it. You have done more on your own for your brother and yourself than anyone could have ever expected and you have earned whatever benefits we can find for you. Why can’t you see that?”

“This is not the kind of help that I want,” Connie said, now with tears welling up in her eyes.

“Why is this the wrong kind of help? It seems to me the perfect kind of help, you would not only get tuition covered, but you’d get a board and room allowance and a small stipend for miscellaneous expenses. Why, you might not even need part time work.”

Now with tears flowing she said, “That’s just the point. I wouldn’t have to work at all.”

Completely befuddled, I said, “Why, is it so bad not to have to work?”

Connie then went into a tale of woe so poignant it has impacted my life ever since.

You see, Connie was afraid to take any help. Realistically or not, she felt her parents had slipped into a state of dependency that sapped them of any desire to work at all. She was convinced her parents had given up even trying to find work because they didn’t need to and she felt she would slip into the same pattern if she let her guard down, even a little. So she refused to accept any support, even support any reasonable person would consider deserving.

I didn’t share this story to make any political statement, although it is an example of unintended consequences that is worthy of thought.

I chose this story for two reasons. First, I personally find Connie’s story to be inspiring and wanted everyone to feel the same. She’s quite a woman. Second, it is a story that demonstrates a technique I often use to discover what is really driving behavior, both in myself, and others. The technique is called the “Five Why’s,” and in essence, it suggests that, if in response to a puzzling action you or others have made, you ask “Why” (did you do that or “Why” did you say that) and repeat the process, to subsequent responses, five times (and that’s the key, five times), you quite often will get to the real motivating factor behind the behavior. It’s like peeling off the layers of skin on an onion so you can get to the core.

This same technique is often used in “systems thinking teams” who are trying to build the connections between events.

So the next time you’re trying to get to the bottom of some mysterious behavior or event, try the technique, you might be surprised by the results you get.

To learn more about “The Five Why’s” perspective see Fifth Discipline Fieldbook by Peter Senge, Richard Ross, Bayan Smith, Charlotte Roberts, Art Kleiner, Chapter titled Systems Thinking, Section 16 (Story Telling), pages 108-112.

I Challenge You

This week we come back to "you." Two weeks ago you begain drawing forth a personal vision. We continue that effort by inviting you to create your own personal vision statement. The simple exercise below will generate a statement that can influence your behavior everyday.

Your personal vision statement guides your life. Your personal vision statement provides the direction necessary to guide the course of your days and the choices you make about your career. Your personal vision statement is the light shining in the darkness toward which you turn to find your way. Your personal vision statement illuminates your way.

Obviously, I am a huge fan of personal vision statements. Write your personal vision statement as the first step in focusing your life - for your joy, your accomplishments, your contribution, your glory, and for your legacy.

Exploration to Prepare to Write the Personal Vision Statement

Use these questions to guide your thoughts.

• What are the ten things you most enjoy doing? Be honest. These are the ten things without which your weeks, months, and years would feel incomplete.
• What three things must you do every single day to feel fulfilled in your work?
• What are your five-six most important values?
• Your life has a number of important facets or dimensions, all of which deserve some attention in your personal vision statement. Write one important goal for each of them: physical, spiritual, work or career, family, social relationships, financial security, mental improvement and attention, and fun.
• If you never had to work another day in your life, how would you spend your time instead of working?
• When your life is ending, what will you regret not doing, seeing, or achieving?
• What strengths have other people commented on about you and your accomplishments? What strengths do you see in yourself?
• What weaknesses have other people commented on about you and what do you believe are your weaknesses?

Craft Your Personal Vision Statement

Once you have thoughtfully prepared answers to these questions and others that you identify, you are ready to craft a personal vision statement. Write in first person and make statements about the future you hope to achieve. Write the statements as if you are already making them happen in your life. Some experts recommend 50 words or less, but I would rather see you fully articulate the vision you want for your life and your future, than be limited by word count.

Motivational speaker and writer, Brian Tracy, states that you generally accomplish your written goals, dreams, plans, and vision. Writing them down lends power and commitment to their accomplishment.

Keep in mind that your personal vision statement can also change over time, depending upon what is happening in your life. You will be amazed, however, at how many components remain consistent over time. I first articulated this vision for my life in 1984; this personal vision statement guides my life.

My Personal Vision Statement

My own personal vision statement includes such items as reading, thinking and dreaming every day (in particular, visualizing the dreams of what I could have if I got everything I want and what that would do for me); sharing a lifetime of knowledge about people, management, and workplaces with a any audience I can come before; having a positive impact on every person with whom I come in contact; living daily a life dedicated to integrity, commitment, challenge, and joy; loving my wife and valuing my marriage; valuing a few close friends; valuing family relationships; being at all times aware of and engaged in my natural environment; traveling anywhere I can to experience the differences in people and gain insight into how they think and act; visiting historical places to gain insight and feelings about how life used to be; watching plays, concerts and movies; listening to music; listening to music that makes me cry; never having to worry about spending money on anything I want; walking outside and/or down by the lake; and riding through the countryside with my wife.

When I live and experience the components of my personal vision statement frequently, I feel inner peace and joy that knows no bounds. Your personal vision statement will have the same impact for you. Take the time to formulate answers to the above questions, and write your personal vision statement. Then, listen to your heart sing with the fullness of your articulated dreams.

Carry this with you to prode, remind, encourage and inspire.

I hope the exercise creates a tool that does impact your behavior and encourage you to share how.

“On Board!”

Last week I offered individuals an exercise which would help clarify what it is they may want to strive for in life. Clarifying where you want to go is obviously an important first step when planning a way to get there. The logic magnifies in importance for groups of people in business or organizations.

When I was in a leadership role for a small company, I used the following exercise with our top management team to underscore this fact. The bus metaphor used in this exercise is inspired by Jim Collins the author of Good to Great and Built to Last. I asked the team to imagine they were assigned the task of organizing and staffing a bus trip. The trip had to pay for itself and maybe make a little profit for them. They also were asked to consider the kinds of people who should be on the bus if it was to be a successful trip. Should the driver be aggressive or cautious, do we need a navigator, who’s going to keep track of expenses and pay for gas and maintenance, what about repairs and service, etc. I then sat back and listened to the following conversation.

Sally, our Sales VP, got things started by emphatically stating, “We need to know where we are going.” She was very goal sensitive.

Everyone agreed to that, so we were off to a great start.

Roger, our HR Director, added, “Good idea, that will also help us know who we should invite.”

Sam, the marketing manager, piped up saying, “And knowing who we should invite will help us create a marketing strategy.”

“Knowing where we are going is also going to help us determine the costs,” said Mel our CFO.

So, just as the exercise from last week, “Drawing Forth a Personal Vision” helped individuals clarify where they want to go in life, this exercise immediately led the group into a discussion of where the company wants to go. The team was off and running, quickly jumping from where they think the company should go to who should be on the bus, how do we get the right people on the bus, how do we get the wrong people off the bus, how do we move people on the bus from one seat to another.

I let the discussion go on until they were satisfied they had all the necessary personnel and a loaded bus for their trip.

I imagine you can tell where this is going, but at that point I asked the team to switch gears and think of the bus as our company and themselves as the personnel needed to run the bus. Then repeat the exercise beginning with where they think this bus (our company) is going. Is it where they think it should be going? I asked them to argue who should be the driver and why, who the navigator and why, and more tricky why should they even be on the bus and are they in the right seats (roles) on the bus.

I was asking them to challenge not only their own roles, but their colleague’s roles. I wanted them to question whether they belonged on the bus (in the company) at all.

I am sure you can see how effective this type of exercise is in understanding how important it is to have the “right” people in your company (people who share the vision and values of the company), in the right place (the place that is best for the company). It is also incredibly effective in clarifying who the wrong people would be.

You can imagine how easily this exercise could drift into emotional and possibly explosive debates if the wrong people are part of this team, so think carefully before using this technique.

I have shared this with you knowing most readers would consider this exercise too dangerous. Creating a culture in a company where this kind of dialogue can take place is what I am most passionate about. Please use the comment space below to share your thoughts and I will be happy to begin sharing my experiences with developing the art and practice of a true “Learning Organization,” one capable of developing the skills in their members to tackle an “On Board” exercise.

Dreams Can Come True

I want to revisit vision building this week, but instead of sharing a story to make a point, I am simply going to encourage you to complete the exercise below. It is time tested and is an activity I believe will benefit everyone.

This activity is the work of Charlotte Roberts, Bryan Smith and Rick Ross, titled “Drawing Forth Personal Vision,” and can be found in the Personal Mastery Chapter, The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook by Peter Senge, Art Kielner, Richard Ross, Charlotte Roberts and Bryan Smith

Drawing Forth Personal Vision

Purpose
This exercise will help you define your personal; vision: what you want to create of yourself and the world around you.
Overview
Because a personal vision requires commitment-it does, after all, influence most of the decisions you make thereafter-it is not a casual affair. The self-examination in this exercise takes place on a level that may be unfamiliar to some readers. But if you persevere through all four steps, you will see how powerful the question, “What do I really want?” can be.
Preparing to do the exercise
The exercise begins informally. You sit down and make up a few ideas about your aims, writing them on paper, in a notebook, or with a word processor. No one else need ever see them. There is no proper way to answer and no measurable way to win or lose. Playfulness, inventiveness, and spiritedness are all helpful…as if you could take on the attitudes of the child you once were, who asked similar questions long ago.
Pick a place where you can sit or recline in privacy, a quiet and relaxed space to write, with comfortable furniture and no glaring light or other visual distractions. Play a favorite piece of music (or work in silence if you prefer). Most importantly, give yourself a block of time for this exercise…at least an hour, on a day relatively free of hassle. Hold your phone calls and visitors for that duration.
Step 1: Creating a result
Begin by bring yourself to a reflective frame of mind. Take a few deep breaths, and let go of any tension as you exhale, so that you are relaxed, comfortable, and centered.
From there you may move right to the exercise: or you may prefer to ease in by recalling an image or memory meaningful to you. It could be a favorite spot in nature (real or imagined), an encounter with a valued person, an image of an animal or a evocative memory of a significant event: any time where you felt something special was happening. Shut your eyes for a moment and try to stay with that image. The open your eyes and begin answering the following questions.
Imagine achieving a result in your life that you deeply desire. For example, imagine that you live where you most wish to live, or that you have the relationships you most wish to have. Ignore how “possible” or “impossible” this vision seems. Imagine yourself accepting, into your life, the full manifestation of this result. Describe in writing (or sketch) the experience you have imagined, using the present tense, as if it is happening now.
What does it look like? What does it feel like? What words would you use to describe it?

Step 2: Reflecting on the first vision component
Now pause to consider your answer to the first question. Did you articulate a vision that is close to what you actually want? There may be a variety of reasons why you found it hard to do.

• “I can’t have what I want” Pretending you could have anything you want may not be an easy task. Many people find that it contradicts a habit held since childhood: “Don’t think too much about what you want because you might not get it.” In a preemptive strike against disappointment, they denigrate any object of their deep desires. “It will never live up to my expectations anyway.” Or they may feel they have to trade it off against something else: they can have a successful career or a satisfying family life, but not both.

In this exercise, you are trying to learn what your vision is. The question of whether it is possible is literally irrelevant. That issue we address when we describe current reality, we do not even consider it when we are building our personal vision. Suspend your doubts, worries, fears and concerns about the limits of your future. Write, for the moment, as if real life could live up to your deepest wishes. What would happen then?

• “I want what someone else wants.” Some people choose their visions based on what they think other people will want for them: a parent, a teacher, a supervisor or a spouse. For the duration of this exercise concentrate on what you want. You may find yourself articulating that you want a good relationship with (for example) your spouse; you want the time to devote to that relationship, the understanding to act wisely within it and the ability to live up to the mutual commitments you have made to each other. But you should include it only if you want it for yourself not because you think your spouse would want it.
• “It doesn’t matter what I want.” Some people assume that what they want is not important. They scribble out whatever comes to mind quickest just to get any old vision that sounds good down on paper. Later, when they need a coherent personal vision as a foundation for further learning, their haste turns out to have been counterproductive. Do you belittle yourself? If, like so many of us, you have doubts about whether you deserve rewards, imagine the rewards you would want if you did deserve them.
• “I already know what I want.” During this exercise you may create a new sense of what you want, especially if you have not asked yourself this question for some time. A personal vision is not a done deal, already existing and waiting for you to unearth and decode it. It is something you create and continue to create throughout your life.
• “I am afraid of what I want.” Some people say, “Well, what if I didn’t want to stay at my job anymore?” Others are afraid that if they let themselves start wanting things, they’ll get out of control or be forced to change their lives.

Since this is your vision, it can’t run away with you. It can only increase you awareness. Nonetheless, we suggest that you set your own limits on this exercise. If a subject frightens you too much, ignore it. However, the fact that you feel uneasy about something may be a clue to potential learning. A year from now or two you may want to come back to that subject…at your discretion.

• “I don’t know what I want.” In “The Empowered Manager,” Peter Block offers an effective approach with people who say they don’t have a personal vision (“of greatness,” as he calls it) for themselves. In effect he says do not believe them.

The response to that is to say, “Suppose you had a vision of greatness. What would it be? A vision exeists within each of us, even if we have not made it explicit or put it into words. Our reluctance to articulate our vision is a measure of our despair and a reluctance to take responsibility for our own lives, our own unit or our own organization. A vision statement is an expression of hope and if we have no hope it is hard to create a vision.

• “I know what I want but can’t have it at work.” Some people fear their personal vision won’t be compatible with their organization’s attitudes or values. Even by thinking about it and bringing these hopes to the surface, they may jeopardize their job and position. This attitude keeps many people from articulating their vision or letting this exercise go very far.

This is really a question of current reality. As such, the perception is worth testing. Occasionally, someone we know does test it by asking other members of the organization what they really think of this dangerous proposed vision. More often than not, the answer is, “It’s no big deal.” When approached directly organizations tend to be far more accepting of our goals and interests for ourselves than our fears lead us to expect.

Nevertheless, you may be right about your vision’s unacceptability. If you can’t have it at work at this place, then your vision might include finding another place to work which allows you to grow and flourish.

Step 3 Describing your personal vision
Now answer these questions. Again, use the present tense, as if it is happening right now. If the categories do not quite fit your needs, feel free to adjust them. Continue until a complete picture of what you want is filled in on the pages.
Imagine achieving the results in your life that you deeply desire. What would they look like? What would they feel like? What words would you use to describe them?
Self-image If you could be exactly the kind of person you wanted what would your qualities be?
Tangibles What material things would you own?
Home What is your ideal living environment?
Health What is your desire for health, fitness, athletics and anything to do with your body?
Relationships What types of relationships would you like to to have with friends, family and others?
Work What is your ideal professional or vocational situation? What impact would you like your efforts to have?
Personal Pursuits What would you like to create in the arena if individual learning, travel, reading or other activities?
Community What is your vision for the community or society you live in?
Other What else, in any other arena of your life, would you like to create?
Life purpose Imagine that your life has a unique purpose. It is fulfilled through what you do, your interrelationships and the way you live. Describe that purpose as another reflection of your aspirations.

Step 4 Expanding and clarifying your vision

If you are like most people, the choices you put down are a mixture of selfless and self-centered elements. People sometimes ask, “Is it all right to want to be covered in diamonds or to own a luxury sports car?” Part of the purpose of this exercise is to suspend your judgment about what is “worth” desiring and to instead ask, “Which aspect of these visions is closest to your deepest desires?” To find out you expand and clarify each dimension of your vision. In this step, go back through your list of components of your personal vision that you have written down, including elements of your self-image, tangibles, home health, relationships, work personal pursuits, community, life purpose and anything else.

Ask yourself the following questions about each element before going on to the next one.
If I could have it now would I take it?
[Some elements of your vision don’t make it past this question. Others pass the test conditionally: “Yes, I want it, but only if…” Others pass and are clarified in the process. People are sometimes imprecise about their desires, even to themselves. You may, for instance, have written that you would like to own a castle. But if someone actually gave you a castle, with its difficulties of upkeep and modernization, you life might change for the worse. After imagining yourself responsible for a castle, would you still take it? Or would you amend your desire? You might change this desire to, “I want a grand living space with a sense of remoteness and security, while having all the modern conveniences.]

Assume I have it now, what does that bring me?”
[This question catapults you into a richer image of your vision so you can see its underlying implications more clearly. For example, maybe you wrote down that you want a sports car. Why do you want it? What would it allow you to create? “I want it,” you might say, “for the sense of freedom.” But why do you want the sense of freedom? The point is not to denigrate your vision thus far, it is fine to want a sports car, but to expand on it. If the sense of freedom is truly important to you, what else could produce it? And if the sense of freedom is important because something else lies under that, how could you understand that deeper motivation more clearly? You might discover you want other forms of freedom, like that which comes from having a healthy figure or physique. And why, in turn, would you want a well-toned body? To make love for hours every night? To play tennis better? Or just because you want it for its own sake? All those reasons are valid, if they are your reasons.

Divining all the aspects of the vision takes time. It feels a bit like peeling back the layers of an onion except that every layer remains valuable. You may never discard your desire to have a sports car, but keep trying to expand your understanding of what is important to you. At each layer, you ask, once again, “If I could have it, would I take it. If I had it, what would it bring me?”
Below is an example of the dialogue someone handled this part of the exercise.

My goal, right now, is to boost my income.

What would that bring you?
I could buy a house in North Carolina.

And what would that bring you?

For one thing, it would bring me closer to my sister. She lives near Charlotte.
And what would that bring you?
A sense of home and connection?
Did you put down on your list that you wanted to have more of a sense of home and connection?
[Laughs] No, I didn’t. I just now realized what is really behind my other desires.
And what would a sense of home and connection bring you?
A sense of satisfaction and fulfillment.
And what would that bring you?
I guess there’s nothing else, I just want that. [Pause] I still do want a closer relationship with my sister. And the house. And, for that matter, the income. But the sense of fulfillment seems to be the source of what I am striving for.

You may find that many components of your vision lead you to the same three or four primary goals. Each person has his own set of primary goals, sometimes buried so deeply that it is not uncommon to see people brought to tears when they become aware of them. To keep asking the question, “What would it bring me?” immerses you in a gently insistent structure that forces you to take the time to see what you deeply want.

Please email at stu@simplegrowth.com or comment. I would love any feedback you would like to share from doing the exercise.

Don’t Try To Hard

Several of my business colleagues have recently launched new products and/or services to take advantage of current market trends and certainly I would be the last to ignore opportunities that would generate increased revenues for my company. But (there is always that but, isn’t there) is it always a good idea? Let me suggest, as often as creating new products or services to satisfy numerous markets or customers increases revenues, this same practice can be the undoing of many well established and successful businesses.
To make my point, let me share an acronym, a story and a proven business principle. Huh? Be tolerant of my disjointed argument. I will tie them together, I promise.

The acronym “KISS” (Keep It Simple Stupid). The implied logic is you can easily make things complicated when there is no need. And worse, the unintended consequences of this inclination is not only unnecessary, it is down right destructive.

The story isn’t really a story but a scene from the movie “City Slickers.”
In the movie, a group of friends from the city take a vacation at a dude ranch.
Curley, played by Jack Palance, is a hard, crusty old cowboy full of wisdom.
He says, “You all come out here the same age. Same problems. Spend fifty weeks a year getting knots in your rope…you think two weeks out here will untie them for you. None of you get it. Do you know what the secret of life is?”
Mitch, one of the city slickers, played by Billy Crystal, says, “No, what?”
Curley says, “This (He holds up one finger.)”
Mitch says, “Your finger?”
Curley says, “One thing, just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don’t mean {%#@*&”}.”
Mitch says, “That’s great, but what’s the one thing?”
Curley says, “That’s what you’ve got to figure out!”

The business principle is called “Driving Force.”
Driving Force, as defined by Tregoe and Zimmerman, is the primary determiner of the scope of future products and services. Boyett and Conn state in their book “Maximum Performance Management,” “that every successful business is defined by how it answers two fundamental questions: (1) What types of products and services will we offer our customers? And (2) What types of markets and customers will we try and serve?” Since no business can hope to offer all possible products or services to all possible markets or customers, the answers to these questions are critical since they define the area of business they have chosen. Selecting a driving force essentially means deciding what primary criterion will be used to select among possible products, services, markets, and customers. What products/services should we provide? And, what markets/customers should we serve?
There can be one and only one driving force.

The point I submit to my business leaders is, heed the inherent warning in KISS, Curley’s point and Tregoe and Zimmerman “The Driving Force” principle. You cannot offer products and/or services to all customers nor should you try to take advantage of every change in the market.
If you try you can bet you will expose your business to the following risks. By being forced to constantly shift shared resources, you will probably generate inefficiencies and waste. By asking management to plan for and control new services, you degrade their levels of competence. And most damaging, by trying to be everything to everybody, you will, most likely, never meet your customers’ expectations. The introduction of new goods and services must be done in a planned and controlled way.
Remember what we all learned from Perato’s Principle (the 80/20 rule). 80% of your profit comes from 20% of your products/services. Stay focused on the simple, the “one thing,” your “driving force.”

I encourage anyone who has recently expanded their line of products and services or anyone considering doing this, to use Stu@SimpleGrowth.com or the comment click below to contact me. I would love to email you a simple process that will help you identify your driving force and organize your company’s resources around the “one thing” that will get the most “bang for your buck.”

The Five Why’s

When I was a special education teacher I spent my summer vacations running SOAR, Summer Organized Activities of Recreation, a recreational day program I developed for kids between 6- 14. The staff for the program was chosen from a pool of local high school students who were part of VISTA, a federal program designed to help students from underprivileged homes find income producing work.

This story is about one of those students.

Connie was the best recreation counselor at SOAR. She was bright, hard working, and dependable. She had a remarkable way with the kids. While some of the staff struggled with some of the rowdier kids, Connie seemed to gain their respect immediately and could coach and counsel as well as any of my adult staffers. Our staff was small and, spending as much time as we did together, we got to know each other quite well. Connie’s story was unbelievable. At 15, she left an abusive situation at home and took her 12 year old brother with her to live with an aunt. She pretty much raised herself and her brother on her own. She made the honor roll every semester, had perfect attendance, and worked an evening janitorial job five hours a night from nine to two in the morning so that she would be home with her brother afternoons and early evenings.

A lot of the faculty took a special interest in Connie and we all went out of our way to encourage and support her in any way we could. During her senior year, she applied and was accepted to her first choice of colleges. My colleagues and I were tripping over one another trying to be sure we found every possible scholarship and resource that she might benefit from. During this time we discovered a side to Connie we had never seen. She avoided all of our attempts to get her to apply to the programs that would avail her of financial assistance. This stubbornness grew in intensity to the point where I finally insisted she sit down with me and explain herself. The conversation went as follows.

“All right Connie,” I said, “What’s going on?”

Her emphatic reply, “I don’t need help and I don’t want help!”

“Connie,” I said, “Don’t be silly, the programs were designed to help deserving people in situations exactly like the one you're in.”

“I don’t care, I don’t want the help.” She repeated.

“Why in the world would you turn down help that would obviously make your life easier?” I asked, getting a little exasperated.

Turning away from me, she said, “You wouldn’t understand, Mr. Anderson.”

“Why wouldn’t I understand, Connie?”

“Because you have no clue what it is like be a ‘charity case.’”

“Wait a minute,” I said, my voice getting a little emotional now, “you’re not a charity case, you’re the last thing from it. You have done more on your own for your brother and yourself than anyone could have ever expected and you have earned whatever benefits we can find for you. Why can’t you see that?”

“This is not the kind of help that I want,” Connie said, now with tears welling up in her eyes.

“Why is this the wrong kind of help? It seems to me the perfect kind of help, you would not only get tuition covered, but you’d get a board and room allowance and a small stipend for miscellaneous expenses. Why, you might not even need part time work.”

Now with tears flowing she said, “That’s just the point. I wouldn’t have to work at all.”

Completely befuddled, I said, “Why, is it so bad not to have to work?”

Connie then went into a tale of woe so poignant it has impacted my life ever since.

You see, Connie was afraid to take any help. Realistically or not, she felt her parents had slipped into a state of dependency that sapped them of any desire to work at all. She was convinced her parents had given up even trying to find work because they didn’t need to and she felt she would slip into the same pattern if she let her guard down, even a little. So she refused to accept any support, even support any reasonable person would consider deserving.

I didn’t share this story to make any political statement, although it is an example of unintended consequences that is worthy of thought.

I chose this story for two reasons. First, I personally find Connie’s story to be inspiring and wanted everyone to feel the same. She’s quite a woman. Second, it is a story that demonstrates a technique I often use to discover what is really driving behavior, both in myself, and others. The technique is called the “Five Why’s,” and in essence, it suggests that, if in response to a puzzling action you or others have made, you ask “Why” (did you do that or “Why” did you say that) and repeat the process, to subsequent responses, five times (and that’s the key, five times), you quite often will get to the real motivating factor behind the behavior. It’s like peeling off the layers of skin on an onion so you can get to the core.

This same technique is often used in “systems thinking teams” who are trying to build the connections between events.

So the next time you're trying to get to the bottom of some mysterious behavior or event, try the technique, you might be surprised by the results you get.

To learn more about “The Five Why’s” perspective see Fifth Discipline Fieldbook by Peter Senge, Richard Ross, Bayan Smith, Charlotte Roberts, Art Kleiner, Chapter titled Systems Thinking, Section 16 (Story Telling), pages 108-112.

Why Don’t They Reply To My Emails?

Kevin loved his job. As he sat waiting his turn to sit with his supervisor, he couldn’t help but think how lucky he was. In fact, he couldn’t believe he left his apartment every morning and went to work a Bell Labs. It was his dream job and one he had worked for all through high school, college and grad school. Throughout his academic career he had proven himself over and over again and sure enough all that hard work had paid off when Bell Laboratory had recruited him. His department had already experienced incredible results with almost every project they had been involved in so why did he have this nagging little knot in the pit of his stomach. Oh sure, it was the BIG second year 360 degree evaluation, but, surely his intellectual prowess was obvious to everyone so, “don’t sweat it,” he said to himself. In fact, the only frustration he had at work was the inability of his team to match his levels of competence. The more he thought about it, the more eager he became to get the evaluation over with so some of the deadwood would be sloughed off. That was the norm in Bell’s highly demanding culture and it was why he liked it here.

Finally, the door opened and Roy, his team leader, invited him in.

“Hello Kevin,” Roy said, “Have a seat please.”

“Hum,” Kevin thought, “that was a bit formal, no pleasantries or small talk, at all.”

“Kevin,” Roy began, “This is one of the most difficult evaluations I have had in my career….”

Kevin sat in a stupor, mind reeling, not able to process what he was hearing, in fact, hardly able to remember much of anything after that opening sentence.

His drive home was surreal. He kept going over in his mind the comments Roy made, “Kevin your research is impeccable, it is scholarly, well documented and has been invaluable to the team. Normally that alone is enough for continued tenure here at Bell.”

So what was the reason he had to let me go, some gibberish about my Emotional IQ? Goodness, that same old mantra Roy kept chanting. Could he really mean that foolishness he spouts over and over about the need for his team members to be able to make the people around them want to work with one another?

“Well,” he thought to himself, “I am sorry I have to leave Bell but if this is the kind of people they want, so be it. I’m glad to be rid of them. I certainly will find another research lab that will value my intellect alone and not bother me with insisting that I somehow “get along” with everybody.”

We also hope Kevin will find that place, but odds are, Kevin will find very few career opportunities like that.

I share this story and the study below, which was part of a seminar I attended, conducted by the Society of Organizational Learning, in order to highlight the importance of a strong emotional IQ. The study, conducted by students at MIT’s Sloan School of Business, was simple and designed to identify the reasons why of the 1,000+/- researchers at the Bell Lab, only about 200 consistently produced results. Many demonstrated incredible research skills and all were the cream of the crop in terms of scholastic credentials, but what made those 200 super stars tick.

So MIT enlisted the help of GE and on a late Thursday afternoon they asked a Division Head of GE to email all the researchers at Bell Lab a frantic request for solutions to an urgent and potentially catastrophic problem. Their ideas had to be in the Poughkeepsie, NY’s Office of General Electric no later than the following Tuesday morning.

They then sat back and simply monitored the email traffic from the researchers at Bell. Sure enough, most, if not all the researchers, emailed their network of colleagues immediately that afternoon. Over the next twenty four hours a pattern emerged. I bet some of you can already guess what that pattern might have been.

You know those 200 superstars I spoke of, well, their emails were replied to almost immediately, most that very evening, while the other 800 or so drifted in slowly over the next few days and some got no replies at all.

After exhaustive post study debriefings and interviews, MIT concluded that the top producers all demonstrated a similar trait, the uncanny ability to build networks of colleagues who enthusiastically responded to their requests because they wanted to help them. Comments such as “he is fun to work with,” “she would do the same for me,” “I like to work with her, she makes things happen,” or “he has saved me more than once, I couldn’t wait to return the favor,” were repeated over and over.

So maybe what Kevin doesn’t understand yet is that no matter how “smart” he is, his low tolerance for others and inability to be a “team player,” has a very negative impact on the performance (synergy) of any group he becomes part of.

Kevin suffers from a lethal combination of an incredibly high intellectual intelligence quotient and an incredibly low emotional intelligence quotient. The good news for Kevin, if he’ll listen, is that, unlike intellectual intelligence, emotional intelligence can be learned.

If you would like to get more information about emotional intelligence and activities you can use to improve your emotional intelligence competencies, email or click the comment tab and request them.

And again, please share any experiences you have had with friends, colleagues or anyone in general with either high or low emotional IQ’s. The stories you share are what our readers find so helpful.

“We Have To Decide This Right Now!”

In keeping with the pattern we have established of one week reading a story about individual change and the next week a story about group change, this week’s story is about a group’s experience with change.

In this case, we hear from the senior management team of a company I will call Yankee Supply. And in order to ensure the proper level of confidentiality, I will identify the team members as Paul, Tim, Sandra, and Ralph.

One problem this team faced was the inability to speak with one voice when attempting to introduce new strategies to the employees. You see, each team member, in their own way, had carved out specific areas of responsibilities which allowed them, for the most part, to act independently. However, when market conditions forced changes within the company that required them to compromise their individuality and act as a single unit, things frequently got more difficult. Because of their experience and tendency to be decisive problem solvers, each could usually arrive at solutions within a very short time. Their problem was settling on a solution they could all commit to. This group had never been able to find a process of decision making which respected their individual personalities.

And it is under these conditions, we visit them in the board room.

The pressing issue today was that they had been losing market share to competitors at an alarming rate, and the sales manager’s solutions were making no impact at all. The team had been brainstorming solutions for several meetings. During this process, the solutions seemed to fall into two categories: cutting expenses or increasing sales revenue. They didn’t think they could do both without creating too many distractions. On the expense side of the issue, they came up with a couple of things. One, reduce the sales force or two, reorganize the internal structure of sales by working on the friction that exists between the outside sales people and the inside sales support staff and hope this would reduce errors and cut costs. On the revenue side of the issue, they came up with three options: raise prices, replace personnel, or put some teeth into the performance management system for the sales people.

At this point it is easy to see why these business leaders were successful.

They were all dedicated to the company, bright, experienced and determined to succeed. Their brainstorming efforts had produced logical, well thought out, tactical solutions, any of which had the potential to solve their problem.

Let’s join their discussion at the point where a decision has to be made.

Sandra, who is determined to convince the group they need to cut costs, begins, “I am not going to go through another attempt to get the sales people to sell more. We all know Sam (salesperson) needs to go. Let’s just do it, that alone will save us $4,000 a month.”

Ralph, who also happens to be the sales manager, responds, “That is not your decision to make, if the decision to fire a sales person is made, it is going to be made by me.”

Sandra, “Wait a minute, I thought we were trying to decide together what choice to make.”

Ralph, “Yes, and notice the first choice you recommend is to get rid of my salesperson. Why don’t you look at the mess in inside sales that you’re supposed to be running? If they did their job better, we wouldn’t have to replace Sam.”

Sandra, “So now it’s my fault.”

Paul jumps in, “Here we go again, blaming each other. Why don’t you two just put your petty bickering aside and concentrate on doing the right thing.”

Ralph points his finger across the table at Paul, “Don’t you dare suggest I am not trying to do the right thing.”

Tim finally jumps up, “I’m sick of this, I’m done, and I don’t care what you decide. Do it and let me know,” and stomps out of the room.

Paul looks around the table and says, “Lets take a break, we’ll decide this later.”

Everyone leaves quietly.

And now we can see why the company will continue to struggle.

The management team is unable to make quality decisions, by consensus, in a timely way. So problems fester. Employees become frustrated over the lack of decision making, their moral continues to drop and at best they go “through the motions,” demonstrating little interest in the company beyond their paycheck.

This story has no happy ending. I, as a person interested in systemic changes, would push the leaders to work on a shared vision hoping they can find goals that will reignite their passion. Goals that are so attractive that the leaders will refuse to let their personality traits get in the way of their responsibility to make timely and effective decisions. Others might look for a more pragmatic short term solution and push the team to take the time necessary to create and practice an effective decision making process. In any case, I expect that at some point, due to a change in the leadership team or a crisis that endangers the company’s very existence, Yankee Supply will find a solution.

Odds are, they will continue to survive, but sadly not anywhere near the level of productivity they are capable of.

What’s your guess?

Have you experienced similar situations at your workplace? If so, I encourage you to share your story.

“No Matter How Good My Idea Is, She Won’t Like It”

Jenny loved her job. And today should be her best day since she started at Side Road Realty. As she waited patiently for the always notoriously late General Manager, she couldn’t help thinking back to first time she sat there. That day she was just hoping for a job, any job, even cleaning the office would at least get her foot in the door and that was the best she could hope for.

Wow, who would have guessed just ten months later she would be presenting a new filing system for all the offices to the General Manager. Oh my gosh, just the thought of speaking to Katherine sent shivers down her back. This woman was famous for her sarcastic and demeaning retorts to new ideas. She could reduce the most charismatic, dynamic sales person to a sniveling, apologetic wimp if she chose. Maybe this was a bad idea. After all, when she was hired as the front desk receptionist, she was told, in no uncertain terms, to “just” answer the phone and greet visitors, any more than that would be asking for trouble.

But the more she thought about it, the more determined she became. She had done a great job and had soon earned the respect and praise of everyone, everyone, that is, except Katherine.

She knew her new system was a tremendous improvement, and everyone she had shown it to agreed, and they were the ones who would be using it.

So, she thought to herself, bring it on, Katherine, she was ready.

The next thing she remembered was standing in front of Katherine, working her way through her presentation. Suddenly, she noticed Katherine arch her eyebrows and purse her lips as she looked down at her watch. She knew it, this was not going well. To heck with it, she didn’t care, she’d get through regardless of the fact Katherine hated her idea. After all, nothing changed around the office unless it was Katherine’s idea. That women just couldn’t stand to give anyone else credit for anything. The more she thought about it, the more hopeless this seemed. She could tell that Katherine was about to interrupt. Best bet, at this point, she thought, was to just finish. Finish as fast as she could and get out of there. Maybe if she was abrupt enough, she’d be gone before Katherine could unload.

The last couple of minutes were full of frantic “thanks for listening” (ya, right), “got to go,” “sorry to have taken so much of your time,” but at least she avoided the ridicule and now she was back in her car on her way to meet Barry, her boy friend, for a drink. Boy could she use one.

So it was no surprise that she woke-up the next day with a hangover and a dread of going into work that was close to debilitating. And if that wasn’t bad enough, when she pulled up to the office and looked through the front windows, she shuddered. There was Katherine, waiting at her desk, drumming her fingers impatiently.

Well, to make a long story short, what started to be probably the worst day of her career ended up to be a most memorable one. Katherine, although curious and full of questions about what had happened to Jenny in the middle of the presentation, was actually there to congratulate her for coming up with this terrific new system and offer her a promotion.

How could Jenny have been so wrong?

Well it’s called “Climbing the Ladder of Inference” (see The Ladder of Inference, Part 4, Section 35 from the book “Fifth Discipline Fieldbook” by Peter Senge, Art Kleiner, Charlotte Roberts, Richard Ross, Bryan Smith).

Jenny was climbing the proverbial Ladder of Inference. First rung, observing behavior (watching Katherine’s every movement), second rung selecting data from what she observed (the arched eyebrows and pursed lips), third rung, she added meaning (she knew of Katherine’s reputation), forth rung, she made assumptions (Katherine hated her idea, just as she had all the others), fifth rung, she drew conclusion(Katherine was going to reject her idea), sixth rung, she adopted beliefs (Katherine knew a receptionist could never have a good idea), seventh rung, she took action based on her beliefs (She had to go before Katherine ripped apart her idea).

Jenny was lucky, she got the new job, despite the rushed presentation. The quality of her idea obviously outweighed the botched presentation. But climbing the "Ladder of Inference," more often than not, leads to very negative consequences.

This is a tendency we have all falled victim too and it can be a major factor in missing opportunities to change and grow.

Have you ever climbed the "ladder." If so, I would love you to share the experience.

If you would like some tips to avoid the "climb" or how to approach someone you sense has climbed the "ladder," let me know how to get in touch and I'll share some ideas.

“Hey Guys, How About This?”

Sam was possessed. His company, Do It Perfectly Manufacturers, kept him thinking every moment of everyday and quite often woke him from his sleep. Things were going great, but he couldn’t help thinking his employees could do more. He was a generous and determined owner and the one absolute in his life was his conviction that his employees could do better. His obsession had served him well over the past three years helping to bring his little start up company into the big time. DIP now boasted several hundred employees and was rapidly becoming the leader in its market.

He was really excited today because as usual his three o’clock in the morning waking had produced a truly inspirational solution to a nagging employee performance problem.

He rushed into work and pulled his “management team” from their offices to hear his plan. His enthusiasm was infectious and as usual his “guys,” the term he used for the men and women in the senior management team, eagerly embraced the idea and couldn’t wait to execute the details. Everyone felt this just could be what sends them to the next level. After all, Sam had proved himself over and over. He had the proverbial “golden touch.”

So within two weeks, the team was putting the final touches on the plan. The morning the plan was to be introduced to the staff Sam, joined today by his wife Millie, pulled the management team from their work again and informed them of a last minute change they came up with. So we needed to make the adjustments, simple as that. Well in any normal company this would have sent the senior management team into shock, but this group was well rehearsed in last minute changes and they simply went into hyper mode and by the time the staff came back together, they appeared unruffled, confident and eager for the presentation to begin. And, as usual, the presentation was done well and the staff left the conference room excited and anxious to get the new program started. This truly was an exciting group of people to be around.

There is a lot to be said for constantly challenging the status quo. In fact it is generally accepted that if you are not preparing for “what’s next” while things “right now” are working great, you will be unable to adapt quickly enough to the “what’s next” when it comes.

But as the weeks went by, the managers and staff began to struggle with what seemed to be the steady stream of “oops, didn’t see that one coming,” or “why are so many customers so unrealistic” kind of problems. A growing tension seemed to be building within the company. Something they couldn’t put their finger on, but distracting none the less. However, they were good at picking up the pieces and getting on with it, so wasn’t it just business as usual? And anyway, despite these distractions, they couldn’t keep up with the demand for more and more product, so they were obviously doing something right, right?

Wrong! To make my point, please consider the following two arguments.

One, being so absorbed with, “trying to do their work better and faster than anyone had ever done it before,” made it impossible to find the time to really prepare for the inevitable changes in market conditions. Oh sure, they had the “well, this should take care of any surprises, short sighted, untested, Pollyanna, we’ll be OK no matter what, plan,” on the shelf. A plan, which in fairness to the team, had taken a lot of hard work to develop.

But, none the less, it was a plan based on devastating assumptions (see reference to Mental Models in last weeks blog). These assumptions allowed them to develop confidence in a plan that was simply inadequate for the wrenching market changes they would face.

And two, the introduction of “a new plan,” again and again and again, eventually dimmed the focus, lowered the competence levels, and dulled the passion toward the plans in the very people trying to carry them out. And, as they learned, focus, competence, and passion are the three critical components to success (see “Sticking To It, The Art of Adherence” by Lee J. Colan.) So instead of the intended results, Sam and those incredibly talented DIP Manufacturing employees suffered a tragic unintended consequence, a complete collapse of their revenue stream and the inevitable closing of their doors.

For more information on either The Fifth Discipline, tools and techniques to plan effectively, or ways to measure your ability to stick to your plans and discover what parts of your organization to focus the planning on, email me at stu@simplegrowth.com or click “comment” and request.

Daydreaming Doers

"There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other."
~ Douglas Everett

Neil is one of the most unforgettable characters you will ever meet. Neil was the finance officer at an automobile dealership when I met him (I am sure by now he is anything he wants to be). For those unaware of this, the finance office is second only (sometimes number one) to the sales department in generating revenue for a dealership. It takes a special individual to man that desk. The good ones can engage a customer, push his or her products, think on their feet, and consistently close the deal. Neil was all that and more. He was one of the most focused and determined individuals I have ever met. My first meeting with Neil was unforgettable. I was at the dealership to work with the senior managers on increasing the overall performance of the company, kind of tighten things up a bit. So as you might expect, to many I wasn’t the most popular person in the world. Not Neil though, he seemed open, friendly, eager to hear what I had to say and willing to try anything that would improve the “bottom line,” as he said.

When I first went into Neil’s office to talk I couldn’t help but notice he rarely sat with his feet under his desk, instead he chose to sit sideways or backed away somewhat. After a few minutes of conversation Neil paused and said, “check this out.” He motioned me to come around the desk and look underneath. To my amazement Neil had a full size tire under his desk, wheel and all, just sitting there. Amusing. “OK,” I said, “I’ll bite, why do you have a tire under your desk?” With all the enthusiasm of a circus barker, Neil excitedly explained that the tire was a real tire to a real car he loves to drive, just one he doesn’t own yet. Neil claims that tire doesn’t allow him, for even a minute, to give up on his dream. And if that wasn’t enough, he pointed to the calendar behind him which had a picture of his “new” car pasted to the date he is going to purchase it. Clearly, Neil is a driven man, somewhat obsessive maybe, but definitely a person who will get what he wants out of life.

I share this story with you in an attempt to convince you that people who have not given up on their dreams are more than likely to achieve them.

I am convinced many adults have given up because they have been brainwashed into thinking most dreams are unrealistic. To those I say, shame on you. Think back to when you were a child and try and remember how much fun it was to dream and role play all kinds of fantastic things. I know at 11 years old I was one of the best pilots to ever fly. In fact, there was a stretch one summer, of weeks and weeks, when everyday my buddies, Steve and Harold, climbed the same old big pine tree, settled into the pilot seats (big fat limbs), took the controls of our bomber (weird shaped limbs sticking up from the big fat limbs), and flew in total bliss for hours on hours. You know, although I never did actually fly, all that play acting did make me think about all the things I needed to know if I ever decided to actually do it. For a while there I had a plan, at least in my mind, for actually becoming a pilot. Yup, a plan to be a pilot, that is, until my neighbor, Bobby, brought his cousin, Gloria, with him over to play. I never did think much about flying after that but that’s OK, my daydreaming abilities grew even stronger.

But anyway, I know the power of dreams. I have seen it over and over, both personally and in people like Neil. If for no other reason than its fun, take a few minutes and allow yourself to dream. Be selfish about it, dream big. No one will know what you’re doing and I bet while you’re dreaming you’ll enjoy it. That should be reward enough, but if your fear of facing reality, after the dream, prevents you from even trying, please reply under comments and I will tell you ways to overcome those fears.

Speaking of daydreaming, I find myself doing it a lot when driving. The other day I’m in “my own little world,” tooling down the highway, when behind me a gorgeous new Mercedes pulls out to pass me. But instead of cruising by, it pulls up alongside, toots, and sure enough, sitting there behind the wheel is Neil with a grin on his face that would bring tears to a mother’s eyes.

Email me at stu@simplegrowth.com for some great planning tools.

Poetic license runs rampant, but all in the spirit of the message.

“The Last Time I Wore a Suit I Got Married”

Carl was standing alongside his fellow committee members in front of the entire company when he said those words. His attempt to break the tension and relax a bit worked. Everybody laughed, in part quite likely because it relieved a little of their own anxiety. Wow, what a great way to begin the introduction of the new employee evaluation system.

A few months before this introduction, Carl’s company was struggling to survive. The leaders were nervous. Money was tight. Morale was low. The good employees jumped ship whenever something that looked better came along. Bills were paid but no one was satisfied with how things were going and no one seemed sure of where things were going. So what did they do? The owners gathered the inner sanctum (the owners' trusted few) and they talked. They were brutally honest about the strengths and weaknesses of their company. Everything was open to discussion: pay plans, technology they used, their marketing strategy, financial systems, competitive advantages and disadvantages. They shared their vision of the future and where they would like to see the company go.

They discovered the key to creating change lies in their ability to do three things simultaneously. Share a lot of information with those who also wanted to change, involve everyone they could in the effort to change things, and create consequences for everything they did.

And by the time the dust settled, this group had created a plan. A plan that resulted in that evening, with Carl, up front, chin out, in command of the crowd and loving every minute of it.

When Carl first learned he would be speaking in front of his fellow workers, he made it clear he wasn’t exactly excited about the idea. After all, the last time he found himself in that position was in grade school. Since then he had been able to avoid every situation where he might be asked to speak to a crowd. But he was eager to speak on this occasion. He overcame his fear of speaking because of his enthusiasm and confidence about the message he was about to deliver.

You see that plan I talked about also involved Carl and his colleagues spending two or three hours a week for the better part of three months creating their company’s new pay plan. That’s right, they created it. Not management. Not some outside consultant. Not some plan off the shelf of the National Supplier’s corporate office. He and his co-workers made their own plan. And because it was made with the help and feedback of the entire company, Carl couldn’t wait to show everyone how it was going to work and when everyone could begin to use it.

I sharethis story because it is a perfect example of how a collaborative effort when making changes in your own life or as in this case at work, can overcome even the toughest obstacles.

Even though, as you might imagine, the committee knew the introduction of a new evaluation system could be met with trepidation and even resentment, they really expected things would go well and in this case the evening became more like a party. The mood was exciting, the atmosphere festive and everyone eagerly listened to the details of the new plan.

Everyone left that night looking forward to the follow-up conversations that they were all going to have with their supervisors to address each and every one of their concerns.

The evening presentation I speak about was the culminating effort of Carl’s cross functional committee. His company is a small blue collar company and his committee had no prior experience in making company changes. In fact, most prior changes were made by the bosses, and employees were told to like it or else. The work, although admittedly messy and frustrating at times, was also meaningful and rewarding to all of those who participated. They learned that the process can be non-chaotic and disciplined. It need not be distracting and costly, and the work can result in the creation of something better, with little risk and with everyone in control. Carl is looking for another opportunity to wear his suit.

Please Comment

Email Stu (see contact page for simplegrowth.com) for more information about the people in the story and how to talk to them directly.

SimpleGrowth is live. Curious, go to our website at SimpleGrowth.com. Final programing will be completed by January 28th.
We are all about growth. Personal growth. Organizational growth. So if you are interested in making some changes, we would love to help. Our blog will share stories from people we have worked with. Stories we hope will encourage you to comment on and ask questions about. Your comments can be made anonymously or you may choose to identify yourself and join our community of learners. Look for our introductory blog titled "The Last Time I Wore a Suit I Got Married."