Tag: workplace

The Lie of Experience as the Best Teacher

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Experience Happens

You have probably heard it said hundreds if not thousands of times during your life.

Experience is the best teacher.

Every day, from the moment you rise until you put your head on the pillow, you are going through a series of experiences.  Some experiences are what we would call good; nice things happen, we feel happy about it.  Others….not so much.

See the Ah-Ha! Moment of the Week on this topic.

Mistakes are painful when they happen, but years later a
collection of mistakes is what is called experience.
-Denis Waitley

Here’s the thing:  if every day we ALL have experiences then why is it that most of us don’t get any smarter?

More Than Experience

someecards.com - They say experience is the best teacher. That's why I'm so smart. I've screwed everything up at least twice.If experience were truly the best teacher, then would it not logically follow that each of us would be getting smarter every day and would never repeat the same mistakes because our experience would have taught us better?  Is that what happens in your life?  Is that what happens around you?  You know what I am talking about, the people who keep making the same mistake they made yesterday and the day before, getting the same results, and not getting that it ain’t gonna work that way.  Why?  If experience is the best teacher, then they should have already learned not to do that again.

I have to admit to being hardheaded this way sometimes.  I’ll do the same dumb thing over and over again, somehow expecting different results.  I might rationalize it, excuse it, or simply learn the wrong lesson from previous experience.  I’m not an idiot, I am a fairly bright guy.  Why isn’t experience teaching me anything?

Experience Plus

The truth is that experience alone is no kind of teacher at all.  It is REFLECTIVE EXPERIENCE that really makes the difference.  It is how we analyze what we experience that allows us to draw the appropriate conclusions and lessons from what happens to us and engage in positive behaviors to prevent it from happening again.  That reflection needs to be timely; it needs to happen within a short period of time after the experience.  It should not be rushed.  The best approach is usually to spend a little time at the end of the day thinking about what good things happened, what not so good things happened, and examining them.   Ask questions about each experience:

  1. What was good (or not so good) about it?
  2. Who was involved?
  3. What was the outcome?
  4. Was that the outcome I anticipated?
  5. What would have been a better or ideal outcome?
  6. Why did it happen that way?
  7. What can I do differently to change the outcome?
  8. How can I use this to add value to someone else?

Experience as an Even BETTER Teacher

The last question leads to the last point.  As the Denis Waitley quote said above, mistakes are painful.  So even if we are learning from our mistakes, we still have to go through the pain.  Just a show of hands out there, who likes to go through pain?

Yeah, didn’t think so.

So how can we avoid the pain?  Simply by learning from others experience.  In fact, I believe that other people’s experience can be absolutely the best teacher for us.  Examining the experiences of others allows us to be more evaluative about it because our minds are not clouded by emotion or pain.  We can assess the decisions, the process, and the outcomes and attempt to come up with practical applications to help prevent it from occurring in OUR lives.

One of the best ways to allow people to share stories with you.  Stories allow experiences to be personalized; we connect with them better and connect with the people involved.  Reading the biographies (and autobiographies) of people we admire also is an excellent way to do this.  If they have any level of transparency, they will readily share their mistakes in their stories and we can derive great lessons from people we know to be accomplished persons.

Action Plan:

  1. How are you going to implement regular reflection on your experiences?
  2. Pick at least two people that you want to learn from this month.  Get books about them, publications, web sites about them, or just sit down over coffee (or drinks) and talk to them.  Make notes on what you learn

Why Aren’t Your Employees Loyal?

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Loyalty Is…..

Loyalty Generations

loyalty - Boy Scout

Technically, I am a Baby Boomer, although I am right near the end of that generation and in some ways identify with Generation X‘ers as well.  So call me a Boomer X.  I mention that because early on, Baby Boomers were taught what the previous generation shared with them in terms of work and loyalty.  You left school, went to work for a company and stayed with them your entire career (at their discretion).  Very rarely did you have any control over what role you filled, whether or how you advanced, how you grew, when you retired, etc.  You were expected to be loyal to the company at all costs.  Very rarely was that loyalty returned.  Some organizations rewarded loyalty by returning loyalty to their people, but most focused on punishing disloyalty and showing very little appreciation for those who were loyal.  One of the reasons I identify with Generation X as well as the Boomers is that Generation X started to reject that.  Generation Y and Millenials even more so.
This topic is also covered in the Ah-Ha! Moment of the Week!

Changing Loyalty Landscape

The landscape of what loyalty means in the business world has changed.  Most people don’t stay with an organization more than about five years before they move on.  You can attribute that to poor work ethic if you wish, or lack of loyalty; but the reality is simply that today’s worker refuses to buy into the one-way street of loyalty.   They expect loyalty to be a two-way street.  If they are loyal to the company they expect some loyalty in return.  Since as a manager or business owner you will almost inevitably have to hire at least some people from Gen Y, you must change your thinking to follow that theme.   Change your focus on what you expect out of loyalty.  You have to be willing to commit resources to help somebody become better at what they do with the knowledge that they most likely will be with you forever and may eventually take what they have learned from you and go somewhere new.  That’s the gamble of investing in people, but the alternative is a bigger gamble with consequences even more significant if you lose (and you will).  So think in terms of how you can maximize your investment over the short term and long term.    If you can get somebody up to speed, maximize what they can produce for you, and maximize their potential over the time period they are with you, then it’s a win-win.

Encouraging Loyalty

So here’s some tips to help you along.
  1. Focus on Relationships — Building relationships with your employees.  Understand their desires, understand their dreams so you can help them move towards that.  Remember the three questions you must answer for them are do you care for me, can you help me, and can I trust you.
  2. Focus on Growth — Invest in your employees with formal training, modeling, mentoring, and providing them with challenges to push them out of their comfort zone.  The more you can help them and move them closer to their potential, the better they are going to produce for you.
  3. Focus on Empowerment — Equip them and authorize them to take the steps they need to take to produce for you.
  4. Focus on Communication — Communicating with them at all times.  ALL TIMES!
  5. Focus on NOW — Forget about forever.  Work on building loyalty for the time they are with you, allowing them to give you the best return while you are giving the best to them.

Here’s the Bonus

goldWhen you invest in your employees and give them time, resources, training, caring, and influence –  show them loyalty – then many of them will be loyal in return.  Not all of them, maybe not even most of them.  But the ones who count.  Remember you are looking for the golden ones anyway; the ones who will yield greatest returns for you.  You are mining for gold.  As Dale Carnegie says,
“Developing your people is a lot like mining for gold.  You have to move a lot of dirt to get to the gold.  But you don’t go looking for the dirt, you go looking for the gold.”

Your Action

  • What will you do today to begin looking for the gold?
  • How can you best invest in your employees for the short and long term?
  • What are you willing to give up to reach that?

Why Survival Mode Won’t Help You Survive

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Focus on Survival

You see it and feel it out there.  It was panic for a few years.  Many organizations, particularly small business, watched the numbers on the economic recovery and bought into the doom and gloom of quasi-authoritative prognosticators.  They decided that “yes, Chicken Little, the sky really IS falling!”panic and survival

Panic.

A 2010 monthly report from the National Federation of Independent Business reported that businesses were panicking.  Severe cutbacks.  Layoffs, even laying off productive people, simply because we have to spend less.  Not spending money on things necessary to thrive.  I am always reminded of that line from the movie Ghost Busters:

“Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!”

But never to fear, things are getting better.  According to the latest report, businesses have advanced from panic to simply negativity.  In other words, no longer doom and gloom, just the gloom.  Business owners and managers still don’t feel very good about the economy.  The result is

  • Only a VERY SMALL PERCENTAGE of businesses are adding employees this year.
  • Very few project adding employees
  • Very few think sales will go up
  • Most don’t expect the economy to improve.

Side Note:  that’s not reality based.  According to Economic Expert Sean Snaith of the UCF Institute for Economic Competitiveness, while economic recovery is happening, even though it will be slower than what we have experienced in the past.  And things will be looking up starting as early as the second half of 2013.

Surviving and Not Thriving

How are businesses reacting to all this?  By staying in survival mode.  Focus on nothing but keeping themselves afloat.  Bare bones.

Big Mistake!

There certainly is something to be said for survival.  It’s the first order of business.  If you don’t survive the now, there’s not much to look forward to in the future.

The problem with only being in survival mode, however, is that it practically guarantees you will not make it past the short-term.  As things gradually get better (and they will!), new opportunities for businesses of all kinds will emerge.  Opportunities that will require quick action and quick results.  Opportunities that will require businesses that are agile and equipped to move on those opportunities.

In other words, businesses that are PREPARED!  You must be ready not just with the right equipment and supplies, but with the right people.  You need effective leadership, not just management.  You need effective teams who have been developed to be productive and work together.  If leadership is not prepared to see and exploit opportunities, they will pass you by.  If your teams have not already been developed past the initial phases of team formation and are ready to hit the ground performing, you will not produce results on time and opportunities will be lost.

Do more than survive

Your organizations prosperity more than anything else depends on your PREPARED LEADERSHIP and EFFECTIVE TEAMS.

If you don’t position yourself this way, you have a reason to be gloomy!

What actions are you going to take today to prepare yourself and your organization?  Share in the comments.

Why Dolly Parton’s Song Lied About Work

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Workin’ 9 to 5

It may be a way to make a living but it’s not a way to make a career.  Or a life for that matter.

Quote of the Day on Hard Work

Hard Work WinsI shared the following on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn as my thought of the day:

“Hard work spotlights the character of people;
some turn up their sleeves,
some turn up their noses,
and some don’t turn up at all.”
-Sam Ewing

It’s important to note that it doesn’t speak to building character as much as revealing character.  It’s similar to how many say that a crisis builds character; but it doesn’t, it simply reveals it.  Hard work reveals character by the way in which we react to it.  When we have been trained that hard work is a part of life and a vital part of getting things done, we are apt to dive in and lend a hand when the time comes.  Even more to the point, if we jump in without first being asked, it speaks to our character even more.

Hard Work is Beneath Me

As the quote also points out, some refuse to be a part of it.  Hard work is beneath their station or status.  This is especially prevalent in the workplace.  The manager who deals out the work assignments, closes the door to their office, and focuses simply on the end result.  Now, I will point out that thinking is very hard work as well.  When you are looking ahead, anticipating problems, mulling solutions, brainstorming ways to move your company and your employees forward, searching for new, innovative ways to add value to those you work with; all of that requires, even demands, a managers attention.  It is a hard working manager or leader who spends time in the hard work on thinking.  The problem is that in most cases management generally doesn’t do much of that either.

Those who think that hard work is below their station or their position are not really in touch with the reality of their business.  It also misses that most of the most successful businessman and entrepreneurs spend their time in both mental and physical hard work.

  • Sam Walton was well-known for going into the trenches, visiting stores, working with and talking with employees on all levels; stock persons, truck drivers, greeters, and all.  He spent time paying attention to the details, thinking of  new ways to offer more and create a better experience for his customers.
  • Mark Cuban was a dot com sensation, but few know that in his first startup he worked long hours and didn’t take a vacation for seven years.
  • Indra Nooyi, CEO of Pepsico, worked overnight shifts as a receptionist while completing a degree at Yale.  She often puts in 13 hour days in the office, takes mail home to read (not recommended), and, by the way, raises two daughters.
  • William “Biff’ Comte, CEO of Accentcare, habitually “job shadows” employees and asks questions about their work to understand what he can do to best serve their needs and provide the best experience for employees and patients.  In addition to all those other CEO duties.

Hard work is essential to our success.  Sometimes that is get the hands dirty work and sometimes it is put the mind in high gear work.  In fact, the most successful spend more time in the mind in high gear part than the other.

It’s Hard Work Time, Where’s Fitz?

Then, of course, there are those who simply don’t even bother to show up when it’s time for hard work.  Having in the past worked for a few government organizations and enterprise-level companies, you will find quite a few there.  They seem to be everywhere but at their desk; not because they are engaged in work but because they are engaged in anything BUT their work.  Curiously enough, they are typically the most negative people you will work with.

Avoid them.  They will just suck the life right out of you!

The Hard Work of Thinking

So, as we discussed, our most productive hard work and the work that will be help us fulfill more of our potential is the time we spend in thought.  Here’s a few ways to be more effective at thinking:

  1. Block out time on your calendar for “Thinking Time”.  Guard it ruthlessly.
  2. Have an agenda for what you plan to think about.  Otherwise, you will just have random thoughts
  3. Always be positive.  Think positive.  Look for positive lessons and results from your experiences.
  4. Think in gradual time frames.  Think a week ahead, a month ahead, a year ahead, five years ahead.
  5. Focus on what you are doing right and should continue to do and what you need to change

Your hard work on thinking your way through things brings clarity, focus, and purpose.

The Entrepreneurial Dilemma

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A Summer of Fears

It’s a time of apprehensive moments for the entrepreneur.  Some many things happen during the summer that can cause the small businessman a lot of stress.  As people vacation, they may be buying less of what you have to offer; unless of course your business revolves around tourism.  You yourself may be contemplating time off.  Holidays like July 4th in the U.S. almost force you to take time off.  The stress from all of this for the entrepreneur is that so much of ourselves is wrapped up in our business that we hate to leave it for even one minute.  Taking a whole day off is almost unheard of.  And taking off a week?  Forget it!

On a side note, I have had to come to terms with the fact that I am an entrepreneur.  I didn’t see it that way for a while, I think mostly because I don’t sell products as much as I do services.  The more I looked at it, however, the more I realized that I am still very much so in the entrepreneurial spirit.  So, like others, I stress during this time of year.

Off to Camp

Summer Camp Sign PostAs I am preparing for the July 4th holiday, I am also preparing to leave this Saturday to take 19 Boy Scouts to Summer Camp at Camp Raven Knob in Mt. Airy, North Carolina.  Great camp!  So extremely well run that after visiting last year we immediately voted to go again this year.  As a leader within the troop, I must go to make sure there is appropriate adult supervision.  Who’s going to supervise me, I don’t know.  : )

This decision to go did not come easy.  I worry that I should be working, generating income, developing new programs; all kinds of things that keep my business going.  Lost productivity time.  The expense of making the trip, especially critical in the face of unforeseen expenses in other areas this year.  I toyed briefly with bowing out.

In the end, I decided to go.  I don’t know if my reasoning will help you in your decisions or not, but here’s what I came up with.  The value of what can come out of this camp for the boys and the influence I can have adding to that value in my opinion far outweigh potential losses.  These opportunities are rare, particularly with my own children growing older.  I also had my integrity to think of, both my integrity with others and with myself.  I had made a commitment that others were counting on.  It’s important, again both for myself and for what I teach the Scouts, to fulfill my commitment no matter the cost.  If you don’t have trust, you have nothing.  Even more so, I needed to trust myself.  As an entrepreneur I decided that I simply needed to trust in my ability to produce, trust in what I have to offer, and in my resolve to survive and even thrive no matter what.  It won’t be easy and it will mean a lot of hard work when I return, but I was planning to work hard and smart anyway.

So, breathe!  Take a few moments and re-charge!  Trust yourself and your abilities!  Enjoy the moment!

P.S.  I will confess that there is a Scoutmaster’s Hut there with wi-fi so I won’t be completely disconnected and I am going to take some time doing some necessary planning and working on my book; so the week won’t be a complete loss.

What about you?  What fears are you facing this summer?

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