Category: culture

All good

FabrizioLeave a comment

When we ask “how are you?”, let’s sit down and take in the full answer.

I am fine, I wish I had more time to dedicate to this project.

I am alright, unfortunately I was not accepted for that online programme.

I am well, thanks, there has been a bit of a misunderstanding with my colleague, but I am well nonetheless.

We often rush to labelling our exchanges as “all good”, and we fail to grasp the issues we might want to act upon. And then we are surprised when the minor crack turns out to be a foundation problem. We withdraw – they said they were fine, how could they lie to us? – and we make the whole situation irreparable.

Forget the first part of the answer, hand in there until the honest reality kicks in, and tackle that head-on.

How could you make more time for the project?

How can I support you in your learning and development?

What happened, and what can I do to facilitate a conversation between you too?

That’s the way to be taken seriously, to build a relationship, and to maintain the people around you engaged and motivated.

Stronger

Fabrizio1 Comment

When you are in a leadership position, it will happen that something your team has delivered will be questioned by those you report to.

What to do?

You can side with the managers. You can side with the team. Or you can communicate both ways to find a solution that serves the greater good.

The first two options are shortcuts. They do work, yet they make victims: your team in the first case, yourself in the second. On the other end, making an effort to explain, ask, compromise is an investment of time and resources when you might have little of both. And that’s how you establish relationships that will make your organization, as a whole, stronger.

In or out

FabrizioLeave a comment

You are free to set some rules, to decide where the boundaries are, and what game you are playing. Actually, it is your responsibility. You should do that.

And once that is done, the next step is for you to figure out who is in and who is out, and for others to figure whether they are in or out.

You can’t be everything to everybody.

Take ownership of the process.

Shortcuts work

Fabrizio3 Comments

One problem with shortcuts is that they work.

If your sales are flatlining, a discount will probably boost them.

If you are nearing the deadline, cramming all the info you have in a format that is difficult to read will probably allow you to make it.

If you need more visitors, a catchy headline will probably get you more clicks.

If you want that bonus, you will probably get it with a good enough job.

If you want to be noticed, blabbering for 20 uninterrupted minutes in the next meeting will probably make people remember you.

Shortcuts work. And that’s pretty much where their utility ends.

They are not a basis for your next leap, a foundation on which you can build your future, a stone to step on to get closer to the change you wish to make.

Shortcuts are in the moment. And living one shortcut at a time can be an exhausting addiction.

Time to stop now.

Each and everyone

FabrizioLeave a comment

Change cannot be imposed.

You can force people to do certain things instead of others. You can persuade them to think in a certain way. You can threaten them with punishments or incentivize them with rewards. You can get compliance and meet standards. You can shout, cry, beat, chase, restrict, and silence.

None of that is change.

Change can only start from within.

And if you want to direct change towards what is good for the community, you need to involve each and everyone in the process.