Tag: failure

What question

Fabrizio4 Comments

What are the next steps? Do I get to be involved?

These are two questions, or is it actually one? We could ask what is our real intention.

If we are genuinely curious about the next steps, then we should just stop at the first question.
If we want to know if we need to allocate time because of our involvement, then we should just go with the second one.
If we want to be involved, then we should just say it and avoid the question.

Can I ask if you have made the decision already?

This is one question, but it turns out we are asking two. Out of excessive politeness, most definitely.

If we want to know if the person is free to answer, then we should just stop at the first question.
If we want to know whether a decision has been made, then we should just go with the second one.
If we want to know the decision that was made, then we should just go ahead and ask directly.

Communication is complex, so much so that it often fails. Why add complexity?

Ask yourself what you want to know, then make the question that can get you the answer.

The big reveal

Fabrizio5 Comments

Our next project, the future of the team, the current state of affairs, the launch of the new product, the brand revamp, the newly appointed executive, the team member who is leaving.

If we treat everything as a big reveal, sharing information with a restricted number of confidants while others are left reading tea leaves, two things will likely happen.

First, we loose the opportunity to buy people in before things are set. Sharing the work, the good and the bad, before it is ready to ship means we can ask for input, we can hear what the people who are affected think, we can let others into the change, and we can sell the reasoning and thought process more easily.

And then, we take focus away from the rest of the organisation. Whether we want it or not, the big reveal becomes the center of the conversation, and by the time it actually happens, every single person will already have their own solid picture of what that is about. How can we then satisfy all of them?

Big reveals are powerful tools, and they are also one of the main reasons why change is often so challenging to manage. We should not make big reveals the norm.

Leave behind

FabrizioLeave a comment

A truth of life is that, at any point in time, we leave behind a wealth of opportunities, almost infinite chances.

And a second truth of life is that we often care much more about what we are leaving behind rather than what we have with us.

I guess the point is, why are you doing what you are doing?

If it is an intentional and purposeful choice, cherish it and dedicate all yourself to it. With no regrets for what could have been, if only.

If it is not an intentional and purposeful choice, you still have a wealth of opportunities and almost infinite chances to pick from.

The time you are not answering this question is the time you will feel incomplete.

Doubt

Fabrizio2 Comments

Doubt is what will eventually strengthen us.

When we are not sure we are doing the right thing.

When we feel we are not being the better version of ourselves.

When we do not know if we are qualified enough.

When we struggle to find an answer.

When we can’t figure out how to approach a difficult conversation.

When we have no idea if that’s going to work out.

Doubt has the power to inject curiosity, to put us on a path towards betterment, to make us seek new connections and knowledge. Doubt is the fuel that ignites the next step.

Without doubt, we are stuck.

Not going to work

FabrizioLeave a comment

The things you say have a life of their own.

They do not fade once you are done saying them. They keep floating, and those who have heard them carry them around for an indefinite amount of time. They change in meaning. They change in strength. They change in effect.

Often they are still there once we have forgotten them. They might even become drivers for actions we later fail to understand. To our own misery.

The act of saying is anything but final. It’s a step in a process of reciprocal understanding, and we rarely do a good job with our own part.

Despite the fact we have never used it more, communication is fragile. Starting from the assumption it is not going to work is an easy way to become better at it.