be where you are
do one thing at a time. close the lap top lid. turn the phone off.
give the person you’re with your full attention. look them in the eye
be where you are
_SKA
Timing; Future - Seeing the seasons ahead of time.
Planning a move according to what you see in the future. Those that can see into the future (of any given industry) have the most potential of pushing to quickly toward the right direction. Turning ‘heading in the right direction’ into simply - bad timing. (I know - being 5 steps is cooler. But depending on the industry, maybe only being 3 steps ahead rather than 5 is strategically advantageous.)
Timing; Current - Watching and knowing the seasons
Taking stock and reflecting on the current time. Taking the time to carefully consider ‘the timing’ of each step and balancing, what you see in the future, against where you or your industry is at currently. Will the industry sustain and carry the step you have planned. Or are you 2 steps to far ahead in front of everyone. As a wise father once told a colleague of mine; As a leader, if you start walking ahead and turn around and no one is following you, you’re not a leader. You’re just going for a walk.
_SKA
The powerless (those that feel they are ever victim to break downs in their environment) - need policy, bureaucracy, an authority (not an influencer), to basically; be told that the authority will fix the break down with a ‘rule’ that will ensure that it will never happen again. The powerless are always on the verge of threatening to leave. They are unhappy always in their work. They feel powerless.
Which is their leaders fault.
The powerful become their own teachers/saviors because their leaders have given them tools and the conditions to teach themselves to (at least attempt to) fix break downs themselves.
Influence vs Authority
_SKA
Who your people are becoming (personal growth) and what they are delivering depends on
1. The Plan you presented to them
2. Whether they bought into it or not and
3. Your ability to exercise your social intelligence (the deep understanding and management of the people in your care).
Your brand is doing what your people are doing.
Perhaps its about spending less on brand design and more on your company’s content - your people. Give them more time. More resources for growth. More money. More attention. More sunlight. More of your first energies. More correction. More guidance. The alternative is: an unhappy team, stunted careers and high staff turnover.
Your people deliver your brands promises.
As well as making promises to your customers, we should first make some promises to our people - and keep them. Start making them, and start keeping them
_SKA
When we think of ’the competition’, we often think about them in an insecure kind of way. We think about all the ways ‘they will fail’. Of course, knowing their weaknesses helps. But If you’re going to compete it makes much more sense to think about how they could succeed rather than dwelling on their weaknesses. Focus on their strengths because thats what your competing against at the end of the day.
Its makes much more sense to plan for and anticipate their success rather than reacting to it once its on your doorstep.
A few things need to happen in order to truly compete:
1. You have to qualify the competition. Are they competition or not? If so, treat them as such.
2. Identify what their strengths are. Get information. Get specifics.
3. Can their growth be stalled?
4. Test all ‘treaty’s’ and ‘gentlemens agreements’. You will probably find no one is honoring them.
This sounds a bit ruthless, I know. But competition is great. Its make everyone sharpen their tools.
_SKA
If you lack self awareness, it might be difficult to recognize your own stress indicators. Self awareness is not a gift from god - it can be fostered.
My Strategy for Stress Management
1. Ask yourself questions. Am I OK? Is this current workload sustainable? Are others (family) indicating concern? Has my routine been broken? Am I going to bed before midnight? What is stressing me out and why?
2. Fixation; Dave Riddell once told me, “whatever has your attention, will get you”. Thinking too long and hard about something (especially something stressful like work will break you eventually). Seek out ‘distraction’ to get your mind onto something else, at least for a time. Fixation is not sustainable. It will get you.
3. Obligation free time. Play. I use to write a lot of music, until I realized I had attached ‘obligation’ to my art. That obligation being; write a beautiful song. That outlet became an area of stress. Find outlets that ask little of you. Play.
4. Tell yourself the truth about the situation. This may require reprogramming your thought processes.
_SKA
You’ll spend a third of your life at work. So make it count.
Get a plan that doesn’t look like ‘40 years of slugging your guts out, for another man’s gain’.
If you are not in a job that draws from your main strengths and inspirations you will decay. Literally.
If you do not know what your main drivers are. Find out. Quick.
Fear not. Fear in a person is easy to take advantage of. Fear of not having work, leads to people working in jobs they HATE because they feel stuck (because they’re scared theres nothing else for them out there). Set your eye above fear. You are worth more and your time is limited. Get a plan.
Your time is finite so make it count.
_SKA
We want to create pioneering or lead pioneering companies, but we give ourselves or the people who work for us no time to think. Thinking requires; permission (do your staff job descriptions allow for the task of ‘thinking’?), time, and the protection of that time. (And of course, the ability to think). Thinking | Inspiration (in the space where you work) is aided by; a well designed space, a library, significant amount of greenery, sunlight, music, silence, and protection from EVERYTHING else. I know, ask any business operator or owner to build a library and a glass house in these times of ever increasing costs, and they may tell you to go jump. Even though it might be the very thing that; leads to inspiration and thinking that catapults their company ahead into clear space. It’s sad that the thing that sets us apart as human beings - the ability to think and create - are actively discouraged in most workplaces (even the term ‘workplace’ needs a rethink). Let your people create and they’ll create something amazing for you. Give your people time | permission to think. _SKA
It makes sense to me, that if certain parts of your business are not performing as you intended, that the reason may be that there is a disconnect between it and the original intention you had for your business in the first place. Start at the beginning | start at the top and work your values down. I wonder also, if the percentage of ‘things going awol’ are likely to be higher the further down the chain it is, ie. the further it is from your business’ core values. Bring in here the argument of the real benefits of ‘top down’ staff structures if your people at the ‘top’ are completely out of touch with the ‘bottom’. All the real action happens at the bottom. Solution 1?: Attach those things that do not work, to the things that do. Solution 2?: If there are rogue elements in your business that do not stand on, or sing the praises of - your core values - Give it the chop. Solution 3?: Who am I? Who are we? This will determine who we are not. And what we will not do. This requires the skill of saying ‘no’. Learn it. _SKA
And damn the world for trying to rush us through the time we have.
Your time is valuable. And besides your loved ones - time is the most valuable thing you have (though you could argue that those relationships exist in the confines of time). Take YOUR time. Slow down.
It’s your time, it’s my time, but we give it away so easily. Like its worth nothing. We let busyness steal it. We let bosses steal it. We let worry steal it. We let our inability to say ‘no’, steal it. Time you only get one pass at is slipping through your fingers.
That’s a bit dramatic, but only if you feel you’re finding value in what you’re giving your time to.
Take your time. I recently took my time through Radiohead’s new album - King of Limbs. I got up early, locked myself away and listened to the whole album in one sitting. It was the highlight of my week (get out more, I know). So there’s a major difference between ‘active time’ and ‘passive time’. I ‘happened’ to my time. It didn’t happen to me.
Some where along the way, the world convinced us that we were on the worlds clock. Let me assure you - the world is on yours.
Take your time | slow down
_SKA