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Sep 02 2010

The Road Ahead: Planning For and Organizing Around What's Next

Category: about me,connections,executive learnings,lifestreaming,teaming & leadership — jmacofearth @ 7:53 am

I have several huge personal events that are weeks, if not days, away. And I can only do so much to get ready for them. I can't count on the exact timing. And if the sequence does not happen in order, things might quickly go off the rails.

But somehow in all of it I am still maintaining a positive forward momentum. And I think that is a key to success in the universe. You don't always have to be type-a about things, striving, pushing, working, lobbying, for what you want to have happen. But keeping your eyes on the unfamiliar road ahead is a good technique for staying calm amidst great change and opportunity.

Every situation is an opportunity. And with the closing of one chapter of your life, entire new books become potential paths forward.

Yesterday, I Skyped my brother who lives in Mexico. I had gotten an email from Travelocity about a price drop in the airfare to Puerto Vallarta, the city closest to my brother's house. Even with all this activity going on, actually because of it, I was interested in possibly flying down to Mexico and chilling in my brother's beautiful house for a few days. Here's what my brother sent back.

Getting to PV might not be a problem, but this bridge is the one road to Sayulita from PV. And a few days ago it had completely washed out.

"They might have something working in the next few days, so you never know," my brother said. "And I'm not trying to discourage you from coming, I'd love to have you…"

The picture is beautiful for many reasons. The gathering gloom above the mountains looks like a welcome break from the local heat we are dealing with here. The lush landscape is just what I thought I needed, to unplug and tune in to nature and swimming and speaking Spanish. There is a "do not cross" line of police tape, telling me to turn back. And it is clear from the photograph it will be a long time before THIS bridge is back in order.

But the picture does not say Don't Come. Nor did my brother. And the view beyond the bridge, beyond the complications that are so excited in my life right now somehow does not look menacing.

The real story of the picture, and the reason you are not seeing any advertisements on the bill boards is this is the bridge back into Puerta Vallarta. There are two bridges for East and Westbound traffic. So this is not really the road ahead, the road ahead in this picture is behind the viewer, on the road that is still in tact leading back into Sayulita.

And hours after I chatted with my brother about flying down to Mexico, one of my opportunities called. If it were to come into place, I would have no time for trying to cross the river. I would gladly stay on this side of the path and keep working with the same diligence I have been for the last few months.

Sometimes the road ahead is behind you.

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/the_path_behind

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Tags: driven, Mexico, my brother, positive forward momentum, potential paths forward, the path forward, the road ahead, type-a

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Sep 01 2010

Rockstars vs. Heros: A Manager Can Make the Difference

Category: career,executive learnings,teaming & leadership,trust & reputation — jmacofearth @ 10:48 am

Back in the day, I was part of an agressive startup company. We were working some folks too hard. While I was allowing some of them to work from home occasionally, the load was still pressing most of them into 60 hour weeks. As I was having a 1 x 1 with one of my team, I was talking about the rockstar mentality vs the hero mentality.

Here's a paraphrase: "It is my job to make rockstars not heros. I am like a strong support team. I will get you food if you have to work late. I will give you time off if you have to work weekends. I will help shift some other projects and prioritize your load so WE can succeed.

"What I am not into is creating heros. Heros are people who take the arrows for others; people who sacrifice their lifestyles to make the job work. These people end up feeling resentful, angry, and uncared for. It is my job, as a team leader, to identify the "hero" situations and try and turn them into "rockstar" situations."

Turns out, at that job I was working for a pretty supportive leader. He too was good at recognizing the difference between the two overachiever types and allowing me the flexibility to reward the rockstars and manage the heros. The problem was the fact that I was replacing an enabler. The manager who I had been hired to replace was somewhat of a mother hen. And the problem was, she was a hero. And being such she created even more heros on her team.

So when the heros were coming to me, a month into my new position, bent out of shape by how they had been treated or compensated or whatever, I was already at a disadvantage. I was NOT on IM at 10pm every night, "like they were." I did NOT work every weekend to catch up, "like they did." Or like the previous manager had.

Later in my career a manager/mentor taught me the saying, "It's not my fire."

I was just about to freak out and try hero mode on her, but she stood firm. "I'm going into this meeting. And then I have another meeting after that. If you still want to talk after lunch, I will talk with you about this, but I have other priorities at this moment."

Oh, I thought. And later I began to understand how that statement worked. I had to push back on the "fire-starter" and say, I will have to get back to you on this issue. And while the issue seemed URGENT to me and this other person, my manager had given me the power to hit the pause button.

This creates two opportunities for the fire-starter. 1. They can take a breath and regroup and wait for you to get back to them. OR 2. They can go around you.

In the case of the fire I was trying to put out, the person tried going around me while waiting for me to get back to them. And what ended up happening, was the person who was actually responsible for causing the hold up that was causing the fire, had to answer for the problem. By the time my manager and I reviewed the situation, the email flurry had died down, and the fire-starter had taken the issue back upon themselves. Where it belonged in the first place.

So I could've been a hero and spun my wheels and worked like a mad man for the entire morning to solve the problem. OR I could listen to reason, "You didn't create this problem and you alone cannot solve it." and get on with some of the things in my priority list that I could actually do something about.

Lesson learned: try to empower your team to become rockstars when necessary. If they are reporting in as heros, you might need to look at your own management style, and determine if you are enabling them to become fire-starters or hero-ic.

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/rockstar_hero

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Managing for Monday Morning: How Do You Hit the Week Running?

Category: about me,executive learnings,how do i?,lifestreaming — jmacofearth @ 9:58 am

My Monday AM View

One of the most memorable scenes in Office Space is when the lead character is having a rotten start to his week and one of his coworkers asks if he's having a "case of the Mondays." It really is kind of like fingernails on a chalkboard.

But the question of Monday mornings and quick-start routines might be illuminating if we can determine some winning strategies. Here's my current thinking and Monday start this week.

Even if you don't have to get up early, get up early. (Law of productivity: get up earlier.)
Even if you don't have an office or a cube to show up at, show up somewhere. (Home offices are really nice, but for me Monday mornings are for connecting and hitting strides that I will attempt to fulfill during the rest of the day, and if done well, the rest of the week.
Set a few simple goals. (Your goals are not your todo list. Start with 3 goals for the day. If that's too many drop back to ONE GOAL. Until you accomplish it.)
Consult and update your appointment calendar. (This seems like a no-brainer, but often things find their way on to our calendars that are not essential to our goals. If you can't define the purpose of an appointment on your calendar, delete it. If someone else put it there, ask them what the purpose is.)
Be amongst your people, but don't be distracted. (I like being around people. I have headphones that take me whereever I want to go sonically, and then it's a matter of picking a location with good coffee and good people watching. And if I have a full agenda, a place with a good lunch as well.)
Refocus everytime you find your mind wandering. (Sure, it's a proven fact that daydreaming is actually a highly aroused state, but there are better times for spacing out besides Monday morning.)
Connect and reconnect. (Who do you need to contact. Just do it. Sales connections. Send the letters/emails. Old friends pop into your mind, send'm a note. "Thinking about you." That's enough.)
Don't schedule for the entire morning. (Set a time limit. When the time is up, it's time to get to work, whatever that work may be.)
Pause between mental leaps. (We are so quick to change our attentions or activities. Instead of letting your rapid mind make those choices, notice when you are about to jump the rails into another task. Then… PAUSE. Make sure the new direction is toward a goal and not just a response to boredom. Then take a breath. If the choice still seems wise, the go. If you find yourself questioning your mind's choice. Then you have reached a higher level of consciousness for a brief instant. Be grateful.) — this concept is expanded here: A Deep Breath