Category: Commentary

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Clean Sweep

Living in Houston for 16 summers, I have come to anxiously anticipate the first cool breezes of fall. In fact, I have unscientifically calculated October 16 as the date when the heat breaks for good – and we are finally able to spend time outdoors in delightful weather sans humidity and mosquitoes. During the ensuing six weeks leading to Thanksgiving, we wash windows, mow the lawn for the 36th and final time since March, and clean the attic.

There is something peacefully uplifting about getting rid of the clutter that accumulates in storage spaces for possible (read: unlikely) use down the road. Whether it’s the box from the new TV we purchased in May that I saved ‘just in case we need to send it back to the manufacturer’ for warranty repairs, or the bicycle my son had when he was 10 that I kept for the grandkids, or that stand we bought the one time we decided to have a real Christmas tree and I sneezed throughout December while it was in our house and said we’ll never do that again – cleaning the attic is a wonderful form of release and renewal.

It’s also an excellent metaphor for how to approach your professional life. From starting and ending each day with an empty desk (this takes excellent organization and time management skills), to letting go of customers and clients who waste too much of your time (this takes understanding where your profits come from and courage to walk away from business that’s draining yours), to setting development goals for every one of your employees to ensure they grow or go (this takes dedication and not being afraid of candid conversations) cleaning the attic during the next few months will enable you to launch into 2015 with momentum for achieving all those things you didn’t get to this year.

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Over Easy

One of my clients recently said to me: “You seem to do things the easy way.” At first I wasn’t sure that comment was intended as a compliment, then he continued: “In our conversations I keep trying to make things hard; you keep taking me back to the simplest concepts. That helps me actually get things done.” It pleased me that he recognizes I tend to look at things from a ‘How do we get there in the fewest steps?’ mentality.

Not saying I take shortcuts… just that from my seat it seems if you start moving the details fill in themselves. That approach – which makes me a terrific brainstorming partner – works well… although some folks, usually engineers, may be frustrated by the lack of depth in some of my ideas.

Granted, if I was responsible for building bridges, launching rockets or performing brain surgery, it would be important to deep-dive into the plan; however, when my role is to move clients off ‘stuck,’ I find that suggesting two or three ‘first movement’ possibilities allows them to see through to the other side and take action toward desired results.

Interestingly, in my television days – and as recently as the past few months while preparing for the franchising conference I produced last week – people asked, “How do you keep all the details straight?” Of course, I maintain excellent notes and am continually double-checking to ensure everything is going as requested. However, at the highest level, I keep a picture of the overall theme vividly imprinted on my mind… and everything that flows from my imagination aligns with that vision.

Perhaps the lesson here is, to put a twist on Covey, begin with the beginning in mind.

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Take Video

For the second year in a row I served as executive producer last week of the annual conference for a franchising company. After months of planning – and a lot of work by a lot of people – everything went splendidly… which is always nice after you put so much effort into developing a great experience for attendees.

Seeing the production crew convert an empty ballroom into a beautiful setting – with wide format banners, elegant lighting and video screens – in a matter of hours created a lot of energy for everyone who would be working the event. It was fun to meet an Olympic medalist, who presented the keynote address, and watch the cover band, which would deliver a rocking show to wrap things up, conduct their sound check and rehearsal. What was better is that these talented individuals were polite, friendly and had their egos in check.

The best part personally for me is a vision that popped into my head in February came to fruition in July through the creative efforts of many. Talented people pulled off every one of my “Let’s do this” ideas… and, when it was all over, one of them said: “I didn’t really get it when you requested all these different things – not seeing how they fit together. I learned to trust you and just go with it because you truly see the big picture.”

While I have no desire to return to my television roots and do more of these extravaganzas, there is something exciting about the rush of adrenaline as the clock counts down to show time. And, I must say, it’s fulfilling to witness everything come off without a hitch. Perhaps that’s what drives people toward success… whether you’re producing entertainment or widgets.

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Safety First

One of our good friends would continually talk with his family about the importance of safety around the home. I never really paid much attention – even though we stayed with them many times over the past 16 years when we returned to Ft. Worth. After all, what can happen in a house if you just keep your eyes open?

Last week, I spent five days observing a training class for one of the world’s five biggest companies. My role was to provide feedback to presenters; however, I learned a lot during these multiple 12-hour days. Each morning began with a participant delivering a Safety Moment… and I heard several tragic stories about what can happen when employees and contractors fail to follow processes and procedures.

Interestingly, a few days before I found myself running up and down our staircase for probably the thousandth time since we moved into our home. I always looked at this as a great form of exercise, so I’ve typically sprinted up and jogged down. However, on that particular morning my foot caught on the top step and I fell to my knees. If it had been a middle step, I might have gotten hurt. I thought, ‘At my age, maybe I shouldn’t do this anymore.’

Then someone shared a story during the sessions about a man who fell down his staircase and broke his leg in several places. He spent nearly a month in the hospital, endured rehab for three years and missed a lot of work. I committed at that moment to never use my staircase as a treadmill again. Incidentally, this company’s rule is to hold the handrail anytime there are more than two steps. I must say that’s something I had never heard before. I’m in.

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Finding Strength

Over the last six years, I have delivered more than 80 debriefings utilizing an assessment that provides a comprehensive report on Usual Style, Needs and Stress Reactions. Clients find it insightful to better understand how they appear to others and how they desire to be treated. This process is an essential piece of a successful executive coaching engagement.

Recently, many organizations are turning to the Gallup StrengthsFinder – developed by the late Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D. – as the method for measuring their leaders best assets… and to keep executives “more engaged, more productive, and happier.” While I personally see value in also acknowledging and working on weaknesses, focusing solely on maximizing strengths seems a plausible approach to improving performance.

It’s always fascinating to see how accurately assessments describe an individual. I’ve asked every client if the report captured his/her style and only one said no. (Later, I shared that with her boss, who said, “That’s her biggest problem – no self-awareness.”) While I have no idea how the algorithms behind the innocuous maze of questions work, there is something to this personality style approach first presented nearly a century ago by Carl Jung.

The Gallup StrengthsFinder nailed my top five Signature Themes: Strategic (“a special perspective on the world at large”), Achiever (“if the day passes without some sort of achievement, you will feel dissatisfied”), Learner (“energized by the steady and deliberate journey to competence”), Focus (“each year, each month, and even each week you set goals”) and Futuristic (“a dreamer who sees visions of what could be”).

There are hundreds of assessment programs. Some are inexpensive and available instantly online. If you haven’t paused recently to look inward and explore yourself, this summer might be a good time to do that.

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