Oct

24

Life is about Creating Momentum!

Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Life is about creating and sustaining momentum. Think about it, anything worthwhile, be it personal development, business development or relationships takes time. Nothing of substance is created without persistence and an investment in time. We live in an instant world with instant coffee and even instant cash. Everything else, requires a commitment, persistence and time. This works as follows:

  1. You make a commitment, you decide that to achieve something of substance. Improve your financial situation, increase your emotional intelligence or to become physically fit.
  2. You begin to take small steps towards this goal. This is the difficult part, it requires persistence in the face of seemingly little improvement or benefit.
  3. You’re about to give up, you’re persistent, so - you press on. This is usually the worst time to give in as you are about to breakthrough to the next level and see the results.
  4. You breakthrough to the next level, gaining momentum for the next stretch.
  5. Go to 1! The cycle starts again.

When we want to change something in our life, we usually find that after giving it our best shot that seemingly nothing happens, this can be explained by understanding the boiled frog syndrome. If you wish to boil a frog, you cannot place the frog directly into hot water, it will quickly jump out. Instead, you place the frog in cold water and begin to heat it slowly. The water temperature starts to rise, its rising so slowly that the frog barely notices the increase in temperature. After a while, the water is boiling, and the frog is, well, history! This is what happens to us when we embark on personal change. The changes are happening so gradually, that we rarely notice any difference. In the end, we usually notice the difference after we have created the necessary momentum……… if we persist. Momentum is built through time and effort. You don’t run up to a large boulder and start pushing it a high speed. You have to begin slowly, first rocking the boulder gently back and forth. Finally, the boulder moves out of the rut, breaking free from it’s stationary position. Moving ever so slowly, the boulder starts inching forward. You push harder, you feel the resistance, you feel the strain, it’s hard work. Slowly, the boulder picks up some speed, you can feel the momentum building, it does not seem much, you consider giving up, this is just too difficult. Committed to this action, you continue to push, grunting and groaning, you feel foolish, your effort does not seem to be making any significant different, your press on anyway. You begin to feel the momentum building again, this encourages you, you push harder, the boulder is picking up speed, it’s easier, you begin to run! This is how it works in the real world, it is going to require hard work, you will need to persevere before seeing any results, you will feel like giving up. But remember, you’re creating momentum, it will become easier and something is changing! This all starts with a commitment and perseverance, over time you’ll see the results. So what commitments have you made? What are you chipping away at on a daily basis (momentum is created incrementally), seeking to develop momentum?

  • Are you committed to physical development? Do you exercise daily?
  • Are you committed to develop your emotional intelligence? Developing an emotional positive response to life
  • Are you committed to your financial independence? Do you invest on a monthly basis?
  • Are you committed to improve your thinking?
  • Are you committed to meaningful relationships?
  • Are you committed to family time?
  • Are you committed to spiritual fulfilment?
  • Are you committed to resting?

Are you committed to invest in building momentum in these areas daily?

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , ,


Oct

20

The Power of Conversations…

Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment

I’m constantly amazed by the power of conversation in our lives, some of my experiences with conversations are:

  • I’m amazed at how many novel ideas I come up with during informal conversations. It seems to me that conversations help to pull new ideas and concepts out of me and others in the group. Considering this, informal conversations are especially rich sources of creativity, learning and innovation within organisations.
  • Conversations give me energy, they generate energy, often I find conversations as a catalyst for action. In this way conversations help me to organise and prepare for action!
  • Conversations help me to think, shape new ideas and concepts. Conversations help us to see the world from a different perspectives.

“…it’s through language that we create the world, because it is nothing until we describe it. And when we describe it, we create distinctions that govern our actions. To put it another way, we do not describe the world we see, but we see the world we describe.” - Joseph Jaworski, Synchronicity: the Inner Path of Leadership

All this leaves me asking for more……

  • How can we cultivate and nourish conversations in our personal lives, organisations and communities?
  • If conversations occurring in our lives and organisations are a catalyst for creativity and innovation, should we not be taking them more seriously? Should we not become more intentional in managing and nuturing these conversations?

Technorati Tags: , , ,

Oct

9

Leadership: Measured from the Follower’s perspective

Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

I stumbled this post on the Fast Company weblog:

The signs of outstanding leadership appear primarily among the followers. Are the followers reaching their potential? Are they learning? Serving? Do they achieve the required results? Do they change with grace? Manage conflict?” - Max De Pree (1924 - ) Former Chairman, Herman Miller Furniture

Exhibiting leadership traits” doesn’t make one a great leader. If you really want to know how well someone is leading, look at his/her followers. How are they behaving? What are they producing? How have they grown? While traits are good at predicting leadership success, only followers’ actions can demonstrate it.

This reminded me of the Servant Leadership approach described by Robert K. Greenleaf, where:

“The servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve. The conscious choice begins one to aspire to lead. The best test is: Do those served grow as persons; do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?”

When evaluating leadership we need to distinguish between the what and the how of leadership. Although the results, the what of leadership is important important, the means used to obtain the results, the how, is of upmost importance. This is what seperates the Hitler from the Jesus and Ghandi. The how of leadership, is primarily an expression of the leaders character, as the true leader is not defined by results alone, but by also includes the character.

“We ultimately produce what we are - individually and collectively - not what we intend.” - Rex Miller

Technorati Tags: , , ,

Oct

4

Time: The Number 1 Barrier to Organisational Creativity

Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment

As part of a masters degree, a research project, initiated by Wayne Morris to identify the factors that enable organisational creativity, found the number 1 hinderance to organisational creativity is TIME! The survey found that:

More respondents raised the issue of time as the most important factor with regard to enhancing organisational creativity than any other with comments such as, “Just having uninterrupted time would do it for me. Its so rare that I make space and time in my day just to think and be creative. I know that when I do it works really well for me and I enjoy my work. It remains a challenge for me.” Time pressure was also identified as a real barrier to creativity. This is supported by a study completed by Teresa Amabile in 1996 the results of which are recorded in Amabiles words in the December 2004 issue of Fast Company in which she says:

In our diary study, people often thought they were most creative when they were working under severe deadline pressure. But the 12,000 aggregate days that we studied showed just the opposite: People were the least creative when they were fighting the clock. In fact, we found a kind of timepressure hangover — when people were working under great pressure, their creativity went down not only on that day but the next two days as well. Time pressure stifles creativity because people can’t deeply engage with the problem. Creativity requires an incubation period; people need time to soak in a problem and let the ideas bubble up.

In fact, it’s not so much the deadline that’s the problem; it’s the distractions that rob people of the time to make that creative breakthrough. People can certainly be creative when they’re under the gun, but only when they’re able to focus on the work. They must be protected from distractions, and they must know that the work is important and that everyone is committed to it. In too many organizations, people don’t understand the reason for the urgency, other than the fact that somebody somewhere needs it done today.”

In addition to time, the study found the following factors, identified in priority order, as being a hinderance to organisational creativity:

  • Time
  • Competence of staff
  • Space/resources to pursue ideas
  • Open communication and full information sharing
  • Supportive organisational structure
  • Personal authority to initiate change / Individual empowerment
  • Creative leadership
  • Motivation of staff
  • Clear organisational goals
  • Appropriate reward
  • Appropriate investment ($, time, resources etc)
  • Appropriate tools and technology
  • Allowance for mistakes
  • Diversity
  • Organisational desire to learn from previous mistakes
  • Creativity recognised / taken seriously
  • Balance between risk and opportunity
  • Skilled delegation
  • Some fat in the system
  • Removing uncreative people
  • Organisational life force

Hat Tip To: Report 103, a complimentary weekly electronic newsletter from Bwiti bvba of Belgium (a jpb.com company). Archives and subscription information can be found at http://www.jpb.com/report103/

Technorati Tags: , , , ,