Acronyms and Labels

If you've ever spent time with a group of people from the same industry that you’re not a part of, you know how narrow we can all be at times. There are acronyms and terms you have no clue how to decipher. It’s almost as if they are speaking another language, their own language. 

I was consulting a large pharma company and on one of our conference calls, I asked them to translate into English. At first, they were confused, but then they laughed and understood. 

What do You Mean?

We think we’re being clear, but we have to understand that our thoughts may not align with others’ understanding. When we take the time to step back, breathe, and gain more insight into how others are perceiving us, we stand a better chance of understanding each other and at times ourselves. 

Technical speak and industry specifics are often needed, but sometimes boiling things down to the most basic level is the best way to avoid misinterpretation. If we take a moment and suspend our beliefs to check for understanding, conflict can be avoided and teamwork can be improved. 

One idea is to find someone outside our circle to ask their opinion. Their lack of industry knowledge might unlock some questions we hadn't considered. 

It's worth a shot.

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Lead with Their Gut

Have you ever thought of an idea then talked yourself out of it? Gladwell wrote a book about it. The thesis behind Blink was the power of thinking without thinking. We sense it’s the right call, and then we spend an inordinate amount of time trying to convince ourselves we could perhaps possibly be maybe wrong I don’t know what do you think am I over thinking it perhaps maybe?

We ask for opinions to endorse our idea and when we meet resistance, we often fold. Yeah, it was a dumb idea. It wouldn't have worked, Joe said so.

Your Gut is not Alone

I was speaking with a colleague recently and he proclaimed that his staff often comes to him with what they think are good ideas but they’re not usually that good. I think that’s short-sighted. Sure, having a clear vision of your company and understand how your experience has arrived at that decision is key but if you make time to ask someone to elaborate and expand their ideas, you might be surprised.

If you’re not familiar, Google used to allow employees to spend 20% of their time working on ideas that may or may not have anything to do with their day job. Many products have come from employee ideas. Some of them may not have been that great to start, but there is an environment to flush them out and see if their gut is on to something. Some (me) think they should bring back the policy.

What Do You Think?

There are plenty of data to clearly show how disengaged employees will be the most destructive element of any business. And it’s not always easy to measure. A late meeting here, sloppy work there, missed deadline here, and suddenly the quality of work suffers. There’s a malaise that just seems to hover over everyone’s desk. The days of all for one have been replaced by everyone for themselves.

Leadership is not easy. But it’s nearly impossible if you think your gut has to make all the decisions. If you’re in a leadership position, write down a list of the times you have asked for others’ opinion – and meant it – in the last month. Now take the next month and triple that number.

No One Bats 1.000

Some of their ideas may not initially be great, but have a close look at your batting average before you act too fast. And this is not to suggest you have to create a suggestion box where everyone's ideas are immediately accepted. Just adopt an open mind policy and see what happens.

If you rely solely on your gut to create ideas for your business, you will run the risk of creating a culture of employees carrying out what they’re told.

Their real efforts will be seeking employment elsewhere.
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Kneale Mann | Leadership Strategist, consultant, writer, speaker, executive coach facilitating performance growth with leaders, management, and teams.

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Big Ideas. Big Plans. Big Business.

"You have to think big to be big." Claude M. Bristol

There is nothing wrong with having lofty goals and big dreams. They help us improve in life and in business.

But how often do we follow through and see those big ideas to completion? How often does it get difficult and we fall back to our usual tactics and habits and explain it away because we’re busy or our industry has changed or some other lame excuse?

Doing what it takes to get it done is where the work resides.

No one wants to fail. No one wants to aim low. But something happens between the big dream, the big plan and the big result. Some may point to resources or expertise but long before those become a factor is the one element that prevents us from executing the big idea most - ourselves.

You can live in theory and spend all day thinking big. It’s an entirely new level to do what it takes to deliver big results. I have many big plans that remain comfortably tucked inside the safety of my mind. I'm sure you have some too. That way we can find solace in the fact that they 'could' work someday with flawless execution.

Tweet This. Theory That. Blog This. You Should do That.

The social web has ample examples of big game talk. It's good to dream big and reach for new heights but articulating it and accomplishing it are vastly different activities. We've all tried to shift the excuse to an external catalyst but we know that's simply not the case. Being honest about our effort is where growth occurs.

Fear of success can paralyze us.

Most (all?) of us have talked big and probably meant it but haven't done the work to actually see it happen. Perhaps it's because we don't know how to take theory and make action. Maybe we aren't as interested as we thought. Or possibly we are simply blowing smoke - even at ourselves. And as I write this, I see the long list of grand plans I have made and it's time to get rid of the list or get off my butt and get it done. Maybe you now feel the same.

You may think big but do you do big?

Kneale Mann

image credit: drjeffadams