Tag: engagement

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Delegating is About “We,” Not Me

delegating-is-about-we-not-me

How do you make them look good?

When we ask someone to do something, its easy to stare at the objective as the only thing that matters. This way of thinking is the “stick” mindset. When you are in the “stick” mindset, you use fear and it’s compatriots (guilt, shame, anger, etc.).

In a pinch, this can work. Eventually, however, you lose. Growth stagnates with harsh treatment. This is bad news if you delegate.

Corporate America has worked this way for years, and now they wonder why employee engagement is at an all-time low (don’t blame millennials, this is almost every age sector).

Limited growth = limited engagement.

What is the alternative?

When you delegate something, either:

  • Connect something meaningful to the other person at the end (what do they want?)
  • Put them in a position to look good to the people they find important

When people know you’ll do right by them, you avoid traps of arrested mental development.

Do this enough, and people can’t wait for you to ask them to do something.

Even better, their improved esteem shows up in all of their work.

What is better than that?

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Maximum Engagement, A Checklist

Time is short, I like checklists

We all have 24 hours in a day.

How does one maximize engagement and get purposeful?

There are plenty of ways to do it, but I promised shorter posts :-).

I’ll focus on what you can’t do.

You can’t do it if:

  • You have distractions
    • Turn your notifications off
    • Don’t check email
    • Single task
  • You have too many things
    • Say no ruthlessly
    • Time is the only resource
    • Prioritize
  • You don’t take care of yourself
    • Stop eating junk
    • Exercise
    • Sleep
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Do Consume Talk Principle – Putting It Together

This week I wrote about three principles

  • Do – Go do. There is a wide chasm between people who just say they want to do it, those who go through the intellectual rigor, and those who actually execute. Anyone who does that has no choice but to become effective because operating comes with lessons, especially in failure.  So, whatever you want to do, please, go and do.
  • Consume – What we digest is what we ultimately use to create our opinions. All ideas have a starting point. Nothing materializes out of thin air. What we consume physically, emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually creates our ideas.  Staying vigilant on what we digest is just as important as keeping an eye on what we do or who we talk to, because if our start is bad, then we doom the idea from the start (GIGO). The other thing to remember is that this is a limited resource. The outer limits are real, so guard what you know, and defend against taking on too much to soon,
  • Talk  – The difference between understanding and ‘thinking you understand’ is huge. That gap remains large if you don’t talk about what you know to other people. Through talking, you get a chance to build understanding and catch up on ideas you thought you knew. Just watch out for your ego (it is going to want to stay safe).

I think these three things are the bedrock of learning and mastering any skill. This principle is open enough to try all disciplines. By doing, talking, and consuming things I get completely engaged. The skill becomes my world, meaning I can’t escape it since it consumes everything.

It also stands as a great measure of where my priorities are. If I look at my calendar and I don’t see those three principles during the week, then I know I get scattered. It is a steady heuristic for my focus, and if I look randomly, I can see just where it lies.  Understanding my focus makes me more effective.

 

 

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Distraction and Imposter – 2 Levels Of Fear

 

[bctt tweet=”This allows me to engage, moment by moment.”]

Feeling “I don’t know” scares me.

Whenever the work of “I don’t know” creeps in, it isn’t pretty. We used to walk with a guide, a checklist, or a boss handing us things to do, but with creative work, we get ambiguity and it makes us unsettled. We look for another preoccupation to get through it.

I’ve identified two levels of avoidance.

Distraction (Level 1)

Useless pings keep me going.

There is nothing that takes my distraction away better than a ping.

I will, when I am not aware, set my life up to receive these pings. Send out a few text messages, get in an argument on Reddit, click on a hashtag on twitter, or find a new article on the internet to investigate.

All of these things create an environment where people can respond.  Once I get the response, now I can keep the conversation going until I lose it. I get to avoid the work ahead of me.

Impostor (Level 2)

You don’t belong here, everyone else does.

 

Whenever I beat back the distraction (generally through locking myself into a room) I get to the impostor syndrome, which is all about feeling like you don’t belong or not worthy.

If I look for someone who has more “right” to write, I don’t have to look long. The internet is full of people who have a better blog than this. The writing is tighter, the content more shared, and the readership higher.

When this part wins, I settle in and lose the will to work. I see my XBOX and notice how close it is.

[bctt tweet=”with creative work, we get ambiguity and it makes us unsettled. We look for distractions to get through it. “]

 

Both of these guys lead us into excuses. Those excuses lead to inaction. When dealing with risk and shipping things, I am getting involved with both of these concepts almost every night.

My best defense lately is to recognize them. Engage with them. Ask questions to myself such as:

  • Why do I want to run?
  • What don’t I know?
  • Whats the next action?

This allows me to engage, moment by moment. I don’t always win, but I get closer to honesty – which makes the next step easier.

The jitters are going away when I don’t have my cell phone. Feels embarrassing to say that. But its proof that this cell phone rehab is working. 

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