Workin’ it

Great, great week at work.

It’s been quiet here on Talking Story because my coaches and I have been out getting the job done, and boy oh boy does that feel good.

Remember MWA3P? (Full index here; read from the bottom if new to you.) We just finished the 3rd of a 4-part teach-and-coach series for a group, and they have two major projects they are applying what they’ve learned to. “What they’ve learned” are new productivity habits connected to MWA business values, and it’s terrific to see how those individual habits now impact group dynamics in project work.

So perfect that Lōkahi is our value of the month to support and coach them at the same time.

With another organization we brought a shorter version of MWA3P to a two-day think tank using three of their strategic imperatives as the subject matter and content of our Project Work Module. The strategic imperatives they chose to work on were somewhat stalled, and the organization is one which has never used cross-functional project teams before because of the traditional silo approach of their business model. Extremely smart, intuitive people. So you can imagine the release of ideas and idea-energy in their doing this for the first time. Those strategic imperatives are not stalled any longer! Incredibly exciting for them and for us.

Again, Lōkahi is meeting their needs as both value and process.

We have a third group we haven’t physically seen for three weeks now, however it feels they are keeping us busier than the other two, just in our trying to keep up with them. We have their current project set up on a Basecamp project management site, and wow, they are rockin’ and rollin’ with new customer service initiatives framed in new work experiences for their management team. To watch Managing with Aloha in action, revitalizing workplaces in the way that it does, makes my heart sing.

For them, Lōkahi is absolutely, positively REAL, and not just a value-of-the-month poster on the wall you stop looking at because it’s hardly more than refrigerator door art.

There were two key Hawai‘i events I missed this week because I chose to schedule this work instead:

One was a 3-day conference heralded as “the first of its kind, bringing members of the Hawaiian community and the visitor industry together to discuss mutual concerns.”

Lulani Arquette, executive director of the private, nonprofit Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association, [says]

“We are at a serious crossroads here. We really have to take a look at strains that have been put upon the state’s natural, physical and cultural (assets) and our people.”

Growing concerns about tourism’s impact on the community and natural resources and an increasing number of travelers looking for authentic cultural experiences have helped stir efforts to get more Hawaiians involved in the visitor industry.

Hawaiian culture has long been recognized as key to tourism here, and at least some in the Hawaiian community have noted examples where the industry perpetuates the culture and community. But the Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association and others have said more needs to be done.

—From pre-conference Honolulu Advertiser article by Lynda Arakawa

I heard the conference was outstanding, and I am eager to hear more from those who attended it. Lulani Arquette is known for her work on cultural leadership models, and it was wonderful to know she would be leading this charge.

The second “event” is a headline article in the May2006 issue of HawaiiBusiness magazine, Hawaiian Values in the Workplace, Crossing the Divide by Scott Radway. This is the byline:

“Native Hawaiians have hosted centuries of bustling commerce. It’s time for business to help sail Native Hawaiian culture into the 21st century.”

Six native Hawaiian leaders share their thoughts on Hawaiian values in the workplace, and all six are people I admire greatly. For instance, this is what Thomas Kaulukukui, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Queen Liliuokalani Trust, had to to say, and I could not agree more:

“Hawaiian values are human values. What makes them Hawaiian is the way we express them. Because we have a special place and because we value the way we do things here, why shouldn’t we carry those things on? Just as any other place would. Those who respect the culture and realize it is something unique here, should put it in their business.”

Radway did his homework, and the magazine promises that his story will be the first in an occasional series focusing on native Hawaiian issues in the business community.

I hope so. As you can imagine, I am very excited about this so-called trend in the focus of our Hawaii business communities, and I am thrilled there is buzz about   it. However this week, I was ecstatic at having made my choice to work it with my clients instead of talking about it. The proof of our Managing with Aloha ho‘ohana is in the delivery and execution.

Things are happening, and work gets better every day.

Are you on board yet?

Related posts:

• Our May Ho‘ohana: Lōkahi, How managers impact teams.
• 5 Steps to your Lōkahi Jumpstart: May MWA Jumpstart.
• Learn to Love Projects.
• You can do this together with us! Community, and the Responsibility of Leadership.