learning challenge

Two mini stories today. One is about business plans (sorta) and one is about healthy people (sorta).

The 1st story, with a moral thrown in

I hired a coach who specialized in teaching better business planning a few years back, and I highly recommend it: All coaches should periodically be hiring coaches in related fields of expertise, or in anything new and of interest to them. Learning erupts like a fiery volcano spewing lava which will change the landscape forever. In fact, everyone has some area of expertise to be offered to another person: Think about the barter possibilities, and propose a trade. (Put it in your business model.)

My coach covered an awful lot with me; perhaps too much, for not everything made a lasting impression, and it might be time I took a refresher course. However there was one thing he suggested which at first seems quite disconnected from having a good business plan, especially if you get stuck in that box connected to the financials of it all. I would learn that on the contrary, it had everything to do with my business plan, and so much more. He said something like this:

“Rosa, let’s say we were playing charades, and you wanted me to guess the name of your business. In the first clue you gave me, would your business be a person, a thing, or a place?”

At the time, within the context of the rest of the coaching I needed, he wanted to jar me loose from the hang-up I had with “sense of place” (tomaytoes tomahtoes” “hang-up” to him was key concept to me, but I digress”), point being I wasn’t thinking big enough, nor globally enough, true to the ‘universal’ part of Managing with Aloha. And he was right about that.

The correct answer, was supposed to be “a person.”

He suspected, and he was a thousand percent right about this part, that I would treat my business remarkably different, and hence open my eyes to new and different possibilities with my business plan, if I thought of my business as a person depending on me for nourishment and sustenance.

My business is like a person I need to take care of, vibrantly alive, and needing food, water and air to survive” and so my business plan had to define and get real about keeping that “food, water, and air” readily available.

And that was simply foundational. Nourishment and sustenance is not the same as growth. My business would not grow (and growth comes in many different stripes) unless I invested in his/her growth, and in mine. My business the person was not me, but a different person. We were not the same; we just worked together.

This was quite a breakthrough in thinking for me. However I’ll let you sit with that on your own for now, for I said this would be a mini story. Let’s shoot to the moral of the story, and you can get there within your own business plan (keep reading the blog in future weeks and I’ll help. Stuff in the archives will help you too).

Moral: LOTS of advantages to thinking about your business as a person, AND as a person who embraces a lot of other people too, not just you (Businesses affect people; you know that).

Think about that for another second before we move on: Your favorite businesses are probably very personable. They’re downright loveable. Infectious” though not in the way of my second story…

The 2nd story, prefaced with a question

Question: Well, three questions, but they go together as one:
My first story told, are you thinking of your workplace as a person, and not as an intangible entity or single place? Great.

Now, what if your business got really sick? How much would have to stop, or dramatically change?

Nourishing gourmet ‘food’ (or local grinds), pure mountain-filtered Hawai‘i ‘water’ and fragrant vog-free Pacific ‘air’ may not be enough if your business gets sick. It hasn’t been for mine.

This has been a reality check AND fresh idea generator for me over the last few weeks. I am newly looking at what else is involved in keeping my business the person completely healthy. Completely healthy as in never sick, where I am acknowledging (and cheering for) the super-human quality my business the person can have, even when I can’t.

Now, another thing I did learn in that business plan coaching, was that no business should rely too much on one person (even if you are a solopreneur): Your business model should seek to automate reliable, steady income in some way. Thankfully mine doesn’t rely totally on me working day in and day out (I did learn that part pretty well). But still, when I get sick, my business catches it from me, and gets sick too. There is a LOT which either stops or dramatically changes.

Long story mini-short, I happened to get pretty ill these last three weeks, and yesterday was my first day back in my office since mid-January, a half-day, and the first day I got my voice back enough to use the telephone. Not good when speaking, teaching and coaching is a BIG part of your income.

I have learned so much about me and the relationship I have with my business the person during these past three weeks where, other than writing in my lucid moments (I hope you found it lucid…), I could not work, even if I wanted to. Being forced to stop everything else, has caused me to reassess all kinds of things connected to my Ho‘ohana, my income potential, and my capacity for serving others.

And it shouldn’t be just “my.” It should always be me AND my business the person. Another person. Separate from me, separate from my team, separate from all our other stakeholders.

As I sat in my office again yesterday, looking around me and feeling like it was some old neighborhood I returned to, only to find new neighbors were next door encroaching, their dog trampling my flower beds, I resolved not to publish another blog post until I urged you to think about the metaphor, and write your own fictional story, imagining both the best and the worst.

What if your business (or your workplace) got sick? And not just take an extra day off sick, but really sick?

For example, you could write a chapter on immunity, and how fragile it is when sickness comes calling, and then oddly, how quickly another kind of immunity sets in, but not the kind you want, when those expensive over-the-counter drugs you’re taking no longer work for you halfway into the box.

Even seemingly rich businesses like Toyota can get terribly sick, to the point where they might be incapacitated, or they disappoint people in catastrophic ways.

137: this is where i spent xmas — Getting sick is not pretty. Not for you, not for your business.

The metaphor serves, for I don’t want you to really get sick (it sucks.) I’m betting you don’t need more details from me: You can remember the last time you got sick and what it was like (and I am getting much, much better now, thanks. Call me so I can speak for you again).

Besides your food, water, and air, what keeps your business and your workplace culture at its healthiest best? Take this even further: How can you keep your Ho‘ohana [your most passionate work] from ever getting sick, getting it to be super-human too?

As the saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Don’t learn that wisdom the hard way when you don’t have to: Talk story about the metaphor in your next huddle. You know you’ve caught something when you start to get that scratchy feeling in your throat” what are the earliest symptoms you’ll feel (and the other person, who is your business will feel) when your workplace catches cold? It would be very interesting to compare the answers you get from others on your team.

Give a swig of that castor oil or fizzy Airborne to your business the person. Get healthy together, and attend to it today: For 2010, with Aloha.

Photo Credit: 137: this is where i spent xmas by assbach on Flickr

Cross-posted: This also appears on Say “Alaka‘i” at The Honolulu Advertiser today.

Yesterday I wrote:

“I will be making an exciting announcement this week, an alpha test you can participate in during early November, which includes my coaching on a favorite, highly effective Managing with Aloha toolbox essential.”

Did you think I was talking about The Daily 5 Minutes? You were right!

I hereby declare this last week of October 2009 dedicated to The Daily 5 Minutes.

I can think of no better way to celebrate wrapping up our annual Sweet Closure initiative than with the single best tool a person wanting to “live, work, manage and lead with Aloha” can learn, for in part, Sweet Closure is about getting your focus back on what is essential, and away from what is not.

Here’s why I love the Daily 5 Minutes:

It’s simple (to learn).
It’s easy to do.
Once it’s your habit, you can’t fail at it.

Those are the same reasons I push you (and every manager who’ll listen) to try it.

The Daily 5 Minutes helps you be more effective in communicating with the people who surround you. Day by day, 5 short minutes at a time, you build up your confidence —and significantly enhance a relationship you have with another person. Listening better, so you can respond better (the basics of what you do when D5M-ing) turns into the 5-minute building blocks of greater managerial self-esteem, whether you subscribe to my writings to learn self-management and self-leadership, or to manage and lead others as well.

The SIMPLE part

If you are hearing about it for the first time, The Daily 5 Minutes (D5M) is a simple habit. Each day, without fail, managers give five minutes of no-agenda time to at least one of their employees. What they are giving is whole listening time, and their undivided attention to whatever that person has on their mind.

Your time is one of the most precious resources you have, and to consistently give it to someone in the form of the Daily 5 Minutes may be one of the best workplace expressions of unconditional Aloha there is.

Many people bring the D5M practice home to their families and to their friendships, for they find it works quite naturally in those conversational circles as well. Everyone yearns to be heard, and the Daily 5 Minutes becomes that gift of being heard you give them.

The EASY part

No software, no hardware. Nothing to buy, nothing to install or plug in.

You already have everything you need to begin practicing The Daily 5 Minutes right now, for all it takes is your willingness to have more one-on-one conversations. That’s it.

You need the willingness to do it, and the good intention which enables another person to accept the Daily 5 Minutes for the gift it is, and not question your motives or test your patience.

When you give with good intentions, people receive it well, and they reciprocate, wanting to give part of themselves to you too.

In person is best, however giving someone the Daily 5 Minutes over the telephone, via chat or Skype works too when D5M-ing in person is not possible. Far better than not doing it at all.

The HABIT part

Once the Daily 5 Minutes is your habit, you can’t fail at it.

Your good intention with completely listening to other human beings turns into relationship Aloha which is transformational.

The “daily” is for you, and you will choose to give it to different people each day, however once it’s your habit, those in your circle of relationships will know they can expect to get the D5M gift from you on a consistent basis. The more ‘their turn’ comes around, the warmer the circle of comfort between you ”“ that’s what happens when people know we listen to them ”“ really listen.

You can’t fail, because they become more willing to work with you than they ever were before, and on just about anything. Listening leads to warmth, and warmth leads to trust, and trusting relationships produce amazing accomplishments borne from unrestricted agreements.

Now, the ALPHA TEST part!

On Monday, November 2nd I will be launching a first-ever virtual habit-building challenge designed for The Daily 5 Minutes in partnership with Ruzuku.com. It is completely free to those of you who participate, and will last for 15 consecutive days, helping you build your own D5M habit in the Managing with Aloha way —with me as your coach.

In other words, participate in the D5M challenge, and by the time Thanksgiving Day arrives, you will be giving thanks for some dramatically enhanced relationships. Just how sweet would that be for the coming holidays?

Help me share the good news! Here’s what’s coming:

Starting Today:

As we wrap up October’s Ho‘ohana of Sweet Closure our Talking Story week will be dedicated to reviewing more of the tips and benefits to the Daily 5 Minutes by bringing the scattered writings I have published about it back here to our Talking Story mothership. I will be creating a new D5M page here as your one-stop resource for before, during, and after the alpha test challenge.

Registration opens on Thursday, October 29th:

Alpha registration will be opened for 5 days time, closing at day’s end on November 2nd, the day the challenge starts. Check back here on the 29th for details, and discover how simple and easy your habit-building in this newly designed coaching environment can be! (I have already covered all you need in this post.)

Challenge begins on Monday, November 2nd:

Our Daily 5 Minutes challenge begins a week from today, with coaching available to you throughout the 15 days of the challenge (Our alpha test ends on November 17th.)

I hope this news excites you too. Tomorrow I will unveil our new resource page. (Update: Resource Page is up!) If you have a copy of my book, Managing with Aloha, you will find The Daily 5 Minutes on page 145 within the chapter on ‘Ike loa, “to seek knowledge and wisdom.”

UPDATE:

Our 1st Ruzuku alpha is now complete! Read about our results, and get up to date with the news about our next two challenges:
The D5M Ruzuku Report (and 2 New Challenges!)

The next one will begin on Monday, November 30th and remains free of charge only during this period of alpha testing.

What if your business got sick?