word play

Distract, Interrupt, Intercept, Disrupt

March 29, 2011 by Rosa Say

Occasionally I’ll imagine being in corporate life again.

It’s usually a fleeting thought, for I quickly switch back to counting present blessings, but it does reoccur, and to be completely truthful, I always imagine being in charge! My wish to take over normally arises when I’m getting frustrated by certain bad work habits I see in the workplaces I visit; simple fixes not taken, and often because no one realizes those habits are so insidious — left unchecked, they can snowball into a dysfunctional work culture.

So I try to be empathetic instead, and I coach more, and gently. I suggest testing the new tools I’ve learned to use since I left that work world, for they’ve been working so wonderfully within our OIB (‘Ohana in Business) work cultures of Managing with Aloha.

Most of the best tools have nothing to do with tweaking new technologies, and they return us to simpler practices. They’re really about the disruption of previous habits.

The Interruption List

One of those tools, learned in the very early days of my starting Say Leadership Coaching, helped me enormously in keeping focused on the right things at the right time, for I built my business at the same time I was writing MWA and figuring out how to get it published as a first-time author. The ‘tool’ was paper and pencil, and learning the simple discipline of keeping track of any and all interruptions on a scratchpad I kept at hand while I was supposed to be working.

SIDEBAR: Credit for the Interruption List goes to Paul and Sarah Edwards, for I discovered their working at home bible, Secrets of Self-Employment; Surviving and thriving on the Ups and Downs of Being Your Own Boss, while trolling the shelves at Borders Bookstore one day. It was one of the first books I’d ever bought to retrain myself with a newer, more entrepreneurial mindset, and it illuminated all the bad habits and traps you can easily fall into while working from home.

The distractions which cause us to stall and procrastinate occur everywhere of course, whether we work in the office, at home, or remotely: What we need to fix, is the shakey hold we have on our own attention.

I was amazed at how long my list could be when the day was over — long, embarrassing, and just plain dumb!

My Interruption List delivered two kinds of aha! magic: It illuminated bad habits which previously were invisible, and it helped me create far better ones. Instead of getting up for a drink of water a zillion times, I began to keep an insulated bottle of iced water at my desk. I turned off my email alert bell, and when that still didn’t work for me I turned off my web access altogether.

My Interruption List has consistently delivered as my work variables changed: I still use it. When I’m working with new people, I log down their questions every time they knock on my door (or ping me on my ‘virtual office hour’ chat), and I’m able to discern why recurring queries continually come up (which are different from good questions). I catch on to why certain interruptions are actually red flags, like when I was the one who forgot to pass on critical information! I stop adding complexity, in favor of replacing.

There are times the stark emptiness of my list is telling too: Time flew by, because I was in the zone, and work was amazing that day! I’ll ask myself why, and if it was a strength on fire, for if so, it’s a time framing I want to duplicate more often, setting myself up for more frequent successes.

Signal or noise?

Interruption used to be a negative word in my vocabulary, but not anymore: It asks, signal or noise?

It might still be the noise of process newness of some kind, but when you track it, and evaluate it, distracting interruption becomes a signal you interpret, and then act on. You intercept bad habits, and cut them off at the pass. You disrupt your automatic pilot, wake up some sacred cows and put them out to pasture.

Try turning your negatives with these words into positives: Distract, Interrupt, Intercept, Disrupt. All it takes is paper and pencil at first, but wow, the signals can wake up your focus and productivity in an amazing way.

Did you catch this on Ho‘ohana Aloha? Breakthrough-your-business Word for the Day: Disrupt.

And we’ve only been talking productivity here (well, mostly)” imagine how these words might alter your radar in managing others when converted to the proactive coaching interruption of a positive expectancy…

Archive Aloha ~ a few related postings:

Native Tongue, help and hindrance

March 18, 2011 by Rosa Say

One of the book reviews I’d like to share with you soon, will be on Haruki Murakami’s memoir, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running — and I will; not quite ready. Still sitting with it, in that afterglow a book can give when you’ve read it all the way through but keep thinking about it, and keep going back to reread certain paragraphs.

Meanwhile, here is a passage I found particularly fascinating.

If you have not heard of him, Murakami is both marathon runner and writer. He’s considered influential in postmodern literature, is probably Japan’s best-selling novelist globally, and he’s prolific, writing essays and short stories as well. He also works as a translator, and has published translations of F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Irving, Raymond Carver (who he calls “a writer beloved by me”) , Tim O’Brien, Chris van Allsburg, Truman Capote and Paul Theroux.

In his memoir, Murakami explains that he much prefers giving his speeches in English despite all the extra work, writing his speaking drafts in English too. He writes:

“Naturally, this takes a lot of time to prepare. Before I get up on stage I have to memorize a thirty- or forty-minute talk in my English. If you just read a written speech as is, the whole thing will feel lifeless to an audience. I have to choose words that are easy to pronounce so people can understand me, and remember to get the audience to laugh to put them at ease. I have to convey to those listening a sense of who I am. Even if it’s just for a short time, I have to get the audience on my side if I want them to listen to me. And in order to do that, I have to practice the speech over and over, which takes a lot of effort.”

He goes through all this, and has done so for years now, because knowing less English gives him less raw material to deal with effectively. All of Murakami’s native Japanese is just too much to sort through in constructing the sentences he’ll end up choosing. Less is easier to handle, and easier to memorize. The better you memorize a presentation, the less you ad-lib (which most professional speakers will tell you, is where they risk losing their train of thought as they speak.):

“It’s strange, but when I have to speak in front of an audience, I find it more comfortable to use my far-from-perfect English than Japanese. I think this is because when I have to speak seriously about something in Japanese I’m overcome with the feeling of being swallowed up in a sea of words. There’s an infinite number of choices for me, infinite possibilities. As a writer, Japanese and I have a tight relationship. So if I’m going to speak in front of an undefined large group of people, I grow confused and frustrated when faced by that teeming ocean of words.”

This intrigues me because of all I write in Hawaiian, even though English is my first language — my only language really, for to be accurate, I know a great deal of Hawaiian and think with the kaona (subtly hidden, storied meanings) of my life-long Hawai‘i mana‘o (beliefs and convictions rooted in sense of place), but I don’t speak it, not as language.

My speeches and presentations are all in English, of course, but I actually write them by starting with Hawaiian for the same reasons Murakami describes, with a small difference: My Hawaiian is more limited, but it is actually much more descriptive to me, especially because my thinking about it is so values-based, and my speeches essentially, are about some kind of behavioral coaching.

English frustrates me quite a bit, even after speaking it nearly exclusively all my life. There is just too much of it, and it drives me crazy how people will use different words indiscriminately. My pet peeves, as you know, are management versus leadership.

I remember how much difficulty I had in the early months of writing this blog because I used way too much Hawaiian then, and would lose people constantly. I couldn’t even understand my own challenge at first, because my ‘hapa talk,’ half English, half Hawaiian/local slang, was easily understood in my real world — my conversational, every day speaking habits are par for the course in the islands.

World-wide web publishing was a whole new ballgame, and Hawaiian is not going mainstream any time soon! I know how fortunate I am that some of my best friends today were early readers who stuck with me. I think better by thinking in writing, and so I’ve had to learn to go farther into English than I normally would have in the past — and farther than I normally want to; Hawaiian is so much more satisfying. When I start writing in Hawaiian, I start thinking within stories and concepts instead of with choosing ideas, or with writing descriptions.

So good to feel I have company in this, though we have our differences, Murakami and I!

For more about Haruki Murakami, I found this Sunday Times UK article interesting (from 2008): Ten things you need to know about Haruki Murakami: The key facts about the coolest writer in the world today.

Check out the U.S. website he has with Random House too: It’s as cool and mysterious as he is.

If this is enough to intrigue you about Murakami, and you aren’t runner or writer, I’d recommend you try reading one of his novels or short story collections first: I’ll certainly be reaching for more.

To wrap this up, here is how he finishes the passage I’ve quoted:

“Running is a great activity to do while memorizing a speech. As, almost unconsciously, I move my legs, I line the words up in order in my mind. I measure the rhythm of the sentences, the way they’ll sound. With my mind elsewhere I’m able to run for a long while, keeping up a natural speed that doesn’t tire me out. Sometimes when I’m practicing a speech in my head, I catch myself making all kinds of gestures and facial expressions, and the people passing me from the opposite direction give me a weird look.”

“Today as I was running I saw a plump Canada goose lying dead by the shore of the Charles [he writes this while in Cambridge, Massachusetts]. A dead squirrel, too, lying next to a tree. They both looked like they were fast asleep, but they were dead. Their expressions were calm, as if they’d accepted the end of life, as if they were finally liberated. Next to the boathouse by the river was a homeless man wearing layers of filthy clothes. He was pushing a shopping cart and belting out “America the Beautiful.” Whether he really meant it or was being deeply ironic, I couldn’t tell.”

Nature’s watery treasure chest

March 16, 2011 by Rosa Say

After a tsunami, you have to believe that nature knows best. Her message is not always kind, and pain can be severe, especially when human life is lost, and our sense of place seems irreparably changed.

Healing within conversation

This posting is an on-going conversation a bit off the beaten path of the normal here, however it is soul-feeding testament to the ‘talking story’ we do!

If you’re newly arriving on Talking Story, you may want to read this post first: Waiakauhi Pond will heal. We will too. And a note…
The update I tucked in the comments there, was further updated on my tumblr, Ho‘ohana Aloha: What Hawai‘i’s seaside fish ponds can teach us.

At the edge of an anchialine pond at KÅ«ki‘o

Kekaha replenishment fashioned beautiful

A blog post by Joanna Paterson reminded me about Wordles, and I popped these words into the “Create” box there to see what would come up.

This came from my earliest days working at the Hualalai Resort, and were shared with us there in an orientation session sometime in 1996. It was plainly printed, text only, on a sheet of copy paper that I have always kept folded within the book I have called In the Lee of Hualalai, written by Jocelyn Fujii, just because it has always belonged there with the rest of my Hualalai history (the book has turned into a kind of filing cabinet for me). So I’m sorry to say that I cannot give original credit where credit is due for this passage, though I have referred to these words very often: I find the simplicity of it so beautiful and compelling, both in word choice, and in the lifestyle described.

“Ka‘Å«pÅ«lehu: The ancients revered this land, this ahupua‘a called Ka‘Å«pÅ«lehu on the slopes of the mountain they named Hualalai, in the region of Kekaha. The kaha lands, Kekaha was called: waterless lands brimming with other riches, coveted by the chiefs of old. Reading the signs of the ‘Eka wind that called forth the canoes for good fishing, and the powerful Mumuku wind that warned them to stay home, the ancients knew when to fish for aku and ‘ōpelu along the bountiful shoreline. From coastal ponds fattened by the upland rains, they harvested tiny red shrimp called ‘ōpae‘ula. With the ‘ōpae‘ula they fashioned balls of chum that attracted the ‘ōpelu for harvests to sustain their people. In a continuous exchange up, down, and across the ahupua‘a the villagers of Ka‘Å«pÅ«lehu exchanged fish and salt from the shoreline for the taro, breadfruit, and sweet potato grown by the upland dwellers. In turn they grew hala and loulu and wove their fronds into mats, hats, and containers that they carried up the mountain on trails they had built, stone by stone. Thus was the ahupua‘a, a land division sweeping from mountain to sea, a major cultural, environmental, and economic unit of the traditional Hawaiians.”

“Because the conservation of natural resources was foremost in the Hawaiian mind, fishing grounds were never depleted. The catch was shared among villagers, and fishing was prohibited during spawning seasons to ensure ongoing abundance and replenishment. We, as those who now occupy this land, invite you to share in the mutual responsibility of sustaining and maintaining beautiful Ka‘Å«pÅ«lehu. Our natural resources are precious and fragile, and we can Mālama kahakai together, kākou.”

Here is the wordle I got.

If you read down the center of it, you get:
Rains carried ongoing harvests
Fragile environmental resources
Sustaining major fishing
Good land, shoreline riches
Coveted sea, called natural

and also, summing up,
Kekaha replenishment fashioned beautiful

Pond ecosystems coax forth gentle coexistence

I hope I live to be an old woman, able to see more change, yet tell old stories too

I was able to speak with my friend David, steward of Waiakauhi Pond, and he shares that the eldest of the kÅ«puna (Hawaiian elders) he has inquired of, remember that Waiakauhi was indeed open to the sea before the tsunami of 1946, and only became the anchialine pond we knew of in recent years since then.

It is a more comforting thought, that the ocean has reclaimed her, as a mother reclaims a wayward child, never having stopped loving him, and always knowing that her kuleana na mālama loa, her enduring responsibility with teaching him from a place of love and care, will never stop, no matter how old he gets.

For my part, I now think of a favorite quote from George Bernard Shaw. No matter the emotions I go through, I’ll reach deep into them as they happen. I’m with Shaw, who said, “I want to be thoroughly used up when I die.”

So much beauty remains

The yellows of kauna‘oa and a pohuehue leaf

The kauna‘oa is the stringy orange atop the green pohuehue morning glory. A parasitic twining vine with thin, leafless stems Kauna‘oa kahakai translates to ‘the beach orphan vine.’
When the strands are twisted, then twined over each other, they form Kauna‘oa, the official lei of the island of Lana‘i.

The pohuehue beach runners; our Hawaiian morning glory

Kohekohe as Mea Ho‘okipa, sedge as host to a snail

Don’t get New Ideas caught in the ASA Trap!

October 13, 2009 by Rosa Say for Say “Alaka‘i”

Preface: We’ve spent early October talking about your best-possible project work, and today’s post is intended to alert you to a red flag. When you are immersed in a Wow! Project, it is easy to get blinders on, and miss the outliers in the workplace which might have just as much potential ”“ maybe even more.

When an organizational culture is healthiest, leadership initiatives are thriving in every nook and cranny. Leadership is shared freely with those who step to the plate, and put a hand up that means, “I’m ready, and I want you to trust me.”

Those in positions of power on a company’s org chart MUST say “yes” to new ideas as much as possible: You never know when a small idea will evolve into a big game changer.

In these healthy cultures (healthy meaning fertile for self-leadership initiatives to seed), the ASA Trap is avoided like the plague.

Are you aware of the ASA Trap?

The ASA Trap is a speed bump and obstacle. It is another “yeah, but” in the workplace.

ASA stands for “As Soon As”.” It is a delay tactic which clearly conveys your annoyance or impatience. When you say, “As soon as ”” people rarely hear what you say in the last part of the sentence, because what they hear is, “Go away. Please don’t bother me with this now.”

Think about how you felt when someone said these things to you:

“Love the idea, and we’ll start as soon as””

“We’ll add that to the agenda as soon as…”

“I’m not saying no, but we have to be practical here. As soon as… I will make the time to talk this though with you.”

If you were able to recall when a boss spoke to you with a similar ASA statement, you felt the disastrous result: He or she immediately burst your self-leadership idea bubble, and with that burst escaped your energy, your excitement, and your enthusiasm. The ASA Trap is a huge downer.

To Avoid the ASA Trap, Delegate!

A manager with a lot of ASA in their vocabulary is dangerously close to micromanaging, and must learn to use their team better. And the really good news is that better delegation is a baby step: There is no better time for staff development than with the birth of a new idea.

Managers can feel they must know “the whole picture” before they can bless (i.e. effectively direct) work commencing on any part of it at all, and that is rarely true. For instance, consider that great direction requires clarity first and foremost, and most new ideas are not yet clear: They are fuzzy, and need to be worked on. That shaping of the idea is the first task which can be delegated, and who better to work on it than its creator?

Managers can intercept and engage with idea-initiated work at a variety of touch points, and not just in the beginning. Stop directing, controlling and commanding. Replace those actions with good questions, smaller action agreements, and well-placed coaching.

Ideas are fragile. You cannot let their light grow dim

When someone comes to you with an idea, get it in motion immediately. Turn those excitement draining sentences above into energy creating initiatives you place in the hands of those offering up the idea: Begin to develop them as leaders.

An Idea is a Fragile Thing

The moment an ASA trap rears its ugly head in your brain, recognize it for the red flag it is, and replace it with an encouragement similar to one of these:

“That’s an interesting idea, how would you like to get started with exploring it?”

“Thank you for sharing your idea with me! How can I support you as you begin?”

These are conversations which ask good questions, yet immediately offer coaching to an agreement in which you will finish the conversation well, but relatively quickly. When someone brings an idea to you, your goal should be to encourage them. Fail to do so, and they will stop coming to you and begin to think, “Why should I bother?” That would be tragic.

Respond to their next response (to the above questions) with a delegation toward self-leadership.

Delegating to Lead Versus Delegating to Manage

As we just talked about this past Thursday, managing well takes over Where Planning Ends and Projects Begin. But first, you lead with planning.

Self-leadership explores Why and When questions ”“ Planning
(From the Archives: Leadership is Why and When.)

Begin with delegating toward leading/planning so your idea-generator immediately gets to work with formulating good, clear answers to these questions first: “Why do we need this idea?” and “When should we best engage with this idea within the scope of our overall vision, moving it forward?” These are the questions which will help them take full visionary ownership of their idea.

Self-management explores What and How questions ”“ Projects
(From the Archives: Management is What and How.)

You can then follow-up with your idea-generator in this second intersection point of coaching (representing continued delegation) which aligns a well-led plan with a well-designed Wow! Project that will move that fresh idea to momentum-building action.

Your Opportunities with Idea Conversations

One of the best places idea conversations percolate is within the Daily 5 Minutes, that precious time when a conversation starts on an employee’s agenda and not the manager’s. Read more about the D5M here: Two Gifts, Values and Conversations

A second place is within the seemingly mundane day to day work every company encounters. Tom Peters wrote a great description of how this happens in his Fast Company essay on the Wow! Project:

I’ve seen a person who was assigned a presumably dead-end task — cleaning up a warehouse — turn that project into a chance to redesign the company’s distribution system and to earn a ticket to even more responsibility and even cooler projects. All it took for that to happen was the application of personal passion and an unwillingness to see the project as anything other than a first-rate opportunity.

How did it happen? Given the project of “cleaning up the warehouse,” our passionate Wow Project leader (PWPL) quickly determined that the problem wasn’t a “messy” warehouse; the real problem was that the warehouse was poorly organized — which made the warehouse necessarily messy. A simple cleanup wouldn’t do a damn thing to solve the deeper problem: The warehouse needed to be reorganized. That led our intrepid PWPL into a few carefully targeted benchmarking forays to educate herself and a small, select group of suddenly interested team members on the art of warehouse reorganization.

One of their key lessons: The organization of the warehouse needed to take into account both the incoming parts from suppliers and the outgoing parts to customers. So, a short time after getting the warehouse-cleanup assignment, this PWPL found herself making a compelling case for a new distribution system that would feed flawlessly into the reorganized warehouse — a warehouse that would now stay neat because of newly designed processes that fit the new distribution system perfectly. And that is how you turn a little chore into a Wow Project.

Look for every opportunity you have to say “yes” to the ideas others will bring to you in the workplace. Alaka‘i managers celebrate leadership initiative with an abundance mentality.

The only ASA you want sounds like this: “As soon as you have an idea, I want to hear it so I know how to support you best.”

Additional reading

If you are just joining us, this reading path will help you learn the complete ins and outs of the coaching offered within this post today: The beauty of the blog is that this update will still be here waiting for you to return to it.

1. Is it Time for Your Alaka‘i Abundance?
2. October’s Ho‘ohana: Sweet Closure
3. The Ho‘ohana Story of Your Year
4. A Copy of the Best is Still a Copy
5. Where Planning Ends and Projects Begin

Photo Credit: Helping me wave a red flag… Bandiera rossa by Iguana Jo on Flickr
Back Story: Why are Say “Alaka‘i” postings duplicated on Talking Story?