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Don’t Just Add, Replace. Own the 100%

February 15, 2011 by Rosa Say

The phrase, Don’t Just Add, Replace is probably one of the best productivity tips I have been able to give crazy-busy managers over the years. I recently mentioned it within the discussion we had on the challenges when you adopt the D5M: Can you fail with The Daily Five Minutes?

In wrapping my arms around the Big Picture thinking all managers must embrace, percentages have always appealed to me. I first wrote about the strategy of owning the 100% in a posting I had done for Lifehack.org several years ago. Here is a reprint for our Talking Story reference.

Don’t Just Add, Replace. Own the 100%

Here’s a sample snippet of a coaching conversation I have often had with executives. To set the scene for you, it usually happens after we’ve discussed a project or strategic initiative and its value alignment for their organization.

Exec: “This is terrific; I can see how it will make a big difference for us. I’m anxious to get started; we could probably introduce the plan at our next staff meeting.”

Me: “I agree, it is a terrific plan. However let me ask you something before you move on to how you’ll communicate it, or to the campaign you’ll subsequently run with it. What are you assuming this additional project will replace in your existing operation?”

Exec: “What will it replace? Well, the old way we’ve been approaching things; we all agree that our present tactics aren’t all that effective.”

Me: “When you say ‘present tactics,’ how much are you referring to? Are you completely confident that everyone will make the same assumptions you are, and not continue trying to handle both the old and the new? What are the reasons they might want to hold on to the comfortable, tried and true way they’ve always approached this?”

Exec: “Listen, I don’t want to micromanage the thing. I’m sure they can figure it out.”

Another potential stress factor lobbed into the organization. Unless” we continue the conversation to figure out how without micromanaging, the Exec can articulate some suggestions whereby he gives them the gift of reasonableness, not adding to their sense of overwhelm.

You may be underestimating your influence

The reality of most organizations, is that pleasing the boss, in handling directives both old and new, contributes to the significant, and rampant proliferation of auto-pilot, sacred cows, stressful overload, and productivity slowdowns. Like it or not, and whether you want to admit it or not, when you are the boss, people are very selective about the questions they’ll ask you, fearing they are exposing their own shortcomings or lack of self-confidence. If they perceive “the old way” was one of your once-favored pet projects, they’ll hold on to their practice of it, even when they might think better of it otherwise.

When you are about to add to someone’s workload, you should own the 100%. What I mean by that, is that the responsible thing to do, is to own the productivity equilibrium in the operation when you contribute to it.

The one assumption you should make, giving them the benefit of the doubt, is that everyone is already working at 100% of what they feel they can handle. If you add another 10%, you can’t expect them to be equally productive now at 110%. Thus, 10% somewhere else has got to go, and suggestions from you on what that old stuff you are expecting to (or willing to) replace, can really help.

This doesn’t just apply to executives, but to leaders and managers at every level of an organization. Adding versus replacing is contributing to workplace overwhelm every day, and in small ways that add up to BIG drags on overall productivity.

When I coach clients to do audits for process duplication within their organizations, it is amazing how much they find, and how much “Listen, I don’t want to micromanage the thing” turns into “I can’t believe we still do this!”

Even with unanimous agreement on its breakthrough merits, no matter how extraordinary your new idea or captivating project might be, it will add to workload. Excitement dims quickly when the pep rally is over, and reality sets in. You’ve got to reckon with the domino effect any new project or strategic initiative can create, by always seeking to replace, and not just add. Own the 100% and help your organization realize the full benefit of your breakthrough ideas.

(Photo courtesy of Andrew B. on Flickr)

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A Saturday Recap: 2011 ~ First 8 Days

January 8, 2011 by Rosa Say

8 recalls Makawalu for me: Did you happen to catch it within the Joyful Jubilant Learning project? I’ll add a post reprise at the ending of this one, for a moment’s leisurely reading during your weekend, but let’s start with a quick Beginning 2011 on Talking Story Recap, shall we?

Love when this happens, that collections of posts can flow from one question as it did, for I learn to re-frame, and refresh my own learning too ~ so mahalo nui, thank you!

Happy to see the sun

If you’ve been following along (or want to catch up with us), might this help with your Weekly Review?

I had actually started by declaring 2011 The Year of Better Habits, and then Value alignment [the all-important Key 3 on our Managing with Aloha learning grid] became topic of our beginning-to-the-year talk story: It was great to get grounded that way… you could say that it was our first “best clue.”

Day 1: Wayfinding to Use Your Best Clues

On-purpose, well-chosen habits are generous helpers. With the company of good habits I can trust in the quality of my inputs. Then good begets good; my habits help me determine the quality of my resulting outputs. They’ve become a great success structure.

Day 2: Value Alignment for 2011

…my ‘Value Your Month to Value Your Life’ program will not be resurrected in 2011, at least not in the same way as before — but don’t let that stop any of you! Adopt and adapt the program for your own work team: Getting started is easy. Here’s the Take 5…

Day 4: Value Alignment for Projects

A key advantage of both Value Immersion and Value Steering is that decisions get made much quicker, and with greater clarity because criteria parameters have selectively, purposely been narrowed… Perhaps most important, is the authorship shift…

Day 5: January Coaching: What are you really managing?

This is definitely a wayfinding exercise, because in starting with that first question you are confronting your existing habits and being truthful about them. I guess you could say that your answers to the second question are your goals, but in my experience it’s been much more effective for those I’ve coached to think of them as wants; they’re more basic that way, visceral even. Wants are Aloha-instinctive, and more emotion-charged compared to how pragmatic and strategic goal-setting is, and so energies ramp up quicker that way (I hate the SMART acronym. There, I’ve said it. I hate it because it’s boring.)

Day 6: Value Immersion, Value Steering” Why?

At the heart of the matter: Values drive behavior. We do stuff because we believe in it, and we resist or refuse when we don’t. You can’t, and won’t pass Go if you don’t buy in.

Day 7: Your values and your DNA

At their core (in their DNA within you), your values are good. They’ll serve you well when you choose to grow them…

Day 8: Is today :)

Thank you so much for sharing this first week of a fresh new year with me!

Now a reprise, as promised: This was originally published on Joyful Jubilant Learning in August of 2008, and I think it suits our present mood well too, in the spirit of wayfinding.

Hungry Koi

Counting Fish, Taro, and Thinking

The study of cultural values has been my keenest interest, and as we decided on our theme for August (Learning from 8) it struck me that I haven’t really paid too much attention to the fascinating language of our numbers. I’ve taken them for granted.

Simply by merit of growing up in Hawai‘i, I have always known that multiples of four and eight are highly regarded in our culture, but why? Up until now it wasn’t something I thought much about, I just accepted it. Leave it to JJL to pique my interest enough to suddenly ask out loud, “But why?”

I went digging in my own library of reference books, and this is what I discovered.

Kauna, Ka‘au, Lau” Counting Fish and Taro

“Numbers is the special language of mathematics and Hawaiians had developed a numbers system of their own long before the arrival of Captain Cook” Hawaiians had adopted a base unit of four in addition to a hybridized base ten numerical system” The Hawaiians’ base four units were called kauna, or four; ka‘au, or forty; lau, or four hundred; mano, or four thousand; kini, or forty thousand; and lehu, or four hundred thousand.

According to J.H. Kānepu‘u, a Hawaiian author of a letter to the editor of the Hawaiian newspaper Ke Au ‘Oko‘a, dated January 21, 1867, the number four was used for a very practical reason: a fisherman could hold four fish by their tails between the five fingers of each hand, or a farmer could hold four taro plants in the same way. Incidentally, fisherman and fishmongers in Hawai‘i today still count fish, particularly ‘ōpelu, according to the old method, in units of four, forty, and so on.”

—from KÅ« Kanaka, A Search for Hawaiian Values by George Hu‘eu Sanford Kanahele

I have seen fish counted this way, and it’s just been one of those things I figured as a fisherman’s habit. Handy, simple, practical” hands, fish and food together; very Hawaiian.

However then there is makawalu, for to the Hawaiian, the spirit factors into everything. Where four is baseline and binary, eight is expansive and exponential. Beyond two hands is beyond eight and predicates using one’s spirit, thus 8 opens imagination and possibility. We call it makawalu.

Makawalu” Counting our Thinking

Makawalu is the concept of abundance in thinking, giving in to all the possibilities of the physical and the spiritual world. Maka is the word for eyes, and walu is eight, thus makawalu literally means to look for eight ways or facets of thinking connected to and extended from wherever you may start.

If you begin to use a tool, think of eight ways you might be able to use it.

If you plot a garden, think of eight sections that will rotate your earth in season.

If you consider a friendship, think of eight ways you will be able to share it.

If you write a song, think of eight voices who will help you sing it.

And then for each of those eight ways, think of eight more. Within your spirit, all is entirely possible.

Makawalu stems from a belief that our intelligence is infinite: For each of the eight perspectives one might come up with, another eight will be possible (making 64), and on (to 512), and on (to 4,096), and on to infinite possibility. It is the expectation of abundance over scarcity— always.

Thus in Hawaiian, makawalu is also the word we use for numerous, many, much, in great quantities, and sometimes, it is “used with implication of chiefly mana [divine power].” —Mary Kawena Pukui and Samuel H. Elbert in the Hawaiian Dictionary

So my fellow JJLers, here is my challenge to us all this month:

For every post to come go for Makawalu!

Seek to learn with eight eyes and your spirit.

Could we get beyond our own two hands, a collaborative community 4,096 and “on to infinite possibility?” I believe we can.

P.S. And the next time you go to a fish market, see how good you might be holding four fish between your five fingers! Not as easy as it sounds (cheeky Hawaiians).

Just Once in Our Lifetimes! 09-09-09

September 9, 2009 by Rosa Say

Posting! It is 9:09:09 a.m. on 09-09-09… publish! Here is the first photo I took today, coffee habit that I have…

Brown coffee beans make blue shadows

Did you know that dark brown coffee beans make blue shadows?

9 beans
In 9 boxes
With 9 blue shadows

You will see another “Why?” behind the photo if you click over to Joyful Jubilant Learning today… Come join us there: Just Once in Our Lifetimes: 09-09-09

Have you a 09-09-09 idea?

Ready to play? Doing “different” need not be a gargantuan effort or very elaborate affair: It just needs to be about YOU learning about a new capacity within you. Every new thing you learn about yourself is cause to celebrate: Why not have today be the day you do so?

Numerology for Managers

September 3, 2009 by Rosa Say for Say “Alaka‘i”

Quick Preface:
A good number of connective coaching links in this posting today for the TS reader who is a manager and MWA student: I add the
Talking Story links at the ending if you prefer to keep your clicks within Ho‘ohana Publishing.

Early in the publishing process, my favorite one-line description for my book, Managing with Aloha, would come from my agent Roger while we were still in copy-editing mode. He called the MWA philosophy “a sensibility for worthwhile work.”

Loved it. It was very reaffirming for what I hoped MWA would be.

Sensibility makes me think of common sense, something that always seems to be in short supply —especially when you realize you need it most. It also makes me think of being practical, of “keeping it real,” and of usefulness.

The words “worthwhile work” are all about Ho‘ohana, which you know to be my favorite one of the Hawaiian values (Don’t get nervous: Aloha is core assumption and unwavering belief; it graciously allows others to be ‘favorites.’) For me, Ho‘ohana is mission-critical.

MY MANA‘O
(what I believe to be true) ~ ~ ~

ALOHA is about you living with authenticity in a world populated with other people. We human beings were not meant to live alone, we thrive in each other’s company. Aloha celebrates everything that makes you YOU.

HO‘OHANA is about you making your living in our world in the way that gives you daily direction and intention and leaves you with a feeling of personal fulfillment every day —not just when you have accomplished large goals.

Can Numbers Become Common Sense?

This past Tuesday, I wrote “Leadership Needs a Numbers Breakthrough” as our September Aloha because we managers seem to have a “can’t live with them, can’t live without them” kind of relationship with numbers. We make conventional associations with them ”“ like budget, ROI, and other financial terms ”“ which are necessary measurements, but not liberating enough. Not captivating enough. Not sensible in the every-day scheme of things. Sure, they are sensible to all the people in Accounting, Banking and Finance (and we do respect and appreciate them; we do), but numbers only as measurements have not become common-sensible in how we approach our work every day ”“ in how we approach our Ho‘ohana.

What we managers are supposed to do, is get work to make sense. We are the people who bring sensibility to worthwhile work. MWA is a values-based philosophy seeking to help, by giving you tools to work with (like the Daily 5 Minutes), but the execution of it all depends on you.

So here is September’s challenge: How do we get numbers to make sense?

I don’t have all the answers. I have a few which work great for me, knowing what works well in my business, and with my goals, hopes and dreams. I’ve been able to turn them into better tools; shared a story about that yesterday with the Joyful Jubilant Learning Community: Learning My 9 Boxes.

You need to do the same thing for you.

If there were a better, kick-ass, highly common sense “Numerology for Managers” what might it possibly include? Any ideas?

Beyond Your Spreadsheets and my 9 Boxes

For instance, Paul Diamond had shared this video with us on Joyful Jubilant Learning yesterday, about the Magic of 9: Parlor trick, or common sense thinking?

[~YouTube link for those using RSS and not seeing the embed here~]

I asked JJLer Ruth Radney, who teaches a “Creative Math” class for high schoolers, “What do you consider the difference between a learning trick, and cheating the learning process?” and Ruth responded:

“There are some students for whom this is just a tool to help them remember facts, but to many students, it becomes a fascination. 9’s are particularly unique, and as students learn one “trick” they begin to explore to see if other numbers have similar attributes or surprise characteristics. To me, that turns a math “trick” into a tool for exploratory learning.”

The bold above is mine: I truly think “It becomes a fascination” is key. The other phrase we can key on (pun fully intended) is “tool for exploratory learning” for we managers can be all about tools — and they need not exclusively be spreadsheets!

Contextual Clarity: our Definition of ‘Managing’

We’ve said that management is about the ‘what’ and the ‘how.’

We managers channel available energies productively. We make the workplace vitality-charged by making it interesting and dynamic.

I do want you to think about sensibility and possibility as a winning combination. After writing “Leadership Needs a Numbers Breakthrough” I popped it into my Palena ‘ole category within the personal indexing I do ”“ the 9th Key within the MWA 9 Key Concepts. It felt most natural to me ”“ it made the most MWA sensibility ”“ because numbers can be both precise and infinite in the framing they offer.

9. Palena ‘ole (Unlimited Capacity):
This is your exponential growth stage, and about seeing your bigger and better leadership dreams come to fruition. Think “Legacy.” Create abundance by honoring capacity; physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual. Seek inclusive, full engagement and optimal productivity, and scarcity will be banished.

For me, the number 9 is associated with abundance: It holds so much in that 4-fold capacity (physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual) and I can always drill down from there. I can drill down into my Alaka‘i Language of Leadership AND my Ho‘ohana — into my sensibility for worthwhile work as a manager.

It helps to always start with abundance because your choices seem so plentiful, and you can then pick the choice which fascinates you most. Fascination is your ticket to self-motivation. We cannot really motivate others, for motivation is an inside job. But if we help them become intrigued and fascinated, their motivation will naturally follow.

I would love to come to a new, cool and sexy definition for “Numerology for Managers” by the time the month is over: It is a thought which intrigues and fascinates me because I think it will be useful, especially if we make it sensible.

Will you help me think about this? Let’s talk story.

For those who prefer them, here are the Talking Story, JJL, MWA and MWAC copies of the links embedded in this posting:

  1. At Joyful Jubilant Learning: Learning to Be of Use
  2. At Managing with Aloha: Choose Values
  3. What’s your Calling? Has it become your Ho‘ohana?
  4. Leadership Needs a Numbers Breakthrough
  5. Two Gifts: Values and Conversation (About the Daily 5 Minutes)
  6. At Joyful Jubilant Learning: Learning My 9 Boxes
  7. Management is What and How
  8. 3 Ways Managers Create Energetic Workplaces
  9. Following is NOT a Passive Activity
  10. At Managing with Aloha: The MWA 9 Key Concepts (About Palena ‘ole as the 9th Key)
  11. Do you ask Good Questions? (About framing)
  12. Do you define your Leadership Greatness?
  13. On MWA Coaching: Palena ‘ole: Discover your 4-Fold Capacity
  14. Your Alaka‘i Language of Leadership
  15. How Managers Matter in a Healthy Culture
  16. Newly thinking about~ Motivation

Article originally published on Say “Alaka‘i” September 2009
Numerology for Managers

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