Ready, Set. Learn!

Perhaps the most painful thing you can ask anyone to do is to document - a program, a process, training materials.

And we'll find any excuse NOT to do it.

Well, we're piloting a program at work these days which seems to be working pretty well. We've stopped writing training documentation in many cases.

And we've started creating instructional videos.

With a free downloaded program called Jing, creating short instructional videos is quick, easy and fun. Jing captures video from any portion of your computer screen, and along with audio narration, you create flash videos in real time. Once completed, the videos can be stored on your PC or server or (for free) at Jing's site.

We accumulate, meta tag and store all our training videos on our SharePoint intranet.

We're building up quite a library. And avoiding that painful exercise of creating volumes of documentation that no one ever reads.

The second thing we're doing is certifying our users on computer functions, before granting permanent rights. Recently we put some staff through certification on the customer and contact merge function on Goldmine CRM software. Only after each of our users had successfully performed data cleanup (on some of their own accounts), were additional rights granted.

And of course, we documented the process with Jing.

Forget Leadership. Give me Gumption!

There's a great old fashioned word that sums up what many managers look for in their employees.

This noun is rarely (if ever) mentioned in the halls of Business Schools. It never appears in best selling business books. It doesn't appear in the pages of Forbes or on any of the financial news networks.

The word is so old, that arguably it is out of style. And that word is: gumption.

For those of you not old enough to know what it means;

n. Informal.
1. Boldness of enterprise; initiative or aggressiveness.
2. Guts; spunk.
3. Common sense.

Perhaps it's time to reintroduce the word into our business lexicon. I want to work with people who have gumption. I like initiative, courage, common sense - that sense of individual vitality that for the most part is missing from many organizations.

And yet, aren't the people who are most valued withn your company those that have gumption?

But we don't talk about it much. We chose words like leadership (evoking images of George Washington in the bow of a boat crossing the Delaware River) or of Braveheart leading his followers into battle. For most, leadership seems daunting, unattainable - too lofty an ambition. And so, many of our employees don't aspire to be leaders.

Perhaps our organizational development efforts would have better results if we stopped trying to create leaders and started to encourage gumption.

Because gumption is within anyone's grasp.

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Secret Weapons

I am working with several business teams at the moment.

I am not a subject matter expert. In fact I know very little about the topics at hand. And part of my job is to help these teams function more effectively. Even though I don't know much about the subject matter, I do have two very powerful weapons on my side.

Ignorance and enthusiasm.

I'm not pushing any agenda. I'm not encumbered by "why the way things are" (or aren't). I hold no bias against any of the individuals on the team. I simply want to know more about the topic and how we're trying to get better.

And so I ask questions. LOTS of questions. And I listen to the answers. And I observe how the team interacts. And generally, I'm impressed. In fact, most times I discover a talented group of people who can be performing at a higher level. They just don't realize how good they can be, nor do they know how to get there.

But I see it.

And that feeds my second secret weapon.

Enthusiasm.

I'm typically a "glass 3/4 full" guy. I look at why we will be successful - not come up with the reasons we won't be. The reason is simple survial. If you think you'll fail, you will. Don't even begin. Will there be challenges? roadblocks? bumps in the road? Sure there will. But we'll work through them.

We will make mistakes? YES.

But we'll learn from them.

My favorite phrases (and they almost ALWAYS come up during initial team meetings) is; "The company doesn't do that." "Or the company won't allow us to try that".

To which I reply; "WE ARE THE COMPANY!"

The only thing holding us back is US.

As long as we view "the company" as an invisible deterrent, we feel powerless. Once we realize that WE are empowered to address issues, it can unleash pent up creativity, energy, encourage change and achieve some amazing results.

4 Powerful Words

I was out for dinner with friends last night. Sid spent some time talking about his former boss who had just moved on to another company. His work experience over the past two years has been frustrating. Sid has well over twenty years experience in HR - mostly within the Organizational Development space.

He was hired for his experience.

He was hired for his expertise.

And in two years, his boss never once asked the question: "What do you think?"

I'm sure the irony was lost on his boss. Organizational Development is designed to improve the performance of individuals across the organization. Much of the time it means finding a way to allow everyone to contribute at a higher level. It means nurturing individuals' commitment to people, projects, strategies, operations, customers...

And all that starts by asking the question: "What do you think?".

Because until you're willing to ask the question (and listen to the answer), you're not going to organizationally develop anything.

Engagement begins with engaging.

Until you're ready to give people resonsibilities instead of defining jobs, you're not ready for Organization Development. Don't even start.

Because giving people responsibilities, means giving them a say. It means allowing them the freedom to achieve, to excel (and to fail and to learn and to grow).

Marketing vs. Leadership

Seth Godin's blog today is about Marketing. No big surprise, that's what he does. Today he talks about "the four words". Here's an excerpt.

Four words:

Make big promises; overdeliver.

If you can define great marketing in fewer words than that, you win.
"Big promises": treating people with respect, improving self-esteem, delivering results, contacting as often as you say you will but not more, including side effects in your planning, delivering joy, meeting spec, being on time, connecting people to one another, delivering consistency, offering value and on and on. Caring.

As I read this, I wondered aloud whether there was any difference in this approach to Marketing and a thoughtful approach to Leadership.