Honor the Time

I was honored to just complete a 4 day Teacher/Facilitator Certification. 10 highly motivated professionals coming in from around the country to earn their opportunity to teach others. I am reminded of how important education is each time there is an opportunity. Without the transfer of knowledge from one person to the next it is lost forever. Highly motivated, well educated, passionate professionals will not know the foundation of learning without someone else sharing the information.

Lessons in that:
- We need each other
- We are learning machines with an appetite to "know"
- The transfer of knowledge can never be compromised

Thank you to all spent the time and earned the learning. We are all better for it.

What are you looking for?

"There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after." - JRR Tolkien

I recently received an e-mail from a colleague who had just taken a transfer to a different part of the company. She did this to find a healthy work balance while still managing a significant part of the business and making an impact. This happens all the time yet she had recently e-mailed me and suggested that she just figured that the company HQ had written her off and that connections she had once made were no longer available to her.

This is the same professional that a couple years earlier I had shared a truth. Companies, although many have great missions and do a great good have no soul. A company will not check you at your limit, will not send you home early, will not celebrate an anniversary or birthday. A company, better yet a corporation is meant to do one thing. To sustain and grow and live past the lives fueling it now adding shareholder value and doing what it does forever.

She is a dedicated, talented and driven professional. She had been carrying a torch for a brand in the company for years waiting and working for the benefit of that brand yet becoming frustrated because it was an on gain off again brand for the business. Finally, after a masters degree, two children and a killer commute she decided to look for something different. She decided to look for balance and professional growth.

Here is the good news, she won. Not waiting for the company to some how grow a soul she went looking for something and found something new that she was never quite going after. Balance, professional impact and vital connections in the business that did not get cut off but actually grew stronger because of her journey.

Keith Ferrazzi

"Who's Got Your Back" is the book the Keith is out speaking about right now. I hosted him at Life Time Fitness and the company had a great experience. Keith spoke in the LTF Artistry Auditorium to a focused and inspired group.

His book is summed up this way:

"Disregard the myth of the lone professional "superman" and the rest of our culture's go-it alone mentality. The real path to success in your career and in your personal life is through creating an inner circle of "lifeline relationships" - deep, close relationships with a few key trusted individuals who will offer the encouragement, feedback, and generous mutual support that every one of us needs to reach our full potential. Whether your dream is to lead a company, be a top producer in your field, overcome the self-destructive habits that hold you back, lose weight or make a difference in the larger world, Who's Got Your Back will give you the roadmap you've been looking for to achieve the success you deserve. "

Keith inspired the room to pursue open, vulnerable relationships to allow a break down of silos and starting to build dynamic relationships the create accountability and a better work environment.

His book is a great read. I would encourage you to pick one up and read!

http://http://www.keithferrazzi.com/WGYB/mybook.html

Suburbia

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Suburbia

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Silos, Politics and Turf Wars

Pat Lencioni wrote a book by this title. Reading about the concept and living in an all out turf war is like watching a WW II movie and actually storming the beach! The movie can reflect the emotion and danger of war but when you are really there the full impact, aftermath and repercussions become, shall we say acute.

Real war causes real death, real turf war causes real death too.

Death comes:
- To respect of one division to another
- Productivity
- Agreeing and working toward the common good
- Professional relationships
- The true idea of why we work in the first place

There is also collateral damage. Those not even involved can lose days and have increased frustration because of the bickering, back channel communication, lack of alignment and down right undermining. These symptoms unchecked bring a wider range of impact to the company, people lose respect for those in the battle and secondary casualties start to way heavy on the company itself moving forward. Turf wars are selfish.

I believe that turf wars can start:
- From the ground up when two people or divisions naturally compete and then the competition turns personal and vindictive because the common company goal and mission is forgotten or put in second place behind ego and expectation

- Nurtured from the top down when executives fuel the fire because that is how they motivate someone to work hard or find it exciting/personally advantageous to fan the flames to press their agenda or goal

Either way a turf war unchecked or managed too will lead to hurt feelings, loss of motivation, loss of relationship and eventually may hurt the company in a significant way when the going gets tough and true alignment is needed.

Some cultures in companies are built around fueling the flames. Some companies refuse to allow turf wars to grow and manage and lead to collaboration and cross functional effectiveness.

What type are you?

Keys to Success

I must see 3 minute presentation on success!

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