About 15 years ago, there used to be a column that came out in the newspaper every Saturday written by Busybee, who went on to start his own newspaper, ‘The Afternoon’ that we get even today. Writing under the name Busybee, he would always start his article (and I’m quoting loosely) “Now for another Saturday and random thoughts that have come to me. These thoughts are all my own thinking and I’m putting them down.” Something like that! They would be just random thoughts – no connection between the things that he would talk about that day.
Well I feel that way today. I have random thoughts; I’ve been trying to find a thread that would connect them all and have come up with none. So I’m going to you just the way it has been with me. Trust that it would make sense to you and speak to different situations.
Random Thought #1
I was reading an article by Al Kolff ‘Handling Client Expectations’ and he was bemoaning the fact that he had meetings with clients and come up with a software which was exactly what the client wanted. He said, “I gave it to them and they were happy with it but not ecstatic with it. It was like delivering the steak without the sizzle.” You may have been to a restaurant where either you’ve ordered a sizzler or somebody else has, and the waiter comes with the platter which is steaming and sizzling and places it in front of you. You get your facial sauna even before you tuck into your sizzler. But when all the sizzle has died down, it boils down to some kind of meat and vegetable dish. But the whole ambience of the sizzler coming right through that restaurant, being placed in front of you, everybody looking at it, you salivating over it; all has to do with the ambience that was created with the sizzler.
As I read Al Kolff’s article (it was really a blog) where he talked about meeting the expectation and yet it didn’t bring the sizzle from his client, I was reminded that somehow sometimes, that’s our case as well. We have the wherewithal; we have what it takes to produce the goods for the people that we work with or the clients who we interact with or engage with. Yet somehow even after delivering, there is something that is lacking. That ‘lack’ sometimes has to do with us. Are we packaging ourselves well? Do we present ourselves well? Could that be the sizzle that is lacking in the things that we do?
I remember buying an Apple computer sometime back and was so impressed with the packaging that it came in. it was so beautifully packaged and yet the Mac would sell by itself; you could walk in and buy it. Yet they set so much in store by packaging it well. I thought that maybe there was a lesson for us: that however good we are in the things that we do, maybe we also need to package ourselves well, so that what we have is welcomed by the people who need us.
Random Thought #2:
In our workplaces, we have people who work for us, who over time, will get to the place where they do things for you because they respect you immensely. It goes beyond job description. It goes beyond doing something because it is part of what they have to do. It boils down to doing something out of love and respect. And sometimes when that happens and they do something wrong, the letdown is huge. When they don’t meet your expectations and they goof up, they can fall very far. Typically what happens then, is that you lose a good person because they retreat to a place where they used to be; a place where you met up with them and nurtured and brought them to the place where they are right now. When they crawl back into that hole, what they want is for you to reach in and bring them out.
Typically leadership doesn’t do that. Typically you say, “Well, this is an environment where you pull yourself up by the bootstrap and you get out of it. You goofed up and now you have to make the amends.” And you leave people there. I was reminded that sometimes people want you to follow them back into that hole where they are, pat them on the back and bring them out.
I am reminded of a story I heard about a sergeant, who would return to the barracks every Saturday after drinking himself silly. This happened every weekend. He would walk into the barracks late at night, take off his heavy army shoes and throw them across the room where the rest of the men were sleeping, waking they up. Finally one of the men got the courage, found the sergeant in a good mood and said, “Hey Serge, when you come in after a night out on the town and you throw your boots, it wakes us up. Could you not throw them but put them down lightly? The sergeant agreed but the next weekend, when he came back quite intoxicated, he took off the first boot, threw it across the room and suddenly remembered, even in his inebriated state, that the men had asked him not to throw the boots. So he stopped and didn’t throw the other boot. Five minutes later, one voice called from across the room and said, “Serge, for heaven’s sake, throw the other boot.”
There’s a sense of expectation when one was thrown, and waiting for the second. Until that happens, we can’t carry on. That’s the way it is with expectations. People who have let us down, want us to deal with it. Sometimes we allow those situations to drift. We don’t address it and we lose good people; people who would give everything to work for you, who would do anything that you ask. But because they let you down, they don’t know how to crawl back out of that hole that they’ve gone into.
Maybe this morning, you know somebody who is in that place; maybe you need to go after them and bring them out.
Random Thought #3:
This is about empowering the people that you work with. Theodore Roosevelt said, “The best executive is the one who has the sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done and the self-restraint enough to keep themselves from meddling with them while they are doing it.” You have good people around you. Are you letting them be who they are? Are you empowering them?
John Maxwell in his book ‘The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership’ talks about the law of empowerment. He says, “Only empowered people can reach their potential.” Sometimes leaders don’t empower people because of a desire for job security; that we are weak and wonder if we empower, whether it will make us dispensable. Or we want to resist change. Or we lack self-worth. But the key is that when we empower people, more and more gets done.
I remember years back, reading a one-liner that said, “There is no limit to what a man or a woman can do, if he/she doesn’t mind who gets the credit.” Ultimately it boils down to that. We want to be able to do much and if we are willing to give away the credit and not hog it, much can be accomplished.
So, random thoughts for you this morning:
Are you packaging yourself well?
Are you going after the people who have let you down?
Are you empowering the people who are around you?
God Bless You All.
Well I feel that way today. I have random thoughts; I’ve been trying to find a thread that would connect them all and have come up with none. So I’m going to you just the way it has been with me. Trust that it would make sense to you and speak to different situations.
Random Thought #1
I was reading an article by Al Kolff ‘Handling Client Expectations’ and he was bemoaning the fact that he had meetings with clients and come up with a software which was exactly what the client wanted. He said, “I gave it to them and they were happy with it but not ecstatic with it. It was like delivering the steak without the sizzle.” You may have been to a restaurant where either you’ve ordered a sizzler or somebody else has, and the waiter comes with the platter which is steaming and sizzling and places it in front of you. You get your facial sauna even before you tuck into your sizzler. But when all the sizzle has died down, it boils down to some kind of meat and vegetable dish. But the whole ambience of the sizzler coming right through that restaurant, being placed in front of you, everybody looking at it, you salivating over it; all has to do with the ambience that was created with the sizzler.
As I read Al Kolff’s article (it was really a blog) where he talked about meeting the expectation and yet it didn’t bring the sizzle from his client, I was reminded that somehow sometimes, that’s our case as well. We have the wherewithal; we have what it takes to produce the goods for the people that we work with or the clients who we interact with or engage with. Yet somehow even after delivering, there is something that is lacking. That ‘lack’ sometimes has to do with us. Are we packaging ourselves well? Do we present ourselves well? Could that be the sizzle that is lacking in the things that we do?
I remember buying an Apple computer sometime back and was so impressed with the packaging that it came in. it was so beautifully packaged and yet the Mac would sell by itself; you could walk in and buy it. Yet they set so much in store by packaging it well. I thought that maybe there was a lesson for us: that however good we are in the things that we do, maybe we also need to package ourselves well, so that what we have is welcomed by the people who need us.
Random Thought #2:
In our workplaces, we have people who work for us, who over time, will get to the place where they do things for you because they respect you immensely. It goes beyond job description. It goes beyond doing something because it is part of what they have to do. It boils down to doing something out of love and respect. And sometimes when that happens and they do something wrong, the letdown is huge. When they don’t meet your expectations and they goof up, they can fall very far. Typically what happens then, is that you lose a good person because they retreat to a place where they used to be; a place where you met up with them and nurtured and brought them to the place where they are right now. When they crawl back into that hole, what they want is for you to reach in and bring them out.
Typically leadership doesn’t do that. Typically you say, “Well, this is an environment where you pull yourself up by the bootstrap and you get out of it. You goofed up and now you have to make the amends.” And you leave people there. I was reminded that sometimes people want you to follow them back into that hole where they are, pat them on the back and bring them out.
I am reminded of a story I heard about a sergeant, who would return to the barracks every Saturday after drinking himself silly. This happened every weekend. He would walk into the barracks late at night, take off his heavy army shoes and throw them across the room where the rest of the men were sleeping, waking they up. Finally one of the men got the courage, found the sergeant in a good mood and said, “Hey Serge, when you come in after a night out on the town and you throw your boots, it wakes us up. Could you not throw them but put them down lightly? The sergeant agreed but the next weekend, when he came back quite intoxicated, he took off the first boot, threw it across the room and suddenly remembered, even in his inebriated state, that the men had asked him not to throw the boots. So he stopped and didn’t throw the other boot. Five minutes later, one voice called from across the room and said, “Serge, for heaven’s sake, throw the other boot.”
There’s a sense of expectation when one was thrown, and waiting for the second. Until that happens, we can’t carry on. That’s the way it is with expectations. People who have let us down, want us to deal with it. Sometimes we allow those situations to drift. We don’t address it and we lose good people; people who would give everything to work for you, who would do anything that you ask. But because they let you down, they don’t know how to crawl back out of that hole that they’ve gone into.
Maybe this morning, you know somebody who is in that place; maybe you need to go after them and bring them out.
Random Thought #3:
This is about empowering the people that you work with. Theodore Roosevelt said, “The best executive is the one who has the sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done and the self-restraint enough to keep themselves from meddling with them while they are doing it.” You have good people around you. Are you letting them be who they are? Are you empowering them?
John Maxwell in his book ‘The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership’ talks about the law of empowerment. He says, “Only empowered people can reach their potential.” Sometimes leaders don’t empower people because of a desire for job security; that we are weak and wonder if we empower, whether it will make us dispensable. Or we want to resist change. Or we lack self-worth. But the key is that when we empower people, more and more gets done.
I remember years back, reading a one-liner that said, “There is no limit to what a man or a woman can do, if he/she doesn’t mind who gets the credit.” Ultimately it boils down to that. We want to be able to do much and if we are willing to give away the credit and not hog it, much can be accomplished.
So, random thoughts for you this morning:
Are you packaging yourself well?
Are you going after the people who have let you down?
Are you empowering the people who are around you?
God Bless You All.
No comments:
Post a Comment