A real shortcut or perceived?

I went into a restaurant last night and the waiter said ‘One’, with a finger in the air like ’table for 1’; without seeing my response he took a menu, directed me to a table. ‘I’m here to collect a takeaway order’, I said.

He took me to the counter, handed me the takeaway menu, opening it and pointing at all the tasty choices. ‘Thank you. I’ve already ordered via phone so I’m here to pick up.’ ‘Oh, of course’, he said.

Three assumptions: Dining in, dining alone, need to order.

We can see a lot of the same kinds of situations at work which can lead us to the perceived shortcut of assumptions. It’s more effective and human to pause assumption and go with what people present you with, what the need is right here, right now.

This is relevant for leaders in conversations, meetings and workshops.

Don’t assume people will move or change at the time, speed or direction you want. That’s an old outdated mindset of control. Rather meet them where they are and go from there.

This is the newer mindset of facilitation. Contemporary, collaborative and effective, the Leader as a Facilitator. Give a like below; what's your experience with assumptions.. or takeaway?

'Any old map will do'

I wrote earlier about sensemaking and how we need it to collaborate, make decisions and make progress. How do we ‘make sense’, particularly in a group? Currently, we sit around a table, look at each other and talk at each other. It’s so verbal. Blah blah and blah, and some more blah blah. We’re trying to explain things, influence, persuade, educate, inform, involve and engage.

All of that with words? That’s a big ask of any words coming out of our mouth to achieve.

As if we should all be famous orators, preachers and inspirers! But some of us aren’t. And it can be unsafe in some workplaces to even open your mouth to put forward your thoughts. For making sense, you don’t need fancy drawing skills. You need a map.

Thanks to Sensemaking guru Dr Karl Weick’s advice, ‘any old map will do.’ You see, a map provides us with a point of reference, a starting point. To start to make sense, get some of the information - words, shapes, ideas - onto something map-ish; a note pad, tablet, white board, flip chart.

It need not be pretty. It needs only to be practical. It’s a starting point after all.

Do you trust yourself?

In this era of swift delivery to market, rapid change and mega transformations, how do we respond in ways that build TRUST in a team, unit, project or enterprise? At the heart of trust is you, me, us.

The question I think of in building trust is “Do you trust yourself?” Do you trust your ideas, your intuition, your actions, your capabilities?

I’ll be speaking at hashtag#ITARC19 in Stockholm in May 2019; it's the 12th year of Sweden’s largest conference for IT architects. This year, the theme of the conference is ’trust’.

Over 2 days, we will look at trust from different angles: a day of conference; then a day of in-depth workshops. My keynote on Day 1 will be ‘Do you trust yourself?’ Then I’ll deliver a workshop on Day 2 on ‘Cognitive Load Coping' - how to handle all of the information that flows to us and around us, how to cope with and counter information overload or that feeling of information overwhelm.

So what are your thoughts: Do you trust yourself? 

Match the work to the meaning and the meaning to the work

Match the work to the meaning and the meaning to the work.

1. A leader presented the team with a 'roadmap' of what was ahead. It was a spreadsheet table full of words.

2. A manager discussed the need for a team member to 'step up' and showed them a page with specific details. It was boxes of text going across the page.

3. A sales team leader presented at the annual conference and inspired the team to 'lift' their performance. They showed a list of dot points going down the screen.

Our language -- and our work -- are rich in metaphors. If you're speaking in them, then why not show them? 👉🏽 Show... a roadmap -- or at least a road! :-)

👉 Show a series of steps that rise, diagonally up the page.

👉🏾 Show information that lifts up from the current level of performance.

Help people make sense of what you're saying and communicating by matching the work to the meaning and the meaning to the work. 

A story will help you make sense

When the world feels all upside down and its challenging to understand what's happening or why, it's often in hindsight that we're able to see what went on.

This is sense making at work. It's how we connect the dots and draw some conclusions from what was uncertain or complex.

With Sensemaking rated as a vital capability for the future of work as work keeps getting re-worked, we've got to look at human, helpful and effective ways to make sense - that don't involve drowning in fathoms of data.

In making sense, stories are critically important. Not so much the telling of stories, rather the hearing, the distilling and the getting to the essence. That's the sense part.

Even micro narratives, tiny little slivers of a story are worth grabbing and capturing. It could be a phrase, a statement, a couple of words, a slang term or a quote.

When people drop these little micro-gems into the conversation, look out, grab them and capture them. Reflect them. These will help you make sense.

It’s a little like how panning for gold might give you hundreds or thousands of little pieces of golden glitter, but no big nuggets. Yet it’s the mounting up of those little shimmers that can give you the right to say you’ve ‘struck gold’.

So don’t discount the little pieces of glitter, the little slivers of a story, the tiny segments or phrases or grabs. Together they can make some wonderful sense.

In sensemaking and making sense, you’ve got to tune in those listening skills to hear the slivers of stories; to listen to what people are saying and sharing with you… to capture those.

Don’t just wait for facts and data. Engage in the anecdotes, the stories, the tales and the telling.

In my earlier career, my first career, I worked in public relations. Oooh, don't throw tomatoes or boo and hiss. It was good PR. It was community relations. I worked in public health, education, government, training, media, sport. It was about helping people understand what was going on and how they could either get involved … or run the other way!

Whatever the topic, project, program of work or PR piece I was working on, we always had to craft key messages. When you watch someone present to the media, and if they've been media trained, they'll be delivering their content in sound bites and key chunks - those repeatable, printable, quotable quotes that the media like to broadcast. It's a short chunk of sweet loveliness on the topic. (Oh and at the bad end of the scale are those nothingness quotes that politicians like to sprout. Not those.)

The same can apply in communication, leadership and workplaces the world over. You need some sound bites and digestible chunks for your listeners and viewers to take in and understand - for your employees, teams and tribes to grab hold of.

Gather together the little slices, pieces, chunks and cues. Together they can give you incredible sense and help show what people are thinking, wondering, learning, sensing and making.

Collect the stories you hear - even the tiny little ones - capture them, visualize them, share them and reflect on them… put them together, for they will help you – and the people you’re working with - make sense.