Key Point: I’m amazed how being open or growth minded is unrelated to age and experience. Every organization and person is going through change. It’s just a law of nature (and maybe technology)? I’ve seen “stick in the mud” resistance from people of all ages, backgrounds, and vice versa. Being a continuous student is a mindset and characteristic of being respectful. It is the essence of respect: To look again. How about you? Are you open to new ideas? Really? How would you feel if these principles were implemented in your workplace?
A. People at all levels stop doing any activity that is a waste of their time, the customer’s time, or the company’s money.
B. Employees have the freedom to work any way they want.
C. Every day feels like Saturday.
D. People have an unlimited amount of paid time off (PTO) as long as they get their work done.
E. Work isn’t a place you go, it’s something you do.
F. Arriving at the workplace at 2:00 p.m. is not considered coming in late. Leaving the office at 2:00 p.m. is not considered leaving early.
G. Nobody talks about how many hours they work.
H. Every meeting is optional.
I. It’s OK to grocery shop on a Wednesday morning, or catch a movie on a Tuesday afternoon.
J. There are no work schedules.
K. Nobody feels guilty, overworked, or stressed out.
L. There aren’t any last-minute fire drills.
M. There is no judgment about how you spend your time.
These are the guideposts for a Results-Only Work Environment, developed by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson, the authors of several books including their latest, Why Managing Sucks and How to Fix It. Dan Pink, a leading researcher and author says that these guideposts represent the “biggest ideas in talent in the last decade.” Gary Hamel, one of the world’s top thinkers and writers on effective managing opines, “In the 21st century management needs to be reinvented… Cali and Jody will tell you how to get started.”
Character Moves:
- Take the time to really examine each of those 13 guideposts. What do your reactions tell you about yourself and your assumptions about work? Be a critical thinker. Neither accept nor reject any until you give them some real soak time.
- Read the work and thinking behind each guidepost as explained by Ressler and Thompson. (Click here to download the introduction for free. All 13 guideposts are briefly explained). Does this alter your thinking? Assumptions? Why? Why not? What, if anything, are your fearful about? Be open.
- As we get more experienced we actually know less every day and must open ourselves to new thinking that challenges our assumptions. Our view of the world is just one view. Humbling ourselves allows us to continue being a student and open to other perspectives on a daily basis.
Open to new guideposts in The Triangle,
Lorne
P.S. Please pass on the link to my new book to anyone you think will enjoy it.