Head in the Cloud

Accountability Productivity Transformation

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Key Point: We can’t afford to waste time redoing work. I was reminded of this the hard way last Thursday night. The experience negatively impacted my readers, writing partner/editor, company team members, dinner guests, and me. I was very frustrated and this cascaded to my executive assistant and IT support team as well.

I write my blogs in advance of the night Garrett and I review it and schedule publication. We know it’s important to our readers to receive the blog consistently (every Tuesday and Friday like clockwork). Quite a few of our North American readers make it part of their personal routine to read it first thing the morning it’s published. So it’s important not to miss. It usually takes me 1.5 to two hours to write the draft of one blog. This past week, I wrote blog No. 2 of the week on a Tuesday flight to Toronto. After getting the draft done, I saved it on my device, an iPad Pro. I knew I had meetings all day Thursday and a dinner meeting Thursday night, resulting in a very tight timeframe for Garrett and me to review that night before scheduling publication for Friday 5:00 a.m. PST. As soon as my Thursday all-day meeting ended, I grabbed my iPad and expected to pull up my draft, add a few finishing touches, send to Garrett and head out to my dinner. Easy, peasy.

Surprise… All my company email had completely disappeared off my device. My blog, sitting in a draft folder in outlook, was inaccessible. Two hours later, after heroic efforts by my exceptional assistant and a top notch IT teammate, my email was restored. However, the event permanently wiped out my draft blog with zero recovery options. So two hours late for my dinner meeting and having to do a complete rewrite, well frankly, I lost my energy and practical window to create a new blog. Garrett, his ever creative and resourceful self, wisely chose to write an apology blog and attach a helpful article. You know the rest.

With current advanced cloud based networks like Google’s, the process of digital work is changed forever. I’m writing this blog in my Gmail account, and that is now securely stored in the Google cloud. So what happened last Thursday will not happen to me again. I will never press “save” again and store content in a folder held on servers behind a fire wall and/or on any device. With my drafts in Gmail, Google Docs, Google Drive, etc, my blog will always be available. All I need to do is grab ANY device, log in and my stuff is always there. There is a remote chance that the Google network could go “down,” but if that happened we’d likely be experiencing some catastrophic “world” event in which having access to my data would likely be a secondary priority.

Cloud based storage and fantastic productivity/communication platforms like Google’s G Suite results in the work experience changing for the better, forever. Accessing content from anywhere there is internet access, on any device, at any time, allows us FREEDOM and CHOICE; two huge contributors to personal happiness. And how we work is being transformed as well. Being able to video connect individuals and groups easily, having multiple people from anywhere working on a single version document, resulting in one version of truth, integrating with search, etc. etc; well the possibilities regarding reinventing work are limited only by our imagination. It is very exciting, and possibilities for 10x work improvement are literally endless.

In my new role as Chief Evangelist, my team and I have the unique opportunity to make Google’s G Suite platform available to 5,000 of the best teammates in the world. Thinking about how these superb workers are going to apply this tool set/platform almost makes me giddy with excitement. The key thing to understand is that this initiative includes superb new technology AND is also first and foremost about being able to contribute and create more effectively, individually and collectively. We will also be able to more seamlessly integrate work into the way we want to live today!! This is BIG and it is TRANSFORMATIVE! Lucky us.

Character Moves:

1. Commit to working and creating with the most modern collaboration, communication and innovation tools/platforms/systems available. In today’s work this means your digital device has platforms like Google’s G Suite and applications like Slack, WhatsApp, Linkedin, etc.

2. Recognize and embrace these modern platforms from the perspective of living with more autonomy, unleashing your creativity, connecting better with others and becoming richer in every way. And as I often say: Do it now because you’re worth it.

Clouds in the Triangle,

Lorne

P.S. if you need any help learning to use these digital tools /platforms find a 9-year-old like my grandson; they are excellent tutors and fun to hang out with too!!!

One Millennial View: As my Dad knows, I often have to push myself to “do it now.” I can be a world-class procrastinator, and sometimes try to convince myself that I’m magically “more effective” if I’m on a tight deadline (probably B.S.). Thankfully, these easily accessible applications play a huge role in my professional and personal life, and despite any challenges that 2017 might bring, it’s incredible what we have access to. What a time. There’s no excuse not to utilize them.

– Garrett

Edited and published by Garrett Rubis

Visual Thinking Versus Typical Meetings

Accountability Productivity Teamwork

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Key Point: The most creative and productive meetings I have ever participated in usually involve a visual component. Whether it’s on a napkin, white board, plastering a wall with post-it notes, something extra seems to positively emerge when the discussion becomes visual. The CEO I work for embraces visual thinking. When you’re “clicking” with him, the white board or iPad Pro is filled with very visual pictures of a desired future we jointly developed. It got me thinking about why having a visual element is so effective? So a little research journey introduced me to both visual thinking and NeuroLeadership

Visual Thinking is drawing in order to make sense of the world. When we visualize something, it becomes more concrete. Complex concepts become easier to understand. Visual Thinking has been widespread in science and mathematics for many years. Along with NeuroLeadership, and design thinking, visual thinking is emerging as one of the best practices in leading-edge organizations.  

A great article by David Gray, the founder of xPlaner, a company that teaches people how to apply visual thinking and NeuroLeadership, references the SCARF model developed by David Rock, author of Your Brain at WorkQuiet Leadership, and Coaching with the Brain in Mind

“Some social needs are as important to the brain as air, food and water. If these social needs are not being met, the brain reacts in the same way as it would if you were literally starving or gasping for air.

SCARF stands for Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, and Fairness.

Status: People need to feel important, recognized, needed by others.

Certainty: People need to feel confident that they know what’s ahead, that they can predict the future with reasonable certainty.

Autonomy: People need to feel like they have control of their life, their work, and their destiny.

Relatedness: People need to feel like they belong, to trust the group they are in will look out for them.

Fairness: People need to feel like they are being treated fairly, that the ‘rules of the game’ give them a ‘fair chance.’”

Gray suggests that typical business meeting triggers anxiety and emotional distress, activating the fight-or-flight response and causing people to shut down, while visual thinking sessions address and resolve many of those issues:

“Status: In a typical meeting, status and hierarchy create distance between people. Sitting around a table increases the sense of direct threat.

A Visual Thinking session flattens the hierarchy. As soon as people start drawing, it’s ideas and insights that matter, not status. Also, because people are focused on the shared picture as opposed to each other, status takes a back seat to creating something together.

Certainty: In a typical meeting, abstract language, diagrams and complex PowerPoint slides create a sense of uncertainty about the future. It’s difficult to translate abstract ideas into concrete action. Without a clear picture, people procrastinate or act in ways that are counterproductive.

Visualizing the future makes it more tangible. Drawing a plan is thinking it through. Drawing what ‘good’ looks like, who will do what, and how, makes the future less abstract, and reduces anxiety and uncertainty about next steps, reducing resistance and making it easier to move forward.

Autonomy: In a typical meeting, the boss or presenter is in charge of the agenda and the dialogue. Other participants are reduced to listening and asking questions instead of actively contributing. This reduction in participation leads to reduced commitment and makes it less likely for people to carry the ideas forward after they leave the meeting.

In Visual Thinking sessions, everyone is involved in making ideas and plans more tangible and concrete. This increases people’s sense of control. If everyone participates in creating the picture of what will happen, it is easier for them to take ownership and run with it.

Relatedness: Typical meetings are focused primarily on the exchange of information, not team-building. Most business meetings are dry affairs. It’s blah blah blah, until it’s over. When a group of people works together to create a shared picture of their situation, their vision, and a plan to get there, they are simultaneously building a sense of who they are as a team. Creating a vision together makes it easier to take action after the session is over.

Fairness: In a typical meeting, the extroverts — people who like to talk — often get the lion’s share of the airtime. Introverts, who may have great contributions to make, may not get the time and space they need to share their ideas.”

Character Moves:

  1. Consider making visual meetings versus typical meetings a more regular part of your involvement and contribution process. In fact, if you are aren’t collectively creating pictures, models, and graphics, you may be accepting meetings in their lowest form of “blah, blah, blah.” How effective are they really?
  1. Consider where and when facilitating a meeting in which a “conversation and visual thinking” process is the best medium; where everyone is up and having a “voice.” Find out how leading organizations are applying this.
  1. The best visual thinking sessions ensure there is time for both individual reflection and group discussion. Consider referencing the book “Gamestorming” for more ideas and approaches you might apply. 
  1. Meetings need to get reimagined and reinvented. Consider visual thinking as a process to do that. We need more connected and faster moving organizations. Visual thinking and NeuroLeadership can accelerate us. Learn more about both. 

Visual thinking in the Triangle, 

Lorne  

One Millennial View: I happen to enjoy meetings, but I’ve certainly exited some of them saying “Yeah, that could have been addressed in a two paragraph email.” Now, considering my entire business is visual (for those that don’t know, I work in an online and TV video creation department), I know how crucial “seeing” something is. However, it does take time, and no business wants to or can afford to waste resources on quality, creative production if the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. As Gray alludes though, a voice-only platform can be “blah blah blah.” Meetings are great when done well, so how about this solution? If it can just be said in an email – email it. If the meeting involves visual thinking, then we’ll GLADLY put in the work. I’ll even order pizza.

– Garrett

Edited and published by Garrett Rubis

Order the Combo! It’s a Better Deal

Accountability Contribution Productivity

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Key Point: Embrace your very hectic and busy life by considering the following two ideas. I’m suggesting you order them up as a “combo deal” for your life going forward: Deep work and essentialism.  

The formula for “Deep Work” is: High quality work produced = (time spent) x (intensity of focus). Essentialism, as I refer to it is this context, is about taking control of choices and intentionally deciding where to focus energy.  It involves learning to filter through all of life’s options and select only those that are truly essential. When we have the combo of understanding and applying BOTH concepts, you and I will get more of the results we most want in life. I see so many people who allow their life to be controlled by the many distractions around them. And FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) adds to the conundrum. I actually worry about people’s emotional well-being because the shiny baubles of unlimited opportunity populate people’s dreams and yet they allow much of their time to be dictated by default rather than intention. Time passes and little of what they have dreamed about has occurred. Their life has been dictated by the rationalization of default, (“I will think about doing it later”), and the rut of a routine that’s often meaningless to what’s really important. (“It’s so less stressful when I just do what’s in front of me”).

Adam Grant became the youngest professor to receive tenure at Wharton and within five years, became the school’s youngest full professor. Grant is also a New York Times bestselling author and prolific researcher who performs at a very high level. In his book, Deep Work, Georgetown professor and author Cal Newport notes that Grant decided early in his career that productivity was a scientific problem that could be solved, and one of the fundamental components of his solution is doing “deep work.” Grant batches hard but important, intellectual work into long, uninterrupted stretches. According to Newport, rather than continuously work on research throughout the year, Grant reserves the fall semester for his teaching responsibilities, and the effort that he puts into his classes and students has resulted in him being Wharton’s top-rated professor for four straight years. The spring semester and summer are then dedicated to research. When he’s working in his office, he’ll sometimes spend a few days working in total isolation. During these stretches, Grant will set up an email auto-reply telling people he’s not answering messages for a few days.

In his exceptional work, Essentialism, author Greg McKeown draws on the experience and insight from working with truly exceptional leaders who have achieved the disciplined pursuit of less. Essentialism according to McKeown, is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done. The way of the Essentialist means living by design, not by default. It involves distinguishing the vital few from the trivial, recognizing that if we don’t prioritize our lives, someone else will. Sometimes what we DO NOT do is just as important as what we do! And we know that some efforts just produce exponentially better results than others. As leadership Sherpa John Maxwell has stated, “You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.” 

Character Moves:

  1. Honestly answer the following: What are the BIG things in life you DEEPLY want to do? If you can’t write this down in less than a few minutes, you haven’t defined it. Are you able and disciplined enough to batch deep work when you want and need to focus on your essential things?
  1. To discern what is truly essential, you need space to think, time to look and listen. However, you also need to give yourself permission to play, have the wisdom to refuel, and the discipline to apply the above highly selective criteria to the choices you make. Remember that there is something self-propelling and powerful about visibly seeing progress toward a goal. You’re worth it!!

Eating the Combo in The Triangle,

Lorne  

One Millennial View: I think some Millennials are often told that it’s ok not to be “hungry” yet. We live as if it’s 4 p.m., we’d like a “combo meal” later, but we’re not ready to eat till 8 p.m. and we haven’t really looked at the menu yet. We’re encouraged to try appetizers. But, sooner or later, our waiter is coming to take our order and if we don’t know what big things we want, they might just move on to another table. I guess it’s never too early to develop an appetite.

– Garrett

Edited and published by Garrett Rubis

The Co-Worker Code

Productivity Respect Teamwork

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Key Point: Do you know about the “co-worker code?” Well, probably not, because I just made the term up as a way of describing something I’m paying more attention to these days. It’s the magic that happens when the relationship between co-workers transcends almost all else. It is more than teamwork, yet it is fundamental to becoming a great team. The “code” is like an unspoken secret handshake, where people working together come to understand that what happens between them matters most. They will never intentionally let each other down. While the views of managers and others count, the “thumbs up” approval of the co-worker code is at the top of the ladder of importance.

Recently, I was presented with some data that reinforced (more than any other factor) a great place to work is influenced by what happens between teammates. Obviously having a compelling purpose and great leadership is necessary, but is surprisingly insufficient for achieving workplace greatness. Have we really paid enough attention to what takes place between co- workers?

I really do pay attention to what Google does in part because they throw incredible resources and analytics behind what they focus on. The following refers to a team productivity study Google recently undertook, and I think it might be related to my early thinking about the co-workers code. As per the Feb. edition of Quartz:

“Google wants to know the secret to building a more productive team. The tech giant charged a team to find out. The project, known as Project Aristotle, took several years, and included interviews with hundreds of employees and analysis of data about the people on more than 100 active teams at the company… Google’s data-driven approach ended up highlighting what leaders in the business world have known for a while; the best teams respect one another’s emotions and are mindful that all members should contribute to the conversation equally. It has less to do with who is in a team, and more with how a team’s members interact with one another.”

The obvious and simple “aha” behind this, seems to be a nest of psychological safety that high performing co-worker teams ideally achieve. The magic or “code” happens when teammates deeply care for one another, and accept the authentic contributions of all. When that happens, in consort with a compelling company purpose and great leadership; well, it becomes cultural magic. 

Character Moves: 

  1. Pay more attention to the co-worker code and conditions for psychological safety between teammates. Allow for co-workers to invest in it. If you’re a leader, promote it. And consciously advance it with your own co-workers.
  1. Remember that after every meeting, co-workers are texting or talking to each other starting with the question… “What did you think about that?” We know the answer to that really matters. Make it matter more by promoting the co-worker code to find the magic. 

Co-worker Code in The Triangle,

Lorne 

One Millennial View: Good, relatable co-workers aren’t always going to be in our control. They’re not exactly a group of friends we can pick out, but maybe it’s one of those things that we might want to be more picky about. When I hear stories of friends who have co-workers they enjoy spending time away from work with, I know that wherever I wind up next, I’ll be looking for a similar situation. I can’t wait for that job interview where I find a company who spends weekends like I do, or has similar past experiences and passions. I feel like a company with likeminded individuals “on and off the field” will likely create the best results and be a pleasure to be part of.

– Garrett

Edited and published by Garrett Rubis

Taking a Pause

Accountability Productivity Well-being

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Key Point: Why are so many of us struggling to effectively integrate work and life? More than ever in my 40 plus years in the workplace, I see people grappling with the personal situation they find themselves in. I was reading an article by Janice Marturano of the Institute for Mindful Leadership, and I found the following excerpts from her blog resonating with my observations:

“A middle manager with a family gets up at 6 a.m., he helps get the kids ready for school, heads off to a day of constant meetings and calls (he’s not sure if he ate lunch), leaves for home around 7 p.m. to help with homework and household needs, followed by 3 hours on the computer to catch up on emails that he didn’t get to during the day, and then falls into bed after midnight. Sound familiar? Does anyone think this man is bringing his best leadership anywhere-at work or at home? Or is it more likely that he is going through the motions, just trying to survive? The qualities we need to be our best selves are unlikely to arise in this state of being… Just look around your workplace or listen to those in your family. We do not need to look far to see people going through the motions or so busy that they really don’t know what they are doing. How many are taking sleeping pills or antidepressants? How many would feel guilty about staying home when they are sick?… The old model of leadership and the old definitions of excellence have left us with an epidemic of employee disengagement and widespread stress related health problems that threaten to bankrupt our health care system… There is no simple fix. But we need to begin by stopping long enough to see and feel and know what our lives today are about, what our organizations are about, and how we want to be in the world. We already know what leadership excellence is… Now we need more leaders with the courage to develop it.” 

I’m not foolish enough to think that somehow the world of work will ever be utopia. Nor will our personal lives. This is a by-product of being human. However, I do think that we can personally be more mindful and intentional about the choices we make. 

Character Moves: 

  1. Just stop for a moment. What are you doing? Why? Is it working for you? If you are a formal leader what are you doing to help people be more present with themselves and others? What kind of example do you provide?
  2. Think about using an app like Headspace to help take that needed pause in your life. You’re worth it. 
  3. If you’re a top leader, take responsibility for the culture and environment you’ve created. Any extreme views like winning at all costs or purposeless mediocrity are equally dysfunctional. There is lots of room in between; the act of creating organizational value and personal contribution coexisting in a very healthy and integrated way.

A pause in The Triangle, 

Lorne  

One Millennial View: That description of that middle manager’s life in Janice Marturano’s blog above should just be titled “Every Millennial’s Nightmare.” But let’s face it, it’s likely that could absolutely be our future reality, and you know what? That’s OK. Here’s my perspective: If we look at it with optimism, it’s really NOT THAT BAD. That blog OMITS the part about how he has the luxury of a family… How he has a home to come to and fro, and therefore the means to buy one… How parts of his day were likely spent managing his Fantasy Football team with his friends, laughing, texting his wife (or whatever), planning a trip, and taking that new boot camp class at the gym he really likes where the instructor kind of laughs at him (but he’s getting better at it). Oh, and his kids aren’t that bad either! Dare we assume he might even love them? Y’know?!? But her blog is meant to paint this endless cycle of “blah.” And THAT is the nightmare part of it from one Millennial perspective. What if life was as daunting, boring and “blah” as Marturano’s bummer of a blog threatens for it to be? It’s not that I’m scared of working a lot, juggling long hours, family obligations, or answering late emails. What I’m TERRIFIED of, is that time spent is boring, uninspired, unappreciated, useless and routine. Thanks to blogs like that one, I can remind myself that I can at the very least, control how I read into it.  

– Garrett

Edited and published by Garrett Rubis

Discretionary Time Off is Coming

Accountability Management Productivity

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Key Point: We ALL need to recharge, refuel, attend to personal matters, care for others and sometimes heal ourselves. Of course, the way each of us really needs to manage these matters is very individual and unique. Yet most organizations approach this reality through standardized and homogeneous policies reflected in paid vacation days, leave and sick time. The essence of most current “time off” guidelines is that workers accumulate vacation days based on tenure and receive a set number of days to accommodate for sickness. Over the years, a myriad of “other leave” policies to manage the realities of life (like bereavement) have emerged as well.

Institutions employ people whose full time jobs include administering and accounting for the implementation of these systems. The question being asked more frequently today is whether the approach to current time off policy is antiquated. As an example, leading technology company LinkedIn is going to a 17 paid holidays PLUS a totally discretionary time off policy starting Nov. 1. Essentially, each employee is on an “honor” system to take as much time as they need. Netflix, Virgin and many other companies with progressive policies have done so already and/or are considering it. The company I’m the Chief People Officer of is actively reviewing our stance right now. Why?

When my father was a farmer, who set his personal time off? When I had my own business for 10 years, who set my personal time off policy? The fact is that when you are exclusively responsible for results, you and only you determine “time off.” There is no HR manual or boss to guide the decision. In most entrepreneurial scenarios, the consequences of time away from working are usually directly connected to “putting food on the table” and appropriately the decision is very personal. No results = no money to eat, let alone vacation. It is a very self-accountable environment. Of course, the above analogy doesn’t exactly translate to most organizations for the simple reason that the majority of us are employees and not owners. So the consequences of our time off decision-making are a little more complicated. Nevertheless, most would agree with the following:

  1. Each of our personal requirements for applying time away from work (how much, when, etc.) is unique and highly variable. Subsequently, many current time away from work policies are inadequate at best and can drive deceptive behavior at worst (for example, calling in “sick” for [insert fake reason]).
  1. The cost of administering the application of “traditional” systems involves a lot of waste/inefficiency and unnecessary adjudication (like buying vacations, paying vacations out, complicated absenteeism formula, accrued time off liabilities, and so on).
  1. Achieving results and making a contribution is much more important than counting time as a surrogate. And time away from work is not necessarily or should be a reward. (Why do I want to be away from what I like to do, am good at, and people I like to be with)? At the same time we know that refueling and energizing is necessary. Recognizing how to integrate work and things that happen in life is also reasonable. Segregating simply on time (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with four weeks vacation after 20 years seniority) is appropriately dissolving. Yay! Also, seniority as a means to earn four plus weeks off seems silly.
  1. Mobile technology allows many of us to complete work and achieve results in very different ways. A lot of information workers are not tied to a location or set time. Work and life is much more integrated than segregated. We need to manage ourselves rather than to be “supervised.” Most of us can appreciate the fact that no results will conclude with no job.

Character Moves:

  1. If you could organize personal time off in any way that worked for you while effectively contributing to your organization, what would the ideal arrangement look like? Ask yourself and your organization why it can’t be that way.
  1. Open yourself to constructively confront many policies and assumptions that we have historically accepted about work life. The way many of us apply personal time off is one of them. Let’s change it for the better where we work.

Accountable time off in The Triangle,

Lorne

One Millennial View: I’m a huge proponent of this and I’m thankful that work life is moving in this direction. In my industry, it couldn’t be more feasible. All I care about providing for my company is valuable results, and it’s true with today’s technology that I can do 90 percent of my work from anywhere at any time. The kicker is that there are team members who DO need to be on location, so how is it fair to them if I’m sitting in my gym shorts delivering my work via Box.com in between loads of laundry? I can feel the envy already. That’s the biggest concern for many. No one wants to let a team member down or seem expendable because they’re not in eyesight. But employees can’t be naïve for too much longer… It’s a big, accessible, connected world out there and often I bet you can get better work done with a scenic view and wifi instead of cubicle walls. I’d love to try it. 

– Garrett

Edited and published by Garrett Rubis