FYI

Life Is A Blur: Photo Credit Richard Chicoine iCopyright 2008

PMS Is Not What You Think

Have you noticed that we’re all speaking in short forms? The online dictionary of abbreviations lists 662,000 short forms of words in 11 categories, including one of “modern slang”. I couldn’t resist. I had to peek.

LOL’s most common interpretation is Laughing Out Loud or Lots of Love, but its meaning has spread to Little Old Lady and Loser of Love. What about OOO? Out Of Office. How about SEX? That’s Software Exchange, or Shipment Exception Code. WTF is a Waste Treatment Facility. Let’s just combine all of that and what do we get? OOO – SEX - WTF!

The point is, that communication is speeding up. Everythins is a blur. When did it become easier to message someone across the room instead of walking 20 steps to talk? Or instant dial? There’s a problem or two building up. It scares the SOOM: something out of me.

There’s a whole new consulting industry emerging from team communication dysfunctions. Emails are one of the hottest problem areas in many organizations. What people write may not be what the other person “reads”. Relationships and teams easily fall apart and time is wasted in correcting assumptions and misinterpretations. People get P.O.’d by the tone of your “voice” when the intention of the message loses its true meaning.

Fact and feeling are closely related, just like IQ and EQ – the intellectual quotient and emotional quotient. Short-cuts in communication also cut productivity, efficiency and effectiveness - when the workforce is anonymous. Abbreviated phrases have transformed into ETS: Electronic Translation Systems and the translations may be far less the perfect. SOS!

PMS in my vocabulary means, Preventative Maintenance Systems. Yes, I acknowledge the other common female connection, as well as Please Make Snacks and Psammomatous Melanotic Schwannoma.

The point of stopping to study our acronyms, is to take a moment to reflect on what it takes to “get along around here”. In our efforts to save time, to condense our lives into cubicles of acronyms, when do we schedule our own PMS? It’s OK for industry and manufacturing to shut down for maintenance. What about Preventative Maintenance for our “people systems”? What about catching up on red tape and organizing tools? Cleaning out that inbox? Talking to real people about real opportunities and what everyone is thinking? Leading by walking around instead of hitting "send"?

PMS means we take the time to celebrate achievements and partial successes, or to bury failed projects.

Take a good look at industries which excel in the world’s competitive marketplace. Bombardier, for example, puts “People First”, and then quality, responsiveness and cost. Does this sequence make sense for your work and leadership?

Warning: If people are condensed into faceless acronyms in your workplace, it’s time to change.

Maggie Chicoine is a professional speaker, master coach and team facilitator specializing in Strategies to Think Ahead. Reach her at 1 800 587 1767 or www.theideasculptor.com

Leadership Special Post

Inspired Advice

What if you could find the solution to a problem by combining two contrasting ideas?

A key responsibility in leadership is digging up answers for situations that emerge from bottlenecks and gaps in the system. Traditional problem solving techniques may overlook an approach that not only analyzes the situation, but becomes a source of inspiration and innovation for the whole team.

Explore the Intersections

Experienced leaders know that there is a point of intersection that merges seemingly unrelated concepts. By combining contrasting thoughts, exploring random arrangements and sequences, ground breaking explanations may emerge. Prepare to be surprised.

This answers why solutions often come from sources that don’t seem to be related to the task at hand. And why innovative companies hire mavericks to shake up the thinking around the board room table.

So what’s the point?

In my work as a Coach and Facilitator, I find leaders who don’t take advantage of intersectional opportunities. Talented leaders are unintentionally stuck in ruts. Teams become uninspired. Brilliant ideas at meetings are ignored, and most often not voiced. The systems in these organizations lack influence, the power to be heard.

Being innovative is risky business, especially when fear takes over the fun.

However, when people are ready for an ingenious approach, they hop on board easily. The first clue to readiness is laughter. If your meetings are housed in silence, you know that the clout of imagination has left the building.

Give people permission to play, connect and use their intuition. Allow everyone to combine fields and disciplines in random ways in search of a solution that works in reality. Instead of judging, generate.

A Leadership Intersection Example

What if you could be taught relevant leadership skills from an unlikely, unrelated profession? Let’s criss-cross “horse whisperer” with “dog whisperer” and “baby whisperer” as an example. I am recommending time spent wisely watching the National Geographic Channel.

Horse Sense

Training a wild horse can be an arduous and daunting task. Horse whisperers have learned, that their best approach is to pitch the official methodologies and instead, pay attention to feelings. They recognize that many of the problems with animal behaviors are a result of the way that they are handled. Patience and a genuine desire to communicate bring about a stronger relationship. That’s where you make it or break it.

Author of “The Horse Whisperer”, Nicholas Evans, says, “I truly believe that one of our problems as a species is that we have lost our animal nature and have come to think we are superior to all other species. We have stepped out of the circle of life and have come to believe that our highly developed rational/intellectual sense is the only one that matters. In so doing, we have lost use of our other senses (our common sense, especially).”


Dog Days

Dog whisperers find that unruly canines need structure and discipline. A calm, assertive approach leads to submission, which is not cowering, but a respect for leadership.

As Cesar Millan, a professional dog whisperer stresses, “being leader of the pack does not imply strong punishment and corrections but an assertive, confident approach where the dog recognizes your leadership.”

Baby Wisdom

Sheyne Rowley, the Australian Baby Whisperer, emphasizes a safe and secure environment, room for independence with guidance, and a routine for managing transitions. Babies have questions, and they become frustrated when they cannot communicate their needs. Behavior problems signal that something is wrong and the ripple effects the whole family. “When mama and baby ain’t happy, nobody’s happy.”

Whispering Leadership

When we intersect the three unrelated “whisperers”, and extract the leverage for leadership, we learn that:

* The stronger your authentic relationships, the more leverage you create
* Intuitive listening is crucial in the mix
* Individualized approaches maximize the whole team’s performance
* Frustration and behaviorial problems are signals within the system: do you hear the cry?
* Your leadership can’t be assumed. How are you positioning the role?

Just Do This:

I encourage you to hunt for leadership techniques from a wide variety of resources.

But even more of a priority is to ask your own team for feedback. Let them assess your style, and use the opportunity to deepen your relationship with each person. Let them find the unexpected connections. Let them whisper to you.

Maggie Chicoine is a professional Coach, Speaker and writer based in Thunder Bay Ontario Canada. “Experience Speaks, with a twist of ingenuity”

Reach her at 1 800 587 1767 or http://www.theideasculptor.com/

Reprint this article? Email for permission. maggiechicoine@gmail.com