the blog Synergy

Goodbye?...See you soon.

2006-11-06T14:42:00.000-08:00

I feel very grateful to Troy for having made possible to me to be part of The Blog Synergy. In this time I have learnt to appreciate the very different perspectives of my mates, their talent, and their human quality.

I hope we can meet personnally one day. I know it will be easier with some of you, and quite difficult with others, but it is something I am looking forward.

Thank you Troy for your generosity.

Thank you Rosa for your courage.

Thank you Steve for your kindness.

Thank you Trevor for being there.

Thank you Rocky for your sense of humor.

Thank you Phil for your enthusiasm.

I love you.

Passing along

2006-10-19T18:13:00.000-07:00

Saying goodbye even if it is to just the Blog Synergy, still is a recognition of a time passing. An accomplishment of some note worthiness, yet bitter sweet. Our expectations were to tackle synergy and see what we could find out.

We found out quite a bit. It has been recorded here. You can see all the doors opening. See the evidence on each one's blog.

The energy of synergy is still happening but in ways and efforts that are no longer focused here. It has been a great preparation for the road ahead. There is so much to be thankful for.

I know that I am thankful for

Troy Worman - his ever changing templates at Orbit Now. His tireless questioning, probing for the good. Still a teammate at the Hitchhiker's Guide.

Felix Gerena - the depth of his thought, his careful expressions of humanity at Brand Soul.

Phil Gerbyshak - making it great everyday, relentlessly expanding the network, a good role model

Trevor Gay - the simplicity guy, always bringing it back to the front lines, to the doers

Rosa Say - the lady, amongst this group of guys who kept us on task, taught us all the real meaning of aloha

So while the Blog Synergy door closes, others are opening. Keep in touch with this group. Greater things are destined for their future.

Technorati Tags : blog, synergy, relationships, learning, communications

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Aloha as in Goodbye...for now

2006-10-06T13:25:00.000-07:00

Well everyone, we've decided to move the blog Synergy to the old "no longer posting but still lots of great information" section of the blog world, perhaps one day to be resurrected by us, or by others who feel they can show the mojo that is synergy to the world.

As each of my teammates shared their gifts so freely with me, I thought it only fair that I share what I feel their gifts are with you, for one last time. They are in alphabetical order, though they all will remain #1 in my heart for a LONG time.

Trevor Gay - Simplicity is the Key is the message Trevor gives to all of us, and he encourages us to keep it simple. Trevor shared this with me by supporting me when I've been down, and reminding me that the simplest of acts, a thank you, can go a million miles. Thank you dear friend!

Felix Gerena - Brand Soul is Felix's home, and it is one I've learned from by being mindful to put my heart and soul into what I do. It has really been a wake-up call to me to think differently as this amigo from Spain has reminded me to think more with my heart and less with my brain. Thank you very much Felix. You've helped me more than you know.

Rocky Noe - Hillbilly PHD is what Rocky calls himself, and it is definitely appropriate. Learning doesn't just happen in the classroom...or in books. Learning happens in LIFE, and Rocky shares his life, and his lessons with us. I've learned much from Rocky's lessons, and expect to continue to learn from them.

Together, Trevor, Felix and Rocky have formed a new synergy, with a book venture appropriately titled, Three Amigos with One Message. Wonderful teamwork guys! How you spanned the miles to collaborate on a wonderful book is quite an inspiration to me. Thank you for sharing your gift with me...and with the rest of the world!

Rosa Say - Managing with Aloha is the title of Rosa's book, and one of her blogs, and it is an amazing message, and one I have LOVED learning more about. Being from Wisconsin, I knew zero Hawaiian before meeting Rosa. Now, after "talking story" with Rosa online and offline, I come to realize that aloha has so many meanings, and the Hawaiian language is amazingly rich and full of energy. One day, I will study it in depth so I can understand its richness in more detail.

Rosa has given me the gift of much aloha, much more than I can share in this brief post. Thank you for all you've shared, and all you continue to share, with me. The gift of your organization alone is worth a lifetime of hugs from me!

Steve Sherlock - Steve has shared his 2 cents with me, taken me hitchhiking around the blogosphere, and has great passion for good customer experiences. His ability to multi-think has been of great inspiration to me, as I learn from him you can separate your thoughts, but not your spirit. Steve's spirit of the goose is amazingly strong, and he has honked me on to many a new height.

Additionally, Steve has been one to pick me up when I was down and not doing what I needed to do, and I don't know if I ever told him that before. Thanks man!

Troy Worman - Last but not least, it's time to Orbit Now! with Troy. Troy gives us all the power of disorganization, and has encouraged me to not be afraid to creatively destruct things to make something bigger and better. His ever-changing themes on his blog, and from time to time on this blog, have reminded me that just because something works now, doesn't mean it can't work BETTER if we change it! Additionally, Troy finds some of the coolest stuff in the world and shares it with us on his blog, be they quotes, daily links, or just a new blog we all need to read. Thanks buddy!

Well that's everyone on our team. For now, I must say Aloha, as in goodbye, for now. But I must also say, to my teammates and now dear dear friends, Aloha as in love. You have mine, and I thank you for yours. If there is EVER anything I can do for you, just say it, and if I can do it, it's yours.

You've helped me make it great! in more ways than you'll ever know! Thank you!

Phil Gerbyshak

Technorati Tags: trevor gay, felix gerena, rocky noe, rosa say, steve sherlock, troy worman, synergy, aloha

Blog Synergy 'Wind Down' - Trevor's goodbye from England

2006-10-01T15:30:00.000-07:00

As Blog Synergy winds down I am delighted to compliment my fellow 'Synergy Bloggers':

Phil Gerbyshak – ‘Action Man.’

Phil has energy to burn and never seems to stop. He inspires many including me with his infectious enthusiasm. Phil is a young man going places and I wish him well. Nothing is ever too much trouble for Phil.

Steve Sherlock – ‘Mr Doer.’

Steve is one of those people who you can rely on with your bank balance. When Steve says he is going to do something – he does it. His is very prolific and always encourages others. A real gent – I’m proud to know him.

Rosa Say

What can I say? Rosa is the one who keeps us all ‘in order’ providing us with structure – something I am not always good at providing! Rosa is amazingly busy and despite all that she does she has an uncanny knack of making everyone feeling special. And Rosa forgave me for addressing all my team e-mails ‘Hello Guys.’

Troy Worman – Mr Modesty.

I am staggered by how much Troy can pack on to a Blog. He must have more information on his page than anyone I know! One symbolic example of his modesty is when I asked him for help on an IT problem I didn’t know how to deal with. Troy told me in simple words by return what I needed to do and it worked perfectly. Troy is a great buddy.

Felix Gerena

One of my Amigos along with Rocky Noe. Felix is very intelligent and has a wonderful academic brain. It has been a great pleasure to establish a great working relationship with Felix through our joint writing and we believe this will go from strength to strength. More important is Felix and I have become close friends.

Rocky Noe - my ‘Hillbilly friend.’

I have known Rocky for over three years and with each passing month we get closer. Rocky brings to the table a pragmatic view of life and many years of practical experience as a manager and a leader. Rocky is far too modest about his terrific writing skills and working with him in our joint writing efforts is an honour.

Final Remarks

So that is my brief testimonial to each of my Blog Synergy colleagues. Their qualities, skills and knowledge deserve thousands of words rather than these few words but we do not have space on this Blog.

Blog Synergy has been a wonderful experiment and I have learned a lot. Most of all I have got to know my team mates better and now consider all of them personal friends.

As we come to the end of Blog Synergy I am happy. All good things come to an end. We have all learned through this and we have all agreed the best thing to do is stop at this point.

I will keep in touch with all my team mates and I want to let them know through this my final Blog Synergy posting that I am always available for anything I can offer to each of them.

Keep it simple guys and lets all keep in touch.

Learning questions of synergy

2006-09-20T19:29:00.001-07:00

Rosa posed a few good questions here on the Team Synergy blog. I have been busy composing an answer (actually several answers) and I am about ready to reveal them.

Are you ready?

I hope so.

Rosa's first question:

How will our LEARNING STYLES and HABITS have to EVOLVE so that the web communications of our future serve to POWER partnerships, teams, groups and communities?

I think the key to this is our respect for the individual. The web communications are done with tools of technology: instant messaging (IM), voice over IP, email, blog, video blog, podcasting, wikis, etc. There are plenty of tools. But they are only tools. They still require people to operate and use them. We must be mindful that there is another person on the other end and they may not be as adept at the tool as we are. We must be mindful of the verbal communication studies that show 15% of the actual communication is in the words we use, another 20% in the tone of our voice, and 55% in our body language. When we do email or IM, it is only the text that is present. When video phones become common, then the body and facial expressions can come back into the picture to help convey the message.

Until then, be kind to one another.
Confirm what is being said/written, so you do not go off having half heard something.

There is more in common amongst us than there are differences. We need to be kind and patient to explore each other to let this come out into the open.

I heard (via Steve Garfield's field report on Rocketboom) Jeff Jarvis say that the battle between distribution and content was wrong, the conversation is the kingdom and trust is the king.

We need to get to a position of trust with one another in order to succeed together.

It won't be easy. But therein lies the challenge!

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Question 5

Technorati Tags : learning, synergy, trust, conversation, content, distribution

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New Learning Styles and Habits with Books

2006-09-16T15:43:00.000-07:00

In honor of Joyful Jubilant Learning 2006 this month, I had asked five more learning questions here, in the post called, The Learning Questions of Synergy.

About number 1:

How will our LEARNING STYLES and HABITS have to EVOLVE so that the web communications of our future serve to POWER partnerships, teams, groups and communities?

In the past few months, I’ve adapted my own book-reading habits into a coaching technique for the business executives who I coach. What starts as a book conversation easily segues into a coaching conversation, because the book I chose to give them for their annotation somehow relates to one of their personal growth goals, or to one of their company’s strategic objectives.

Lately, I’ve begun to extend the idea to my team coaching. For us at Say Leadership Coaching, team coaching relates to project management, and we pick real-time, work reinvention projects for workplace management teams as the “subject matter” of their Managing with Aloha curriculum. We don’t want our classes and sessions to be purely academic; what they learn must be workplace translatable for the learning to be meaningful, and to stick.

I posted more about this on www.managingwithaloha.com this morning, and I’d love to collect your thoughts on the learning process either here or there; what do you think? Do you annotate your books? How else have you made it your practice to share them, and in doing so, extend both their lives and your learning?

Read: Breathing Life into Books with Your Mana‘o

Also referenced here: The Learning Questions of Synergy

PodCamp Lunch Sunday

2006-09-10T18:34:00.000-07:00

PodCamp Lunch 1
Originally uploaded by shersteve.

The "Power of We" was in full force at the first PodCamp here in Boston this weekend. The photo shows two key types of interactions that occured during lunch. Of course, more of these occured in the halls, before and after the sessions, and during the sessions themselves.

One - conversations generated a buzz. Whether one to one, or one to multiple, there were many going on all the time.

Two - one form the conversations took was in a recorded format. Here Christopher S. Penn, white shirt black sleeve, is capturing some video during an interview with PodCampers.

The energy and synergy created by the lunch room buzz will continue to play out over the next days, weeks, months...

Stay tuned to PodCamp. There will be another one in Boston in 2007. There is talk of bring this format to other major areas. It may come you something reachable from your neighborhood.

If it does, do stop stop anywhere, get thee there. It is worth it!

Technorati Tags : PodCamp+Boston, PodCamp, blog, vlog, synergy, collaboration, cooperation, environment

The labyrinth of emotions

2006-09-10T14:49:00.000-07:00

Emotional life is still a realm full of uncertainties for many people. It is probably one of those things that most people understand as long as they age.

Last week our friend Sean made some questions to me concerning emotions. He found out that there are six basic emotions, four negative, one neutral and one positive (joy).

As I have been interested in the emotional side of experience his was my answer:

1. Your e-mail was very interesting. You distinguish six emotions, 4 dangerous, one neutral and one positive. I don't know exactly how many emotions there can exist. As anthropologists Catherine Lutz and Jean L.Briggs have found out, the naming and classifying of emotions has a lot to do with the distinctions prevailing in a certain culture. Language helps to build a culture of emotions, and of course a social Dictionary of emotional experiences or states. The most exhaustive list of emotional terms I have come across was written by Spinoza in his Ethics. That is almost a complete dictionary of affective states.

2. I agree with you that when you make exercise, your emotional tone changes for the better. There is in any person what we could call soul, and that psychoanalists like Heinz Kohut called the Self. When you strengthen you self, your soul shines and your emotional experience of events becomes enhanced. Eastern cultures have deepend far more than we have done in terms of relating self satisfaction and simple techniques like breathing or body movement.

3. Sensual touch as Joseph Lichtenberg has stated, is a source of joy and of self strengthening. You can read about this in his book "Psychoanalysis and motivation". It provides joy and liberates our soul from defensive barriers. It makes us enjoy the situation and our relationship toward things.

4. Negative emotions such as hate or shame have a semiotic value. They are signs of some kind of relationship between you and your fate, the things that happen to you, the way you relate to the world. They are difficult to handle. Jung talked about people having a function of their personality underdeveloped. He called that the inferior function. According to Jung's model, some people feel unable to manage their own emotions, they cannot differentiate between the cause of an emotion for instance, and their experience of it (their symptoms to say it simply).

5. This is why Systemic Psychologists such as Yvonne Agazarian talk about working on that differentiation by narrating the experience, the source of it and becoming familiar with the event that triggered the emotion. That is a socratic approach, as long as the symptom is dissoluted rather than a solution found.

Synergy & Stigmergy

2006-09-07T10:18:00.000-07:00

From Tim Milburn writing at StudentInc
I am a huge fan of synergy, which is the combined interaction of two agents (people) resulting in a larger result than their individual efforts could achieve. It's helpful to realize that each one of us is better together. Like the Ecclesiastes writer says..."two are better than one, a cord of three strands is not easily broken."

This is not new, Tim has commented here before. But he takes a turn and goes into Stigmergy which according to the wikipedia entry is:

Stigmergy is a method of communication in emergent systems in which the individual parts of the system communicate with one another by modifying their local environment. Stigmergy was first observed in nature - ants communicate to one another by laying down pheromones along their trails, so where ants go within and around their ant colony is a stigmergic system. Similar phenomena are easily seen in many (all?) eusocial creatures, such as termites, who use pheromones to build their very complex nests by following a simple decentralized rule set. Each insect scoops up a 'mudball' or similar material from its environment, invests the ball with pheromones, and deposits it on the ground. Termites are attracted to their nestmates' pheromones and are therefore more likely to drop their own mudballs near their neighbors'. Over time this leads to the construction of pillars, arches, tunnels and chambers.

Read Tim's full posting. I think there are parallels with what we are attempting to do here in the blog world and what the termites accomplish.

What do you think?

Technorati Tags : synergy, stigmergy, StudentInc, collaboration, cooperation, environment

The Learning Questions of Synergy

2006-09-05T01:18:00.000-07:00

Alright, let’s see if I can write this without ending up all over the place. My head is so full… too many ideas, too many choices, all of them so enticing.

Perhaps I should start somewhat at the beginning.

A year ago I hosted a forum on lifelong learning for the Ho‘ohana Community (HC for short, you can join in too). The results were absolutely dazzling. Joyful Jubilant Learning 64 ways and counting. This September we just had to do it again. Had to.

I love planning these things. The HC is aloha goodness. It’s kind of magic. The planning started two months ago in my head, and a month ago via email with an invitation to the blogging writers of the HC, invitations for solo blog estate for a day on Talking Story. They were snapped up in less than a week. Blew me away.

Tim Milburn even surprised me with the greatest banner for it. See?

As a result, I can’t post on my own blog for a while. Now I’m not complaining mind you. I think the whole affair is totally cool. Groundbreaking virtual blog community cool. Smart people, sharp people, learning people cool. Alohalicious. You should check it out: It’s called Joyful Jubilant Learning 2006 with a different Guest Author every day this month. The Line Up is here. The authors have been amazing so far, the comment conversation is fabulous, and the blog traffic is off the charts.

So here’s the thing. I thought I could resist, you know? Take a month-long blog vacation from Talking Story and just chill. But I can’t. Just as addicted as Troy is. Steve is too y’know: 7 blogs counting this one! And Trevor (remember when he lost his internet service and started to go batty?) Now Phil, well think about this for a minute… where have you not seen him relationship-geeking lately?

Anyway, here I am looking at possibly getting a month off the blog, and I can’t do it. Especially because it’s ABOUT LEARNING. Goodness gracious, the one thing that gets me all charged up and makes my heart sing. Something I can pontificate on all day and all night if asked to, my impromptu drop-of-a-hat speech making at its best. Better believe I’m in the comment conversation there at JJL‘06, and that’s fun, but no more author spots for me till October.

Then, this eureka moment: If blog Synergy isn’t about learning, we’ve missed understanding a core ingredient of the sizzle that synergy sparkles with.

So this month, guess where I’m getting my blogging fix? I did something pretty good on MWA Online yesterday, being Labor Day and all, but honestly, that’s a solo deal where I’m pretty much expected to be the coach. Here, I get to be the student too, learning with a bunch of great people, relationship geeks and synergy sizzlers one and all.

So what say this month we do Learning in blog Synergy style? We’re not going to talk about what we’ve already LEARNED as much as what we WILL learn.

On Talking Story the sky is the limit this month with Joyful Jubilant Learning 2006, everything and anything learning the authors want to write on. (By the way, Phil’s JJL‘06 spot is on the 9th and Steve’s is on the 18th. Trevor and Troy were/is now vacationing, but we’ll get them here instead!) Let’s make it a bit more challenging here with some specific learning questions. These guys are up for it, don’t you think? You’re up for it, aren’t you? Synergy happens BETWEEN PEOPLE:

Here are my 5 questions: Choose which one you want to answer, or tackle them all.

How will our LEARNING STYLES and HABITS have to EVOLVE so that the web communications of our future serve to POWER partnerships, teams, groups and communities?
TOPIC HIT LISTS: There’s been a lot of talk of Web 2.0 and Globalization 3.0… What is it we’ll all have to learn to remain in the know and to feel we’re caught up and not left behind?
Have you been patting yourself on the back because you’re a part of blogging communities and are among the web savvy who “get it?” Don’t rest on your laurels; what do you think we’ll have to keep learning about WRITING, CITIZEN PUBLISHING and BLOGGING?
RELATIONSHIP ESSENTIALS: We talk about the value of relationships with good reason. What are the things we will still need to learn from each other, and only from each other?
Personal GOALS: How do you suppose you’ll have to change your m.o. to learn with others, and in teams or partnerships? What can’t you learn on your own, at least not as well, and not as effectively? What are the goals you’re setting for yourself now so you can keep up?

Told you my head was swimming. Thank goodness you’re here to toss me a life preserver. Answer here or at your own place: Put a link in the comments so we catch it... you may get some brownie points for our next Blogtipping... :-)

Home Plate - Defined

2006-09-04T06:25:00.000-07:00

From the late Bart Giamatti:

"There is no great, long poem about baseball. It may be that baseball is itself its own great, long poem. This had occurred to me in the course of my wondering why home plate wasn't called fourth base. And then it came to me, ‘Why not? Meditate on the name, for a moment, ‘home.'' Home is an English word virtually impossible to translate into other tongues. No translation catches the associations, the mixture of memory and longing, the sense of security and autonomy and accessibility, the aroma of inclusiveness, of freedom from wariness that cling to the word ‘home' and are absent from ‘house' or even ‘my house.' Home is a concept, not a place; it's a state of mind where self-definition starts. It is origins, a mix of time and place and smell and weather wherein one first realizes one is an original; perhaps like others, especially those one loves; but discreet, distinct, not to be copied. Home is where one first learned to be separate, and it remains in the mind as the place where reunion, if it were ever to occur, would happen. All literary romance, all romance epic, derives from the Odyssey and it is about going home. It's about rejoining; rejoining a beloved, rejoining parent to child, rejoining a land to its rightful owner or rule. Romance is about putting things aright after some tragedy has put them asunder. It is about restoration of the right relations among things. And ‘going home' is where that restoration occurs, because that's where it matters most. Baseball is, of course, entirely about going home. It's the only game you ever heard of where you want to get back to where you started. All the other games are territorial – you want to get his or her territory – but not baseball. Baseball simply wants to get you from here, back around to here."

Read the full posting at this week's MondayMorningMemo by Roy Williams at the WizardofAds.

Home is where you want to be for a holiday.

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags : MondayMorningMemo, WizardofAds, Bart+Giamatti, baseball, mental+images, pictures, words

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Penguin Paradox

2006-09-02T07:31:00.000-07:00

Aiden writes at ?IC@TomorrowToday on the Penguin Paradox:

Penguins represent a paradox of innovation and narrative in organisations. Penguins are considered one of the most sociable species on the planet, and often live as a flock on an iceberg or cliff. Both fear and food reside in the same place - in the water. The fish as food and the sharks as fear. So now, how do you get the first of the flock into the water? The answer: the flock pushes the pengiun closest to the edge into the water to see if it is safe. This paradox is ironically labelled as “co-operation in a competitive envirnment”. It is the same paradox we find in organisation when they have to innovate i.e. “great idea Bob, you go ahead and try it!”

Read the remainder of this posting and let me know what you think. I am curious. The grey matter is stirring on this one.

PS - You can certainly leave a comment on Aiden's post but it is a bit more involved.

Technorati Tags : penuins, paradox, synergy, teamwork, co-operation

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Blogtipping for September!

2006-09-02T02:53:00.000-07:00

Just off a plane and it is still September 1 in Hawaii Easton! So I say we made it in time!

So many great blogs are being written every day: The hardest part is choosing which to Blogtip, however I think you’ll agree with our choices.

Trevor is first up this time:

I’d like to tip… Dmitry Linkov

Dmitry Linkov is a young man trying to make an impression in business and in my opinion he is succeeding. Dmitry’s home is in Moscow, Russia and I have spoken to Dmitry via Skype. It is not easy for us to understand some of the difficulties for instance in simply receiving a book in Russia and Dmitry needs encouragement to continue his great work.
Dmitry had recently passed his Masters Thesis and is keen to continue his personal development which is always a good sign for aspiring leaders.
I know Dmitry has plans to leave Russia at some point in the future and work in another Country. I hope this Blogtip will result is more people visiting Dmitry’s excellent and simple Blog – it is well worth a visit.

Tip: Dmitry has created a Blog that is informative but not over-kill with too much information. Good luck Dmitry!! Perhaps your picture on the home page would be good!

Next, we hear from Steve:

I’d like to tip... A.J. McCaffrey who writes at Fractalia

A.J. is using this blog to expand upon the “outties” or puzzles he has created and uses in his book called Fractalia. Puzzles that have or work toward one solution he calls “innies”, hence his puzzles which work towards multiple solutions are called “outties”.
Outties start with a diagram or word phrase. I have seen something like this used as ice breakers. They can be quick and easy ways to get a group to do some thinking, brainstorming, generally “out of the box”. While the book is focused more towards the young adult, it can really be enjoyed by anyone who still has a sense of youthfulness.
A.J. is a doctoral candidate doing research on the “aha” moment. He brings a different and fun perspective to this area of study.

Tip: Continue to create outties regularly, if you can’t come up with one daily, at least try to hit a schedule with some regularity. For example, Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Monday to start of the week with an outtie. Wednesday to get over the hump. Friday to close out with an outties. The nature of outties is that you can come back to them with other solutions. You don’t have to solve them all in one sitting. They can be addictive. Try an outtie today!

Bonus: for those who’d like to know more about the book, I did write a review:
Fractalia: Episode 1; Reversing the Tipping Point

Phil has a Blogtip next:

I’d like to tip…Debbie Call at Spirit in Gear

Debbie’s posts are incredibly powerful, and inspire me more with every article.
Debbie is very clear in her beliefs, and isn’t afraid to be strong to stand up for what she knows to be true.
Debbie often asks excellent questions to draw you in and makes you want to comment on her posts.

Tip: I would encourage Debbie to post more often, perhaps add some series on particularly interesting topics. Your voice is incredible, I’d love to read it more often!

And this is mine for September:

I’d like to tip…Tim Draayer at Live Your Best Life.

Tim writes with a positive and upbeat voice; you feel good after you spend some time at his blog.
While Tim is a generous linker to others who blog, I really appreciate that he tries to write as much original content as he can, adding his own thoughts to his finds wonderfully.
I am a big fan of writers who are unafraid in their transparency, and Tim is open, honest, and forthright about sharing himself with us.

Tip: We need more enticement to click for more page views Tim, and I would encourage you to either increase the number of posts which show up on your home page, or consider adding category links.

Isn’t this fun? If you’d like more recommendations from Team Synergy, click back to our first Blogtips in August: BlogTipping in Synergistic Harmony

More Synergy Stuff; Stewing and Sharing

2006-08-31T08:16:00.000-07:00

Troy asked, “What is the stuff of synergy,” and I’ve been thinking about how tangential it can become, where you end up with a much more complex stew of thought and action than you initially had imagined would happen.

This blog is one great example. At times it may seem ominously quiet here to the outsider’s view, almost abandoned. However the truth is that blog Synergy serves as a catalyst for those of us who contribute to it. We try to initiate synergy here —such as our recent foray into Blogtipping with Business Blog Wire and Company— and in doing so it takes us on another related, synergy-tipped journey with a dozen or so other blog communities… I didn’t count them up exactly, but we host or contribute to at least that number of web sites between us.

So actually, blog Synergy has become more of a Team Synergy, Power of We spark plug for us: We return to it when we need another charge, another fix, another synergy catalyst tipping off point.

Therefore, we have grown to understand, in our deep admiration for each other here, that synergy requires a great deal of respect. Respect for each other, and for the tangents we spin off elsewhere because our lives are so complex in their interweavings with other communities. I guess you could say we share each other well, with a strong trust that the connection we have already established will always continue and be nourished.

Still, the fire which keeps our stew warm and bubbling cannot go out, and we all eventually return to stir the pot. Visit the archives if you’d like to remember these synergy-tipping examples —or to read of them for the first time:

From Troy: What is the stuff of synergy? (August, 2006)

From Phil: Unleash the Power of We to Achieve Your Goals (July, 2006)

From Trevor: Focus on People, Not Programmes (June, 2006)

From Steve: Where are the women interested in the “Power of We?” (April, 2006)

And From me, Rosa: “Great Leading” means what, exactly? (March, 2006)

We’ll be starting another round soon.

Over the past few weeks I keep reading this part of Troy’s post, and getting back my own spark:

This is the stuff of synergy: engagement, enthusiasm, and energy. All must be personally engaged in the process. All must express enthusiasm for others input. All must ensure a continuous flow of energy to sustain the iterative cycling of thoughts. Engagement and enthusiasm and energy beget spontaneity, a spark, the spontaneous combustion of synergy.

Thank you Troy. And thank you to all of you for continuing to read blog Synergy.

What is the stuff of synergy?

2006-08-06T19:32:00.000-07:00

What is the stuff of synergy?

Synergy is defined as a cooperative interaction among groups or individuals, two or more agents or forces, so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects, so that they create a whole which is greater than its parts.

But how exactly does this happen?

Cultures that value teamwork can be manufactured:

+ Leaders cn communicate a clear expectation that teamwork and collaboration are expected.
+ Leaders can model teamwork in their interaction with each other and the rest of the organization.
+ Organization members can talk about and identify the value of a teamwork culture.
+ Teamwork can be rewarded and recognized.
+ People can discuss important company stories and folklore that emphasize teamwork.

Leaders can...

+ Form teams to solve real work issues.
+ Hold department meetings to reviews projects and progress.
+ Build fun and shared occasions into the organization’s agenda.
+ Use ice breakers and teamwork exercises at meetings.
+ Celebrate team successes publicly.

But all these things do not necessarily result in synergy. These things are merely motions, like the slow turning of cogs. Synergy is the stuff of something else.

Synergy is not something to be constructed in a manufactured environment. Synergy is a reaction ignited by something more. It is not the product of conference rooms or sterile laboratories. Rather, it is the stuff of garages and coffee houses, places where individuality and diversity of thought flourish, places of inhibition and freedom of expression, places of engagement and enthusiasm and energy, places of spontaneity.

This is the stuff of synergy: engagement, enthusiasm, and energy. All must be personally engaged in the process. All must express enthusiasm for others input. All must ensure a continuous flow of energy to sustain the iterative cycling of thoughts. Engagement and enthusiasm and energy beget spontaneity, a spark, the spontaneous combustion of synergy.

This is the stuff of synergy. I think.

What do you think? What are the vital incredients of synergy?

Booming my way along

2006-08-03T12:32:00.000-07:00

Linda Tischler of the Fast Company blog captured my attention with her post yesterday on Jeff Taylor’s new brainchild, www.eons.com:

“Taylor, you may remember, founded the super-successful job site Monster.com. Now he's back with a new idea: eons.com, a sort of MySpace for the over 50 crowd.
Taylor, who at 45 is too young to qualify for his own site, says he was attracted to this market because of its size and financial heft. “Every day, 10,000 people turn 50,” he says. There are lots of these folks: some 77 million of them. And they have fat wallets. In 2001, they controlled 67% of the country's wealth, or $28 trillion.
But they've been underserved by Madison Avenue, which prefers its target audience young and foxy, even if impecunious.”

Linda’s first commenter, a 40-something, wasn’t that impressed, but I think it’s pretty brilliant.

There are so many new business possibilities when it comes to serving us Boomers (yep, I’m one, and perfectly good with that!) We are a generation of new wants, and very little tolerance in understanding why they can’t be fulfilled in our brave new global marketplace.

All of this is coming to mind for me with Phil’s earlier posting this month about goals, and how extraordinary new and different goal-setting has become in this day and age we live in.

I’ll be watching the goings-on at www.eons.com for sure. Why think of the possibilities all by my lonesome when I have a whole slew of other boomers giving me some great cues?

And no matter what age you are, I would think it’s a great idea to be watching Jeff Taylor.

My earlier commentary on Phil’s post was this one:
Goals, Renegotiated Agreements, and Ho‘omau

BlogTipping in Synergistic Harmony

2006-08-01T15:54:00.000-07:00

We of Team Synergy, are deliriously happy to jump up on Easton Ellsworth’s BlogTipping bandwagon with our TeamTipping!

First, just in case you arent familiar with it yet...

From Easton’s guidelines on Business BlogWire, the home of BlogTipping:

Remember the Bronze Blogtipping Rule: On the first day of the month, pick three blogs and offer their bloggers three compliments and one suggestion each via a post on your blog.
And the Silver Blogtipping Rule: Blogtipping is about making someone else’s day and educating others about excellent blogging practices in the process.
And finally, the Golden Blogtipping Rule: Tip unto others as you would have others tip unto you.

Here we go!

Steve Sherlock starts us off: “I’d like to tip…Seth Godin.”

1. Kudos to you, for always provoking thought
2. Kudos to you, for asking the question that has not been asked
3. Kudos to you for creative use of your archives

Tip: While I understand your position on not allowing comments, I wish you would reconsider. I think that the community of commentors would have an opportunity to be more fully engaged in the discussion of your ideas.

Next, from Trevor Gay: “I’d like to tip…Starbucker at Ramblings From a Glass Half Full.”

1. I have got to know Terry in the last few months through Blogging and I always like to meet up with like minded half-glass full people. This is the first time I have ‘Blog tipped’ anyone and Starbucker is fully worth my first nomination!
2. Terry is always encouraging, supportive and constructive in his comments about my own Blog and I like his pragmatic view of life and work.
3. His Blogging mixes realism with ideals and I also appreciate his ‘tongue in cheek’ humour. Terry shares my passion for Basil Fawlty and that has to be good enough on its own to get my nomination.

Tip: The only tip I have is to have a few more pictures Terry but that is a minor point.

Next, from Phil Gerbyshak: “I’d like to tip…Greg Balanko-Dickson.”

1. Awesome wealth of content here. More than I could ever read (but I'll keep trying).
2. 2 different blogs for the price of 1: Business and Leadership. Both are very well done.
3. Greg has a wealth of podcasts for your listening pleasure.

Tip: The banner could have clickable links, or somewhere below the banner could be clickable text links to the things mentioned on the banner. These are thigns I'm definitely interested in, but I'm not sure how to get to these topics. All in all, a GREAT blog!

Next, from Troy Worman: “I’d like to tip…Steve Portigal. - Hats off!”

1. Steve's blog, 'All This Chittah Chattah' is edgy and thought provoking without being obscene or offensive.
2. Also, Steve knows how to write. If you find a sentence fragment in one of his posts, it is because he wanted a sentence fragment precisely there.
3. Finally, Steve's site design is elegant in its simplicity. That is, it's clean. It's easy on the eyes. It works.

Tip: Write something about The Singularity and bring back FreshMeat!

And finally, from me, Rosa Say: “In this, our first Team Synergy BlogTipping, I would like to tip the 'alii (king) of BlogTipping himself, Mr. Easton Ellsworth. We gladly tip Business Blogwire.”

1. There are a lot of memes adding clutter to the blogosphere, but with BlogTipping, Easton has come up with one that is a celebration of our generosity and capacity; we ourselves get better as we practice giving.
2. The man is bold and brave! With post titles like, Are The Most Popular CEO and Corporate Blogs Really Any Good? Easton gets to the point, however he backs his statements up with diligent homework.
3. Easton seems to thrive on being a resource by nature, as with his recent compilation for coComment: What 22 Bloggers Are Saying about the New coComment.

Tip: Admittedly I have a bias against blog ads, however that said, I still feel the ads on Business Blogwire are way too overpowering and need to be toned down. Gotta be honest Easton, if not for your tremendous idea (and your comment personality shining like a bright beacon through-out blogsville) pulling me in, I'd normally not stay after seeing your blog design for the first time.

Congratulations to our first Tippees! Keep writing, for you create synergy of thought every time you do.

Technorati Tag: Blogtipping

Reciprocal

2006-08-01T05:10:00.000-07:00

From Tom Asacker writing at A Clear Eye

Knowledge is one sided. Wisdom works reciprocally. Knowledge is about getting the deal done. Wisdom understands that the purpose of each interaction is to grow the strength of the relationship. I meet a lot of very knowledgeable people in my business travels, but very few wise ones. Most people feel that they have to do all of the talking to prove their value, and to show how smart and dynamic they are. In fact, the key to building enduring relationships is to forget about you, be attentively silent and help the other person feel appreciated and valued.

Read the full posting here.

I will be quiet and wait for you to finish.

Technorati Tags : asacker, knowledge, wisdom, difference, reciprocal, synergy

Collaboration - Real-time

2006-07-29T06:10:00.000-07:00

Via Stowe Boyd found this cool tool to share freely a desktop view with others on a conference call. Realtime collaboration enabled without any software to install as it is all browser based.

I have only viewed the demos and love the promise. Will need to actually try it out to see if it delivers. If it does, it will definitely be a new tool in my toolkit.

Check it out. What do you think?

Technorati Tags : vyew, collaboration, synergy, teamwork, sharing, desktop

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Mark Twain - Founding Father of the Synergy Movement

2006-07-11T20:15:00.000-07:00

I got a quote in my e-mail today that made me think of the Synergy Team and the Power of We:

Synergy - the bonus that is achieved when things work together harmoniously. - Mark Twain

That's why I'm here at the weblog Synergy, for the BONUS I get when we all work together, and bring our strengths to the table to make something greater than ourselves. It's like winning the lottery, only even better, because if you pick the right people, your chances of success are FAR GREATER!

So what about you? Who are you surrounding yourself with that can help you Make It Great!? Are you willing to unleash the Power of We on your goals, and surround yourself with people who can help you?

If you don't have a group of folks around you in real life, how about forming a virtual team of folks you admire and asking them to help you achieve your goals? Have it, get it, create it, it doesn't matter, just do it!

You CAN do it! It's up to YOU! So what are you waiting for?

Phil Gerbyshak

Technorati Tags: synergy, quote, mark twain

Phil has Made it Great!

2006-07-02T20:24:00.000-07:00

People, this is HUGE!!!

Phil was much too humble with his announcement here, tucked into a brand new challenge for July --- in true Phil style, he is on to the next big thing, and ready for more!

We of Team Synergy are bursting with pride that our own Phil Gerbyshak has published his very FIRST book, 10 Ways to Make It Great! This is a man who walks his talk with the most consistent exuberance, and in doing so he continually inspires us as to the power of possibility within our own potential.

Believe me, I can personally attest to the earth-shattering, once-in-a-lifetime kind of magnitude which writing one’s very first book is about. There is only one ‘first time’ for this stupendously exciting event, and it is truly worth celebrating in BIG ways, so we must stop the presses here for a moment and do so.

I have already read 10 Ways to Make It Great! and loved it for the way that the Phil voices we all know and continually smile broadly with, came out so loud and clear in all the supportive and encouraging Phil-ness we have gotten so accustomed to gobbling up.

And this is not just your normal book. Not in the traditional sense you may think of. What Phil has created for us is a workbook, or more concisely, a Work it! book, so we can make something great happen in our lives. So we never settle. So we can be catalysts.

Are you up for that challenge? If you are a passive reader, Phil’s book may not be for you; then again, neither is greatness.

However if you are a blog Synergy reader, you DO want greatness in your destiny! We know you do!

Buy your copy of 10 Ways to Make It Great! TODAY, and add your comment here to congratulate Phil, won’t you?

Then, take up his challenge: What goals are you working on?

More Links:
An interview with Phil at Orbit Now! by Troy Worman
An endorsement by Lisa Haneberg of Management Craft

Unleash the Power of We to Achieve Your Goals

2006-07-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

As the first half of 2006 draws to a close, I find myself reviewing my goals for the year:

Publish my first book by 12/31/2006
Write 500 or more blog posts on Make It Great! by 12/31/2006
Read 25 or more books by 12/31/2006
Complete 10 Toastmasters speeches by 12/1/2006

Let's see where I am:

I published my first book as of yesterday, and you can get a copy here
I've written 675 posts as of this writing
I've read 12 books, so I'm on pace to completing this goal
I've got 8 speeches done in Toastmasters

I share this with you to show you that sharing your goals with others can help you achieve them. You can unleash the Power of We by sharing your goals with your closest friends, with total strangers, or both, if you're strong enough to take the risk and share your goals. Having someone else check in with you can help you achieve more than you ever thought possible. The team here at the blog Synergy have been incredibly supportive of all of my efforts.

Think about this: Who can you surround yourself with that can help you achieve GREAT things in the rest of 2006? I wrote an article about an "accountability circle" in March, and it's helped me get to where I am now. Review the article and see if it can help you understand the importance of sharing your goals with others.

If you're not where you want to be yet, don't despair: It's only July 1st. You've still got 6 months to achieve your goals. If you haven't told anyone yet what you're aiming at, make time this week to do so.

If you haven't set any goals for yourself yet, it's time to start now. If you need help setting goals, I use the SMARTER goal setting model and it's been very successful for me, or you can read any of the other blogs about goals here.

So what are you waiting for? Unleash the Power of We and achieve more than you ever thought possible!

Phil Gerbyshak

Technorati Tags: synergy, goals, mid-year, review, power of we

Happy Birthday!

2006-06-30T02:36:00.000-07:00

Do you know who is celebrating their birthday today?

Someone who preaches about simplicity.
Someone who writes about the Nine Fruits of Leadership.
Someone who thinks England will make it to the finals of the World Cup.
Someone who fulfulled a life long dream to see the Eagles in concert.

Someone with whom it is an honor to call a friend!

Happy Birthday, Trevor!

Technorati Tags : happy+birthday, simplicity

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Celebrate your Four-Fold Capacity.

2006-06-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

Are you a manager?
Trevor has inspired us in writing about “people over programmes” this month, and if he has you thinking too, I invite you to take a look at an article I wrote for Lifehack.org today.

Inspired by some project work I’m currently tracking by two of my corporate clients, I wrote about the four-fold capacity just waiting to be discovered in people, and how you can apply it to mentorship.

When we mentor, we want to help another discover all they are capable of achieving in a full exploration and celebration of who they are, and who they can be.
Today, I look at our capacity for work in four different ways; physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual. Within each realm, we can reveal the incredible potential people have, because we look at their innate strengths with a bigger view; we ‘see more’ of them in that we see them with a greater wholeness.

At Lifehack.org, I look at these four different dimensions of human capacity one at a time. In short list form, they include:

Physical Capacity
athleticism and health
demeanor and our disposition
personality traits
learned skills
born-in talents

Intellectual Capacity
knowledge and how we use it
how we think and reason
how we make decisions
problem-solving ability
thirst for learning
idea generation

Emotional Capacity
self-esteem and confidence
the assertiveness which stems from personal values
our tolerance and load factors for stress and burn-out
sense of belonging
the need for security
energy level

Spiritual Capacity
our inventory of personal values,
grounding and sense of place
the aloha spirit
social responsibility and civic duty
humanitarian endeavor
self-actualization

Would you add anything to my list?

You can read more here: Discover your 4-Fold Capacity

win-win

2006-06-23T06:09:00.000-07:00

Another day's note from the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People calendar by Stephen Covey tells me:

Win/Win is not a technique; it is a total philosophy of human interaction. In fact, it is one of six paradigms of interaction. The alternative paradigms are:

Win/Lose

Lose/Win

Lose/Lose

Win

Win/Win or No Deal

It seems so simple to me to do things in Win/Win.

Why would we consider doing it any other way?

Maybe that's why "The Power of We" makes so much sense!

Maybe that's why the people are more important than the programmes!

Technorati Tags : covey, people, synergy, Power+of+We

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Recognize the front

2006-06-19T17:41:00.000-07:00

One of the ways we can help to recognize the frontline folks for what they do is to provide a formal mentor program using peer leaders. I expand upon an idea from a Boston Globe article and develop it further (yes, adding my two cents) over here.

Do you have peer leaders?

Does this work for you (your company)?

Technorati Tags : mentor, mentoring, collaboration, synergy, peer+leaders

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Take advantage of your dad

2006-06-18T12:43:00.000-07:00

A very happy Fathers Day to all the fathers out there!

This morning, I have written on Talking Story about something I have my children do every Fathers Day -- I would love to share it with all of you in the blog Synergy community too; please click in when you have a moment, and read about:

A Great List Every Child Should Have.

If you are a father, feed the women in your life some Dad List suggestions that would rock your world! Help her create for you the kind of relationships you want with your children, and have a wonderful day. You deserve it.

Hey, come to think of it, and in the spirit of our recent discussions here, A Great List Every Child Should Have is a good blend of people and programmes Trevor, don't you think?

“Please, do disappoint us.”

2006-06-16T21:58:00.000-07:00

I was compelled to share a story with all of you in light of Trevor’s plea that we “focus on people, not programmes.”

I sat in on a managers’ meeting today in a client’s corporate headquarters, something that periodically will happen for me in light of my long-standing tenure with this company as their coach; at this point of our partnership they are quite accustomed to my presence, and will not curtail their business discussions when I’m there. I was therefore privy to a conversation in which a manager tried to explain why his staff would be working into the evening and possibly the coming weekend (It’s Friday evening as I write this).

His department leader challenged him to explain why that would be necessary, and he did.

His department is critically short-staffed right now, and he was very forthright in admitting that they were currently working “near crisis mode.” When he was asked if he was turning away, or failing to capitalize on any business prospects, he admitted that it was happening on an almost daily basis.

This manager is not a tyrant. The rest of us could see that the conversation pained him greatly, and it is quite a testament to the extraordinary atmosphere of this workplace that such discussions can be had so openly. He took full responsibility for the state of affairs he spoke of, and at one point he spoke of how very proud he was of his staff’s work ethic and ownership of the situation at hand, for they had volunteered for the extra duty on their own time.

The specific reason he gave for his team needing to work through the weekend, even though they did not expect to have any customer concerns arise then?

“The next quarter’s budget forecast is due next week, and we haven’t even started on it yet. As you all know, our non-performance will create a domino effect for the rest of you, and we hate to disappoint.”

His team leader’s response?

“Please, do disappoint us. The budget is a task that pales in comparison to the spirit of your people. We will gladly extend that deadline and any others that are standing in the way of your staff having a good life while they work for us. There is nothing more important than the morale and well-being of our ‘ohana in business here. Give them the weekend off, and have them go home this afternoon at the normal time.”

Wow. I was so proud of her.

In my business, we can choose our customers. At that moment, I was absolutely thrilled with the choice I had made to coach that organization, for they honor their people, and in doing so they manage with aloha.

Focusing on People

2006-06-14T20:57:00.000-07:00

In a follow-up to Trevor's article, Focus on People, not Programmes, I've posted my thoughts here. To say I agree with Trevor is a MAJOR understatement.

People are the potatoes that make it all worthwhile! All too often we forget about this, but it's true. People can make the process, but process can NOT make the people.

Phil Gerbyshak

Technorati Tags: synergy, people, passion

Personal Engagement Trumps Technology

2006-06-12T21:59:00.000-07:00

Where technology is an enabler, personal engagement is the killer app! People want to feel connected to their employer. People want to feel like they are contributing. People want to feel valued. This can't be acheived with an email message. This requires personal engagement.

What happened to Management By Walking Around? Wasn't this like super hot a while back? THE THING TO DO? Did it stop working? Or has the flattening of our organizations and our obsession with doing MORE WITH LESS squeezed all the walking around time out of the workweek?

Remember when PCs were first introduced into the workplace. Didn't someone say with the implementation of this technology we would have more free time than we would know what to do with? That didn't happen. The PC didn't enable our managers to do more walking around, it just enabled them to pare their workforces down.

And now we send emails to people who sit 10 feet away. Once upon a time, one could look around the room and see his co-workers and wave, nod, wink, throw pencils at the back of their heads, whatever. Not now. Cubetronics killed that. The blue-gray fabrications were erected and the emailing commenced.

When was the last time you even saw a No. 2 pencil?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not anti-technology, computers, email, etc... That's how I make my living. And processes and programs (however you spell the word) are good things. I happen to be a process improvement guy myself. But neither technology nor process can take the place of personal engagement.

Sure, the Web 2.0 thing is super cool. I love it! I talk about it almost everyday at work. But when it comes to people management, no platform, no matter how cool and efficient, is going to make people feel warm and fuzzy about coming to work. It won't make them work harder and it won't make them work longer. And when the company across the street offers them seventy-five cents more an hour, they will take the money and run.

People first

2006-06-12T17:43:00.000-07:00

Distance attempts to measure how much is getting in the way of our team communications due to various factors.

The greater this ‘distance the more chance of miscommunications.

Gerold suggests 5 factors which contribute to Communications distance in software engineering teams :

Geography
Clarity of Focus
Team Cohesion
Team Experience
Process Capability

From Ken Thompson writing at The BumbleBee comes this posting.

I find this is appropriate for the discussion this month on people over process.

How far away from the frontline is management?

Does management walk the frontline to meet with and reinforce the people there?

Technorati Tags : people, process, communication, distance, synergy

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The art of leadership

2006-06-07T17:04:00.000-07:00

The World Cup kicks off on Friday. 32 teams in a contest to determine number one. Essential to the success of each team will be maintaining the health of the key players. On the field, the leadership of the team captains will be critical.

Read through this article highlighting 7 captains and note the decriptions of what they bring to the art of leadership:

know your place
fulfill role
bring order and organization
intelligent
calm
authoritative
know when to slow down
when to inject urgency

Doesn't this sound like what would be required of any leader? Whether in business or in the sporting world?

The captains excel in keeping the team together!

Technorati Tags : leadership, FIFA, football, synergy, teamwork

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Online Conversations

2006-06-06T18:56:00.000-07:00

Found a good post by Annette Kramer at Learning Lab on Online Collaboration: (How) Does it Work?

Of particular interest to me was the following:

There was a sense both of disconnection and of coming together, sometimes in different ways at the same moment. Class members drifted from the reading to participation, from one topic to another, and from answering others to contributing their own ideas. The discussion was imbued with more of an expectation of a traditional class (eg information flows downward from the teacher) than of community.

During the week, however, Nancy had added a podcast, and by Friday there was a live chat with brainstorming about how chat can compliment a tool like Moodle for an NGO. The effect of hearing Nancy's voice and the synchronous communication seemed to galvanize the group in a way different from their asynchronous replies and participation throughout the previous period.

The Bold is mine for emphasis.

Team Synergy recently had its first conference call and it was so good to hear the voices of those that attended. The call went by so quickly. We had so much to talk about. I came away with a similar feeling of the group being "galvanized" in a way different from our email and blog comment conversations.

Need to do more in this area. There must be something there.

Technorati Tags : moodle, open+space, online+conversations, group+dynamics, synergy

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Where are all the smart women speakers?

2006-06-06T15:33:00.000-07:00

Stowe Boyd has this posting commenting on Debbie Landa's posting with the same title.

Sounds almost like what we discussed here in April.

Technorati Tags : women, synergy, blog

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06/06/06 - Part 5

2006-06-06T06:17:00.000-07:00

As we move along the trail, from the internal self, to healthy activity, to explore (feeding the mind), looking for the good stuff, we come to realize the Power of We.

No man is an island - John Dunne

We are all in this together.

So let's be good to one another.

Let's help each other along the way.

And let's make one last stop on this day.

Care for Staff

2006-06-05T17:33:00.000-07:00

Care for Staff
Originally uploaded by shersteve.

A good example of teamwork and collaboration comes from posting this picture.

Trevor (and others) are having trouble posting photos directly into Blogger. One method that works very well is via Flickr.

Hence this photo is being posted by me for Trevor. It should have been included in his posting Focus on People Not Programmes

Way to go, Team Synergy!

Focus on People not Programmes

2006-06-04T03:15:00.000-07:00

In management, leadership and organisations I have always believed people matter more than programmes.

I need to nail my colours to the mast right away by saying I am not an anarchist who believes we can manage without process. I am not calling for total chaos with no strategic direction or vision. Quite the opposite in fact - I have always believed we desperately need process. My contention is that many organisations get the balance between passion (People) and process wrong.

In my view the most successful organisations – and the best to work for - are those who operate with a gallon of passion and a pint of process.

The organisations I have seen that get stuck and bogged down in insular behaviour and a guarantee of non innovation have a gallon of process and a pint of passion.

I was a manager for 35 years in the UK National Health Service which is a very labour intensive organisation. Over 1 million people work in the NHS. I remember very well in about 1990 I did some in-depth analysis of the budget I was responsible for. My annual budget was around 1 million pounds. I discovered that over 85% of that money was in fact wages. In other words flesh and blood. Human beings. People.

Of course it was important to make sure the non-staff expenditure was controlled and yes it was important to be prudent about spending on the marginal stuff like encouraging careful use of consumables ... BUT it is through PEOPLE that stuff happens.

If we are serious about looking after the 'bottom line' we have to look after folks doing the work. It really is as simple as that.

For every pound I was responsible for, 85 pence went on flesh, blood and brain power – a stark way of putting it.

I therefore always tried to put my management skills into finding out what made the staff tick and then I saw my job as a manager to do things that helped front line staff do their job with patients.

To me a manager in healthcare is a facilitator simply employed to make the job of front line staff working with patients less complex and good place to be.

My experience also taught me that the NHS is far more ‘process driven’ than ‘people driven’ which is really ironic and paradoxical when one considers just how labour intensive it is.

I think one reason the NHS is often considered ‘under innovative’ is because we do not allow people at the front line to flourish because they become too bogged down in complex and often unnecessary processes that are designed to ‘protect’ the organisation rather than to allow creativity to flourish.

Teamwork and Open Space

2006-06-03T12:47:00.000-07:00

Putting some pieces together. Sort of a puzzle. Starts with an objective but there are no boundary pieces available to frame the puzzle.

Objective: Power of We

Piece 1 - first team synergy conference call occured this past week. Four of us managed to get together on a conference bridge for a hour and half but it seemed to go more quickly than that.

Piece 2 - found this set of principles for Open Space

1. Whoever comes is the right people.
2. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened.
3. When it starts is the right time.
4. When it's over it's over and when it's not over it's not over.

Piece 3 - found this "Art of Hosting Good Conversations Online" by Howard Rheingold.

What do you make of this?

Is there a connection to be made?

Where do we go from here?

Technorati Tags : synergy, teamwork, Open+Space, collaboration

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Point of View

2006-06-01T13:41:00.000-07:00

gradweek_60530 018
Originally uploaded by shersteve.

The dogwood tree in my back yard is blooming. The dogwood flowers are changing from greenish to white. This particular angle seems to make the yard a green wonderland. Well, it is green but the angle is decieving.

Look around where you are.
Move around a bit.
Check out your different viewpoints.

Do some views make the place you are in look more wonderful than others?

Was it hard to change to this view?

Rhodendron variations

2006-05-30T19:04:00.000-07:00

gradweek_60530 019
Originally uploaded by shersteve.

I found some time to squeeze out some variations on the rhodendron.

Here

Here

Here

Can you take this photo and make a variation of your own?

Can you feel it?

2006-05-28T14:50:00.000-07:00

“It” is synergy happening.

I can understand why if perhaps not, especially if you are a lurking kind of reader who has come to love blog reading, but you’ve not yet taken that step to chip out of your protective shell of privacy. And that’s okay, I’ll still tell you about it.

This is the “it” that’s happening for those of us who many will call the “early adopters” who blogged with full transparency in the past two or even three years now, laying it all out there with a “what you see is what you get — and I’ll make it as good as I possibly can, forcing myself to be better in making it all true” kind of attitude.

In starting to blog, we might have wanted to

-- sell books (me),
-- take advantage of the new blogging platforms to design our own websites (me too),
-- write and write some more hoping for a positive feedback loop as we sharpen our skills and force ourselves to edit better (yup, me again),
-- learn all of the way-smart strategies for marketing a business on the web (me and anyone who wants to work for me),
-- or just have some way cool conversations with someone awake in another part of the world while the rest of our family, night people that they are, were still asleep (definitely my family).

Or something else entirely.

The cool thing was that a lot of us discovered all those “me” reasons, were really “we” reasons, and we had a whole lot of company —good company, aloha company. The Power of We was smiling back at us like a patient elder on a mountaintop who says, “I’ve been waiting for you.”

So the “it” became this: Keeping it all virtual is just not good enough anymore. From getting okay with our vulnerability, and tossing out any concerns for privacy, we’ve gone way over to the other extreme of wanting our virtual relationships to get personal.

Now you may be thinking, “Hellooo Rosa, where have you been? Haven’t you heard of anyone finding the love of their life online? Didn’t you see Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan lay it all out there in You’ve Got Mail?”

That’s not the kind of connecting I’m talking about.

For one thing, I’m strictly talking about business, workplace, marketing, and professional or personal-legacy-building kind of blogs with some vaguely related self-development and author blogs thrown in for good measure. I don’t read any other kind, so I can’t speak to others. It’s relationship in these arenas which I’ve mentioned (anyone have a better collective word for them?) with which we’re seeking personal connectivity.

It’s about jumping into this pool of ever-increasing capacity; intellectual, emotional, spiritual, and a new physical. We still commiserate with each other about being busy, yet at the very same time we are discovering these capacities we had no idea we even had.

It’s not about romantic love and marriage, however that word “love” gets used pretty freely between us. There seems to be no better word when what we are seeking to do, is more fully explore the commonality we have as human beings who learn. We are thrilling to discover we are capable of living in an abundance of learning, respect and mutual admiration we never before had imagined was possible. Some of us have already lived a good half century or more (yup, me again) and we feel like everything just got brand new.

The synergy connection is that “it” could not have happened if we’d tried it alone. From interviews to meetups to forums, things are happening. Giving has new meaning.

When blog posts get quiet, you cannot assume authors are suffering from writer’s block and have lost their inspiration: They are living their lives, and they aren’t doing it alone. These days, they are living them in brand new partnerships, and they probably don’t have the time to sit still and write them out for you to read about. They are emailing and skyping, trading personal cell phone numbers and swapping travel schedules. They are reinventing community in a way that totally ignores geography and time differences.

If you want to feel it, really feel it, you have to get brave and get involved.

Tomorrow morning, (well, morning for me in Hawai‘i :-) we of Team Synergy have scheduled a conference call to capture the overflow of synergy that is starting to pool all around us. We keep reaching the point where our fingers cannot fly fast enough over our keyboards to be satisfied with the virtual nature of what we have crafted in thought between us, and as a result of what so many of you have shared with us. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the Memorial Day holiday than this, bringing a kind of new livingness into possibility.

Knowing it has been coming, I’ve felt like a highly expectant child just old enough to understand what Christmas morning is like; my anticipation is near unbearably sweet. In one way or another, we’ll let you know how it goes when you next read what bubbles forth here.

I’m quite sure you will begin to feel “it” too.

Be brave.

Women and the Power of We

2006-05-25T04:46:00.000-07:00

Asking the question: Where are the women interested in the 'Power of We'? generated some activity during April and May. Reviewing the activity, I think I can summarize it as follows:

We heard from Mary Schmidt that the subject of the posting on this blog will matter in order to draw women into the conversation. Shorter posts may make a difference over longer posts. By being shorter, it allows for more room for others to join in as the conversation is being started and not completed all at once.

We heard from Ronni Bennett. Ronni told us that business is not a democracy. Leaders need to take charge, to set the agenda and while they can allow for input, need to make a decision.

We heard from Andrea Learned that people connections matter. She as an example, will connect with the person first, then because of the personal connection become involved if the subject is one she is interested in.

We heard from Jodee Bock that women do take time to respond and that we need to spread the Synergy link around to make other more aware of it. This will be a viral activity. As we get more people involved (by reaching out to them to make the personal connection) they can help to spread the link.

We heard from Yvonne Divita that women are all about 'we'. When did a women do something alone? Actually, women do quite a bit alone. Women are more likely to do something alone if they have a support group available. They are not afraid of taking charge. They are not afraid of leading.

We heard from Rosa "with blogging, you can just skip ahead to the good part, just getting the job done on your terms within your own circle of influence, pushing your circle bigger at every opportunity, without ever wavering about your own sense of ethics, integrity, and personal truth."

Felix let us know "It was Jacques Lacan who interpreted communication as the process leading from wandering words to an open confession." I think this is a wonderful concept. The ideas become words, sharing the words makes a conversation, the conversations develop and lead to an open confession.

Going back to Dr Judie Pairan who commented on the first posting, she said that women are there but women are busy doing things. I can accept that. It will also help me tie things together.

Because women are busy, we need to reach out and make the connection. Having made the connection they will get involved if we keep the posts short rather than long. Shorter posts will let them digest it more quickly and leave them room to comment to fill out the conversation. We will need to be mindful of the subject matter. If we keep it more personal, more story, less jargon, we are likely to get more involvement.

We just can not build the Synergy blog and expect the women to (1) find us and (2) participate. We will need to reach out and invite them in.

Thanks to all who commented. To Phil and Trevor for your interview postings! And to all the women who participated.

Will this close the topic? For now perhaps, but I am not sure we will ever complete the discussion. The dialog needs to remain alive. It is not a 'male versus female' world or an 'us versus them' world. We need to be respectful of each other, to help each other to grow and develop. We can and need to do this together!

As Lja1228 wrote in her comment on the initial posting:

And finally, WE will look back. On all that WE have done, those WE have helped, the relationships WE have nurtured, the growth WE have inspired ... and WE will say, "What's next?"

Technorati Tags : Power+of+We, synergy, women, blog

Conversation continued

2006-05-22T07:37:00.000-07:00

I found this conversation underway at MarketingProfs:DailyFix via a posting by Andrea Learned on her blog.

Andrea, you may recall, was interviewed her earlier on where are the women?

Jump on over and join the conversation!

Technorati Tags : leadership, women, power+of+we, synergy, blog, blogging

What's up?

2006-05-18T19:26:00.000-07:00

Hey, it has been quiet here.

What about "Where are the women?"

"What is Steve up to?" you might be asking yourself.

Fair questions: Steve has been writing up his time spent at the recent GEL 2006 Conference. You can click over to find his summary of the presentations.

He is close to finishing that effort (or diversion) and will be back here soon to tie the two together.

No, not anything like bondage. Don't go there.

What have the conversations with Judie, Ronni, Yvonne, Andrea, Jodee, Mary.... told us?

How do we make the blog Synergy a "good experience"?

Oh, there is the connection!

Stay tuned for more on this...

Technorati Tags : synergy, GEL2006, Power+of+we, women

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Happy Mother's Day

2006-05-14T08:15:00.000-07:00

Women, Leadership and Blogging

2006-05-07T13:18:00.000-07:00

Whew. Had something in my head when I sat down to write this, and drafting the title alone stopped me in my tracks for a while. Steve, you were so brave to take on this HUGE topic for us.

I’ve been thinking about why, as huge as it is, I haven’t been able to write much about it.

There is a very practical reason my team here knows about, and that is since my offline work has been near all-consuming for me lately (and that’s very good in another way.) However I haven’t stopped writing for my other blogs, slowed down yes, stopped no. So I have to admit that I am just having some difficulty with adding anything remotely interesting about this, much less brilliant or even controversial.

Throughout most of my career, I fought continually against the male versus female stereotypes in business. Both sides: I fought with the guys against the women who used it as a cop-out when they simply were not performing well. And yes, through the vast majority of my working career I did get paid less and altogether was taken less seriously than my male peers (and subordinates). I went through that cycle of silent dismayed observation, to youthful I-can-change-this rebellion, to very vocal objection and suffragette campaigning for equality, to external resignation warring with my internal self-commitment to effect change one day. At some point, I simply developed this m.o. of doing “it.” That is, just getting the job done on my terms within my own circle of influence, pushing that circle bigger at every opportunity, without ever wavering about my own sense of ethics, integrity, and personal truth.

Come to think of it, blogging may have appealed to me early in the game because it had such a level playing field in my own perception.

And in others’ perception too:

So, now I’m completely distracted and more than a little surprised. Embarrassing comments about me behind the clip. I’m not surprised that I like Rosa Say. I’m surprised that I like her over and over again. I should explain, and it’s going to be a case of me making myself look bad. I don’t usually like female authors. I can count on one hand the number of them I’ve read more than one of their books. We just don’t ‘click.’

And in another post:

My favorite manager of all time is/was a lady named BJ. I don’t know if she reads this or not. She said to me one time about an employee that he’d said he ‘gotta go to work.’ Her response was that he shouldn’t feel “I got to go to work,” but should instead feel “I get to go to work.”

Rich Griffith, you rock.

There are people who read my blogs very faithfully, who I realize still have not, and may not ever buy my book. The subjects in both are one and the same. Books, the best business card ever on one level, and for all the hoopla that will surround you when you are a published author, simply do not open as many doors for us as blogs do. In my own case, over 9,000+ books sold as of this writing (yes, still a drop in the bucket compared to the Marcus Buckinghams and such of the business-writing world), compared to 109,000+ page views for just one of my blogs in only two thirds of the same time period since Managing with Aloha was published.

So what am I saying? Ladies, if we want our messages heard, leadership through blogging is a terrific option for us. And leadership, whether male or female, is in high demand.

I don’t know where you may be in that cycle I talked about earlier, but consider that with blogging, you can just skip ahead to the good part, just getting the job done on your terms within your own circle of influence, pushing your circle bigger at every opportunity, without ever wavering about your own sense of ethics, integrity, and personal truth.

Part 2 --- Yvonne DiVita on "The Power of We"

2006-05-04T19:47:00.000-07:00

This continues the conversation that Yvonne DiVita and I shared over the course of a couple of weeks via email. The conversation has been edited. We had some fun putting this together and we think you'll enjoy it! If you missed Part 1, you can catch up on it here.

Steve: The Team Synergy discussion on Women and the Power of We has made progress this month with interviews with Mary Schmidt, Ronni Bennett, Andrea Learned and a few more still in the works.

What do you think of the April topic on the blog Synergy? ("Where are the women interested in the Power of We?")

Yvonne: It's funny that you should have this topic on your blog. I've been saying for a long time that women are really into blogging. I don't have stats for that, of course, but I have anecdotal evidence. For instance, I'm personally connected to dozens of women. Women who are not on the radar at the New York Times or much of anywhere else, except other women's blogs. And, having attended BlogHer last year (desperate to go this year - I could use a sponsor!), I can attest to the growing number of women bloggers giving a voice to women's issues. My sister, who blogs at Maryanne's Powdering Our Noses, knows tons more women bloggers than bloggers of that other gender. (She said with a wink).

So...here's what I think about women and the Power of We... Women are all about WE. When did you ever see a woman do anything alone? It's "we this" and "we that" and we, we, we all the way to the mall, or home, or out for lattes. If we haven't been to your blog to commune with you... it's because we're busy doing all sorts of "we" things with each other. You need to stop by our blogs and introduce yourselves. Then, we'll we, we, we with you, too!

Do you have any suggestions on how the blog Synergy can engage women readers?

Yvonne: Well, Steve...I gave that answer away in my reply to your first question. You can get more women to your blog by ---- inviting us! Stop over at our blogs and leave a note. Better yet, challenge us to a duel. We can't resist showing off! A war of words duel...how's that? Invite a dozen women to write about a specific topic, one you're going to post on, then keep track of the traffic or comments - and see who wins. What fun that would be! Beyond that, having women over to engage in a little girl-talk will surely attract more of the ladies. Just don't patronize us with pink, or pretty bows, or frilly foo-foos. That's for sissies. If you're trying to attract women... save the baubles and beads for mardi gras and give us good conversation.

Do you have your own blog or blogs?

Yvonne: My, my ... I write in Lip-sticking, and at ThirdAge, and I contribute to my company blogs at A-ha! and WME Blogs. Then, I leave comments like confetti, all over the net.

How comfortable are you with technology?

Yvonne: LOVE technology! Great time saver, and connector. It helped me meet you, didn't it? Sometimes I hate technology - like when the computer crashes, or the Internet won't work, or my toaster burns my bagel (that's technology, right?). For the most part, I like all the gadgets, but only when I can push a button and everything works. I don't want elaborate directions, or technology that is still in beta testing. Too much frustration there! Besides, buggy technology makes me itch.

How much technology do you use blogging?

Yvonne: Blogging? Well, I use a keyboard. What else do I need? When it gets complicated, like adding widgets and stuff, I get my pool boy to help me. It's okay cause we're engaged. And, he looks really good in a wet T-shirt.

Did you hear of the blog Synergy before? If yes, how?

Yvonne: Seems to me that I came across your blog...awhile back. I found it by reverse search - checking my stats at Typepad and noticing a URL I didn't recognize. I really liked what I found. People sometimes think I'm gender-biased because I write about women's issues, but they forget that men are a part of women's issues. We like to rant and rave about our men. And other people's men, too. Mostly, we really like the way men are coming around these days. There's a synergy in how men are learning to connect with the women around them. Say, that's why I like your blog - because you understand the synergy of people connecting with people, via telegraph, telephone, or tell-a-woman; and even through technology. We have to teach you how to use mental telepathy, that's real fun! Yes, I'm kidding about the mental telepathy. Sort of! (She said with a chuckle).

Women tend to be doers more than talkers (and that may be a surprise) compared to men. Do you have anything to add to that?

Yvonne: Not a surprise at all. Women are at the forefront of most 'movements.' Just look at religion - isn't it Mom who gets everyone up and fed, then dressed for church? Isn't it women who organize the bazaars and charity events? Isn't it women who take charge when family and friends are threatened? We do it because we work well in groups. Women (especially women who are related by blood) rely on other women to step up to the plate, when needed. We're natural caretakers and nurturers - which makes us good at doing, not just talking about doing. Mind you, we rely on our men for many, many things in the mix. Men are absolutely necessary for moral support and providing a helping hand (sometimes financially). Women just don't like taking “No” for an answer. We know that bonding together gives us a better chance at getting a “Yes”. And, since we're better at intuition, gathering information from observing a situation, we know just which women to put to the task of getting the yes - from a man or a sister.

Would you care to comment on synergy and leadership as "male" words? or just overused? whether buzz words or not?

Yvonne: Synergy is definitely NOT a male word. It's a good descriptive word alive with energy- and applies both to men and women. In different ways, however. Men use it to talk 'business' and 'shop.' They say things like, "There's a synergy between these systems." Women use it to build connections - between people, places and even events. We say things like, "If we create synergy, the feedback we gather will be more valuable." Leadership is another story. Definitely male. 'Leader' implies 'power'. It all comes from that good old boys' network, where power was handed out from the top down. Women don't operate that way. We give strength to each other from the bottom up. We prefer to work in groups, sharing the role of leader. Notice how leadership goes along with being "in charge"...also a male concept. Men talk sports and war. Women talk peace and togetherness. We're not immune to the concept - I know that. But, most of the women who venture over to 'the other side' do so because they've been put in a position of conflict, where they're competing with men. Then, they feel as if they have no choice but to play by men's rules. And, sometimes, they don't know how to get back to the softer side of life.

Are these words buzz words? Of course. They're words people use to communicate 'value' ... after a time, the value they represent disappears. They become placeholders for misunderstood ideas, concepts, and beliefs. Each successive generation that uses them, warps their meaning. Right now, synergy is still new enough to be useful. Leadership has long ago lost its value. It's just a sound now. The people mouthing it mean something entirely different than the people hearing it. Its meaning has become subjective. Worthless. Let's talk - relationships. That one is female, and on its way to - invisibility, but for a time yet, still useful. Social computing - that one is 80% female. Women are the social creatures...men are into computing. But, social trumps computing every time, so...it's mostly female.

In the end, it isn't the word...it's the action. As noted in your first question: which gender acts on the concept wrapped around the descriptor??? Usually women.

Steve: A clarification question if I may, on how you found the blog Synergy... you used the word "my blog" and I just want to be sure that you were referring to Synergy instead of Steve's 2 Cents. I recall finding you somewhere about Aug/Sep 2005 as that was when I found Rosa and Talking Story. As the year drew to a close, we were part of the Traveling MWA together.

Yvonne: Now that you've reminded me, I did discover Synergy via your 2 Cents blog, which I found via Rosa. Funny - I'd forgotten that. Isn't Rosa the best? She's one of my top 5 favorite people in the whole world. And, I only know her through blogging!

Steve: Yes, Rosa is a key member of the Team Synergy and a very good friend I have met through blogging. Team Synergy is a group that I am very proud to be part of.

On their behalf, I really want to thank you Yvonne, for taking the time to share your thoughts on the Power of We. I am sure this will inspire some further discussion on the blog Synergy.

To our readers, after leaving a comment here, please plan to visit Yvonne’s blog at Lip-sticking.

Technorati Tags : Lipsticking, synergy, women, blogs, blogging

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Yvonne DiVita on "The Power of We"

2006-05-04T19:44:00.000-07:00

The following is a conversation that Yvonne DiVita and I shared over the course of a couple of weeks via email. The conversation has been edited. We had some fun putting this together and we think you'll enjoy it!

Steve: As a member of the Team Synergy, we spent month the month of March talking about what makes great leadership. I noticed that we (the blog Synergy) did not get much interaction from female bloggers and raised this as our team challenge for this month. The full posting is here.

The recap of March's discussion can be found here and here.

If you would be interested in sharing your two cents on this matter, I would like to explore this with you.

Yvonne: This is interesting. The Google Fight thing is totally anti-female - but as a way to waste time for a bit of fun, I can see women embracing it.

I'm not surprised that your Power of We did not get interaction from the ladies - it's not because we wouldn't be interested, it's because, as with everything on the net, if we don't know about it, we cannot participate. I'd love to talk with you about this - after reviewing your links. This is a wonderful focus - and one that the ladies will be interested in.

Your interest in the concept of leadership is timely - I'm pursuing just this thought personally, in my business and with a gentleman who is writing on it, from years of practice (he used to advise Jack Welch!). It's really a strong topic today.

BTW, I tried to leave a comment at the blog - but I don't remember my blogger account information (I use it so seldom), and I'm not willing to start a whole new account. There's a big turn off, right there. You'll notice that Lip-sticking has no such requirement. (I don't mind having to fill in the little box, to prove I'm a person...but, when I get to a blog that makes me 'sign in' - I just go away, and seldom come back. Sorry.)

Steve: Thanks on multiple accounts:

1 - for the feedback on the blogger sign in. It is a group blog and I had not noticed that aspect of the sign in. The squiggle letter test is more than enough for me personally. I'll see what we can do to enable anonymous comments. I agree it is a big turn off.

2 - I agree with you on the "if you don't know, you can't play". The group is starting to gain some momentum. Last month was the first organized topic and I thought it natural to extend it to involve the women.

3 - by deliberately reaching out to women like yourself, we will be accomplishing part of our goal, but more importantly, the conversation that results can lead us into.... well, who knows? We'll just have to find out.

Let me know when you have had a chance to review some of the background links. By that time, we should have come up with some "standard" questions to use for our interview.

Yvonne: Thanks for understanding. Do me a favor - I so want to pursue this. I did look at a few of the links, but need to review them more closely, to be honest. Just me. I like to get my head around what I'm talking about. But, if too much time seems to be going by (weeks and weeks!) nudge me. Remind me. I seem to be on an upswing right now - all good, but your idea of the Power of We is a great focus so...though I may seem to be neglecting or ignoring you, I'm not. I may just be typing as fast as I can...hoping to get to the 'fun' things eventually. When the 'fun' things write to remind me, I often slap my forehead and say, "Yeah - I deserve a few minutes to pursue that."

It's not only good of you to include women, it's something I like to talk about now and then - the fact that men do like us. Just as we like them! Would that we (you and I and others like us) can show the world that men and women know how to play nice together. Albeit, we may still disagree on things now and then. ;-)

Steve: There is no hurry on this. We'll take one day at a time. I am grateful for your participation in this and will not bug you.

If this weren't FUN then seriously, I would not be doing this at all. I do have a full time job to do more than hold, never mind taking care of the household matters, paying attention to my wife's to do listing (heaven help me if something slips on that while I'm blogging), assisting my high school senior in determining where she will end up next year, and we'll you know, the list goes on...

So don't worry; follow the links, think about it in amongst your list of other things to do and we'll get together some time to discuss this. The collaboration will be good when we get to it and it will have been worthwhile. That is the bottom line for me.

Stay tuned for Part 2 where Yvonne explains why "Women just don't like taking 'No' for an answer."

Technorati Tags : Lipsticking, synergy, women, blogs, blogging

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Cast your shadow

2006-04-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

shadow_knows
Originally uploaded by shersteve.

As tall as I am (6'2") my shadow makes me appear even taller in this declining sunlight. I appear to be almost as tall as the trees next to me, although in reality, there is no comparison. But you don't know that from the picture. Only the shadow knows!

How far does your shadow cast?

Turning the windward tack, the month of April is rapidly receeding as the sunlight sets. I will acknowledge that I am behind in summarizing the activity in what has been a month of discovering where the women are in the Power of We.

I have two more interviews in the hopper. One awaiting the interviewee final approval, the other pending the completion of my draft for review.

Given the work schedule for the week ahead: I only have three days in the office with the Good Experience Live in NYC on 5/4-5, I have plenty to write about and precious little time with which to write.

So there is work to do.
I must not delay.
Enough shadow casting for this day!

Women´s confessions

2006-04-30T13:50:00.000-07:00

I admit being puzzled by our monthly issue. Indeed, it is not easy for me to write about women's leadership. I have written a post on my blog with some anthropological comments on the way power and women´s place in work and society has been interpreted in the last hundred and so years.

What else can I say about women and their leadership?

In this post I´d like to say something about women´s role in the blogosphere. I read some women's blogs, Rosa Say, Jory des Jardins, Omara and others really make me feel comfortable. But what I find more interesting in women's blogs is that you can find interesting confessions of their private lifes. It was Jacques Lacan who interpreted communication as the process leading from wandering words to an open confession. This quality of talking of one's experiences to an open audience is something really amazing. That's the reason I find to visit time and again their blogs.

As an example of this, just take a look at Jory's engagement story.

It's a Small World After All - Jodee Bock on Where the Women Are

2006-04-24T19:07:00.000-07:00

Recently I had the opportunity to interview Jodee Bock, "soul proprietor" of Bocks Office in Fargo, North Dakota. Below are my questions and her answers, with the answers in italic type.

What do you think of the April topic on the blog Synergy? ("Where are the women interested in the Power of We?")

I was especially interested in the April topic on the blog Synergy because I’m a woman blogger, and also because of the comments the original question has generated after the fact. This is why I love blogging … it gives people a chance to create a dialogue (suspending assumptions for the purpose of learning something) - in other words, it gives people time to formulate their thoughts and to be reflective about the other comments that may be generated.

Ever since I got my undergraduate degree in communication and English, I’ve been very interested in gender communication, and the reflective nature of blogging may help explain why, at least in Synergy’s case, the women have taken more time to respond. However, now that I think about it, the majority of comments I get on my blog are from men … and they are the ones to follow up more assertively as well. Is it a lack of technological knowledge on the part of the women, perhaps for all the reasons in the original post? Or is it that women really can’t find the time to engage in dialogue for dialogue’s sake? I don’t know, but I’m interested in all angles of the original question, and the additional comments it provokes.

Do you have any suggestions on how the blog Synergy can engage women readers?

It’s difficult to find the blog Synergy unless you are pointed there by a post or by someone else’s blogroll. I’m not sure if that’s intentional or not, but even on your Make It Great! site there is no link directly to the blog … or if there is, I was having a tough time finding it. I saw the Synergy team, but wanted to go directly to the site and had to find it through a search of your site.
Now that I know about Synergy, I will add it to my blogroll, and will be talking about it on my own blog. Asking engaging questions and getting responses from the women the blog has been getting will definitely help to create a buzz about the nature of the blog.

I’m not sure whether or not it is intentional, but there is no description of the mission or cause of the blog Synergy. What do you hope to create with the blog? The first time I visited, I thought it was almost a private dialogue among the people on the team and I was eavesdropping by watching the dialogue. As a first-time visitor to the blog, I may read it differently if I know there is some mission that my voice may support by adding a comment.

Do you have your own blog or blogs?

I sure do. You Already Know This Stuff and three Squidoo lenses, Jodee Bock, You Already Know This Stuff, and Bocks Office

How comfortable are you with technology?

With your help, getting better! I’m not afraid to mix it up with stuff I don’t know much about if I can see the big picture – how this will benefit my efforts, whether it be in computer technology or any other form of new learning.

How much technology do you use blogging?

Not too much – I’ve copied other people’s code to add my own book links as an Amazon affiliate and have learned a lot from you – still want to get the Technorati tags down sometime…ready for my next lesson! I have a blog in Typepad, but haven’t done much with it. I initially got intimidated because I knew it would take more time than I had to learn all the ins and outs – Blogger has served my needs to this point.

Did you hear of the blog Synergy before (being contacted by one of the team)? If yes, how? Please elaborate.

I first read about it on your blog (Make it Great!) and responded to the original post because you mentioned me as one of your women readers on your blog. I was interested in what you must have been talking about, so I visited and really liked what I saw, at least as it related to this topic. As I visit more and more often, I get a better feel for the dialogue and will do whatever I can to promote your efforts.

Anything else about Synergy or blogging or anything else of note?

I am continually amazed at the number and variety of people I meet as a result of my interest in blogging. There are times it can feel pretty remote to be running a business from Fargo, North Dakota, especially as a “soul” proprietor. Blogging definitely makes the world a lot smaller. I have learned that I’ve been playing way too small in the promotion of my speaking and coaching business and will be more proactive with my blog to generate business.

Awesome stuff Jodee! Thanks for sharing of yourself with the blog Synergy and everyone else.

Phil Gerbyshak

Technorati Tags: women, blog, synergy,

Set Priorities

2006-04-23T17:45:00.000-07:00

Maggie Jackson has a good advice in her column in today's Sunday Globe BostonWorks section. (Free registration required) She says: (Bold is mine for emphasis)

... the complementary strengths of confidence and resilience promote prioritizing and perspective-making -- essential qualities in the digital age. Consider them our ''lasers and razors," the tools that can help us slice through the often-overwhelming fog of work and life today.

Confidence is the expectation of a positive outcome. That's how Kanter defines this intangible trait. Put simply, if you believe that your efforts will pay off, success will likely follow, says Kanter, an avid sports fan who studied the winning and losing streaks of sports teams, businesses, schools, and other groups to dissect the anatomy of confidence.

The Kanter referenced is Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanterwhose

recent book, ''Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin & End," explores this crucial ingredient of success.

Maggie goes on to quote Kanter:

... nurture your confidence in the long term by making sure you routinely reap small, short-term wins.

''That's what makes you feel really successful," says Kanter, who sometimes comforts herself with one of her own adages: anything can look like a failure when you're in the middle of it.

She goes on to pair this confidence theme with that of resilience. University of Pennsylvania researcher Karen Reivich studies how resilience buoys us during everyday stress and extreme traumas.

You improve your chances of achieving those reassuring wins and an optimistic outlook on life if you focus on what you can control, not what you can't, says Reivich, whose research on resilience grew out of her early work with University of Pennsylvania psychologist Martin Seligman, father of the field of positive psychology.

''A clear-cut antidote to anxiety is purposeful action," says Reivich

Great advice!

We have a plan. Let's execute it.

Small wins. Focus on what we can control.

Purposeful action. Nothing wasted. Building confidence.

Even if it looks like a failure when we are in the middle of it, we will succeed because we expect a positive outcome.

The "Power of We", honk, honking each other along the way, we will succeed!

Technorati Tags : confidence, resilience, synergy, positive+psychology

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Thank you Rocky!

2006-04-22T03:09:00.000-07:00

Our dear friend and colleague Roger (Rocky) Noe of Kentucky has decided to take a break for a while from the Blog Synergy Team.

We are delighted to report Rocky has obtained a super new leadership job that requires much of his time at the moment.

We will miss Rocky’s distinctive, warm and powerful words and we hope to re-engage with him in a while.

Rocky told us:

“It is wonderful to be a part of such a great team. Through my connections in the Blogosphere I have learned a great deal. Some of the most important lessons I have learned center around the ideas of integrity, simplicity, daring to do things in a great fashion, expecting to succeed, and giving back. I have chosen to follow those ideals and have accepted a leadership position with a wonderful agency. My new job has proven to be quite a challenge and it is consuming much of my time. As a result I have been forced to make a difficult decision regarding my involvements in the Blogosphere. I must take a sabbatical from one of my passions. I hope to get things lined out real soon and resume my activities. Until then keep it simple, make it great, do not wait for permission to succeed, keep giving back, and talk your story with great vigour and passion!”

Andrea Learned provides insight to Where are the Women?

2006-04-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to introduce Andrea Learned, marketing to women expert and co-author of Don’t Think Pink, to the readers of the blog Synergy. She has graciously consented to an interview as part of our April discussion: Where are the Women interested in the “Power of We”?

Andrea, what do you think of the April topic on the blog Synergy?

I wasn't surprised in your findings. It reflected both the way I tend to do things, and what I know about women in terms of the "buying" process/which can be applied to their "participation" process, I'd imagine: We may be using our online/blogging time more wisely because we want to make sure we maintain/have time for our more enriching offline life.

Paco Underhill talks about the buying angle in Why We Buy. Traditionally "shopping" is something women like to do as a social past time, and men (traditionally, again) dislike it and want to get it done quickly. Behaviors are reversed online, however (and so very tellingly, I think). Women are more strategic online, going straight to their intended destination, doing their research or making their purchase and then getting out – so they can go back to "real" life and what needs to be done at the office or in the yard. Men will surf around for hours. They like meandering through the online "mall" of possibilities.

I think there is a correlation to leadership in "group" gatherings. We women want to "get it done," and have found that we can do more by taking action and moving forward for ourselves in the business realm. I read a statistic recently about how many women entrepreneurs are starting their own business, and choosing NOT to hire employees. I, for one, represent this statistic in my business and in tennis. I want to go it alone so I know how much work I can take on and guarantee it is done to my standards. I prefer to play singles tennis, because I want the responsibility for getting the shots or blowing a game.

There are specific realms where women embrace community and the social connections that come from it, and there are others where it just makes more sense, from a practical standpoint, to get the job done themselves.

Do you have any suggestions on how the blog Synergy can engage women readers?

Well, discussions like this one help – where you are posting interviews with a wide variety of women. And, perhaps you could refer to the now-classic studies of women and leadership, like The Female Advantage by Sally Helgesen or The First Sex by Helen Fisher - and start to discussions from their findings. Another possibility is to look at the language you use (is it corporate-speak, for one) or how you present it.

Sharing stories of how men and women tackled a business problem, rather than framing everything in the usual labels can be much more useful/attractive for male and female readers who are looking for full-brain stimulation. A woman's brain may not separate "business" from "life" as much as a man's does. Business-y discussions, solely, don't tell the whole story for us.

Again – look at how Sally Helgesen wrote The Female Advantage, with chapters like "The Web of Inclusion" and "The Leader as Transmitter." Concepts like inclusion and transmission of ideas are much more "feminine." They are words and concepts of connection, not hierarchy.

But that may be a big digression from your question. I don't think there is an easy answer about how to get more participation from women on the Synergy blog. I suspect it will just depend on topics and to your doing a little extra reaching out – as you have done with this. That is a LOT more than most other blogs would do.

Excellent, Andrea. This will give us some food for thought and further discussion. Let’s shift a little to provide some background and context to what you do. Do you have your own blog?

I do have a blog – you can get there via my site: http://learned.typepad.com/learned_on_women/.

How does the blog fit into your overall business?

Well, because my work is all about staying up on marketing to women trends and consulting or speaking on the topic. Having a blog is a way to make sure I stay current – I have to keep finding fresh things to write about. It gives me a reason to monitor a wide variety of media on a daily basis and gives me a way to connect the dots for my readers between any larger articles or books I might publish. It’s also a great way to keep my speaking audiences interested in, and motivated by, the concepts I’ve introduced in presentations. I see blogging as a tool to keep my writing skills up, and a way to stay connected with past and future clients and editors.

How comfortable are you with blogging technology?

Hmmm… I use technology where it serves a particular purpose, but I do not jump on every bandwagon. I bought an iBook recently (did the big jump away from Dell), but didn't really pay attention to what it could do – beyond my immediate needs. I already love it, but over time I will get into its full capacity and love it more. It may take longer, but I do remain loyal to technology once I have figured it out. This is true for a lot of women, I've found.

And, I am a very low-key blogger. I use the basic typepad stuff and may very slowly comprehend all the additional possibilities, but only IF I discover a need. I may start podcasting later this year, but I am slowly getting used to even how to put an audio clip on my web site. I see all the things that other bloggers are doing, and though I'm impressed, it overwhelms me to give it space in my head. I like to write… therefore I blog. It's that simple. And, that's all I need to connect with people as readers and potential clients.

Did you hear of the blog Synergy before (being contacted by one of the team)?

I actually had not. Because I survey so many publications, and get so many e-newsletters, and subscribe to a number of blogs, I really filter what I'll take time to keep up with. When I got into the blogging realm two years ago, I could quickly see that it would take over my life, so I maintain clear parameters and "let it go" if I miss some amazing blog post that everyone else is talking about.

Bottom-line: I tend to form a connection with a person - which opens my highly structured blog world to new blogs. People connections, not issues, catch my interest/motivate me to participate.

Well thank you, Andrea. I appreciate the time and feedback you have provided for us.

To our readers, I would encourage you to stop by Andrea’s blog, Learned On Women, to read more of what Andrea has to say on “The women’s market … deconstructed.”

I would encourage you to join in the discussion of this month’s topic by leaving your comment here.

Technorati Tags : leadership, women, power+of+we, synergy, blog, blogging

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Seize the Opportunity NOW!

2006-04-19T20:13:00.000-07:00

"Opportunities multiply as they are seized." - Sun Tzu (c 500–320 bc), Chinese philosopher

Steve Sherlock recently had a great interview with Ronni Bennett about leadership, and I read something that really hit me:

Ronni thinks that the biggest thing is corporate leaders are not focused enough to get things done. Quoting Ronni:

“That's what drove me nuts in the "business" place I worked. There were too many chiefs who had equal say, so confusion reigned. Final calls were not necessarily “final” and any number of people could switch direction of the project even after it was well on its way to completion, requiring weeks - and sometimes months - of starting over. Further confusing and probably contributing to people's lackadaisical attitude toward delivering what they'd promised in the last meeting, was that everyone knew the goal would change at some point, so why bother working at it too hard.”

Interesting closing line. Everyone knew the goal would change at some point, so why bother working too hard. That's tough to swallow for me. Why does the goal change at many businesses? Is it because senior leaders don't set real enough goals to start with, so we need to roll to something else? Is it because too many people that call themselves leaders are afraid to stand up for what they believe in? WHY?????

Or perhaps this isn't true. Maybe this is just one person's opinion.

What do you think? I really have no answers, only questions. I'd love to hear what those wiser than me think about this.

Make It Great!
Phil Gerbyshak

Technorati Tags: women, leadership, goals, business

Ronni Bennett on Leadership

2006-04-17T16:49:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful conversation recently with Ronni Bennett of Time Goes By. The conversation kept on task but moved around and wow; did the time just fly by. Little did we know that our allotted time was up? She needed to get to plan her packing process and I needed to take my daughter to for a second visit to one of her college choices.

While this was supposed to be an interview, I did learn a few things about interviewing. One, I probably should have recorded it. Two, I need to write more carefully when taking notes. I took quite a few notes (seven single sided pages worth) but some of them are now challenging my deciphering skills (and I knew what we were talking about!).

So what I will attempt here is to recap the salient points of our conversation. I will try to keep as much of Ronni’s voice (and phrasing) as I can. That probably was the third learning I had, after having blogged (and exchanged comments and emails) with Ronni for over a year, to actually talk with her for the first time was a joy. As Ronni and I reviewed what was written here, I did take the opportunity to add some direct quotes from what Ronni sent back via email.

I framed our discussion with what Team Synergy had discussed during March and how women did not participate in the discussion, looking for her thoughts on this issue. Ronni thinks with leadership is a male topic. Someone, somewhere said, “What does leadership matter?” “It is how we keep score” was the response. She talked of the comparison to the BlogHer group and the problems they had when setting up the corporation. They met with the lawyers and the lawyers wanted to know who the leader was. Was it Elisa, Jory, or Lisa? The ladies wanted to do BlogHer differently. They wanted to divide the roles equally. They structured BlogHer with each as a President with an area of responsibility. The lawyers could work with that.

Ronni said
“the tight, top-down command structure of the military is unassailable, necessary to be workable in a combat situation. It's the most extreme kind of leadership and probably the easiest to implement: "I say. You do." But it's not flexible enough for most business situations and certainly not knowledge work”.

For example, in her TV production experience, everyone had a role and responsibilities. The show had a deadline. It did not move, it was not postponed, there were no excuses, the show went on or there was a black screen. There never was a black screen.
“That is not an option -ever. So with that kind of a drop dead deadline, there is a different kind of pressure to deliver on time. You meet the deadline - period.”

Everyone focused on the task at hand and helped each other as required. There was no consideration of not helping. It was part of the culture. You helped them when they needed it. They would in turn help you when you needed it. An executive producer could step out into the hall and shout out “You have the interview with Katharine Hepburn at her house on the 29th.” And retreat to their office. They all knew what to do. They did not have to have meetings on what to do, they just did it.

When she worked in the “corporate” world for a time, it was completely different. There were meetings, meetings that folks put on her calendar without consulting with her. Meetings that would last for hours with folks just pontificating, not accomplishing a lot, talk, and heads nodding, let’s do this, so and so do that. They would resume the next week and some things were not completed and no one cared. It did not matter. It was not like the TV deadline. Not like the women’s role raising a family. The kinds of things you could not avoid doing (diapers to change, food shopping, preparing meals, etc.). Women are focused more on the doing. Doing what needs to be done.

We talked of the difference between an assembly line and knowledge work. Things on the assembly line needed to arrive on time. Heaven forbid the car could arrive at the end of the line and not have tires available to be mounted so it could roll off. Where in a knowledge world, it was not so obvious what the workflow was, or where the hold up might be. Six Sigma makes sense in the assembly line. She is not sure that Six Sigma makes sense in the knowledge world.

In her TV production experience, she did not quantify how many hours it took to deliver the show. It was just done, whatever was needed to do it. Again the cooperation was there amongst the team. Even though roles and responsibilities were clearly defined, the overall team had a commitment to make it happen. They would work hard, pull it off, then figure out how to accommodate the schedule to allow folks to take time off after the event so it would be fair and still allow for preparation for the next one. When she worked on the first web site for TV, they all worked in one room. The espirit de corp was wonderful. They were all figuring it out at the same time. They could call across the room to get a graphic for an article and get the research to back it up. They organized it like the TV show and it worked. Everyone pitched in.

Brain storming sessions in the TV world were different than in the corporate world. Egos were not married to ideas in TV. You did not own the idea. You tossed it out. It may spark another that built on it, you went with the flow, truly brain storming, freely sharing and collaborating.
“It's not that egos didn't exist in TV brainstorming sessions, but that within the cooperation, there was a clear line of "command." After all the discussion, one person, usually the executive producer, made the decision on how to proceed. The overall goal then couldn't change (or we'd miss the deadline), but each staff member made the smaller decisions within his or her domain to reach the goal by deadline. It was assumed and 99 percent so that each production staff member would meet their various interim deadlines so others could move forward with theirs, and it was possible because the main goal never shifted.”

Ronni said:
“In that sense, I don't believe business should be a democracy. There needs be someone steering the ship who, after all the ideas have been put forth, makes the final call so each person on the team can proceed with their part of the project.”

Ronni thinks that the biggest thing is corporate leaders are not focused enough to get things done. It seems to be a simple thing. Even artists, as creative as they are, know which tool to use as their approach their work. It is not very difficult to define what is required for you to do so that you can get your paycheck. If certain things are not required, it would be good to know what others are.

Ronni said:
“That's what drove me nuts in the "business" place I worked. There were too many chiefs who had equal say, so confusion reigned. Final calls were not necessarily “final” and any number of people could switch direction of the project even after it was well on its way to completion, requiring weeks - and sometimes months - of starting over. Further confusing and probably contributing to people's lackadaisical attitude toward delivering what they'd promised in the last meeting, was that everyone knew the goal would change at some point, so why bother working at it too hard.”

The importance of respect for the individual and for appropriate working conditions comes from the top. The leader needs to set the standard. The environment needs to be functional or it will be painful to get up to go to work. The roles and responsibilities need to be defined and followed through. Deadlines honored. Commitments kept. Do something. Lend the helping hand.

There were other threads to the conversation that will likely appear in other posts over time but this pretty much summarized the key parts of the leadership conversation.

Ronni, I want to thank you for taking time to share your thoughts on leadership with us. You should see some of there effects as we (Team Synergy) go forward. Good luck on your move preparations!

The ‘takeaways’ for Team Synergy I think are

to spend more time doing rather than talking.

to be careful of what words we use (particularly buzzwords)

to walk the talk

What do you think?

Technorati Tags : synergy, leadership, women, TGB

Trevor Gay interviews Mary Schmidt

2006-04-13T09:21:00.000-07:00

As you know we are trying to understand why relatively few females contributed to our discussion last month on leadership. To do this we have been interviewing some well known ‘Blogging females’ to tell us why they think that is. Here are details of my interview with Mary who, by the way, will be a very welcome guest writer on Blog Synergy in the near future.

So … here is the interview ….

Trevor: What do you think of the April topic on the Blog Synergy? (“Where are the women interested in the Power of We?”)

Mary: At the risk of being flip, maybe we're busy "being we" versus talking about it. Women on the Internet tend to be much more focused on getting in, getting what they're looking for and getting out. That said, I think there are, in fact, many more women Bloggers, than would first appear. However, many don't have their own URLs, and/or Blogging is not part of their systematic business strategy. In fact, many are Blogging to keep in touch with friends and family - not to get link love or fame. So, "we" are out there.

Trevor: Do you have any suggestions on how the Blog Synergy can engage women readers?

Mary: Give things we can use in real life. Theory and discussion is great and should be there - but mix it up with short, to the point posts with tips we can use in bettering communications (and results) in our business, life, etc. P.S. For what it's worth - "synergy" is a way over-used and abused term in Corporate America.

Trevor: Do you have your own Blog or Blogs?

Mary: Yes http://www.maryschmidt.com (my site is a Blog and vice versa.) I also Blog at http://strategicreality.wordpress.com.

Trevor: How comfortable are you with technology?

Mary: I'm comfortable with what I have now but it's a moving target.

Trevor: How much technology do you use Blogging?

Mary: All the basic "stuff" (html, etc.) - looking at adding vlog and podcasting, but I want to make sure I'm not overwhelming my visitors with too much, too fast.

Trevor: Did you hear of the Blog Synergy before being contacted by one of the team?

Mary: Nope. Your email was my first contact.

Trevor: Is there anything you would like to add?

Mary: One reason many "real people" aren't all that interested in Blogging is that we Bloggers spend so much time talking about - well - Blogging. Blah-blah-blahhhhhhhhhh. Preaching to people who haven't got the first clue just turns them off. We should think about the writing itself - are we saying something interesting? useful? Are we providing something the reader can think about? It's not the blog, folks, it's the content. Also, I think many of us write way too much at a time in one post. People (including me) have limited patience with scrolling. I still get a lot of "what the heck is a blog, anyway?"

Maybe it's just 'boys with toys'

2006-04-10T08:08:00.001-07:00

The current debate we are having in Blog Synergy about why there are not more female Bloggers is truly fascinating.

As a male it is not for me to be too outspoken about this so I proceed with caution! :-)

One thing that has crossed my mind several times is that women, in my experience, are better at the ‘up front communication face to face’ where body language is crucial. Communication through the written word on Blogs is clearly not as inter-active physically. That is not to say emotions cannot come through in our writings on Blogs. Indeed many people associated with Blog Synergy are gifted writers who express emotion superbly. I just wonder if ‘the physical’ has something to do with this.

Another thought is about that old saying - 'boys with toys.' Blogs are still ‘toys’ for many.

In my circle of friends and relatives there are many who do not even know what I am talking about when I mention Blogs. Those who are familiar with Blogs tend to be males and in the tradition of ‘boys with toys’ it occurs to me be that us boys learn through mistakes and experiments, only to see the wiser more cautious and pragmatic females capitalise on the learning and use Blogs more creatively in years to come. We all know us ‘boys’ love to experiment and push the boundaries – something to do with the spirit of adventure and the need to go out and hunt as no doubt the scholarly historians among us might say.

Finally I wonder whether females comment on Blogs that are in the world of creativity and the arts rather then the world of management, leadership and organisational development. My feeling is those latter subjects do not generally attract as much female interest as the more creative Blogs.

Where are all the women bloggers

2006-04-09T19:45:00.000-07:00

Many people wonder why we don't have a lot of women bloggers involved with the Blog Synergy. Is it because we have overlooked women? Maybe we do not value women in the corporate world? With the group that makes up The Blog Synergy, I can say that this is not the case. Rosa Say is one of the finest and most effective leaders I have been involved with. The male members of The Blog Synergy are some of the most forward thinking people I know. So, why has it been so difficult to recruit women bloggers.

It is not that women do not blog. There are some really great blogs hosted by women. I don't really know the answer, so I will have to take a huge guess. I think it is hard to recruit women because they are very busy. If most women are anything at all like my wife, they barely get time to sleep at night. Women are busy taking care of children and caring for households. Most are working mothers and active members of school organizations for their children. They are soccer, baseball, basketball, football, cheerleading, and whatever else moms. Many are coaches, girl scout leaders, neighborhood leaders, youth league board members, nurse, holiday planner, vacation planner, family shopper, banker, family accountant, and just about everything else you can think of. This is all done after they have prepared the meals, washed the clothes, cleaned the house, and worked a full day at the office. Somewhere in all this they find time to do a few things for themselves, like take a bath and maybe watch Survivor or American Idol. Oh and get this, many are single moms to boot. This means they get no help from a spouse.

It may be a little difficult for some to get involved with blogging, but when they do, they are usually just as outstanding as they are in their other roles. I know I have not come close to describing all the many roles women play. Please feel free to add to the list. With this being said, we welcome all comments and contributions from a very special group of people. The true leaders and the power of WE.

Gender Bent Leadership Images??

2006-04-09T12:11:00.000-07:00

Is there a problem with the language we use about leadership? Are the words inherently male?

In the various postings and comments last month writing about great leadership I used a bus driver, an orchestra conductor, a sports team manager, and a ship's captain to help make my point. All of these positions are historically male. More recently, bus drivers are equally male or female. But have you seen a female conductor (other than in the schools)? With the advent of women's sports leagues there are still many male managers although females are getting the chance to lead some of them.

Sometimes there are discussions about the proper term to use. Is it "policewoman" when the person is female? Or should we avoid the issue and use the generic "officer"?

If our thoughts become our words, are we inhibited by the words available to us?

Not necessarily. We can always invent new words.

So, do you have words for leaders that are female?
or suggestions for new words?

Technorati Tags : leader, leadership, gender, words, male, female, synergy

Are There Gender Differences with Synergy?

2006-04-09T00:20:00.000-07:00

Steve has voiced a question we have been wondering about within our Team Synergy conversations for quite some time now, “Where are the women?”

We haven’t been totally bereft of their presence here on blog Synergy, however the ratio of men to women in our comment conversations have been pretty dramatically skewed toward the male persuasion, and we have to wonder why.

Is there some reason we are not aware of? Is there some way in which we have been less than welcoming? If so, as the sole female blogger on Team Synergy currently I am pretty embarrassed by it, but my curiosity about why, and my desire to embrace more women here trump my embarrassment— by leaps and bounds.

The gender discussion on collaboration habits is not something I understand and can relate to by merit of my own experience. Interest on content and subject matter, certainly. Personality and like-mindedness, sure. But gender? I have to say I don’t buy it.

Let’s look at what synergy requires from those who choose to engage in the effort; this is by no means a comprehensive list, just a quick brainstorm...

Cooperation
Involvement
Collaboration
Teamwork
Mutual Effort
Patience
Partnership
Networking
Engagement
Harmony
Participation
Curiosity
Corroboration
Community
Inclusiveness
Togetherness
Open-mindedness
Creativity
Humility
Connection
Positivity
Optimism
Enthusiasm
Hope

Not one of these attitudes and communication traits are restricted to men, or to women. However when we have the blending of the two? Richness in an as-it-should-be complexity, and a harmony of valuing any differences which may exist.

As far as I can see, it is in our differences that we blend together so well.

Ladies, we have missed you here, and I am thrilled you are adding your voices now.

Team Synergy, I am so pleased and honored to be associated with gentlemen of the highest character and aloha.

Related posts:
Where are the women interested in the “Power of We?”
Our beginning: Synergy Defined.

The Power of We
1. to build a knowledge base of the power of synergy
2. to build a global network of unique individuals united by a common belief in the value of synergy
3. to connect the unconnected
4. to build a global team of collaborators
5. to be a clearinghouse for viral ideas

Where are the women interested in the "Power of We"

2006-04-02T12:52:00.000-07:00

Googlefight may not be the best resource for research but it does make research fun. I was toying with some word combinations to prepare for this months topic on the blog Synergy. Last month, you may recall that we dwelt on what makes great leadership. Over 20 posts and dozens of comments resulted as summarized here and here.

In a Googlefight between going “solo” or as a member of a “team”, the team won easily (2.6 billion to 418 million). *Note, the results described do vary slightly. This is a dynamic inquiry and the net is alive.

When you looked at “alone” versus “collaborate”, alone won (684 million to 118 million).

When you look at “synergy” versus “antagonism” (according to wikipedia the opposite of synergy), synergy wins easily (52 million to 5 million). So synergy does better than its opposite but rates lower than going alone (and this is proved out with a result of 527 million to 54 million).

Clearly, the “power of We” has not yet taken hold in the marketplace. These factors help to reinforce our own mission as meeting a need. There does not seem to be too much attention to it (other than what we are doing).

When you look at the classic googlefight of “men” versus “women”, the ladies take it to us (1.6 billion to 1.2 billion). When you look at the more recent “male blogger” versus “female blogger”, the male take back the lead (14.4 million to 14.2 million). Yet when you look at female leadership versus male leadership, the ladies come back (35.7 million to 29 million).

So where was the female participation during the past month? Good question.

It was not here at blog Synergy. Yes, we did have Rosa lead us admirably but where were her compatriots?

The BlogHer blog was busy: 386,000 references in google. But there was very little posted by way of collaboration, team work, or actually discussing working together

Turning to Yvonne writing at Lipsticking who recently posted 5 Questions You Should Ask Yourself.

Summarizing my answers to her questions: While we are a blog (not a retail site), we don't post many pictures (period). Hopefully we do come across as a person and not impersonal. If folks have questions, they can contact anyone of us. The comments do reflect testimonials of our readers. We don't advertise our privacy position but neither do we ask for much by way of personal information so we can put this question aside.

This does not provide much to go on.

Where do we go from here?

I think we should continue to explore this opportunity this month. Let's expand our horizons. Let's reach out to the female bloggers amongst us. They apparently like the topic of leadership.

I am open to your ideas of course. You have shown yourselves to be creative. What should we do to increase the participation of females in a discussion on leadership or collaboration, the power of We?

And especially to you, our reading community, please feel free to join the discussion.

Updated 4/8/06

Phil has

Rocky has

Trevor has

Troy has

Rosa has

Technorati Tags : men, women, leadership, collaboration, synergy, googlefight

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What is great leadership? - My summary

2006-04-02T09:16:00.000-07:00

I find myself looking back upon the discussion on great leadership that Rosa Say started us on at the beginning of the month. Rosa has painstakingly accumulated the 21 postings that Team Synergy generated on this topic during the month. A review of these and of the dozens of comments that they generated leads me to summarize great leadership.

As I relived the month's postings and comment threads, I found myself coming back to a couple of key points. While I still agree with Buckingham's concept for the one key thing as being clarity but I find that this factor along is not enough. Clarity I think is more a measure of how the leader communicates with his/her team. Measuring clarity should not be that difficult. Recall that for a goal to be SMART it should be measurable.

Clarity is not sufficient. You can have a leader be clear about the direction and head in the wrong way. Will that make the leader great? No.

You can have a leader be clear but if the leader is not flexible enough (contextual intelligence), the bus will end up in a ditch or lost somewhere not able to meet the needs of their market.

But I still struggle with these factors and how they can be measured over time. Time is the one dimension not always given enough credit for its importance, especially in this modern world where generally if it can't be done instantaneously, it is not acceptable. How long will you wait for the page to load? How long will you wait on hold calling for support?

Rosa acknowledges the factor of time:

My post will happen, but I am no longer restricting myself to the window of this monthÂs time, for I will not post it until I am satisfied with an answer that stirs me to greater actions. I find I am living with this peculiar mixture of patience and urgency as I consider itÂ that alone is new for me, for I have never sat well with patience.

Troy by sharing that:

WALKING THE TALK = LEADING BY EXAMPLE

acknowledges that this leading occurs over time.

The consistent delivery of quality service, product, or support is determined over time. You can set the expectation today, but live up to it (or down from it) the next time, and the next. Starbucks was not a real phenomenon the first time it opened its door in Seattle. Continuing to open its doors, continuing to deliver enabled Starbucks to grow and demand attention.

Consistency was referenced yesterday by Rocky:

Leadership is being genuine and taking consistent action. It is taking action that others want to follow and emulate.

Clarity, flexibility, and consistency over time develops trust. For me, trust is the one key aspect of a great leader, the one key differentiator of one leader versus another.

Trevor came close to trust in his phrasing of great leadership:

Great leaders are decisive at times when they need to be; they make decisions and they are consistent. The greatest quality is integrity and professionalism. I do not think charisma necessarily equates to good leadership. The best leaders will emerge as those who have done their homework Â who have listened to the people around them and led by example. They walk the talk.

Phil also comes close to trust in telling us what he wants when a leader picks up the baton:

Integrity, feedback and a willingness to allow me to work within my strengths zone. I want them to be honest with me about their expectations, to provide me the feedback I need to take things to the next level.

Felix shares that

These three points; a sense of enjoyment-with-others, modelinging work of the team and the inspiration of the leader are for me the basis for real GREAT leadership.

Over the month, (yes, time) I think we have built a consensus on what great leadership is.

Another way to phrase this, is to answer the question are great leaders born or grown? A leader can be anointed or appointed but will only become great by building the trust of their followers or collaborators.

Trust can be broken instantly.

Trust is built up over time.

Trust makes a leader great!

Technorati Tags: leadership, great, trust, synergy

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Simply Make it Great with the Story of your life

2006-04-01T05:13:00.000-08:00

Here we are at the first day of April. For some reason I find myself oddly reflective this morning. I am not sure why, but I have thought of some interesting things. I think it may be that I have been browsing the blogoshere and hit on a common theme. I was looking through Make it Great by Phil Gerbyshak, Simplicity is the Key by Trevor Gay, and Talking Story by Rosa Say. Each of the blogs are very different and unique. However, I seem to have found a common theme in these blogs today. Phil talks about moving beyond good and making it great. He provides a number of articles and outstanding links to help people move beyond good to great. Trevor breaks things down to the simplest forms and always has a great message and Rosa has a wonderful and engaging style of storytelling. All three have a theme based on becoming better managers and people by capitalizing on values, making human connections, and the power of giving.

We are now starting the fourth month of this year. As I look back I wonder how much I accomplished during the past three months. Did I take advantage of opportunities to "Make it Great?" If so, How? Did I work work from a values base that included fairness and ethics? Did I maintain integrity in my decision making? Have I given back in a worthwhile and genuine way? Have I moved past petty differences and looked for the good in people and situations?

To some things I can say yes. To others, I must admit, I need to continue to grow. In the process I have learned an important lesson about leadership. Leadership is not a position or a title. Leadership is being genuine and taking consistent action. It is taking action that others want to follow and emulate. Leadership is keeping it simple, Making it Great, and doing this with the story of your life.

Sign of Spring

2006-04-01T04:28:00.000-08:00

Sign of Spring
Originally uploaded by shersteve.

The new month dawns today as we welcome April. Here in New England we start to see some color instead of the winter whiteness of snow.

This picture speaks to me of the effort this group is undertaking. We are all blooming individually. Clustered together, we share our color with the world for all to observe.

Let's add more color to the world with our efforts this spring!

Technorati Tags : theme, variation, spring, blog, blogging

Leadership Hypocrisy?

2006-03-29T13:47:00.000-08:00

The effective leader will be interested in something that may appear very trivial to “non leaders.” For example, many of us have worked in organisations that proclaim:

“We value our staff”
"We are an equal opportunities employer”
“We value diversity.”

Picture now a wet, cold and dark winter morning, a 6 am early morning shift for the cleaner who parks her car in the staff car park 200 yards from the staff entrance. As she fights her way through the cold wind and rain to the entrance she cannot help but notices the empty car park spaces reserved for Directors and Chief Executive, positioned immediately outside the main entrance. She cannot help thinking the mission statement somehow just does not ring true. The effective leader will be interested in the feelings of that cleaner and even if the leader cannot solve the parking problem, the fact the he or she is interested at all, will spread around the organisation quicker than the speed of light. Quite often the leader will also solve the problem of the car parking as well. Small things matter – leadership is not only about the big picture.

trevor.simplicity@gmail.com

What Great Leading is not

2006-03-25T23:40:00.000-08:00

As we roll into the last week of March, I must thank all of you for jumping in to the discussion on my questions on what Great Leading is, exactly.

“Great Leading” means what, exactly?

Our Great Leading Index there has grown to twenty-one more postings, with a wealth of more comments within them!

Your answers have stimulated some new thinking for me. I’m challenging myself to be the leader others expect me to be (and they say so) yet I have also come to realize that they are very kind. They are patient, perhaps overly so, and I have to challenge myself even further, striving higher.
[In our language of intention when Managing with Aloha, we call this Kūlia i ka nu‘u.]

In particular, I will admit to this: Tim Milburn’s counter challenge continues to gnaw at me. I have had another post in draft since the same day Tim responded to this question,
“And I wonder, what must Great Leading begin to look like in the blogosphere?” yet here we are three weeks later, and despite my reading over it and editing it nearly every single day since, I have not been happy enough with my own answer to pull it out of drafts and post it. Tim may not have intended his response to be a counter challenge, yet that is how I have taken it for my own blogs, Talking Story, and ManagingWithAloha.com [Read Tim’s post again here, or on his own blog, studentl.inc.]

My post will happen, but I am no longer restricting myself to the window of this month’s time, for I will not post it until I am satisfied with an answer that stirs me to greater actions. I find I am living with this peculiar mixture of patience and urgency as I consider it— that alone is new for me, for I have never sat well with patience.

I think I can muster my patience because other ventures have been so rewarding. Like right here. When it comes to blog Synergy, I have been renewed and reinvigorated this month.

We have a new look (and knowing Troy as we all do, we know we can look forward to more new looks over time ;-) and we have a renewed commitment from all who are part of Team Synergy to take this blog where we may not have gone before. What has made it to the blog this month in the form of our posting, is but a small fraction of what we have been cooking in the background off the blog for you. The extraordinary gentlemen I am so honored to have on Team Synergy with me create deep wells of energy for us to play in and be rejuvenated by constantly.

All of this has caused me to reflect on something else, and that is, what Great Leading is not. Great Leading is not going it alone. I’m so glad.

Here, and in synergy, following great leadership becomes joyful co-leading. Truly, the power of we.

Synergy Quote of the day

2006-03-25T18:54:00.000-08:00

From Fast Company Now:

"None of us is as smart as all of us." --Ken Blanchard, author, "The One Minute Manager"

This is why I love working with the team I do here on the Synergy Weblog. My ideas, while sometimes pretty good, are never as good as my ideas PLUS the ideas of others. I think this is actually the real power of the blogosphere too, at least if you open up your comments and respond to people's e-mails and allow trackbacks. Any one of those things is powerful...all of those things is amazing!

Make every day a GREAT day!
Phil Gerbyshak
http://makeitgreat.org

Technorati Tags: synergy, blanchard, teamwork

Genius or Leader?

2006-03-24T17:47:00.000-08:00

Found this listing of 20 characteristics of genius as compilied by Tony Buzan.

Vision
Desire
Faith
Commitment
Planning
Persistence
Learning from Mistakes
Subject Knowledge
Mental Literacy
Imagination
Positive Attitude
Auto-Suggestion
Intuition
Mastermind Group (Real)
Mastermind Group (Internal)
Truth/Honesty
Facing Fears/Courage
Creativity/Flexibility
Love of the Task
Energy (Physical/Sensual/Sexual)

Aren't these also qualities of great leaders?

Thanks to Paul Williams writing at Idea Sandbox for the posting.

Technorati Tags : genius, leader, Buzan, Idea+Sandbox

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Seeking Stability in an Unstable World

2006-03-22T00:28:00.000-08:00

Seeking Stability in an Unstable World neatly summarises my view that many managers and staff in organisations want the world to metaphorically "stand still for a day or two" so they can catch up and enjoy some stability and predictability. But:

Knowledge, information and speed force us to carry on at a faster pace – “just to keep up” with the way things are developing and changing. In other words, many want to see a semblance of order, process and structure - but - we live and work in unstructured organisations where those facets simply do not exist any more - a fascinating paradox.

My view about coping with the current environment is essentially pragmatic. I believe we must learn to live in the unstable world of unpredictability - bordering on chaos – then rise above it to a state where we welcome, encourage and celebrate change.

Throughout history, people have risen to challenges. The current Information Technology “revolution” presents us another massive challenge. I believe history will record that we are currently living through something as profound as both the agricultural and industrial revolutions.

A few simple anecdotes illustrate the changes.

1 I am old enough to remember the introduction of the Electric (please note electric not electronic!) typewriter in the early 1970’s. At that time I worked as a teenager in a clerical job in my local hospital. The person supervising the typists in our medical records office was an experienced woman approaching retirement. She had been trained and brought up on manual typewriters. She said “these Electric Typewriters will never replace the manual” - WOW!! - I wonder how she would feel now - some few years later and a mere “blink of the eye” in historical terms. It seems everyone who has an office desk, has a personal computer as part of their must have survival kit. We all do our own word processing – we are all our own secretary and we are all producing self regulated quality in the product that comes out of the printer.

2 Nowadays, I hardly ever send a letter through the post. Somehow the process of licking an envelope; folding my letter carefully; placing it in an envelope; licking another piece of paper called a stamp; and then posting that envelope into a box; for someone to – hopefully – deliver, seems an almost antiquated process.

3 When did I last go to my bank? I can now manage my finances from the comfort of home via on line banking without reference to another human being. Yet I still remember very well the days when at 3.30 pm on a Friday if you had not got the cash to get you through the weekend then “forget it chum” - the banks were closed till Monday morning. Now if I need cash at 3 am (though god knows why I would need it) I can walk down the road to my nearest cash point and get it.

4 Could I possibly have even dreamed in my youth that: “Take away” food would mean anything more than “fish and chips” - or that …. not only is there a vast choice of take away food - but I can actually sit in my car – order my food, pay for it – then drive round to the other side of the shop to collect it and eat it in the car without even having to exercise my limbs - other than reaching out of the window to pay the assistant.

5 As a youngster working in my local hopsital I saw patients - complete with their eye patches - lying in hospital beds for days, as they recovered from their “major surgery” to remove cataracts. Nowadays it is only a slight exaggeration to say patients can “slip away” for an hour at lunchtime, during their busy working day to have cataracts removed through laser surgery.

Good enough

2006-03-19T17:44:00.000-08:00

My child, beware of "good enough,"It isn’t made of sterling stuff;It’s something anyone can do;It marks the many from the few.The flaw which may escape the eye and temporarily get by shall weaken underneath the strain and wreck the ship, the car or plane. With "good enough," the car breaks down, and one falls short of high renown. My child, remember and be wise, in "good enough," disaster lies. With "good enough," the failures rest and lose the one who gives the best. Who stops at "good enough" shall find Success has left them far behind. For this is true of you and your stuff—Only the best is "good enough."
—author unknown

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2006-03-17T12:51:00.000-08:00

To all the Irish and friends of the Irish on this wonderful day, a Friday no less, you have an excuse to toss a pint of Guiness down.

Drink responsibly!

Love fully!

Live joyously!

Technorati Tags : Irish, Guiness, holiday, St+Patrick

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You CAN Shortcut Evolution!

2006-03-17T09:20:00.000-08:00

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Technorati is currently tracking more than 30 million blogs. The Corner on National Review Online, No.100 on Technorati's Top 100 (by links) has more than 12,700 links from 2,400 sites. Generating these kinds numbers takes time. This is your opportunity to shortcut evolution.

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From Seth to a Leadership answer

2006-03-14T18:58:00.000-08:00

From Seth Godin writing at Seth's Blog comes this gem:

I think the answer is subtle and simple: over time, as blogs reach the mass market, the number of new readers coming in is going to go down, and the percentage of loyal readers will increase. The loyal readers are going to matter more.

Blogs with restraint, selectivity, cogency and brevity (okay, that's a long way of saying "making every word count") will use attention more efficiently and ought to win.

In the meantime, though, I don't see the world getting any quieter.

I think this fits in to the ongoing discussion about leadership on the blog Synergy. Tim had responded with what leadership would look like on the blogosphere. His points map nicely to what we are building via consensus a leader should do anyway, the points just happen to be specific to blogging. Hence, Seth's quote confirms what we need to do.

Make every word count! or as one of my other posts says:

The voice, you the blogger or blogher, should focus your writing on the fully engaged part. Feed them as much as they can feed you in turn. There is a mutual dependence.

...

Listen to your audience, pay attention to what they tell you. They sell no mirage. They have come to you for food and sustenance. Feed them.

Feed them and you will find sustenance for yourself.

So summarizing Tim's points blog Synergy needs to be

a strong voice. We are many voices, strong and diverse in our rich and varied backgrounds.
connecting people. Our objective for sure, how well we are doing now is only the baseline upon which we can improve.
innovate with technology. Some of our "offline" explorations will bear fruit to share here.
produce outside the blogosphere. A longer term goal of ours but on our radar.
meet a felt need. The monthly themes should help us to do this. You, the reader, can let us know if we are on track or not.
help to create the web 2.0 experience. The web 2.0 is many things but the essence of it I think can be boiled down to the interaction of the site with the readership so that they feel it is personalized for them. This maybe more difficult to accomplish technically but we should be able to get there practically.

Technorati Tags : Seth+Godin, leadership, synergy

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What an honor!

2006-03-14T03:39:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful surprise and a terrific honor for me to be invited to be a member of the Blog Synergy. I have followed the founders of the Blog Synergy in their many endeavors and have appreciated the great work accomplished. It has been through following many of the founding members of this site that I have been able to accomplish a great deal in my personal life over the past couple of years. Through blogging, learning leadership skills, and personal development, I have been able to take control of my career goals and make some personal changes. I look at the founders of this blog as mentors, colleagues, innovators, and most of all friends. The blog Synergy is very progressive and always searching for better ways to communicate the message of leadership and friendship. I am looking forward to my involvement and the many new learning experiences that are sure to develop. I can't thank everyone enough for the opportunity.

Some personal information about me: I am a father of two great kids, Caleb and Devyn. They keep me very busy with their academic and sports accomplishments. I am Married to a wonderful woman, Tammy. She is the inspiration of my life and a beautiful person. I live in the state of Kentucky where I work as a counselor for disadvantaged youth. I have been fortunate to meet some wonderful people that have mentored me and helped me to co-author a book. Trevor Gay and Felix Gerena, both founding members of the Blog Synergy, made this a reality for me. More than anything that I can put on a personal resume' I am a friend of many. I think that human relationships are the most wonderful gift we are all blessed with. Through my blogging experience I have coined my signature phrase, "The sword is sharpened by the stone". What I mean by this is that we learn our greatest lessons from each other. We do not always have to agree. It is through the exchange of thoughts and ideas that we learn and grow. That is my goal in this endeavor, to learn and grow through the exchange of thoughts and ideas.

Leadership & Learning

2006-03-13T17:07:00.000-08:00

From a profile on Jay Goltz in Inc Magazine (bold for my emphasis)

Education aside, Goltz says he has matured as a boss. "I'm proud that when we moved to this facility, I didn't do much," he says. "I was barely here, because we were moving three companies at the same time. We have a new truck that we bought for the move. One of our employees, Armando, and his wife were backing it up over there." He points toward an indoor loading dock. "He hit a beam, and it came down and crushed the roof of the truck. When I arrived, Armando was beside himself. He said, 'I'm so sorry. I'll pay for it.' His wife was freaked out, crying. All I can say is, I'm glad I'm older now. I knew I had to come right out and say it was okay. They'd been putting in 14-hour days and now this. You can imagine what they were thinking: 'Omigod, we totaled the boss's new truck.' Before, I wouldn't have yelled, but I would have looked disgusted. I've learned that one of my biggest responsibilities is letting people off the hook in situations like that. I told both of them, 'Don't worry. I could have done it myself.'

"That has a big impact. There were a lot of other employees standing there. They see how you behave. You could be doing bonus plans, holding rallies, having parties to build morale. Then you scream at someone and throw it all away. Did I scream when I was younger? Yes. I didn't understand the role of the boss. I had to learn the difference between a mistake, which I can live with, and haphazard conduct. Backing into a pole is a mistake. A crooked label is careless."

Via Phil who pointed this out on Mary Schmidt's blog.

I wrote previously on what a great leader needed to be. The quote from Inc. above gives us confirmation in a leaders own words of what he/she also needs to do; that is, they need to learn.

The Ho'ohana Community previously spent some time looking at "life long learning" so we can come at this in a number of ways.

As Team Synergy continues to develop the conversation around leadership, I think we will find consensus that leadership requires the ability to learn.

Bottom line: did you learn something today?

Technorati Tags : business, learning, leadership, synergy

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Response to: "Great Leading Means What Exactly?"

2006-03-10T17:21:00.000-08:00

Rosa challenged us with five tough questions about what “Great Leading” means exactly. Here are my thoughts:

What is “Great Leading” to you? Great leading is someone who is willing to stand behind you when you make mistakes, and stand in front of you to block the wind and clear obstacles. Great leading means effective, not over, delegation, with proper follow-up, support, and materials.

What do you want from those who do pick up the baton of leadership? Integrity, Feedback and a willingness to allow me to work within my strengths zone. I want them to be honest with me about their expectations, to provide me the feedback I need to take things to the next level. I also want to be stretched for greatness within my strength zone, and not be forced to do things I am naturally terrible at, and will never be good at.

Do you buy that everyone can lead? What do you think I have to coach would-be leaders in? What is “walking the talk” of Great Leading? Everyone can lead in something, and as long as they stay within their gift zone. Now not everyone can be a vocal leader or carry the name “leader” but everyone CAN lead something. Coach would be leaders in the power of feedback, and the power of NO feedback. No feedback sucks, and it is the quickest way to get your stars to stop shining. Coach would be leaders on the power of a positive attitude, and a willingness to focus on the can. And teach would be leaders that not everyone is good at everything…and that’s okay!

What does it take to be a Great Leader outside the arena of your job where it’s normally expected? Easier? Harder? Is there any difference? To be a “Great Leader” outside where it’s normally expected takes a commitment to getting the job done, to asking experts for help, and to ask others to over-communicate at first to ensure you understand where they stand and what their strengths are. This is much harder than leading your team, because often people are in competition with you and think they have a vested interest in you failing instead of you succeeding because they are not big picture folks. The one thing that is a bit easier is you don’t have to see them every day (normally).

And I wonder, what must Great Leading begin to look like in the blogosphere? If you are reading this, you are leaps and bounds beyond the majority of the world in terms of your “multi-media literacy.” Whether you blog or “just read ‘em” how can you be leading? What kind of virtual leaders are you hoping will appear on your radar? Great Leading in the blogosphere is someone who takes the time to nudge along an aspiring blogger, who is willing to mentor a less seasoned person, and help them take things to the next level. Comments, or even private e-mails to people encouraging them can be amazingly powerful. This is how I try to lead in the blogosphere. I also try to read as many other bloggers as possible, and share information whenever it’s applicable to what they normally write about, and whenever I see others name in print. I try to really get to know the person behind the blog, and offer my support as much as possible. As what kind of “virtual leaders” I am hoping will appear, they honestly already have, and many are part of this community, with others part of the Ho’ohana Community over at Talking Story. These are people who give everything they have, willingly, without ever asking anything in return. And I love everyone of them for it!

Make it a great day!
Phil Gerbyshak
http://makeitgreat.org/

Lead Great, Live Great

2006-03-09T11:46:00.000-08:00

Rocky Noe, author of Hillbilly PhD did a wonderful post yesterday called Leadership 101 that shares a story about leadership lessons the parents and coaches of a pee wee baseball team learned from their 8 and 9-year olds. His story makes a couple of different impressions, and one of them for me was about the joy that came into the lives of everyone concerned as the result of some great leadership.

I had mentioned before that much of my thinking lately about “Great Leading” is coming from a re-reading I’m doing of Good to Great by Jim Collins. He shares this in Chapter 3 of his book:

Whenever I teach the good-to-great findings, someone almost always raises the issue of the personal coat in making a transition from good to great. In other words, it is possible to build a great company and also build a great life?

Yes.

When I asked how [Colman Mockler, the CEO most responsible for Gillette’s transition from good to great] accomplished this, the executive said, “Oh, it really wasn’t that hard for him. He was so good at assembling the right people around him, and putting the right people in the right slots, that he just didn’t need to be there all hours of the day and night. That was Colman’s whole secret to success and balance.”

… no matter what we achieve, if we don’t spend the vast majority of our time with people we love and respect—people we really enjoy being on the bus with and who will never disappoint us—then we will almost certainly have a great life, no matter where the bus goes.”

Very cool that Rocky and the other parents had such great kids who let them ride along on their bus. Read Leadership 101 by Rocky.

“Great Leading” in the Blogosphere

2006-03-07T11:44:00.000-08:00

After I posted “Great Leading” means what, exactly? I asked the same five questions in another posting on Talking Story [the post called From Wordsmithing the Walking the Talk of Great Leadership in the blog Synergy Great Leading Index.]

Tim Milburn, author of Studentl.inc penned a comment in response to question number 5, which read;

5. And I wonder, what must Great Leading begin to look like in the blogosphere? If you are reading this, you are leaps and bounds beyond the majority of the world in terms of your “multi-media literacy.” Whether you blog or “just read ‘em” how can you be leading? What kind of virtual leaders are you hoping will appear on your radar?

I think his comment gives us a lot to think about in regard to whichever virtual community we may be part of, and I’d like to reprint it here for you.

Comment from Tim: [the bold emphasis is mine]

Rosa:

I really like these five questions. They have gotten me thinking about what leadership might look like in our "virtual" community. I would like to take a stab at the fifth question because I think we are just now beginning to see some leaders emerge within the blogosphere. I think "Great Leading" in this arena will entail:

• A strong voice.
A person must be able to articulate clearly and concisely many of the practices and principles that contribute to the success of one's readers. You can begin to see various bloggers emerge from the crowd because they have developed a unique voice that is consistent and recognizable (for example, I can tell a post from you, Rosa Say without even seeing your name because I recognize your style).

• Connecting people.
The writing of blogs has led to the creation of blogging networks. [Talking Story] has created the Ho'ohana Community. There are numerous other communities that are popping up (ie, 9 rules). A blogger begins to lead when he or she can connect other bloggers together and point them in a distinct and clear direction.

• Innovate with the technology.
I love this part of blogging. The internet is growing and so are the various tools that people have access to that can enhance the blogging experience. Look at what Seth Godin and friends have created with Squidoo. Look at how many fun little interactive tools people have on their sidebars. A blogger who leads will be able to manipulate these types of tools to enhance the experience of the reader and add value to the blogging experience.

• Produce outside of the blogosphere.
I think that this is a must. Perhaps it even precludes success within the blogosphere. The formula at this point seems to be that one produces a book or some type of resource outside of the internet and then turns to the internet/blog to promote and build momentum. For instance, the authors of Freakonomics write a wonderful book, then create a blog to carry on a relationship with their readers. One thing that we may begin to see more of is a reversal of that trend. A leader may be able to create from within the blogosphere, which in turn, will result in being able to produce more outside of it. The key here is that a person is able to impact a variety of markets and mediums.

• Meet a felt need.
This is the case in most situations that demand leadership. There is always something at stake, some cry for help, some need that needs to be met. Someone recognizes that need and rises up with resource, direction, and the ability to rally people together to meet the need (look at all the life hack, organization, GTD type sites that are out there). Those who lead will be the ones who recognize the greatest felt needs within those who are seeking help on the internet...and create resource (or direct others) to meet that need.

• Help to create the Web 2.0 experience.
The movement toward Web 2.0 (which is a nebulous concept that seems limited only by the imagination of web users) has potential to bring people to the forefront based on the value of their ideas. The leader will be the one who either puts forth the best ideas or finds ways for people to bring their ideas to light and helps make it happen. The leader is the broker in the new commodity of ideas.

Just some of my own thoughts on the subject. What do you think?

I responded to Tim that I’d like to respect the thought and time he put into this response by taking more time to pen my own answer for the Talking Story community. However what is our answer for the Blog Synergy? I am wondering if our answers will end up to be the same, or different? If different, how are we set apart, and what will be our defining moment?

Do you have an answer you can share with Tim, and for all of us, especially in regard to this community here on the blog Synergy?

By the way, Tim just published a new free E-book called Touching All Four - Living Leadership One Base At A Time, which is getting rave reviews, like this one by Skip Angel.
Download a copy of Tim’s book for yourself.

“Great Leading” means what, exactly?

2006-03-05T18:36:00.000-08:00

Last month, our own Steve Sherlock wrote a book review on The One Thing You Need to Know by Marcus Buckingham. In doing so, he brought back to mind some unfinished business for me. I have been on a quest for quite some time to get more clarity about leadership, and specifically, our can-do leadership. You and me, every day, and in everything we do.

Why? I believe that a) leadership matters, and b) leading is something we can all do. Titles and positions of power are irrelevant. As a coach, I want to help people lead when they believe they can.

As Steve explains in his review, Buckingham actually gives us three things we need to know: one thing is about Great Managing, one thing is about Great Leading, and one thing is about Sustained Individual Success. His book is great, and I highly recommend it, however if I may, I’d like to get the help of Team Synergy, and all of you, our blog Synergy readers, to help dig a bit deeper into the one thing we need to know about Great Leading in particular.

This is what Buckingham claims:

“Great leaders rally people to a better future.”
“What defines a leader is his preoccupation with the future. In his head he carries a vivid image of what the future could be, and this image drives him on. This image, rather than, say, goals of outperforming competitors, or being individually productive, or helping others achieve success, is what motivates the leader.”

Then, he proceeds to explain in his book how they do this, first and foremost, with an obsession for clarity so that all those they lead can see, hear, feel and otherwise “touch” that same compelling image of the future they have, thereby driving alignment in all we do to achieve it.

Okay.

I’m in Barnes & Noble about a week later, and I see something irresistible; the audio version of Jim Collin’s Good to Great on sale. Thanks to Steve’s book review sweeping out the cobwebs in my brain, I easily remember how Collins talks about Level 5 Leadership in his book:

Humility + Will = Level 5 Leadership.

The other significant thing Collins talks about, is that other word Buckingham mentions, a word I use a lot, a word Phil uses a lot, and a word a lot of us use a lot… Great.

Collins starts Good to Great by explaining why “Good is the enemy of great” and it’s hard to disagree with his reasoning. He says,

“That good is the enemy of great is not just a business problem. It is a human problem.”

We don’t have great schools, because we settle for good schools, we don’t have great government, because we’re deliriously happy when we just get good government, and so on. Worse, we may be cheating ourselves out of having a great life when we have a good one.

So I’m wondering; a few questions for us to chew on, and come to some synergy with:

1. Forget about the gurus; we all can be thought leaders too: What is “Great Leading” to you? Buckingham and Collins are two highly respected authors, but they are the first to admit, as Collins offers, that “the very best students are those who never quite believe their professors.”
2. How do you define the leading we need today in your everyday world? Even if you bow out and say “Nope, not me … I have no penchant for leadership,” what do you want from those who do pick up the baton?
3. Perhaps I’m the one you don’t quite believe … Do you buy that everyone can lead? What do you think I have to coach would-be leaders in? What is “walking the talk” of Great Leading?
4. Forget about business, and tackle the human problem part of this. Let’s make it real for you. What does it take to be a Great Leader outside the arena of your job where it’s normally expected? Easier? Harder? Is there any difference?
5. And I wonder, what must Great Leading begin to look like in the blogosphere? If you are reading this, you are leaps and bounds beyond the majority of the world in terms of your “multi-media literacy.” Whether you blog or “just read ‘em” how can you be leading? What kind of virtual leaders are you hoping will appear on your radar?

As Collins says, answers to these questions get to be human problems, not just business problems. Great Leading is about banishing mediocrity in favor of excellence. In everything.

I have a big favor to ask of you. Tag or bookmark this post, and get engaged with the discussion.

I’m going to challenge the rest of Team Synergy to take their shot at these questions for us this month. Knowing them, and the fascinating ways their minds work, they may think of related, more provocative questions of their own on this topic of Great Leading too. When they do, I’ll index their links here for you by updating this post.

And please, you can all comment, or blog and link too; we’d appreciate your help. That’s the Power of We talked about here; let’s not allow our own good to be enemy of the Great within us.

The blog Synergy Great Leading Index:
3/1 Kūlia i ka nu‘u! The best that we can be.

3/6 From Wordsmithing to Walking the talk of Great Leadership.

3/7 Rocky Noe tackles question #4 at HMMMMMM? A Snippet:

...It opens up a whole new idea on teaching leadership principles. What do you think? Am I way off base with this whole alpha personality thing? Is it just a bunch of macho junk (What did you expect from a guy named Rocky?) ...

3/8 Leadership 101: more from Rocky;

Lessons on leadership from the Mt Washington Colts
(8-9 year old pee wee football team)

with some commentary here: 3/9 Lead Great, Live Great

3/9 The Leader as Kipuka on Lifehack.org

These leaders are not always larger than life. They are not always older, better traveled, or more experienced than we are. In fact, they could even be our children. They are leaders who may not have a title of leadership, but they act like leaders, and so in our picture frame of our present world, that’s who they are. That’s who we want them to be.

3/9 Steve Sherlock asks, "What makes a great leader?"

You can call it "contextual intelligence" or inspiration or insight or some other term but the great leader recognized an opportunity.
Read more.

3/10 Phil Gerbyshak posts his response here at blog Synergy. A snippet:

Great leading is someone who is willing to stand behind you when you make mistakes, and stand in front of you to block the wind and clear obstacles. Read more here!

3/11 Visit Trevor Gay at Simplicity for What is Great Leading?

In my career there have been leaders for whom I would happily work for more hours for less pay. There were those who I would not work for again if I was paid double.

3/13 Steve writes on something we all are very passionate about, with Leadership and Learning. He shares a great story there, and then ends with this reflection;

As Team Synergy continues to develop the conversation around leadership, I think we will find consensus that leadership requires the ability to learn.

3/14 Troy jumps in the fray with 5 different articles at Orbit Now! Check them out:

Five Questions on Leadership (1 of 5)-What is “great leading” to you?
Five Questions on Leadership (2 of 5)-How do you define the leading we need today?
Five Questions on Leadership (3 of 5)-What is “walking the talk” of Great Leading?
Five Questions on Leadership (4 of 5)-What does it take to be a Great Leader outside the workplace?
Five Questions on Leadership (5 of 5)-What does great leading look like in the blogosphere?

3/14 From Felix at Brandsoul: The elements of GREAT leadership

These three points, a sense of enjoyment-with-others, the modelling work of the team and the inspiration of the leader are for me the basis for real GREAT leadership.

3/14 Steve offers, From Seth to a Leadership answer

Tim had responded with what leadership would look like on the blogosphere. His points map nicely to what we are building via consensus a leader should do anyway, the points just happen to be specific to blogging...

3/20 More from Rocky, our Hillbilly PhD, with The business of leadership. Be sure to read the comments too.

If we break it down to its simplest terms leadership is being fair, honest and putting in a hard days work. I don’t know if very many people could be successful without those three ingredients. I think that is what great leadership is made of.

3/26 Tough questions beg help from a master now and then... This morning my master of choice was Peter Drucker; he helped me with two more articles:

Kūlia i ka nu‘u and the Qualities of a Leader: “Leadership is the lifting of a man’s vision to higher sights.”
“Not to alibi.” ...the third of the four competencies of a leader.

3/26 And doesn’t it always seem true, that questions beget more questions? Steve had one today about the qualities of leadership here on blog Synergy; Genius or Leader?

Call a Meeting

2006-03-04T12:17:00.000-08:00

Greetings from chilly England

A little light relief for the weekend :-)

Open a new trail

2006-03-03T04:11:00.000-08:00

Ronni Bennett has a wonderful piece telling the story about a lobster. Briefly, in order for a lobster to grow, it needs to shed its shell. The new shell takes 72 hours to harden. For that 72 hours, the lobster is the most vulnerable. Then the new shell forms, hardens, and life goes on.

We have discussed much along the same lines here. How we need to try something new, leading or following, simple steps, etc.

Suppose you do try something new, take the road less traveled. Along the way you find something that you had not known about before, perhaps another kindred spirit in the blogosphere. You want to share that new site with someone, with other kindred spirits. You can.

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Blogosphere was conceived as a kind of log book at the trail head. You sign in and when you complete the trail, you add some comments. These comments help the other hikers that come along after you.

As you continue to explore the wonderful internet world, particularly the blogs amongst us, you can share what you find. The details can be found here.

Ultimately, you get at least two benefits for exploring.

One because you did explore. You stretched.
Two for sharing. And with sharing comes that magical power of "we".

Technorati Tags : hgttb, hitchhiker, discovery, blog, blogging

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John Chrysostom on fellowship

2006-02-28T13:58:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I bought a wonderful book. It´s called "On living simply" and it was written by 4th century Christian Saint John Chrysostom. In one of his sermons this is what John told about fellowship:

If a person is to change his actions, his attitudes must change first. And a person will only change his attitudes if he realizes that his present attitudes bring misery to himself as well as to others. Thus we must appeal to his self interest, showing that by harming others he is cutting himself off from human fellowship; and revealing to him that his heart is hungry for fellowship, not for gold and silver.

What I like from John´s wisdom is:

1. The possibility of change.
2. The importance of attitudes.
3. The value of fellowship.
4. The need of a coach.

Happy Monday from England!

2006-02-27T03:42:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling guilty at my patehtic lack of entries on our Synergy Blog for the last month so here is something to think about

Question 1:

If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who had 8 kids already, three who were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded, and she had syphilis, would you recommend that she have an abortion?

If you said yes, you just killed Beethoven.

====================================

Question 2:

It is time to elect a new world leader, and only your vote counts. Here are the facts about the three candidates.

Candidate A - Associates with crooked politicians, and consults with astrologists. He's had two Mistresses. He also chain smokes and drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day.

Candidate B - He was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon, used opium in college and drinks a quart of whiskey every evening.

Candidate C - He is a decorated war hero. He's a vegetarian, doesn't smoke, drinks an occasional beer and never cheated on his wife.

Which of these candidates would be your choice?

Candidate A is Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Candidate B is Winston Churchill.
Candidate C is Adolph Hitler.

====================================

Pretty interesting isn't it?

Makes a person think before judging someone.

Never be afraid to try something new.

Remember: Amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic!

BrandYou 50 Reminder

2006-02-27T03:17:00.000-08:00

Picked up the second copy I kept on my book shelf of Tom Peters BrandYou 50 to give to my daughter Carolyn. She is a senior in high school (yes, and fighting senioritis). She is faced with her decision as to where she will go to school next year. Needs to make her final decision/deposit by May First. (I wonder how many high school seniors are making a "Mayday" call right about now?) But the decision is larger than where she will go, it really sets her up for what she will do, be, work, etc.

What is a "Carolyn Sherlock"?

Not an easy question for someone not yet 18. Sometimes not an easy question for someone older, especially these days. The life we thought we knew is changing in front of us.

Where will we be in five years? A ridiculous question!

Where will we be next month?

Hence finding this in the intro of BrandYou 50 gives it additional poignancy:

Brand You is as personl as it gets. Brand You = Who You Are. Perhaps, then, you'll be surprised at how often we get to say; "Get together with a number of your colleagues to consider..." Well, Brand You is personal... but it is also a Team Sport. The team, this time, is probably not your formal work group. Instead it's a Collection of Kindred Spirits... Brand You Wannabees, as I often call them in the book. That is this "stuff" calls for lots of chewing over. And, we've learned in our training programs, such masticating is immeasurably more effective when a small group of Brand You Seekers gathers together, formally or informmally. Hey, for many/most of us this is pretty frightening --- if ultimately liberating --- stuff. And frightening stuff goes down better with a support group.

Hmmm...

Ho'ohana Online Community

Team Synergy

Norfolk County Pacers.

About the only passion I have currently not covered with this support group of kindred spirits is poetry. And this of course, this recognizes that the close inner circle of family and friends is already present and accounted for.

What about your support?

Are you in good company?

Technorati Tags : Tom Peters, Ho'ohana, Synergy, Pacers, passion, poetry

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Simple Steps are the Best Steps

2006-02-26T20:06:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've posted to the Synergy weblog, as I was waiting for the "perfect" bit of inspiration, or the "perfect" quote, or the "perfect" moment of clarity.

Guess what?

It never happened.

I decided to dip my foot in the pool, and look for something less hard. Something I could do! So I checked out my teammates' sites.

Rosa reminded me to "read short and deep." Like Rosa, I love to read, probably too much. But I haven't done much lately, because it's taken too much effort, and frankly, I haven't had it. So short and deep works for me. Thanks Rosa!

But I needed more. I need some...simplicity. Trevor's new site is just what I needed: it's simple and sweet. Check him out!

And then I found these 2 little quotes that summed up simplicity for me:

"It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all." - Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House in the Ozarks by Hines

kindness to one's self and all that lives is the most powerful transformational force of all." - David R. Hawkins

Keep preaching the need for simplicity Trevor. I need it to remember that it's the little things that make it great, NOT the big ones! Thank you for that reminder!

On to Steve Sherlock...Steve shares an easy thought, Songs on the Road. 2 songs that hit him on his drive. That's not too hard to think about. I love music, and Passionate Kisses is a good song that often hits me too.

And I kept going...

I visited Troy Worman, and while I knew I didn't need to wait for permission to succeed, I remembered that he wrote a manifesto that MUST be written, about the simple folks, like me, who need to "blow shit up!" Troy NEVER waits for permission to succeed, he...just...does!
Simple really...Thanks Troy!

And then I remembered I haven't visited Felix Gerena over at Brand Soul in a while, but I did remember he had a manifesto, just like Troy is going to have. (I usually just read the RSS feeds, but I don't click in much, sorry). So I stopped in, and then a quote on life that Felix posted hit me like a ton of bricks:

Life is half mastery, half mystery.

Stop here. Half mastery, half mystery. Mystery solved now, for me! Or should I say, mystery solved for me, for now! Thanks team for sharing your powerful messages with me.

Phil Gerbyshak
http://makeitgreat.org

Technorati Tags: simplicity, orbit now, managing with aloha, steve sherlock, brand soul

Podcasting for Beginner's

2006-02-25T08:32:00.000-08:00

For anyone thinking about creating a podcast and worried that it might be too geeky to get into, rest assured, it does not seem impossible. I just read this article (thanks to Mike at ?IC@TomorrowToday.Biz ) and it sounds pretty doable.

I plan on trying sometime soon and when I do, I'll provide some more experiential feedback. In the meantime, have at it!

Technorati Tags : podcasting, blog., blogging

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I’m giving Malcolm Gladwell some breathing room

2006-02-24T17:23:00.000-08:00

Just in my own small, very small, contentedly small way.

I’ve decided I am not going to subscribe to Malcolm Gladwell’s new blog.

I like Malcolm Gladwell. I’ve read both his books, and I admire his writing. My decision has nothing to do with him.

There is just so much in my world I prefer to take notice of. Like my time right here with Team Synergy and all of you, and with my own blog’s community.

I’m sure Malcolm will be just fine without me.

I see that in BlogLines alone he has 372 subscribers in less than 2 days time for his new blog, and I worry about him. The poor guy hasn’t even been able to design a decent About Page yet.

I have no idea how he is going to keep up with all the comments there already. I don’t even have time to read them.

The very cool, very liberating thing is that I don’t have to.

With all those people reading, I figure I’ll hear about any earth-shattering insights at Malcolm‘s place eventually.

And frankly, and with no disrespect whatsoever to Malcolm or his readers, the comments here, and in our own spider-web of virtual communities are much more interesting to me.

Good luck Mr. Gladwell. I think you’re going to need it. Better than luck, I’ll say a prayer for you, because I really, really hope you’ll be able to write another book with this runaway blog on your hands.

Peanut Butter Wiki

2006-02-23T18:52:00.000-08:00

Call me crazy but I love peanut butter. Actually I like it better with marshmallow fluff in a New England creation called the fluffernutter, but that is getting away from the point.

Yes, Steve what is the point?

How about a wiki that advertises it is as easy as making a peanut butter sandwich?

Got to be a good one. I mean, a peanut butter sandwich. How easy can it get?

Go see! Check out Wesley Freyer via Alan Levine on the pbwiki

You've waken my appetite, I think I'll make a sandwich just in case....

learning
wiki

Wicked problems

2006-02-20T08:24:00.000-08:00

From Adam Richardson at CPH127 comes this full posting and good comment trail on wicked problems:

Because they are so difficult to identify and define, wicked problems tend to go unaddressed, even if there is an underlying sense that something needs to be done (though about what exactly no-one can say).

So how do you deal with such intractable problems? In my AWF talk I followed the theme of the conference - work and play - by using sports analogies to identify a number of capabilities and states of mind that are valuable in addressing wicked problems. These are:

Having wide peripheral vision to spot opportunities and threats at the edges
Using pattern experience to sense the shape of wicked problems before hard proof is available
Treat solutions as questions
Have a high panic threshold and don't be tempted to "tame" the problem prematurely
Treat wicked problems as a full contact sport - get the whole system in one room and hash it out, and stay close to your customers

Food for thought here. Much of this I like. Especially the analogies.

Read the full posting. Check out Adam's blog for the follow-up postings.

Technorati Tags : wicked, problem, solution

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For the book writer

2006-02-18T03:37:00.000-08:00

For the writer with a goal to put together a book, you might want to check out this new site: Blurb. I found this via eHub, a creation of Emily Chang and a very good source of new tools for all kinds of things to do.

I check it periodcially and this one caught my eye.

Others that did in the visit today were

Ziemeer - Jan from Amsterdam has made "a spoof of the million dollar homepage by giving free publicity to the sites we like."

StikiPad - A hosted wiki solution that gives you an easy way to organize and share information with others.

This one, StikiPad, might be good to explore as an addition to what we have here at the blog Synergy or on our individual blogs. While the blog format is good for enabling our conversations, to have the ready reference for all the items in our subject areas does not always fit well in the blog format.

I am going to start to play with this one to see how it could work. I like the wiki concept and am fearful of the wiki abuses (as made public by events at wikipedia and the failure of the wiki by the LA Times). (Well, I might go slowly on this one. I just signed up for an account and the "free" portion does not provide a lot of the basics I think I would need from the wiki to really test it. I am blogging on a zero dollar budget for the time being.)

Food for thought to start this weekend.

Technorati Tags : books, writing, tools, wiki

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Improvised relationships, a gift

2006-02-17T05:10:00.000-08:00

I like Patricia Ryan Madson´s new book´s title, Steve. Improv Wisdom is becoming a source of pleasant experiences for me. I don´t refer to learning experiences or just working ones, but especially some improvised personal relationships that are showing me how colourful life can be without previous planning.

It´s just a matter of leaving your heart open to new experiences. As I have just told, last week was very special for me. I held some interesting though a bit crazy conversations with quite weird people.

The fact that most interests me now, is how easy it is to build a great relationship even if you don´t know the other person. I tried this with my now-already-friend Jon. We were attending the same Leadership Development Program and I had no place to sleep in. Jon was sitting beside me, he imagined I could have no place to go and just asked me: Do you want to come to sleep to my house? Great, I said. I just had no idea where I could go elsewhere (well, I admit I had a B-plan, but anyway). Jon and me stayed three hours talking about Plato and the soul and found out both had had the same teachers in our Ph.D. Programs. When we told the rest of our colleagues they just could laugh and say:Ok, you both are adventurers, aren´t you?

The second example happened to me last week. I was travelling by bus from Vitoria to Bilbao and the person seating beside me asked me if I wanted to read his newspaper. We just started talking about soccer, he told me he was from Barcelona, he had a designer-sister and worked for a University in Vic. I gave him my business card and then each followed his own path. But what a time we spent together!

This is chaos taken to the realm of personal relationships. I reccomend everyone trying it. Then tell us. I´ll be listening.

Don't Wait for Permissio to Succeed!

2006-02-16T18:13:00.000-08:00

Don’t Wait for Permission to Succeed! The Manifesto is the running!

Check this out. My manifesto is up for vote at ChangeThis. Goto ChangeThis and vote for me! You can vote once per day per computer through March 18, so vote often and tell your friends.

Thanks!
Troy

3 questions

2006-02-16T05:19:00.000-08:00

Tom Peter's new cool friend, Patricia Ryan Madson, was interviewed by Cathy Mosca and during the interview, this stopped me:

... it's a meditation form in which you ask and answer these three questions: "What have I received from others? What have I given to others or given back to others? What trouble and bother have I caused them?"

Yes, these are good questions to think about. Deeply!

learning
life

The birds are fine

2006-02-12T09:24:00.000-08:00

The birds are fine
Originally uploaded by shersteve.

I remembered to fill the bird feeders yesterday, so while the blizzard does its thing today, the birds are gathering. Taking turns on the feeders. Some spilling seed to the snow for others to gather and share.

Kind of like blogging isn't it?

Someone starts with a posting. It gathers readers. Some gather a seed and fly away. Some comment and the conversation continues.

Our practice of leadership, right here, right now

2006-02-11T09:42:00.000-08:00

At the Practice of Leadership, George Ambler stopped me in my tracks this morning with his post pointing to Catch a Rising Star, an article written by Geoffrey Colvin for Fortune Magazine. I’m regretting that I told my husband he could take my car to work today, for now I want that issue of Fortune --- I want it bad, and where I live, getting a copy would mean a whole day on foot.

Read George’s highlights here:
What’s the State of your Leadership Practice? by George Ambler, author of The Practice of Leadership

Then, high-tail it here for the article George refers to:
Catch a Rising Star by Geoffrey Colvin for Fortune via money.cnn.com

It is so important that we, in our power of we, understand this connection on how today’s information-based economy gives us a wealth of leadership opportunity,

“…today’s info-based economy lets businesses create vast shareholder wealth using very little financial capital but loads of human capital.”

Second, I love how Colvin points out why “Labor is abundant [and money is abundant and cheap right now] but management is scarce.”

Click over.

-----Update: It feels so good to get passionate about the stuff I read. Just added these to Talking Story and Managing with Aloha Online:
“Catch a Rising Star”—yours
“Catch a Rising Star”—yours. Part II.

The Change Business

2006-02-06T17:48:00.000-08:00

From Jennifer Rice at What's Your Brand Mantra? comes a great question:

None of us should be in any business but the change business. We must not only keep up with the facts of change, but also (and perhaps more importantly) release our death-grip on the way things are right now. It's completely futile. Is your business structured for flexibility and change? Are you?

Read the remainder of the posting here.

Your Good Name

2006-02-06T04:36:00.000-08:00

From the Greg Greenway concert this weekend, another song where the lyrics are sticking with me.

Shakespeare asked "What's in a name?". Greg answers.

My Good Name
from Greg Greenway: Live

When I first started out, I kind of floated around.
I thought it might be better somewhere else
'til they dragged me out.
I was mistaken.
Then they gave me my good name.

They sent me off to school, when I could talk and move around.
I thought that they were joking when they said
shut up, sit down.
I was mistaken.
I barely escaped with my good name

I fell in love, like people do.
They said, "Do you want to be happy?"
I said, "I do."
I was mistaken.
I barely escaped with my good name.

My good name, it's all I've got.
Says who I am, says who I'm not.
When I leave this world,
I will escape with my good name.

I went to see a banker.
I need a loan to get clear.
He said, "Man, you've got nothing."
I said, "That's why I'm here."
I was mistaken.
I barely escaped with my good name.

Got a job pretty easy.
All the bosses at the top
said forget what you're hearing,
keep buying that Enron stock.
I was mistaken.
I think they escaped with my good name.

Chorus

What have I learned from the school of hard knocks?
Of all your possessions, everything you've got.
Don't be mistaken.
All you've got is your good name.

Chorus

And the chorus lingers long after the last note is played:

My good name, it's all I've got.
Says who I am, says who I'm not.
When I leave this world,
I will escape with my good name.

What is your name?

Technorati Tags : GregGreenway, passion, trust

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Why we?

2006-02-05T16:12:00.000-08:00

No, it´s not a provocative question. We can see “individualistic” attitudes in the corporate world everyday. Some people take big advantages moved by their egoism. So why not say, just me? Is it perhaps because we are not powerful enough as to think in terms of our own selves? Do we need to talk about we because we are too weak? Would we forget “we” if we got into a position of relevance and power?

The answer is you just will forget we in case you are stupid. The real thing behind the images of powerful individualistic icons is that they need the rest of the people more than you and me can need others. The difference in their case is that they need them in a blind way. They just need them to vampirize their energies, to absorb their talent, to drain their money into their financial accounts. They need them a lot, though they just don´t want to see their faces, your face, reflecting your feelings.

Why we?

We say “we” because we are aware of our sense of belonging. Joseph Lichtenberg, one of the most inspired psychoanalysts of the last 30 years found affiliation or “belonging to a we” is a natural source of motivation. For the Ndembu, an African tribe, there are no personal problems. Every personal affliction, what we call inner feelings is a collective problem for them. The Ndembu consider any physical illness has a root in the behaviour of the individual in his dealings with his tribe mates. And the cure for the illness is not provided by some medicine or herbal solution made up by the shaman. The cure comes by way of a collective ritual. It is not purification as we would easily think, it´s just about going through a state of the soul that can only be achieved in the form of a performance. And one tribe member´s sickness affects the life of the whole tribe. There´s an immediate communication of souls.

Why we?

Because we face our life with an attitude of reception, and what we get can sometimes be hard to bear. And the only solution in existence could be assistance.

Don’t give up on those Resolutions yet!

2006-02-04T09:33:00.000-08:00

Take action!

I go gaga for Goethe, and this is one of my all-time favorite quotes: You’ve probably seen it before, but perhaps only the last part - many people have never read how it begins.

“Lose this day loitering, 'Twill be the same story Tomorrow -- and the next more dilatory. Then indecision brings its own delays, and days are lost lamenting overdays! Are you earnest? Seize this very minute! What you can do, or dream you can - begin it! Courage has genius, power and magic in it. Only engage, and the mind grows heated. Begin it, and the work will be completed.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Take action. “What you can do, or dream you can - begin it!”

Recently I’ve found that the two questions* GTD guru David Allen talks about are very effective when I incorporate them into my coaching as keys in someone’s ignition. In effect, my coaching persistence with them acts as a starter, and I’m sitting shotgun so they get out of their parking spot!

In short form, it goes like this:

1. You need to get something done. (your goal or resolution)

2. Picture what it will look like when it’s done, and paint a great picture, in other words, a picture of when you have really nailed it. (your wild success!)
*Allen’s first question is, “What’s the successful outcome?”

3. Picture what you will look like doing it, and then define your very first step, and do it.
*Allen’s second question is, “What’s the Next Action?”

Try it.
Remember why that goal or resolution lit your fire in the first place. Then get it done.

Schedule it. Your calendar is the best productivity tool you have when you use it to schedule actions you commit to taking.

By the way, desire drives action too. In fact, it’s vital. If you can’t remember why that goal or resolution lit your fire, grab some keawe wood and start a new fire.