Happy Thanksgiving and happy holidays to one and all!
This year, I’m grateful for the simple things.
the quiet moments when you can hug your heart, lift your spirit, and know that nobody needs you right now;
the rousing sound of chilling clarity, ringing with confidence from the most unlikely sources;
the echoes of riotous laughter through the dark fog;
the brilliant clarity of a complex thought finally mastered;
the quiet, sad-eyed half-grin from those who have lost precious treasures, yet resigned to carry on, stronger for the experience;
the faith and hope that we will persevere, that we will be stronger for all that we’ve learned and endured.
May you be surrounded by ones who love you, may you learn to love and cherish them well.
Who knows what?
In the face of significant change, our instinct is often to communicate our stance, adapt and persuade, guide and lead, shift and cajole, manage and lead so that others are in alignment with that perspective.
Before doing so, it’s important to first take a step back, and ask yourself, “Who knows what?” and ”How does what they know influence their perspectives and positions?”
In addition, it’s helpful to explore what the organization knows, and what the org would like you and others to know.
In other words, the world can be seen through three lenses: the ‘I’ lens, your personal perspective, the ‘U’ lens, through someone else’s perspective, and the ‘O’ lens, the organization’s perspective. Examining the intersections between these lenses can help you strategize the optimal path toward a middle ground where the org, yourself and others are most in alignment about what is known.
What do we all need to know? Start with what needs to be known.
This is the ideal state where all are in alignment. In the chart above, it’s marked with a star.
What don’t you, others and the org know and should be relevant? Next understand what yourself, others and the organization DON’T know and why it might be relevant.
In the chart above, this information is *outside* the ‘I know’, ‘You know’, ‘Org knows’ circles. Most of the time, it’s irrelevant if you, others and the organization don’t know something, but every once in a while, it’s a bonus if there’s something unknown to all three which would be helpful to all three!
Start with What You Know. It’s easiest to start with knowing what you know, represented on the bottom left of the diagram above, but being curious about what others and the organization know and *don’t* know. This means being forthcoming and transparent about what you know while being curious and open-minded about what they know.
Time to Tell Others and Org. When you know but neither others nor the org know, explaining what you know would be enlightening to others and the organization!
Time to Tell Org. When you know and others know, but the organization doesn’t know, it’s time to fill in the blanks and inform the organization!
Time to Tell Others. When you know and the organization knows, but others don’t know, it’s time to inform others and get them in the loop, unless they are intentionally left out of it!
Move on to What You Don’t Know.
Find out what the Org Knows. Look next to what the organization knows, but you and others don’t know. Why don’t you and others know? If it’s an oversight and unintentional, what’s the easiest fix? How could you others be better informed, more engaged and more strategic if they were more in the know?
Find out what the Org and Others Know, but you don’t know. If you don’t know, but others know and the organization knows, figure out why this is the case. If it’s an oversight and unintentional, what’s the easiest fix?
It’s a journey to get to an alignment between yourself, others and organization on what to know and who knows. It takes patience, transparency, open-mindedness and trust, but it will reap rewards in return.
Notes from last month’s When She Speaks Online Program
FountainBlue's November 17 When She Speaks program was on the topic of 'Fourth Annual Mentorship Best Practices'. Please join me in thanking our esteemed panelists.
Facilitator Linda Holroyd, CEO, FountainBlue
Mentors:
Gil Cruz, Senior Director, Business Development, Customer Experience Americas Service Provider, Cisco
Kristi Gay, Engineering Training & Education Sr. Manager, Coupa Software
Dana Gharda, Head of University Talent Engagement, US, ASML
Vicky Watson, Senior Manager Production Control, Lam Research
Mentees:
Harshita Jayakar, Senior Technical Program Manager, Lam Research
Tiffany Pham, Senior Business Architect, Cisco
with opening remarks and panel participation by Robert Socha, ASML Fellow, ASML
Below is a summary of thoughts on a fascinating and thought-provoking discussion.
Embrace a mentorship mindset.
Accept that mentorship is a two-way street and all parties may benefit.
Be the giver and the receiver.
Be passionate about participating in a mentorship program.
Be open to *how* mentorship shows up.
Be open-minded and receptive whether mentorship comes from formal or informal processes, whether it's technical or new-hire or cross-age/cross-gender mentoring.
Secure support and sponsorship to enhance mentorship programs.
Make the business case for mentorship by showing personal *and* business benefit through metrics and strategic planning.
See a need for your company and leverage mentorship to meet that need.
Challenge and reward people who go over and above day-to-day requirements.
Plan well but also embrace serendipitous opportunities.
Invite yourself to make things happen, regardless of your role and responsibility. It increases the likelihood that something will happen.
Facilitate Mentorship Conversations.
Facilitate conversations rather than directing actions, for self-discovery leads to broader and deeper personalized learnings.
Encourage others to brainstorm with open minds and hearts, but provide guardrails and guidance to help them make their ideas and dreams into real-world plans.
Ask deep and open-ended questions.
Ask the 'why' question for those who might be really ambitious and eager and the 'why-not' question for those who are hesitant and reticent.
Embrace Differences.
Respect regional, cultural, gender, age, and all other differences so that you can invite and integrate these different viewpoints into the rich and innovative fabric of an organization.
Connect people with different mindsets, roles, business units and perspectives to improve likelihood of cross-pollination of ideas.
Focus on Relationships.
Invite the mentor-mentee relationship to last beyond the length of the program.
Facilitate conversations rather than directing actions, for self-discovery leads to broader and deeper personalized learnings.
Brainstorm – how can we better integrate mentorship into our work lives?
Invite more social half hour chats and see which ones might develop into deeper, longer-term connections.
Connecting at New-hire orientation
Check-in with someone regarding goals
Making the time for mentorship
Invite technologists to represent the voice of the customer.
Help mentees to better connect and communicate.
Follow up and check in with those you mentor.
Gathering people over a common theme
Open office hours
It's about the integration of information and training
Journaling and thinking
Takeaways:
What will you share at the dinner table?
Who did you help today?
Be passionate to realize the exponential effect of mentorship
Invest in yourself, making yourself PROUD
Making sure your people have tools and skills, thoughtful planning
Mindset – change your paradigm, as a mentee, get curious and speak out; as a mentor, be creative on how to serve
Our takeaway? Life and work is better with mentors and mentees. Show up to be the best mentee/mentor you can be.
Notes from last month’s Front Line Managers Online Program
FountainBlue's November 3 Front Line Managers Online program was on the topic of 'The Gift of Gratitude'. Please join me in thanking our panelists.
as a Program Leader - Dennise Gearty, Cisco
as a Solutions Leader - Suvidha Kovuri, Cisco
as an Operations Leader - Michael Pettinicchio, Bestow
as a People Leader - Tammy Sanders, Lam Research
It was inspiring and humbling to facilitate a panel of diverse leaders as they authentically shared their wisdom and advice on how to embrace gratitude as a gift.
Below is a compilation of their best practices.
Choose Gratitude
Celebrate the little things, the big things, everything
Do the little things that can make a big difference
Make gratitude a conscious choice
More personal messages in emails
Make time each day to adopt a grateful mindset
Continue showing appreciation for all those who have opened doors for you or shined the light for you
Be Open and Welcoming
Celebrate our differences
Share with authenticity
Listen with empathy
Value the process of coming together
Gratitude + Vulnerability = many-x Culture improvement and many-x business results
Cherish Relationships
Make people feel heard and welcome
Express appreciation to others regularly, being specific and clear about the value of what someone said or did
Practice forgiveness and grace
Make opportunities for people to come together and connect, in community
Practice Emotional Intelligence
Practice acceptance of what life has to bring
Adopt a neutral rather than an 'up' or a 'down' energy, so that you are more open and receptive and less likely to overpower others
Know your own buttons and manage them so that you don't over-emote, making it difficult to manage yourself and the situation
Pause and think
Practice change in incremental steps rather than insisting on instant, large-scale progress
Do what it takes to activate your gratitude
Be vulnerable when you’re trying to be grateful
See 'course corrections' as opportunities for growth and view them with gratitude
What are strategies for framing gratitude as a gift when it's difficult to do so?
Introduce them to positive others
Stop and pivot
Shift the mindset
Change the subject
Embrace Authenticity
Practice Acceptance and Listening
Listen to understand, rather than listening to respond
Focus on the Core issue/problem
Accept that it’s ok/they're OK
Tell a story of how you experienced something similar to what they're going through
Don’t do the quick fix for the other person
Empathy
In closing, our panelists confirmed that if we consciously adopt a grateful mindset, we can express gratitude and deliver business and personal results.
Notes from last month’s VIP Roundtable Online Program
FountainBlue's November 17 VIP Roundtable was on the topic of 'Data is the New Black'. Our executives in attendance represented a wide range of backgrounds, industries and experiences. Below is a summary of their thoughts.
Our executives continually returned to the theme that data is the foundation for all businesses, that it is pervasive, that it is the 'ante' for participating, that it is pervasive, central and critical to the success and growth of all organizations in all industries.
The question then becomes:
How can we better harness the data to:
provide sales/marketing support:
understand customer insights?
leverage market trends and opportunities?
grow revenues?
identify niche customers or needs?
provide strategic support:
anticipate and plan for existential threats?
anticipate and capitalize on trends and needs?
provide support for operational and administrative tasks:
more efficiently manage supply chain, operational and administrative tasks?
Below are some thoughts about how we can continue to expand our use of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and automation:
Leverage predictive analytics to plan, manage, and anticipate operational issues
Enhance the user experience so that it's more immersive and realistic with more realistic graphics and shorter lag times
Collect more data on the edge through sensors
Capture data collected on the edge to address urgent needs around safety
Manage the data collected at the edge with data collected on the cloud
But challenges remain:
How do we create and update useful dashboards with actionable insights around the data?
How do we protect the privacy of our users while leveraging the data to serve those same users?
How do we remain compliant to governance and legal requirements around the world when everything is shifting so quickly?
How do we integrate data silos so that companies can act as one organization to better serve our stakeholders?
With so much data, how do we sift the Signal from the Noise?
How do we ensure the integrity of the data we are using to make business decisions, leaning on a 'Single Source of Truth'?
How do we move more people from more traditional ways of doing business to more digital ways of doing business so that they don't get left behind?
How do we ensure that our hardware and software solutions around data manage energy efficiency and even sustainably?
As usual, we had more questions than answers, but we agreed that:
Data will be ever more foundational to the success of any organization;
Managing data and using it wisely will be a complex and essential task; and
Working together, we can better collaborate and understand the challenges and opportunities around the collecting, management, usage, and access to data.
Our final thought: Leverage data as a pneumatic nail, providing a 10x multiplier for your business!