Monthly Archives: May, 2016

Why Create Yet Another Blog?

I read the other day that there are over 75 million blogs on WordPress alone. Read that again…SEVENTY FIVE MILLION blogs just on WordPress!

Each and every one of us is bombarded by content on the interwebs. Who has time to read it all? I know I don’t. My time, energy, and attention are valuable resources. I read often as a way of continuing to learn. However, I also guard who and what gets my limited resources of time and attention.

In creating a new blog, I had to ask my self why add more? What is different about THIS blog? Why might it be worth your attention? Your attention is a valuable resource.

I said that, YOUR ATTENTION IS A VALUABLE RESOURCE.

That is one of the concepts that I teach. In order to truly be productive (as an individual or collaboratively) you need to recognize the value of your time and attention and focus on what is important to you. In a world with too much crappy content, you can’t consume everything out there.

So here is what I think is different about my blog.

Topics I will be writing about:

  • Connections and relationships
  • Community building
  • Individual Productivity
  • Collaborative Productivity (High performing teams is often the buzz word here)
  • Organizational culture
  • Getting the results you want

Really it comes down to communities, collaboration, and getting results.

Are you getting the results you want in life? Learning is not about gathering more and more information. I personally like Peter Senge’s definition of learning. He writes that learning “is expanding the ability to produce the results we truly want in life”. This blog is about expanding the ability to produce the results you truly want for yourself, your organization, and your community.

I focus my writing around the idea of collaborative productivity and bringing out the best in each other. How can we be more productive as individual? How can we be more productive as a group collaboratively?

My promise to my readers is that I am always learning, growing,and exploring and will continue to share with you what I learn. Join me in the journey.

Have questions or suggestions for content you would like to see, let me know in the comments below!

Who Are Your Champions?

One of the roles in my job is helping groups to see how important relationships are to successfully completing their goals. The ability to build connections, influence, and trust is often crucial to the success of a project.

I recently facilitated an activity for a group where we brainstormed all around the topic of recruiting more champions.

We defined champions as highly influential people who believe in your cause and support you. These individuals can:

  • Open doors to new opportunities
  • Make introductions to valuable connections
  • Provide expertise and consulting

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When I facilitate this exercise, it is not uncommon for groups to quickly realize they don’t have any champions.

Have you ever been there? You set a lofty goal,  but you lack support to really make it happen?

A dear friend of mine (Katie Hurst) created what she called her personal board of advisors. These were trusted individuals she would reach out to for support. This is something I encourage everyone to do regardless of if you are on your own or part of an organization. We all need champions.

To create your own personal board of advisors:

  1. Brainstorm a list of who all you would want to be your champions. Think BIG here. Don’t cross people off the list because you assume they would never agree to be your champion. Focus on possibilities in this stage. The more people on your list the better your odds of creating an incredible board of directors. I have a friend who chose 100 women who she admired and wrote them all individual handwritten notes. When I first heard this, I was blown away. First, I am not sure I could even come up with 100 people I admire to write a letter to. Then just thinking of the time on top of that to write the letters! This sounds like crazy talk. However, many of the women she wrote, wrote her back. Several years later they still champion her work and have opened numerous doors for her. With those kind of numbers you don’t even need a high response rate!
  2. Contact your list of individuals you brainstormed. Influential people are busy, but a heart felt note expressing admiration and asking for help is more rare than one might realize.
  3. Ask for help. There is psychological research behind this. When people help you, they will convince themselves of your worth to explain why they helped you. The more they help you, the more attached they are likely to become.
  4. Respect their time. Influential people are typically busy. Know what you want when you enter the conversation. Be succinct. They don’t need to know every detail of your situation.
  5. Finally, be open to helping others get to where you are and making connections for them as well. It also helps to pay it forward.

Let me know what projects you are looking for champions on in the comments below and of course if I can help, let me know that as well.

 

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