Blog post

MUDA – Stuff you don’t really need to be doing…

I love my new job except for the MUDA. You say it like BUDDHA with a MMMM. It is the stuff that corporations create for you to do that does not add value. It is not meeting a client need or the corporation needs and yet it takes up our time. Chris McGoff explains that when a big change is needed most people say they don’t have the time or the money but if they focus their attention on the change and away from the MUDA they can find the time to do the value added things that result in the implementation of the change.

What do you do that isn’t adding value or meeting a need in your business?

I think I will keep a MUDA journal for a couple of days and see what I can learn about the ACTIVITIES I am involved in on a daily basis.

Still no word from Chris McGoff

My new favourite leadership writer is obviously Chris McGoff of “The Primes”. I may have to try a more direct approach to have him contact me so that he and I can talk about what we both believe to be true about leadership and how it works. chris is a change manager and I think change managers should stick together.

I do hope I get a chance to talk to or correspond with Mr McGoff. Maybe i should call him.

This week at the Change Management Think Tank in Calgary we talked about the Profession of Change Management and the state of it in Calgary in particular. some very interesting insights from those in the room about how the discipline is evolving and defining itself within project management as the people side of the people/ask coin. I agree and I agree that the skills and services offered by change managers are VALUABLE. It is now time for the CM’s of the world to show how improving conversations and relationship improves the bottom line. That is the next challenge

Coaches in London

I was supposed to be heading to London – England – today for the International Coaches Federation convention. I attended last year in Las Vegas and it was very interesting. I was excited by the possibility of the visit but with a full time job like I have right now I just couldn’t make it work. There are some exciting and innovated sessions planned and the wonder of this electronic world makes it possible to attend those virtually. Of course it is the middle of the night here so it won’t interfere with my working hours so on Monday and Tuesday I will definitely be listening in. Could be fun. Check it our out on the ICF website.

The Change – that’s old school.

Why are we so bad at change? We seem to get the procedural part but we can’t seem to manage the interpersonal part. somehow we have forgotten the power of the comfort zone and the inertia that keeps people there. This morning I listened to George Ayee talk about the kinds of resistance he has heard around change. “I don’t get this” – the intellectual resistance; “I don’t like this” – the emotional resistance and “I don’t like YOU” – the personal trust issue. I would add “I don’t need this” – the physical more immediate response.

For me it is easy to identify the past present future orientation in these resistant statements and then it becomes easier to create a plan of action or a response in each of three instances. For those who live in the past it is SOOOO important to acknowledge past contribution. If you don’t do that the resistance will become entrenched and the project is doomed. So for those who don’t like the change an exploration of what they like about the past and want to keep moving forward is crucial. Once those appropriate pieces of past can be identified and incorporated in to the plan for the future you have met the objections of the past oriented people.

The present oriented people will come on board when everything is settled and in place. until then they will operate as they have. They don’t need to hear about future plans. They just need to know what to do today. “I don’t need this” means I am doing my job right now. Once the job description has changed I will do that one too. Just tell me what to do.

The future oriented people are all over change except when they don’t understand the why. For them the intellectual reasoning needs to be clear to allow them to freedom to move forward.

Change managers really need to be aware of where the people are. In every change conversation elements of past, present and future orientation are key. So be prepared to describe the change from five years out as a thing of the past for past oriented employees. Be prepared to explain it as if it has already happened, as if it is present and operational for the present oriented people and also be prepared to describe the result (the why), the contrast between the now and a future then for the future oriented people…. and be prepared to watch people shift perspective as they SEE, HEAR or SENSE someone recognizing and addressing their concerns effectively – in their own language.

Street Coaching

This is a cool video that does a good job of explaining coaching. The ICF conference in London is going to do a flash Mob on it….. Wish I could be there.

“Coaching taking to the streets? Have you ever considered what could happened if coaches would randomly challenged and inspire people on the streets?
Well, Shivani has and here is a video with it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF4nembFLI

What is more, coaches from 56 countries will have the chance for some flash mob coaching at the streets of London this October!
What do you think would be the impact of it?”

Dynamic Incompleteness – AKA Open for Contribution

I love this Prime number 12 from Chris McGoff. Dynamic – changing and moving and growing and present – Incompleteness – with holes in it. It really describes a state where contributions are welcome. The vision or goal is incomplete. there is enough information to see the shape of the thing but room to contribute in a meaningful way. What that does is allows people to own it. The contribution is the key to ownership and champions are born of ownership. The best leaders know about ships. Carol Steen and I, when we taught leadership at the University of Lethbridge for 10 summers, used the ship metaphor a lot.

There is a fleet of ships called leader. Ownership is one of the most important. People take care of what they own and once they have CHOSEN to contribute they begin to develop that sense of pride and attachment that only comes from ownership. Leaders do not need to have all the answers. Sometimes they just need the right questions and to provide the right kind of opportunity for their followers to contribute… to fill in the blank or the holes in the Swiss cheese which is the metaphor that McGoff uses. So a leader who strategically allows for his followers to contribute to the vision he is creating wins in two ways. He gains the loyalty and commitment of his followers and he likely has a better product at the end.

It’s interesting that no matter what they BEACH, the dynamic incompleteness concept holds. The difference will be in the kind of hole each perspective or DO point will want to fill. The excellent leader leaves the right kind of holes to allow for nine kinds of contribution.

A Request from a Reader to Explain BEACHS

A request from a reader to explain BEACHs …

BEACHs represent to me nine sets of beliefs, expectations, assumptions, concerns and hopes that make up a culture or group of people who are seeking something in the world. They are my sociological interpretation of George Gurdjeiff’s work from the early 1900’s. He was seeking truth in the cosmos and used a symbol with nine points on a circle, the Enneagram to talk about how the world works. Scholars, astronomers, mathematicians like Pythagoras and others have also used it as a representation that explains some aspect of their work. Psychologists in North America since the 1980’s have used it to talk about the inner workings of a human’s psyche. Jesuits use it to identify patterns of sin and redemption. I use it to understand human behaviour from the interaction or behavioural side of things looking at it from the perspective of the social struggler making their way through the maze of relationship with people places and events in the world. I’m working on the book.

You can map the nine perspectives on a 3 X 3 grid. There are three directions that people travel when interacting. Toward, With or Away from. You can see and sense this almost the minute they enter your line of vision or space. There are also three Orientations they take. Past, present or future. You can hear this in their language. If you put those on a 3X3 grid you see nine perspectives. Those D.O. points placed on the Enneagram circle represent combinations of direction and orientation. I call these places where we stand to look at the world BEACHs. They represent nine sets of Beliefs, Expectations, Assumptions, Concerns and Hopes: Beliefs about the world based on past experiences, Expectations for those in it, Assumptions about how things are and work, Concerns and Hopes for what’s coming next.

To briefly introduce the nine patterns or BEACHS consider this list of nine motivations from the perspective of the “social struggler” making his or her way in the world.

What they learn and how you can tell ( Direction and Orientation )

The world is ….wrong. My job is to make it right. I seek perfection. D. with O. present
The world is … suffering. My job is to help. I seek connection. D. with O. past
The world is … inefficient. My job is to produce. I seek success. D. toward O. past
The world is … dull. My job is to add beauty. I seek differentiation. D. away O. past
The world is … stupid. My job is to add wisdom. I seek detachment. D. away O. future
The world is … dangerous. My job is to protect. I seek security. D. with O. future
The world is … sad. My job is to make it joyful. I seek excitement. D. toward O. future
The world is … weak. My job is to add strength. I seek power. D. toward O. present
The world is … conflicted. My job is to add calm. I seek peace. D. away O. present

This is a very brief tip of the iceberg look at this simple yet complex view of human behaviour. I hope it situates the idea for you.

My work on the blog lately has been to see the usefulness of the map and compass of the BEACHs as a guide through the Primes by Chris McGoff.

One more prime for this week, Prime 12 Declaration. McGoff suggests that great leaders DECLARE what is to be. The strength of the language is evident. Not only do they declare what is to be but by when so that Declarations relate to outcome and are date certain. I agree that in certain circumstances this is what great leaders do. To be the holder of the vision and to have the crayons with which to colour the picture, and the courage to do so is essential in leadership. People need clarity and focus so that they can be pulled toward an outcome that is date certain.

Setting intention is powerful and can move people to act. Maybe I should be making a Declaration for the completion of the Sociology of the Enneagram book and make it date certain. If I declare out loud and in public that I will be finished a complete draft by the end of October it gives me a target and a focus for what to do with my spare time. Hmmmm.

Sometimes it is more important to not know. That leads to the next Prime… Dynamic incompleteness which we can talk about next time.

Remember if you know Chris McGoff please let him know you are reading about this here. Maybe he will comment too.

Prime 7 – Commitment and Attachment

Continuing my review of the Primes by Chris McGoff I found myself this week looking at number 7 – Commitment versus Attachment – which has a subtitle “Success is a state of being.” I like the basic premise that if we attach ourselves to a result and we don’t achieve it that we run the risk of having an emotional response to the “failure”. If we attach to the outcome then we let them determine our state. For McGoff, Commitment has more freedom in it. If you are committed to a way of being you can be that way no matter the results. I get that. Hold your plans and goals lightly and if you fall short remember the purpose and that YOU are not a failure. Your results and your way of being ought not to be attached. Sometimes I do think that creating a clear vision and committing to it, declaring it and acting boldly to make it real requires some emotional attachment. It is often that emotional energy that makes the difference between setting a goal and achieving it. I think it is important to attach yourself to a goal or a cause that you truly believe in. Make it personal sometimes and work as hard as you can to achieve success. I think really what McGoff is warning us about in this prime is that we think about SUCCESS a little deeper and make sure the measure of results does not necessarily equal success. I am successful when I give it my all … Shoot for the moon and land among the stars…. And that’s okay. What state of being is success to you? That will so depend on your BEACH. BEACHs give us our perspective on the world and I believe they can be seen in our state of mind. Identifying someone’s BEACH is easier when they are in a state…. no matter what the state is. They may be attached or committed to outcomes and results and that is easier to see at a point where it is clear that the result is not the expected one. You can learn a lot about WHAT someone is committed to when you can watch them fail (what ever that means). Success and failure are both states of being and in my mind are defined nine different ways. Being committed to outcomes keeps you working toward them and allows you to keep your perspective in the McGoff definition. Being attached to the outcome might cause us to lose the perspective and behave in ways inconsistent with our REAL selves.

I say be mindful of what results you commit to and what you attach to. Making the distinction gives you the freedom to choose.

Ways to know yourself

So I did an Internet search for profound coaching questions and found a website for Nadine Love in Queensland Australia with some very interesting stuff on it. There was a blog on Neale Donald Walsch, one of my favorite writers. It seems that Nadine and I have more in common than a last name. I am waiting to hear from her about the origins of her LOVE. Mine of course is Scottish, an anglicized version of MacKinnon (my beloved son).

I didn’t find any profound questions from Nadine on the site to use in coaching sessions. She is a mentor for coaches and talks more about growing a coaching enterprise than about the practice itself. It appears that she uses some profound coaching techniques to help people become successful at coaching which is cool.

The profound questions were in the NDW article. He suggests that you ask yourself these question three times a day for 60 days.

Who am I?
Where am I?
Why am I who I am?
What do I intend to do about it?

I would add… What else could I be doing? Where else could I be? Before the last one, to get the creativity going.

Three times a day … At 8am, 12 noon and 8pm. For 60 days. How would that change your thinking?

Trains …. originally written in July on our trip to Italy

We are on the train between Florence and Rome. It’s a cloudy day … Our first this trip. It is a good day to be traveling.
Trains in Europe are amazing. Everyone stands at the station watching the boards. As soon as the track is posted, everyone moves toward their train track and spreads out the length of the train to the sign with their coach number posted. Here is a hint… Coach one is at the end of the train furthest from the station. The train pulls in, empties, a fills again rather efficiently. The it pulls away toward its destination.
I love the way Europeans expect people to be responsible for their own well being. No one asked us what train we were riding in or what coach or what seat. No one offers help. They assume we can find it. Everyone is responsible for themselves. That feels very different than in North America.
Trains as a metaphor for communication in societies?