WHY is Your Cause

Posted on February 23, 2012 by pdncoach

“Share successful strategies you have used or seen used to advocate for your cause.”

This was the question of the week in one of my favorite LinkedIn groups. The group is comprised mostly of professionals working for local non-profits and foundations, so cause is especially meaningful, but not more important than it is for any for-profit business.  How do you engage others in your cause?

I am reminded of the board of directors for a quite successful non-profit with whom I worked recently. They had a well-crafted strategic plan, including a vision and mission that was serving them well, even though they called me in to review it – to help them “bring it back to life”. When I asked the simple question, “Why do you exist?”, they were stunned.

Uninspiring
I find that most people, and most organizations, have a pretty firm grasp of “What?” they do, and even “How?” they do it. Far too few know “Why?” they do. They fail to grasp, let alone articulate their purpose, their reason for existence; indeed, their CAUSE. As I work with individuals, teams and organizations, this reversal of interests is quite common, even epidemic.

Too often we try to sell people on our cause without even engaging them in that cause; we start with our answer to the questions, in this order, “What do I/we do?”, then “How do I/we do it?”, then — maybe, if ever we get to it — “Why?”.

This explains why some people, teams and organizations are able to inspire and others are not. OK, so that’s my “don’t”.

Why do we exist?
Here’s my “do”: Set aside that nagging question of “What do I (or we) want to be when I (we) grow up?” Instead, ask “Why do I want what I want? Why do I exist? What is my purpose? Why do I want to get out of bed in the morning? What ideal or ideal that may seem just beyond my grasp drives me to action? How will my life, and the world I live in, be different because I have the courage to take action on the thing that is most important to me now?”

Get me to listen and understand your CAUSE as you describe it in this way, and I’ll be interested in what you do and how you do it. Most importantly, I will know whether I want to support you or even engage in your cause with my discretionary behavior, time and money. Don’t get it backwards – most do.

That’s why my promise – my CAUSE – is that I will help people understand and articulate their purpose as readily as they do their name, address and telephone number. Or as I typically put my CAUSE: “I help people with dreams become leaders with vision who add value through their relationships.”

SPREAD THE WORD TO END THE WORD
I have another CAUSE, while I’m at it. I am the father of three sons: the two oldest boys are hockey players; the youngest one is a gold medal equestrian in Special Olympics.  I hate to see any of them hurt, and some words hurt as deeply as other words can lift people up. So why not just lift people up? Please take a few minutes more (less than three!) to watch this important message.

Join me at the Intersection of Purpose & Now.
Posted in #therightquestions, Cause, Purpose, questions, r-word, why | Leave a comment

Four Questions Every Team Must Address

Posted on February 14, 2012 by pdncoach

There are four key questions a team must address and continually review, iteratively and in sequence, to improve the ability to work together effectively, to be more innovative, and to improve performance. These questions expose key problems and point toward effective solutions.

  1. Goals – Is the team focused on the same shared mission? 
  2. Roles – What roles does the team need to be successful? (Also: How and by whom 
will each role be fulfilled? Do team members have mutual accountability and 
understanding of one another’s roles?) 
  3. Rules – Is everyone playing by the same set of rules? This includes written rules 
(policy, procedure, regulatory issues, written core values), processes, as well as operating 
values and group norms. 
  4. Relationships – How are relationships competitive and collaborative? Teams that 
operate with a clear, shared mission, where each member or unit knows its role, and everyone is “playing by the same set of rules” will still have conflict. However, conflict will be collaborate and innovative in form and outcome, a d be based on “right versus right” arguments. This is compared to “right versus wrong” conflict, which tends to produce dysfunctional relationships and inhibit team performance. 

As a result of this model, creating a team culture where independent thinking and creativity, the combined emotional intelligence of team members leads to group consensus, innovation and mutual respect. Strategic thinking, planning and execution become part of the daily management practice of all team members. Team members no longer have the time or interest to “pick on each other’s personalities” – they are simply focused on the work that needs to be done.

However, relationships among team members cannot be ignored and there are certain activities and interventions that do make worthwhile improvements to relationships – positively effecting trust, communication, leadership, cooperation, respect and effectively leveraging the collective genius of team talents. These activities* can and should be addressed and practiced in tandem with strategic thinking, planning and execution.

*see more in my comments to this article.

Join me at the Intersection of Purpose & Now.
Posted in conflict, Four Questions, goals, innovation, relationships, roles, rules, strategic planning, team building, team work, teams | Leave a comment

Wax on. Wax off. Process Visualization

Posted on January 30, 2012 by pdncoach

You are either a goal-setter or you are not. 
Generally, I find that most people are much like me in at least one way:

No matter to what degree I can define my vision for future creations before I begin them, these creations will likely evolve to become something different by the end of my creative process. At least, I hope so!

To merely envision outcome is not enough. In fact, outcome visualization is flawed. If you are capable of creating a highly specific definition of your precise outcome in advance, you are likely as capable of following through with commitment to that outcome.  You may be successful, but with a high likelihood that the same blinders that helped you reach your outcome quickly will cause you to miss a multitude of possible options and improvements that would have markedly improved your final creation.

Unfortunately, this also describes one of the most popular reasons people use to avoid setting and achieving written goals.  There must be a middle ground between living dogmatically according to predetermined written goal plans that limit options and unforeseen improvements, and not setting specific goals at all, thereby leaving your outcomes in the hands of “good fortune”.

Process Visualization versus Outcome Visualization
Blogger/author Jonathan Fields aptly describes a productive and creative way forward in his 2011 book entitled “Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance“.  The answer lies in remaining true to a process that provides for intelligent adaptation during the process of creative evolution.  Fields suggests instead of the strictly outcome-focused visualization approach built on “the quest for long-term, easily defined vision,” we focus our visualization instead on “the need to take daily action in the context of any challenging endeavor.”

Citing 1998 research by Taylor, Pham, Rivkin and Armor that tested the effectiveness of outcome-based visualization versus process visualization. First, both process and outcome visualization get people acting on their goals better than no visualization at all, so it just makes plain sense to set goals.  Students who visualized their successful completion of projects were more likely to complete them on time. But students who visualized the steps needed to complete their projects were more successful than anyone to finish on time, and found their projects to be easier than the other two groups.

Wax on. Wax off.
Are you a goal setter?  If yes, congratulations, you are already more likely to succeed than your non-goal-setting peers.  Do you have a vision for success? I hope so, or else I would question whether you have a goal in mind at all. Can you envision the daily actions it will take to achieve your success, while allowing for your creative genius to leverage additional opportunities and possibilities that develop during the process of creation?

Here are a few tips:

  1. First of all, don’t just write down a goal and the action steps you think you’ll need to achieve the goal. That’s how most people try, but there is a better way, and I would be happy to show you the way through such a process.
  2. Create a daily discipline of reviewing your vision, determining your must-do priorities, and committing to daily action.
  3. Use a written goal-planning process to manifest your commitment.
  4. Use your process and visualization of your process to self-regulate and stick to your ritual.
Join me at the Intersection of Purpose & Now.
Posted in creativity, goals, outcome, process visualization, vision, visualization | Leave a comment