Author Archives: Inspiring Innovations, Inc.
Public Administration: “What Else Mapping”
As you can guess from this week’s TRIPLE III TIME message title… my quarterly guest author American Society For Public Administration article has been published!
The article Public Administration: “What Else Mapping” stresses the importance of gathering groups of common-purposed professionals together in an effort to strategically consider “what-else” public service or product opportunities are missing? Then after identifying a few “what else” concepts… a discussion of “mapping” (who can do what) is described as part of special leadership sessions.
My Public Administration: “What Else Mapping” idea is another version of strategic planning for the public/private sector. I hope it generates innovation in YOUR professional development planning.
TRIPLE III TIME: Realizing My Professional Landscape
First let me point out that no matter your job and/or citizen status… everyone has some form of “Professional Landscape”. Ok… Ok… I am already assuming that most readers are identifying with those that work with designing, installing and maintaining outdoor areas and the plants that are part of making an area look great… right? To better get everyone focused let me restart this TRIPLE III TIME message by offering MY definition of “Professional Landscaping”. In my teaching/consultant world, I periodically think about the local people… geography… culture… customers… colleagues…businesses… communities that are all a part of me… and MY “Professional Landscape”! And as I am collectively Realizing My “Professional Landscape”… I better understand and strategically take stock of impactors that somehow affect my professional situations.
What am I referring to? Well let’s consider a special TOP 10 Realizing My “Professional Landscape” impactors:
– Growth Source Options
– Declining Clients/Students
– Service Potential Versus Customer Volume
– Need for Innovation
– Performance Results
– Special Niche Areas
– Personal Capacities
– Rate-of-Change Factors
– Situational Uncontrollables
– Travel/Time Limitations
I guess what I’m trying to encourage…is that everyone take a moment to accurately, progressively begin Realizing YOUR “Professional Landscape”! Think about the impacts the listed TOP 10 can make on your current job…learning ideas…network connections…you know what I mean. Too often we don’t take the time or apply a unique approach to consider potential improvements for ourselves.
Realizing YOUR “Professional Landscape” may be necessary at different points in your career planning…so give it a try.
TRIPLE III TIME: TRUST YOURSELF
Planning and preparing to be the leader/facilitator for any special event/training/presentation can and IS a professional challenge every time!
Think about it.
Quality for these occurrences is often experienced by the “little-extras” that are provided to all in attendance. And depending on the number of individuals invited and participating in the occasion… overall preparation can be somewhat easy… or become the case for sleepless nights, irritability and/or a chronic state of being overwhelmed!
So what are the TRIPLE III TIME recommendations for easing planning/preparation strains…TRUST YOURSELF.
All the outside advice in the world will NOT resolve your concern for planning confidence… right? Rather it may be appropriately wise to TRUST YOURSELF and apply the following:
- Use your own processional judgement on planning/prep time and effort invested.
- Relook and calculate your preparation work already supplied… and ask if you have over-projected event/training/presentation planning expectations? (Have you maybe already doubled what time will allow?)
- Prior to the activity trade chairs with attendees and decide if they could absorb a little more…be getting “just enough” or are you in the “way too much” service category?
Finally, for fun become an official timekeeper of yourself and apply some historic activity limits/expectations. Consider college classes that recommend one-hour study/prep-time for every hour of class time. Or car repairs that often reflect time labor costs that are similar to the overall cost of repair parts?!
Regardless…take effective and efficient steps to TRUST YOURSELF! when planning/preparing for leading/facilitating important events/trainings/or presentations. Very recently I avoided all of these common sense recommendations and drove myself crazy preparing for a consultant session.
And guess what… I did just fine.
TRIPLE III TIME: Dealing With Diminished Listening
In my roles as college course instructor and Inspiring Innovations consultant, there really seems to be no limit or common theme regarding topics or questions on special issues that are raised. One recent particular area of interest and discussion however is the short and long-term impacts from the COVID years and advancement of virtual/remote learning and its life-style acceptance. Almost in every instance… both issue areas seem to be uniquely linked and unfortunately the result of most discussions are negative.
So for this TRIPLE III TIME message, I will provide what I feel is the most negative outcome stemming from COVID impacts…blended with virtual/remote learning and usage: Dealing With Diminished Listening.
I believe our greatest personal and professional loss related to these two situations… is Dealing With Diminished Listening in all sectors of our lives.
Think about it.
Consider first todays altered “locations” for professional learning and listening. Maybe it is just sitting alone in a room and staring at a screen. Interpersonal listening is totally minimalized. Quality listening is questionable.
Next think about large or small interruptions… that others may not see during virtual learning experiences. If someone in a learning situation is facing off screen interruptions… how can they offer their full listening attention?
Also when Dealing With Diminished Listening situations are participating individuals becoming less engaged in professional discussion? Some people get into a poor mindset and wait for someone else to ask a certain question… or hesitate to participate “just because”?! So are they engaged?
Finally consider the negative level of Dealing With Diminished Listening when others enrolled in a class or involved in a business meeting are represented by a black box with their name on a screen! Complete listening is demonstrated by facial expressions, quizative looks and smiles too… right?
Unfortunately “listening” in this (I’m just dialed-in) fashion can contribute to a sense of disinterest and even disrespect to others involved in the session. Likewise in a distance learning situation there is often a loss of interaction spontaneity and hesitation to participate that somehow is just an unnatural human reaction to the growing listening gaps.
Bottomline: I guess what I am trying to say with my Dealing With Diminished Listening message title and brief examples is that peoples ability and willingness to provide quality listening in many situations has gone significantly down. And yes we can blame it on COVID and the evolution of technology. BUT… rebuilding LISTENING is totally up to all of us!
LEARNING MOMENTS: Learn – Grow + Earn Tour
TRIPLE III TIME: The 3 Most Important “E-Words!”
Recently for a bunch of frustrating reasons I had to go through “historic” Inspiring Innovations, Inc. records in search of a special start-up document or two! (My recordkeeping has never been real good!?) Then as I was closing my unplanned research…I came across notes on different “speeches” I had given over my career-years. And I must admit that it was fun, memory-strong and very satisfying to re-remember some of the important topics I discussed.
So as I reminisced…I couldn’t stop my mind from asking: “If a unique/cool group recruited YOU to give a special speech today…what would you talk about?
Well it didn’t take me very long to come up with a speech game plan. First because I am a firm believer in “repeating important messages that are worth repeating” I came up with a pretty good idea. Then as always I knew I would need a catchy title for my message…and I decided I would talk about: “The 3 Most Important “E-Words!” Here they are:
#1: EMPOWERMENT
“To give someone the authority, power or confidence to act, make decisions or take control of their own lives and often enabling them to achieve their goals and realize their full potential.”
Throughout my career I have tried to empower those I worked and partnered with to be successful and grow personally and professionally everyday.
#2: ENTHUSIASM
“A strong excitement of feeling!”
I guess because of my professional style…I have set an example of showing enthusiasm in all that I do. The positive impacts of these examples are reflected back to me by family, friends and co-workers.
#3: ENTREPRENEURSHIP
“An individual or small group of partners who strikes out on an original path to create a new business or initiative.”
So there you have it…my ideas for the next Inspiring Innovations, Inc. speech: “The 3 Most Important “E-Words!”
As you can guess I would have no problem sharing my thoughts about: Empowerment…Enthusiasm…Entrepreneurship. Maybe my biggest problem would be how to keep the speech short?!
TRIPLE III TIME: Building YOUR Report
No matter what type of occupation you find yourself employed in…there will be a time (or maybe even often) that you will be required to provide a status/performance report to those supervising you. And it is almost ironic that more recently in my consulting worlds-of-work that a number of questions have been raised about MY ideas about what approaches I believe make a GREAT and not just a mediocre report. So with these thoughts in mind…I decided to dedicate this week’s TRIPLE III TIME message to: Building YOUR Report with a special TOP 10 list of suggestions.
- Assess your audience (think about age, job connections, interest levels, personal qualifications, etc.)
- Use “At-A-Glance Understandability” as a priority as you are Building YOUR Report.
- Be sure to state the major purpose of your report within its content…almost immediately.
- As appropriate make performance comparisons (via competition/past performance/goals set).
- Include visuals as a simple means of making specific points.
- Build in a pie charts or graphs to reflect numerical information.
- Try to incorporate bullet-point narrative details to offer short explanation specifics.
- Be versatile in data reporting by use of percentages, dollar amounts, sizes, etc. (NOT just numbers).
- “Proof-read” as you are Building YOUR Report to ensure there is NOT a need to “evaluate-this-evaluation”.
- Lastly always finish your report document with an invitation to everyone to add-to and/or recommend revisions.
With all of the advanced systems for completing quality research, accessing world-wide information and maintaining up-to-date data collection options… Building YOUR Report can be an innovative opportunity.
Remember quality is not measured by the length of YOUR report…and authenticity matters.
TRIPLE III TIME: Collaborative Communication Marvels
“How often do we find ourselves going in just the one direction? We have a problem, we think we know what the answer should be, and so we set off to talk to the people we think will have the answer were expecting. However, by inviting other people in, people who might not be obvious collaborators, we’re opening ourselves up to new experiences and new information.”(GREAT TED TALKS: Leadership. Harriet Minter)
I have lost count of the excellent…creative…innovative projects and services that I have been a part of as a result of collaborative communication. By this I mean that prior to…during creation of…and final outcome delivery, beneficial communication took place every step and at every organizational level along the way!!
Participating in Collaborative Communication Marvels is always a “what about this idea” opportunity. Better concepts may be offered by communicating at a greater level with those younger or older than those in charge. Likewise establishing a standard Collaborative Communication operating procedure within an organization or business will most often lead to a more complete/correct progressive decision!
Collaborative Communication Marvels are NOT difficult to construct and become part of. Most often collaborative communication experiences are created at no additional cost and/or even dedicated staff time. Rather this style of inclusive communication processes just needs to be established as an overall priority to all involved.
Finally although I am a strong supporter of in-person “get-togethers”…the rise of collaborative communication technology makes it easier than ever before to share ideas and heads off the traditional tendency of having just one owner per project. Culturally encouraging everyone to share work, not as a way to lose ownership of it but instead as a way to achieve the best possible outcome, taps into this spirit of building Collaborative Communication Marvels!
TRIPLE III TIME: Strategic Leveraging
When you hear and think about the term “Strategic Leveraging”…what are the definitional points your consider? Well if you think about strengths, resources, knowledge, experiences and of course comfort with innovation and change…you are closely describing the key factors that generate “Strategic Leveraging”! Unfortunately however, I believe the use of quality “Strategic Leveraging” has been a regular growth weakness in all sectors both public and private!
Think about it?!
Do YOU do a good job strategically leveraging all of your personal and professional resources to better serve your customers? Do you take professional advantage of the added value your network of co-workers, colleagues and partners can bring to your products and services? Do you occasionally “change-chairs” with business partners to determine their areas of strengths and resources to possibly identify a common “Strategic Leveraging” plan that could move both forward??
Keep in mind effective “Strategic Leveraging” is NOT a single person/entity activity. Instead creative, innovative entrepreneurial “Strategic Leveraging” may include multiple groups and individuals. This type of network action will ensure that:
– Everyone is clear on “what do WE want” to happen
– Everyone engages so that any leveraging does NOT create unwanted reactions.
– Everyone commits to their level of obligation comfort.
– Everyone understands that “change” is a righteous result.
– Everyone agrees to OWN the results (good or not so good).
Taking part in “Strategic Leveraging” is a calculated risk but contains many great partnership benefits.
LEARNING MOMENTS: Positioning for Innovation
As we all consider options and opportunities for moving ourselves forward both personally and professionally… does Positioning for Innovation, rank high on your strategy list?
Well this month’s Inspiring Innovations, LEARNING MOMENTS podcast first talks through the high value of building/operating a culture of innovation in every area of your daily life. Then… as always, the podcast “Discussionist” leaves you with a few ideas on how to spread the Positioning for Innovation activity and uniquely infect others with creativity concepts.
Enjoy the listen!
Inspiring Innovations, Inc. 