LEARNING MOMENTS Podcast: Organized For Tomorrow
This month’s Inspiring Innovations LEARNING MOMENTS Podcast was a “long-time-in-the-making”! No, I don’t mean it took me a long time to record it… rather it took me a while to organize the message in a calm… but strong way. And because I have prioritized being progressively Organized for Tomorrow my whole life/career… I didn’t want to underestimate the energy it takes to be successful in this area.
Please be advised that I have expanded my allotted podcast time to 10 minutes. And unexpectedly… I believe the extra time for discussion I allowed myself has resulted in a much more clear and understandable LEARNING MOMENT.
Enjoy the listen.
TRIPLE III TIME: Determining YOUR Indispensability
“Indispensability: The fact that someone or something is so good or important that you could not manage without him… her… or it.”
(Cambridge Dictionary)
Indispensability is a topic that I have considered many times as an important focus for my TRIPLE III TIME blog. Why? Mostly because I think I want/need to pass along the message of how “replaceable” we all are.
Times… products… services… situations all are facing more constant change than ever before. And are we all ready, willing and able to change at a high rate… maybe?!
Also it is critical to recognize and understand who and/or what determines your Indispensability? You may believe that an organization can not progress and “live without you”. However, at no time can or should you consider yourself immune from job cuts, techno-replacement, AI advancements or customer priorities!
During my Director days, I tried to convey a leadership message that encouraged an Indispensability goal. That if we followed a consistent operational style of innovation and retained a personality of specialness in our area of work… that we would remain indispensable. In addition, we discussed the service principle that even when times were good and we could take a “slow-down-break”… that no matter our status…NOW was the time we needed to improve and be creative even better than before!
Bottomline: If you truly adopt a goal of attaining Indispensability in your world of service or product provision… be as innovative and operationally special as you can. Progressively convince all that work with you to adopt similar goals. And understand that “perfect” Indispensability does not exist… but it sure can be fun if you pursue it EVERYDAY!
TRIPLE III TIME: R-O-P…Not Just R-O-I! (Return-On-PARTICIPATION)
We have all heard about and experienced the term: Return-On-Investment…Right? This phrase simply means:
“The return is the profit you make as the result of your investments.”
And I believe we have also directly or indirectly considered our own Return-On-Investment status…especially when it affects our pocket-book! But today I want to shift everyone’s professional focus by changing just one word in this traditional expression. Creatively, this TRIPLE III TIME is going to address the benefits of your:
Return-On-PARTICIPATION!
“The return is the PROGRESS you make as a result of your PARTICIPATION.”
My definition…but think about it!?
First whether you are meeting with someone or a group…people really do appreciate your participation in a professional discussion. Not only do they benefit from hearing your input on the issue at hand…but you also gain greater understanding on what a person/group wants to happen and/or the best outcome given certain circumstances.
Second, there is always a gain of mutual respect that comes to you as a Return-On-PARTICIPATION result. This return may not be directly noticeable, but will be reflected in a colleague’s discussion with others. They may indicate that you had solid recognition of the challenge issues and offered quality responses to questions/concerns.
Finally your Return-On-PARTICIPATION may be gained through a more open opportunity to share innovation/creativity concepts. Too often co-workers, colleagues and/or business partners are hesitant to share new ideas. Consider how many might benefit from yourinterest in their initiative. How progressively helpful it would be if everyone adopted a Return-On-PARTICIPATION engagement practice every time…everywhere.
Do you follow a R-O-P strategy??
TRIPLE III TIME: Choosing the “Right” Words
Great communication is and continues to be a major focus of many TRIPLE III TIME blog messages. Whether the communication information is delivered in-person, letter form, phone call, email, texts or via video (and I’m sure everyone could add at least one more option to this list), Choosing The “Right” Words has become a much greater challenge no matter the delivery method.
Let me explain with an example.
In my American Government & Politics classes as students prepare their weekly “Position Papers” on multiple topic areas, it is always evident that they assume I understand certain circumstances or event actions that drove the Position information that they were sharing. Whether my communication confusion or unawareness was caused by their modern-day techno-speak…acronym over-use…slang words and/or half-sentences, the result was: (1) a lower point score, (2) questions from me that didn’t make sense to them…or (3) too many unforeseen course assignment mis-understandings between myself and the students! Do you see the challenges??
So if you are wondering…the bottomline for this TRIPLE III TIME message is to push the need to blend COMMON-SENSE PROFESSIONALISM into all of your communications and practice Choosing The “Right” Wordsas a critical life-skill priority everyday…EVERYDAY!
And maybe start practicing with this short TOP 10:
- Greater people-based diversification requires greater communication simplification.
- Attempting to please everyone with more…bigger words…may bring on more, bigger confusion.
- Don’t ramble and thereby over explain.
- Pick words that have common-sense understanding.
- Don’t assume clarity…say things clearly.
- Consider you may have only one chance to make a great point.
- Saying less can often say much more.
- Be sure you research who your communication audience is.
- Minimize words that can be mis-interpreted.
- Re-read your messages a couple of times to pay greater attention to achieving communication that bridges the age and life-style gaps.
There is a ton of Choosing The “Right” Words advice in this message…did I choose correctly?
TRIPLE III TIME | Self-Improvement: Who ME?
One area of leadership that has always shown up as an unplanned challenge is co-worker self-improvement. It was/is always interesting when some are asked the question: “What areas do you feel the need to improve on or get extra training about?”…and the response is more a series of additional questions! Questions like:
- What trainings are available?
- Is everyone being asked the same questions about self-improvement?
- Can I just take a one-day class…not a longer one?
- Could I take training with Charlie, Sarah, and Judy…it would be better that way?
- Would I get a grade…or what if I fail the class?
- Do I/we get a raise if we take the training?
- What happens if I can’t come up with something I need to be better at?
- I thought because you are the Director…that you pick training to help us improve?
Have you heard or maybe spoken these words before?!
Well, this week’s TRIPLE III TIME message: Self-Improvement: Who ME?…is totally intended to force you as a professional to specifically answer the question: What new coaching or training would make me a better employee? Think only about your current skill sets and what may be missing. Would more:
- Computer training help?
- Communication options/opportunities create improvement?
- Price/cost analysis information assist?
- Diversity understanding be a benefit?
- Public speaking assistance aide connectivity?
- Or others?
Everyone can see that this list of “help” learning suggestions could go on and on. However, only you know best…what you may be missing. Also, remember that no self-improvement development gap is too small or too large to be considered! Self-Improvement: Who ME? is a life-long appropriate question that should be progressively asked…and ANSWERED?
LEARNING MOMENTS: Organization & Business Responsibility SHIFTS!
Too often traditional… “We have always done it this way” operational practices stand in the way of progressive process upgrades in the workplace. You know what I mean. The “if it’s not broken… why do we need to fix or change anything” leadership/management standardized approach to change… RIGHT?!
Well this month’s Inspiring Innovations LEARNING MOMENTS podcast: Organization & Business Responsibility SHIFTS! is simply about realigning traditional operational activities to obtain greater employee workplace ownership and more diverse leadership opportunities. Keep in mind because of my self-imposed podcast time limits only two basic examples are discussed. However, the hope is to open doors in every workplace regarding the short- and long-term benefits of engaging new Organization & Business Responsibility SHIFTS!
Enjoy the listen.
TRIPLE III TIME: Customer-Base Realities
Every product and/or service has a customer–base that it applies to. Whether owned and operated by a private or public business entity…to be profitable, efficient and effective…every product or service has to regularly meet the need(s) of a certain group of customers.
So given this reality…how much time…study…and development effort do you/your organization devote to appropriately address: Customer-Base Realities?
When I went full-time into my consulting business I thought that I would be instantly “over-booked” by customers needing “innovation inspiration”! Guess what…I was wrong. Although it was and still is true that many could benefit from what services I provide… I did not:
- Realize the niche customer-base I was looking at.
- Take into account the impact timing has on those I was hoping to serve.
- Recognize that I had a lot of competition in my market.
- Understand that my service was not a necessity to the customer-base…rather only a continuous improvement option.
Or take into account other factors like:
- Locations I was planning to serve
- Age of potential customers
- Past consultant experiences
- Technological influences
Bottomline: I did NOT do a quality job researching, identifying and addressing (in the most simplified manner) the: Customer-Base Realities facing my business plan.
Today with all of the life-style, service delivery, hi-tech, job change and info-overload issues influencing people everywhere… challenging yourself/your employer to become better aware of Customer-Base Realities is critical. Whether you work in the field of human services or in a manufacturing area… your Customer-Base Realities regularly change similar to the seasons. Therefore becoming and remaining a “student” of Customer-Base Realities in your profession has endless potential benefit.
TRIPLE III TIME: What’s Your “Value Package”?
Whether you are (or work for) a private company or public organization…every so often I believe it is not just important but absolutely critical to ask: What’s Your “Value Package”? Does everyone understand what this question refers to?
Well before I get into the factors that I consider true company/organization Value Package components…it is important for me to report that this TRIPLE III TIME topic was generated via a local grant application! How excellent I thought it was for a grantor to ask every applicant to identify and describe what makes them special…RIGHT? Yes, often applicants do well to include cool, confident…special attributes about themselves…but this was the first time I officially saw it in writing as a requirement of the grant application!!
OK…enough background…now let’s focus on TRIPLE III TIME What’s Your “Value Package”? factors. So here is my initial list but be advised that these factors are not in any particular order.
- Simplicity: With the huge rise in everyday information-sharing…keeping things simple has high value.
- Convenience: Making it a priority to make doing business with you easy and convenient will draw in great customers.
- Reputation: Having a REAL high quality reputation is only generated if you do great work.
- Timeliness: Being recognized as a business that delivers products/services on-time is a solid value attribute.
- Reliability: If you make a promise…keep it in the world of business.
- Accessibility: In today’s 24/7 communication world, remaining readily accessible to customers can be a priceless value.
- Innovation: Retaining a practice of offering creative/innovative solutions to business/organization challenges has unlimited value to many.
As you can see every factor that I have listed in this draft “Value Package”…would very much contribute to labeling your group as SPECIAL!
So please take some TRIPLE III TIME and solidly respond to the What’s Your “Value Package”? question.
TRIPLE III TIME: “Crowd-Driven-IDEATION”
Did or do you work in an organization that always looks to a single employee as the “regular idea person”? You know what I am referring to. The situation that traditionally expects a certain person to be the standard source for new ideas/concepts/innovations?!
Is this a good practice? Does this occurrence mean that only “chosen” people are able to come up with cool new ideas…and everyone else gets a “pass” on thinking innovatively?? Does this practice also mean that if only one or two people in an organization think about the value of creativity in the workplace…and they leave…that the group would be instantly falling behind the times??
Well, no matter how you respond to the initial TRIPLE III TIME message questions…today I believe we need to more frequently embrace a “Crowd-Driven-IDEATION” methodology! Specifically, this means that the more people one involves in the building and facilitation of a new product or service idea…the greater potential it may have for quicker/more complete success.
OK…this process sounds easy but for today, I want to initiate a thought process of factors to consider if one adopts a “Crowd-Driven-IDEATION” path.
- Would you feel comfortable asking others to co-ideate?
- Could you deal with a reduced level of control over the idea?
- Would you be willing to allow co-ownership of the idea results/profit/loss?
- Would “Crowd-Driven” mean greater involvement of technology in the entire idea-building process…and would that be ok?
- Would “Crowd-Driven-IDEATION” offer the potential for more fiscal support for the idea?
- Could “Crowd-Driven-IDEATION” cause total cancelation of the initiative?
- Would a shared idea-building option improve/make selling the new concept more flexible?
- Is “Crowd-Driven-IDEATION” a better tool for maximizing an idea?
- Does “Crowd-Driven-IDEATION” creatively expand the geographic application/support of the idea?
- And finally a critical consultant question I have asked many times: How can an idea be considered good or great…unless shared with others?
These unique TOP 10 “Crowd-Driven-IDEATION” consideration questions are all important when partnering on real innovation and creativity concepts. Give each one adequate thought…then GET GOING!
TRIPLE III TIME: Special “Best Of!” Assignment
In many situations during my consultant discussions, individuals or groups are best helped when I can offer them an experience, visual and/or a specific person as a “Best Of!” example of the professional development issue I am trying to push. Too often we get lost in the details of the basic progressive point we are trying to explain…and then walk away questioning if we really helped someone “get” the message principles/priorities?!
Well this week the TRIPLE III TIME message is asking everyone to complete a Special “Best Of!” Assignment and determine who or what have been your GREATESTprofessional development messengers. Think about it.
- Who and why does a certain person(s) serve as YOUR professional development “Best Of!”?
- What and why does a specific visual(s) help you think/move forward?
- How and why does a past experience(s) give you motivation for doing more than the minimum?
- When and why have you been inspired to share a special learning moment that felt “once in a lifetime” like?
And as you think about each question…maybe make a list of “Best Of!” reasons.
The goal of the Special “Best Of!” Assignment is to remind you of the critical points that today (and maybe even more tomorrow) make you better in the workplace and in regular life. Your “Best Of!” lists should contain personal lessons and professional development factors that in many ways are timeless.
Make sure you enjoy this Assignment!
Inspiring Innovations, Inc. 