TRIPLE III TIME: “Til You Can’t”
I know I have written it before how I never really know where inspiration for certain TRIPLE III TIME messages come from. Sometimes an idea just “sneaks” up on me and the writing almost happens effortlessly. But his week’s message has been quietly building with me over the last year…and was then ignited when I heard the song: “Til You Can’t” sung by Cody Johnson. Here are the lyrics:
“You can tell your old man
You’ll do some largemouth fishing another time
You just got too much on your plate to bait and cast a line
You can always put a rain check in his hand
‘Til you can’t
You can keep putting off forever with that girl who’s heart you hold
Swearing that you’ll ask some day further down the road
You can always put a diamond on her hand
‘Til you can’t
If you got a chance, take it, take it while you got a chance
If you got a dream, chase it, ‘cause a dream won’t chase you back
If you’re gonna love somebody
Hold ‘em as long and as strong and as close as you can
‘Til you can’t
There’s a box of greasy parts sitting in the trunk of that ‘65
Still waiting on you and your granddad to bring it back to life
You can always get around to fixing up that Pontiac
‘Til you can’t
If you got a chance, take it, take it while you got a chance
If you got a dream, chase it, ‘cause a dream won’t chase you back
If you’re gonna love somebody
Hold ‘em as long and as strong and as close as you can
‘Til you can’t
So take that phone call from your momma and just talk away
‘Cause you’ll never know how bad you wanna ‘til you can’t someday
Don’t wait on tomorrow ‘cause tomorrow may not show
Say your sorries, your I-love-yous, ‘cause man you never know
If you got a chance, take it, take it while you got a chance
If you got a dream, chase it, ‘cause a dream won’tchase you back
If you’re gonna love somebody
Hold ‘em as long and as strong and as close as you can
‘Til you can’t”
Bottomline: The words contained in the song ARE this week’s TRIPLE III TIME message. Whether the “Til You Can’t” motivation is driven by special friendships, co-workers past, child birth, graduations, weddings, job changes, retirements and/or unfortunately a death…reread this blog and:
“If you got a chance, take it, take it while you got a chance
If you got a dream, chase it, ‘cause a dream won’tchase you back
If you’re gonna love somebody
Hold ‘em as long and as strong and as close as you can
‘Til you can’t”
LEARNING MOMENTS Podcast: QUALITY NEGOTIATION
At no time in my career did anyone set me down nor did I participate in a special workshop/training on facilitating QUALITY NEGOTIATION. Do you pick up tips and strategies as you go through your workdays and participate in multiple topic negotiation sessions… yes! But have you ever taken the time to sort out what factors really assist to arrive at a workable solution and enable you to achieve QUALITY NEGOTIATION outcomes??
This month’s Inspiring Innovations LEARNING MOMENTS podcast is all about suggesting a common sense TOP 10 list of QUALITY NEGOTIATION concepts. As you listen think about your negotiation experiences with clients/customers/co-workers… and consider if one or all of the TOP 10 could have helped!
Enjoy the listen.
TRIPLE III TIME: Don’t Minimize Mental Health First Aid
“We’re all used to looking after our physical health, but we need to be just as vigilant when it comes to our mental health. Emotional first aid builds our empathy muscle and supports those around us.”
(Harriet Minter & Guy Winch: Prioritize Mental Health-Great TED Talks)
I have to start out this TRIPLE III TIME message with an admission that I did not really give the necessary amount of attention to the mental health needs of people I worked/networked with until recent years. Maybe I was lucky and dealt with it appropriately in my early career…. but I did not recognize it’s significant impact in the workplace until it became a more open discussion item.
Probably the biggest eye-opening moments regarding mental health concerns have come during my college teaching times. I can not even guess the number of “Position Paper” assignments I received that in some way discussed the growing need for mental health help among our young adults.
The Papers were written in a more sincere fashion and often with real life examples of the challenging effects of mental health-based illnesses. The result for me was to first become more knowledgeable about the topic… but then as a consultant attain the capacity to discuss mental health impacts with all organizational levels.
I am not an expert but TIME-ATTENTION-CONNECTIONS are my three TRIPLE III TIME words of support so you: Don’t Minimize Mental Health First Aid.
- First as a oversight leader offer appropriate TIME in your workplaces to recognize and treat mental health issues.
- Then be a facilitation leader by creating the most appropriate health care ATTENTION for suffering individual(s).
- Finally, be a multi-purposed leader and obtain all of the professional mental health service CONNECTIONS which may be able to offer assistance.
Success for everyone’s future will require Mental health First Aid prioritization. Do it well and the return-on-investments will be genuine!
TRIPLE III TIME: Constructive Criticism
This week’s TRIPLE III TIME message beings by asking everyone to take a serious look in the mirror and assess your style of delivering Constructive Criticism! Think about it?! We have all been in THE situation that requires you to offer a personal statement of honesty regarding an action taken by a co-worker, friend, manager, colleague and/or even a family member. So how did you do?
Well before we go much further into our discussion… let’s see what GOOGLE says about the definition(s) of this challenging topic!
“Constructive Criticism is a form of feedback that focuses on delivering critique and negative feedback constructively and positively to improve performance or behavior. Constructive criticism is actionable, clear, and beneficial to the recipient.”
Or
“Constructive Criticism is a comment or comments saying in a helpful way what is wrong with something and how it could be improved.”
As you continue engaging with your image in the mirror… think if you try to always deliver your Constructive Criticism in a positive tone. Do your words of advice come across as critical and non-progressive? Or does your feedback generate the wish for additional assessment discussion that is issue specific… with improvements that are understandable and corrective action suggestions that are workable?
Bottomline: I believe the responsibility for providing Constructive Criticism today has become more challenging than in the past. Choosing the right words… controlling the tone of your message delivery… and offering the most appropriate alternative actions to be taken… is and always will be going forward… a HUGE professional responsibility.
So think more deeply about the words you use to create every Constructive Criticism message. Also remember that raising your voice may cause someone to listen less… so a soft, direct tone may be best. And finally only suggest an initial limited number of action improvements. Too many can be as damaging as too few.
If you are questioning if this message makes positive sense… put yourself on the Constructive CriticismRECEIVER side of the table.
Public Sector Entrepreneurship Part III
It has been quite some time since I have authored an American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) article on one of my favorite topic areas: Public Sector Entrepreneurship! Part III of this continuous series again is intended to offer a few innovative options for incorporating entrepreneurship thought/practices into the public sector worlds-of-work.
Public Sector Entrepreneurship: PART III – PA TIMES Online | PA TIMES Online
TRIPLE III TIME: Maximize Engagement
After a long sabbatical from the opportunity to “present” at a major professional conference, recently I traveled to another state to share and pitch a new progressive workforce concept. Was I nervous…YES! But at the same time very excited and prepared to facilitate a workshop on a topic that I felt had the potential to transform the historic “job-prep” scenario…into an organized, modernized, all-jobs impactor action!
Well as a small group formed in my presentation room, I quickly realized that I had attendees from at least ten (10) different states. And when I announced that I would NOT be using a power-point, did NOT have a series of hand-outs and I primarily wanted to Maximize Engagement with everyone…I received a fun, enthusiastic round of applause!!
This week’s TRIPLE III TIME topic: Maximize Engagement isn’t really about my workforce development idea nor my workshop experiences, rather this message is all about the high need and value of professional, personal engagement with everyone you interact with…every time you can.
By working to Maximize Engagement not only do you heighten people’s understanding of your thoughts and important points…but equally you obtain relevant feedback that may improve the concept you are working on. Additionally, because we all need to regularly “exercise” our listening skills, the potential to hear more diverse discussion regarding progress challenges and/or discoveries connected to an innovation you may be proposing…are always more welcomed when Maximize Engagement is the priority.
With today’s increased technological shifts away from in-person meetings, the capacity to Maximize Engagement among colleagues and co-workers has become somewhat diluted. As a result, it is totally a PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY to reapply this professional development opportunity in every situation you can.
LEARNING MOMENTS Podcast: Entrepreneurship & Innovation – Challenge Chart
As you can tell by this month’s Inspiring Innovations, LEARNING MOMENTS topic… Entrepreneurship and Innovation continue to dominate my current professional responsibilities.
So to support this special momentum…. I have taken a “visual tool“ from my past and prioritized its design and purpose for a quality LEARNING MOMENTS podcast. “What Do I Want… Zone of Professional Discomfort…. and Impactors” all represent timeless considerations and are contained in my own unique Challenge Chart for discussion when pursuing Entrepreneurship and Innovation possibilities!
As a special warning, the podcast goes around 10 minutes so be ready for an extended discussion-ist message.
Enjoy the listen.
TRIPLE III TIME: Accountability Diversified
One of my major principles during my years as an organizational director was to never want to hear the phrase: “It’s not my job!”…from anyone employed in our group. I believed in and managed the team with a common sense approach of shared accountability. The every day result was an excellent increased operational knowledge of all aspects by all employees, plus a more unified strive for better performance “score” from every sector of the agency.
Would my: anti-It’s not my job? approach work as well today…well maybe? But today I believe our workplaces have become more “specific-skill” driven thereby calling for the need of an Accountability Diversified strategy. Let me explain.
First, let me say that total organizational accountability is still NOT a solo function. However, with the greater influence and impact of distance-businessing….virtual meetings…remote learning…and basic working-from-home occurrences, sharing accountability at the “workplace” has had to adapt accordingly and hence Accountability Diversified has become an option.
As was stated earlier Accountability Diversified makes allowances for less in-person, historic information-sharing practices. This happens when greater responsibility is assigned to leaders to:
- Not treat any individual or group in a “special” way
- Heighten the understanding of performance factors for the entire agency
- Encourage every employee to “stretch” their skills in multiple accountability areas
- Avoid resistance to change
- Strengthen the sense of empowerment among all
- Make product/service quality and quantity a common thread within agency-wide communications
- Not allow progressive organizational joint ventures/partnerships to suffer
Bottomline: Accountability Diversified does NOT enable specific-skilled employees to adopt the “It’s not my job!” mentality at any time. Rather their special contribution to an organization will place them in an even greater ACCOUNTABILITY position when regularly communicated by LEADERSHIP!
TRIPLE III TIME: “The PITCH of a Lifetime!”
This week I had the privilege and honor to be a judge at an annual wonderful “shark-tank” event! More than fifty (50) teams of primarily college students had the unique opportunity to “PITCH” their new business/product/service ideas to a panel of judges for a short five (5) minutes. Each team’s goal was to obtain a spot for the next round of PITCH competition and perhaps win investor support including significant money awards. The experience for me every year is new, fun, encouraging and professional network expanding.
So as I was driving both to and from the event…I found myself thinking about what special idea/concept would I PITCH today if given the chance? Where would I start? What problem needs a solution or what’s missing at home or at work to make something better? Would I try to improve a current product or service…or would I create something totally new and different? Other questions that entered my mind included:
- What could I PITCH that wouldn’t cost a ton of money?
- Could I create a new techno-APP that GOOGLE would buy from me?
- How could I improve the current products/services I currently provide?
- Who could I partner with to strategize together on building something special?
- What could I create that currently would have very little competition in the marketplace?
(A great way to spend extended road time!)
I know I have said it before but I believe everyone…yes EVERYONE has an innovator, creationist gene/bone inside of them. And truly the only one that can (and must) exercise that gene/bone…is YOU!
This week’s TRIPLE III TIME message: “The PITCH of a Lifetime!” is intended to re-ignite the creative potential “sleeping” inside of you. Think about being in front of a group of shark tank judges…with some dollars to award and you need “The PITCH of a Lifetime!”
What would you propose??
TRIPLE III TIME: A Personalized SUPPLY CHAIN?
I don’t care how old you are…your current employment situation…where you live…how much education you have…and/or your financial status…I will bet you have never constructed A Personalized SUPPLY CHAIN visual projecting your “what-next”…future life/work steps?
Think about it! Consider the special value of creating a private business-based, step-ladder designed…one-page diagram of YOUR plans for the future.
Over the years as I have worked in my director/consultant day-jobs, I have used a SUPPLY CHAIN structure many times to make a basic plan for steady Creation & Development for multiple people and organizations. The use of a short…to-the-point SUPPLY CHAIN visual…in almost every situation allows for quick, direct focus by EVERYONE…EVERYTIME!
Go ahead…put YOUR name at the top of the Creation & Development… A Personalized SUPPLY CHAIN chart! So now what?
First, I can reassuringly report to everyone that thinking about the “What Do I Want?” section always seems to be the toughest part of building the SUPPLY CHAIN. Trying to narrow down and make simple this first area is naturally a “where do I start or restart” challenge! However, once people get past “Pre-Planning The Want”…not surprisingly many of the next development areas seem to come more easily.
Next it is necessary to keep an open…yes innovative-mind as you consider any and all personal growth factors. Remember today there are so many more informational items/opportunities online (even across the globe) that can enhance A Personalized SUPPLY CHAIN. So to achieve the bottom-line goal…a single page document/outline that “charts-YOUR-course” for quality personal and professional development…can prove to be a wonderful action endeavor.
I hope you create a cool SUPPLY CHAIN. I also hope you don’t make it too detailed and overwhelming right from the start. Baby steps are AOK…as long as they are future steps.
Enjoy this special assignment.
Inspiring Innovations, Inc. 