What was it you expected? I think about the Coffee Talk with Baristas series. I have received some great comments and feedback about this blog series. I enjoyed reading that some folks liked the ideas shared. And my favorite question has always been ”why”; especially as it pertains to my business and general interest into a person’s decision making machine. I am thinking about this as I contemplate my new icon on my website “What If” and the intent to look at decision making around improvisational management. There is my new learning program on the realities of the workforce and all the aspects employers must embrace. Then there are all of my clients and their desired learning objectives for 2011. Therefore, I am wondering what you (a kinda-synonym for all of us) expect.
When you read this, are you looking for specific insight, some “aah” moment or are you just killing time? Which is it? And that is the challenge. We all want something unique. We are all different with a different degree of “how this matters to me”. But I am the author trying to make “it” known to everyone, right? I should probably stop trying so hard. When a learner is in one of my sessions or workshops, is it something new or some type of validation? Are they trying to find the purpose or sizing me up like Bob? That is an interesting and completely new story to tell at another time.
In life, it depends. Such a wonderful statement as it applies itself to almost every possible program (a.k.a. question) I have found myself when developing learning programs. “I would like you to come in to speak to my management team.” “OK, what is your goal?” We chat and then inevitably the learners in the audience change everything. You think one thing and the learner changes it. And that is OK. Why? They are changing your direction because they want to reach for something else. Here is the reality check: You want “x” and they want “y”; even if you did not plan that. This is very familiar to me and very recently applicable. I was with a client in New Jersey (and just made it back to Colorado before the weather) and we had a plan to do “x” and definitely got “y”. Did that make the day a failure? No, because it brought to the surface other things that mattered to the business. This does not mean we cannot re-direct the things we wanted. It means the unscripted nature of learning showed up, just like in retail and all those customers, and made its way into our environment. The challenge is do you measure effectiveness in what you didn’t do to plan or what you gained that you did not plan?
When you read someone or attend a workshop, you will always have expectations. You are like everyone else in that regard despite position or authority. How are you measuring the overall impact? What is your criterion? “This is what I expected, this is what was delivered and this is what I got out of it.” Where does success or failure live? Is it in what was expected or what was delivered?
I read so many blogs and I have found having no expectations and looking for something I can use is almost best for me. And by best I mean, considering a point of view and always looking for any possible idea. But the title said this? Yeah, it did. Is that your “choking point”? Really? Why not take a chance and see what positive may be taken with a belief there is always something to learn even in the most unlikely of places? My client in New Jersey is a very smart and kind man. He saw we did not land where we intended and yet still saw a benefit and learned from the experience. This is an owner with many people relying on him to make specific decisions about the business. And yet he found something in an unlikely place. Can you do the same next time?
Let’s say you have a team of 5 people. You have the intention to launch a new program of this or that or in some such way (an old saying), but something else happens. What do you do? Force it or try to find a common place? They have a need and so do you. Whose supersedes the other? It depends. So here are the learning points.
Know your expectations and ensure they are at the bare minimum, taking into account what someone else might say or do.
Be OK with not being on agenda as long as the diversion has a merit to the overall business. How do you know? You will know.
Let your team have a say in all things. Not that which extinguishes all you are trying to accomplish but when it matters to them in balance with what you need to do.
Hit your points in a time and way which the team would say, “Oh yeah, that was the point.” Think less is more and less is more powerful.
Embrace how something unexpected can be a benefit to you, your team and the business.
“I did not expect that, but I love that it happened. It made me think and I grew because of it. I now know something that I did not know before. I have a new perspective to consider.” What am I referring to? Nothing special, just another thing I didn’t expect.
Cheers