Lessons I relearn periodically

Its been a good week, but I noticed a pattern this week. I relearned some basic lessons that I would have said I knew already.

So I guess I would say I knew them, but sometimes forgot to apply them.

Confirm expectations when starting

This is a simple one – if you agree to do something then confirm it with the following

So I will (do this thing)
And what I want/need from you is (this)
I will come back to you (then)

For example – I will organise the meetings, can you send me the extra names you have on Wednesday. I will let you know when we have the rooms and we can discuss the agenda on Thursday when we catch up.

Then make a diary note to make sure you come back when you said, or chase up what you need to do your part.

Simple- but easy to skip and do more work later.

Know when to explain and when to react

This is something I thought about as recently as my last blog update.

But sometimes I jump into solution mode before letting people explore their thinking and sometimes I discuss things to a point of sharing opinions without confirming what to do next.

In particular this is one the ones I am going to focus on in the coming week

Me – How are you progress toward the goal
You – Good
Me – So we will have the new toy available on Friday? Looking at the data it looks like we are not half way yet
You – Oh yeah there was an issue but I think we are all good. We had an unexpected delivery of muffins and people rushed off to eat. Then they ate too many and we lost the afternoon
Me – or could it be the ….

When the conversation should be

What is the biggest obstacle (risk) at the moment?
- This
What help do you need? or what corrective action should we take?
- This
What do you think will happen when we do that?

In other words I think I got caught speculating about causes or listening to explanations rather than focusing on what to do now that we know where we are at.

Its funny how you can know some things and yet re-encounter them as lessons again. Maybe there is more nuance and presence involved in daily life than theory would suggest

James King