Friends and colleagues really connected last night at the launch of my new book, HUM!

Last night was one of the most memorable evenings of my life—the launch party of my new book, HUM: Using Connective Change to Lead Your Organization to Greater Purpose and Harmony.  Thanks to the many friends and colleagues who joined me at the Center’s new offices for cocktails and a lively conversation to explore some questions examined in the book:

·       What are the traits of the best (connective) and worst (disjunctive) organizations you’ve experienced?

·       If everyone can recognize and wants a healthy, connective organization, why aren’t more organizations healthy, fun, and productive?

·       What are the keys to creating and sustaining a healthy, connective organization?

People talked about how trust, respect, and clear purpose are among the traits everyone’s experienced in a healthy, connective group.  Some of them talked about how a toxic person can contaminate an entire team if not dealt with.  There was a good discussion of whether private and public organizations have different “default” cultures, and many believed that it depends on their leaders and what they model and expect of others.  Someone asked about “charismatic leaders” who are disjunctive with their own people while shining to the outside world—a topic that stirred up a lot of ideas about how to work with and around them.

Participants in last night’s soiree wrote down questions they want me to explore in future blogs.  Some promised to email additional comments and questions, which I will be sharing in my blog in coming weeks.  You can add to the conversation about healthy and unhealthy organizations by emailing me your stories, questions, or comments.

I am so grateful to the friends who have become clients over the years, trusting me with their organizations’ health.  And I’m grateful to the clients who, over the years, have become close personal friends and supporters.  I’m even grateful to those rare “difficult” clients—perhaps they taught me the most.  So many contributed to the experiences I’ve had and lessons I’ve learned that resulted in this book. A big thanks to all of you—for trusting me as your partner in connective change, and for having the courage to make the tough decisions often required to create an organization that works with greater purpose and harmony.

Inspiration from Mandela

For years, I have kept a file of my favorite Mandela quotes.  I use them in speeches and writing, but mostly to inspire myself to take risks and live fully.  I feel called to share some of my faves over the next few days.  For starters:

Tread softly,

Breathe peacefully,
Laugh hysterically.”
― Nelson Mandela

Meals and Connectivity

Have you ever thought about whether you use meals as an opportunity to increase connectivity?  Sounds crazy, but think about it.  Do you stop for a moment before eating to appreciate the meal and all those who were involved in getting the food to your table?  Do you select wholesome, nutritious food that will connect and sustain you to your healthiest self?  Do you eat in a mindful manner, savoring the flavor of each bite?  Do you connect with loved ones over meals, using meals as opportunities to have pleasant conversations, deepen bonds, and build positive memories?

Even if you're busy (and who isn't?), consider how you might be able to use mealtime to build greater connectivity in your life and with those you love.  It will not only nourish your body, but feed your soul.

Recognizing and Celebrating Natural Connectives

In my recently released book, HUM, I describe Natural Connectives as people whose nature is to connect with other people, connect people to one another, and connect people to good ideas and resources that would be of value to them.  

I was just with my friend Magaly, who, like other Natural Connectives, creates synergy in everything she touches.  Observing how eagerly she offers connections to new ideas and friends reminded me of how valuable Natural Connectives are in the workplace as well as in one's life.  

Wise managers encourage their Natural Connectives to cross pollinate in every possible way.  They put them on multi-team task forces.  They send them to professional development sessions, knowing they'll  apply what they learned as well as freely share it with others.  Savvy managers encourage Natural Connectives to train with staff in other departments, knowing they’ll come back with fresh ideas and a greater understanding of how the whole organization functions.  And they count on Natural Connectives to help formulate new ideas and innovative yet practical solutions, understanding that Natural Connectives have a "sixth sense" for knowing what will work. Natural Connectives' DNA seems to be programmed to help groups achieve purpose and harmony.

Who are the Natural Connectives in your life and workplace?  How could you tap into their talents to benefit others?  If you lean toward being a Natural Connective yourself, observe others who have unleashed their gift to learn what they do well, then practice it yourself.  Appreciate and recognize the Natural Connectives you know, as they are not people who seek power, status, or praise.  Your acknowledgement of their contributions will mean so much to them.

WHAT YOU CAN'T NOT DO: Identifying Your Strengths

I have just completed interviewing the staff members of a client organization.  One of the questions I asked was about their personal strengths and how they apply their strengths at work.  I learned during this process that many people don’t easily recognize their own strengths.  People often use the words “strength or talent,” as interchangeable with “skill or competency.”  I am not talking here about skills or competencies, of which you have many and which can be learned from scratch.  In fact, a competency is often interpreted these days to mean the minimum level of acceptable performance needed. 

What then is a strength?  How can we use them if we don’t know what they are?  I like to say that a strength is something you can’t not do.  For instance, for better or worse, I can’t stop myself from decorating.  I even rearrange hotel rooms, moving furniture, collecting and hiding the various promotional materials strewn about, and adjusting the curtains or blinds before I even unpack.  I recently found the 15 year old lyrics to a song written to poke fun at me, “The Sherry Schiller Renovation Blues,”—further evidence that our strengths are part of who we are. 

If you want to find your strengths or talents, think about those things you do so naturally that you really can’t NOT do them.  These are different from skills or competencies, which you may have, but are not fundamental to your nature.  If you need help in identifying strengths, there are many great resources online to help you discover them.  One free and fascinating inventory can be found at: http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/Entry.aspx?rurl=http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/tests/SameAnswers_t.aspx?id=310

There is mounting evidence that organizations HUM when their people are given the opportunity to use their strengths and innate talents in the workplace every day.  There is ample evidence that the best managers recognize the strengths of each team member, and arrange assignments so that all can contribute based on their strengths.

Over the summer, explore your strengths and talents.  If they seem vague, give them names.  Ask those around you what they see as your natural strengths and talents, and how they see you performing when you’re using them.  Find ways to use your strengths more often in your personal and work life.  Lead with them when you have the opportunity.  You’ll find you hone them the more you use them, and the teams you work and play with will benefit as well. 

BADGES: An Approach to Strategic Planning That Produces Amazing Results

Over the years, I have worked with many organizations whose previous strategic plans were flat documents that didn’t embolden them, ignite their imaginations, or inform their daily decision-making.  One of the reasons was that they were applying a 20^th century model to 21^st century problems.  They invested a great deal of energy in word-smith-ing a mission statement, a vision statement, a long list of values, and then goals, objectives and action steps.  This approach of breaking everything into smaller and smaller units (remember learning: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species?) preceded the Industrial Age, was perfected during it, and continues to be ubiquitously used by even the most cutting edge organizations when they plan.

A more dynamic approach that creates amazing results engages participants and stakeholders in conversations about what makes them unique, factors that may influence their future, and the most valuable services or products they can produce.  They identify strategic issues their organization needs to address in order to reach its fullest potential.  At this point, traditional planning would water down this rich, steamy soup into pages and pages of goals and objectives which would lie lifeless on the page until the next strategic planning effort.

Instead, the process I’ve found so successful draws on an experience most people have had as youth—that of earning badges as a scout, 4-H’er, a campaign worker, or through other club or team activities. Organizational leaders are challenged to design 3 Strategic Initiatives, or “badges” that address as many of the strategic issues their organization faces as possible.  Rather than their plan resulting in a laundry list of goals and objectives that nobody can remember, implement, or track, participants create a bit of magic by synthesizing all of the factors they’ve been exploring into just a few “badges” or initiatives, each of which they give a name.  They easily identify the criteria needed to “earn” each badge, ways the badges fit together, and who will do what by when in order for the badges to be earned.  If you’ve ever worked on any kind of campaign, you remember the sense of urgency and clarity about the goal (to “win”) that this approach generates. 

Although I’ve witnessed it now many times, it’s still breathtaking to watch leaders shift out of old modes of thinking and approach their shared future with clarity about the results they want to achieve and the steps they will follow to achieve them.  They blossom creatively and find renewed commitment to the organization, connecting with one another in unprecedented ways.  They have a high degree of ownership of and enthusiasm for their “badges.” An added bonus is that when leaders communicate these initiatives to members, they find members ready to pitch in and join the fun.  

The next time you face a challenge either personally or organizationally that requires a plan to achieve it, try this variation and experience for yourself the power of breaking out of the familiar, lackluster mode.  You’ll be amazed at how eagerly and naturally people work together to achieve badges they’ve identified and committed to earn together.

Organizational Flowers and Gardeners

A friend’s analysis of relationships is that every relationship needs a gardener.  According to him, two gardeners can make it; a gardener and a flower can make it; but two flowers will never make it.  Gardeners can't help themselves--it is their nature to try to improve whatever is within their influence to do so.  His analysis came to mind this morning while I was walking my dog past the beautiful gardens of neighbors Val and Dottie Hawkins.  They have not only beautified their corner of Old Town, they have created and tended breathtaking borders of iris, roses, and peonies along an adjacent parking lot, shown in the photo.  Really, now, how many people would do that?  And their gardener ethos is visible in the many boards on which they serve in our community, the numerous people they have helped, and the wise leadership and vision they have generously given our city.

Just like relationships, organizations need gardeners—people who will till and plant and weed and water until the fruits of their labor materialize.  Gardeners are often not the highest profile individuals in their organizations, yet organizations could not thrive without them.  Imagine hiring and nurturing people who will find potential to be tapped and do whatever is necessary to bring that potential to bloom.

Identify the gardeners in your organization, connect them with one another, encourage them, and see what grows. Strive to be more of a gardener than a flower, looking for ways you can contribute, using untapped resources within and around you.  You will find personal satisfaction in knowing you have created something beautiful and useful out of very little, regardless of whether others recognize and praise your accomplishment.  Here’s a salute to the unsung heroes of every relationship, organization, and community—gardeners like Dottie and Val whose nature is to give more than they take.