How do you Grow?

A recent conversation with fellow human revealed this comment from that person: "I don't have time to read that stuff." While I will take their comment and apply it over a more broad subject matter, I don't think I will degrade the original message being sent....or at least what I took away as the message being sent.

No secret to anyone who is reading this Blog that I tend to challenge readers to grow....to stretch beyond themselves and their current responsibilities. I'm fascinated by improvements, growth in this case and how we as humans can accomplish the feat. I firmly believe in order to improve...one must grow...in some form or fashion. We improve at something because we try harder, practice more, learn something new.....AHA! LEARN SOMETHING NEW....let's look at that one for a minute. How do you learn something new? Do you gain the knowledge from listening, watching, mimicking, osmosis, reading...?? I think you can gain/grow from all of those experiences, but one of the most professed way to grow is by READING.

When you read you gain insight and/or information. Assimilating that information into your life in a positive way can help you grow as a person....a professional. I tend to hear quite a bit from Technical Staffers that they "just don't have time to read..." My personal perspective is that --They don't make the time to read. I would argue that reading and/or choosing to grow is a conscious choice that each of make. Not making the effort or taking the time to stay abreast of the world around you...IMHO is a mistake.

Certainly as the situation applies to the Technical World we live/work in....it's a huge mistake and can cost greatly. That cost can range from a competitive advantage in the work place, to costing you a promoting due to an aged skill set and even to the release from work detail because of the reluctance to learn the skill set that is required. Technology is about change....how else can we stay on top of change without growing or acquiring new knowledge?

My thoughts are that everyone in the technical field should be reading (Blogs, trade mags, etc) about things that impact their work. We are hired into the work force because we have a certain skill set that was needed at that time....employees expecting those needs to never change or morph are living in a dream world---employers expect staffers to grow....to continue to add value--otherwise every job would be a term position. This world changes....a personal look at your life would point out how much things have changed over the course of your life.

The point....READ! ASK QUESTIONS! LISTEN! Improve your skill set---Technology is moving forward and if you wish to be a part of it...you should be moving forward WITH it....not being dragged along with it!

A side note: Interesting read here about the Future IT worker.

Is SOA...DOA?

Wikipedia says: "Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is an architectural design pattern that concerns itself with defining loosely-coupled relationships between producers and consumers. While it has no direct relationship with software, programming, or technology, it's often confused with an evolution of distributed computing and modular programming. There is no widely agreed upon definition of SOA other than its literal translation. It is an architecture that relies on service-orientation as its fundamental design principle. In an SOA environment independent services can be accessed without knowledge of their underlying platform implementation. These concepts can be applied to business, software and other types of producer/consumer systems.

Service Oriented Architecture ideology has been around for a time and many folks have implemented it in some form. I happen to believe that our Org. is currently positioned to benefit from it if we take the steps necessary to implement SOA.

Although SOA is typically discussed in terms of Software Development, it is NOT just a development tool. There are many other applications for SOA within a business. If your not familiar with SOA I would encourage you to do a little research on the topic. I'm dropping a slight hint here....there'll be more formal discussions on this topic in the future...and I'll be extremely interested in hearing your prospective and if you think there's an application for us.

TAFN

Parrallel?

I enjoy reading and I love to hear what other's think and feel. I also like to challenge others to grow and think outside their normal realm or comfort zone. I honestly believe this "stretching" does help in the growth process. Consider the following quote from recent Gallup Management Journal .

"Rule 5: Improvement in local HumanSigma performance requires deliberate and active intervention through attention to a combination of transactional and transformational intervention activities. Measurement by itself is never enough to improve performance. Creating organizational change is hard work and requires active and disciplined intervention.

Our work has found that few companies apply the full range of intervention activities required to generate real and sustainable change. Transactional activities, such as action planning, training, and other aggressive interventions, are cyclical interventions that tend to be topical and short-term in focus and to recur regularly. They are designed to help your company do what it already does -- but do it better. Transformational activities, on the other hand, are structural interventions that focus on how companies select employees, select and promote managers, pay and evaluate employees, do succession planning, and recognize and develop employees. Transformational activities focus on creating an organizational infrastructure that supports HumanSigma. They are designed to help your company come up with new ways to do things."

While Human Sigma may not be totally relevant to the ways in which a Government Org is run, or even should be run, nonetheless I believe certain principles are relevant and worth consideration. There's no need to reinvent the wheel if it already exists....the value is in getting the wheel rolling (read implementation).

TAFN

Thought for the Day

A article in the Harvard Business Review by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras says this:

"Companies that enjoy enduring success have core values and a core purpose that remain fixed while their business strategies and practices endlessly adapt to a changing world."

Many of you know I'm a "fan" of Jim Collins...mainly because he just makes SENSE. My opinion of what he writes about is that it is just common sense. It amazes me how foreign that is to some folks....guess that should tell me something, huh?

Anyway, the point he makes in the quote is so relevant to the work we do. We, at MDC, have a core value and a core purpose...WE ALL KNOW THAT...right? The challenge before us today is to alter some of our strategies and practices to meet demand and in his words "a changing world." Do these words just seem like worthless gibberish....or do they ring true and hit home with you?

Technology is all over the "change" part....that happens for (to) us and as a result we must react to it or be left behind. Sometimes we are forced into that change by our customers within Conservation, primarily I would offer because we have failed to recognize the technology opportunity for them. Regardless, the important task is that we can implement the solution effectively for them. The challenge continues to mount for IT workers in Conservation....the daily grind of maintaining systems is eroding a significant portion of our day. We find little time to perform any real Research and Development tasks....and yet I believe, that is where our true value lies in moving Conservation forward.

We must develop ways to alter our Modus Operandi for increased efficiencies. In many cases, the very act of freeing up time will provide significant value to this group. We must find ways to reduce our time commitments assigned to "maintenance" tasks....perhaps we can automate some feature of the work we do....perhaps we can offload the task....perhaps we don't even NEED to be doing the task any longer!! Ask yourself THAT question for sure. Many times I believe as humans we fall into a routine of just performing a function without even questioning if the task needs to be done at all any longer.

Allow some time this week to ponder this: Are you trying to to adapt any of your work, strategies, and/or practices to our changing world? I hope you can answer yes to that question, because that IS our future and that IS our job.

TAFN

Vision....any Value?

What does the word “vision” mean to you? In part, American Heritage Dictionary defines it as: Unusual competence in discernment or perception; intelligent foresight. If any of you are doing any reading on Management or Leadership…likely you are hearing more and more about vision, (including leadership and change). The ability to move an organization (Division/Unit/Team) forward requires this core component. Are these abilities limited to top level executives or managers? I would offer….Absolutely not! If they were, then we wouldn’t be doing a very good job of preparing for the future. In fact these abilities are present in every level and every walk of life. Leaders are NOT just top level folks.

So what does this have to do with you? I believe each and every employee can contribute to moving Conservation forward in some way. Many of you possess the ability to contribute from every single level of this Organization…..should you choose to do so. How so? ….well by looking more closely at visioning and understanding what it really is….then perhaps you can make use of it in the work you have to do also….from your daily work tasks, your family planning….your life.

So what is the “right vision?” Well, a look into what the “right vision is” was revealed by Nanus (1992), he maintains that it has five characteristics:
1) attracts commitment and energizes people
2) creates meaning in people/workers lives
3) establishes a standard of excellence
4) bridges the present to the future
5) transcends the status quo.

A vision should inspire people to work to make it a reality and it should also motivate people to become a part of the team…to help reach that common goal. Do you have that? Do you expect that to come from someone else? We all have a responsibility to make efforts towards doing the absolute best job we can…in whatever position we have in this Org. If we do that…then I believe we are adding value and if we believe enough in what we do for Conservation then we can become visionary…. Visionary Leadership isn’t just something one is born with….it IS something that can be acquired. But, it takes time, commitment, dedication and EFFORT!

Can you “see” the value in using vision to improve your work?