andrewnicol.net - blog

Are you in the top 10% of performers?

Michael Port wrote this recently.

Business Week polled 2,000 executives and middle managers with the intent of getting a picture of the future state of work. Overall the results were pretty positive. Although one result was shocking, sad, and funny all at the same time.  It turns out... "Over 90% of respondents believe they're in the top 10% of performers." Huh? Houston we have a problem. Apparently, 80% of these folks are kidding themselves.

It made me think about 2 things:

1. How many of my team think they are in the top 10% of performers? I think it would be significantly more than 10%. They may be in the top 10% of the jobs they do, but not in the top 10% of the company.
2. It also made me think of the "differentiation" process that Jack Welch used at GE. Reward the top 20% stunningly, look after and develop the middle 70% and remove the bottom 10%.

Food for thought and discussion I think.

Saying things to wind people up.

"I don't think you have thought through this" were his words after I had told him that we didn't need to discuss an issue and that we would handle it on the day.

He said it half heartedly, but he made a good point. He needed to talk about it. When I say "we'll discuss it on the day" it winds him up.

You see according to the styles of influence, cognitive scale, a high abstract person (like myself 99%) is always thinking and generally has thought about it and doesn't need to verbalise, whereas a mid-range cognitive person (my friend) needs to verblise it to make sure they have understood it and are clear on the plan.

Me basically telling him I have a plan leave it til the day is not what he needed to hear. Him telling me I hadn't thought about it was not what I wanted to hear. If it had gone on, we would have been frustrated with each other for no real reason.

The result - we talked and his views were the same as my thoughts - both happy.

How easy it is to miss these points sometimes!

Congratulations

My friends Rob & Tracey Lark had their third child today. A third girl to really keep Rob busy when they become teenagers. Born at 8:53, 7lb 7oz. Everyone is well, no name yet.

Congrads to you both.

One person makes all the difference!

Just one person in any one company can make it or blow it. One person can sent you away feeling like the most important person in the world or make you feel like they don’t value your business.

Yesterday Alf & I were flying to Christchurch for the day. We had a heap to discuss prior to getting their so I left Hamilton on the 6am flight to Auckland to connect with the 6:50 flight to Christchurch. Alf was on this flight joining me in Auckland and I had preallocated a seat for him next to me, because we were checking-in in different cities.

My Hamilton flight always gets in after the Christchurch Flight is boarding and I am one of the last on the plane. I get onboard and some other guy is in the seat next to me! So texting Alf I find out he is in 17d. I explain to the cabin assistant Alf had been preallocated into the seat next to me, and could me be moved into the seat opposite. He said he will check with the Captain and while he is doing that some other guy comes from the back and sits in that seat.

Now the cabin assistant has a choice. Does he try to make something work, or just walk away. There are after all spare seats in row 2 behind me, and I’m sure one of them wouldn’t mind moving forward to row 1. He can help me or bug the snot out of me and do nothing.

He does nothing and says nothing further.

Alf and I missed out on really quality time together that we will never again enjoy :( (secretly I think alf planned it to get some sleep) and we arrived in Christchurch less prepared than we should have.

Oh, the airline was Air NZ, not that this is a surprise because there is no other alternative for me out of Hamilton.

It all comes down to one person. How often does one person blow it in agoge and we don’t know or care? How often do I blow it?

Oh one last point. The guy sitting next to me heard all of this. He could have offered to move to the seat opposite (before the other guy came up), and been closer to the door, and had more leg room. Personally I would have offered to do that. But he said nothing and in a funny way I feel sorry for that guy.

Authentic Community

Last Thursday after we got into the Fast 50, I took a few people from work out to dinner with me to celebrate. At the table was Hav who just has an immense passion for agóge; Rob jnr who has such a detail mind and who keeps so many things I hate doing on track; and Cherie who is simply one of the most bona fide people I have ever met. Anyway I am sitting in this restaurant with a funny look on my face, watching my friends and just soaking it in and totally overwhelmed. There was something about the moment. A sense that in spite of everything hard we have been through, we're going to make it. I know this sounds a little corny, but you know what I am saying. It was an ordinary moment in an ordinary setting that for me became infused with something bigger. With community. Inspiration. Hope.

In two weeks time I have to talk on authentic community and I was chatting to a friend of mine yesterday about what that means. Community literally means 'in common'. People who gather together with something in common. Authentic according to dictionary.com theoretically means "not false; genuine". To me it means more than that.

It means being Real.

Honest.

Vulnerable.

Loyal.

An authentic person doesn't wear 'masks' to make them appear to be different than they are. They are honest and real about their struggles and failures. They seek help and are vulnerable.

I asked my two team meetings recently "How are you going? Really? " and generally I received genuine. Real. Honest. Vulnerable answers.

I think this small business called agóge. This business with people from all over the world, with varying educations, from different religions and diverse upbringings is starting to become an authentic community. A community that could actually make a huge difference in peoples lives.

It humbles me.

Ok, I admit it, I was wrong!

I have always understood that we are all made unique, entirely individual and wonderfully complex. But the implication of these thoughts often escapes me in action.

I think the problem is that I have never really, honestly believed that we are hard wired differently. A lot of the people that work for me that are smarter than me, had more significant and influential experiences than me, and have far more knowledge than me. Because they are genuinely more intellectual than I am, I struggle heaps when they don't see the big picture, or when they hear what I say and then do things completely differently.

I posted the other day about the styles of influence course I attended. As I have reflected on it, and spent time with the CBC guys and Vinney and Don, I have come to understand that I can be critical and biased when talking to people.

I think that we all have unspoken expectations of people, and then get frustrated when people fail to meet those expectations. We start thinking that they are intentionally doing this to bug us, and then our attitude towards them changes. When our attitude changes, our ability to influence the person positively dramatically reduces.

When all this happens who has the problem us, or the other person?

Me or you?

I have been humbled completely as I have considered some of these lessons.

Styles of Influence

It is incredible to consider that in the last 2 days I have learnt more about myself and how I interact with other people, than I have probably done in the last 2 -3 years. On Sunday evening I had Vinney from idynamx staying with us from the US. He is a very astute and intelligent guy and it was fascinating to talk with him about Style of Influence and the implications into our lives.

On Monday I attended a one day course run by idynamx where we compared our personal styles of influence with other people I work with outside of agóge. To say that I found the day just intelligently stimulating and personally challenging, would be to dramatically underestimate its impact on my think.

Below is a summary of my unique design. I am, according to the Styles Of Influence, test a Creative Designer.

Creative designers want to get a job done and get it done fast. They influence others in a positive way through this use of clear thinking and a strong personality. Creative designers can influence in a negative way through intimidation or forcefulness. Generally creative designers are individualists who enjoy a great deal of variety. These people enjoy thinking up new ideas and helping to get other people to implement them. At times, they can be hard to get along with and seem like a bully or overly dominant. When a task is in full swing, these people may want to "bolt" before the project has been completed. They work best in an environment that gives room to be creative and yet one that has a certain measure of accountability.

Fly by Wire

Boarding your plane and taking a seat next to an Air NZ pilot wouldn't excite most of you, but it was one of the most interesting flights I have taken. I sat next to Trevor an Airbus A320 captain and pilot trainer as he was being repositioned back to Auckland.

Trevor has been flying for 40 years and you can tell straight away he is an experienced and safe flyer. In his 40 years flying he has never had a major incident, never had an engine failure, nor forced landing. This is as much a testament to aircraft maintenance as it is to his attitude and skill.

Once we established that I was on my way to my PPL (so knew an incredible amount about flying), we talked Navaids, GPS, airports, handling of 737 vs A320, maintenance, CRM (Crew Resource Management), industry changes, ATPL training, the airworks accident last year, sims and pilot attitudes and leadership.

Interesting Facts

• Wellington Airport was not closed on Wednesday. Trevor landed his Airbus, it's just the ground crew couldn't work in the wind.
• Dunedin Airport is the hardest (=riskiest) airport in the country to land a jet in.
• Airbus A320's self trim (Makes them heaps easier to fly)
• At FL30 (30,000ft) and engine failure in a 737 required an immediate and positive from the pilot to stop it going over on it's back. An A320 will re trim, and put the plan into a descent.
• Wherever possible they take off with reduced thrust to save the engine life. In the A320 they take off with the cabin pressurization off, which again saves engine life.
• Great pilots come as a result of great attitudes.

Disjointed implications

• The media never give you the whole story.
• I'd rather fly in a A320 (or a next generation 737)
• If reduced thrust take-offs improve engine life, then to what other areas or things could this principal apply?
• Being great at anything, sport, flying, spirituality or leadership is all about ATTITUDE.

Trevor said he was going to email me a funny clip about CRM. If he does I will post it here.

What is initiative?

It's an interesting question isn't! What is initiative? Can you train people to have initiative? Can a person be held accountable for not displaying initiative? Does the culture of your company breed initiative?

An old philosopher Albert Hubbard says this "THE WORLD BESTOWS ITS BIG PRIZES, both in money and honors, for but one thing. And that is Initiative. What is Initiative? I'll tell you: It is doing the right thing without being told"

Hubbard tells the story Andrew Rowan said to the President,

"There is a fellow by the name of Rowan will find Garcia for you, if anybody can."

Rowan was sent for and given a letter to be delivered to Garcia. How "the fellow by name of Rowan" took the letter, sealed it up in an oil-skin pouch, strapped it over his heart, in four days landed by night off the coast of Cuba from an open boat, disappeared into the jungle, and in three weeks came out on the other side of the Island, having traversed a hostile country on foot, and having delivered his letter to Garcia-are things I have no special desire now to tell in detail.

The point I wish to make is this: McKinley gave Rowan a letter to be delivered to Garcia; Rowan took the letter and did not ask, "Where is he at?"

Garica wasn't told how to act, or where to look, who to contact, he just took the letter set out and made the right thing happen. Read the whole story if you have time.

Seth Godin calls it being a torchbearer and says this

Now, I'm not talking about working hard, or being dedicated, or putting your mission first. Being a torchbearer has nothing to do with how late you work at night, or whether you give your cell-phone number to your boss. No, I'm talking about the people with that rare skill, the ability to dig deep when the need arises -- to get past the short-term pain and to pull off an act that few would have believed possible. In the new economy, people are doing things that have never been done before. Faced with the unprecedented, in an environment that's unstable, many people say, "It can't be done." The torchbearer is the one who does it.

I love Hubbard's quote. I think initiative is doing the right thing without being told. I think training helps, culture is important, accountability is paramount and these things can help people fell comfortable with taking initiative. I also think some people have been trained their whole lives to lack initiative and they must now retrain. Eventually it comes back to a readiness and ability to initiate action, the right action. Ultimately it comes back to the individuals deep resolve to do the right thing every single time. If that desire is not there they will never carry the torch across the finish line nor find Garica.

Initiative is doing the right thing without being told.

Undercover surveillance at Starbucks

Starbucks is a rip off! $5.60 for a below average Mocha which pails in comparison to the Macho you get at "The Naked Grape". The Grapes' Mocha costs less, is interactive (yes, I say interactive) and tastes awesome! I sit at a table on the outside corner of Starbucks at Bayfair so I can read and watch the world go by, while I wait on Karina.

As I start to read I hear the family two tables back from me are speaking Spanish. I think of Costa Rica again, and this is the fourth circumstance that has reminded about it in the last week. I wonder if Costa Rica is beckoning me or if it is just like noticing a certain colour and make of car, merely because a friend has just brought one.

I intermittently read my book, sip on a bad mocha and watch people. I love watching, learning and contemplating people. Here are a few of my decidedly unscientific observations:

• Men either go to the mall alone or with their partner, NOT with other men. Kind of makes sense I don't recall ever ringing Robbie or Alf and asking if they want to go shopping with me. Thinking I should do this one day as it could be hugely entertaining.
• Teenage boys go in packs of 2 or 3. They are at the mall for two reasons only, girls or food. Shopping is not on their mind, if it were they would shop alone or secretly with their mums.
• Almost all of the people I saw texting were alone, I only saw one person texting who was not alone and that person was obviously with her mum.
• Older women dress to make themselves appear young, while the teenage women dress to make themselves appear old.

As I considered what my eyes were telling me, I thought about how we are relational beings, people made to interact with other relational beings, then this morning I finished 'Through Painted Deserts'. One of the few profound lines in Don's book says "Relationships between people indicate something of the nature of God - that he is relational, that he feels love and loss."  - an intriguing thought.