Welcome
Welcome to the Foresight Newsletter, a free monthly publication of Prevoyance Group Inc. This newsletter shares tips for high performance IT organizations and observations that we hope will prove informative and enjoyable.
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Contents
CONTENTS
Foresight is published by the Prevoyance Group, and this month contains four sections:
Work
Life
Heard in the Hallways
Travels with Patrick
Work
We could all learn a lesson from toddlers’ frequent use of that most simple yet powerful inquiry: “Why?” While why may be the bane of parents everywhere, it is a question that serves a very important purpose, attempting to peel back the veneer of assumptions to get at the core of an idea and its underlying truths. Due to an obvious lack of “time served” in the world, children lack these layers of assumptions and are attempting to construct their own understanding of nearly everything they run across.
In many business situations, we struggle under the heft of these assumptions, whether they are founded in organizational lore, our own personal worldview, or unassailable “facts” provided by a superior or impeccably credentialed outside authority. Whole companies have floundered under the weight of their assumptions, from Polaroid to the litany of .com companies that were the scourge of the beginning of this century. The greatest weapon against the subtle insidiousness of the assumed is one simple word: “why.”
When investigating any critical business decision, hunt for these assumptions and use “why” to check their validity. Dogmatic statements are especially venerable to “why,” and before staking the future of the organization on an assumed market change, or “betting the ranch” on a “mission critical” IT or process reengineering project, look at the assumptions that led to the decision and check their validity with why.
Why need not only be a tool for dramatic life and death organizational decisions. When tacking a new role or working with a new group, why can crystallize your understanding of a process for all parties rather than allowing another layer of assumptions to cloud a situation. Vetting your own thinking through the “why” lens helps build your argument and identify any flaws in your reasoning, providing answers to difficult questions before you are forced to defend your position in a public forum.
Life
Work/Life balance has been on the lips of executives, bright-eyed new corporate recruits and even prominently featured in the media. “How does your company manage the work/life balance” is a frequent refrain heard during interviews. The fatal flaw in any question about work/life balance is an assumption that it is managed by someone other than you. Assuming a balance between work and life can be outsourced or offloaded to your employer is like assuming “managed healthcare” will automatically make you fit, trim and healthy.
Work/life balance is often a discussion of that most precious and limited of resources: time. Despite the never-ending demands of colleagues, spouses, friends or doctors, we all have complete control and the last word over how we spend this resource. There are few documented instances of employers, coworkers or colleagues putting a loaded firearm to ones head and demanding a sixty hour workweek, yet many of us work ourselves ragged, then blame some faceless HR monster for not appropriately managing our work/life balance.
Unless your job demands staffing a particular post for a particular period each day, you are well within your right to refuse pointless meetings, and shut down the mobile phone or Blackberry at will. If time with your family or yourself is truly is priority, you must make it so; no one else will. Take control of your time, and jealously guard it, since all the riches in the world still cannot buy a single lost minute.
Heard in the Hallways
Airlines flight attendants are becoming infamous for their line “Your safety [rather than customer service] is our primary concern,” with a recent commercial spoof showing attendants removing pillows from under sleeping passengers’ heads and forcing them to spit out peanuts and return food. Are there areas where your business is treating customers or employees as an inconvenience, rather than the source and means of generating business? From small shops with “NO PETS, NO CHILDREN, NO DRINKS, NO… NO… NO…” signs serving as a “welcome,” to policy handbooks and signage that assumes employees are either crooks or morons, beware that words do have an impact, and eventually your customers and employees will take them to heart while taking their business and talents elsewhere.
Travels with Patrick
Last month I spent a wonderful week with my family in the hills of Tuscany. Like any worthwhile trip, it started with several bumps in the road, literally and figuratively. Flights were delayed; passports misplaced and myriad other challenges encountered before we even had the full contingent in country. We were staying in a rented villa, and upon meeting the owner who was to guide us to the villa, she eyed my small rental car with a great deal of suspicion, checking its height and inquiring as to the specifications of the other car the family was renting, a low slung Alfa Romeo wagon.
In short order, I discovered the reasons for her questioning glance as we made our way up an increasingly steep mountain road. As the pavement ended and softball-sized rocks began to rumble against the undercarriage, she continually admonishment me that I needed more “energy,” encouraging diligent use of the throttle as the car tore around blind corners, teetering on the edges of ditches as it lumbered up the increasingly steep sections of the so-called road. A group of large dogs literally attacked the car, attempting to jump through the rapidly closing windows as our hostess told us not to worry “they are all bark.”
The villa ended up being amazing, perched on the side of a rolling hill and giving the sense that you were a nobleman of some sort, owner of all that you surveyed, rather than yet another tourist.
The last thing most of us want during our holidays is adversity. Everyday living seems to serve a healthy portion dose of challenges each day, so why seek them out during our leisure time? The road to the villa was our miniature Mt. Everest, and each successive attempt brought another tall tale of white-knuckled maneuvers saving the car and passengers from certain death, bringing our family closer due to the shared challenge.