Greetings!
Welcome to the Foresight Newsletter, a free monthly publication by Patrick Gray, president of Prevoyance Group Inc. This newsletter shares tips for high performance IT organizations and observations that we hope will prove informative and enjoyable. |
| WORK
Your Biggest fans
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I was at a favorite watering hole, listening to a friend recount a public speaking course she was participating in at work. She let fly one of those statistics that only a public speaking course instructor could throw out with a straight face, to the effect that "88.743% of people list public speaking as their biggest fear." While the statistic is likely questionable, public speaking in a work environment is probably not on most peoples' lists of favorite things.
What is interesting is that most of these fears are based on audience reaction to the speech, rather than unfamiliarity with the content, or some structural flaw in the information being presented. We assume the audience is watching critically for the slightest slip-up, from a typo on a slide to a momentary pause as the speaker collects his or her thoughts.
While there are probably corporate miscreants who relish the failure of others, the vast majority of people witnessing a speech or presentation are rooting for the success of the speaker. How often have you visited a theater or concert and truly wished the show would stink and be an utter waste of your time? In the same vein, when we rest our derrières in our seats for a presentation, we are usually subconsciously rooting for the speaker. If your fear of presenting originates from a fear of the listener, simply knowing that they are your biggest fans might make presenting all the more palatable. |
| LIFE
The Myth of "Laying it Down" |
Speak with some motorcycle riders long enough and you'll hear whispered references to someone "laying it down": intentionally tipping the motorcycle over in an emergency situation. The theory goes that if you're headed for a likely collision, it is better to abandon ship and allow the motorcycle to grind to a halt, under the assumption that this will stop you faster than any other maneuver.
While this theory may have held some truth at some point in the past, with some minor consideration and basic knowledge of physics it's clear that modern motorcycles and their superior braking offer a better alternative than metal skidding down pavement. The other great advantage to not "laying it down" is that you retain control of the motorcycle. While you may not be able to completely avoid a collision, there's still a chance you can turn to avoid the worst of it or even dodge the obstacle completely. If nothing else, you'll collide at a reduced speed and hopefully be thrown over the object rather than sliding into a skidding motorcycle as it strikes something.
It seems there's a psychological equivalent to "laying it down" as well; ceding control of your life in a panic situation to the whims of the moment, skidding down the road of life with physics in the driver's seat, wondering when you'll collide with an immovable object or the hunk of metal sliding in front of you. The alternative requires a bit more grit and determination; a measured squeeze of the brakes, attempts to focus on a clear path and steer away from the worst of it, and in the worst case, at least exerting some measure of control over the situation as you brace for impact. |
| HEARD IN THE HALLWAYS
The Interminable Action Item
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A now clichéd trend in meeting management has been the discussion and allocation of "action items" at the end of a meeting, preparing a list of what is essentially corporate-speak for "to dos" in the hope that something productive actually results from the meeting. Nearly every worker professes to hate meetings, but interestingly several recent studies seem to indicate we secretly relish the chance to socialize, demonstrate our knowledge, and get the quick ego boost that comes with having a dozen adults convene in a room at one's mere whim.
Psychology aside, the action item seems well-intentioned, yet they usually end up resulting in little to no action. The core cause of inaction that I usually observe is twofold: these "action items" are mercurial mini-projects rather than a discrete step towards and objective, and they are loosely assigned to teams rather than individuals that will be held accountable.
Most meetings are held to discuss large and complex problems, and poorly considered action items are likely to be equally large and complex. If you want an actual result from the meeting, devote the last 20% of the meeting to documenting the short-term objectives, and asking what the next concrete step is to accomplish them. Rather than assigning a team to "develop the marketing plan", tell John to produce a two page outline of the plan, and email it to you on Tuesday. There's a discrete and unambiguous task, a due date and clear outcome (an outline is mailed to you), and it's assigned to a single person who can tap others as needed, but has their proverbial "butt on the line" for accomplishing the task.
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| TRAVELS WITH PATRICK
Macro Man
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My love affair with technology started as a grade-school student, when my father arrived home with a set of large white boxes and announced that our family now had a computer. This was when I could count the number of people with computers on a single hand, and a price tag in the thousands purchased a model with a monochromatic green screen, which had 1/1600th the storage capacity of the telephone currently sitting in my pocket.
I was enamored by the gadget, and with no real connectivity to speak of, I started experimenting with the BASIC programming language that was included with the computer. I'd meticulously copy the example programs in the user's manual, and get a charge of satisfaction when my "GO" command eventually resulted in some successful outcome. I similarly remember my first "real" programming tools in the form of Borland's C++ compiler, which sported a stack of manuals about 3' tall, and helped me to win a computer programming contest in high school. I entered university convinced that I wanted a career as a computer programmer, only to eventually discover that I preferred the human side of technology, particularly how combining people, processes, and technology could solve some interesting problems. This directed me towards consulting where the people side of the equation took lead billing, although I occasionally reconnect with those days writing code with a macro in my email, spreadsheet, or word processing programs, or putting together a quick utility program. The shelves of user's manuals have been replaced with online libraries, and in my case, for the better. I can quickly search online for a task I'd like my program to accomplish, see several examples, and modify as I see fit. While these dozen-line macros would do little to impress a "real" programmer, there's still a thrill to clicking the "go" icon, and seeing the code perform some useful task with nary an error.
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Thanks for reading this month's Foresight newsletter. We love hearing from our readers, so please feel free to email info@prevoyancegroup.com with any comments or suggestions.
Warm Regards,
Patrick Gray
Prevoyance Group |
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| Breakthrough IT |
| For more IT management ideas and an in-depth discussion about moving your IT organization to the next level, order Patrick Gray's debut book, Breakthrough IT: Supercharging Organizational Value through IT. You can purchase the book on Amazon.com or request signed copies or volume orders by emailing info@prevoyancegroup.com. | |
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