Book Review: The Age of Speed

Title: The Age of Speed: Learning to Thrive in a More-Faster-Now World
Authors: Vince Poscente
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Available Online at http://books.google.ca/books?id=YVpwIst_uNMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Age+of+Speed:+Learning+to+Thrive+in+a+More-Faster-Now+World#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Building from a simplistic children’s story, the tortoise and the hare, Poscente takes readers on a journey exploring the notion of speed in today’s society and breaks down myths about speed. He begins by examining the concept of “time” and how we have traditionally define/organize our time. Poscente opts for a new notion of time, building on values rather than the traditional work-home-leisure paradigm.

The take home message is that one should develop efficient and fast ways to deal with the mundane tasks in order to allot more time to fun, creative tasks and family. Poscente does concede that that speed isn’t necessary for success in all circumstances and utilizes a metaphor to expand on this:

• Those who resist speed and succeed nonetheless are referred to as Balloons (e.g., speciality shops)
• Those who embrace speed but accelerate out of control with no clear plan or direction for how to utilize their speed are referred to as Bottle Rockets (e.g., Dell Computers)
• Those who require speed but resist it are referred to as Zepplins (e.g., Kodak)
• Those who embrace speed with a clear direction/plan are referred to as Jets and serve as a exemplar for business strategy in today’s society (e.g., Google)

Like
I liked how the book was structured with small but insightful chapters. The use of metaphors and case study analysis in this book was also well executed and facilitated understanding. The practical tips and strategies for embracing speed presented to the reader provided excellent advice on how to become a “Jet.”

Dislike
I found some parts of the book, although insightful, were repetitive. Considering the topic, I would have appreciated greater directness and conciseness.

Applications & Lesson Learned
This book has great applications in the workforce. By examining your circumstances and the nature of your work, you can determine how best to use speed to your advantage and succeed. It is also important to keep in mind that speed and direction need to come from not only at the individual level but also the organizational level.

“If we truly want to soar, we have to understand our authentic purpose, be nimble and open to opportunities, be free of clutter and drag that can limit our potential, and seek our speed in unique and innovative ways” (p. 209)

Book Review: Crucial Conversations

Book Review

Title: Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High
Authors: Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Available Online [1]
For more than 25 years, Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, and Switzler researched people in the workplace. These authors found that what makes someone an effective colleague is the way they manage their conversations. The authors studied these conversations and took detailed notes when they were having crucial conversations.
The authors offer some basic steps for how to manage crucial conversations. First is to identify when a conversation is turning crucial. One way to do this is by your own physical signals (e.g., Is your stomach getting tight? Are you eyes drying up?).

Once a crucial conversation is recognized the authors suggest to “start with heart.” What this means is to dig deep down inside and figure out the message you’re truly trying to get across. Often in a crucial conversation you can become defensive and your message may get lost or never get sent because the focus turns to defending. If you can recognize that a conversation has turned crucial and stay focussed, then you can learn to avoid being defensive and stay focussed on the message you’re really trying to get across. If your conversation partner begins to get defensive, this is one way to recognize that they do not feel safe in the conversation. When someone is feeling unsafe, they are likely not hearing your purpose. To return to a safe conversation, the effective conversationist has to guide the conversation back to a mutual purpose; if both parties can agree on one goal, it makes the conversation safer, with both parties more likely to hear what one another has to say.

Like

One of the best things about this book is the use of examples for various situations. This book is not just useful in a work setting, but also applies to conversations with spouses, family members, and friends.

Dislike

The authors did a very good job of getting the point across in the first few chapters, however after that the advice seemed a bit repetitive.

Lesson Learned

Practice makes perfect. Just as trying to remember to sit with good posture may take a conscious effort so too does staying in tune to your emotions during conversations when they turn crucial. It’s easy to prepare yourself for a crucial conversation when you are expecting one, but as conversation escalates and emotions get stronger, it is easy for conscious effort to control your emotions to fade. Just as you may sit down extend your back, put your shoulders back, and focus on good posture, once you begin working on something you may realize a few minutes later your back is slouched and your shoulders are forward. If you are in the middle of a crucial conversation and you suddenly become aware that your emotions have taken over, take a few minutes to regain your composure, take some deep breaths, and start back into the conversation. Over time, forming some of the habits in this book should become natural just as good posture is more natural for someone that practices at it, such as a ballet dancer or physiotherapist.

[1] http://books.google.ca/books?id=Gzjj9mSPAGEC&dq=crucial+conversations+tools+for+talking+when+stakes+are+high&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=Aj8gIPH8II&sig=oq_qTIeUhEF9MyKeOjy3grtvEB8&hl=en&ei=RvOWSo_cG4ySsgPhocXFDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#

Re-Engaging after Summer Vacation

If you’re anything like me, you look forward to the warm, sunny days of summer. It’s a great time to plan that special holiday and leave all your worries behind. Upon returning to work I feel refreshed, reenergized, and ready to get back to my work duties. Sometimes getting back into the swing of things can take some time, but I always focus on re-engaging in my work.

So, just how can you re-engage yourself? Be sure to ease your holiday-to-work transition by following some of the tips included below (adapted from Helium.com):

• Give yourself time to settle back into your “normal” routine. If you’ve traveled to an exotic destination, give yourself a day or two to get your land legs and overcome any jet lag.
  
• Reflect on your positive holiday experiences and achievements.
  
• Stay positive about your work and reflect on the things that you enjoy doing.
  
• Avoid in-box overload. If you can, consider looking through your emails the night before returning to work or have a colleague respond to urgent items while you are away.
  
• Try to stick to your regular sleep schedule at least a few days before returning to work
  

I’d also suggest the following

• Give yourself time to settle back into the groove of things.
  
• Be sure to review any meeting notes, memos, or other updates
  
• Organize yourself by creating a checklist. This will give you a sense of accomplishment getting through all the smaller tasks.
  
• Take what you’ve learned/experienced during your holidays and apply it to your work.
  

How to Maximize Your Talents at Work

Maximizing your talents and showing your employer your diverse set of skills can help to put you and your career in the spotlight. To maximize your talents you must recognize your own strengths. If you’re not sure what your strengths are, try asking friends and family “What do you think I’m good at?” You may also want to reflect on skills that you been complimented on. Next transfer the skills you identified to the realm of work.

Once you have identified your strengths and how they are applicable to work, it’s time to put these talents into action. Start by volunteering for projects or take initiative to help others when needed. Don’t be afraid to talk about your accomplishments with others in a non-boastful way. At staff meetings you could mention how much you enjoyed working on a certain aspect of a project. Or when offering to assist with certain projects, make note of your skills “I’m great at__________, and could really help with_________.”[1]

The potential benefits of maximizing your talents could result in focusing more on projects and job duties that are a better fit for you, in turn making work more enjoyable. Your willingness to volunteer for projects may be noted by your employer, who in turn may begin sending you the work you enjoy more often.

[1] http://www.playtoyourstrengths.com/resources/faiths-articles/maximize-your-talents

Finding Flow...

I'm currrently just finishing my contributions to a book on "Career Flow" (co-authored with Norm Amundson and Spencer Niles). Csikszentmihalyi has previously written about "Flow" as "optimal experience" - those wonderful moments when you are so throoughly engaged in an enjoyable activity that you lose all track of time as things click along perfectly for you.

In an entry in our own blog last month, Fiona talked about how the variety of projects she's working on contributed to flow. Krista, in her recent blog entry, spoke of the joys and challenges of working on virtual teams. As I reflect on my own work, the time races by when I'm teaching in a classroom, but minutes seem like hours when I'm grading a mountain of papers according to detailed criteria. As a consultant and manager, I love seeing "aha" moments; I hate wasting time.

Csikszentmihaly found that flow occurs more often at work than in any other life roles. He observed that balancing the degree of challenge to the level of one's skills contributes to flow (i.e., if you take on too much of a challenge for your current skill level, you'll likely be worried or anxious; however, too little challenge may result in boredom instead of flow).

I believe that it's not just about skills; rather the resources available to you (i.e., your overall capacity to get the task done) make a difference as well. Sometimes a job can be highly enjoyable until a co-worker calls in sick, leaving you with double the work with the same amount of resources. Your skills haven't changed, but it may no longer be a flow experience if you were already challenged by the work to be done. On the other hand, a job could be boring until an emergency arises - the unexpected challenge bumps you back into flow.

As you reflect on your own career, when do you find yourself in flow?

• What types of activities, under which specific circumstances, do you find particularly engaging?
• How can you create more of them at work?
• How can you adjust the activities that drag you down so that they'll be more meaningful? Less tedious?

"Hope" is at the centre of the model explaining "career flow" in our latest book. In my previous research on what contributes to job success and career satisfaction, optimism was the single best predictor of both. Therefore, as you strive for more "flow" in your work (i.e., as you become more engaged), nurture hopefulness or optimism. Ask yourself,

• Why are you doing what you do?
• What difference does it make?
• Who needs the product or service you provide?
• Is the demand growing or declining?
• What other meaningful projects can you contribute to?

Finding flow doesn't have to be accidental. Intentionally create opportunities that are challenging but not overwhelming. Make meaningful contributions. Recognize how your work helps make the world a better place.

Strategies for Working Successfully Within a Virtual Team

I’ve been working on virtual teams for several years now and recently started to think about some of the tools and techniques that I’ve seen used to effectively engage employees when there is little or no face-to-face (f2f) interaction. Some of the little interactions that we take for granted in a traditional work setting are not as easily replicated in a virtual work environment. In a traditional office setting, employees typically greet one another, even if it’s just a passing hello on the way to one’s desk. These settings allow for virtually endless opportunities to connect throughout the day whether it’s as they walk by colleagues on their way to another office, the lunch room, or just to stop by to check-in on a project. Then, of course, there’s the coffee/lunch room – a veritable meeting place for most workplaces.

With the ever-increasing advances of technology and the subsequent comfort people have using it, virtual or distance workers are becoming more commonplace. Some of the techniques I’ve seen for engaging virtual work teams are listed below:

• Annual retreats, allowing staff to reconnect, build relationships, and engage in professional development opportunities
• Regular team meetings (e.g., weekly teleconferences, audio conferences)
• Regular project meetings using suitable communication technologies
• Online document storage to ensure that all team members have equal access to required documents
• Effective use of available communication technologies, including:
• Telephone
• Chat (e.g., MSN)
• Videoconferencing using web cams (e.g., Skype)
• Audio conferencing (e.g., GoToMeeting)
• Email
• Online planning software as a virtual white board (e.g., mywebspiration.com)

Some of the challenges that virtual teams may face, include:

• Taking longer to build relationships and trust amongst team members
• Misinterpreting electronic communications (e.g., email, telephone, audio conferencing, text chat) because of a lack of body language
• Developing processes for communication and providing feedback amongst team members

Despite there being some challenges to working within a virtual team, there seem to be an endless number of benefits that this type of work arrangement can offer. Some benefits include:

• Working with colleagues from other regions and countries
• Enhancing one’s technology skills
• Working flexible hours, particularly when a team is spread across various time zones
• Saving money by not having to commute to an office (e.g., transportation, parking)
• Decreasing wardrobe costs if working mostly from home
• Experiencing a sense of well-being from lessening one’s environmental footprint

Although not an option for every workplace and not for every individual, I am happy that I’ve been able to work on virtual teams and experience the wonderful benefits of doing so!

Shifting Priorities

As I was sitting here contemplating my next blog topic I was having difficulty thinking of a new and exciting employee engagement topic for which to focus my next blog on; so I started to think of everything that I’ve done today and began thinking about how it’s near the end of my day and how I have stayed productive and engaged throughout the entire day. After thinking about it for a while I looked back over my task list I noticed that I have been able to switch from one task to another several times throughout the day. After working on one project for a considerable length of time and feeling my creative juices for that project fading fast I decided to put it aside and refresh with a new task: writing my monthly blog entry. So this is where I am now.

[1].

If you have the flexibility within your own job to create your own schedule throughout the day – I encourage you to do so. If one project begins to become mundane, set it aside and pick up a new one. At least for myself I find this helps my productivity throughout the day. I find that I cannot force myself to be creative and once that runs out, the best thing to do is to switch up the project and come back to it at a later time. If shifting to another project is not an option, one source suggests shutting down your computer temporarily and taking a break as an alternative to staying productive

Now in the last few minutes I have been able to complete my next blog entry where if I had stayed focused on the project I was working on before I likely would not have accomplished nearly as much.

[1] http://lifelearningtoday.com/2007/08/23/25-tips-to-become-more-productive-and-happy-at-work/