Good morning!
Another month has flown by. It seems like July and August were only a week instead of a month!
For September, our theme is Let Go. Remember, July was Love. August was Learn. These three
themes have come from my Integral Leadership Model that I wrote about in my book Leadersights. These are the 3 key decisions leaders make every day to become more effective.
themes have come from my Integral Leadership Model that I wrote about in my book Leadersights. These are the 3 key decisions leaders make every day to become more effective.
Throughout this month, I will try to show you how the topics everyday relate back to your decision as a leader to let go of your need to control everything; to let go of your need to be comfortable; to let go of your need know everything.
The bottom line is that control is an illusion anyway. With as complex as most systems are, it's impossible for any one person to control everything. But it is still important that we feel like we have some control over our immediate environment.
If we can put some sub-systems in place, we can secure that feeling.
One of the most common is a measurement system. You're used to these at work. Some of you have key performance metrics that you post everyday. Others continue to have big Monthly Management Review meetings that stretch for hours at a time to give the leaders the feeling that things are in control.
A lot of the metrics I see in workplaces are largely ineffective. I want to be measured by the things that I can actually control. Otherwise, the measurement is arbitrary. We have tons of software in workplaces now that can display all kinds of real-time data, but they end up just being a thermometer. It tells us how hot or cold it is, but since I can't do anything about the weather, I don't really care and it doesn't drive my behavior.
As we go through this month, I'll focus on different kinds of measures and metrics for different kinds of things in the workplace. Things like Safety, Quality, Delivery, Productivity, and Cost show up in lots of places, but where the data come from and how we use the data can either make them useless or highly effective.
I hope you'll share some of your measurement experiences with me as we go through the month. If we measure the right things, we can let go without losing that overall feeling of control that gives us confidence to try new things. If we measure the wrong things, we end up feeling stressed out and out of control. It's hard to come up with new ideas if you're so stressed out that you can't think.
If you need to tweak your measurement system to make it more effective, please give me a call. Together, we can create something that will make things more satisfying and effective at work.
Let's make September an awesome, safe, healthy, and prosperous month.
Have a great day, and I'll see you tomorrow.
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