Going Deeper: Making Projects Work
I'm not a huge fan of Top Tip posts, but my publisher told me to do some for my book promotion. They know best. I think we often consume lists fast, like chips or M&Ms. We don’t stop and digest them.
Lists are worth exploring if they are digested. So let's digest part of it together.
When we live into our best intentions, things that sound like common sense to everyone (like defining needs clearly), there is no end to the impact we can make. Such a seemingly small thing can permeate the mood and morale of the team, the synergy between team members, and raise the group's performance. Such clarity can literally become the wind needed from behind versus a nasty headwind we feel we have to fight. And the crazy thing? It’s within our control to bring that clarity to every conversation.
When defining needs is ignored, it can stifle progress faster than the stickiest government red tape. For example, when we cannot translate our business requirements into data or more technical requirements, we lose the ability to make informed decisions. Or, when we lack the courage to confront the poor content of a colleague, we lose the collective ability to influence as a team and move the group, initiative, or business forward. Guess what? That was in our control, too.
Hearing others into speech is a leadership skill now called interpersonal awareness. It comes down to the desire to understand other people and their needs. It is the ability to accurately hear and understand others' spoken, unspoken, or partly expressed thoughts, feelings, and concerns. People who exhibit this skill understand the reasons for another's behavior, even when that behavior is subtle or complex. We can add the label “data translator” if you like. Still, underneath, it just means “a person who understands data and has a high interpersonal awareness proficiency.”
My students know I try to resist as much jargon as possible. The industry continues to sprinkle new terminology on old terms every ten years or so, hijacking everyone into thinking they don't know anything. It does that because hype is a big part of the business model. Plain language is the most grounding; always check your understanding of terms. You know more than you think you do.
How do you experience this key idea as lived or ignored in your organization? How do you recognize what is in/out of your control to change about how you define your data needs?