January 2019 – Mixing Pods

“You ARE a process guy… right?”

This is one of my wife’s favorite lines and part of our friendly married couple banter.

For some background, I started with Anderson Consulting (now Accenture) in May of 2000. At the time, the consulting workforce was organized into 4 main groups. Strategy, Process, Technology, and Change. I was placed in the Process group. My wife Katie and I had just gotten engaged a month earlier.

My first project involved reengineering customer call center process flows for a major telecommunications company. It was the first time I got to use Visio to do flow charts. I loved working with people to capture their processes, getting them documented, and analyzing them to make them more efficient. I was enamoured by swimlanes, ensuring a process was designed effectively, and making sure that every shape was aligned, etc. I was really into it. Then I learned about Lean, green belts, black belts, etc. I didn’t even know this kind of job existed when I was in college.

So I would bring my work home, staying up late at night to put together the perfect process. Back then, I would try to describe my job to friends and family and they would give me a funny look. I resorted to referencing commercials for companies like Subway, and say I was a ‘process artist’ instead of a ‘sandwich artist’. Another go-to comparison were the BASF commercials, “we don’t make the products you use every day, we just make them better.” Blank stares. It turns out that apparently, not everyone likes to watch commercials as much as I do (That is a topic for another blog).

In the meantime, Katie took on the noble profession of teaching elementary school. But I quickly learned that her way of thinking was very process oriented and she applied it to everything she did. So now that she knew what I actually did at work, and that I thought I was pretty good at it, she would keep me on my toes.

Getting home schooled!

At the grocery store: Why did I need to go back to a section we had already been? She planned her route before we even walked in the door.
Meeting up downtown: Why don’t I take the bus in the morning and she’ll meet me there that evening? That way we will only have one car coming home.
Going upstairs for something: Why don’t I take those things that she staged at the bottom of the stairs while I’m at it? Ohh and put them away since they are already in my hands.
Driving: Why would I go to the gas station that requires a left turn, when there is one on the right side of the road? There really isn’t a need to be loyal when they sell the same thing at the same price.
Changing Diapers: Why would I not have a process in mind for changing the diaper before starting the changing process? Yes, it was possible to change a diaper without using 10+ wipes.
Toothpaste: Why would I squeeze the tube there, when her method yielded a clean and efficient way to get the toothpaste out? Ohh and since you are there, wipe out the sink, please.
You ARE a process guy… right?

So it turns out Katie is the true lean operator of the household. She was my Alexa, Siri, Watson, Waze, and Uber long before they were in our lives. I used to call her MapQuest, because even if she had only been somewhere once, it was like she dropped a pin and knew exactly how to get back.

It’s amazing to see the speed at which we are improving processes and unlocking efficiency in everything we do and touch these days. We live in exciting times, but sometimes it can feel a bit overwhelming. I just have to remember that it is all just processes, and I am a process guy… with a better process girl by my side.

Are you hurt or injured? Insight into Perseverance

The NFL playoffs are underway and this is the time of year when players don’t want to come out of the game. They are asked by coaches, if they are hurt or injured, as showcased in a scene by James Caan and Omar Epps in the 1993 movie, The Program.

If you are hurt you can still play, manage the pain, and find a way to perform. If you are injured, there is no way you can go on, it’s just not possible, and hopefully, you’ll be back for the next game or even the next season.

One of my best friends is an athletic trainer. I’ve watched Derrick approach his work for years at the collegiate and professional levels. His job entails helping injured players through treatment plans and eventually getting them back ready to play again in the future. However, the moments that he enjoys the most and drives his passion, are those on game day. Once diagnosing that the player is hurt and not injured, he applies the proper medical attention and it becomes all about getting them back into the game as soon as possible. This involves helping the athlete tap into their sense of perseverance and build their confidence that they can go out and perform.

Playing hurt requires perseverance and since this blog is called mixing pods, I wanted to apply it well beyond the football field.

I’ve been inspired by so many examples of perseverance, from those of you battling that crappy thing called cancer, to those taking on the risk to start your own business. Martin Luther King Day is Monday. Talk about a story of perseverance. The entire civil rights movement at its peak, as well as today, requires strength and perseverance. It is being dedicated to the cause, continuing through resistance, pain, and pushing through obstacles.

With 2 and 4-year-old daughters, my days are filled with kissing boo-boos and applying Hello Kitty band-aids. The real challenge that keeps me up at night is determining if I am using the right words and actions to build up skills of perseverance and character. The last thing I want to do is confuse being hurt with being injured, or be the cause of long-term injury.

We all personally determine if we are hurt or injured on a daily basis.

So when life thumps you sometimes, you have to ask yourself if you are hurt or injured?

Are you confusing hurt feelings, with injured relationships?
Do you have the right mindset for the challenge that you are facing?
Do you need help diagnosing the issue?
Are you applying the right ‘treatment’ plan?
Who can help you?
What limitations are you going to accept?
How are you going to persevere?

There are times when we have to help each other get back on the playing field of life. Derrick and I can tell you that.

“Your next blog: Is it over committing or under prioritizing?”

That was the text that I received from Jensen on Friday, November 16th. I had cancelled lunch plans with some of the guys that morning after waffling the day before. I sent a text indicating that I had over committed myself and had to take care of some things at the office.

Sure, Jensen was teasing me and most likely laughing when he wrote it. He knew how much it would bother me.

Getting the boys together is one of those things that gives me a ton of energy. We have a really good crew of lifelong friends and we spark creativity in each other, razz each other for stupid decisions, and do a lot of laughing. Finding the time to get together is getting harder and harder.
My work calendar was wide open when we made the plans and I have been trying to keep personal commitments as much as possible.

Did I over commit or under prioritize? This is one of the questions that I struggle with every day. Balancing activities with friends, family, and especially with the girls; while trying to exceed client expectations, grow an account, strengthen the firm, develop our team, and invest in my own self-development. My word for 2019 is commitment and it applies to all of the above… but has to be handled with care.

One of my challenge is that I’m the king of creating lists of things that I am going to do on a given day (like most of you reading this blog). I have them in categories and usually in the order of importance. However, I seldom apply any constraints to completing them. That means accounting for how long they are going to take or how much time I actually have in the day to get them done. Combine that with the fact that I really like to talk and engage with the girls, it usually results in some late nights.

Unfortunately, it seemes to be the immediate and tactical things that fall into the over committing category. All those things that old people try and tell young people to not take for granted, and say that they regret the most later in life, tend to fall in the under prioritizing category.

Three months later, the question of over committing and under prioritizing hit me in the face again. I actually told Katie that maybe I needed to skip the weekly Sunday night dinner with her family because I have some homework and a few big presentations due this week. I thought it through and after remembering the question, I refocused and shifted the way that I approached the day and made it to dinner.

So even though we didn’t end up having lunch that day in November, the insight and the lesson from one of my best friends made its mark, even if it was just a text.

You can’t herd llamas, but it sure is fun to try!

Have you ever done something that you know won’t yield any results, but you do it anyway?

We were driving on I-70 past the Eisenhower Tunnel towards Silverthorne to go skiing over the holidays. Katie and I were reminded of the days we spent at a ranch nearby with our friend Wade, where he lived for a short time and during the summers while we were in college. This was when we were all young pups about 20 years ago… we had so many great memories there.

One day we took the horses out for a ride. We weren’t that experienced at riding horses and didn’t have a destination in mind. OK, we had no idea what we were doing. There were also a couple of Llamas on the ranch and somehow we started trying to herd them. They would tolerate us for a while and we would think we had them heading a particular direction. A City Slicker’s dream, we were cowboys and a cowgirl.

However, Llamas are like cats, they are unherdable (if that is actually a word.) They would give us that llama look (yes, llamas can give some serious crusties and are very good at giving dirty looks) and veer off. We would try again and again. No luck.

Anyway, I’m not sure many of you will ever have the chance to try and heard llama’s on a horseback, but if you do, I highly recommend it.

I guess the insight that I am trying to share here is that sometimes you need ‘a just because activity’ once in a while. Something different and out of the ordinary, with no expectations for any results, value, or benefit. Something you do just for fun.

Our 4-year-old daughter Maggie used to always say , “llama llama ding dong!”, which I think came from the children’s book series (my google search shows all sorts of results for it, I had no idea). Wherever she picked it up (maybe the the movie ‘The Emperor’s New Groove’), she always had fun saying it. You could see the free spirit that a 4-year-old should have, marching to her own drum, in her own world.

So the next time that you find yourself about to engage in a harmless daily diversion that you don’t think will result in anything, but find it satisfying and refreshing… Just say ‘llama llama ding dong’ and have some fun with it! There is plenty of time for all of your purpose filled activities.

That’s flocking important!

I was out on the morning dog walk and saw the flocks of geese in the middle of the pond huddling together for safety. Sleeping for the night and staying safe from the coyotes in the open space nearby.

My first thought was that maybe they didn’t fly far south enough for the winter and should be hanging out with Mike Cress in Houston, or Don Mamone in Dallas.

Then I thought about the love/hate relationship that my neighbors have with the geese. They are the subject of a little angst in our neighborhood. Some people love them (even feed them), while others can’t stand their constant pooping all over the sidewalks.

Our last dog, Prestwick, was raised as a bird dog prior to going to school to be a guide dog for the blind, so he used to chase them right back into the water. Some of the neighbors would applaud him, others would scold him (and me of course!) Our current dog, Buford, leaves them alone, except for the one night he decided to go check them out in the middle of the frozen pond (thanks to Westminster Fire Department for getting him out).

So I just did a quick look up on Geese and actually, they have some admirable instincts, which makes me want to like them a bit more:

Geese have strong affections for others in their group.
Geese are very loyal.
They mate for life and are protective of their partners and offspring.
If a goose gets sick or is wounded, a couple of other geese may drop out of formation to help and protect him.
They will try to stay with the disabled goose until he dies or is able to fly again.
They fly in the V formation to for aerodynamics and to maintain track of each other.
When the lead one gets tired, another one takes over so it can rest in the draft.

So the insight from the geese is that flocks are important!

So as I try and maintain ‘commitment’ to the 2019 goals that I mentioned in my last blog, it will be important to engage my various flocks. The family flock, the friends flock, the co-worker flock. In some cases, I might need all the flocks to help me at the same time (this blog is called Mixing Pods)!

Who is in your flock? Find them, support them, and stick together. It’s flocking important!

What is your one word for 2019?

This is the sister blog (if that is a thing) to my Perficient Blog (What is the one word that will define success in 2019!) In that blog, I tied this concept to business strategy and operating model metrics. However, since Jensen makes fun of me for using business speak in the ‘friends pods’, I thought I would tailor this to be much more personal.

I have definitely been in a transitional phase over the past couple of years, making a significant move from being work-centered to family-centered. I think this phase was at its peak towards the end of 2016. Maggie was 2 years-old, and Addie was born that September. It’s not that I was I was a dead beat dad or husband, but I was still getting used to staying present and focused on the family throughout the evening. I used to put in a lot of time in the evenings making sure all of my client and firm deliverables were completed to my satisfaction. I was finding myself gasping at the end of the night when I looked at the clock and realized how tired I was. Things had changed.

Over that Thanksgiving, I read Angela Duckworth’s book Grit, the Power of Passion and Perseverance. She talks about how to build grit and the need for an “ultimate concern”, which is a supreme goal that is so meaningful to you that it provides structure and discipline to everything you do. She described a method for gaining focus by listing 25 goals, circling the top 5 and avoiding all others at all costs, while discovering themes. Her hierarchical approach of rolling up low level and mid level goals to the ultimate concern really resonated with me.

At the time, all of my goals and the ultimate concern at the top of my hierarchy ended up bringing out the word ‘engaged’. I covered my four goal categories in the blog a couple of days ago, Why having fun will be my top work goal in 2019! I could assess everything that I was doing in every aspect to my life in that moment to the word engaged. The best part is that I could quickly get back on track if I found myself not being present or missing an opportunity if necessary.

It started off being something to focus me on work/life balance and being engaged with the kids. But I also found that I was using it to assess if I was engaged with my work, team members, and clients.

I think this approach is way more productive than doing New Year’s resolutions. So I recommend taking some time to think about it. Lay out your goals and see what theme surfaces and the one word that sums it up. There is no right or wrong word, you just have to describe a meaningful word to you. A word that describes how you want to show up every day. Then do it! Everything else will fall into place.

This year, my word is ‘commitment’. I’ve signed up to do a lot and I have some ambitious goals. I’m going to need some serious commitment and discipline to maintain the right balance and get the results that I’m striving to achieve. I’ll need some help. It’s important to engage others in this so that they can be in your corner, help you stay focused, and keep you accountable (not to be confused with judging).

So what will your word be:

Creativity?
Kindness?
Focus?
Discipline?

You may have one for work, one for your family, or it can all be the same. But at the end of the day, it’s kind of like the “one thing” that Curly is referencing in the 1991 movie, City Slickers. It’s your one word.