You have to use your MIND (stay open to learning)

At a recent event in Cincinnati (shout out, DisruptHR!), a group of us went out to dinner and, as often happens at these types of gatherings, the conversation ranged all over the place – from discussing the state of local businesses to arguing whether or not I was morally obligated to share any of my dinner. (The answer was no.)

In general, I didn’t really have a stake in any of the conversations going on (other than the dinner sharing), but suddenly I found myself stepping on a rather large soap box and had to be coaxed down…and it was all about whether or not kids should learn cursive in schools.

Surely you’ve read about it – cursive has been removed from the Common Core because of computers and all that cool tech stuff. What a waste of time! After all, these kids are in third grade…there is so much more that they should be learning. Like how to eat paste. Why would we possibly want kid to learn something new?

And there’s the crux of my soapbox. Never mind that there is research that indicates cursive supports brain development. What bothers me is that there are people out there who are PROUD that they have encouraged 2nd and 3rd graders to reject learning something.

Okay, fine…hardly any of us writes anymore, let alone write in cursive. My cursive has been a hybrid of print and cursive for years. But think about the process of learning cursive – it requires discipline, perseverance, patience, even a little artistic flair. Are any of those things that we wouldn’t want kids to learn?

So…what does this have to do with leadership? I think too many people in the business world are guilty of the equivalent of refusing to learn cursive because they think they don’t need it. Development? Bah! I know everything you could possibly teach me! I don’t need that – it’s a waste of time!

Learning is a lifelong practice…with emphasis on the word practice. Your brain is begging you to keep creating new neural pathways to keep it young. By being open to learning, you keep your brain primed to take in and process new information. You shut that down, what good are you to your business?

Here are a few thoughts on how to keep yourself open to learning:

Avoid the urge to dismiss: Sometimes new things sound stupid. And useless. And a waste of time. Find out if that’s true before you dismiss it entirely.
Embrace the challenge: Sometimes new things sound hard, so we want to avoid them by saying they’re stupid. See the benefit in learning something new.
Find the nugget: Sometimes new things are kind of useless. I bet you can find something in there you can use. Maybe it’s a way to reframe your attitude. Maybe it’s the process you underwent to learn it. Maybe it’s simply the fact that you kept your mind open.

Always, always, ALWAYS be open to learning new things. It’s how you stay relevant…and it’s how the world becomes a better place.

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
– Mahatma Gandhi

NASA is freakin’ awesome (why science geeks are leading the way for engagement)

The other night, after being woken up by a particularly loud dog turning over in her crate, the TV was turned on and I ended up watching an hour long program on NASA’s Curiosity mission to Mars. It was awesome, and if you are not in awe of the things that human beings can do when focused on a common cause, shame on you. I’ve been a space nerd from a very early age. The Right Stuff is still one of my favorite movies. I really wanted to be an astrophysicist (then I hit ‘Intro to Complex Variables’. Oof.) and I watch documentaries all the time (hence the Science Channel on at 3:00am). I love that stuff.

As I lay there, not sleeping like I should have been, I was struck by how geeked (shout out to Steve Browne!) everyone was about the work they were doing. And I couldn’t help think that any corporation would be lucky to have such an engaged workforce, and how any workforce would love to be that excited about going to work every day. The NASA geeks obviously love that stuff, too.

I know NASA has come under fire in the past for their culture of cover up that resulted in deaths (Challenger, Columbia) and other leadership blunders. I’ll address that side of the culture in the future. But for those people working on the Curiosity mission, the culture gave them exactly what they needed in order to love their jobs AND be successful.

What is it that got these NASA people so jazzed (other than the obvious fact that they are working on AWESOME SPACE STUFF)? Here are a few things that I think contribute to the high level of NASA employee engagement that corporations can learn from:

People get to apply their skills and interests towards really cool work: Engagement surveys keep telling us that people want to be able to put their strengths to work on interesting projects. You’ve probably said once or twice in your career, “I just want to make a difference.” Well, these people are doing that – they get to use all their training and years of gazing up at the stars to help explore a distant planet.
Everyone is working toward the same massively difficult, but inspiring, goal: NASA is all about throwing down the gauntlet. It started with Kennedy’s assertion that we would get to the moon by the end of the decade in the ’60s, to Apollo 13’s shifted mission to bring the astronauts home, to landing the most ambitious rover safely on Mars to conduct science experiments. This singular focus drives all decisions and actions, keeping the teams focused on the common target.
Everyone’s role is well-defined: As you can imagine, a project like Curiosity has a LOT of different teams working on specific aspects of the mission. There’s the experiment team, the landing team, the communications team, the power team, the SAM (sample analysis) team, etc. Each person knows what their specific goals are, what the expectations are, the timeline required, and the potential impact of failure.
Everyone understands how their role contributes to the overall mission: I didn’t hear anyone say, “I don’t know why I do what I do – I just take orders.” These are people who are driven to succeed because they know the rest of the mission is relying on their success. They are given the big picture to provide context and truly believe they are a part of something greater than themselves.
They prepared…and prepared…and prepared…and were ready for anything: The level of testing and simulations the teams underwent before launch, during the journey to Mars, and right before landing meant the team felt they were able to handle any contingency. Leadership understood the importance of gelling as a team, practicing skills until mastery, and throwing in trouble scenarios so the team could learn how to handle them in a low risk environment. This level of practice lent skills and cohesion that resulted in a successful rover landing…even though the method used to land the rover had never been used before.
The work captures the hearts as well as the minds: One of the project’s scientists told the story of when he was a kid and the first Voyager photos from Mars were published in the ’70s. He said, “That’s the day I became a planetary scientist.” He basically is working on the project he dreamed about when he was little. The ability to emotionally connect with one’s work is powerful. Simon Sinek’s excellent TED talk and book Start With Why discusses the need to understand who you are as a company and then let all things flowing from there. The scientists working on Curiosity knew why they were there, and the long hours and stress were truly a labor of love.
They celebrate their wins: Just watch the reaction of the team once Curiosity safely touched down on the surface of Mars.

True, most of us will never get a chance to work on a project like landing a rover on another planet so far away that it takes 14 minutes for radio signals to reach it. But when you think about it, none of the things that make those NASA geeks so excited are really out of reach for companies. It’s about letting your people use their strengths to move the company forward on ambitious goals that everyone understands and connects to. Each person knows what their role is and why it’s important. They can be emotionally committed to the work. And everyone can celebrate their wins and learn from their mistakes.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out.

“Other duties as assigned” (why it’s a good way to work)

I had a streak of bad luck at one point in my career. Three of the companies I worked for either went out of business or closed the office of where I was working. I was the William H Macy of business. I could have been hired as a cooler for competitors.

After the third company went down and the job went away, I wanted to take a little bit of a mental break and just do some temp work until I figured out what was next. So I was assigned to a small company to do data entry. About a week into that, I started asking questions. Why were the forms all hand-written? What about a web form? Wait, you don’t have a web site? Well, why not? And who the heck is managing the network? And shouldn’t you have a single point of contact for general questions?

All of that question-asking led to a full-time position building the company’s web presence and setting some communication infrastructure that’s still in place today.

I share this story not because I want to brag about my mad skillz and the fact that I landed on my feet. I share it to illustrate that I landed on my feet as a result of asking questions that were outside of my assigned responsibilities.

All too often, I hear employees use the phrase, “It’s not in my job description.” Or I encounter managers who want a copy of the job description to prove to an employee that there is a task or behavior that they should be doing. And it sticks in my craw a bit because I find it SO limiting…and it’s so indicative of where a company’s culture currently is. Employees who think they aren’t responsible for the success of the company will limit themselves to the specifics of their job. Managers who can’t explain how an employee’s actions contribute to the overall success of an organization rely on job descriptions to “prove it”. It handicaps both parties…and hinders the business.

There’s a reason that other duties as assigned is included in job descriptions – because there are times when the unexpected happens and the business needs its employees to step up and do some things that are outside of their normal day-to-day. No business can promise exactly what your daily routine will look like (maybe some manufacturing jobs can get close, but there are still variables). The company needs some flexibility to succeed in an ever-changing business environment.

Other duties as assigned should be the way you approach your job every single day. Yes, there are actual job responsibilities you need to complete (duh). But this phrase is a license for innovation! You are responsible for adding value – if you can add value outside of your ‘job box’, you will be successful. For those of you who complain you’re getting burned out or want more development, here’s the phrase for inspiration. Look around you and find a problem to solve. If you’re always complaining that one department doesn’t seem to talk to another, call a meeting with the offending parties and see what you can do to help. Maybe it’s not “technically” your job…but if you see a way to add value by doing it, by all means – do it!

Now, there is some risk inherent in performing other duties all willy-nilly, so here are a couple of suggestions on how you might do it successfully:

Tie your other duties to a business need: It’s harder to fault an employee when you’re helping the business achieve its goals.
Target pain points: The others will thank you.
Don’t make it all about you: Sometimes the problem/pain point you’re solving benefits you…but what would benefit others?
Let people know what you’re doing: No one likes an end-around. Keep your manager up to speed on what you’re doing and why.

So when you’re tempted to grumble or make fun of other duties as assigned, change your mindset. You may just land on your feet.

Got an example of a time when an “other duties as assigned” mindset helped you? Share in the comments!

If you’re not stubborn, you’ll give up on experiments too soon. And if you’re not flexible, you’ll pound your head against the wall and you won’t see a different solution to a problem you’re trying to solve.
― Jeff Bezos

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