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And so it goes April 22, 2011

Posted by wooddickinson in 7 Habits, Change, consulting, executive coaching, executive leadership, Hope, Life Coach, Neurobiology, shared vision, Systems Thinking.
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There was a full moon this week. I’ve run into other people who have said the same thing. That’s the origin of the term lunatic. In the Victorian era when many of the college campus size asylums were built they called them lunatic asylums. Now that work lunatic has taken on negative connotations like changing what you call it will change what it is. This exchange was invigorating and made me think! I enjoyed John’s view and hope he felt the same. Life’s to short for anything else.

my answer:

This is an interesting view on life and I thank you for sharing this with
all of us. As for a manual I really meant a copy of the 7 Habits book. I
agree that the imprint of infancy, the first 18 months of life, does leave
a basis for making choices in life. I just feel sometimes we don’t know
what it is that happened in the past that drives the choice today. These
events may be unrelated to current stimulus you are encountering. I suffer
with PTSD. There are two kinds 1) sudden onset and 2) Grand Canyon. The
* may never become activated so it doesn’t pose a problem but if it is
activated then searching for the root cause so memories can be properly
integrated can be a real trip. This is what I have and I’m here to tell you
it is no fun.
Principles govern. I believe that. Fight natural law and you will lose. Our
task is to bring our personal values in alignment with natural laws. An on
going process and a reason I keep compasses everywhere. When a plane takes
off from NYC bound for LA it spends something like 60% of its time going
the wrong way and needing attention from the pilot or auto-pilot. Scary
thought. Thank you for sharing your view. I’ll file them away with the
other info I collect on these subject.
Best regards,
Wood Dickinson

And John Said… April 22, 2011

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I think you’ll see that the steam is running down so I work to bring this to a close. It’s very difficult to debate philosophy via the internet! What I do hope is that these divergent views can be freely explored without anger or malice. I don’t think we got to a true dialectic here but much closer because neither John or myself closed the door saying your flat wrong. I know I learned and he gave me something to think about. All of this reinforces the wiring in the brain to build more pathway for understanding not fighting.

Greetings to Wood Dickinson.

I suggest that proactivity is as I have experienced it and how I have observed everyone else experiences it. I am not here to support or deny Stephen Covey. My response is therefore based upon my experience of observing Coveys ideas in action. I have not previously gone out of my way to look for flaws in his practice (as opposed to the principles I believe he is attempting to communicate.

Personal experience, not Covey, shows me at all times, that provided only that I do not let my monkey brain get in on the act, I am always able to respond in a good, true and beautiful manner. The extremes of these three parameters can also be expressed as subjective specification, objective evidence and subjectively and objectively aligned conclusions, each versus its complete opposite. It is these hopefully subjectively and objectively aligned but more often misaligned conclusions that provide the ongoing minimal adjustment to each person’s proactivity. In other words, each person relies upon the fixities of their infancy, childhood and adolescence instead of at all times questioning as to the alignment of their beliefs (expedient) and their actual experience (honesty).

Personal experience, not Covey, also shows me at all times, that provided only that I do not let my monkey brain get in on the act, it is awareness (not limited self-awareness but rather cosmic self-awareness) and intention (not selfish limiting stupidity, but rather cosmically responsible will) that is the basis of consciousness. Total consciousness would be total certainty on all things. This would be the ultimate (an absolute) proactivity.

Personal experience also shows me that the reactions for which we need to take responsibility are the consequence of our belief systems, each of which is stuck in infancy, childhood, adolescence and possibly young adulthood. By transferring from the use of belief system nonsense to reliance on personally verified universally applicable principles, we shift from illusion (the school, subjectivity and cramming) to certainty (the farm, objectivity and pragmatic behaviour. The more we operate as a farm, the more proactive we become. Covey’s four endowments to me seem somewhat out of alignment. Aware-Will most certainly, through their paradoxical mutual opposition and mutual support evolve into Aware-Will-Consciousness (another way of describing proactivity)

Imagination is a tool, created by aware-will (along with the other tools of Requirements and Expectations) for the purpose of playing around with the materials of Belief Systems (Beliefs and Attitudes, Feelings and Thoughts, Options and Decisions). In the absence of intentional ongoing honesty, these nine components of belief systems are the nearest to proactivity we ever get. However, through systematic honesty we can question everything that we experience as negative and turn it from shit (bad, untrue and ugly) into proactive fertiliser (good, true and beautiful).

I do not have the Facilitators’ Manual, so I am unable to comment on that. I use the Pythagorean Enneagram as a universal flow diagram. Having applied it to many superficially very different natural processes I have never been able to find any flaw in its predictions. The underlying 7 habits, plus 2 more (subjective quality assurance or the school, after habit 3, and objective quality control or the farm, after habit 5) provide the entire circuit. It is actually the systematic alignment of Quality Assurance (as pumped into us at school) and Quality Control (as experienced in our actual lives) that leads to Quality Leadership (the honesty based integration of subjective and objective experience.

 The feedback loops are shown on the enneagram as arrowed lines. Going with the arrows leads expediently (like the school cramming) into less and less proactivity. This is when you are your own worst enemy. Going against the arrows leads somewhat more effortful alignment (i.e., into proactivity and consciousness) . This is when you are your own (and also everyone else’s) best friend.

Dr. Siegel is absolutely correct. In the infant mother relationship there is a mutual “tuning” of psychobiological states between mother and child. It seems that this early bonding is central to the creating of secure attachments later in life. Biological, psychological and social domains do begin to lose meaning and mostly do disappear completely in reference to developmental and cognitive neuroscience.

Visit Helen Palmer’s website at http://www.enneagram.com/. It is rich with details of how actuality loses its hold as subjective beliefs systems take over and how self knowledge can eventually lead not just to self-knowledge but on to interpersonal knowledge and eventually pan determinism.

What I Think April 22, 2011

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I’m a communications guy but I also feel over the years I’ve become somewhat a philosopher. One thing I love is a lively debate. In essence to create a truly interpersonal relationship you need to construct a dialectic. Now I’m sure I’ve lost you so hang on. A dialectic is simply a framework where two (or more) people come together with the idea of learning what the other person thinks and feels. It is based on the idea of a dialog. The word discussion is percussive and doesn’t really address talking at all. If I grab one of my kids for a discussion they hear lecture. In dialectic relationships I always want to be in you and you in me. That way we can understand the underlying reason for your action and you might understand the source and reason of my fear.

With  this we learn and change. This is why I feel habit 4 doesn’t go far enough and it comes too late. Thinking win/win is all fine and everything but it’s just words. If I have worked on myself to the point where winning is meaningless then I will live for establishing a dialectic with you so I can soak in who you are and give you who I am.  I think Jesus said it best and with a lot fewer words, “Love one another as you would love yourself.”


Now for my answer to John:

John Lester,

I think you have the wrong idea about “Be Proactive” as Covey explains it. I’ve taught this habit to a lot of people and the reactions I get is what drove me to look deeper. Covey states clearly that between a stimulus and a response is a space. This space is our place to chose the response we want to give. Covey thinks if you work on your 4 human endowments (self-awareness, Imagination, conscience and Independent Will) you can strengthen your proactive muscle and widen that space between stimulus and response so you are truly choosing your response not just reacting. This is the information I’m asked to teach on page 128 of the facilitator’s manual. Look at that section in the book if you have a copy.

I agree there is nothing new in the 7 Habits and Covey as much as says so. It’s common sense organized. Elements I feel are good is the see do get model. This is a rudimentary approach to using systems thinking (which includes feedback loops) and people understand it right away. It shows how you can be your own worst enemy. These constant actions that validate a point of view that isn’t right builds strong wiring in the brain.

There is no doubt in my mind that the 7 Habits contains a lot of truthful and useful information. I grew from my contact with it. What I’m saying is in the last 10 years a lot has changed. Neuroscience has shown us that there are remarkable connections in the brain but still we don’t know where the mind is. We understand much better the role of cognition in a person’s life and that’s good.

7 Habits challenges us to look deep inside, into that deep interpersonal life and bring about alignment and discover what it is I want to create. Mission, vision, values. Empathic listening is vital but really empathic relationships is what we are looking for. That creates the true interpersonal. I like the inside out approach and the idea the private victory precedes the public victory. I think all these ideas help us place those somatic markers that guide our thinking.

Dr. Siegel posits that in the infant mother relationship there is a mutual “tuning” of psychobiological states between mother and child. It seems that this early bonding is central to the creating of secure attachments later in life. As a matter of fact Siegel points out that biological, psychological and social domains begin to lose meaning and might disappear completely in reference to developmental and cognitive neuroscience. I’ll leave it there for now and blog a bit more in depth about these issues.

Best,
Wood

From John Lester April 22, 2011

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enneagram

This next section is a reply I received from John Lester, a member of the group. I think this shows how wide an interpretation can be made of the same material. If you are running an organization and I think my way and John his then we are not aligned in our vision, mission and goals. That isn’t to say we all have to be 1984 robots; I’m talking about core values.

You and I can agree that education is important so the problem comes in the “how” it will be done. If you think about I bet most confrontations you have in your life are based more on methods not meaning. That’s why as a leader you focus on outcomes. Tell a worker, this is what I want at the end of the day. How you do the task, I don’t care just don’t break the law. This is a form of delegation focused around trust and respect. Many of us want to micro-manage the person doing the task. In that case, just do it yourself. If the point is to gain more time for other tasks and promote pride in the team then micro-manage is out.

I’ll go more into delegation later but for now here is John’s reply:

Mr Wood Dickinson appears to have a misunderstanding regarding the concept of proactivity. He states that “much of what the 7 Habits proposes is false”. Self determinism, group determinism and pan determinism are all demonstrably down to earth practical objectives.

It is temporarily sad that his “continued research” has led him up a dead alley, but at a later date he is likely to discover that his research was not wasted, only clouded by his own misunderstanding.

Each person’s proactivity is nothing more than their own current reality, which is the same as the implementation of their beliefs as they gradually convert dodgy beliefs into eventual knowledge (personally experienced certainty). Every time we cycle through the Seven Habits (or through any other experience for that matter) we finish up drawing conclusions. These automatically combine with our previous realities, changing or consolidating our beliefs and our operating basis at the same time.

It may be that Stephen Covey, by suggesting that “Be Proactive” is the first Habit rather than the last, confused the entire subject. Even a new born baby has a high level of animal need reaction (proactivity) and security need reaction (proactivity), plus a high level of demand for relationship (proactivity). Proactivity is the point from which every process begins its next cycle.

A Perfectionist Personality (such as a religious evangelist or a religious terrorist has a highly consolidated and totally locked up proactivity that leads both of them into their own personally chosen form of hell.

Similarly a predominantly Carer, Promoter, Romantic, Observer, Questioner, Adventurer, Asserter or Peacemaker Personality will have their own appropriately self prejudiced proactivity. The ultimate proactivity is to synergise all of these nine differing “godlike qualities” into each person’s own unique personality. This is what religious people call salvation and psychologists call self realisation.

Stephen Covey is not actually teaching anything new. He is teaching ideas that are as old as Pythagoras (500 BC) and Plotinus (500 AD) in a very modern down to earth practical manner.

Mazlow taught exactly the same principles with his Seven Universal Needs. The psychologists who specialise in Enneagram Studies teach exactly the same principles. The Seven Deadly Sins and their corresponding Seven Heavenly Virtues are teaching the same thing. Only the practices vary. It seems likely to me that Mr Wood Dickinson only taught practices and that he has never understood the universality of any of the many seven step principles.

I trust that Mr Wood Dickinson will tell us specifically which of Covey’s ideas he considers to be false. I hope he will also explain his (presumed) research into more than just Covey’s Habits. Maybe his experience will enable him to explain why Mazlow’s Seven Needs, The Psychologists Seven Psychological Types and The implied steps of the International Standards Organisation’s Quality Management System Model ISO 9001 are all also false.

Regards

John Lester
MSc. C.Eng. M.I.Mech.E., F.C.Q.I

What is Professionalism November 16, 2010

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Much is spoken about behaving professionally. Most people can actively recognise professionalism or the lack of it in others, but find it extremely difficult to define it, or model it when considering their own behaviour.

So lets unpick exactly what we mean by professionalism.

Think about the people you respect most because they are the consummate professional. Can you identify the elements that made them so good?

I’ve asked this question of so many groups of people and the replies have included the following:

* A good role model for others including, their behaviour, attitude and relationships
* Good Time Keepers – always in before time, uses time well
* Dresses appropriately for the role
* Speaks in a way which is appropriate to each different audience without being patronising or putting people down.
* Knowledgeable about the job, organization, etc.
*Good with people
*Communicate effectively, whatever the circumstances – actively listens
*Manages their time well
*Works well under pressure
*Fulfils deadlines
*prioritizes effectively – Is prepared to put in the time and effort to get things done, but also manages to have a reasonable work life balance
*Is accountable and takes responsibility for what they do and say, and for what they leave undone

Look more deeply into the issue of professionalism and you begin to realise that professionalism includes all of those strands above but also so much more.

Those who are thoroughly professional, demonstrate a rounded personality. They are able to act as a good role model for their colleagues. They have the ability to take the rough with the smooth, and are always consistent with others whatever their personal circumstance or problems may be. They never take their frustrations out on others.

The experienced professional behaves appropriately in all situations:
They know when it is appropriate to have a laugh over a coffee and when to behave formally. They are able to run effective meetings. They are well versed in when to speak out and when to bite their tongue. They do not feel the need to be seen to be always right or stand on their dignity. They are prepared to play the long game and wait for time and experience to prove their point. They do not dodge the issues but tackle them without aggression or anger. They can always say hand on heart “I expect high standards from my team and I demonstrate the same high standards at all times”.
The consummate professional demonstrates a generosity of spirit, there is no need for their own ego to take centre stage, they allow the credit to be taken where it is deserved.

The professional person is open to the views of others and the possibility that there might be a better way. They make decisions based on the best interest of the organisation. They are fair and even handed to all people even those they do not particularly like. The professional evaluates their own performance, has high expectations of themselves and others and constantly strives to improve.

Professionals see them selves as part of the solution rather than the problem.

If you are keen to succeed in any business you need to demonstrate the appropriate levels of professionalism. If you want promotion in the future start to demonstrate that you have the potential to fulfil that role. Just wanting the job, the title, status and financial reward is simply not enough.

Show your commitment, your ability to come up with the goods, others will begin to notice and it will hold you in good stead whether you go for an internal promotion or need a reference for an external promotion.

You will also gain a huge amount of personal satisfaction in knowing you have what it takes to be a great professional.
This article is free for republishing
Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_463613_24.html

 

 

Why Learning is Important November 5, 2010

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I have people ask me what I mean when I say Learning Organization.  Everyone feels like they learn every day but I ask you to stop and think about it. Does your organization allow teams to fail? Does your organization examine the actual systemic forces acting on it? Does your organization capture information useful across team lines and store it and share it in a truly useful way?

Usually the answer to these questions is no but why should I care what other teams are doing? If you haven’t noticed we are living in chaotic times. Jobs seem iffy, company survival is being tested to its fullest. If there ever was a period of uncertain times, chaotic change and second guessing going on I don’t know when its been. Not in my lifetime.

With the workforce of companies shrinking due to uncertainty employees are being asked to shoulder more responsibility which brings with it a greater chance at failure and ultimately unemployment. This is why you care about ALL the teams. We are in this together and I don’t mean just organizations in isolation. Wholesalers must talk to store owners who must talk with manufacturers so a complete picture can be gained and knee jerk reactions minimized.

The best way to do this is to delve into systems. Learn what is really going on. Look at what the principle stock is then what are the balancing feedback loops and what’s in the reinforcing feedback loops. You need to identify the driving variables so the shifting dominance in the system can be studied.

Dynamic systems research doesn’t predict the future it explores what might happen. This gives you valuable information that will affect decision-making. When all teams are working this way and you extend the systems out toward all companies that have an impact on your product or service then everyone learns what may be coming and can make better use of what little time we have to do the right things.

This sounds oh so difficult but it isn’t really. A systems thinker can look at a situation and from even a small amount of data make predictions of what might happen if the organization keeps to its current course without regard to the systems operating around it.

I saw a situation unfold in one North Face retail store that spoke volumes to me. From the limited information I had I predicted trouble was coming. I could tell they didn’t understand retail operations and were making choices based on personal loyalty regardless of what the store employees were telling the company. They completely failed at delving into systems having an impact on retail operations and I saw failure in their future with the closing of all retail outlets with in five years.

North Face makes a tremendous product but they need to leave selling it to outfitter and other retail operations that know what they are doing. The environment that has been created in their own retail stores is one which has pitted floor employees against management. No learning going on here. Check them out and see where North Face is a year from now.

Just think about it. We are all in this together. There’s enough competition without creating more with in the walls of your own company.

Where does vision come from? October 29, 2010

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In the 7 Habits we teach to Begin with the end in mind. That means you need to have a sense of purpose in your life. You need to look ahead and determine what it is you want to create as well as what legacy you want to leave behind.

I use this habit for almost everything I do. Before I begin a project or plan a family vacation knowing what the ends in mind are makes a big difference. When you are trying to go beyond simple goal setting into developing a vision of your life then you need to realize you are the creator. What is it you want to create?

You must have a rudder to move you in the direction you want to go. I remember sailing one day in Pleasant Bay off Cape Cod when the pin that held the rudder in place just fell out and sunk to the bottom. It was a rental boat so foolishly I assumed they checked this kind of stuff before they sent a boat out. I don’t do that any more.

It was completely hopeless trying different ways to fix the rudder in place. Sailboats steer by having water pass around the rudder. When that happens the water exerts a lot of pressure on the rudder. You just can’t hold it in place. Luckily we were not too far from the dock when this happened (we could have been a mile away across the bay) so we got the attention of someone to send out a motor boat and pull us in.

On a sailboat, with a working rudder, you can’t sail directly to your destination. You sail on a tack that is determined by the direction of the wind and where you want to end up. If you try to fight the wind it will always win. This means you may have to zig zag around to get to your destination. I think life is much like that. If you have a vision of what it is you want to create you have to be prepared to do some of that same zig zag stuff to get to your destination

To me vision comes from your mental creation of what it is you want. Vision should be larger and encompassing the smaller goals that are really the outposts along the way.

Now as to what that vision should be, well that’s up to you. What excites you, makes you feel passionate and alive is a good indicator you’re getting close.

 

How Do You Strengthen Your Proactivity? October 15, 2010

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When I teach 7 Habits I find that Habit 1 (Be Proactive) is the hardest to get through.  Most of us don’t want to take complete responsibility for our current life situation or past failures. I find that people get uncomfortable to angry as I teach this. I think I’m starting to understand why.

In the 7 Habits course we all teach a simplistic model of determinism.  We all site 3 basic types:

  • Genetic determinism: it’s inherited in your genes
  • Psychic determinism: Freudian, learned early from your parents
  • Environmental: this is from your boss, your spouse, the kids, the economy, policies,             etc.

This is a vastly simplified explanation of a very complex subject.

I’ve been teaching this for well over 15 years and always find the same reaction to Habit 1.  It is the rare person who is self-aware enough to accept this Habit.  Part of the problem as I see it is two-fold.

First of all we are mostly programmed to believe in these 3 types of determinism.  In fact, the entire field of determinism has been brought under question and much of it refuted outright in our modern understanding of brain function.

In 2009 Professor Robert Plomin, a leading behavioral geneticist, wrote that the evidence had proved that “genetic effects are much smaller than previously considered: the largest effects account for only 1% of quantitative traits”.

This may come as a shock to some. The same is true with a more complete list of the types of determinism.

“Types of Determinism

Based on philosophy, determinism psychology is of various types. Some of them are:

  • Causal Determinism: This psychology is based on the assumption that there is an antecedent for every event to happen.
  • Logical Determinism: This is the outcome of the notion that whatever is proposed about the past, present or future fall in either of the categories: True or False.
  • Metaphysical Determinism: As per this determinism, every event is caused by necessity and for a reason.
  • Biological Determinism: This thesis is based on the belief that all behavioral patterns and desires are controlled by nature through factors such as genes.
  • Nomological Determinism: As per this psychology, the future events are to some extent propelled by the combination of nature’s laws and events factoring the past and present.
  • Psychological Determinism: This is a view that is purely based on rational thinking and human instincts that control our desires.
  • Behavioral Determinism: This ideology is purely based on the reflex actions that have been governed by the environment and surroundings.
  • Environmental Determinism: This psychology is based on the theory that physical conditions of an environment determine the culture of a region. To be precise, every human instinct is controlled by the stimulus response theory.
  • Fatalism: This is a significant determinism psychology that says everything in the universe is governed by fate and there is no control over it.” – by Narayani Karthik – published 6/23/2010 to read click HERE.

We must keep in mind that our tool kit for change includes the practice of self-awareness found through the uses of imagination, conscience and independent will. This may take the form of making a promise to yourself then following through. Then do it again. Using imagination to create a vision of what could be.

I’m not saying determinism doesn’t play some role in our lives but current brain science is showing that much of this theory has been laid to rest.

So how do we teach Habit 1 especially in a way to keep the student engaged and not shutting down. I think that is a real challenge and may require some rethinking of the 7 Habits model but that is way too much for a blog post. Just an idea starter. One of the examples I use to help people see things from a different perspective is to introduce them to a song called “You Must Be Out of Your Mind” written by Stephin Merritt and preformed by his band Magnetic Fields.

You can hear the song by clicking HERE.

You Must Be Out of Your Mind

“You think I’ll run, not walk, to you

Why would I want to talk to you?

I want you crawling back to me

Down on your knees, yeah

Like an appendectomy

Sans anesthesia

You think you can leave the past behind

You must be out of your mind

If you think you can simply press rewind

You must be out of your mind, son

You must be out of your mind

You want what you turned off turned on

You call it sunset, now it’s dawn

You can’t go round just saying stuff

Because it’s pretty

And I no longer drink enough

To think you’re witty…

You want to kindle that old flame

I don’t remember your real name

It must be something scandalous

Lurks in your shadows

If you needed Santa Claus

To buy your gallows…

You think you can leave the past behind

You must be out of your mind

If you think you can simply press rewind

You must be out of your mind, son

You must be out of your mind”

Have a wonderful weekend…

Getting the Basics Right October 7, 2010

Posted by wooddickinson in 7 Habits, Change, consulting, executive coaching, executive leadership, Life Coach, shared vision.
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Times are hard now and there’s always two things that suffer when a company gets worried about money issues. The first is IT. Information Technology, even thought it is the back bone of business, is always cut. Staff is reduced and infrastructure is left to languish. Next is HR. Sure I need some Human Resource people to help in hiring and especially firing (no “laying off”) people but training, skills improvement, leadership and the like can be put on hold. The very time you need something like a strong 7 Habits program started, or executives need coaches the company cuts those efforts.

I know, I’ve been there. Even as the leader of an organization it can get difficult to get employees support for strengthening IT and initiating a strong leadership program, working to create a new organizational structure by learning what it is that you are doing right and wrong. The CEO feels he will be looked upon as wasteful and neglectful if he has to lay off people yet he spends money on an executive coach.

The very things that can help the organization survive and thrive during difficult times are the things that are shut off when they are needed most. If you face tough economics  now and find that laying off people is inevitable then so be it but stress innovation for survival to the rest. There must be trust with in an organization and a lot of CEOs just feel like trust can’t happen when layoffs are occurring and pay increases are lacking.

So what to do? Be open about the corporations condition. Engage everyone in the process of reorganization so a shared vision of what needs to take place is had by all. This may take consulting help which does spend money but in the long run it may save some jobs, stop knee-jerk reactions and most of all help to build trust. If the consultant or even an executive coach seems to be offering ideas that can be formed into action plans that restructure your organization to be more effective no one will be complaining as If top management involves all levels of employees in the effort to become a more effective organization. Then the trust level will go up even as some (but maybe fewer) people are laid off.

Don’t take the easy way out by just doing business as usual and making cutbacks and causing fear among your work force. You don’t need the who’s next mentality becoming the prevailing norm. That will cut productivity as people worry if they will have a job tomorrow and reduce innovation because who wants to create new ideas or products or processes when they may get the pink slip this Friday.

I would suggest the CEO hire an executive coach that will think differently and offer alternatives and use consultants when needed to help guide the company through change. The change has to be real and substantive. It must involve everyone so a shared vision is created, trust increased and everyone feeling they are part of the solution not pawns in a chess game.

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