Ever since I read the book Good to Great this quote by former Pitney Bowes Executive Fred Purdue has resonated with me…
“My job is to turn over rocks and look at the squiggly things, even if what you see can scare the h_ll out of you.”
My definition of a squiggly thing is this: Anything that is breaking down people, relationships, organizations, processes, systems and/or results.
[Tweet ” Have you ever tried to ignore, hide from, or argue with a squiggly thing?”]
Last year, The Institute for Corporate Productivity released a study listing the Top 10 Critical Human Capital Issues for 2013. Numero Uno on that list was Managing and Coping with Change.
One of the big reasons for this blog series about “The Real Housewives of Expat Men” is to share stories and lessons from real people that have become highly skilled at doing just that!
If you don’t know any – you’ll still love their stories. And if you spend any time thinking about them, you will discover ways to help the people in your organization and your neighbors at a higher level.
Years ago I was in a new role and at the last minute discovered that one of my “other duties as assigned” was to lead a service project at a summer camp before it opened each year.
So I made a few phone calls to invite some people to join me. One of the calls was to a young mother that I had just met. Two years later as I prepared for a move, that woman came to see me.
She emphasized the importance of that invitation and stressed that it was the spark that ignited her fire.
Prior to that call she had been thinking about changing her membership, and going somewhere else. After being invited to participate and making one personal connection with someone, she got more involved. As more time passed her sense of belonging and her ownership in the future of the organization increased.
And it all started with a personal invitation.
[Tweet “No matter what kind of organization you lead, personal invitations will ignite your growth.”]
Yesterday I was visiting with a woman whose husband and daughter had recently returned from a mission trip where they were helping Syrian refugees.
The refugees were primarily middle class families that left everything behind (homes, jobs, family, treasured keepsakes, toys…) and fled for their lives.
With no income and winter coming their physical needs are astronomical!
So both the husband and daughter were shocked when they discovered that the biggest need these people shared was not physical….
One evening several summers ago, my husband and I (who don’t have children of our own) were at a playground with my six and seven-year-old niece and nephew. They took me to the highest part of a fort and told me that I was the princess, they were my guards, and that my husband was “the bad guy.” I was instructed to stay in the tower and they would protect me! In the moments that followed, my husband and I were transported back to a world we have nearly forgotten.
As I found myself savoring each second of that evening, I also found myself wondering why we don’t visit that world more often.
The entire experience made me think about the Disney Movie, Monsters, Inc., a movie about Monsters that power their world by capturing the energy in a child’s scream. Through a series of events they discover that a child’s laugh produces much more energy than a scream. …Ultimately transforming their entire world. Do you see the connection to the workplace?
