Open to Change

We are in the middle of a 5-session project management training program and watching the participants embrace this new content has caused me to develop a profound respect for them.  Let's be clear, not everyone is embracing the content the same way, but enough are.

I can see it, in their focus and determination, and in their questions.  They are listening to new content and a new subject and they are being open.  They are looking at how they can take this new knowledge and apply it to their business.

It isn't "Well, the way we do it works fine so we don't need to change," it's "How can we be better?"  "How can we take these new ideas and make ourselves stronger?"

How this applies to the rest of us... Just ask yourself, when you come across new knowledge (from a peer, a book, a course, etc.) what do you do with it?  Do you assume its different than what you are doing and not worth looking at?  Do you assume that because someone else said it, it must be good?  Or, do you just go in with an open mind and willing heart; ready to take the best bits of everything you come in contact with to make you and your organization better.

Think about it, and next time, be open.

-Alexander C. Cook MEng, MBA, PEng, PMP

Improvisation

There are more people in the world than you can ever work with; each one with their own unique personality.  That personality and their unique life experiences shape these individuals, creating the potential for an effectively infinite number of human interactions.  No leadership course or school can teach you the algorithm for dealing with each personality and each problem, it simply can't be done.

What can be done is for leaders to learn tools and strategies to help them lead.  They can create a toolbox to draw from but that is all... beyond that, leaders need to improvise.

Leadership is not a static art that has been constant throughout the ages.  There are certain facets and concepts that seem timeless, but as people change, so does leadership.  With that in mind, leaders need to not only be free to improvise, but they need to be encouraged to do so.  This goes back to that "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again," and Einstein's "insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result."

So, try new things, again, and again, using all of the tools in your toolbox, until you find the one that works, then add it to your toolbox.  When that stops working, try and try again.  We need to improvise not just to lead, but also to become better leaders so we can keep leading.

Do the leaders in your organization have room to improvise, or are they caught up in policies, procedures, and standardized leadership training?

-Alexander C. Cook MEng, MBA, PEng, PMP

-Image Source: http://quotesta.com/albert-einstein-quotes-insanity-3/