Learning from experience

I didn’t do my blog last week like I was supposed to. It wasn’t because I didn’t have time, because I had lots of time! I just couldn’t be bothered. It sounds awful really. But you know that old saying “give a busy person something to do and it gets done”? Well the reality is that I’m not busy, quite the opposite really and I’m not getting very far on very much.

I let my discipline slip last week by not doing the one thing I needed to accomplish – my blog. I am usually a very results-orientated and focused person and I have not lost that. But the way I see myself and the way I like to act has been challenged over the last few weeks. For those who do not know, I am between jobs, and am now on week 4 of unemployment. I’ve put a positive spin on it, I’ve been reading a lot, catching up with friends, and cleaning the house. But I have this overriding feeling that I have not accomplished anything.

Without some great thing to accomplish I’m a bit at a loss. I guess I derive a sense of self-worth from what I achieve. But this experience, right now, is not necessarily a bad thing. Every experience is something to learn from, particularly when things go wrong, or not so right. I’m not quite sure what I’m learning yet, maybe patience, resilience, strength?

Learning from experience requires reflection; this is how you know what to do differently next time. I know I will be getting back on the regular blogging wagon this week, maybe accomplish some thing, however small.  So to end my rather reflective blog I’ll leave you with a rather yogi-ish quote:

If you are depressed, you are living in the past.

If you are anxious you are living in the future.

If you are at peace, you are living in the present

Lao Tzu

A review of Drive by Daniel Pink

I love reading books and thinking “oh wow that’s awesome, someone else thinks the way that I do, but it’s articulated really well and it’s a best seller!” Those were my thoughts while reading Daniel Pink’s Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us. It is structured in three parts, so it’s only fitting that I discuss each of these parts in turn.

The first part discusses why the carrot and stick approach does not work for most jobs. Pink makes a distinction between algorithmic and heuristic work. Algorithmic tasks are those that are repetitive and don’t have much deviation on a day-to-day basis. Heuristic tasks are those that require creativity and innovation. To put this into my own context, it’s like the difference between Taylorised manufacturing work and, well, the type of work that I do – learning and development. The argument is that the carrot and stick approach does have some application to algorithmic work, but with a warning to be careful about when and how this applied (read the book if you’d like more information on this). However, financial reward for heuristic work can stifle creativity and thus performance. It reminds me of a paper I took at University, which I think was called something to do with reward and motivation. The key message I got from my lecturer was “make sure people are paid appropriately and then forget about it”. There are other things that motivate people to perform, as discussed in the second section.

The second part of the book presents autonomy, mastery and purpose as key elements in motivating the heuristic workforce. Lately, I seem to be coming across several arguments for three elements that impact individual performance. Daniel Pink discusses autonomy, mastery and purpose; Peter Boxall (UoA Business School Professor and my Masters supervisor) uses ability, motivation and opportunity; in Leading through Values: Linking company culture to business strategy, Michael Henderson, Dougal Thompson and Shar Henderson use the terms head, heart and hands. To use a term I picked up on a trip to Vietnam a few years ago they’re ‘same, same, but different’, meaning that they are essentially the same thing but told in different ways.

But back to the three elements in Drive, I found the concept of mastery interesting because I had not encountered this before. I think that the idea of flow, presented as part of mastery, where we are in a perfect balance between challenge and capability, is an interesting idea from an L&D perspective and requires further examination. The concept of autonomy formed part of my Masters thesis, so this was not really new. But it’s nice to know that the elements of control and decision-making capability as motivational factors are more widely discussed. Lastly, purpose, I guess that is where everyone talks about vision and values being important for business. But it’s not often put in the context of an interrelated and interdependent factor. There are a number of practical applications from this book that are tied together in the last part.

In the third part, each chapter is neatly summarized and there are practical exercises for implementing the ideas presented. There is also a reading list for anyone interested in cultivating the ideas further. With my reading list starting to get a little low now, I think this is a good place to start.

Overall, this is an easy read. I hope that, if you read this book, it encourages you to rethink the way you reward and recognize. I’ve had carrots dangled in front of me before but I think they’ve just stressed me out more than anything. Furthermore, financial reward is usually tied to a performance review process. If you perform this way then you will receive X increase. If you believe what Pink argues, then this could stifle creativity. Should we be doing things differently?

A review of The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor

One of the great things about being unemployed is catching up on all the books that I’ve been meaning to read. This week I was able to finish reading The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor. This book focuses on “the seven principles that fuel success and performance at work”, that quote is from the cover and nicely sums it up (as a cover quote should).

Amongst the seven principles is one called ‘falling upwards’ which particularly resonated with me while I was sitting on the couch, looking at the dreary weather outside and feeling at a complete loss as to what to do with myself. Being unemployed after a few years of very intense activity is a bit of a shock. It’s easy to feel helpless and directionless and I’ve certainly experienced a bit of that this week. But I refuse to wallow for long and it was an opportune time to be reading this book.  The principle of ‘falling upwards’ talks about seeing moments where everything seems to be falling apart (or down) as opportunities for change and re-invigoration. It’s about shifting your language and your attitude to focus on the positive.

The book is based around the idea that success does not necessarily lead to happiness but that happiness does lead to success. I remember getting that vibe from reading The Secret some time ago, but then I did leave The Secret sitting on my bedside table for about 2 years only half read. The Secret has now been moved to my bookshelf but I still have not finished it, I think because it was a bit airy-fairy for me. One of the things that I enjoyed about The Happiness Advantage was that much of what Achor talks about is referenced to scientific studies rather than just anecdotal stories. I think this gives much more credence to a book that could easily fall into the self-help category. Instead this book is a helpful tool for development.

It reminds me of another book that I use quite often for leadership development called True North by Bill George (I may have mentioned it before). I think that The Happiness Advantage has useful applications for leadership development as well. Particularly towards the end of the book the role of leaders in creating a positive and high performing atmosphere is discussed, also the role of social support networks in individual performance, something Bill George examines too.

The idea of applying a happy mindset to your life and work and reaping positive results seems like a common sense approach, but as Achor himself argues, common sense is not commonly applied. The Happiness Advantage offers practical tips for making your life and the lives of those around you happier. Increased performance should come about as part of this happiness. It’s not just warm and fluffy for the sake of it; there are obvious practical implications. I, for one, read this book and marked a number of pages where Achor talked about activities used to raise self-awareness around attitudes at work. I mean to integrate these at some point (hopefully soon) in leadership development design and apply a few of them myself.