Our Q2 Leader Connect Event on June 20, 2020 was engaging, helpful, and all-around interesting. What else would you expect from a group of Q2 Leaders? Below are takeaways from the one hour event.
Book recommendations
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones by James Clear. If you’ve read it you’ve either given your copy to someone else to read, or you’ve recommended it to someone.
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport. I haven’t read this one myself, but I have heard a lot of successful people reference it.
The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World by Simon Winchester. Another book I haven’t read, but it sounds fascinating. The book explains that manufacturing as we know it today could not have come about without an attention to precision and standard measurements.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen Covey. Every time I read this book I glean something new from it.
How to get people to care about what you care about at work when they have no incentive to help you
You’ve got a job to do and you need the help of another team. Trouble is their manager is not making helping you a priority…or even part of their job. What can you do?
- Get commitment from the manager that their team will help on common goals. May need to escalate to your manager/director to make this happen.
- Call out people helping in the way you want them to. That is, even though helping you may not be part of their goals, when they do help you, praise them! (Principle: what gets praised gets repeated, what gets criticized gets avoided)
- Document how the other team’s behavior is hurting the organization as a whole. (We ended up liking the approach of praise better, but in some situations it’s important to document what’s going on because management may not be aware of the obstacles.)
I want to communicate my ideas better…
- Be as prepared as possible for the conversation. Not always easy if the discussion is spur of the moment.
- If there is something you want to work on specifically, ask someone who wants to see you succeed for help. Ask them to nudge you to do what you want to do differently when they observe you not acting in congruence with your aspirations.
Is it worth speaking up?
We had many examples where we were in a group setting and wanted to speak up or ask a question, but we felt that if we did we’d be judged as dumb or would be made fun of. In each example, after speaking up, several people in that situation gave feedback saying they thought the same thing and wanted to speak up but didn’t.
It’s likely that if you have a question or concern, someone else in the group does too. Ask your question, speak your concern. others will be glad you did.
How do I join the next Q2 Leader Event?
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