From the desk of Caspar:
Spending the day sitting behind a screen and sending emails can lead to our workdays feeling somewhat impersonal. Here’s the first of three ideas on how to reclaim your humanity and start having meaningful interactions ..
Focus on what you want to see more of
It’s a human trait I’ve noticed to focus on things that are wrong. When it comes to building teams, especially diverse ones, constant focus on what’s wrong isn’t helpful. Especially when people have lots of time alone for gripes to grow arms and legs.
With your team, get good at spotting micro details of things that go well and share them with others. You shape a culture by the questions you ask and the conversations you regularly have. Make it one of your conversations to encourage people to share what they’ve seen others do well and equally things that each person has done that they are proud of. You’re going to talk about things so why not steer it towards things that you want to see more of?
Getting teamwork right was tough enough before – at its root is understanding human behaviours, both yours and those around you. Add in a virtual world and it’s more imperative than ever to focus on and hone these skills. They aren’t just good for work, they are good for home life, too – in fact any area where you have a group of people. Above all, remember to ask what a human would do in this situation!
Here’s the next two tips on being more human in a virtual world.
Are you a Big Bold Goaler?
What do you and your team need to achieve your big bold goals?
And download the BBG playbook with the 20 principles needed for achieving big bold goals through high-performance teamwork.
Bill - It’s time for Action
As someone who is obsessed with what it takes to achieve Big Bold Goals, I am relentlessly seeking out people who think big and bold.
Bill Gates is a fabulous example. This past week I’ve attended a talk by him and devoured his latest book - How to Avoid a Climate Disaster.
There is so much to absorb there on two levels.
First and most obvious is how do we collectively and individually tackle climate change. There is a wealth of ideas and latest thinking, and what we need to focus in order to change the course of where the world is going. I can’t recommend it highly enough for the clarity of thought and the way very complex and interrelated issues are explained.
Secondly is the way he approaches big bold goals, of taking on what others may see as impossible. What really resonated was the use of mental models. He has figured out a set of 5 questions for evaluating each solution proposed for climate change. This approach of working out what matters most is something we can all use for tackling our hard challenges - create a framework or way of thinking about things so we can make better sense of them and which enables better decision making and allocation of scarce resources.
This is one big bold goal the world simply cannot choose to avoid and there is much to learn from here and much to be done.
Big Bold Bites
It’s the season for Annual Kick Off’s and Sales Kick Offs. Does your team need to raise their eyes, to look forward to the future and to take the steps needed to achieve Big Bold Goals?
Here’s what Sally said after their session two weeks ago..
Thought for the day
“Great to have you speak to the team today - both inspirational and thought provoking”