Post VI in theTask Cycle® Series: Cabin Pressure and Reinforcing the Performance of Others

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Well folks, here it is: The final post in our Task Cycle® series. We’ve had a great time writing articles about the Task Cycle in terms of ice cream, DIY home projects, monster-sized river fish, and elementary school students, and we hope you’ve enjoyed reading them.  For those of you who may be tuning in for the first time, be sure to check out our other Task Cycle® articles.

Today, we’re going to be addressing the final phase of the Task Cycle®: reinforcing the performance of others.  Once you have completed all other steps of the cycle and your purpose has been achieved, you  must reinforce the performance of other contributors.

What do we mean by this?  Haven’t you worked hard enough the past few months, working with coaches and continuously monitoring and adjusting your own progress? You just got the hang of this “personal development” thing yourself—who are you to advise or praise others?

The best way that I could come up with to explain this is by starting on a plane.  Every time an airplane takes off, the flight attendants give their “what to do in case of an emergency” speech.  They tell you where your flotation device is, how to escape using the floatation slide, and what to do if an oxygen mask dropped down from above you due to loss of cabin pressure (ALWAYS put the mask on yourself first, then assist those next to you).  These types of emergency situations could be solved by the assessment of the crew combined with the aid of on-board tools and emergency equipment.

Your personal development was your emergency.  You (or someone else around you) decided that there was a need for some sort of assessment and coaching.  You could either A.) Comply with the coaching process and improve, or B.) Refuse to comply and possibly be fired for your lack of skills and productivity.

If you’ve made it this far through the process, we’re going to go ahead and assume you received assessment and coaching.  You’ve learned how to approach a specific issue, and you’ve gotten to the point where you have the skills needed to expand your personal development.  Let’s take a minute to flashback to the airplane scene: after the flight attendant instructed you of a potential problem (loss of cabin pressure) and how to fix it, (putting on your facemask—but don’t worry if the bag doesn’t inflate all the way) she also advises you to help those around you.  You know what to do, and even though this may be your first airborne emergency, in those twenty-or-so seconds you have developed the skills needed to direct and help others. 

Do you see where we are going with this?

Even if you aren’t completely through the intricacies of the process of professional development, (or readjusting your face mask, to continue the airplane analogy) you can still help and instruct others.  Take the frail elderly woman sitting next to you in seat 11D.  You throw on your own plastic face mask, breathing in the cold air, and even though it isn’t completely comfortable, you assist her in securing her own before finishing adjusting your mask for comfort. 

It’s the same process with executive or leadership development.  At this point in the Task Cycle, you have learned the necessary skills and are taking the steps critical to continued personal development.  Maybe you’re not totally comfortable with your changes, or maybe you are still working to perfect some aspects of your skills. You can still help others achieve their highest potential by giving advice and supporting their efforts.  Give them some encouragement!  A note, a simple “I see you are working hard to improve,” or even a high-five can work wonders.  Don’t forget to give them the positive reinforcement you were given by a mentor, coach, superior, or friend. 

And just in case we scared you with the airplane analogy: it’s extremely uncommon for an airplane to lose cabin pressure.  It is very common for employees to need leadership development.  I’d plan for the latter.

Post IV in the Task Cycle® Series: Maintaining and Adjusting the Process is like Ice Cream

We’re going to compare this phase of the Task Cycle® to something most people know and love:

Ice Cream.

Soft, creamy, chunky ice cream in any flavor your imagination desires.  Think chocolate chip cookie dough, mint chocolate chip, strawberry, moose tracks, triple caramel chunk, rocky road, toffee—and my newest strange discovery, chocolate bacon (I know, bizarre, right?).  So visualize your favorite ice cream and hold it in your mind, because we’re going to spend the next few paragraphs enjoying it.

Granted, there are some of us who don’t like the effects that ice cream has on us, i.e. those of us who are lactose intolerant.  So for our friends who can’t eat ice cream, imagine this analogy with a nice cone full of sherbet or sorbet.  I prefer rainbow sherbet, but you may prefer a nice peach-mango sorbet.  It’s up to you.

We are going to explore the idea of Phase V of the Task Cycle®, which is “Monitoring and Adjusting the Process.”  We’ve talked a lot about setting up your development process, and stressed the importance of establishing a strong purpose and setting up a strong foundation.  In “ice cream terms,” establishing your purpose was determining your hunger and deciding on your flavor.  We’re at an old-fashioned ice cream shop—none of that soft serve stuff.  There are many flavors and topping choices, so determining your  best combination takes time and careful thought (and possibly some input from a friend!).  Your “foundation” is your ice cream cone (my favorite kind is a waffle cone).  When you received your cone, both you and the ice cream scooper probably checked to make sure that it was in one piece, and that no chunks were taken out of it.  You needed to make sure there was a strong foundation on which to place your ice cream.  With no apparent problems, you head out the door and into the outdoors, completely satisfied and ready to munch away. 

It is extremely hot outside.  Your ice cream begins to slowly melt, and you quickly move to lick around the cone where the melting is fiercest.  As you enjoy your ice cream, you must constantly monitor the cone for drips and adjust your hold to attack rogue melts.  Suddenly, your friend/mentor (who recommended the treat and helped decide your flavor) points out a problem with your cone—there is a hole in the bottom, and precious ice cream is dripping out of the cone and onto the street (and your new pants). 

Luckily, you have only made it one block from the ice cream shop.  You quickly head back, hoping for a solution that can save your ice cream.  After consulting with the girl behind the counter, she offers an effective tweak to the cone’s structure:  she offers you an M&M to place in the bottom of the cone to act as a stopper, preventing ice cream leakage.  You adjust your cone by taking off the ice cream, inserting the M&M, and replacing the ice cream on top.  After wiping off the several drops of melted ice cream from your pant leg, you are as good as new (even better, because now you have an M&M to look forward to at the end of your cone).  Happily, you head off down the street to your next destination with your friend/mentor with time to spare.

This extended metaphor is to explain in simple terms the reason for and importance behind monitoring and adjusting your development process.  If we had just ignored the drip in our cone, we would have ended up covered in melted ice cream and we would have lost about half of our sweet treat to our pants.  By the time we got to our intended destination, we would look a mess and have to spend time valuable time cleaning the sugary treat off of our pants.  And everyone knows that no matter how much friends may deny it to make you feel better, wet spots on your pants do make you look like you wet yourself.

By taking our friend/mentor’s observation seriously, we circumvented a major crisis and avoided personal embarrassment in the process.  A small adjustment ensured that we were able to continue to our next destination while enjoying our ice cream cone, now fully functioning. 

Apply this to your personal development process.  Continually monitor and adjust your hold on your development progress in order to catch any slip-ups or weak areas.  Let your mentor or another outside source make observations to help you.  Listen to them, and in the case of a foundational error, turn to an expert: an HR professional, a superior, a mentor, a co-worker, or a personal development coach.  They will have the experience to tweak your issue in a way you may not have considered.  Their help will allow you to stay on track without losing face or valuable time.  Remember, this is their job—they’ve probably handled something like this before.

And remember: after all of your hard work when you do achieve your personal development goals, reward yourself with a nice, cold, refreshing cone of ice cream.  Get two scoops if you want.  We won’t tell anyone.

Post IV in the Task Cycle® Series: Feedback is Crucial

We’ve written, tweeted, and blogged a lot about feedback already.  That’s because it’s so important to every employee’s development and success.  Feedback is often viewed as a negative thing, when in reality, it is the only way through which to improve performance and leadership skills.  We’ve come up with a couple of examples to illustrate our point:



Imagine that you are back in first grade. You get to color for a grade, recess, and a never-ending supply of juice and pretzels for snack.  Life is good.  At "reading time", you are finally learning how to read, and are practicing by reading aloud to the class from your textbook.  You stumble over some words, not sure what they mean, and say whatever word comes first to your mind.  This is normal for a first grader.  Its also normal for a teacher to provide feedback, corrections, and praise on your performance by correcting misspoken words, helping you sound out words when you struggle with pronunciation, or praising you for successful completion of your task.  After stumbling through some passages and cruising through others, you look to your teacher, who guided you through your mistakes and successes, and she provides a meaningful nod of approval for your hard work.  Those pretzels and juice taste oh-so-much sweeter now.



But what would happen if the teacher never provided feedback?  You’d continue reading, making the same mistakes, and sounding like a jumbled mess.  Some students, naturally adept at reading, would excel.  Others would struggle and fail.  All in all, most students wouldn’t learn too much—and would fail exams, state standardized tests, and never move up in grade level.



Now put yourself in your organization’s office.  You are doing everyday tasks, going about your workday with vigor and dedication.  Happily (even through it’s a Monday morning) you complete your daily tasks while providing a supportive environment for those around you. Your boss reinforces your positive behavior verbally or in an email, letting you know you’re doing a great job.  Maybe you even get an “Employee of the Month” award, or get taken out to coffee by your superior.  Either way, you are assured of your great performance and positive contribution to the organization, and in turn are driven to continue with your hard work.



Or perhaps it’s the other way around.  Imagine that you are providing your employers with a lackluster performance, dragging your feet and complaining.  You’re late to meetings, you fail at communicating effectively, or you simply cast a negative persona to coworkers and clients. This could be conscious, or this could be involuntarily due to outside influences or poorly developed organizational and leadership skills. Your superiors let you know that you are not fulfilling their expectations, and advise you to fix your behavior. 



But what if neither office encounter happened?  The model employee, once full of excitement and passion for his job, loses motivation because of lack of recognition for his hard work.  The less-than-model employee continues his detrimental behaviors, and begins to effect productivity and the morale of those around him.  Where is the essential feedback from supervisors and peers that can mitigate these issues?  And how can either employee know what his or her employer is thinking without their feedback?



Clearly, in all stages of life, feedback is important.  Without feedback, we lose direction, focus, and motivation.  This is one more reason we at TBC are so fond of 360 Feedback; They allow feedback from all sides, never missing an aspect of character that one facet of a reviewer pool may not see.  We believe that through 360 feedback surveys and coaching, mediocre employees can become great employees, and top employees can become company leaders. 



Check back this week for more information on how to give useful feedback!  Until then, read our blog post and article summary on “Ouch, that’s some earsplitting feedback!”

Post III in theTask Cycle® Series: Sustained Effort Compared to Fishing for River Monsters

“In its most literal sense, "sustain" means to hold up from beneath. Sustain comes from the root "to stretch." In Latin, sustain came to mean to hold, keep, maintain, to cause to endure or continue, to hold onto.”
HighBeam


Yet again, my blog posts are inspired by a brief encounter with late night TV. 

     I was brainstorming to come up with an analogy or concrete way to discuss sustained effort when images from last night’s episode of “River Monsters” kept popping into my head.  I was folding a small mountain of laundry when Animal Planet’s show about the ferocious fish lurking in seemingly friendly bodies of water came on.  And I kept it on.  Because who doesn’t love a good river monster?  Anyway, the show follows host Jeremy Wade on his hunt to find these aquatic creatures, and chronicle the struggle he faces every trip.  So while brainstorming stream-of-consciousness style, I kept writing about the difficulties of sustained effort mixed with flashes of river monsters.  And then it clicked.  Jeremy Wade’s exhausting hunt to find his “monsters” translates into our Task Cycle®—and here’s how:

Make sure you’ve identified the “monster”—The first two steps of the Task Cycle® include Establishing a Purpose and Laying the Foundation.  Making sure that we have these two steps complete and making absolutely sure we have identified our purpose and created a steady foundation for change is essential for all other steps in the Task Cycle®.  After all, Jeremy Wade wouldn’t dive into the Amazon just to see what he could find.  He always has a prey in mind—and sticks to it.

Ask for help from locals and experts—When Wade gets to a new area, he interviews the experts on where to go.  We can take his advice and apply this to our sustained effort: make sure you ask for help from experts like leadership coaches, mentors, or trusted superiors to ensure you are headed in the right direction.

Continue upstream—It takes much more effort to head upstream that it does to float downstream.  Fighting the current—and the desire to simply float—exercises and builds “muscle” that will make your effort, over time, much easier.  Eventually, going upstream will be second nature, and you will be strong enough (in our case, mentally) not to even notice.

Push into the farthest and darkest reaches of your “jungle”—In order to find and conquer these ferocious creatures, Wade often steps into the farthest reaches of foreign lands.  Luckily for us, we don’t have to actually travel anywhere to continue and sustain our journey.  What we need to do instead is to look at ourselves, and continually look at our development critically by asking, “What needs to continue to change? What underlying issues are still present?  Why do I react this way to certain situations?”  Exploring these internal issues—some which may be buried deep in your own internal processes— throughout your efforts at development will ensure a more complete change…without hacking through the Amazonian brush.

Fight—Wade wouldn’t have a show without a little bit of fish wrangling.  After all, the show is called “River Monsters,” not “Finding Nemo.”  We must approach our situation with the same attitude. We aren’t going to just have our development “jump into our boat;” we must have patience, use the right tools, and be prepared to pull back and forth as we wrestle with the task at hand.
    So don’t let go of the fishing pole, even when it seems like the easiest thing to do.  Sustain your hold on the issue, and don’t throw up your hands when things get difficult.  You may be annoyed with your coaches’ requests, doubting the effectiveness of personal development, or you could be tired of evaluating your strengths and weaknesses—there are many different reasons people give up.  But fighting for your own personal victory makes the end result that much sweeter, and can enhance your success in business and at home.

Post II in the Task Cycle® Series: Laying a foundation

Welcome to our second entry in the Task Cycle ® series. If you missed last week, we talked about establishing a purpose, the critical first part in personal development.  This week, we’re tackling how to lay a foundation that will lend itself to future success.

What do you think of when you imagine a foundation?  I think of a house being built. I go back to when I was in second grade and my parents were building the house we live in now; the smell of wood and drywall, the feel of mud as it squished through my flip-flops, the loud sounds of drills and saws and heavy machinery that I was told to never touch.  I remember the builders laying the foundation of the house and how they had to wait until the rain subsided, how they dug a deep trench and carefully created the outline of what would one day be our house.  When I think of foundations, I think of the one that sprang up from a possibility, a goal, a dream.

In a way, “laying a foundation” is very similar to laying the foundation for a house.  First, you must have your plan in place: your purpose.  Only then can you begin to dig the deep trenches that will hold your foundation.

The DIY network provided a great tutorial on how to lay the foundation for a house.  We adapted this tutorial for our own use and applied it to leadership development:


Pick a place
In order to lay a foundation for your purpose, you must establish where this change is going to take place.  This could be a physical place, such as “at the office” or “while I am at home,” or it could be less tangible, such as “whenever I am angry and stressed” or “whenever I am with my kids.”  This will give you a “reminder” every time you are in the situation to be especially cautious of your actions, words, etc.

Get someone else’s opinion
You wouldn’t begin to build a house without the opinion of a contractor, inspector, an official— anyone who was knowledgeable about building a house.  In the same way, you should get someone who knows about you to contribute to establishing your purpose (we talked about this last week) as well as laying a stable foundation.  Make sure this person is skilled in problem-analysis, and can understand short- and long-term planning. Talk to this person.  Take them to lunch. Listen to what they have to say about you and your purpose.  Are trying to go too big at first?  Can you enlarge the scope of your foundation?  Discuss this with them, and address how you might adjust or improve it. 

Begin to “dig”
Dig deep.  This is more of a mental process, but it is essential to understand some things about you.  You could attack “digging” by addressing the 5WH questions:
Who am I talking about? (Usually yourself)
What do I need to improve?
When is a specific timeline that I can create to track my progress?
Where do I usually initiate this behavior?
Why do I usually act like this/what makes me act this way?
How can I address this behavior so I can improve?

Some of these questions seem simple, but attacking them in a standard order makes sure nothing gets left out.  Also, sometimes it is enlightening to address problems in this way; you might realize some seemingly obvious information you didn’t before!


Block off potential problems before they start
We all have them in our lives: Negative Nellies/Normans.  These are the people that drag us down, the people who tell us we can’t do it, or even the little voice in the back of our head that tells us our work will go unrewarded.  They are the coworkers that stand around and bash the attempts of others, or the moms on the sidelines at the soccer game who never fail to present the latest harmful gossip.  These people are not good for your mental health, and honestly not good for their own health, either.  These things nourish the negative thoughts and feelings that will seep in through the cracks to damage the foundation you so carefully laid.  So silence the naysayers, pull the plug on the “little voice’s” microphone, and seal out negative.  Change can happen, and will happen if you approach it correctly and with the right attitude.


Establishing a firm foundation is not only a key part of the Task Cycle®, but also a key life skill that will allow you to create achievable and meaningful goals that will drive personal development.


http://www.diynetwork.com/remodeling/a-strong-foundation-installing-the-foundation/index.html

Post I in the Task Cycle® Series: Establish a Purpose, Already!

    Today, we begin the first in a weekly series of posts discussing the Task Cycle® theory.  What exactly is the Task Cycle theory, you may be asking?  It is the underpinning of all of the surveys administered by The Booth Company, and it draws upon theories of learning, cognition, and motivation.  For example, each person in an organization is supposed to achieve goals set forth by his or her position.  In any role, a person must complete a series of tasks, which follow a logical series of steps.  These steps are what we have come to call the Task Cycle®. 

In every task, there are six steps (see diagram):
1.    Establish a purpose
2.    Lay the foundation
3.    Continue a sustained effort from a variety of resources
4.    Obtain feedback
5.    Monitor and adjust the process
6.    Reinforce performance of other contributors once you have achieved your goal

This weekly series will cover one section of the Task Cycle® at a time.  This week, we begin with a simple question:  How does one establish a purpose?

Not so simple, is it?

According to some philosophers and great thinkers, purpose is essential to a human’s life.  Helen Keller wrote, “Happiness comes from fidelity to a worthy purpose.”  The medieval Catholic monk Thomas Kempis said that, “life without purpose is a languid, drifting thing; every day we ought to review our purpose.” Finally, Washington Irving acknowledged the importance of purpose when he said, “Great minds have purposes, others have wishes.”  Clearly, having a purpose is essential to the human condition.

So how does one establish a purpose?  

• Figure out what needs to change.  In order to start the task cycle, there needs to be a task.  What needs to change in your life?  In your work place? In your relationships with others? Sometimes, it is easy to identify problem areas or skill areas where you may falter.  Other times, it may take an outside eye.  This could come in the form of co-workers, family members, or superiors, and can take the form of an informal talk or a 360 survey.
• Understand your environment: One way to explore what needs to change is by understanding your life or work environment.  Understanding your family, your industry, or your organization and its products/services can ensure that your purpose is aiming accurately.  Make sure you explore materials like books, websites, “eccentric” thinkers, (we like to think of them as “visionaries”) or industry journals.  Listen to advice from those known to have good ideas, and keep current on relevant news and trends.
• Create a positive purpose.  For example, “Improving my skills as a leader” is much different than “Not sucking as a manager.”  Stay positive! 
• Be realistic.  Your purpose must fit your life and your industry.  It won’t do anything except frustrate you to establish a purpose that cannot be fulfilled.  Dream big, but within reason.  
• Write it down. Putting anything in writing makes it that much more real.  When something is written, you are more likely to remember it and take it seriously.  And don’t just write it; write it in detail. 
• Think about it.  Make sure you take the time every day to think over your purpose.  How will you work to achieve it today?  What obstacles could get in your way?  How will you overcome these obstacles?  It is vital to think about or discuss how your everyday activities relate to your overall purpose. 
• Involve someone else. Involving others—be they family members or workplace team members— in setting your purpose as well as ensuring its execution can build trust and develop team building skills. It can be easy to ignore your purpose, but when someone else is there to cheer you on in the good times and push you during the bad, you will be much more likely to stick with it.
        Imagine that you are running a race.  You can hear the wild chanting of the masses of cheering fans on the sidelines and can practically feel their energy flowing through your veins.  Even though you have blisters the size of quarters and can barely put one foot in front of the other, you draw on their energy and positivity to dash across the finish line.  Now, imagine that you are running the same race—alone.  You are tired, sore, and struggling to finish.  How much harder is it to complete the race when you are alone versus when you have encouragement?  This someone could be a friend, a mentor, or a leadership coach; anyone that will keep you on the road to achieving your purpose.

Establishing a purpose is one of the foundations of the Task Cycle® theory.  Without a purpose, there is no way to continue your journey of self-development.  So take your time, talk to someone who can help, and create a meaningful and attainable purpose.  It will be worth it.

Update (6/28/2010)-- Here's another article written about finding your purpose  from Career Rocketeer for some extra reading.