Milestones©
by Al Killeen

Hi Friend,
Many of these newsletters are philosophic in tone. Today's is designed to be more pragmatic. It is more of a process to look at in your life.
I hope it gives you a new perspective on how you could choose to operate today...
 

Today's Issue:  How To Run Your Life...(or Company)

What do you do first when you get up in the morning? What is the first, (okay, okay, maybe the second) thing that you do upon rising to another day?
 
Don't you ask: "What do I have to do today?"

We tend to run our lives from a "to do" list. Sometimes we are organized about it (so we keep endless pieces of paper with little lists on them), or we just try to keep those lists in our heads.

Either way, we tend to go to "process" in our lives as quickly as possible to get our days going.

Sometimes this is entirely appropriate, but many times it is not.

Let's play a game:
Get out a piece of paper and draw 3 rectangles on it, from the top of the page to the bottom. The rectangles should be approximately the same size, and it doesn't matter if they are vertical or horizontal.

Next, divide the top rectangle up into 2 sections with a line separating them. The first section should be 95% of the rectangle, and the second should be the remaining 5% of the space in the rectangle.

In the 95% section, write "M" (which stands for Management/Process), and in the 5% section write "C" (which stands for Coaching/Supporting).

In the second rectangle, divide it up into 3 sections by separating lines. The first and third sections should each represent 25% apiece, and the middle section should be the remaining 50%. In the first section of 25%, write "M", and in the second section of 50% write "L" (which stands for Leadership/Vision), and in the third section of 25% write "C".

In the third triangle, divide it up into three sections as well, but make them 80%, 15%, and 5% respectively. label the first section (80%) "C", the second section of 15% "L", and the last section of 5% "M".

Next to the first rectangle (up top; 95%-5%), write the word "Now".
Next to the middle rectangle (in the middle; 25%-50%-25%), write the word "Transition".

Next to the bottom rectangle (down at the bottom; 80%-15%-5%) write the term "Future-Perfect".

Thanks for playing the game; now, here is the value that it can serve in running your life or your company.

Most of us run our companies (or lives) through the "Now" triangle, Managing it (M) 95% of the time and Leading it (L) 5% of the time.  We do this for a variety of reasons, one of which is that we are trying to manage behaviors of people (including ourselves), which is very difficult and inefficient. Therefore, we have to apply a lot of time to rewards and consequences as tools of keeping those managed behaviors in line with the direction of the future that we want. That future is created, (nominally) through Leadership. We only employ Leadership 5% of the time because it is all we have time to apply in thinking about the future, (given how much time we have to apply to behavioral Management).

We have problems and they need to be addressed right now by action and process, showing up as managing the behaviors of ourselves and others.
This is a classic formula (when applied over time) for stress, burnout and depression.

The middle rectangle  (25%-50%-25%) is the transition phase. This phase allows us to transition to an inspired, effective and fulfilled way of operating in our lives and companies.

In this phase, we should begin with spending 50% of our time in Leadership. By providing true Leadership, we inspire ourselves and others to commitments toward visions of what we want that serve all those involved. This creates energy and passion that can be further refined through individual coaching (C) 25% of the time, to bring out the power of maximized individual contribution. It is then put into an efficient accountability structure of Management (M) 25% of the time, but not as Management has been done in the past.

Management in the transition and Future-Perfect rectangles is the management of promises, not behaviors. By managing promises of others (and ourselves), we tap into deep commitments of others and allow them to participate in holding themselves accountable to commitments. This allows them to be largely self-managed, which creates far greater results with far less behavioral management from the outside. Thus, only 25% of the time is needed where 95% was formerly required.

The final rectangle is the Future-Perfect state of 80% Coaching (i.e. supporting) others (or ourselves) into actions based on individual talents and creativity. It is further leveraged through 15% of the time in Leadership, which retains the vision of the inspired future that is driving each individual on the Team toward a common set of Goals. Last, we only have to spend 5% of our time in Management, since it is now the management of promises rather than behaviors, and thus becomes self-management for most of the people we are managing.

Try this out and see what you notice about how you are currently running your life or company.

Are you burning yourself out with less-than-optimal results through non-leveraged management of behaviors most of the time? Or are you willing to consider a process like this one to leverage yourself in such a way that you could actually be fulfilled in your life and work?

It's like a car that has its' engine running at top speed, but is only moving at 25 miles per hour because it is still in first gear. It may be time to shift gears to take strain off of the engine, and let the car move more gracefully down the road with less stress and strain.

That's what this game could do in your life, if you'd give it a chance... It could shift your gears...

Today's Quote:

"Birth is not one act; it is a process.
The aim of life is to be fully born,
though its tragedy is that most of us die before we are thus born.
To live is to be born every minute.
Death occurs when birth stops..."
-  Erich Fromm  -