#wolweek

10-Year Work Anniversary: #WOLweek

This week is my 10th anniversary at Teekay. I never thought I would stay more than than 3 years.

I have had 3 x 3-yr cycles of learning-applying-passing forward. Just when things get easy / dull / dangerous, there has been a change that reinspires.

Ultimately, it is not the product or the company that matters – it is the intention. The people here are smart, dynamic, globally minded. And they need…

I’ve always believed in the value of open approaches to education. Openness in education is best developed by laying bare the processes involved in the work of teaching and learning. When one has a commitment to changing education for the better, there is also the commitment to doing that work in public. The public gaze is important for two reasons, it helps uncover the assumptions that sometimes prevent us from seeing things clearly, and it encourages others to adopt new ways of looking at things.

Simon Terry encourages us to experiment with working out loud over the next  7 days of #WOLWeek. I like the definition of working out loud offered by Bryce Williams; 

Working Out Loud   =   Observable Work   +   Narrating Your Work

Where for me the observable part of my work is creating, sharing and modifying my work in place where others can contribute to it as it evolves. Narrating my work, involves not only reporting on it, and relating to it, but reasoning upon it so that it becomes fertile soil for future learning and the reconstruction of my practice.

This International Working Out Loud Week we will be sharing a reflection on a different element of working out loud each day.  We will be using John Stepper’s latest iteration of the five elements of Working Out Loud as a guide to those reflections. Our fifth reflection is on Growth Mindset.

GROWTH MINDSET

We can be better.

Our talents are not fixed. Through effort, stretch and learning we can improve our abilities. We work every day to be better at what we do, to better fulfil our purpose and our potential.

If our talents are not perfect, that is because they never can be. There are no limits on our ability that work will not release. If our work is not perfect that too is because there is always more, always another better way to attempt. The way we do our work is but one of millions of paths to our goals. If our purpose or potential is never completely fulfilled, then that is because we strive for more. We want to make a bigger difference.

The value of working out loud is to help us see that everyone’s work is not perfect as it develops. We understand the edits, the changes, the false starts and the dead ends that lead to success. We stop comparing other people’s showreels to our own cutting room floor. We realise that embarrassment, failures and setbacks are temporary but abandonment of our purpose is final.

Working out loud brings us together with others who want to grow and to learn.  We come together with others who want to improve their work and achieve their purpose in better ways. We are encouraged, challenged and supported to take on the daily work of getting better. Supported by a global community pursuing better work and a better life, we work together to grow.

We can be better. Together.

This International Working Out Loud Week we will be sharing a reflection on a different element of working out loud each day.  We will be using John Stepper’s latest iteration of the five elements of Working Out Loud as a guide to those reflections. Our fourth reflection is on Generosity.

GENEROSITY

Generosity is not new. We know how to give. Human beings are highly sophisticated animals at the fine arts of altruism, collaboration and generosity. Giving generously is what our societies do best.

In our work cultures, we some times lose the generosity of spirit that underpins humanity.  Our focus on performance, on efficiency and on competition, can make generosity seem counterproductive, suspect and weak. Yet elite performance and ultimate effectiveness depend on high levels of trust. We build trust when we move beyond our own agendas. We build trust when we start to give something of us to others.

Working out loud helps us to see that our gifts can be many. We can give as simply as giving our attention to another, to truly listen to their needs or their story.  We can give by recognising another and celebrating their progress in their work. We can give by providing material help, information or even just a sense of direction to someone. We can give by creating a sense of shared community in a task or a challenge and allowing others to use our networks to achieve their ends. Everyone of us can give the gift of reaching down and helping someone else up over the work we have completed to where we stand now. When we share our work visibly with a generous spirit we discover others can learn from our work and others yet may reciprocate our generosity with help, support and guidance.

Generosity is the social magic that triggers the wonderful synchronicity of working out loud. Our generous gifts inspires others, some far from our networks, to respond to our visible work. We cannot know what, when or if we will get something back in return for our generosity in working out loud. Working out loud is not a transactional exchange. Working our loud is an investment in our relationships and our networks. We invest for the future and for others. Be generous in those relationships.

The purpose of our work is to benefit others. Give a gift

This International Working Out Loud Week we will be sharing a reflection on a different element of working out loud each day.  We will be using John Stepper’s latest iteration of the five elements of Working Out Loud as a guide to those reflections. Our third reflection is on Visible Work.

VISIBLE WORK

All our work is visible to others to some extent unless we actively seek to hide it. What the visible work element of working out loud asks us to do is to consider how we can make our work more visible to those who can benefit and those who can help.

This is not about completed work.  That would be visible outcomes. The element of visible work is making work more visible to others and narrating that work in ways that enable other people to learn and to help. You may not value your work and your work process but making that work more visible to the right people might help you to understand how they value your work and how they can help you make your work more valuable.

Visible does not necessarily mean public. The audience who can see your work might be small and focused.  Visible does not necessarily mean insistently distracting. Visibility is the beginning of findability.  You may want to simply make your work visible where it may be found later by someone like you working on a similar problem.

Visible work is a far wider trend than working out loud in the future of work. We see visible work in Visual Management Boards, Kanban, Trello, dashboards and other tools of visual management. We see visible work in agile projects, in design thinking exercises, in ideation exercises and other environments where people need to coordinate work into one vision. The post-it note is the byte of visual work in these contexts. Visible work underpins our activity based workspaces, our collaboration solutions and many more management systems and practices. Rather than simply let the process or environment make your work visible, take control of your work and shape its visibility to help yourself and others.

Think for a minute about your invisible work – the efforts you put in, the anonymous giving, the work that gets folded into other work or slides off the end of the desk or meeting table. How rare is it that there is joy or even satisfaction in the invisible work? Most of it goes to waste. All of it is neglected. Visibility of work is a step to a better life and a better career. Start sharing your work as it happens.

A short handy guide to (almost) everything that can go wrong when working out loud

People ignore you: the most common experience. You feel like a madman shouting in a busy street. Actually everyone else is just so busy they don’t notice. Keep going. Also try working out loud in smaller, more connected communities. 

People don’t get it: old habits die hard. Another person’s lack of understanding is no barrier to you. Keep practising and keep explaining. They will see the benefits eventually. 

People think you are bragging: make sure you are sharing work that is still in progress and sharing the good and bad. Otherwise keep going. 

People think you are too noisy: Noise is personal. Help those people to see how they can manage noise. Be reasonable with your own sharing. 

People think you are indiscreet: often a perception that passes as people come to know you better. Build relationships. Making sure you are sharing about work helps. Keep going. 

People think you are pushy: separate perceptions and reality. You can’t force others to work out loud with you. You can’t expect others to help you if you don’t help in reply. 

People think you are selfish: Celebrate others and recognise their help. No work is all about you. 

People think you have too much time on your hands: let people know how much you have on. Help them to understand how easy it is to share work when you don’t have to dress it up. Show them how much time you save. 

People think you are ignorant or incompetent: they might think that anyway. Better to show them your passion to learn and get help. 

People think you are different, divergent, a trouble maker or a rebel: you are. Deal with it.

People tell you that you shouldn’t need to work out loud because of the process, the training, the manual, the system or other support: trust your judgement. Sometimes this helps you find the answer you need.

People think you are lazy: just keep showing the work you are doing. 

People tell you they are already doing it: people may well be sharing their work in their own way. Help others to understand your practice. Let them work their own way.    People tell you it is a waste of time: discuss the benefits you get. However don’t feel the need to convert everyone. Know the value to you.  

People ask ‘but what’s in it for me?’: explain the benefits. 

People tell you that you are not doing it right: Ignore the experts. 

People tell you that you aren’t expert enough: Ignore the experts. You work out loud to learn. 

Corporate affairs, legal or HR get upset: hmm, hopefully you’ve followed policy to the extent that is possible. Make sure you are clear on the reasons why you are working out loud. 

You violate national security laws, anti-competitive protection, intellectual property, espionage laws, conflict of interests or otherwise commit a crime:  don’t do this again. Probably wise that you paid attention in your compliance training. 

You make a mistake: it happens. Be honest. Move on. 

You misspell a word, have an autocorrect issue, bad grammar, bad audio or video or people can’t otherwise understand you: see You make a mistake.

You embarrass someone else: some times working out loud draws in other private people. Take care of their feelings and check first.

Your boss tells you to stop: are they right? If yes, stop. If no, continue in a different way. If your boss is really wrong, do you need another job?

Your family think you spend too much time doing it: probably worth listening to them.  Working out loud is about work. You don’t want work intruding everywhere. 

All the issues are survivable. Keep going Keep learning.