Lead On with Greg & Mark (LOwGaM)
We invite you to join us as we talk about the world of leadership during times of complexity.
Lead On with Greg & Mark (LOwGaM)
S3: E6 Things that Make You Go Hmmm: Questions to Ponder while Leading in Complex Times
With the new year comes resolutions for our lives at home and at work. How often do you reflect on your personal growth and leadership skills? Ever thought about living a life of design and purpose? Join Greg and Mark as we navigate the maze of leading during complex times and share five pivotal questions you should ask yourself every week. We delve into intentional growth, nurturing relationships and pinpointing areas that need improvement. You'll hear us reveal our personal strategies that help us stay focused on our goals and cultivate strong connections.
Not just that, we're going to dive deep into the necessity of personal reflection and self-evaluation. We look into setting goals and fostering relationships, not to mention tackling problems and identifying opportunities. You'll discover how to increase your value in various aspects of life, like being actively engaged with your loved ones and friends. To end it all, we issue an accountability challenge to ourselves, urging you to ponder about your weekly progress. So, are you ready to embrace a journey of intentional living and leading with us? You won't want to miss this.
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You're listening to Lead On with Greg and Mark, brought to you by the Pennsylvania Association of Intermediate Units. Join us this season as we engage in conversations on Leading On through times of complexity. Now for your hosts, Greg and Mark.
Speaker 3:Well, hello there, well, hello there.
Speaker 2:Does that music ever get old?
Speaker 3:It does never get old. It's a new hand clap. Oh, it's so good.
Speaker 2:Hey, so a long time ago in the galaxy no, a long time ago I was hooked on Google Reader. Do you remember Google Reader? Do you remember that Google?
Speaker 3:Reader, you're going to have to refresh my memory.
Speaker 2:So Google Reader doesn't exist anymore. I don't understand why they canceled it. It was an RSS Reader.
Speaker 3:Maybe because no one remembers it.
Speaker 2:So do you know what an RSS?
Speaker 3:is.
Speaker 2:It's almost like how the podcast gets distributed to.
Speaker 1:Spotify or the.
Speaker 3:Apple Play.
Speaker 2:So an RSS is like a unique identifier that a data source uses to propagate across the internet. So if you run, if you had a newsletter or a website or a blog, people could subscribe to your RSS feed and an update to your website, your blog or your podcast would appear in your RSS Reader like an email would appear in your inbox, and the whole point was that, instead of going to everybody's websites, you could subscribe to their website and the updates would come to you. I see, so I use something called Feedly now, but I guess Google thought I don't know 10 years ago that RSS feeds were dead, and to some degree, they probably. Well, I don't think they're dead, but people use Facebook and other things to subscribe to stuff.
Speaker 2:They use a different right, and so when you subscribe to somebody on Facebook, you're getting their updates, similar to how a few were to subscribe to their RSS feed. Anyway, why do I talk about this? When I was really hot on Google Reader 10, 15 years ago, I used to subscribe to a blog called a lead on purpose, and this is from 2010. This is something that I literally have kept around for the last 13 years and I look at it often. It's from May 31st, by a guy named Michael Ray Hopkins on the lead on purpose blog, and he references actually something that Mark Sanborn Sanborn did, and I think that's actually probably where I found it first, probably from 2007. And these are questions that Mark Sanborn wrote for himself that he shared online on ways that questions to ask himself to help guide a life that you live by design.
Speaker 3:All right, so these are questions I refer to these often.
Speaker 2:I like it. It's only five questions, five questions. Now. Some of the questions have multiple parts, so think of these questions and then let's react to them. All right, and in the context of work, let's say, because as a podcast about leadership so let's say it's Sunday night or Monday morning. The questions that you would ask yourself are what will I learn this week? Identify what you need to learn, what you want to learn and how you learn it. Growth and development rarely happen accidentally. So what will I learn this week? What do you think?
Speaker 3:So I think this is great. First of all, I've heard you know great, there's a lot of studies out there saying that before you, like on a Sunday night, it's a really good idea to write a list of what you're gonna be accomplishing that next day. The other one is if you're leaving the work day at the end of the day at your desk, if there are unfinished items or items you need to do for the following day, make a list right then so that when you come in fresh the next day you can hit the ground running.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love the intentionality here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's a truly a lot of intentionality.
Speaker 2:Right, like literally writing it down? I mean I can't. So here's the irony as much as I love this, I don't necessarily follow this religiously or, you know, prescriptively. But I do agree that growth and development rarely happen accidentally. And so I challenge you and I challenge myself as you think about next week. What will you learn this week? And then it'll be interesting, right. If you write it down, it'll be curious. Will you be more inclined to pursue it, especially as things start to unravel and the best laid plans kind of think take over?
Speaker 3:I would say yes, because a lot of times we just try to remember these things and I'm good if it's one thing, but right if it's two, three, four things you wanna accomplish that next week you might get the first two, but the third and fourth might escape your memory.
Speaker 2:So Related number two is what relationship will I improve? So number one was what will I learn this week? Number two what relationship will I improve this week? Why? What relationship needs repair or nurturing? Think in terms of both who and how. So again, intentional right.
Speaker 3:I think this is great and so many times we just think a relationship is damaged, why bother trying to fix it? And I just think in general, some people may be that way. If you can intentionally look at it and say, all right, this is a relationship I need to build work on. I think it could go a long way.
Speaker 2:This is what I actually do. I actually have lists of people that I know I need to check in with, and it's interesting to see, if you put a little check mark next to each name, how many times you've checked in with that person or talked to that person, which people have the most checks and which people have the fewest checks, and it's a nudge to yourself. You gotta check in with that person and it might not be personal. It's not necessarily a referendum on what you think of that person. It could be maybe they're away, or maybe they're working on a project you don't wanna impose, or maybe they are self-sufficient.
Speaker 3:I really like that because I think sometimes you might have that high flyer who you think is just good all the time. You still need to check on them, Of course, and provide that support right.
Speaker 2:Or to be intentional and say the month of December, I'm gonna check on this department. Oh, there you go. Not to say that you can ignore them for the other 11 months. I don't mean to imply that but like this idea of intentionality in who you're going to talk to, because I think related to number one, left to your own devices and left to your own habits, you probably talk to the people that you see right or the people that make you laugh, whatever. Whatever the thing is right.
Speaker 3:That's right, and it's not always easy. If you have a let's say it's a damaged relationship, you're gonna, in many cases, maybe stay away from that or send her for a while, and this is I. Like this you actually make an intentional choice to fix that relationship.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and to your point. The last sentence that we read was think in terms of both who and how, who and how. So who has a great relationship, how will I sustain it? Who has a not so great relationship? How will I improve it? And then don't forget about the ones in the bubble. Who do I have a neutral relationship with and what do I do to move it in the right direction? Three, what problem will I address or avoid? Look for a problem that's looming on your horizon and head it off. We talked about this with the surfing episode we did, swimming out to the waves. The waves are where the ocean is chaotic and perhaps unsafe. The surfer goes there. Here's the as the leader, right, you know what's going on. So what's the challenge and the intentionality that you're bringing each week to? Finding a problem that you need to address or perhaps strategically avoid, because not all problems to previous podcasts are our responsibility to solve.
Speaker 3:That's absolutely correct, and I think sometimes we feel as leaders that we have to assume all problems or handle all the problems. There could be some that may work themselves out on their own with some of your team members. I think that's a great way of looking at it.
Speaker 2:Do you do this as you're driving home or you're driving to work, or as you're sitting in your office or whatever you're doing? Do you often think about a perseverate on problems that you know are out there and what are you gonna do about it? Yes, all the time. So how do you think it through in terms of which ones you're gonna head off or which ones you're gonna let simmer?
Speaker 3:I try to think of it as, in my position, what, let's say? It's something with our districts and it's at a superintendent level. It's obviously something that is a priority for me.
Speaker 3:There are others where I think sometimes it's at a supervisory level, I have directors who can address that. So what that would come down to instead of me. If it's say it's a supervisor, me dealing directly with a supervisor, I would work with that director on problem solving, whether it be damage control, any kind of things strategically to help build those relationships. That's how I would intervene with the director there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like that, and sometimes things just go away, sometimes things solve themselves right, Right exactly. So, number one, just a reminder what will I learn this week Two? What relationship will I improve? This week Three, what problem will I address or avoid this week? Number four Greg, what? Okay, go ahead.
Speaker 3:Okay. What opportunity will I seize this?
Speaker 2:week.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this week. So too often we're fixated on our problems and miss our opportunities. Look for opportunities in the midst of challenges, struggles and difficulties. They're out there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I relate to this one right All the time I mean oftentimes I allow my week to be hijacked by problems that I didn't necessarily plan for or that I avoided, perhaps incorrectly, and now the chickens have what's the word come?
Speaker 3:to roost, or whatever the word is right. That's it. So with challenges come opportunities right, and we always say that Now, it's not all the time, but if there's some kind of challenge out there, it does provide an opportunity to do something great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think it's being intentional on scheduling time to walk away from the challenges and focus on new opportunities, new innovations, creative problem solving. Perhaps, in trying to be innovative in another way, you discover the solution to a problem that's out there looming Right so I don't do that enough. Do you schedule a lot of time in your calendar for quote innovation Like? Do you literally have like 30 minutes a day to read or to research?
Speaker 3:things. I actually tried to schedule some time in the reading, but that never happens, something I'd always get. Don't you get hijacked by other things? Right, because these are important.
Speaker 2:Do you feel a little guilty, even the idea that you're gonna sit here and read for 30 minutes?
Speaker 1:I do.
Speaker 2:It doesn't feel right. Right, there's so much going on. That's right, but isn't it weird though, too, though, like to play contrarian the organization's counting on you to do that, and counting on your directors to do that, absolutely, because if you're not doing it, then who is?
Speaker 3:Everybody else is doing the day to day.
Speaker 2:But that's my point, right Like someone's gotta be thinking about strategy in the next big thing. You wanna take number five?
Speaker 3:Sure number five how will I increase my value this week? So think in terms of what you can do to increase your value to your employer, your customer and your family. Providing more value then you consume makes you a producer. I really like that. It mentions not only your employer, but also your customer and your family.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that right.
Speaker 3:Look at those three different buckets right there. Right, I don't mean to call my family a bucket, but I'm just saying.
Speaker 2:Well, it's good to stay called a group. Yeah, it's a. Yeah, I mean it sounds weird to define it that way, but I agree with you. So how might you increase your value at home?
Speaker 3:You know, with me, I think, being present for me, that's the whole thing. I know.
Speaker 2:You know what I started doing when someone starts to talk to me. If I'm on my phone, which inevitably a guilty pleasure I look at my phone.
Speaker 3:I don't watch TV a lot, I watch sports, but if my son or my daughter, I text right away, you text back right away.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I just have a watch right. But I'll put the phone down if someone's talking to me. You know what I mean as opposed to like keep looking at the screen or or have it in my hand I literally closed the app that I'm on or whatever. Like you know, push the button, put it in sleep and put it down. Do you turn it over?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I put it down and turn it over and then I try to model or indicate with body language that I hear you, I see you and I'm engaged. So I've been, I've been trying to do that.
Speaker 3:I think that's great and it's you know I have. I have three kids at home and a lot of times you'll see it and there's my wife and I are on our phones and our three kids on their phones and it's all having parallel conversations but not being there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's. Sherry Turkle will learn together. Yeah, that's it. We're all together, but we're all alone. Yeah, so what about? What about? What about you, either at work or with your friends, in terms?
Speaker 3:of value. I would say I probably do my best when I'm with my friends. I have a great friend network at home, and I would say that's probably where I have the phone away the most.
Speaker 2:So forget about the phone, right, I mean, unless it's related just in terms of adding value just adding value.
Speaker 3:So there's so much you know. I look at the friend network and so much they've done for me over the years and it's just pretty cool how friends become family.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know it's, it's, it's an extension of your family.
Speaker 2:But don't you think that, like I think? Here's an example how we try to add value for one another? I don't think we did it in response to this question, but I think it happens and perhaps we could fit into this box. You and I text each other at least two or three times a day songs on Spotify.
Speaker 3:It's just songs and a lot of times no words.
Speaker 2:No, like literally, I'm listening to the song. It's awesome, you should hear it right, but we don't actually say that it's just understood. Yeah, don't you think that adds value?
Speaker 3:It absolutely does, and there's a different, there's a different layer with music, excuse me, yeah, just so. You look at the geez, you look at the music, the lyrics, everything that's going on with it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it and it adds value, right? Sure does, yeah. So not only are you introducing somebody to a new song, isn't the point really that someone was thinking of you? And they thought that someone thought of you in a way that they thought you would like the song and they sent it to you.
Speaker 3:That's exactly right, you know, cause I know I grew up listening to a lot more folk music, things like that. The more I've been hanging out with Hoffman here, the more it's like this harder edge. It's like, yeah, it's like this heavy metal guy I mean I'm going to see that in the Metallica band. I mean you never thought you'd hear that.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, no, no, no. All right. So these are Mark Samboards Five questions that he recommends that we ask ourselves each week. What will I learn this week? What relationship will I improve this week? What problem will I address or avoid this week?
Speaker 3:And number four and five Number four is what opportunity will I seize this week? And number five how will I increase my value this week?
Speaker 2:So just a little thing I've been trying to do. I've been trying to journal a little bit more, that's great.
Speaker 2:I am not usually successful. I've tried many times to journal. I have friends that journal successfully. I'm incredibly envious and jealous of people who journal. I find that when I do it my thoughts become more lucid and I get a little bit better in my practice and a little more reflective. However, it's really hard for me to keep that routine. So, anyway, I'm leveraging these five questions as a framework to help prompt me and give me motivation or at least something to write about. So if I don't know what I'm going to write about, but I know I want to, journal.
Speaker 3:I'll pick one of these questions I think that's perfect and tell me, do you have this by your bedside? How do you handle like there's a journal? I've tried everything.
Speaker 2:I've tried paper and pen, I've tried the rocket books, I've tried remarkables. You know what actually seems to be the one that's working the most? And I'll ask me again in like two months, but the one that seems to be working now is Google Docs. Google Docs. So and that was a friend I said to my friend Joe, shout out to Joe. I said what are you using to journal so successfully? And he said that Google Docs works because he can access it from anywhere and he can hyperlink and do all that stuff. That's true. That's just as a tab. He has a document that he uses for his journal. So I've been trying that. I find that that is a lot easier and I find that I am a person who thinks better when, when I type Like I'm not really great at dictating, like I couldn't. I couldn't dictate an essay or a paragraph, but I could definitely write it with my fingers on a keyboard. I could see that. So Any aspirations of journal.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I do, I do, I've been trying. I had, like I said, the bedside. I have a journal on my bedside. I haven't touched it in like a couple weeks as far as journaling.
Speaker 2:All right, you want to challenge each other to take one of these questions, even if it's weekly. Just take one of the questions, yeah, let's do it. And you could even put these in the past tense what did I learn this week? What relationship did I improve this week? What problem did I address this week? What, what, what opportunity did I see? Is, how did I increase my value? And if you can't answer those questions, then you probably have to reframe what you're gonna do the following week.
Speaker 3:That's right. Yeah, I'm, I'm on, I'm in. You want to do it?
Speaker 2:Yes, All right. So, listeners, I challenge you to do the same either reflect on your previously week by putting these things sort of in the the past tense mindset, or Reflect on and project for the coming week With what you intend to do. And then you know the kind of the cool thing would be if you project for what you want to do the coming week, how will I? You can actually go back at the end of the week and evaluate yourself.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think that's perfect.
Speaker 2:All right, so you're in.
Speaker 3:I'm in All right.
Speaker 2:So readers a little. Yeah, readers, listeners, we encourage you to do the same, that's right, and We'll do a follow-up episode Maybe in a couple weeks. I think that sounds perfect All right deal what?
Speaker 3:do you say we wrap this up? Yeah, so thanks for listening to lead on with Greg and Mark. In the meantime, let's make it a great day and innovate. What do we need to innovate?
Speaker 2:mark the USA hit me with that music hit the music yeah. You.
