Author: whatifconcepts

Empowering those that inspire so they can excel at the work that matters.

Real-Time Decisions

If we make real-time decisions, be aware of our mindset and the moment we decide. No skiers were riding the chairs in front of me, there was no snow on the south slopes, and nobody was skiing the mogul run below the chairlift. A good observation in real time might be that it is time to shift the ski area’s operations to a minimal viable status. The snapshot does not capture that both photos were taken in the last minutes of the ski day for this part of the mountain; everyone had departed or was exiting via other runs.

How might we balance the long view with the immediate facts? How might we remain more holistic when there is a variance in the budget, a blip in enrollment, a change to a donor’s giving habits, a shift in how board members attend meetings or a disruption experienced by a peer organization? How might we prioritize a culture of curiosity over the desire to fix the immediate issue?

Feeling Facts
https://www.gapingvoid.com/daniel-kahnemans-legacy-the-myth-of-reason/

What fact do you know to be true? Have you confirmed the hypothesis? I know gravity is a generally agreed-upon truth, but I do not completely comprehend the science and mathematical equations that prove its existence. When I run, I expect my feet to reach for the ground and strike with some level of force. My gut senses this before my brain.

When approached to support a cause and an organizational advocate starts with data, I often ask them for their story about how they got interested in the work. Enter the engagement with a narrative and shift to confirmation with facts. For this reason, I commence consulting engagements with Magnetic North, which involves the articulation of purpose, vision, mission, and values. My experience has confirmed most participants show greater attachment to the purpose and values because those articulations better capture emotions. The vision and mission trend toward factual representations.

How might we embrace emotions, even when we retain overwhelming research that confirms our impact?

Belt Buckle

The American West cherishes a good belt buckle. It is even more admired if the buckle is won in a competition such as a rodeo, futurity, or pleasure horse event.

If you presented your team with the outline of a blank belt buckle on a sheet of paper and asked each to create a customized drawing or representation of your cause, what designs might be developed? In facilitating this exercise in organizational retreats, I have witnessed some remarkable results with symbols and icons that range from iconic to obscure.

Consider this icebreaker at your next retreat.

Why Nobody Picked Me

Larry uses random chance to decide which of two friends to visit every day for a month. Each friend lives an eight-minute subway ride away, but they live in opposite directions from the closest station to Larry. Trains to each friend’s neighborhood arrive at Larry’s station every ten minutes, so he walks to the platform and boards the first train to arrive. After committing to this experiment every day for a month, he recognizes that he has seen his friend Henri 85% of the time and his other friend Cole only 15% of the time. He traveled to the starting station at spontaneous times and boards whichever train arrived first. Why does he end up visiting Henri so much more frequently?

The transit schedule is such that the train to Henri’s neighborhood arrives one minute before the train to Cole’s neighborhood; therefore, it is likely that the next train is headed towards Henri since there is only a single-minute period every ten minutes when the next train departs and heads in Cole’s direction. More specifically, trains to Henri’s arrive at 08,:18,:28, etc, versus Cole’s train at 09,:19,:29, etc.

We wonder why we are not selected more often to do the work that matters. Sometimes, we live in the shadow of the more dominant enterprise. Other times, we do not retain the network reach of another cause. Sometimes, we offer the same service, but the schedule works against us. Understanding how and where we are uniquely positioned to act is part of assessing our competitive advantage. When you have an emergency and call 911, dispatch tries to assess the nature of your call before sending emergency services. Launching the Confined Space Rescue Team with ropes and flexible stretchers does not solve a working structure fire. Dispatching the Swift Water Rescue Team clad in neoprene and flippers does not work well for a winter avalanche rescue. Knowing when to launch our services and to whom is vital to serving with impact.

No Perfect Brackets; No Perfect Plans

100 million NCAA March Madness collegiate basketball brackets are filled out yearly, and they cannot correctly select all the winners. How do we expect to predict our organization’s future if we do not have the benefit of professional analysis and endless metrics? Are we so confident in our ability to forecast the future that we can write strategic plans as if we are completing a winning NCAA March Madness bracket? We might get some themes right, but the odds are against perfection.

Want more info on March Madness bracket statistics- watch here

Footprints

What message do our footprints represent? Are we setting a path for others to follow? Do we intend to seek sanctuary and obscure our tracks? Might we follow the crowd and tread on historically worn trails? Is it possible to inspire those who follow?

It is easy to think of our footprints as follow-through. The activity has been completed, and we do not witness our tracks unless we commit to pivoting to observe our path. It is usually in difficult terrain that we might commit to a review of the terrain we have previously traveled. The propensity of time, our focus is only forward?

When do you consider the topography already covered? What is the lasting impact of your completed work?

Unfinished Business

My board term is concluding, and there is an opportunity for contemplation. What was completed, what was learned, what was overlooked, and what was left unfinished? Surprisingly, the unfinished business has my attention. Did we keep the organization in flight and positioned to fulfill its mission, or did we lose track of the navigation and propulsion resources?

There will be unfinished business; the question is, is it the work that matters or a list of emergency repairs?