Retail Observer

January 2017

The Retail Observer is an industry leading magazine for INDEPENDENT RETAILERS in Major Appliances, Consumer Electronics and Home Furnishings

Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/767361

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 67 of 99

RETAILOBSERVER.COM JANUARY 2017 68 I n my July 2015, TEDx talk, Owning Your Voice, I shared a bit about my own story's meandering path to my current work as a performance poet and trusted advisor to organizational leaders. It's not logical, really, even though you can trace threads back to my teaching career, my work with outcomes assessment, and my starting of a poetry in the prison program as a graduate student. There are threads and themes, but the primary theme is that an inspired path is not linear. This sounds okay if we talk about it theoretically, but counter-intuitive if we think about it in the business or organizational context. Fine for a life, but not for work, right? Isn't the shortest distance between two points a straight line? Who's got time for meandering? I confess, I like to cross things off a list like nobody's business. I am one of those people who does something that's not on the list, then puts it on there afterwards, just so I can get the satisfaction of crossing it off! I like to know the purpose, the destination, and the plan. And sometimes, I'm even lulled into thinking that life and work and everything else would just be so much more clear, so much easier, if this principle of A-to-Z could just follow some sequential, simple order. I see a lot of pain and distress inside organizations because of the nature of this conversation and especially our addiction to speed, at all costs. I'm not sure why we persist in this paradox: faster is better; straighter is easier; orderly is preferred. I suspect it's because we know that a human life is just messy, and we are trying to create some sort of pattern out of chaos. What if this conversation is less about either/or and more about and? In other words, what if your business planning and organizational life had both tangible goals and opportunity for creativity and exploration? What if it's about both things you can measure (like key performance indicators or financials) and things you cannot (like the quality of conversations and the spaciousness for innovation)? The trick is that you have to actually create the space and time for this non-linear work. You can't keep planning back-to-back meetings or a triple-booked schedule and expect to be inspired by your working life. Remember: you'll spend 90,000 hours at work, so the quality of those hours and how you spend them is up to you! Here are some ideas: 1. Set aside time for "Blue Sky" discussions and thinking. Begin with some "what if" questions and envision what's possible without trying to figure out the details of how it could happen. 2. Do something fun with your team. Typically, when clients ask me if I do team building, I never say, "No," but the best teams are built when a group of people have to accomplish real work together. That said, there's usually not enough fun and informal interacting at work, which releases people from their ordinary ways of thinking and allows them to get to know each other differently. This can open up inspiring conversations and experiences. What sort of fun thing could you do or sponsor. And, if fun isn't your thing, it's somebody's! Find that person to come up with an idea that would be great and let them take the reins. 3. Set aside your own time for non-structured thinking or imagining. Can you walk at lunch? (or take a lunch without looking at your computer??) Can you take 30 min. at the beginning of the day to journal or listen to something that inspires you? An inspired work culture has purpose and creativity, imagination, and destination. The journey is worth it! Libby Wagner Culture Coach Libby Wagner, author of The Influencing Option: The Art of Building a Profit Culture in Business, works with clients to help them create and sustain Profit Cultures www.libbywagner.com RO RECONCILING THE PATH AND THE DESTINATION

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Retail Observer - January 2017