Sam Grayston

Tag: engagement

  • Rethinking Boundaries: Lessons from the Ashes 🏏

    Rethinking Boundaries: Lessons from the Ashes 🏏

    With the Ashes about to begin again, this time in Australia, I’ve found myself thinking about boundaries. Not just the rope around the edge of the cricket field, but the kind we’re encouraged to set in our personal and working lives.

    I loved the 2005 Ashes. I was utterly absorbed, listening to Test Match Special, watching as many deliveries as I could as England snatched that unforgettable victory from Australia. I remember one of my friends sharing his love for cricket by saying “It’s such an amazing game: you can play for five days and come out with a draw”.

    But as the Ashes has come around this time, the idea of boundaries has been playing on my mind in an unexpected way.

    Boundaries everywhere…except in cricket

    We’re encouraged, rightly, for the most part, to set clear personal boundaries which are healthy. Gen Z in particular is frequently praised for being better than previous generations at setting and holding them. When we understand what is acceptable to us and what is not, we create the conditions to flourish.

    Most sports reflect the same logic. Boundaries define the limits of play and help maintain control. Step outside the line in rugby, football, netball, basketball, or hockey, and play stops. The boundary represents the edge, or the point at which play halts and the boundary-crosser loses control.

    Cricket inverts this logic. 🏏

    In cricket, breaking the boundary is celebrated. If the ball reaches it along the ground, the batting side earns four runs; if it sails clean over, they earn six.

    The boundary isn’t a barrier…it’s a marker of success!

    Where most sports insist you stay within the lines to keep playing, cricket rewards you for going beyond them.

    A different kind of limit

    That swap feels worth exploring. It suggests that not all boundaries exist to constrain us. Some are meant to be crossed. Some show us what success looks like.

    Think of hierarchical boundaries, policy boundaries, cultural boundaries, or the quiet habitual boundaries we rarely question. Some are essential and protective. Others are flexible. Some are assumptions hiding as rules. And some, perhaps, sit far too close to us, defining a comfort zone we’ve mistaken for a limit.

    Cricket illustrates this beautifully. When a ball is clearly racing away towards the rope, commentators often say the fielders shouldn’t bother chasing. It’s gone too far. The runs are already earned. The boundary, in that moment, is not an obstacle but a signal of achievement.

    The long game

    I’m not advocating a Bazball approach to life – swinging wildly in every direction in the hope of racking up runs. Like Test cricket, life usually needs a blend of patience and ambition. Sometimes we play a defensive shot. Sometimes we take the single. And sometimes we take a lovely cover drive that carries us beyond the rope.

    In a Test match, the game unfolds over long periods of time, with momentum shifting subtly over hours or days. Success isn’t just about bold strikes, it’s about understanding the game’s rhythm.

    So perhaps the question isn’t: Should I have boundaries?

    But rather: What kind of boundary is this – and what is it for?

    Useful boundaries, debatable boundaries, and the ones worth playing with

    I know from experience that clear personal and professional boundaries support my wellbeing. They help me focus, recover, and make thoughtful choices.

    But it’s possibly true that some boundaries deserve scrutiny.

    Some are rigid and non-negotiable, some are assumptions we inherited, some mark the edges of our fears rather than our true limits.

    Some are there to protect us and some might just be pointing us towards what success could look like—if we dared to push further.

    A thought to take into the Series

    As we settle into another Ashes series of five days, five matches, and all the drama, there remains an intriguing paradox: Cricket is played within boundaries…yet it celebrates the moments when those boundaries are crossed.

    Perhaps the same is true in life? Not all lines are drawn to keep us in – sometimes they show us how far we can go.

    P.S. I’ve taken a different approach to writing this blog. I did lots of rambling into a voice note and refined it with an LLM. Then I’ve polished it and put my own ‘spin’ back on it. What do you think?

  • Stop the Arsonists: Better Leadership for Burning Workplaces

    Stop the Arsonists: Better Leadership for Burning Workplaces

    “I’m always firefighting. There’s no time to think.”

    I can’t remember the first time I heard this phrase, but I hear it A LOT – particularly when I’m coaching senior leaders in transformative and project leadership roles.

    And whilst evocative of modern time-management (or lack thereof) has to be a better way, right? Well this got me thinking, and a confluence of three things sparked this blog:

    1. Someone using this phrase in a coaching session…again!
    2. Reading about systems thinking.
    3. Watching the Apple TV+ show, Smoke.

    A bit of context about each, and then the thought…

    The phrase

    It paints a clear picture…or we can all think of the meme with the cartoon dog in the house that’s on fire saying ‘this is fine’…everything’s going a million miles per hour and we have to move from one crisis to the next, urgent to urgent to urgent – never doing the important things we promised ourselves we’d do, like strategic thinking, self-development, 1:1s with others, improving processes, etc.

    Systems Thinking

    This is something that I’ve dabbled with on and off for years. In the first instance, I didn’t really get it. Someone sent me a video of blobs moving around rectangles and said ‘I think you’re going to love it’…

    More recently, I’ve come to understand more about systems and how interconnected everything is – that is, whatever happens may be as of a result of something else far away in the system, or whatever we do may have far reaching and unintended consequences on the wider system. And that, traditionally, when things go wrong people tend to analyse; that is, break the problem down into smaller and smaller constituent parts – e.g. an app fails and analysis tells us a line of code needs rewriting, whereas Systems thinking asks us to synthesise, or to look up at the wider systemic nudges that may cause the problem – e.g. an app fails because of management pressure to ship fast on smaller budgets.

    Smoke

    This is a show on Apple tv+ about a fire scene investigator partnering up with a cop to identify and catch two serial arsonists. No spoilers, but it’s far more compelling than I thought it might be to start with. The fire scene investigator character, played by Taron Egerton, often delivers talks to trainees about the chaos of fire and being prepared.

    The confluence

    This got me thinking, if a fire kept happening in the same place, you wouldn’t want to keep relying on the fire brigade/department to come and put it out…you’d solve the reason why the same thing kept happening…so why don’t we do this at work when people describe their entire jobs as ‘fire fighting’?

    I can’t imagine a fire fighter loving having to revisit a scene time and time again if a fire keeps getting ignited there – they’d want to put some other measures in place – systemic changes – sprinklers, better equipment, arrest the arsonists, create escape plans.

    This approach could apply to the highly flammable systems in the workplace because it’s not ok to perpetually expect colleagues to be fire-fighters – presumably we want them spending their time adding value and putting their hard-won skills and experiences to work rather than rushing around, meeting to meeting, putting out things that have gone wrong.

    Setup Sprinklers

    In the immediate term, a knowledge-work equivalent of the sprinkler system might need setting up. If a fire keeps breaking out, having something to immediately dampen it down might be a reasonable temporary solution. In our imagined knowledge-work based equivalent, maybe that’s a standing meeting, decision forum, Andon Cord, or emergency WhatsApp channel that can be triggered straight away to solve the biggest crises and challenges.

    Improve Equipment and Systems

    The system is broken if fires keep breaking out. The system needs fixing. In the same way that if a restaurant kept catching fire they might need some better quality ovens, in our knowledge-work environment, we need higher quality systems that avoid these fires breaking out. Maybe it’s visualising all the work that’s going on so that people can see a potential fire brewing. Maybe it’s limiting work in progress so that more work can’t be shoved into an already overloaded system. Maybe it’s building in slack, recovery, creativity time into work.

    To continue the fire metaphor, sometimes a fire-break is required in order to break the spread of the chaos and put new systems in place and so it may be with our work systems. It’s not ok that colleagues describe their working days as perpetually being on fire, we have to find better systems.

    Arrest the Arsonists

    If you’re the fire fighter in this scenario, then I’m going to assume it’s not you lighting the fires…you keep putting them out. So who IS lighting them? Stop them. Take their jerry cans of fuel away.

    If it’s people adding stuff to your plate, check out the No Repertoire from Greg McKeown; if it’s people bringing you down, stop spending time with them; if people change their mind every five minutes, perhaps introduce something like the RAPID decision-making framework and force people to take some responsibility.

    Develop Escape Plans

    And, if it can’t be prevented, fire breaks out – then you need an escape plan. Getting away from your desk for a minute to assess the situation, having a friend to call, taking a holiday, going for a walk all may be release valves for dealing with these situations.

    There’s a reason firefighters have to have breaks and spend a lot of time training – it’s not tenable to be doing it all the time. And it isn’t for us either. We need breaks, we need training, we need recovery if we’re going to have to fight fires at work.

    These are some ideas I’ve been kicking around on firefighting. What other techniques could people try to change the system and stop the arsonists?

  • We’ll need to get better at thinking.

    We’ll need to get better at thinking.

    As soon as ChatGPT started to take off, I started saying,

    We’ll have to get better at thinking. We’ll have to start thinking more deeply and think harder if we want to stand out and succeed.

    Turns out, it’s even more dramatic than that!

    Excessive use of ChatGPT is rotting your brain! Fact.

    A fascinating study, just released from MIT, shows that excessive use of ChatGPT is actually reducing the quality of cognitive function.

    Research shows that LLM users consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic and behavioural levels when performing writing tasks.

    • Neural: EEG brain studies found that there was a 47% reduction in brain activity with heavy ChatGPT users. Their brains were using 47% less neural connections when they were writing with the model.
    • Behavioural: 83% of heavy model users couldn’t quote anything from what they had just written, compared to about 10% from using no technology to write.
    • Linguistics: neutral analysis found that writing with LLMs was ‘soulless, empty, lacking individuality, typical’.

    Listen to this great podcast with Cal Newport and one of the writers of the study, Brad Stulberg, to get the full picture.

    They use writing as a proxy for thinking as it is a cognitively hard task requiring lots of neural, linguistic and behavioural levels. It is, in essence, one of the ways we make sense of our thoughts. To put them to paper. And we are increasingly outsourcing our thinking to LLMs.

    They use the metaphor of physical fitness to make sense of the use of LLMs in writing: using LLMs being the equivalent of taking a forklift truck to the gym – sure, you go to the gym, but you don’t get the physical benefits. Or munching on junk food as the equivalent of consuming TikTok videos. It’s a good metaphor that they continue by coining the term ‘cognitive debt’ and even start to consider the possibility of a cognitive obesity crisis equivalent in the future.

    It’s incredible to think that brain function decreases by using and relying on LLMs. We’re not absorbing what it puts out and building new understanding, we’re actually losing our ability to think and reason!

    It’s a massive warning to those companies pursuing LLMs in everything – particularly for their own workers. In essence, you’re reducing the quality of thinking in your workforce if you promote high use of LLMs in solving the company’s challenges.

    This is where something like Time to Think comes into it’s own. It becomes the kind of ‘cognitive gym’ that Newport and Stulberg talk about in the podcast. It’s a protected way of being that encourages the very highest quality, independent thought. It’s going to become essential.

    I said it before, and I’ll say it again – we’re going to need to get better at thinking. We’re going to need to practice it more. We’re going to have to go deeper and harder with our thinking to flourish and thrive as a species.

    I’m not afraid of that. In fact, I welcome it. If you want to think with me, get in touch.

  • Sam vs. the LLM: A Coaching Scorecard

    Sam vs. the LLM: A Coaching Scorecard

    In the last 24 hours, I’ve discovered both a validating limitation and a powerful liberating use of LLMs. It’s not all good or all bad—sometimes it’s both. I’d like to share these stories with you.

    Coaching: the human advantage

    One of my clients had been using a popular LLM to do a bit of self-coaching to work out what he wanted to do next. He’d become a bit fed up with his current role after a couple of years, and was looking for change. But because he’d become part of the furntiure, he couldn’t really remember what fired him up. So he went looking for answers through an LLM. Interestingly, the LLM explored what he didn’t like about roles in order to build a profile of what he should be looking for. A fine enough approach – and one I might have taken myself as a coach. But what he came out with (and what so often comes out of LLMs) is a very generic sounding list of ‘you sound like you might find project management satisfying’.

    When I was coaching him through this, and listening deeply, I noticed that actually there was an underlying lack of feeling being expressed. He would talk about his out-of-work sporting endeavours with a smile on his face, energy in his body language, and spark in his eyes. He would talk about work as ‘quite enjoyable’, or ‘quite satisfying’ with that very rational list of things we all do to justify why something is ‘fine’ or ‘ok’. The LLM couldn’t experience the energy, so came up with something generic.

    As two humans interacting, we tapped into the energy and started to map out a compelling map for his next decade.

    Sam 1 : 0 LLM

    Refining an OKR: the LLM advantage

    The second example involves using an LLM to refine an OKR for a piece of new work. OKR stands for Objective and Key Result. I often frame these simply as:

    Objective: what do you want to be better or different?

    Key Results: what would be the result of that?

    I had some alright starter thoughts and context which I put into the LLM. Although this time I’d been reminded that, of course, LLMs don’t ‘run out’ of ideas. I’d assumed that I would put a prompt in and it would generate the single ‘best’ answer. But it could write OKRs all day if I wanted it to.

    So I asked it to come up with 10 versions of the OKR that I’d written. And without breaking a sweat – because it doesn’t sweat – but it probably is environmentally damaging – sorry – it came up with ten versions.

    I could then pick the best Objective and Key Results for the work based on my understanding.

    Spoiler – they weren’t all from one version, neither were they from the first version.

    Next time you want to come up with an improvement using an LLM – ask for loads of them and pick the best ones.

    Sam 1 : 1 LLM

    A fair match, played to our strengths.

    PS – I wrote this myself, not with an LLM. Although I did ask the LLM to come up with 20 titles. This is the one I chose.

    PPS – I have permission from the coaching client to share his story.

  • Cars Got a Production Line. Knowledge Work Needs Something Better

    Cars Got a Production Line. Knowledge Work Needs Something Better

    If I were to say to you, “You know what would be a great way to build a car? Put all the necessary parts in the middle of the factory floor, scattered around the chassis, then ask each person to grab their tools and come up and do their bit,” you’d think I was crazy.

    And yet, this is how most knowledge work projects seem to be organised.

    We plonk a project or a challenge in front of a group of people and say, “You’re a team now. Work as a team. But you’re autonomous and self-organised. Get the things you need, meet when you want, produce results.” And for some reason, we think that’s going to work well.

    I know knowledge work is producing something different to a car. It’s often based on transferring hard-won skills, knowledge, experience and understanding, through deep thought, analysis, categorisation, and problem solving, into something outcome-based.

    So why the parallel?

    Because the current way isn’t working.

    The breakthrough in the early twentieth century of the ‘Production Line’—where the team workers stayed still and pulled the car chassis to their station along a pre-determined production route when they had capacity—increased productivity many-fold. Scraping my memory banks, I think early cars used to take something like 12 hours to build in the ‘craft’ model (as I described in the opening). Come the Production Line, it was less than 1.5 hours.

    Knowledge work is still fumbling around in the 12-hour mark. There hasn’t been, in many industries, the significant leap in productivity. Research from Asana shows that knowledge workers spend around 60% of their time on ‘work about work’, not productive tasks. Surprised? Me neither.

    This is nothing to do with hybrid, remote or office working. This is nothing to do with four-day weeks. This is to do with clear outcomes, clear ways of working, and removal of distractions.

    What Happened to Autonomy?

    The term ‘knowledge work’ was first popularised by Peter Drucker in the 1950s and 60s. He later observed in the 1990s:

    “Knowledge workers must be autonomous. They must know more about their job than anyone else in the organisation. For this reason, they must be responsible for their productivity and quality of work.”
    — Peter Drucker, Management Challenges for the 21st Century (1999)

    I propose a distinction between autonomous process and autonomous fulfilment—or, to put it another way, productivity and quality.

    Autonomous, self-emerging productivity processes, in the current climate, seem to lead to people fumbling around, sending lots of emails, messages, and meetings. It isn’t clear who’s doing what or why. See Cal Newport’s definition of the Hyperactive Hive Mind, where unscheduled communication via emails and instant messages dominates the workday, undermining focus and flow.
    — Cal Newport, A World Without Email (2021)

    Process should be observed, crafted, and continuously improved. Like the Production Line.

    How we get things done is where autonomy should remain—to ensure quality. When the work is in my court, let me work out how to play it to achieve the outcome to a high standard, using my skill as a knowledge worker.

    A Lean-Inspired ‘Production Line’ for Knowledge Work

    A great knowledge work ‘Production Line’ equivalent will come from Lean thinking. This could include doing things like:

    1. Map the steps currently taken from trigger/request through to value fulfilment.
    2. Limit how much work can sit in any one part of the process—less is more.
    3. Set entry and exit criteria to ensure quality at each step.
    4. Pull work into your step only when you have capacity—never push.
    5. Observe delays or bottlenecks (often approvals or key-person dependencies)—can you redesign, eliminate, or scale them?
    6. Continuously improve the system based on what you observe.

    I’ve tried this many times over the years. I remember one Marketing team who did this and reduced the time it took to produce campaigns by about 20%, improved the quality, and were able to experiment more often to see what landed best with audiences.

    It works.

    So… How Is Your Organisation Running Knowledge Work Projects?

    Is everyone standing around the work in the middle, trying their best but delivering little?

    Or is your work flowing—clear, limited, and effective?

    References

    • Drucker, P. F. Management Challenges for the 21st Century (1999)
    • Newport, C. A World Without Email (2021)
    • Asana. Anatomy of Work Index (2022). https://asana.com/resources/anatomy-of-work
    • Womack, J. P., Jones, D. T., & Roos, D. The Machine That Changed the World (1990)
  • 25 Lists for a Meaningful 2025: Reflection and Planning

    25 Lists for a Meaningful 2025: Reflection and Planning

    The start of a new year is the perfect time to think ahead. While I’m not a big believer in New Year’s resolutions, I do find value in using lists and prompts to set out what matters to me. Each year since 2021, I create a series of lists that help me prioritise, reflect, and plan. Every week or two, I revisit these lists to check my progress and make adjustments.

    Here are the 25 lists I’m compiling for 2025:

    Self-Reflection and Values

    1. Who am I?

    This grounding question is inspired by a coaching session with the brilliant James Victore. Set aside an hour, ask yourself “Who am I?” and jot down everything that comes to mind. Then, go back and reflect on each statement—keep what feels true, and let go of the rest.

    2. Things I Value

    As part of my VAPOR planning framework (Values, Activities, Plans, Organisation, Reflection), I identify my core values and the daily activities that help me live them out.

    3. Sayings I Live By

    A curated collection of quotes, mantras, and sayings that inspire and resonate with me—featuring Dieter Rams, Miles Davis, Tolkien, Maya Angelou, Nancy Kline, and, yes, even Ted Lasso.

    Looking Forward to 2025 and Beyond

    4. What I Want to Happen in 2025

    Rather than resolutions that I ‘resolve’ to do, this is a list of aspirations, goals, and ideas for the year—a mix of the intentional and the hopeful.

    5. What I Want to Leave in 2024

    Life isn’t just about adding; it’s also about subtracting. This list captures habits, behaviours, or practices I’d like to leave behind—like people-pleasing or apologising unnecessarily.

    6. Things I’d Like to Achieve in This Decade

    Turning 40 has inspired me to think long-term—whether it’s writing a book or becoming conversational in Italian.

    Fostering Creativity and Ideas

    7. Fragile Ideas Worthy of Reverence

    In Jony Ive’s commencement speech for the California College of Arts, he talks about the reverence for ideas his design lecturer inspired in him. Ive talks about how fragile and fleeting ideas are and how quickly they can dissipate if not treated with kindness and reverence. Whether it’s a good idea or not, appreciating that the idea itself is worthy of some reverence and exploration before being implemented or dismissed. 

    8. Moments of Resonance

    A new addition for 2025, this list tracks moments that deeply resonate with me—from personal experiences to art or design. I then reflect on why they resonate and how to invite more of that into my life. Mine’s a mish-mash of minimalism and mess, of modern and old, and I’m looking forward to working on it. 

    9. Creative Things to Do

    Creativity is one of my core values, and this list ensures I prioritise it by giving me a go-to bank of creative ideas.

    10. Ideas from the Web

    A place to store intriguing ideas, apps, shortcuts, automations, etc, I encounter online that I’d like to try out.

    Daily Practices and Tools for Growth

    11. ‘Got a Minute’ List

    For those small pockets of time when it’s tempting to scroll mindlessly, this list offers alternatives—like stretching, reading a page of a book, or reconnecting with an old friend.

    12. What I’m Grateful For

    While I practise daily gratitude, this list captures the big-ticket items that anchor my sense of abundance.

    13. What Have I Learned?

    From small insights to significant lessons, this list ensures I don’t forget what I’ve gained.

    14. Things I Do Better Than Most

    For those tough days, this list reminds me of the unique skills and talents others value in me.

    Relationships and Social Capital

    15. Social Capital

    A reflection on the relationships I want to nourish and the people I want to stay connected with.

    16. Personal Board of Directors

    This list includes trusted individuals (real, fictional, or idealised) who I can advise me in my best interest.

    17. People I Should Know

    A guide to intentional networking and building meaningful relationships.

    Achievements and Memories

    18. Biggest Accomplishments

    A go-to reminder for when I doubt my progress, this list celebrates what I’ve achieved so far.

    19. Career Bucket List

    From keynote speaking to publishing a book, this list captures the career milestones I aspire to reach.

    20. Shows I’ve Been Involved With

    A nostalgic look at the plays and performances I’ve been part of—it’s quite a list now!

    Gratitude

    21. Gifts Given

    It’s rewarding to remember the gifts I’ve shared and the experiences I’ve created for others.

    22. Gifts Received

    Practising gratitude by recalling the kindness and thoughtfulness I’ve been lucky enough to receive.

    23. Nice Things I’ve Got for Myself

    Acknowledging the moments I’ve treated myself and appreciating my ability to indulge occasionally.

    Practical and Aspirational

    24. Places I’d Like to Go

    There are so many places to explore—this list keeps my wanderlust alive.

    25. Things for a Quiet Day

    When an unexpected quiet day arrives, this list ensures it doesn’t slip away unnoticed.

    Personally, I keep these lists on Notion, adding comments, pictures, and tags to stay organised. Every couple of weeks, I review them, check my progress, and make small tweaks to my plans for the fortnight ahead.

    I hope these lists inspire you as they’ve inspired me. They’ve proven far more effective than New Year’s resolutions!

    What’s on your list for 2025?

    This revised structure starts with introspection and flows naturally towards actionable and aspirational items. Does this feel more cohesive?

  • Does your canopy of work make sense?

    Does your canopy of work make sense?

    Another trip to Westonbirt Arboretum, another incredibly valuable lesson in the development of the Outcomes Tree. I was so enthused, I took a picture. Check out this beautiful Acer tree:

    Look at the gorgeous canopy, the perfection of the Japanese Maple leaves – extraordinarily satisfying, yes? Such perfection in nature! Look down the branches – layers of growth and life. Then to the trunk…hang on…there’s two trunks! Two trees! Living in perfect harmony with each other. Check those leaves again – oh yes, the ones on the right are slightly more mature, a reddening in the pigment compared to the ones on the left. Two lives, combined as one.

    Multiple Trees at Work

    In a recent Outcomes Tree workshop, someone asked me how it works if there are multiple trees in an organisation. This picture is, I think, a healthy metaphor for answering that question.

    Very often in organisations, there’s a lot of land-grabbing, empire-building, whatever you want to call it – it’s the equivalent of fighting for the sun at the expense of everything else around. It’s a desperate and limiting pursuit of power at the expense of others. It actually reduces the overall impact of the organisation, demoralises some and promotes others. What the Acers teach us is that, when we are working together, there’s space for both of us. See how each tree makes space for the other; how they flourish in their respective space and limit their overlap; and ultimately, how they appear united as one single canopy.

    When using multiple Outcomes Trees in an organisation, we need to look to see if the overall canopy makes sense.

    Do some outcomes cede way for others so there’s an overall, natural coherence beyond the individual pursuit?

    Where there’s space for our specialism, can we thrive and grow? Where there’s overlap, can we combine or cede growth for the benefit of the overall?

    I understand ceding looks like giving up something or giving it away but, you can see here, it’s natural for the benefit of the overall. There is room for all of us. There is abundance if we embrace it. Internal politics and aggression will be to any organisations detriment, not growth, and land-grabbing doesn’t help. Coherent, generous growth with an abundance mindset will endure.

    Mature leaves=mature leaders

    And what about the more mature leaves? What can they teach us? I believe they show us that in a healthy organisation, there are some experiments more advanced in their learning than others, and we can follow their lead; I also believe it shows us that the more mature people are in an organisation, the more willing they are to ‘go first’ and forge a bold, new set of outcomes for the future. The reddened leaves are going first to provide their energy back to the tree – and our leaders can do the same for our organisations.

    Dare you cede something for the benefit of the canopy?

    The impression from the outside of any organisation should be one, coherent experience (or canopy), even if, internally, it means we cede growth to others for the overall benefit of the customer or user experience.

    Does your canopy of work make sense? Is there too much overlap? Can you cede control over some things to promote growth overall?

    Watch the FREE Green Shoots introduction to the Outcomes Tree to get started growing your own!

  • Was Marcus Aurelius an Agilist?

    Was Marcus Aurelius an Agilist?

    Lessons in Change from an Ancient Philosopher.

    In the run up to my 40th birthday, I thought I should read some classic philosophy. I’ve just finished reading Meditations, a collection of personal reflections by Roman Emperor Philosopher, Marcus Aurelius, written in the second century of the Common Era.

    I picked three such reflections (or ‘Chapters’ as they’re called) which I thought were humbling and important to bear in mind when thinking about the work we sometimes do as Agile Coaches and change agents.

    The numbers quoted below refer to the Book & Chapter.

    First, was a compelling reminder from 4.42:

    Change: nothing inherently bad in the process, nothing inherently good in the result.

    Here, Marcus Aurelius reminds us, even the evangelical change agents, that just because we say it’ll be better by doing things differently, it doesn’t necessarily make it so.

    We must always be careful to check ourselves against a deep-seated belief that changing things will improve them. There is, as Aurelius says, nothing inherently bad in the process of changing things and nothing inherently good in the result – we must work at both aspects.

    I’ve worked with people who assume that just because of a business model, framework, brand, etc. is what it is, that it’s inherently better at creating products and services that engage, inspire and wow customers than the competition. This is short-sighted thinking that risks hubris and complacency.

    We must work to understand the difficulties and challenges of change as we move through the process, which may be a good or bad process (however one might define ‘good’ or ‘bad’); a breeze or a quagmire. And we must not be precious about the result – it is wholly possible that change isn’t better – and in fact we need to shift direction and move elsewhere based on what we learn through the process.

    An important lesson for evangelists!

    Second, for those struggling with change, 7.18:

    Is someone afraid of change? Well, what can ever come to be without change? Or what is dearer or closer to the nature of the Whole than change? Can you yourself take your bath, unless the wood that heats it is not changed? Can you be fed, unless what you eat changes? Can any other of the benefits of life be achieved without change? Do you not see then that for you to be changed is equal, and equally necessary to the nature of the Whole?

    We often work with people who are afeared of change because of what it says about themselves, their roles, careers, industries; but this meditation gives us hope that everything changes – and that it is perfectly normal and natural. I work with people who don’t want to change, and I understand it: they’ve build successful, long careers doing things a certain way and change threatens it. In their hearts, they must truly understand that nothing remains still – through the career they have built, they will have changed – their practices, their skills, their identity, because we are human beings as part of nature – and change is natural.

    This Chapter gave me hope for those we partner with and walk alongside on the journey of change.

    And finally, 5.23:

    Keep in mind how fast things pass by and are gone—those that are now, and those to come. Existence flows past us like a river: the “what” is in constant flux, the “why” has a thousand variations. Nothing is stable, not even what’s right here. The infinity of past and future gapes before us—a chasm whose depths we cannot see. So it would take an idiot to feel self-importance or distress. Or any indignation, either. As if the things that irritate us lasted.

    This verse speaks to me on the nature of Agile product development. Things move fast and change happens every day (today we’re all excited about ChatGPT – whatever happened to Stable Diffusion? Has it come and gone already?) As is noted, the what and why have many variations; it’s only our hope that the ‘how’ (working with greater agility) is better (but that’s no guarantee from the first lesson). This meditation shows the folly of having long-term plans or being stressed at things slipping on a Gantt chart, for the future, as noted, gapes as a chasm before us and we cannot predict everything that will befall us in time.

    It’s also worth bearing in mind that if we Agilists ‘irritate’ others – that we probably won’t last either! A wise lesson in meeting people where they are.

    Some insightful lessons from 1850-year-old philosophy about navigating modern change.

    There were many other Chapters I’ve underlined for personal reflections on the themes of time, presence, death, the cyclical nature of things, nature itself, fate, and our place in the Whole. A most edifying read.

    Have you read Meditations? What stands out for you?

  • Why we must reclaim the human face of meetings

    Why we must reclaim the human face of meetings

    Do you know how big your ‘self-view’ video is on Zoom when someone else is sharing content? It’s pretty small, right? In fact, on my 27” monitor, when Zoom is fullscreen and someone is sharing content, every person’s video is about 1.5” x 1” (4cm x 2.5cm).

    Do you know how big the content is? On my monitor, it’s 16” x 10”. That means that you could fit about 100 people’s videos into the size of the content. Are we really saying that when someone is presenting, everyone else’s input is only worth about 1/100th of the value? No wonder people don’t bother contributing or turning their video on; the app is telling them they are not as valuable or worthy as whatever is being shared.

    This was thrown into sharp focus for me recently when I prepared for, and then delivered, an in-person workshop. The team and I spent lots of time crafting and refining slides in preparation for the event to drive the agenda and content. But when we started working together in person at the event, the slides faded into insignificance compared to the actual conversations that took place, and the space I was sharing with other human beings. Suddenly, the slide content was a mere backdrop, not a foreground, and the interactions and individuals took centre-stage. The engagement from participants was absolute, the interactions were insightful and fun, and the outcomes were undoubtedly better.

    When we are in person, the people are the most important thing.

    My personal and professional purpose is to liberate the greatness in others. I believe that humans are inherently brilliant, and if we can only find ways to help each other to switch off their censors and unleash their genius, we’ll all fly. And here was an event where, what I’d prepped, may have been in the way of liberating greatness. This event was a humbling reminder of what I instinctively knew anyway; that when we are in person, the people are the most important thing.

    There’s a building consensus that online, or e-learning, wasn’t successful for children during the pandemic. Whilst schools are all back in classrooms now, we haven’t yet applied some of this understanding to the corporate world. I’m certainly not advocating for getting everyone back into offices – in fact, I think most of the time, most of the work we do can be done from anywhere. When we are expecting to learn, collaborate, and workshop ideas through however, then prioritising the human attendees’ experience must be the best way.

    I make a distinction between just being ‘in-person’ and prioritising attendees, because I think we can do so much more through our current media of choice (Zoom or MS Teams or a.n.other) to recognise that we’re sharing the time and space together as ingenuous, brave, collaborative, thought-provoking human beings.

    I’ve been on two, online, two-day short courses recently. One course used only three slides, temporarily, over the entire duration of the course and it changed my life for the better. One had nearly 400 slides onscreen the whole time over two days and made me wish I’d made better life choices.

    I don’t believe this is all our fault. My hypothesis is that attendees on calls are acting in alignment with what the apps are telling them – that they not as valuable as the ‘content’ being shared. And, with this self-fulfilling prophecy, engagement declines, thinking stops, cameras go off, mics go on mute, and we’re reduced to a quiet box in the corner, overshadowed by what, visually, we’re being told is important – i.e., not us.

    We must reclaim the human face of meetings, especially when we’re online. We must endeavour to think about the experiences of the attendees, show them their contribution matters, and value their input and creativity as human beings. I, for one, will hack-and-slash the number of slides I ever choose to use again on screen and stop sharing them as soon as I can, if it’s required at all. I encourage you to do the same. If we don’t, we risk losing the insights and inputs from the attendees that can sustain and save our organisations from irrelevance.

  • The most stunning leadership statement I heard this year 

    The most stunning leadership statement I heard this year 

    Leadership is hard. In any organisation, at any level, being a leader requires clarity, calm and consideration. It requires people to paint such a compelling picture of a possible future that it seems like it could be a reality today. So much of the role of leaders is based on how they speak – and whether those words match their actions.

    I was wowed when I heard this statement from a leader’s opening remarks earlier this year. Rodrigo leads part of a large multi-national financial services provider. His words and actions impact work that serves millions of customers. He leads quarterly planning events that have thousands of attendees, and during his opening address, he said something that will stay with me forever:

    Your children know my name and I’ll have never met them. Your team members’ children know your name. What do you want them to say about you?”

    This was such an ingeniously human way of describing the impact leaders have, not just in the workplace, but in our lives more broadly. He knew that, whilst he won’t ever meet many of his team members’ children, they have probably heard his name at home. And he wants his people to talk about him positively to their children. By extension, he was making an extraordinary invitation to consider the impact his leaders have on their respective team members.  

    We can all think of leaders and managers we have talked about with disdain at home – to loved ones, friends, family (and children pick up on everything!). Those people close to us will have formed views and opinions of that leader and, potentially, by extension, that organisation. And because these people love us and want what’s best for us, their views will be strong-held based on what they hear. So, this wonderful statement was to ask us to consider how we’d like to be talked about when we’re not there. Do we want to be the leader that people are stressed and upset about and worry about interacting with, keeping people awake on a Sunday night; or do we want to be the leader that enthuses people to speak well about our organisation at home, to look forward to working with them, to bringing their best selves to work with us?

    As my coaching supervisor says to me, ‘how we do anything is how we do everything’and here’s a perfect example of how this can play out: our lives are complex webs of social interactions where each part of the system has an impact on the other.

    What kind of impact do you want to have on others?