Winter Readiness for Alaka‘i Managers

On this, our Sunday Mālama for the final day of November 2014, let’s nalu from our feasting ‘thanks’ to the ‘giving.’ This is a post to include in the manager’s self-coaching toolkit, a bring-back from last year, for I’d heard from several managers that this emphasis on readiness had helped them.

The idea is to ease into the D5M practice with a few weeks of being a kinder, gentler, more open-to-conversation you: As a manager you clear any preexisting rubble so that giving the D5M conversation to others starts with ‘a clean slate.’ The spirit of the holidays does conspire: Allow it to help you!

“Begin with the end in mind”

…has long been a mantra for me (mahalo nui to Stephen R. Covey, for sharing it within his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People). I believe in Hō‘imi, and looking ahead with positive expectancy (Palena ‘ole Positivity is Hō‘imi— look for it).

So when the final weeks of each year roll in, I habitually begin thinking about what ‘end’ to keep in mind next — what will I be working toward come January 1st and the start of a whole new year? We just did part of my process together the weekend prior to Thanksgiving: Looking back to Hō‘imi Forward.

The follow-up question will then become, what must I do now to get ready? I believe in good foundations, and readiness is important, as is the credibility of leading by merit of your own good example.

The End (which is really a stellar beginning)

If you have your sights set on becoming an Alaka‘i Manager who IS Managing with Aloha, I have a practice to suggest to you:

Beginning January 2, 2015, gift The Daily 5 Minutes to everyone you work with. (I am hoping that January 1 will be a day off for you :)

You ‘gift D5M’ by doing it, and by giving it to others as the gift of conversational possibility, bright, shiny and new.

“For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk and we learned to listen. Speech has allowed the communication of ideas, enabling human beings to work together to build the impossible. Mankind’s greatest achievements have come about by talking, and its greatest failures by not talking. It doesn’t have to be like this. Our greatest hopes could become reality in the future. With the technology at our disposal, the possibilities are unbounded. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.”
— English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author Stephen Hawking, Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge

If you are already doing the D5M, think about how you can do it better. Think about injecting your D5M practice with some sort of ‘phase 2’, ramping up your energies. Think about enlarging your conversational circle, and hence your circle of influence, D5M-ing with the new partnerships within your professional network.

How to Begin: Prepare well.

To start, review these 2 postings here in our MWA Central archives:

1. First, learn about the basic WHAT and WHY of the Daily 5 Minutes within this reprint of MWA’s chapter 11 on ‘Ike loa
2. Second, this posting will help you begin with the D5M end in mind: Revisiting the Daily 5 Minutes: Lessons Learned

Here is a quick look at the readiness covered in reading no.2 above:

Set the D5M Goal today, and begin to prepare for it.

ONE: Don’t try to change whole-company culture; improve your own corner of it and go for a ripple effect where good begets more good. You may recall this was a key learning for us here: “Grassroots work is where the action is, and where most accomplishment will happen.”

TWO: Increase your face time. We used to say, get away from your desk and that still applies; another concern today – look up from your screens!

THREE: Work on your listening skills in each and every conversation you have.
Extra credit: How to Listen. Also, recently: Lost in Internal Monologues.

FOUR: Honestly assess the conversational climate of your workplace culture as it now stands. Know what could be an obstacle, hesitation, or outright objection.

FIVE: Earn a reputation as an investigative problem-solver. Determine the why (of all rubble), so you can address root cause once and for all.

Read more about each of these steps here: Revisiting the Daily 5 Minutes: Lessons Learned

You will find that the year blooms for you in a truly beautiful way.
~ Rosa

Related Reading: This was our holiday batching in 2012 ~ Just 5 Over the Holidays And to complete the story-telling for you, this was the follow-up we found we needed: This January, Slow Down.

Bonus Link: An interview I did with engagement specialist David Zinger for Fuze on applying the Daily 5 Minutes to remote workplaces: Managing Remote Workers – Five Minutes Can Make A World of Change.