Managing with Aloha Coaching

February 29: Love-Minded Aloha All Day Long!

Remember the Love-minded Aloha Challenge I proposed to you on Valentines Day?

If you take the link back there you can read all the lead up, but what it came to was this:

For the last hour of your workday today, do only what you most LOVE to do at work. Do it before then if you can, but do it for the last hour for sure —we all will.

I have gotten some great messages from those of you who took me up on this, and for most it turned out to purely be some Valentines Day permission to have fun and goof off in the last hour of the day. There is a lot to be gained for having more fun at work, and so I've been counting all your stories as a great success.

You've made me smile. This was from Bryan:

"Liked the idea Rosa, for I get the whole strengths connection, and it's always good giving people the chance to let their guard down and just go for it. I've forwarded your stuff before, but this time I didn't think I could just because that was a crunch day for us with a few people cramming some deadlines. Then someone else in the office who gets your emails went ahead and forwarded it to everyone else anyway. So much for trying to be a good guy; I got ribbed the rest of the day for being too chicken and aloha gun-shy this time."

Then yesterday I received the greatest thing: A belated Valentines Day card in the mail with about a dozen signatures from the crew at a landscaping and garden supply company.

The manager enclosed a longer letter, writing that he decided he'd go for it and accept my challenge, but did so on Friday, the 15th so he could plan ahead for all the staggered shifts they use and tell everyone about it as soon as they arrived at work. He called it "Strong Aloha Friday" to really emphasize the question, "What makes you feel strong when you are here?" He was pretty blown away to see what everyone did when they had complete permission to choose only what they liked to do best of all, especially how long-term employees seized the chance to do some things completely outside their normal job. He wrote, "When did they learn all of that, and how could I not have noticed before?"

Then he added, "much as I hate to admit it, people don't go home smiling every single day, but on Friday we did. We all did."

Just as Lisa shared with us in her comment,

I think if you think about your strengths it not only validates your self worth but helps you realize what makes you happy. Therefore, if you do what makes you happy it's contagious to everyone around you! I think you can then see what other employees strengths are and encourage and appreciate what makes them so valuable at work.

Now I fully realized I was giving you a workplace challenge where fun or no fun, you still have to perform. The reality is that we have responsibilities (Kuleana!) that always frame the decisions we make, and we accept that. I give you a challenge like this because of the faith I have in the basic goodness in people, and the desire that people have to do well. You may recall this, which I shared from Marcus Buckingham not that long ago:

The reason you do this program [his Go Put Your Strengths to Work 6-Step program] is performance, not happiness. The happiness may come as a fringe benefit, for working primarily within your strengths energizes you, but the point is performance. We focus on strengths because it is the most efficient way to get someone to perform.

When and if weaknesses get in the way, it is your responsibility to deal with them if you are a manager in business. The weakness part of the program is important because we don’t just stop doing them, we manage around them. Sometimes, those tasks which are weaknesses must get done, and you do have to just suck it up and do them.

I run into this with Managing with Aloha as well. Say “aloha” and the first thought most people have is that the philosophy must be all warm and fuzzy, for how can being “Mr. or Ms. Aloha with everyone,” i.e. just being a nicer and better person, be a completely viable and comprehensive strategy for business?

My answer is the same as Buckingham’s; I wrote Managing with Aloha to help managers perform better, addressing that responsibility they have with getting things done through other people in the best way possible, AND understanding that “getting things done” will likely have repercussions they (and you) need to understand and deal with. My hope for you is that in this dealing with those repercussions, you get more pro-active over time, and less re-active. I think of the MWA philosophy as one that drives proactivity, so that all the work you do is intentional (Ho‘ohana).

The story (and the Challenge) continues...

Scott, the manager who sent me the card, said that he's decided to see what will happen if they stretch their Love/Strengths-Minded Aloha Challenge to an entire day, especially when people know it's coming so far in advance and can plan for it. How great is that?!

They have chosen next Friday, February 29th because "we figure it's the extra day this year and can be considered found time anyway. It'll be a day that is easy to remember, that's for sure!"

Scott wrote that he's particularly eager to see who works with who versus independently, for a whole day gives you a lot of different choices. He's left all the shifts intact, but what they do during that shift is completely up to them, long as they handle the business at hand, and this will be their chance to effectively create their own job the way they want it that day. Scott says he's willing to "let their actions give me whatever messages they want to give me."

Who knows Scott, maybe your business is ready for more growth or ‘branching out’ than you have previously thought!

And I loved this next line in Scott's letter: "When we talked about it later, we all had to agree that when the work you love is talking through the actions which are your strengths it's probably the truth for you."

I have to agree too. If the truth is pono integrity that is good for you as a person, seems to flow naturally that it can be good for your company (and your business) too.

I know that all work situations are different, but what do you think?

Can you join Scott and his crew on Friday, February 29th in an all-day Love/Strengths-minded Aloha Challenge?

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If you are joining us for the first time, this link will take you to my original Love-Minded Aloha Challenge posting done on Valentines Day.

‘branching out’ photo found on Flickr by shapeshift.

Get Pono Integrity for your Business Model

When people ask me how I like my work I answer, "I love it; I'm one of the luckiest people on the planet. It is the greatest thing that people pay me for who I am and what I do in sharing the MWA mission, where essentially, I pay my bills and finance my life with joy."

My Pono contentment explains a lot of why I can say that now, for while I have always figured out a way to enjoy the work I did, up until I had my own business I didn't have the complete freedom to create my business model as the most Pono way (i.e. the most right way) to achieve a Business Plan.

One of the business concepts I teach managers is the difference I see between a business PLAN and a business MODEL. We use Language of Intention: Thereafter, our vocabulary gets more specific, and we choose the right word when talking about them.

Consider the different stakeholders a company can have: Owners, trustees or stockholders, board members, angel investors, partners, employees, customers, vendors, contractors, and the community, and then consider what they are most interested in because of their relationship to that company.

• The Business PLAN usually ends up to be more about strategy and numbers, and is written for banks, owners, and board members - think Pro Forma and all the research and trend analysis that leads to the business plan of what a company will be about. In Say Leadership Coaching, we leave business planning to our clients and their particular industry expertise, though we strongly encourage giving staff the financial literacy they need to read the Business Plan and understand it.

• The Business MODEL is what your employees, your customers, and the community is usually much more interested in - the vision/ mission/ values part of how you make that Business Plan happen. The business model is about execution and delivery, and the choices you make along the way. There is still a lot of strategy and decision-making involved, and there is much more emotion: Your business model makes room for individual work passions, or it ends their possibility. Company morale, spirit, and reputation will make it or break it on the wisdom of the Business Model.

The Managing with Aloha work philosophy is a business model proven to work exceptionally well for every business plan I have encountered, because it can influence the business plan as well. As I wrote in my book five years ago, while at the Hualalai Resort I felt I had gotten as close as I could ever get to working for another employer where business plan and business model matched up. However the day did come where the business plan and business model no longer were completely aligned within my viewpoint, and understanding it was no longer to be (and that I would not be able to bring certain decisions into my circle of influence), I moved on. Pono had started to slip away for me.

However, having had that sweet taste of Pono integrity in business, I wanted to get it back, and my own company was born. At SLC, we refer to Ho'ohana, one's passion for worthwhile work as the North Star of the business model, and so I started with mine at the time:

~ page 32 ~ I love to teach, and in particular I love coaching managers. I love the science of business and the democracy of free enterprise, where ultimately the customer rules. I love reading, I love the written word and I love the study of how language can influence relationships between people. I love the new global possibilities of networking. I love the notion that we can choose our own destiny and create it. I get passionate about all these things, and by indulging my passions I gave life to Managing with Aloha.

In my own value system, ignorance is not bliss in business. I have a passion for learning about all of it. Once I do, the business plan and the business model have to match up - the business model has to be realistic, and it can't wring the blood, sweat and tears out of people because it is incomplete, unachievable, or just plan insensitive to the human element. I believe that business models create movers and shakers who can make better results happen; they can make better lives happen.

I love teaching managers how to construct great business models. It is in those workshops that I see the light of hope turn on for them, and that light is a Pono beacon of possibility getting born.

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If this discussion intrigued you, you may also want to review:

• Is Pono where Integrity goes?
• How good do you feel about working in business today?
• 4 Things Managers Can Do to Bring Managing with Aloha to their Company Culture.

MWA Success Stories! The Daily Five Minutes®

As you might imagine, I love, love, LOVE getting emails from folks who tell me “hey Rosa, been reading your book, and I gotta let you know that your Managing with Aloha stuff works!”

Then there are those who say, “I like your ideas, and I share these values, but do I hafta read the whole book?”

To get them started (and if they are managers) I will usually say, “Tell you what; if there is only one part of my book I’d recommend you read and practice, it’s about The Daily Five Minutes® — go to page 145.”

It’s the only page number I know by heart. It’s also the only page number I make sure I know by heart.

So it is fitting that I am starting a new category here at Managing with Aloha Coaching that we will call MWA Success Stories! with a tale of the D5M in beautiful practice (We use D5M for short for the Daily Five Minutes® tool.)

Here is a gem that was posted about the D5M on one of the virtual project management spaces I use for my coaching clients; one of the managers wrote it, including the title;

The Wheel That Don’t Squeak Needs Oil Too

I don’t know everything.

I have a team member that just comes to work and just smiles a lot. When I ask how’s everything? He just says “good” or “okay” and returns to work. I’ve never really paid too much attention to him other than to tell him “good job” after work, or to check in on him during work.

He, let’s call him Ben, well Ben don’t talk much, but now that I think about it I’ve always seen him doing the grills or the kitchen mats.

I never question it and just took it for granted that this guy really likes to do the grills and the mats.

Well if you ever worked in the kitchen you’ll know what I am talking about.

Long story short, when I did a D5M with him, I asked him to look at all the cards and he picked # 14. I asked if he wanted to tell me about #14 and he said “yes.”

His best day at work in the past seven days was that he got to work with Henry on the floors, and had no shame telling me that.

When I asked him “Why was that?” he said that ever since he started working he only did the grills or mats and no one asked him if he wanted to do something else.

Left me with a wow in my head.

Mahalo from,
I don’t know everything

Until they completely understand the intention behind the D5M, and begin to reap its benefits, managers will often say, “...but I talk to my staff every day, why would I need to do this too?”

This is why.

What don’t you know about the people you work with every day?

Who could use your oil of aloha?

 

Links which may be helpful:

1. If you are hearing about D5M for the first time, you can read about it on this page at www.ManagingWithAloha.com — The Daily 5 Minutes: 9 Questions. It includes an excerpt on pages 145 and 146 of my book.
2. The “cards” that this manager refers to are used in our private coaching programs when we bring the MWA philosophy to entire companies comprehensively, and customized for their core values.
3. In Managing with Aloha, I write about the D5M in the chapter on ‘Ike loa, the Hawaiian value of learning, for what we learn to do, is know our people well.
4. Buy the book, and judge for yourself!