Monthly Archives: January 2015

Lesson 2 -Marcus Buckingham

Marcus Buckingham shares a very compelling outlook on the power of focusing on your strengths versus your weaknesses.  I could totally relate to being the parent who focuses on the 20% we are not doing well or being raised that way.

As a parent myself, I find that we gravitate towards investing more time on the areas where my daughter does well.  we do invest time in the other areas as well but we try not to make it a negative or demotivating experience. She becomes frustrated when others in class are doing well in an  area that she is challenged with.  We have the discussion of how we all have our gifts and some things come naturally to some people and to others, you need to work a little harder. Not everyone is good at everything, just do the best you can.

Personally, I am in a job where my strengths are leveraged every day-it’s my dream job and I feel fortunate that I have the opportunity.  I am much more motivated to continue to drive the experience for my clients. I enjoy going to work and doing my job and honestly, it feels good to perform well every day and be recognized for it.  It took me  a while to get to this place in my career but now that I have arrived, I wouldn’t want my work situation to be any different.

Bring that back to my daughter and I hope that she too can have the same experience in her learning’s and career.

Lesson 2 – My Glass is Always Half Full

So, you ask; what is my personal paradigm? My glass is always half full.  I look at each opportunity/challenge as a chance to raise the bar.  Elevate the experience from yesterday, last time, or next time.  I am a firm believer that if I approach things with a positive attitude, positive results will happen, and that has served me well my entire life.  It does mean I am required to roll up my sleeves and invest sweat equity into everything I do, but it works!  And, in my opinion, it beats the alternative.  If I always looked at the glass as half empty, I’d be wallowing in my sorrows rather than driving solutions.

AI Commons – 2 great ideas

In searching the tools and resources available to us on AI commons, I was intrigued to find two case studies that resonated with me and my world personally.  One was leveraging AI concepts to break through dysfunctional teams.  David Cooperrider was able to break through the walls long ago created by the team, break through defense mechanisms and create and environment with goals and hope. He calls the approach the future of organizational design.

The other intriguing idea that really hit home was using AI in the public school setting.  This one is revolutionary. If we can focus on the positive work that is being done and get out of the mold of critics and parents who want to criticize and not help. We, like many other school districts can create an environment of learning with positive reinforcement. I think about this approach and how Charter schools seem to have adopted some of the thinking.  Empower the students to come up with fresh thinking on how to problem solve.

Lesson 1 Reflections

Does anything about AI resonate for you? What questions occur to you as you begin your exploration of AI? What challenges you may think could occur in an AI? Which situations are NOT suited for AI use?

The videos and examples of AI resonate with me  in many ways.  The AI approach is one that is heavily practiced in my organization. We always expect the best intentions out of folks until they prove us wrong. That said, we have found by focusing on all that is good, positive energy rises an becomes contagious, getting individuals excited about what can be possible.  The trick is ensuring the organization is ready to receive the ideas and that they are positioned to execute and implement on the ideas.

Questions that arise for me include; if we always play to people’s strengths, how do we stretch individuals growth in learning in other areas?  I agree no need to stretch a skill that may never be good but don’t we need to give people an opportunity to identify with areas that don’t come naturally and may not be an area to focus on?  Making assumptions may limit someone’s possibilities for success or create a false sense of insecurity and then they never work to develop their potential.

In AI, challenges could include resistance and nay sayers -we have always done it this way so why change?  Old tapes and past experiences stifle creativity.  It is important to keep the focus on the desired outcome. For example, customer experience and how we can elevate that experience versus finger pointing or talking about what each group is not delivering.

Situations not suited for AI would be disciplinary actions/performance conversations, times when decisions and actions need to happen NOW.