The 8020Info Water Cooler

  Highlights from the latest information
  for managers, leaders & entrepreneurs

[READING TIME: 8 MINUTES]

In this 8020Info Water Cooler we look at the value of a “frictionless mind”, ways to pitch a game-changing idea, steps to rest, reflect and refocus after this pandemic year, improve virtual engagement and performance reviews, plus our annual year-end shout-out.  Enjoy!

1. Three Steps to Find Meaning From 2020

As the year limps to a close, executive coach Jon Lokhurst finds a prevailing sentiment for many is:  Good Riddance!

“As a leader, you may be growing restless to wrap up this year and move forward to a better year in 2021 (whatever that means),” he notes on the Lead Change blog.

But he urges you not to overlook the opportunity to discover meaning from a year that no one anticipated (and, of course, not many want to repeat). He offers three steps to find meaning as you approach the end of 2020:

• Press the pause button:  Make it a priority in coming days to slow down and take a break. “Get away from the office even if you can’t travel as usual. If you’re working remotely, close the door to your home office. Get some rest. Relax by a warm fire or take in the scenic view from your patio,” he urges.
• Give yourself permission to grieve:  Your reflections may trigger an emotional response as you recount losses this year. That’s OK; you’re not alone. Grieving is a process that moves through several stages, so give yourself time and space to do so, in order to arrive at the final phase, meaning.
• Ask what 2020 has made possible:  Turn to the positive side of the year, refocusing away from the negative.

“Replace your restlessness with rest. Discover meaning amid the challenges of this year. Express gratitude for what 2020 has made possible,” he concludes.

2. A “Frictionless Mind” Helped in 2020

There has been much talk about the changes required in leaders this year as they dealt with unprecedented situations. Agility has come up. So has vulnerability. And transparency.

Adam Bryant, managing director of Merryck & Co., recalls an insight when he was the popular Corner Office columnist for the New York Times. In an interview with Gregory B. Maffei, the chief executive of Colorado-based Liberty Media, they got to talking about John Malone, his chairman and a billionaire deal maker.

“John is amazingly creative,” Maffei said of Malone. “One of my compatriots says he has a ‘frictionless mind,’ because sometimes he just turns on a dime. He’s always rethinking and rethinking.”

Bryant feels that’s an approach more of us have needed this year and will need in future.

Adopting a “Frictionless Mind”

“Having a frictionless mind doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have opinions, even strong ones that you believe are built on a solid foundation of fact and well-reasoned ideas,” he writes in strategy + business.

“To me, it means you have a willingness to quickly and easily let go of your beliefs, adopt other perspectives, and question the validity of your underlying thinking.”

It’s not a trait just for individuals to cultivate. Organizations will need to be frictionless as well. That means being open to debate, questioning accepted wisdom, and being willing to pursue new paths.

He notes we are all eager to put 2020 behind us. But he predicts that having a frictionless mind is going to grow in importance as a key leadership skill.

3. Improving Your Virtual Engagement

Virtual presentations are now the norm, from selling your customers to pitching your bosses. But they can seem awkward with the audience at a physical and psychological distance.

To improve connection, Georgetown University Professor Sarah Gershman says you should use the chat function, especially at the start. Begin with a relevant question — for example, one thing they hope to learn during the session— and ask people to type the answer in the chat. Read at least some of the answers out loud, with names.

“When you engage the audience immediately, you feel as though people are listening, which raises your confidence for the rest of the presentation,” she writes in Harvard Business Review blogs.

Even when the audience can’t respond, keep your approach conversational. For example, ask “are you ready to try something new?” as you move to a new element of your talk.

She also urges you to take a few moments before the presentation to put yourself in the shoes of the listeners, increasing your emotional connection to them.

4. Grace & Accountability in Performance Reviews

Whether you are in the middle of performance reviews, getting ready to start them, or tend to be more informal, this year has been more challenging than most.

Consultant Julie Winkle Giulioni says these two watchwords are the keys to success: grace and accountability.

“Grace refers to confronting the reality of this extraordinary year. In some cases, grace may translate to cutting people the appropriate and fair amount of slack, acknowledging that some things simply became impossible to do,” she writes in her blog.

But at the same time, year-end reviews are a chance for employees to account for their performance — owning it, their effort, and the choices they made.

So, as you discuss performance, balance grace with accountability.

5.  Zingers

• Let It Be:  Author James Clear suggests you join him in making “You’re probably right” a favourite phrase. Whenever somebody disagrees with you on a small matter —and he suggests that covers most things— just shrug, say “you’re probably right,” and move on. (Source: JamesClear.com).
• Coaching Tip:  Coaching in difficult times starts with listening to people’s stories, says leadership coach Marcia Reynolds. But you need to then push further, asking them what they need right now rather than fixating on the story. They may not know exactly, but initiate the journey.  (Source: Seapoint Center).
• Email Winners:  Apple iPhone and Google Gmail are the two most popular email clients in 2020, according to recent research. Keep that in mind for your marketing emails, making them easy to read for those readers.  (Source: MarketingProfs.com).
• Entertainment Everyday:  Entertainment is the currency with which you can purchase the time and attention of a public too busy for your marketing, says advertising consultant Roy H. Williams. (Source: Monday Morning Memo).
• Reach for the Top:  Set higher expectations for yourself than for others, advises leadership coach Dan Rockwell. (Source: Leadership Freak)

6. The Model: Seven Ways to Sell a Game-Changing Idea

As we wrap up our last Water Cooler of the year, here are Seven Ways to Sell a Game-Changing Idea, from Sally Hogshead — an approach built on her seven-category Fascination model for personal branding.

She notes that a game-changing idea means nothing if nobody notices or cares about it.

Here’s her model to do just that by customizing your pitch according to the type of audience:

• Pitching an Audience Keen on Innovation: Make it clear up front that your idea does not follow the usual path. Help them prepare for something unfamiliar and new, perhaps describing it as “groundbreaking” or “provocative”.
• Pitching Someone Guided by Passion:  Before presenting your idea, help your audience warm up to you and your idea. Be authentic and human, not stiff or stilted. Get your listeners excited — if they’re evaluating your idea through the lens of nitpicky numbers, it will be difficult for them to feel an emotional connection.
• Pitching When Quality, Evidence and Logic are Crucial:  Give a calm, unruffled analysis of why your idea makes sense. For someone in the category called a “Mystique” personality, you’re selling the steak, not the sizzle. Don’t overhype your idea, or you could risk turning people off if they think you’re exaggerating. (“This is the greatest idea ever!!!!”).
• Pitching Someone with a Power Personality:  Hogshead recommends that you find one aspect of the idea about which you feel very strongly. “It’s okay to be reserved in your presentation but avoid being perceived as non-committal (or worse, wishy-washy!)”.
• Pitching When Prestige is the Driver:  An idea is only as valuable as its ability to solve a problem. When the key issue involves prestige, help your audience envision how your idea will bring accolades, fame and fortune.
• Pitching When Trust is a Key Value:  Build credibility around your idea right from the start. Reduce the lack of familiarity by providing as many relatable reference points as possible. Look for applicable case studies. Demonstrate how others have used similar approaches —and succeeded.
• Pitching When Safety is Top of Mind:  The “Alert” personality in this model is all about safety.  When presented with different options, it’s easy for the audience to favour the “safe” idea. But “safe” ideas are usually boring, often risky, just as costly and may not get traction. For this group, you need to adjust. Don’t focus just on the upside of a big game-changing idea; contrast it with the downside of playing it safe with a small idea.

Hogshead’s model reflects an audience-centred approach to pitching your idea. This “Fascinate” framework will help you assess your own most comfortable personal style, which you can then adjust to suit different individuals and audiences.

7.  Around Our Water Cooler

What We’re Reading:

• Rob’s Pick:  Habits are the invisible architecture of life, Gretchen Rubin says. In Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives she offers some great insights —from the pillars of habits (monitoring, first things first, scheduling and accountability) to launching new habits (clearing the slate, first steps and lightning bolt moments), plus all the desires, excuses and loopholes that make us “unique” — just like everyone else.
• Harvey’s Pick:  Post Corona: From Crisis to Opportunity by New York University Professor Scott Galloway is a provocative, big picture look at what’s ahead for corporations and the economy, with an expected continuing culling of the herd while the big four — Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google — get bigger and more powerful.

Our 2020 Year-End Shout Out:

At 8020Info, it’s been a year full of surprises but one where we’ve forged ahead with so many meaningful projects, and we’d like to say thanks to all those special people we collaborate with and serve — our clients.

Again this year we helped boards and management teams undertake planning processes, assess the changing landscape, develop new strategies, stakeholder consultations and research, and advised on communication and implementation.

Best wishes of the season from our team to:

• Brockville & District Hospital Foundation
• Brookland Homes
• Carebridge Community Support (Almonte)
• Career Services of Brockville
• City of Kingston (Senior Leadership Team)
• Community Living Kingston & District
• Community Living Lanark
• Downtown Kingston! BIA
• Employment + Education Centre (EEC) Brockville
• Kingston Community Health Centres
• Kingston-Frontenac Anti-Violence Coordinating Committee (KFACC)
• Kingston WritersFest
• Ongwanada (Developmental Services Centre)
• Ontario Tech University (Oshawa)
• Providence Village
• Queen’s Dept. of Family Medicine
• Queen’s Dept. of Human Resources
• Queen’s University Library & Archives
• Resolve Counselling Services Canada
• South Frontenac Museum
• St. Lawrence Cruise Lines
• Vincent De Paul Society of Kingston.

We also salute the good works of those worthy community organizations in our hometown where we contributed this year as supporters and volunteers:

• Community Check-In Calls (COVID) with Mayor Bryan Paterson
• Community Foundation for Kingston & Area
• Compassionate Communities Kingston
• Downtown Kingston! BIA (Marketing Committee)
• Hospice Kingston
• Kingston Canadian Film Festival
• Kingston Social Value Fund
• Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre
• Queen’s Family Health Team
• Shop with a Cop (with Cushman & Wakefield Kingston)
• SPEAKingston (Social-Political-Economic Action Kingston)
• The Art of Courage (Heather Haynes) Foundation
• United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR)

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8020Info helps senior leadership teams and boards develop, clarify and build consensus behind strategic priorities. Our services support strategic planning and change processes, marketing communications and research / stakeholder consultations. We would be pleased to discuss your needs and welcome enquiries.

8.  Closing Thought 

” It took me 60 years to realize that ‘no’ is a complete sentence.”

— Jane Fonda