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Apply these principles in your life and make things better

By on July 15, 2018

 

This past year I took on a new role as the Chair of the Parent Advisory Council (PAC) at my son’s school – a large public school in downtown Vancouver, Canada. It has been incredibly rewarding to work with our team of passionate parent volunteers to make our school a better place, but it’s also had its challenges.

As anyone who’s been in a leadership role knows, making choices that address the needs, interests and priorities of the whole group is a monumental task. In a school with as diverse a population as ours (the families of our 617 students speak 52 different languages in addition to English and cover the full spectrum of religious, political and socioeconomic backgrounds), this task is especially challenging.

In reflecting on how to improve our results next year, I identified several principles and practices that would help us to not only achieve bigger goals, but to do so with less stress and fewer challenges. As I reviewed them, I realized that these same principles and practices would apply to improving leadership, communication, collaboration and results no matter where you live or work.

• Give in the ways people want to receive.

If you want to get your message out you need to communicate it in many different ways. On the surface this is about whether people check their text, e-mail or Facebook feed more often. If you go deeper, however, it’s about understanding the format and context within which your communication is likely to get the most traction. I’m not a super technical person but my business partner is. He’s learned that mid-afternoons are the best time to introduce new tech ideas to me because I’m more likely to have met critical deadlines for the day and will be more receptive. In Japan, the use of keigo or honorific speech is another example of this. Learning this form of the language is something you need to do if you expect to function effectively in business and participate in more formal social gatherings. Whether or not you’re a fan of keigo, the lesson here is that if you only communicate in ways that work for you, you’re going to create challenges all around. If a colleague has a habit of not reading your e-mails for days unless you text them, don’t waste time being frustrated, just text them as soon as you send the e-mail if you need a faster response. The better you get at focusing on the communication needs and preferences of others and adapting yours accordingly, the more success you will have in building relationships and achieving your desired results.

• Once is not enough.

Just as one way of communicating will not work for everyone, communicating your message one time will not be enough. This is especially true if you are asking for behaviour change. People tend to accept the need to tell a child something multiple times for them to learn it or develop a new habit, but they expect permanent and perfect behaviour change from just one communication with an adult. The need for multiple communications of the same thing is even more true today than it was in the past. People are so overloaded with opportunities that they’ve become used to ignoring communication unless it is urgent. Tools have adapted to include features such as reminder functions, but this might just be making the problem worse. I, for example, often neglect to log non-critical events in my calendar because I expect to be reminded multiple times by the event organizer’s sign up systems. Whether you’re selling a product, trying to get your spouse to break that annoying habit, or attempting to get people out to your event, plan to deliver your message multiple times if you want it to be heard.

• Slow down to speed up.

Many of the challenges that occurred over the past year were the result of trying to do things too quickly. Choosing the right words, getting a second opinion and involving people in setting priorities and making decisions  all take time. If you’re a “doer” like me, patience might not be your strong suit, but you can cultivate patience by taking the long view. It might feel like it takes more time to collaborate, to involve different stakeholders, or to do multiple revisions of an important document, but it takes more time to deal with the fallout of a project that literally or figuratively blows up in your face. Even if there’s a low risk of things going wrong, trying to do too much in too short a time frame creates stress that can impede performance. Taking the long view is standard in Japan and has proven to be a key ingredient to success, but there is a dark side to this approach as well. It can be a hiding place for resistance to change. Leaders need to walk a fine line between having ambitious goals that push people out of their comfort zones and timelines that are realistic enough so people don’t burnout before they get there.

• Prioritize progress over perfection.

You can’t please everyone all the time. At a certain point you need to take a risk and take action. This is one area where I think our team did a great job this past year. Once we discovered each person’s strengths and passions and matched them to the needs of our school, everyone took ownership of the projects that were the best fit for them and ran with them. I served as the central check point and brought the whole team together for decisions when needed. Leaders often try to exercise too much control and slow progress down needlessly because they are afraid of mistakes. In some cases, this approach is warranted, but I encourage you to get curious about what the worst consequences could be of “leaping before you look” and how likely they are to occur. Weigh these potential risks against the likelihood and benefits of achieving your goals and determine if it’s worth the risk. With this approach I guarantee that you’ll make mistakes, but I also guarantee you’ll learn a lot more, get a lot more done, and have a lot more fun in the process.

No matter what your job, life constantly calls upon us all to communicate, collaborate and change, so even if leadership isn’t your thing, you can apply these principles in your life and work to improve communication, minimize challenges, and amplify results no matter which country you call home.

About Andrea Jacques

Andrea Jacques is the founder of Kyosei Consulting and the author of Wabi-Sabi Wisdom: Inspiration for an Authentic Life (available on Amazon.com). She has spent more than 30 years developing the potential of people and businesses worldwide, five of which were in Japan. A dynamic speaker, coach, and facilitator, her work integrates spiritual insight with top-tier leadership, wellness and sustainability consulting to help individuals and organizations build thriving, purpose-driven cultures where employees know their work truly matters. She can be contacted through her website at www.kyoseiconsulting.com