by Shawn | May 17, 2021 | Podcast
Back in Episode 22 I introduced the idea of the four personality types that I first heard described by Gary Smalley years ago.
The four types are Lion, Otter, Beaver and Golden Retriever.
There are certainly tons of assessments these days for personality, mindset, strengths, and how we relate to the world. But this is still one of the simplest and one of the most profound that I’ve seen.
And along with helping us understand more about ourselves and those we do life with, they are also helpful in the workplace, helping us to understand our team members and how to work well together.
This week, we’re going to dig into each of the four. And today’s focus will be on the Lions.
As you might expect, the lions are the natural leaders, the ones who will step into a room and take charge.
They have no problem speaking up and are great at charging forward with a plan.
We need lions in our organizations. And you might very well be one yourself.
We need their strength, their courage, their ability to hold steady, set a vision and bring others along with them.
Like with lions in the wild, there is often no question who the lions of your organization are.
They are often confident, vocal, decisive, tenacious and driven.
They are a vital part of giving a team a path forward and paving that path as they go.
As with the other personalities, lions also have weaknesses and blind spots.
Lions can sometimes roll right over others, especially their soft-spoken golden retriever colleagues.
They can be prone to not really listening well or taking others views into account.
Because they are able to come into a situation, quickly assess, and make decisions, they may not take the time to understand the work that has already been done or decisions that have already been thought through. And this can sometimes leave others feeling invisible.
Their natural opposite is the people and feeling-centric golden retrievers.
You get the picture.
Every organization needs each of these personalities to thrive. And they need to understand who they have on board to really figure out how to work best together, see each other’s blind spots and leverage the strengths that each person brings to the table.
So maybe you could start to make up a list of the different personalities on your team today.
Starting with the lions… which shouldn’t be hard.
Just listen for the roar.
Thanks for listening to today’s episode. I’d love hear from you about today’s topic or just in general. You can shoot me an email at shawn@shawnwashburn.com or head to shawnwashburn.com/contact and you’ll find links to connect with me on social media as well.
by Shawn | May 14, 2021 | Podcast
If my pre-calc teacher from the late 80s is listening, I want to say right now that I’m sorry for what you’re about to hear.
You were great. Really, you were. But… I was someone who could get bored sometimes and looked for something creative to do.
I can still remember sitting in that high school pre-calc class with my brand new Casio fx-7500G scientific, graphing, hinged, flip open calculator.
Now I know that I actually used it at some point to draw graphs and do… you know… pre-calc stuff.
But this thing also had the ability to write and save programs.
Programs that could, say, create a fun mini gambling game where if you guessed the right number you could double your imaginary calculator money.
Or, if a certain student not to be named here was interested in doing so, they could create a program to graph something like Bart Simpson… for example.
Suffice to say, both of those kept me company throughout the year along with other fun exploits on the Casio.
But do you know what the most amazing thing is about that calculator?
It’s still working. Today. In May 2021.
In fact, I have it right in front of me and it’s still my go-to after 30 years. Though now, I actually use it for stuff like math.
Not only does it still work, but did I mention it was hinged?
I’m talking about a hinged calculator that has been opened and shut thousands of times over the last 30 years.
More than enough times to ruin most hinged devices that you might find today.
But not my Casio. Still going strong.
I kind of keep picturing the day that I’m going to go to turn it on or open up the hinge and it will just have finally given out.
And I’ll sort of hold it there in my palm, rest my other hand on top of it and whisper quietly “You were such a good calculator and I’ll never forget you”.
But, that day hasn’t come… yet.
So, why am I rambling on about a thirty year old calculator?
Because back in the late 80s the people of Casio decided to make something that would last.
And whenever I use my calculator, there is a voice inside of me that sort of nudges me to do the same.
Make something that will last.
Do something worthwhile. With your work. With your life. In your family. In your community.
Leave a mark. Make an impact that will resonate for decades to come.
Create a product, capture a photograph, give a speech, build a structure, write a book, record a podcast, serve exceptionally.
Whatever it is that you’re about today, consider putting just a little bit more of yourself into it.
You never know when that thing you’re creating might just be sitting on someone’s desk 30 years from now… or helping them graph pictures of Bart Simpson.
Either way, you’ll know that you’ve done something pretty special.
Make something that lasts.
Thanks for listening to today’s episode. Connect with me on Instagram @shawnwashburn7
by Shawn | May 11, 2021 | Podcast
At home, we have these small square plastic containers with lids.
We often use them to bring along some kind of dip or peanut butter or whatever.
Simple little things.
Container. Lid. That’s it.
Unless you add in the fact that there are two types that look almost identical.
And the fact that their lids are not interchangeable. So, if you grab the wrong lid, even though it looks like it should fit…. it won’t.
I need to come up with a better system to keep them straight and not get myself frustrated when I grab the wrong one, but this is what happens time and again in businesses. Maybe ones like yours.
I’m not saying that your business uses small square plastic containers (though if you did want to tote in some peanut butter with your apples, I highly recommend them).
But rather, it’s little variances that exist, little gaps in your standards and processes that open the door for frustration, scrap, customer relationship issues and more.
It’s why it’s so important to have clear, established instructions and rules in place when they are needed.
Sometimes, of course, there is room for creativity or personal preference and you might even rely on that being the case for specific parts of your business.
But it is those other areas, those crucial tasks that need to be done a certain way but aren’t. That’s where the problem can come in.
Like those lids that looked very similar, you might have wording that is open to interpretation or documents that aren’t exactly clear.
Your people are trying to put the wrong lid on the container and it’s getting everyone frustrated as well as causing lost hours and worse.
So, identify those gaps, shore up your standards, and invite others to help you create the right wording or signage or steps that leave no doubt what needs to happen.
As for my containers, what would you do? Permanently mark them to identify? Keep them in separate spots? Something else? Let me know by shooting me a message on Instagram at shawnwashburn7.
Thanks for listening to today’s episode. I’d love hear from you about today’s topic or just in general. You can shoot me an email at shawn@shawnwashburn.com or head to shawnwashburn.com/contact and you’ll find links to connect with me on social media as well.
by Shawn | May 10, 2021 | Podcast
Have you ever recorded a podcast episode?
There are a ton of podcasts out there in the world today. I’m not sure how many, but I know that chances are some of my listeners have their own podcast. As an aside, if you’re ever interested or think you have something you’d like to share with the world via podcast, I’d love to talk to you about it.
If you’ve ever recorded your own and then edited it, you’ve had the chance to see what a waveform looks like.
When you record your audio into an audio editing program, it creates a visual waveform that is a translation of sorts of what you just spoke into your microphone.
It’s really powerful, because it lets you see pauses in the conversation, spikes in the volume and more. In fact, the more you get into it, you can even get to where you can start to identify actual patterns, like a lip smack or an “um” or an inhale. It makes me think of the movie The Matrix where they watch these green rows of characters scroll down the screen but are able to translate those in their minds into a park bench or a steak or… bacon.
Anyway, I don’t edit my current podcast very much but recently I was thinking about how difficult it would be to try to do any editing if the waveform was just a straight line.
If you were trying to find specific spot in an interview or conversation, the whole thing would look the same and it would make it very difficult.
That’s one of the reasons why the visual waveform is so powerful.
And the idea carries of over to your business as well.
So, I’ve talked before about the power of visual communication in the workplace.
It’s one of those things that I’m really wired for and passionate about.
The more visual you can make things, the easier for everyone to know a status or communicate in the same way.
This can be using project management tools that let you know what is due next, or conditional formatting (one of my favorite Excel features) in Excel to highlight cells that meet a certain criteria.
It could be clearly marking where physical things should go on your desk or on a manufacturing floor, so that if the space is empty or the wrong thing is there, you can see it without too much searching.
It can even be including a screenshot of a dashboard of an Excel file that is sent out to a large distribution list, allowing people who only need that basic information to get it without opening the file itself, while others can dig deeper if they’d like.
The key is to take some time to try to identify areas where either a lot of miscommunication is happening or if there unnecessary effort being put in to get answers to questions that could have been answered by more visual posting or communication in your organization.
I will keep coming back around to this one because I’ve seen what can happen over and over when miscommunication or not enough communication happens.
So, why not ask some of your team members today where they have seen miscommunication or extra work happening and let them get creative about how to solve it with visual communication.
Thanks for listening to today’s episode. I’d love hear from you about today’s topic or just in general. You can shoot me an email at shawn@shawnwashburn.com or head to shawnwashburn.com/contact and you’ll find links to connect with me on social media as well.
by Shawn | May 7, 2021 | Podcast
On today’s Ode to the Office episode, I’m paying tribute to our long-time companion, the Undo button.
I honestly don’t know what we’d do without… well… un-do. We’re so used to being able to make a mistake and just undo it.
We owe so much to this special function that has retrieved and revived and saved us from ourselves… time and time again.
And now, Ode to Undo
Ode to Undo
I’m not sure what we did before you came into our lives
It’s hard to think of how the world was then
Unable to recover losses even though we tried
We were lost and helpless, time and time again
But with one click of a button you erased away our fears
Or better put, you brought back what we lost
Deleted files or words or phrases, no longer brought us tears
You saved the day, no matter what it cost
So thank you undo button, you have been there through it all
Picking through the trash of our mistakes
And even though you cannot save us from a REPLY ALL
At least you give us hope for second takes
Thanks for listening to today’s episode. If you’ve got an idea for a future Ode to the Office episode, shoot me an email at shawn@shawnwashburn.com.
