2-3-4 Friday
‘Seeking to spark the most potential within you per word of any online newsletter’
1 thought
When I was younger at 25, I thought I was a hotshot. I would give suggestions at meetings, and think my bosses were stupid for not taking these into
consideration.
Unfortunately I didn’t learn.
So one day I was issued with a Performance Improvement Plan (a get better or get sacked plan). For months, I didn’t understand why my good intentions were misread so badly.
I thought that it was because I was young, and that if I was young, then I wouldn’t be taken seriously. That these strategic thinking skills were seen as deviant at the lower levels.
Slowly I’ve realised that it’s
not just that simple.
You and I would have had the experiences where we start with good intentions, wanting to move something, but we end up not getting the impact we want.
Why? Why don’t people see the good intentions that we have?
I think it’s not that they don’t see. But rather it’s that you don’t see them.
I used to think that for ideas were a meritocratic competition. The best idea wins.
No?
Nope. It’s actually the most likeable idea that wins.
People support and push ideas from the people they like, not necessarily the best ideas.
Small yet big difference.
This means a few things.
Firstly, that in pushing your idea, it matters that you play politics. It’s about looking at politics neutrally, rather than something ‘evil’.
That you find out who’s on whose
side, and you work on those that are on the fence.
1 talk
Sometimes success isn’t about being the best, but about being the best-liked.
1 tip
The next aspect is to be likeable. It’s a subtle art.
Like asking about something a colleague told you a while back. His daughter starting school. His mother falling sick. Making that personal connection rather than a work connection.
The second is about aligning interests, and not necessarily positions. Saying things like:
- here we share a common interest in making this office work. Where we
might differ is how to make that happen.
Does something work better for you?
Share them with me (please?)
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John
Live Young, Live Well - Work Your Love