A Learning Culture

This week's post comes from Jack Woelber.

When we hire new employees at Interstates, we often share that we are committed to employee development and learning. We want employees to grow, we want to provide opportunities, and we want a learning culture. (And frankly, many new employees tell us we do pretty well at it with our commitment to EIL, education budgets, etc.) What I think might be good for us to reflect on is the question, “What is a learning culture?”

I’d like to suggest that when we think of Interstates as having a learning culture, we place a lot of emphasis on the individual, and the individual receiving “the learning.” I believe there is more to it than that. I believe if we want a learning culture, we need to create a curiosity in each individual to figure out how to make the organization better. It is the combination of educating the individual as well as the organization that allows us to get better and continuously improve. 

Recently I was reviewing a book written about Jack Welch and GE. Welch was the CEO of GE from 1981 to 2001. There was a paragraph in that book that stood out to me:“Building a learning culture has put pressure on GE’s leaders. Steve Kerr says, ‘Sometimes the leaders have said to me, ‘I have a best practice, and Jack Welch is coming to visit. Help me move the best practice around the company. I don’t want to get caught with it alone when Jack arrives.’  The point is that the manager understands there will be no reward for having a good idea, only in sharing it with others.” 

How good are we at sharing “it” with others? Whether the sharing is between team members or across the Interstates Companies, do we really make it a point to share our best practices and ideas? Do we feel a sense of responsibility to make sure our good idea is available to others so they can implement something similar or improve on our idea?

As the Interstates Companies, like GE, we have a great opportunity to find better ways of doing things. We have peers and counter parts all across Interstates that are great resources to help us learn. At times, I think we do very well at collaborating and sharing ideas. However, I know we (myself included) have a lot of opportunity to continue to grow in this area.

I have two challenges for you:
1. Be open and curious as to what others are doing from which you might learn.
2. Think of one thing you are doing that might be worth sharing with someone else that they might learn from you. 

Continue Leading the Interstates Way!
Jack Woelber

Anticipation or Anxiety?

This week's blog post comes from Scott Peterson.

We can be our own worst enemy or we can be our best asset. It depends on our mental model/perspective/attitude. When we look at things through a lens of anticipation instead of a lens of anxiety, we can experience greater fulfillment. 

What is the difference between anticipation and anxiety? 

• Anxiety is the fear of what might happen (experiencing failure in advance, negative, etc.)
• Anticipation is the excitement about something that is going to happen (preparing for something that you enjoy, positive, gives you energy, etc.)

To quote The Most Interesting Man in the World (from the Dos Equis commercials) -- "I don't always use my lens of anticipation, but when I do good things usually happen."

Anxiety can pop up for a ton of different reasons (unexpected changes, tasks we are avoiding, tough subjects or conversations, etc.). When I operate from a fear-based perspective, my anxiety increases and my productivity, energy and fun drop dramatically. The reason for this is that I spend all my time thinking about all the different things that could go wrong (before they do) and then I procrastinate. It is a vicious cycle.  

Anticipation is also thinking about the future; however, it is the antonym of anxiety because you're looking at things from a positive perspective. For example, ask yourself, "What if I lean into this tough conversation?" There are many positive outcomes:

• You could have a stronger relationship with that person
• You might be able to really help him/her be more successful
• You could help him/her grow as a person
• And many other possibilities

In the next week I am going to approach situations with the lens of anticipation, and as a result I will have less anxiety when problems pop up. 

Please share one example of when you or someone you know took the anticipation highway and avoided the anxiety tunnel.

Have a great week and continue leading the Interstates way!

Scott Peterson

Leading with Integrity

This week's post comes from Doug Post.

Sometimes the morality of "being a person of integrity" gets in the way of integrity's workability. So let's set the moral component of integrity aside for a moment.

From a performance perspective, integrity means, "I do what I say . . . every time." Integrity is based on honoring and keeping your word. That’s why Interstates has defined integrity as "being honest and forthright in all our dealings."  Honesty and integrity are two sides of the same coin. Michael Hyatt puts it well: honesty is making your words match reality; integrity is making reality match your words.

In the workability sense, the Nazis had tremendous integrity. They said "we will kill the Jews and create living space." They went and did it at such a level that it took the rest of the world to stop them.

There is little integrity in the world. Doctors say they will see you at 11:00 a.m. A coworker says he will have a report ready by noon. Government leaders say they will act in the best interest of the country. But doctors have "waiting" rooms, coworkers often disappoint us,  and government leaders act in their own best interest. This is not always the case, but integrity is an all or nothing game.

Zig Ziglar said, "The most important persuasion tool you have in your entire arsenal is integrity." Choosing to live in integrity is the greatest commitment you can make to those around you. It is an essential value of high-performance groups.

When you lead your next project team, consider asking the people in your team to live in integrity for the duration of the project. Set a rule that there are no small or big promises; there are only promises, and all promises will be kept. You may stir up a strong knee-jerk reaction--the invitation to live with integrity terrifies people. It is not easy to be true to our word, but do you want to be involved with a project in which deadlines become "guidelines" and meetings start "around" nine o'clock?

In a high performance culture, a "yes" means you're done. In a low performance culture, getting a "yes" means you still need to follow-up, plead, renegotiate, explain delays, postpone other projects, etc.

To lead others with integrity requires you to embody and teach three skills:

1. You must understand what you have been requested to give your word to.
2. Say "yes" only when you mean it and are willing to act, even at personal cost.
3. Get very good at saying "no," because that is going to be your most common response.

Integrity is the source of trust. Trust enables intimacy with others. This gets us back to the broader, moral perspective of integrity that we simply cannot forget!

At Interstates, we build relationships through integrity. Leading with integrity includes discerning what is right and what is wrong so that what we do is best for the people we lead and serve. It also means avoiding the dark side of integrity: holier-than-thou, rigid, pushing personal standards on others, always saying exactly and completely what we think, etc. Our value then becomes a vice and we no longer build relationships.

Integrity is not easy, but it is simple: do what you say. "Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'" (Matthew 5:37).

Where do you believe we live and lead with integrity?  Where don't we?

 

Continue Leading the Interstates Way!

Doug Post

External sources: The Primes by Chris McGoff and Executive EQ by Robert Cooper