One of my teammates has a way with words. Her words flow when she’s in mode. By “in mode”, I mean those wonderful times when the heart and mind are aligned, and, the little voice inside speaks up and says big ideas in a precise and elegant, or insightful way.
Sometimes it’s like Dr. Seuss, and other times, it’s more like Hemmingway. Either way, it makes my day. Here is an example:
“Process for process sake is not good for goodness sake.” — Lynn A. Edmark
As you know, I’m a fan of one-liners that stick, and this one’s got Velcro. This quotable quote is especially sticky for me, because I’ve seen bad process happen to good people. It’s true … too much of a good thing, really is a bad thing. In fact, one of my mentors poses a riddle along these lines …
“How much process should there be?”
… and his answer always is …
… “Just enough.”
I agree. While I’m a fan of process, and I bring process to people, it’s all with one main goal in mind:
Empower people.
That trumps all. For me, I use process to help people move up the stack, build better habits, and break through limiting ones. I could go on about the ups and downs of process, but suffice it to say, that when the pendulum swings too far, the trick is not just to swing it back, but to find the balance.
How do you find the balance? Through a simple guiding question:
“Is it effective?”
Yeah, that might sound simple, but you’d be surprised just how often and just how much, that question cuts through the fog to get to what counts.
Photo by mpeterke.
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