People are not broken; Do not try to fix them

It was 4 am. I was wide awake this morning. My wife had just come to bed. She has a much different sleeping routine than I, due to years working late nights. Soon she was sound asleep. But I was wide awake. Why? Because of some events and conversations I have recently had that were just eating away at my psyche and core being. These conversations had led me to keep mulling over in my mind a piece of wisdom that I have promoted during training and among friends for several years now:

"People are not broken; do not try to fix them"

This idea comes from the works of Marcus Buckingham. He wrote a number of insightful books including my favorite called First Break All The Rules. The works talk about how we have traditionally focused on people's skills (learned capabilities) rather than their inherent talents (innate capabilities). Because we focus on skills we miss the boat as it were. When someone fails to accomplish something we want them to accomplish we assume they are broken and try to fix them (which Buckingham reinforces through research is just not true). What both Buckingham and others (including W. Edwards Deming--the father of quality management) show is that it is the system that is broken not the person. If a person fails at a task it is because the task has not been identified correctly or a person's talents do not align to the task or most often the process for doing the task is poorly designed. So it is not people who are broken, rather the system of managing, leading and governing people that is broken. We need to fix the system, not the people.

I have been feeling this pressure put on me lately, especially at work. A lot of it comes down to trust. Do you trust those around you? Those you work with? Those you work for? Those who work for you? I had a boss in a previous life who kept telling me "Trust but verify". If you need to verify do you really, truly trust? Or do you play at trusting and do not believe that people are capable of extraordinary things? I try to trust those I encounter until they show me they cannot be trusted. Does this come with risk? Yes, but life is one BIG risk. If you live in fear and paranoia all the time you are not living a full and complete life. You are hampering yourself from growth, learning, experience and self-actualization (as Abraham Maslow called it in his famous Hierarchy of Needs).

The great people of history have things in common. One of them is that they recognized that avoiding risk would get them nowhere. Another element is trust. They trusted people, events and higher powers to see them through to their desired ends. Third they lived out the belief that "people are not broken; we do not need to fix them. The situation or condition is broken; We need to fix that instead."

I hope my own situation will resolve itself to a good end. I trust that it will.

Profit alone is a stupid goal

Profit alone is a stupid goal

An interesting article that reflects some of my own thinking of late.

Philosophy of Help

It has been about a year since I posted to this online journal. It was not really intended to be a perfectly ongoing thing. Only a way to capture thoughts and share them with others when appropriate. Life has been busy (which is both good and bad) so some things do not get done, even when we want to do them.

I have been capturing thoughts in my written journal as we attend church and at others times. I have even encountered Other People's Wisdom many times. But getting to write about it has not always been my priority or other's priorities for me or I have just not had the energy or a number of other excuses. But it has weighed on my mind. So now that I am writing this perhaps I will write more.

I have encountered a number of times over the last year that my true communal and somewhat socialist leanings (some may have even thought anti-greed) have come to light. I have always known I have these leanings, but others have begun to recognize them in me. I am not by any means ashamed or guilty or worried about wanting to achieve the best for every one through equality.

So given that I had on my heart to express how I see the world. I will call it the philosophy of help. It pretty much sums up how I see things in life and what motivates and drives me.

So here it is:

• Those who can, need to help those who cannot
• Those who may, need to help those who may not
• Those who might, need to help those who might not
• Those who shall, need to help those who shall not
• Those who should, need to help those who should not
• Those who will, need to help those who will not
• Those who have, need to help those who have not
• Those who are equal, need to help those who equal not
• Those who know, need to help those who know not
• Those that believe, need to help those who believe not

Well that is it. My way of life. If you have others please feel free to add to the list. I am sure I already try to practice it, no matter how porrly or insufficiently.