Sustainable Business Learning Community Conversations, Jan - Feb 2013

January 24, 2013 Topic: Setting Goals, Part 2: Knowing How to Identify Meaningful Goals?

Comments from last week's discussion on Intuition vs. Logic in Decision-Making:

When you have to make a decision at a rough period, rely on your support group and your inner self.

Decisions are rarely just one decision. Ask: How much of this decision has to be made right now, how much can be decided later? What's the smallest decision I can make right now and what can I move to later?

Even when things are going well, make sure to not be overconfident to the point where you don't think things through and then make a bad decision. Note to self: Things are never as bad as they seem to be, nor are they ever as good as they seem to be.

When you make a mistake or a bad decision, recognize that you've messed and don't make more bad decisions to overcompensate for it.

When all your options are bad, try to choose the least bad outcome you can tolerate.

A lot a preparation (repetition or practice) in advance can help you to make better decisions. Like doctors, for example - They have to be very well prepared and sometimes a bit disconnected in order to do their job well and make the proper decisions during difficult circumstances.

The necessity of errors: Errors are an essential part of growing and improving. Recognize the opportunity that errors present to you for learning and growth.

Evaluate your thought processes immediately preceding a bad decision that was made. If you can recognize these early thoughts that led to bad choices, you might be able to avoid them. These same kind of processes exist in business - we just go along with how things are done without really thinking about what we're doing and whether or not it is the right thing to do.

Should nothing really be not negotiable? In any situation, opposites exist and they can both be true. Some things truly are not negotiable (i.e., no smoking in the GG). Other things should be negotiable. If everything were not negotiable, that's a bad thing, and if everything WERE negotiable, that's also a bad thing. You have to find a balance. Even in nature, there are limits - if its warm in March and freezes in April, you can't have cherries in July. You operate within a system and you always have a choice, but every choice has its own consequences.

Topic Today: Setting Meaningful Goals/Objectives for Your Business

How do we go about setting goals for our business? Sometimes goal-setting can be an intuitive process, but how do you set goals for something or in an area that is not intuitive for you? How do you know what might be a real and meaningful goal, and what is just a passing whim? What methods or processes do we use for setting goals?

Cory: Keep your goals SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound).

What about goals that you will never reach, but you will always strive to attain? Can you still call them goals or is it more accurate to call them a value or aspiration instead?

Ask your clients what they want from your business. Two-way communication with your customers/clients should be part of the decision-making process for your business.

Who is impacted by your goals? You can set up your own personal goal, but does that effect the group? Is your goal related to all activities or just some of the activities? Is setting a goal the most important thing that you are doing? You can go through a goal-setting process, but it can be messy if you don't really understanding the implications of what you are doing.

Every business has 2 sides: you have to serve your customers well, but also have to serve yourself well. If your business doesn't provide you with what you need, you could end up hating your business. You have to really find that balance between customer and self.

Tom's lesson: Your business goals have to be tied to the strategy of the company. But first:

• Determine what you're measuring and what significance this has to the company.
• Mature processes: The decisions you make and the work that you do must sit on processes that are mature. If processes aren't balanced, you will overcorrect (tilt) and you'll just keep making mistakes. So focus on the processes and get those under control before you even begin to set goals. If you don't, you will not only destroy your business, but you'll destroy the people working for you because they will be trying to do something that the processes aren't set up to do.
• Then, capture the actual. If you don't do that, then you are analyzing incorrect information.
• Learning/continuous improvement - You need a learning process in place that allows you to improve continuously, refining tasks, skills, goals, and lets you achieve a new level of learning.

When you're starting out, your initial goal we could call an aspiration. You don't put any measurement on it because you haven't even designed your processes yet. Your aspiration gives you direction without being specific (as is a goal) - kind of like the "heading north to sustainability" aspiration for the GG. If you have an immature process and you force people to meet a goal, they WILL fudge the numbers so that it appears that they have met their goals. But then, of course, none of this will be real.

When do you accept that a goal you've set is unattainable and move on? In goals, sometimes our ego can get in the way. How do you know when to leave it alone and when to persist?

When do we examine the value or validity of the goal itself?

• You might start to sense (intuition) that things aren't going as well as you'd like.
• Realize that goals are a man-made construct, not something that's naturally occurring.
• Immerse yourself as closely as you can in the reality of the thing - listen, observe. See whether the goal that you've set is connected in any way with what is really happening. Examine your goals and ask yourself, do they really matter?
• Are the goals that you set a result of your operating out of fear and anxiety? Are putting up a wall that is keeping you from achieving what you truly want?

Perseverance: There's a trade off in persevering, because if you take the time to persevere in the pursuit of a particular goal or objective, you might be losing time in which you could do something more interesting or valuable to you. Is this the right moment to do be investing this kind of time? When does perseverance turn into stubbornness?

January 17, 2013 Topic: Decision Making: Logical Process vs. Intuition

Comments from last week's conversation on Dissent:

• Change is often a trigger for friction or dissent. Be aware that some people embrace change while others find it difficult to deal with, especially if they don't understand what the change means or how it will affect them. You will have to work through these dissenting opinions if you mean to effect change in your organization.

• Some of us are afraid to implement change because we don't like to upset others.

• Dissenters need respect and a place at the table.

• Seek out dissent. Be proactive, encouraging differing perspectives.

• It can be the role of a facilitator to bring to a discussion the positive value of dissent.

• Dissent can be connected to cultural bias; because things are the way they are, we seem to agree that this is the way things ought to be, but right and wrong can be fluid depending the culture you are coming out of. Change is uncomfortable sometimes - challenge yourself to look outside your comfort zone.

• Ability to listen is so important; it's good to be quiet and really hear what the other person is saying.

• Bring dissent back to the workplace. Few people are right all the time, so dissent is crucial in order to have a truly broad perspective, and should be encouraged. An office should be a community. Having an environment where dissent is encouraged allows visionaries to float some ideas and bounce them off of their co-workers.

• It's important to have people whose opinions you can rely on.

When you make a decision, do you trust your head or your heart... or both?

Topic today: Decision Making - Intuition vs Cognitive or Logical Process

Questions: How do you decide which path you want to take? How do you tell the difference between which thoughts are just thoughts, and which are real and valid ideas? How do you balance logical analysis with intuition?

• Intuition: A bad decision can be revealed intuitively - you just feel that it isn't the right thing to do. Verbalizing it might just be enough to clarify your opinion on a direction you are considering.

• Some of us need a lot of time to make a decision. But what if you don't have a lot of time? Stay true to yourself - know yourself so if you make a decision, you have a foundation from which to work.

• When logic tells you one thing but your feelings tell you something else, what do you do? Go back to the essence of yourself or your work. Ask yourself, does this choice for my business actualize my personal goals, the seed of the idea for my business?

• Tilt (poker term): Make sure that you don't take actions when you are in "tilt" mode (frustrated, angry), actions that overcompensate for problems you might have in your business. They will probably be the wrong decisions. Learn to recognize this state of mind and avoid making decisions when you're in the middle of it.

• How much of good decision making is because you're in a good mental place? How do people make a habit of making good decisions? How does it become easy?

• Don't play out scenarios - they clog your brain with meaningless stuff and are unhelpful.

• Limit the number of decisions you make in a day. The fewer decisions you have to make in a day, the better quality of decisions you will make. Put the decisions in front of you that you want to make, not the ones you hate to make and eliminate those decisions that are really trivial. Save some mind space - clear your brain a bit :)

• Look at decision making as a process rather than a one time right/wrong thing.

• Recognize which decisions are important vs. not important. You can get clouded in immaterial choices or decisions. How do you tell the difference? If you know yourself and know the path your on, telling the difference will be easier. Choose where you want to fill up your mental real estate and let the rest go.

• Practice making decisions so that you can better recognize how you make decisions, what works for you and what doesn't. That strengthens the value of the decisions that you do make. Indecision is a decision.

• Ideas - seeds - should come from love/passion/real needs - keep reflecting back on that. Be sure to identify what you DON"T want to do.

• When you're told something is non-negociable flags should go up. You made a wrong turn somewhere.

• How do you know when you're ready to make a decision?
  • Sometimes you're forced to make a decision (you're let go, have to find a new job).
  • If you've set a goal, then the decisions fall into place and will feel right.
  • Remember that all decisions, good or bad, are just part of the journey. If you've made a decision that didn't work out well, recognize it and learn from it.
  • You're ready to make a decision when you are ready to accept the consequences of it, when you're at peace with it.

• Look inward: Our tendency is to look outside ourselves when we're trying to make decisions, rather than looking inward. What do other people do? What will other people think?

January 10, 2013 Topic: The Language of Dissent

Comments from last week's conversation on New Year's Resolutions:

• Recognize your skills and what you do well; make sure that you're using those assets fully.

• We have a natural energy that is already in motion and will evolve in its own time. Are we superimposing a "plan" or "vision" over that natural energy that doesn't sync well with it?

• Having too many "shoulds" in your vocabulary when talking about a business isn't helpful. It imposes too much expectation, obligation, guilt. "Should" almost implies a moral imperative, when what you often mean is that you would "like" to do something, but it isn't an imperative. Change "should" to "could." "Could" can more easily translate into "I will" or "I can."

• Evaluating our progress: When we judge our own progress we can often be negative and harsh. We are creating something beautiful, but then apply analysis, evaluation, judgement with negative effect. How do we balance finding a way to make our idea better without destroying the beauty of the initial concept? Instead of trying to critique a situation, you want to think about a problem and say, "I recognize that this is a problem, but what does this mean?"

What is the value of dissent in an organization?

Today's topic: The Language of Dissent

How do you create an environment where dissenting views are encouraged and welcome? How can dissent be institutionalized in an organization? Does your business create opportunities for dissension?

• It's imperative that we have an openness in the sustainability discussion to dissenting opinions. Sometimes a dissenting opinion could simply be a difference in priorities - "This is more important right now than that."

• What's the difference between dissenting views and defiance? Is defiance the voice of dissent that is not heard?

• The word "dissent" can have negative connotations. Is it OK to ask for dissent? Or, is it better to say something like, "Do you have any concerns about this? Any alternatives?" An "alternative" can exist side by side in a non-hierarchical way with the main plan and not contain any negative meaning.

• We exist in a culture full of competing ideas and those ideas that come out on top are the ones that are then considered "right." But in many cases, there aren't always rights or wrongs, just different cultural values. Are we open to these differences?

• Is there something at work that you don't like or you disagrees with but you don't know how to resolve? It is a fallacy that you can't criticize something if you don't have a solution. You have to be able to talk about things that you don't agree with, even if you don't know how to fix them. Otherwise, there won't be many avenues to open discussion for alternative thinking or ideas.

• What happens when there's somebody in the group that hasn't moved past dissension and the only voice in their head is a voice of dissent? How can you meet them where they are, without bringing in any negative language, and help them move beyond dissension?
  • Language matters. The more we limit our vocabulary, the more we limit our honesty. How can we be honest and express our dissent using the "right words" without being hurtful or insulting?
  • Let the other person use the language they need to use so you can understand them and their point of view (can walk in their shoes a bit) - that's them being more honestly themselves - you can better understand them if they're being more honest about who they are.
  • Recognize that language is very powerful.

January 3, 2013 Topic: New Year's Resolutions

Ok, sometimes it's hard to admit that there's room for improvement...

Topic: New Year's Resolutions for our Sustainable Businesses

Several members of our Sustainable Business Community share below their resolutions for 2013 relating to their work in bringing sustainable businesses to Detroit.

• Stay focused, but don't expect to get things done sooner than they can be done.

• Be thankful: Be appreciative of the support of others, those who have helped you, have worked with you, have talked to you. Be aware of what is already around you, rather than focusing on what is not there. Be present in thankfulness.

• Be comfortable with your pace of learning - don't expect to know everything right now. Understand that there is no expiration date to learning. You will continue to learn throughout your life - embrace it!

• Spend time thinking about things before you act. It's better to do nothing than to do something you haven't thought through. "You gotta go slow to go fast."

• Spend energy problem-solving rather than "Pivoting." Learn to recognize when to problem-solve (stick to your goal and work through problems) vs. when to pivot (recognize that your goal cannot be achieved and you need to rethink your path).

Inspired by the book The Future of the Past, here are some of Tom's thoughts:

• • Become more aware of what the changing spirit will be for Detroit and try to find his place in it and understand what his contribution can be. There are so many threads to this spirit that need to be understood, social change, history, etc.
  • Balance: In his present study of ecology, Tom has learned that more of a good thing isn't necessarily better. There needs to be a proper recipe, a proper balance in order to find the best result. As the city is undergoing a profound change and he is finding himself in the middle of it all, he is trying to find the natural "chemistry", the biology of this changing spirit and where he fits in. Quote from Tunde's mom: Just because you are rich doesn't mean you should pour a lot of salt into your soup. (More salt is not a good thing - there has to be a balance)
  • Recommended: Detroit City is the Place to Be: At the end of the book, the author expresses a hopefulness about the future of the city.
  • Recognize that it's ok if we are NOT really seeing the changing spirit of Detroit very clearly right now. As with most things, we will probably understand it better in hindsight. Example: The Alley; Tom didn't realize how deeply individuals would be affected by changing the alley.
  • Look back and remember to be thankful.

• Michael: Wants to evolve in his role as a leader. He's in the process of developing a model to use story-telling as a means to advance social justice. In doing this, he wants to create a space for creative people to do really good work without his having to be involved in every detail.
  • Why is this important?

1. He wants to gain experience in a new kind of role.
2. Wants to create something that will be self-sustaining
3. Wants to challenge his tendency to want to control everything and allow himself to give over control to others.

For those of our group who do research writing:

• Be mindful in the present of how their work will impact people in the future. Are you writing a paper for peer-reviewed academia or are you writing it to make an impact on people in the future?