There is always something that surprises me when I travel. I am caught up
between feeling a bit uneasy in my skin in a new country and in rapture of the
beauty, culture, and people.
I am on business travel in India for a few weeks. I am ambushed by the stark contrasts of living and the luxuries I am afforded traveling here on business. I often find myself in a little deeper reflection when I'm away, as I watch people more, and listen in deeper ways than I normally do at home in my busy day to day reality.
Two things collided on this trip for me and have left me pondering a universal language that we all need to be more fluent in to be successful.
I've had very engaging meetings with managers and employees on our new "Check-In" framework and it’s exciting to see how removing some structure and labels around performance reviews has freed people to have better, richer, more frequent conversations about performance. This was exactly what we had designed for. However, there are always unintended consequences when launching a major change initiative. One of those consequences seems to be that some of our higher performers are actually not feeling as "special" or as successful as before, when they "knew" they were great, because we attached a label to that success. The thought bothered me as I realized I too, really like that external validation and probably focus on that more than what I learned along the way.
We are so used to grading our success. We spend years in school achieving and being graded on our performance. We spend years competing against others to get the best grades, the best job, and vying for bigger responsibilities and our leader's favor. Some of us along the way focus more on the outcome versus the great learning we have on the way. This seems especially heightened here in India, where the population is so vast, and opportunities limited.
Just after these meetings I had the opportunity to visit a school we sponsor called Parikrima. We arrived mid/late afternoon to big smiles on little faces, glowing with excitement at what they were learning. "Hi Accra" (big sister) they shouted with joy. I saw such a hunger and excitement in their eyes. A hunger to know, to be known, to share what they know, to love and be loved. I visited classes from 10th grade to Kindergarten and the same spark, desire, hunger was there. These kids were sponges. Diligent. Listening intently and when asked a question - hands shot up eager to answer. There were no labels here, no competition, just a room full of bright little minds yearning to learn. What is most interesting about this school, is that its students are from the poorest communities in the city. In just 7 short months, these Kindergartners who were learning English for the first time were singing, greeting me with confidence, and doing math with such quick speed. I was in awe and thought how wonderful it is that an organization like this is changing their lives, and their family's lives.
I thought back to my earlier meeting as I was leaving. I wish that same excitement and joy over what we are learning was enough. Sometimes we've become so focused on achieving, we've forgotten what is most important... The journey. The learning...not the outcome.
One of my leaders I met with that day had shared this statement with me, "There is only success and learning...no such thing as failure." This resonated deeply within me. But as I thought about a bit more, I concluded, there is only learning...and failure to learn. Success just means we learned well.
I'd encourage you to check out Parikrima and learn more...
(http://www.parikrmafoundation.org/html/background.html)
I am on business travel in India for a few weeks. I am ambushed by the stark contrasts of living and the luxuries I am afforded traveling here on business. I often find myself in a little deeper reflection when I'm away, as I watch people more, and listen in deeper ways than I normally do at home in my busy day to day reality.
Two things collided on this trip for me and have left me pondering a universal language that we all need to be more fluent in to be successful.
I've had very engaging meetings with managers and employees on our new "Check-In" framework and it’s exciting to see how removing some structure and labels around performance reviews has freed people to have better, richer, more frequent conversations about performance. This was exactly what we had designed for. However, there are always unintended consequences when launching a major change initiative. One of those consequences seems to be that some of our higher performers are actually not feeling as "special" or as successful as before, when they "knew" they were great, because we attached a label to that success. The thought bothered me as I realized I too, really like that external validation and probably focus on that more than what I learned along the way.
We are so used to grading our success. We spend years in school achieving and being graded on our performance. We spend years competing against others to get the best grades, the best job, and vying for bigger responsibilities and our leader's favor. Some of us along the way focus more on the outcome versus the great learning we have on the way. This seems especially heightened here in India, where the population is so vast, and opportunities limited.
Just after these meetings I had the opportunity to visit a school we sponsor called Parikrima. We arrived mid/late afternoon to big smiles on little faces, glowing with excitement at what they were learning. "Hi Accra" (big sister) they shouted with joy. I saw such a hunger and excitement in their eyes. A hunger to know, to be known, to share what they know, to love and be loved. I visited classes from 10th grade to Kindergarten and the same spark, desire, hunger was there. These kids were sponges. Diligent. Listening intently and when asked a question - hands shot up eager to answer. There were no labels here, no competition, just a room full of bright little minds yearning to learn. What is most interesting about this school, is that its students are from the poorest communities in the city. In just 7 short months, these Kindergartners who were learning English for the first time were singing, greeting me with confidence, and doing math with such quick speed. I was in awe and thought how wonderful it is that an organization like this is changing their lives, and their family's lives.
I thought back to my earlier meeting as I was leaving. I wish that same excitement and joy over what we are learning was enough. Sometimes we've become so focused on achieving, we've forgotten what is most important... The journey. The learning...not the outcome.
One of my leaders I met with that day had shared this statement with me, "There is only success and learning...no such thing as failure." This resonated deeply within me. But as I thought about a bit more, I concluded, there is only learning...and failure to learn. Success just means we learned well.
I'd encourage you to check out Parikrima and learn more...
(http://www.parikrmafoundation.org/html/background.html)
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