Leadership Blog
Perceptional Empathy
Many times we are asked to be empathetic towards one another. Generally speaking, we aren't great at it and I offer that this is due to our inability to distinguish sympathy verse empathy.
In my opinion:
Sympathy is the emotional capability to feel sad for someone purely based on perception and/or imagined relative pain.
Empathy is the actionable element to sympathy, i.e. not only do you feel sad for someone's situation, the association with it is even greater because you have a personal expierence with something very similar.
I think it is a fair expectation that we all practice sympathy. We should allow emotions into our relationships, just not our decisions. I know, I still haven't answered what is perceptional empathy. Here goes nothing ;)
By definition, we cannot be empathic to everything because most of us lack the experience, but it is much more likely that we have tangential experience. This is where we can make some assumptions around some ones situation, not from a judgement perspective but rather support.
Out of this arises Perceptional Empathy, which is the relational element to sympathy where you have the capability to relate to a situation beyond feelings of sympathy. Facts over feelings will always be one of my mottos and with almost perfect harmony, I believe that when an experience is shared (even if at a small level) it will develop a bond in at least the situation(s) that call for it.
Reflection:
Can you identify the difference between sympathy and empathy in your life?
How many times have you had at least perceptional empathy?
How can you or have you developed bonds without the shared experience?
Interested in learning more or conversating? Reach out via www.calendly.com/rhinoadvisingllc [calendly.com] or rhinoadvisingllc@gmail.com
01/2024
The Human Component to Automation
My previous article, Technology via the people, is a great precursor to what I’m writing about now.
Automation, especially that of our power system, is hands down one of my favorite topics. The operational components it enables and when done correctly, the adaptability in technology development and implementation is second to none.
All of this comes at a price and I don’t mean this in a traditional “negative” sense but rather a price of equity (the quality of being fair and impartial). Has the human component of your automation strategy been developed?
Step outside of your industry / technical area and have a conversation about automation. I would bet at least 8 out of 10 times, you get a reaction about people’s jobs, families, control or some associated comment. If you were listening with intent, then you would of just gained useful insight and a key element to humanizing your strategy.
What is strategy in this context? Roadmap, sure. Timelines, sure. Budget, sure. What about people and engagement? It’s hard to pencil this in your Microsoft Project. If it were, this single task would be leading your project by years and rightfully so. The minute you start thinking about new technology is the moment you should start your engagement and education campaign.
I had a leader, years ago at this point, tell me to never assume because it makes an ass out of u and me. Clever, maybe but definitely very true. You can’t assume everyone sees the long term strategy of what you are doing nor can you assume they feel equipped to handle it. This educational moment is opportunity and when done properly in advance, can lead to new levels of success.
The hard truth is, no matter what you do, there will always be someone that is impacted in a way they didn’t want to be. Doesn’t mean what you’ve done is right or wrong, it means you have to be prepared for the entire gambit of reactions. It’s your responsibility, as a technologist and leader to implement technology changes that represent your current and future state capabilities. Most importantly, through that, you need to balance your timeline, strategy and people.
Give people the opportunity to grow and learn while accompanying that with an appropriate timeline and autonomy; I promise you will successfully lead them through the adoption.
I believe the human elements to automation are trust and communication. Without these, you can’t engage people, you can’t educate, you can’t lead, you can’t enable a better future and you can't be successful.
Reflection:
Do you have the autonomy to engage people during the ideation stage?
Have you developed an engagement strategy?
Do you have the right tools or do you need to build a team to support the idea?
How have changes been implemented in the past?
Interested in learning more or conversating? Reach out via www.calendly.com/rhinoadvisingllc [calendly.com] or rhinoadvisingllc@gmail.com
02/2023
Technology via the People
I wouldn’t be in this industry if I didn’t think technology was awesome. Like many of us, it’s the key driver in most, if not all facets of our professional and personal lives. I’m not saying our conscious is driven by technology but you can’t question it’s influence around every corner.
Coming to terms with this, will not only help accelerate technology incubation and adoption but it will also open a whole new level of engagement and support. There are always risks and downsides to every innovation, new technology structure, etc… being implemented and those are best categorized with your end user in mind. Heck, inviting them to the table will be a key component to your technology's success… well and yours.
One thing I’ve learned is even the best executed project will fail over the long-term when one doesn't engage stakeholders early and implements technology for sake of technology.
The hardest part of bringing new technology, especially one that you feel will empower people, is the opposition. Many times opposition comes in different forms: someone experiencing too much change, someone worried about their job, someone who hasn’t learned the technology as well as you, lack of adjacent or upward support, etc. Remember, in general, those with the loudest voice can easily become your biggest advocate through proper engagement, flexibility and education. They aren’t always mad at you or the technology you are "championing", they are mad that their concerns haven’t been accounted for.
Being successful in this space has many facets and approaches, all have their pros and cons. You need to pick one that maintains your ability to be genuine and avoids falling into the two biggest failures: thinking you understand the problem more than your customers and assuming everyone has been educated on the core principles of the technology.
Reflection:
How many times have technology-based products taken longer than expected to be adopted in your organization?
Have rollouts and training sessions typically been filled with questions around, “why this technology” or “this won’t work for us in the field”.
Have you noticed a pattern in your engagement?
Interested in learning more or conversating? Reach out via www.calendly.com/rhinoadvisingllc or rhinoadvisingllc@gmail.com
12/2022
Firefighting vs Problem Solving
This is an important topic that leaders need to think about. We’ll cut to the chase; leaders will struggle to retain top tier talent if they don’t understand when problem solving becomes firefighting.
In its simplest form, problem solving is the ability of people to react to an issue, architect a solution and execute. This is great and we should celebrate and reward this to best extent our organizations can. The problem arises when the same problem continues to resurface with the same people and / or teams solving the issue i.e. firefighting.
This is where the functional ground of personnel engagement and organizational stability becomes unstable. There is reward is solving the problem, but rarely should these problems have a natural consistency and as leaders, our inability to recognize a difference creates more risk than we are aware of.
Mitigating a risk, before it’s a fire, is strategic problem solving at its core. The issue we have as leaders is understanding enough of the business and its operational parameters to see this and reward it. Our top tier talent usually excels at owning their tasks, systems, etc… and that ownership drives them to keep it successful and ultimately, our organizations.
Our challenge to you, write down all the problems in your organization that seem to be repetitive, who solves them and their frequency. Next, capture all the things in your organization that just run right and who solves them. Compare, contrast, and then reflect on the questions below.
Remember, if you are constantly firefighting, you never have the opportunity to truly problem solve!
Reflection:
· What does my organization have to offer and are our roles / tasks assigned correctly?
· How does one mitigate a reoccurring problem?
· How does one understand when the problem becomes reoccurring?
· How does one know someone mitigated a risk before it was a problem and how much business downtime was avoided?
Interested in learning more or conversating? Reach out www.calendly.com/rhinoadvisingllc or rhinoadvisingllc@gmail.com
10/2021