Do you have the strength to be like Frosty or Karen? (12-7-16)

We are now into December, the final stretch. During this month I often watch holiday specials with my family, so they will be the inspiration for this series. This blog is dedicated to one of my favorite Christmas specials, Frosty the Snowman. You might be familiar with Frosty the Snowman, a jolly happy soul with a corncob pip a button nose and two eyes made out of coal. What began as a song soon evolved into the Christmas cartoon that comes on every December. If you haven’t seen Frosty, let me warn you that spoilers are about to follow.

The short version of the television special goes like this. There is a disgruntled magician who performs for a school and throws away his magic hat. The kids take the hat and put it on the head of a snowman. The magic from the hat makes Frosty come to life. Frosty and the kids soon realize that he will melt if he stays there, so they make a plan to get him to the North Pole. Karen, one of the kids, has a choice to make. She can let Frosty face the journey alone or she can go with him, even though it might be risky for her. She decides to go with Frosty to keep him safe and company. They board a refrigerated train and start heading north. The problem is that Karen is a little girl, so she starts getting cold. She needs to find someplace warm. Frosty has a choice to make. He can let her face this journey alone or he can go with her, even though it might be risky. Through a series of events, Frosty and Karen find a greenhouse in the middle of a cold forest. Frosty carries her into the greenhouse and then the evil magician locks them in and Frosty melts. Luckily, Santa comes and saves the day and brings Frosty back to life.

What does this have to do with anything? Karen and Frosty both make a choice. They choose to join the other on the journey even though it is risky, even though it will make them uncomfortable. They choose to sacrifice themselves for the other. In our day to day life we see this same choice being made every day by members of the armed forces, police, firefighters, etc. I’d also argue that in times of stress and challenges, we have the opportunity to see and display this strength as well as we work with each other. I had a leader I admire tell me once that during times of stress you will see some people disappear and some rise to the occasion. Those who disappear will leave people to figure it out on their own. Those who rise will walk with those who are trying to figure everything out, even carrying them if the need be.

The challenge: Do we have the strength to be like Frosty and Karen?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Cars and Fuel Part 4 What if there were fuel fairies? (11-30-16)

This is going to be the final entry in the current series about cars and gas stations. Over the past few weeks we’ve talked about why we need to refuel in order to avoid driving past empty, why leaders need to be able to provide gas, and the fact that gas is not just for sports cars. We’ll end this series by reflecting on a seemingly strange question. What if there was a fleet of fuel fairies who magically refilled your car for you?

The reason why I wish this was true is because getting gas is an ordeal. You have to take time out of your day to pull off the road and up next to the pump, enter your card or pre-pay, and finally you have to stand outside and pump the gas. What if it wasn’t like this? What if the gas station came to you? What if there was some magical fleet of fuel fairies who came by and consistently put fuel in your tank? Imagine being able to jump in your car and always having a tank that was near full. You’d never run out of fuel. You’d always be ready to go the distance. How cool would that be?

What does this have to do with work? I often feel that getting fuel becomes an ordeal. We force people to go to the gas station (recognition event, pm conversation, check-in, etc.) and that’s the primary time when we give them fuel. Those events become gas stations and if people aren’t at those events then they don’t have the opportunity to get fuel. It doesn’t have to be that way though. We can all be fuel fairies. We can all consistently build each other up. We can ALL take moments out of our day to send a quick message or say a kind word about why we appreciate and value everyone we work with from peers to supervisors.

So how do we become fuel fairies? You have to leverage what you have to give people fuel. I can’t give people raises, nominate them for an award, send them to some conference, etc. What I can do is show them how much I appreciate them with my words and my actions. I can always be there with some encouraging words to remind them that they make a difference. I can hug people when they need to be hugged and give them a nudge when they need a little push.

The challenge: These past few days have been rough with negative news that impacts patients and us. I know a lot of us are running a little low right now on fuel. The challenge is whether or not we can be there to help keep fuel in the tank for each other. Today I challenge you to step up and give fuel to 5 different people.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Cars and Fuel Part 3 Driving Past Empty (11-22-16)

Receiving one of these on Tuesday might rip the fabric of reality, but I’ll risk it since I’ll be on vacation tomorrow. Last week was about how we need to give gas to more than just sports cars. This week is about driving past empty. If you are a Seinfeld fan you might remember an episode where Kramer was test driving cars with a car salesman and they pushed it to the edge to see how far they could go when the gas tank said it was empty. If you want to see a clip click HERE. It’s a pretty funny moment, and I’m sure we’ve all been there driving with the gauge past E, hoping we’d make it to the gas station just a few miles away.

Have you ever run out of gas? I had a car once that had a floating gas gauge, and I ran out of gas on a busy road leading to a subdivision. No matter what I did, the car just couldn’t go any further. I couldn’t will it to go further. I couldn’t talk it into going further. It just stopped. I eventually had to ask a person in a nearby house if they had a gas can, so I could at least get a gallon in the tank to make it to a station to fill up.

How does this connect with work? Do you know the difference between the car and people when it comes to running out of fuel? A car has to stop. It quits working before it can do further damage to itself. A person doesn’t have to stop, so they can push themselves until they harm themselves. I’m not saying that pushing your limits is bad. At times running on fumes can be good as you give the final push to accomplish some great feat. However, if you are always running on fumes, always running past empty, you’re damaging yourself. You’re damaging your body, your mind, your relationships, your quality of work, etc. In a world that is quick to applaud the person who seems to always be frazzled and running on empty, I can’t help but ask if that’s really how we should live.

When I’m driving I usually get fuel when I’m somewhere between a half and a quarter of a tank. I fuel up often and before the fuel can ever get too low. How often do you fuel up your car? More importantly, how often do you fuel up yourself? I don’t know what your fuel is. It might be spending time with others, working out, reading a book, spending time with family, connecting with people at work, listening to music, playing video games, tackling projects at home, etc. I had a month a little bit ago where I ran myself too far into the ground and life was pretty crappy. Since then, I’ve pulled myself back together and made sure I set aside time to refuel.

The challenge: Are you refueling often enough? I hope you have a chance to unplug and enjoy your Thanksgiving!

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Cars and Fuel Part 2 Gas is not just for Sports Cars (11-16-16)

Last week was about gas stations without gas and how important it for leaders to provide fuel for others. This week we will continue with the gas station analogy and I’ll challenge you to consider who you are giving fuel to aka “Who are you recognizing?”

Imagine you’re on a road trip driving a 4 door sedan and you realize that you need to get some fuel. You pull into a gas station and at the other pump is an awesome looking sports car. You go to put gas in the tank, but it isn’t working. After a few minutes of fiddling around with the machine you talk to the attendant inside. The clerk tells you that the gas station only provides gas for sports cars, so that’s why it’s not working for you. What would you do? How would you feel?

By now you might be wondering what this has to do with work. During the Olympics I wrote a blog about soccer and how important it is that everyone on the team plays their role. In response to this blog, Anshu shared this thought, “We often only talk about the strikers and the goalies and less about the defensive team or the passers…” See attached blog if you have forgotten it. If we use today’s analogy, we often only talk about and recognize the sports cars instead of all of the vehicles (people) who contribute.

This leads to people wishing they were sports cars or trying to be sports cars, which creates problems. Sports cars aren’t bad. It’s just that not everyone is a sports car. Most importantly, it wouldn’t be good if everybody was a sports car. Sports cars are flashy, fun, and fast, but they can’t do everything. We need trucks to carry heavy loads. We need buses who can move loads of people. We need bulldozers who aren’t afraid to get dirty and shove mud and rocks out of the way. We need stable sedans who consistently get us where we need to go. All of these different vehicles, all of these different people are important to help us reach our end goal. All of these people deserve to be valued and recognized for their work.

The challenge: Who are you giving fuel to? Are you just recognizing sports cars?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Cars and Fuel Part 1 A Gas Station without Gas (11-9-16)

With us sprinting as we enter Q4, I’d like to kick off a new series about cars and fuel. Imagine for a moment that you stop at a gas station to fuel up. You pull up to the pump, put the nozzle in your car, and then nothing happens. You look at the pump to make sure you hit all the right buttons, but still nothing happens. Finally, you go into the store and ask the attendant if there’s a problem. The attendant looks at you like you are asking a weird question and says, “Sometimes gas stations have bad gas which hurts the cars. Because of this, we don’t pump any gas. This way we don’t hurt any of the cars.” Ridiculous, right? Would you go to that gas station ever again? Would you ever suggest that gas station to other people? No, because it doesn’t fulfill the basic function of a gas station.

The above example is so crazy that it can’t have any connection to work, right? I remember talking to a friend once about their previous manager and I said, “How was he as a boss?” Her response was, “He was a really great manager.” Whenever someone describes someone as a great boss or leader I want to know more, so I asked her why he was so great. She explained he wasn’t a micromanager. I assumed there had to be more to it than that, so I asked her what else was special about him. She responded with something like, “He just left our team alone, which is a lot better than some of the other managers we had who tried to control everything we did.” I spoke to her a little more, but all I got was that the manager didn’t do harm and since he didn’t do harm that made him good. Have you ever experienced something like this? This is a story I’ve heard a fair amount of times.

Now think about our gas station example. Obviously we don’t want bad gas, but would we be happy with a gas station that didn’t give us any gas? No. That would be unacceptable, because the gas station wouldn’t be fulfilling its primary function. We expect gas stations to provide fuel, so we can go somewhere. Now think of the woman in the story. Basically she said, “My manager was great, because he wasn’t a horrible micromanager.” Last time I checked, greatness is a lot more than just not being horrible. We should expect ourselves and our leaders to provide fuel to help us get somewhere. Everybody has their own style, so the fuel they provide might be different, but in every case it should be enough to make sure we (the cars) run and reach our final destination.

The challenge: As a leader are you doing harm, are you being neutral, or are you giving people the fuel they need to succeed and get to where they need to go? Give someone fuel today!

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Video Game Lessons Part 4 Pac-Man and Reward and Recognition (11-2-16)

This will be the last in the series of lessons I’ve learned from playing video games. We’ve learned about tenacity (Mario), the importance of celebrating wins with each other (Child of Light), and the fact that happiness and engagement are not the same thing (Bloodborne). This week we will think about having a reward and recognition philosophy as it relates to Pac-man.

If you haven’t played Pac-man, you play as Pac-man (the yellow character) and you race around the room eating yellow pellets while the ghosts chase you. In order to earn points you can eat small pellets, 4 big pellets, ghosts, and fruit. Eat all the pellets and you go to the next stage. Let’s pretend for a moment that you and I were playing against each other for a prize. What would you want to know before we started? You’d probably want to know the definition of winning, right? Let’s say that winning is whoever can clear the most stages. If that was the case, what would you focus on? You’d spend your energy trying to eat all the pellets on the screen. You would NOT worry as much about eating ghosts or fruit. Now let’s say that winning is whoever gets the most points. How would this change the way you played? You’d probably spend more time ensuring you ate the ghosts and you ate the fruit that showed up on screen. The definition of winning would change your behavior.

How does this connect with work? In Pac-man the definition of winning drives your behavior. In a similar way, the definition of winning or excellence at work drives behavior. Here are the questions of the day. Do we have a clear idea of what “winning” means at work? Do we have a clear reward and recognition philosophy to support this definition? We might have platforms and tactics to leverage, but are we clear on what behaviors we want to reward and recognize? Are we clear on how we will reward and recognize those behaviors? Allow me to be overly dramatic for a minute. For those of you who lead a team, if I interviewed the individuals on your team and asked them what behaviors you are driving and recognizing and why you are driving and recognizing those behaviors, could they tell me? If your job depended on your team being aligned on their answers, would you make the cut or would you be out of a job? I recognize that this is easy for me to say since I don’t have a team. However, I also realize that creating and driving this clarity is not a simple task. Additionally, even though I don’t have a team, I have a role in this as well. It’s my job to try and understand the rules of the game. It’s my job to try to figure out what the organization values, so I can deliver.

The challenge: As a leader have you defined winning? Have you defined what behaviors you reward and recognize and why? As an individual contributor are you seeking clarity to understand what game you’re expected to play?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Video Game Lessons Part 3 Driving Happiness vs. Driving Engagement (10-26-16)

As we continue with this video game series, I slowly realize how much of a nerd I am… (Wait, Andrew, you didn’t know you were a nerd before? I guess self-awareness isn’t a skill you have…) Anyway, last week we looked at lifting each other up with a game called Child of Light. This week I want to challenge the assumption that engagement and happiness is the same thing by looking at a game called Bloodborne.

Bloodborne is a horror action adventure game, where you play as a character that has to defeat monsters in order to stop a plague that is affecting the town. It has gorgeous design with an intriguing story. Overall, it’s a scary experience with some awesome looking monsters, and it’s hard. I consider myself a pretty decent gamer and I died a lot. It’s one of the hardest games I’ve played in recent memory and one of my favorites.

I was playing the game one night and having a particularly tough time defeating a nasty creature. My wife was reading a book on the couch while I kept dying. Eventually she says, “You’re dying a lot. That must be frustrating. You can’t be very happy with this game. It can’t be very fun.” I told her, “It is hard and is frustrating at times, but not all games are supposed to be happy go lucky. I’ve actually enjoyed this game so much more than many others, because of its difficulty. Sure I die a lot, but then when I advance I feel like I’ve accomplished something.” Now maybe you aren’t a video game player screaming at the screen as you try to survive attacking a horrendous monster, but have you ever experienced something like this in life?Do you have a hobby or activity that you like to do, where it is difficult AND rewarding?

What does this have to do with work? I feel that we sometimes confuse engagement with happiness, so we try to drive happiness instead of engagement. We try to drive happiness by being extra nice, minimizing conflict, etc. Happiness is important, but it’s not the same thing as engagement. Not all situations are happy go lucky. Trying to drive alignment in impossible situations is not always fun. It’s challenging. Trying to change processes to better serve customers is not always fun. It’s challenging. Standing up and being the voice of the customer isn’t always fun. It’s challenging. This is okay though, because some things should be tough. Some things should make you go back to the drawing board again and again. We work in a complex environment, so if everything was easy it wouldn’t be worth doing. However, once you accomplish those things, you should feel an immense amount of pride. There is more to engagement than happiness. There are things like the thrill of a challenge, team culture, reward and recognition, a mission that calls to us, etc. If you just focus on happiness a person slows down when the happiness is gone. If you drive engagement, when things get tough, the person just smiles and says, “Bring it!”

The challenge: Are you focused on driving happiness or engagement? How are you driving engagement?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Video Game Lessons Part 2 Child of Light and Lifting Each Other Up (10-19-16)

Last week we look at tenacity and Super Mario Brothers. This week I want to talk about a game called Child of Light and celebrating the success of others. Alice and I have played a lot of videos games, but her favorite to play together is Child of Light. It’s a fairy tale like game where the hero is a young girl named Aurora who has to save the kingdom from monsters and evil. I love the game because it has beautiful artwork, a whimsical story, and it shows that girls can kick butt just as much as boys.

When Alice was younger, we would play this game together and I’d have to carry most of the load. Recently, she got to the point in her videogame career where she can more or less play this game on her own. I still have to help her figure out what direction to go in sometimes, but she does everything else by herself. Anyway, she defeats all these monsters and finally reaches the final boss. The boss is a dragon like creature or as Alice would say, “The biggest monster I ever saw! This is going to be tough!” At first Alice died a few times, but eventually she beat the boss and saved the world. Alice beamed with excitement the moment she landed the final blow. This was the first game she’s beat on her own. I picked her up and said, “You did it! You beat the monster!” and then we did a celebratory dance in our living room. (Cuteness level was turned all the way up to 11, bonus points if you got the Spinal Tap reference). I’ve beaten a lot of games in my life, but I was just as excited about Alice’s win as I would have been if I would have beat the game myself. While Alice was excited for herself that she beat the game, I’d argue she was equally excited that I took notice.

So what does this have to do with work? Think about work for a moment. Think of the last small or big thing you accomplished. Did anyone else share your excitement? Did your team lift you up or did they go on like nothing had ever happened? Think of someone you work with who recently achieved something. Did you take the time out of your day to lift them up and show them you were excited for them? Did you even say anything to them? Imagine how different this place would be if everyone else shared your excitement as you moved toward your goal. Imagine how much further we could all go if we spent time lifting each other up.

The challenge: Are you strong enough to celebrate the victories of others and lift up those around you? We’re going to need your strength, because “Disease is the biggest monster I ever saw. It’s going to be tough.”

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Video Game Lessons Part 1 Our Princess is in another Castle… (10-12-16)

This week I’d like to kick off a series about the lessons I’ve learned from playing video games. This week is about tenacity and Super Mario Brothers and is partially inspired by a recent conversation I had with someone about driving to achieve lofty goals that always seem out of reach.

In case you’re not familiar with the game, you play as Mario, a plumber who somehow got transported to the Mushroom Kingdom. The Evil King Koopa has kidnapped the Princess and it’s up to you to save her. To save her you will have to defeat enemies across multiple stages of the Mushroom Kingdom. You’ll have to go down pipes, eat flowers that allow you to throw fire, eat mushrooms that make you grow, and you’ll have to go toe to toe with King Koopa. I remember being a 4 or 5 year old, defeating some levels, and beating Koopa in my first castle. After I beat him I was taken to a room where I received the message, “Thank you Mario! But our princess is in another castle!” Wait. What!?!?

That’s right. I’d survived the perils of the Mushroom Kingdom. I’d defeated who I thought was King Koopa only to learn that my journey wasn’t over yet. I celebrated the fact that I had saved Toad and had beaten the first castle. Then, I realized I had more enemies to defeat, more castles to conquer, more difficulties ahead of me. This was one of my earliest lessons in tenacity and perseverance, because the game doesn’t get easier. In fact, it gets more difficult. After hours of playing and trying, I eventually was able to defeat all the levels and save the Princess, which made me feel pretty awesome about my 4 or 5 year old self.

So what does this have to do with work? The work we do isn’t easy and the goals we set for ourselves are rarely easily achieved. How often do you reach the peak of a summit in your work to realize that the “princess” is in another castle? When you see this you have two options. The first option is to quit. The second option is to celebrate how far you’ve come and then grab a fire flower, start throwing fireballs, and continue on until you finally achieve your goal.

The challenge: Are you willing to put in the work to reach your goals “in another castle”?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

California Redwood Trees, Growth, and Reflection (10-5-16)

This will be the final post in the series on growth and development. We started with using doubt as a dowsing rod to show us where we need to go to grow. Then, we talked about failure and lifting weights and how you can’t play it safe if you want to grow. We touched on the fact that we aren’t butterflies safe in a cocoon in a the midst of a crazy world, and last week we talked about how you have to go through your own internal photosynthesis in order to develop. We are going to end this series by moving from flowers to trees and the importance of reflecting on our progress.

California Redwood trees are known for their immense size and beauty. Even though they are some of the largest trees in the world they all started as a small seed. Slowly, that seed grew and sprouted into a young sapling. The sapling then spent years going through photosynthesis, growing and developing, until it became the Redwood trees people plan trips to go see.

I sometimes wonder if a tree can feel itself growing. At some kind of cellular level I wonder if the tree can sense where it is growing, that its limbs are getting longer, and that its roots are digging deeper into the ground. It would be pretty cool if it could.

How does this connect with our work? Much like the tree we have all grown a lot over the years. Do you ever stop to reflect on how much and how you’ve grown? Do you ever stop to celebrate how much you’ve changed? Over the past few years I’ve picked up skills I didn’t have, sharpened strengths that already existed, and learned so much more about work and life. At the same time as I’ve worked with people I’ve watched them grow too! I’ve seen people begin to grow into the leaders they always thought they could be. I’ve seen people take on new challenges and win. I’ve watched people unleash the potential that’s been inside of them for years.

The challenge: Take a second to appreciate how far you’ve come. Take a second to help someone else understand how much they’ve grown and how proud of them you are. Before you do anything else today take a second and send someone a kind word telling them that you’ve noticed their growth. It will make their week and yours too. I’m serious. Stop reading this email and send some kind words to somebody. Tell them, “Hey, just want you to know that I appreciate you. You used to be _______, but now you’re like ______. I couldn’t be prouder of how far you’ve come. Keep growing.”

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry