Lego, Building Evidence, and Trust (2-1-23)

Last week was about Legos and the importance of BOTH the details and big picture. This week is about Legos, evidence, and trust.

I am very methodical when I do my Lego builds. I sort out the pieces into containers and then gather the required pieces for the step before ever connecting anything. Sometimes, I can’t initially find the piece I’m looking for. When this happens, I immediately assume that I either missed it or I have done something to lose it vs. Lego not having the right pieces. I assume this, because I have COMPLETE faith and trust in Lego. I’ve built dozens of their kits over my lifetime. I can count on them to ALWAYS have the right pieces and the right instructions to build something amazing. As a result, I trust Lego and their process. I can’t say I feel the same way about Lego knock-off companies. I’ve built with them before, and there have been missing pieces, bad instructions, etc. Those other non-Lego companies have never given me a reason to trust them, but they’ve asked me to anyway.

What does this have to do with anything? There are a couple of parallels we can draw. First, we can look at people in our life. How many of them are trustworthy Lego vs. the untrustworthy knock-off competitors? When have you been Lego vs. the knock-off competitors? I know I’ve played both roles. What can we do to become even more trustworthy?

The other connection is around this idea of “You just need to give it a chance. You just need to trust the process.” I feel this is something that is often said in Corporate America when there is some organizational change or pivot. I’ve always found this interesting, because it puts the burden on me to buy into something that isn’t proven. My question is always, “Why should I trust the process?” I’m not saying we should all be cynical and doubt everything. I do think it’s fair to expect evidence for claims that are being made. “Why should I trust that process? What has the organization shown me that makes me believe it will all work out?” If you’re leading any kind of organizational change management, the burden is on YOU to establish the reasons why someone should buy in. I trust Lego and its process, because its actions have earned that trust over time. As you lead organizational change management, have you and/or your team earned that trust to “follow the process” over time?

The challenges: How can we become more trustworthy? If you’re leading organizational change, what are YOU doing to provide evidence for why someone should trust the process?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Legos and the Importance of Details and the Big Picture (1-25-23)

This week we are going to kick off a series inspired by Legos. We’ll start by reflecting on building and the importance of both the details and big picture.

I have always been a fan of Legos. When I was a little kid, I would play with the basic building blocks for hours making robots, houses, and airplanes. When I was a teenager, I had a room filled with various Lego technic cars and motorcycles, Star Wars ships, and more. You can imagine how excited I was when I received a super awesome Lego set for Christmas. I put on some great music and went to work building. The picture to the left is my work in progress. I’m guessing you wouldn’t have been able to tell what it is on its own, because you are so zoomed into one section of the build. Luckily for me, I had the picture on the box showing me the final product and the instructions that could get me there. Finished product is the image on the right 😉

What does this have to do with anything? This story is about taking time to understand how the details ladder up to the bigger picture. It’s a great metaphor for pausing for a moment to step out of our small world to look at the larger world around us to ensure the details and big picture are connecting. Do you ever get lost in your own small world? I know I do. Sometimes this happens at work. I get so lost in the day-to-day details of keeping the train running that I don’t pause to look at a map to ensure the train is going in the right direction. This happens in life outside of work too. I get so lost in the day-to-day grind that I don’t realize that the things I’m doing every day in the moment may not be leading me to be the version of myself that I want to be.

This story is also a metaphor for being able to take a big picture vision and operationalize it. If Lego didn’t break down the Batman portrait into steps, I would not have been able to build it. How often have you had a large goal and not been able to figure out how to make it a reality? That happens to me, and it’s usually been because I didn’t take enough time to translate my goals to specific actions.

The challenge: How are you leveraging and connecting the big pictures and the details?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Loyalty, Time, and the Cost of a Batphone (6-29-16)

A couple of weeks ago we talked about being intentional with people. This week we will explore the result of being intentional with people by looking at the cost/value of a Batphone. In DC Comics Batman has given Commissioner Jim Gordon a Batphone, which is a direct line that enables Gordon to call Batman whenever he needs help. This Batphone gives the Commissioner access to Batman and everything he has. It’s virtually priceless. Something worth so much, must cost a great deal, so what did it cost Gordon to earn the Batphone? The “cost” was the TIME and EFFORT it took Gordon to prove to Batman that he was a partner in the fight against crime.

How does this connect to work? Think about the people you work with. Who has given you a Batphone, a promise to help you whenever, with all of their might? Who have you given a Batphone to? Who would you bend over backwards to help and why? What did it “cost” them?

I’d like to share the story of how I recently gave a Batphone to Sally (made up name for a real story). I don’t work for her or owe her anything. I just happened to work on a project with her, so why would I give her a Batphone? One day Sally was so busy she didn’t even have time to eat lunch. We had a one on one meeting scheduled. I saw her and saw how busy she was, so I told her that I didn’t have anything uber critical at that time, so we didn’t need to meet that day. She could have walked away, but instead she said she wanted to meet with me anyway. I didn’t have anything business critical, so why did she want to meet? She told me, “I just want to know how you’re doing with work and life and that I’m giving you everything you need to be successful on this project you’re helping with.” We spent 15 talking about life and work. How do you think this made me feel? At the time she didn’t realize this was a big deal for me, but that moment right there was when I knew I’d go the extra mile for her just because she showed she cared. Her “down payment” on a Batphone to Andrew Embry “cost” her 15 minutes and a display of caring.

What does an Embry Batphone get you? An Embry Batphone gets you access to everything I can do and everything I have in my possession to help you. The other day Sally emailed me to ask a favor that had nothing to do with the project or any other work I was doing. When I saw the email was from her, I stopped the work I was doing on another project so I could send her a thoughtful response to her email in an immediate fashion. I also told her I’d be willing to chat more if she wanted. She was appreciative and thankful, so I told her just to ask if she ever thought I could help and I’d do what I could to provide some ideas. Then I sent her the Batphone image in this email and said, “Consider this your Batphone. Call whenever you need me.” I don’t work for Sally. I don’t owe her anything, but I choose to offer her everything because of her spending the time and effort to show she cares about me. For 15 minutes and a few other “small” gestures she gets a Batphone to Andrew Embry and everything that comes with it.

The Challenge: What are you doing to earn a Batphone from the people you work with?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Superhero Lessons Part 1 The Flash vs. Batman: A Battle of Speed and Thought (3-30-16)

This week we are going to kick off a series of lessons inspired by superheroes. We’ll start by thinking about speed, direction, Batman, and The Flash.

Imagine for a moment that Batman challenges The Flash to a race. The Flash accepts. The two racers meet at the starting line. The Flash will do the race on foot and Batman will drive the Batmobile. Alfred says, “Go!” and the racers take off. The Flash takes off heading north at the speed of sound, roughly 768 mph. Meanwhile, Batman jumps into the Batmobile, enters coordinates into the Bat GPS and starts heading south at his top speed of 230 mph. Batman wins the race.

The Flash is more than 3 times faster than Batman in his Batmobile, so how does Batman win? For the sake of argument, let’s just say that Batman wins, because he takes the time to figure out where the finish line is before he goes. This is why Batman headed south when The Flash headed north. In our story we’ll pretend that The Flash was so excited about racing that he took off before ever knowing where the finish line was. This probably sounds pretty comical. This is a silly gag that would show up in a poorly written comic. You’d probably read this and say, “Come on! The Flash would never do anything like that.”

Now here’s the gut check. How often are you sprinting at work without understanding where the finish line is? This never happens to me, because I’m so awesome. However, I have a friend who likes superheroes and has two daughters and I hear this has happened to him before. My friend even told me it has happened to him over the past month. My friend says, he probably shouldn’t admit his shortcomings, but the last time he checked he’s still human and he still can’t walk on water, so mistakes are part of being human. My friend wonders if anyone else has made the same mistake. (<-Comic sans font equals obnoxious sarcasm)

Bottom line: It is way too easy to get sucked into the flurry of activity, the need to feel like you’re sprinting and contributing, but the fact is that speed without the proper direction is useless. Even worse, speed with the wrong direction can be detrimental.

The Challenge: Before you use your Flash speed, will you use your Batman intellect to locate the finish line?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry