Last week we finished thoughts on self-reflection, and this week we are going to look at decoding messages.  When I was younger I remember opening cereal boxes and getting cool toys.  One toy was the decoder ring.  You used this to crack a code that was somewhere on the cereal box.  Each number corresponded to a letter, and once you set up the ring it was easy to decode the message to see what it really said.

Sometimes I wish I had a decoder ring at work.  At this point I’m sure you’re probably smiling or chuckling while saying, “Yeah, we could use that decoder ring to translate all of these crazy corporate acronyms.”  That’s true.  However, I would want to use the decoder ring on the buzzword phrases we use to help us understand what we actually mean.  For example, we could use it on phrases like, “We need to be more creative,” “We need to put the customer at the center of all we do,” “We need to make faster decisions,” etc.  We say these things, but do we really understand what we are saying?

When people say they want creativity, what they usually mean is that they want the output of creativity without any of the messiness.  In actuality, when you say you want creativity, what you are really saying is that you want change.  You want to disrupt the normal way of doing things.  You are saying that you are okay with ideas that are muddy for a while until they are finally polished and revealed to be worth something.  You want to do things that make people at least a little bit uncomfortable.  That is what you are saying when you say you want creativity.  If you don’t want those things, then you don’t want creativity.

Similarly, if you say you want to make faster decisions, what you are actually saying is that you are okay with taking on more risk.  You are okay with making mistakes.  It means that you are willing to give folks more power, which comes with responsibility and accountability.  It means that you are willing to invest the time, effort, and resources to ensure the right people are capable of making the right decisions.  If you don’t want those things, then you don’t want to make faster decisions.

Decode what you’re saying and ask yourself if that’s what you really want.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry