Welcome Back!
Last time I wrote about My Three Words – Focus // Alignment // Cost – for 2017.
Here's what I wrote about Cost:
Cost – Oh yeah, but how much does this cost? Will it cost money? Time? Effort? Pain? Refinement? Diminished friendships? Preferred activities? Probably. Yes. All of that. The Bible states to "hold every thought captive" and that's something I cannot even begin to completely understand and unpack. But, I can extrapolate from it. I need to count the cost of my actions. I need to count the cost of my decisions. I need to count the cost of my words. I am focusing on the cost – of many things.
A couple weeks ago, the Leadership Team at Mirazon held our annual 2-day offsite meeting. Our facilitator, Paul, was amazing as usual. We reviewed 2016 and spent some time planning 2017 and beyond. It was pretty great! I posted a picture on twitter the first day too 🙂
One of the exercises we went through related to overall Leadership & Team Health was a "One Thing" exercise. We gave each other some praise and then some accountability in areas of growth. Organizational Health is increasingly important to us and this was a very healthy, eyeopening, and amazing experience. It really drove home my "My Three Words" in that I got some real world feedback related to alignment of behaviors that I needed to work on. We were focused on health and I had to respond with a specific commitment.
As a quick aside, at my previous gig at LifeChurch.tv I learned a technique for digesting books, and materials, and feedback:
- What one thing got your attention?
- What is one thing that is confusing to you, or hard to do?
- What is your favorite "quote" or specific takeaway?
- What are you going to do as a result of this?
This technique really helps me in meetings, and as I read and engage with others. You should try it 🙂
Anyway, back to my story. I really enjoy this Leadership Team. We're really hitting traction in many areas. And I am so thankful for them to provide me such valuable feedback. I processed their feedback through those 4x questions above and was above to respond with a specific takeaway/action based on what they shared with me. Here's how I responded – verbatim (I wrote it down).
"In 2017, I commit to start counting the cost of my words for the greater good of the team."
Cost.
Such an interesting word.
I count the cost of many things – especially my words. Sometimes people may think I'm flippant in what I say, or casually just "say stuff" and I guess from time to time that happens. I do tend to respond quickly – not impulsively – but quickly. I also have an ability to ingest a lot, process it quickly through some filters, and then respond. It's kind of a coping mechanism from my career of troubleshooting, architecting, and on-the-fly consulting. I have to be able to think quickly on my feet and make a decision – and then shift left or right as I see what my decision does. I don't always get it right; however, I work hard to "ship it" and "iterate it" to make it better. It works for me.
The filter of "greater good of the team" is my specific cost this year with the Leadership Team. I love my Mirazon. I love this team. I strive every day to bring value to everything I do - and sometimes that means raising the bar, or elevating a cause, or being "contentious" at times to push the ball down the field. But, I count the cost of my words to — attempt to — make sure I'm not being a total… well… you know.
Anyway, I've not had a real world example / use case of application of My Three Words hit so quickly after publishing my annual post. It was really exciting to be able to real-time process them and see them "work" in my brain.
That's all. Fun stuff. I wanted to write it down.
For my other "My Three Word" peeps out there – have you had a chance to filter a specific interaction yet this year through your words? Tell me about it!