读书笔记 - The speed of trust

The speed of trust - The one thing that changes everything was authored by Stephen M.R. Covey with Rebecca R. Merrill. I read the updated edition published in July 2018. Stephen is co-founder and CEO of CoveyLink Worldwide. I once listened to his keynote in 2019 about trust. I also subscribe to  FranklinCovey All Access Pass from his company.

The book mainly talked about 5 waves, 4 cores and 13 behaviors, with many quotes and stories to prove and explain why trust is so important.

5 Waves of Trust
 

4 Cores of Credibility (self trust)

 

"Credibility is a leader's currency. With it, he or she is solvent; without it, he or she is bankrupt." --Johh Maxwell

(tree metaphor: root/integrity, trunk/intent, branches/capabilities, fruits/results)

How to improve Integrity?

1.  make and keep commitments to yourself
2. stand for something
3. be open

"I look for three things in hiring people. The first is personal integrity, the second is intelligence, and the third is a high energy level. But, if you don't have the first, the other two will kill you." --Warren Buffett

How to improve Intent?

1. examine and refine your motives
2. declare your intent
3. choose abundance

"In law, a man is guilty when he violates the rights of another. In ethics, he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so." --Immanuel Kant

How to improve Capabilities?

1. run with your strengths and with your purpose
2. keep yourself relevant
3. know where you are going

TASKS (Talents, Attitudes, Skills, Knowledge, Style)

"People of capability inspire us." --Samaveda

How to improve results?

1. Take responsibility for results
2. expect to win
3. finish strong

"You can't create a high-trust culture unless people perform." --Craig Weatherup

13 Behaviors (relationship trust)

#1--Talk straight
Be honest. Tell the truth. Let people know where you stand. Use simple language. Call things what they are. Demonstrate integrity. Don't manipulate people or distort facts. Don't spin the truth. Don't leave false impressions.

#2--Demonstrate respect
Genuinely care for others. Show you care. Respect the dignity of every person and every role. Treat everyone with respect, especially those who can't do anything for you. Show kindness in the little things. Don't fake caring. Don't attempt to be "efficient" with people.

#3--Create transparency
Tell the truth in a way people can verify. Declare your intent. Get real and be genuine. Be open and authentic. Err on the side of disclosure. Be transparent about not being able to be transparent. Operate on the premise of "What you see is what you get." Don't have hidden agendas. Don't hide information.

#4--Right wrongs
Make things right when you are wrong. Apologize quickly. Make restitution where possible. Practice "service recoveries." Demonstrate humility. Don't cover things up. Don't let pride get in the way of doing the right thing.

#5--Show loyalty
Give credit to others. Speak about people as if they were present. Represent others who aren't there to speak for themselves. Don't bad-mouth others behind their backs. When you must talk about others, check your intent. Don't disclose others' private information.

#6--Deliver results
Establish a track record of results. Get the right things done. Make things happen. Accomplish what you're hired to do. Be on time and within budget. Don't over-promise and under-deliver. Don't make excuses for not delivering.

#7--Get better
Continuously improve. Increase your capabilities. Be a constant learner. Develop feedback systems--both formal and informal. Act on the feedback you receive. Thank people for feedback. Don't consider yourself above feedback. Don't assume today's knowledge and skills will be sufficient for tomorrow's challenges.

#8--Confront reality
Take issues head on, even the "undiscussables". Address the tough stuff directly. Acknowledge the unsaid. Confront issues before they turn into major problems. Confront the reality, not the person. Remove the "sword from their hands". Lead out courageously in conversation. Don't skirt the real issues. Don't bury your head in the sand.

#9--Clarify expectations
Disclose and reveal expectations. Discuss them. Validate them. Renegotiate them if needed and possible. Don't violate expectations. Don't assume that expectations are clear and shared.

#10--Practice accountability
Hold yourself accountable first; hold others accountable second. Take responsibility for results, good or bad. Be clear on how you'll communicate how you're doing--and how others are doing. Don't avoid or shirk responsibility. Don't blame others or point fingers when things go wrong.

#11--Listen first
Listen before you speak. Understand. Diagnose. Listen with your ears-and your eyes and heart. Find out what the most important behaviors are to the people you're working with. Don't assume you know what matters most to others. Don't presume you have all the answers-or all the questions.

#12--Keep commitments
Say what you're going to do, then do what you say you're going to do. Make commitments-both explicit and implicit-very carefully, and keep them at almost all costs. Communicate when you can't. Make keeping commitments the symbol of your honor. Don't break confidences. Don't attempt to spin your way out of a commitment you've broken.

#13--Extend trust
Demonstrate a propensity to trust. Extend trust abundantly to those who have earned your trust. Extend trust conditionally to those who are earning your trust. Learn how to appropriately extend trust to others based on the situation, risk, and credibility (character and competence) of the people involved. But start with a propensity to trust. Don't withhold trust because there is risk involved.

Summary

The 4 cores (Self Trust) and the 13 behaviors (Relationship Trust) are the tools that establish or restore trust in every context--in organizations (including the family), in the marketplace, and in society. We need to decrease trust tax and increase trust dividend.

The main principle of establishing Organizational Trust is alignment--ensuring that all structures and systems within the organization are in harmony with the cores and behaviors. This is what builds trust with internal stakeholders.

The main principle of establishing Market Trust is reputation or brand. It's using the cores and behaviors to create the credibility and behavior that inspires the trust of external stakeholders to the extent that inspires the trust of external stakeholders to the extent that they will buy, invest in, and/or recommend your products and services to others.

The main principle of establishing Societal Trust is contribution. It is demonstrating the intent to give back, to be responsible global citizen, and it is becoming both a social and an economic necessity in our knowledge worker age.

Afterword

"Trust has to be the highest value in your company. If it is not, something bad is going to happen to you." --Marc Benioff

Trust is more timely, more relevant, and more vital today. There are myriad reasons for this, but here are the top 10 reasons:

#1--We live in a world of declining trust.
#2--Trust is the engine of the sharing economy.
#3--The nature of work today demands increasing collaboration.
#4--Change is the new normal in a disruptive world.
#5--Our multi-generational workforce necessitates a different approach to how work gets done.
#6--Trust is the critical enabler of strategic initiatives.
#7--Trust itself has become a key strategic initiative.
#8--Culture has reemerged as an imperative for organizational success.
#9--Yesterday's style of management is insufficient for today's leadership needs.
#10--Trust is the new currency of our world today.

It is a great read, no wonder there are over 2 million copies sold.

Technology trends in 2020

Data
Data visualization - Tableau (acquired by salesforce), Qlik, Domo or other BI tools
Big data and data science

Security
data encrypted in transit and at rest.
security by design principle
security automation using AI and machine learning

Cloud
embrace cloud-native mindset
hybrid and multi-cloud solutions for finance, healthcare and defense.

AI
more widespread uptake of machine learning skills and abilities
NLP (natural language processing)

Operation (DevOps)
Kubernetes, an orchestration layer to get those docker containers to work together
tools for automation, testing and monitoring
focus more on the observability and resilience of the systems
invest more in your current talent

Kari's Law Compliance in 3 sentences

1. No more outside line prefix when dialing 911.
2. Notifications to designated personnel when a 911 call has been made. These notifications can take the form of a phone call, email, SMS/text message and etc.
3. Location info to PSAP (public-safety answering point) needs specific address info like building, floor, suite, and even conference room info. (Complementary to Kari’s Law, RAY BAUMS Act)

读书笔记 - Why Simple Wins

Lisa Bodell, the author of "Kill the company" discussed how to "Escape the complexity trap and get to work that matters" in this book. She used 8 chapters to talk about the complexity problem, root cause and solutions. In the appendix, she also listed 50 questions for simplifying.

1. Creating the monster

"Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated." --Confucius

Our failure to take time in the moment to get down to what really matters sets us on the path to complication.
Each day, more than one hundred billion emails are sent and received, but fewer than a seventh of them are actually important.
More than 70 percent of organizations in a recent study ranked simplification as an important challenge, and more than a quarter cited it as "very important".

2. The What and Why of Complexity

"If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be meetings." --Dave Barry

Complexity often crops up indirectly and undetected, as an unintended side effect in the course of problem solving.

Simplicity: Something that's properly simplified is: Minimal, understandable, repeatable, accessible.
Complexity: It's a process, product, communication, or procedure that lacks of these four elements.

Our demand for reporting and accountability drives the pursuit of more.
A great deal of complexity is driven by something even more basic: our emotional needs.

3. Gauging your complexity problem

"Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least." --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Too many approval processes
Frustrated customers
Coordination overload
Too many rule changes
The end of easy
Mystery rules
An acronym Zoo (too many acronym)

How to gauge?
step 1: complete diagnostic
step 2: tally points/receive diagnosis
step 3: identify high-scoring categories
step 4: articulate core problems and discuss
step 5: brainstorm solutions and discuss

In general, the diagnostic established that the greatest source of frustration was other people's behaviors.

Face up to your complexity problem now.

4. Work that matters

"There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth." --Leo Tolstoy

Get the work right, you get the culture right.

Nothing separates individuals more from a sense that their work is worthwhile than the curse of complication.
Employees of today and tomorrow want workplaces where the processes and rules that structure work are as minimal, understandable, repeatable, and accessible as possible.

Get rid of things that aren't working to make space for new things that are.
Although largely unseen and unspoken, simplicity is the most fundamental gateway to innovative thinking and action.

Business results that matter. Cut the complexity. Make it shockingly easy for the people buying your products and services to get what they want with minimum hassle.

5. The simplicity mindset

"Behind every brand providing simpler experiences is a leader that understands the true value of them." -- Margaret Molloy

A new golden rule: make others' lives as simple as possible, just as you would like them to do for you.

Leaders require a broad mindset of simplicity: a set of beliefs, traits, and qualities that incline them to embark on simplification initiatives and see them through.

There are six primary leadership characteristics
#1 Courage
You are not afraid to challenge the status quo. You are comfortable with change and the unknown. You call people out who are being needlessly complex.

#2 Minimalist sensibility
You know the value of less. You seek to eliminate tasks or barriers that hold you back from doing more valuable work. You approach everything you do by asking, "Is this the simplest way to do this and still reach our goal?"

#3 Results orientation
Simplicity isn't just about cutting costs for you. You do it because you want to get things done. You like clear outcomes and accountability.

#4 Focus
You don't give up. You stick with an effort that will help you reach your goals despite resistance. You see push-back as a way to get information and make your case stronger. you don't let business as usual get in the way of simplifying things over the long term.

#5 Personal Engagement
You "Walk the walk". You actively seek ways to simplify and you do it, while empowering others to do the same.

#6 Decisiveness
You like to move things forward quickly. You don't let a consensus-driven culture slow things down unnecessarily.

Effective simplifies need to have an intuitive appreciation for less.

6. The simplicity toolkit

"The sculptor produces the beautiful statue by chipping away such parts of the marble block as are not needed-it is a process of elimination." --Elbert Hubbard

Five steps to simplicity
#1 Awareness
#2 Identification
#3 Prioritization
#4 Execution
#5 Habit Formation

Crafting Simplification Tools
step 1: define simplification challenge
step 2: choose one to three areas of complexity
step 3: answer five questions within each area
step 4: generate three to five solutions for simplifying

Killing Complexity
step 1: complete the task worksheet
step 2: identify the top five time-consuming tasks
step 3: evaluate the top five time-consuming tasks
step 4: plot two tasks on the simplicity versus value matrix
step 5: brainstorm solutions

Kill a stupid rule
step 1: Identify stupid rules
step 2: Plot two stupid rules on matrix
step 3: evaluate and discuss as a group
step 4: kill stupid rules

Simplification tactics
step 1: choose at least three business areas
step 2: review tactics within business areas
step 3: choose at leat two tactics per area
step 4: propose tactics and discuss as a group

The big drivers to complexity were small tasks
Internal meetings
checking and answering email
Reports
Presentations

7. Become the chief simplification officer

"The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak." --Hans Hofmann

Culture is the work we do every day.
The strategies for building simplicity into the ethos of the organization
#1: set a vision
#2: weave simplicity into your long-term strategy
#3: streamline management layers
#4: simplify decision-making
#5: establish clear metrics
#6: create a simplification code of conduct
#7: build a simplification team
#8: focus
#9: increase employee engagement
#10: communicate with clarity
#11: train the next wave of simplifies
#12: walk the walk

8. Getting simplification right

"Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art." --Frederic Chopin

Rapid cycle innovation methodology.

Understand the gap (What) -> Test + Validate Assumptions (Why) -> Brainstorm solutions (What if) -> Identify a solution -> Acid-Test the solution (How) -> Implement + Monitor -> Refine + Sustain (Do it)

Getting simpler, one cycle at a time.
There are certain lessons that can put any organization's simplification efforts on a surer path to success.
#1 Establish simplicity as a key strategic priority for the organization
#2 Clearly define and communicate what the process will look like, enabling employees to adjust
#3 Maintain a very small, central team charged with facilitating simplification
#4 Focus on a few things, not everything
#5 When tackling complexity problems, maintain a mix of specialists and generalists
#6 Coach leaders to become facilitators
#7 Get started

Maintaining focus over the long term.

50 Questions for simplifying (in following categories)
Is it valuable?
Is it minimal?
Is it understandable?
Is it repeatable?
Is it accessible?