A Little Christmas Reading
Some recommendations from our team for your Christmas reading:
Kim recommends - The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
Set during the Great Depression, it’s a story of poor, working class boys who with extraordinary grit qualify for the rowing team at the University of Washington and go on to compete in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Despite huge adversity, they shock the world by winning.
Why were the senior management at Microsoft asked to read ‘The boys in a boat’?
It’s about creating a high performing team by having a clear vision, a shared purpose, a rigorous training regime and detailed feedback. Each time they overcome obstacles, the team grows stronger. The team has absolute confidence, pride, trust and commitment to each other. Sheer hard work and marginal gains are also success factors.
The protagonist, Joe Rantz had a particularly challenging family background. The mentorship shown by the Coach and boat builder helped him gain confidence and overcome the internal barriers that were holding him back.
Similar to the challenging times we are facing now, the rowing metaphor teaches valuable lessons about leadership, teamwork and business success.
Gayle recommends - Ditching Imposter Syndrome by Clare Josa
Ditching Imposter Syndrome written by Clare Josa is a brilliant read to help you to better understand Imposter Syndrome. In 2019 Clare led the landmark Imposter Syndrome Research Study and the book refers to many of its findings.
The research Clare conducted involved corporate leaders, students and business owners as well as her own clients. Her definition of Imposter Syndrome based on this research is “Imposter Syndrome happens when there is a mis-match between who you see yourself as currently being, and who you think you need to be to achieve or create a goal, despite the evidence that you’re more than capable”.
For me the key points that resonated with me were:
· How it differs from having self-doubt or a lack of confidence
· Imposter Syndrome is about who we are and not what we do, it goes beyond the realms of self-doubt or lack of confidence it’s about how we see ourselves at an identity level. It takes more than positive mindset to get out of it
· The techniques we often use to manage self-doubt or lack of confidence are really similar to how we’d deal with Imposter Syndrome but you have to tackle the identity level issues emotions that are linked
· Saying what’s the worst that can happen is one of the worst things to say to someone who has Imposter Syndrome – because they will literally go down the everything will go wrong route.
I found this really interesting a lot the work I do in coaching is with clients who want to work on their confidence in some way so this has really helped me understand what to listen and look out for if someone is running Imposter Syndrome scripts and how I might support them to deal with it if I can.
Rachel recommends - Non Violent Communication – A Language of Life by Marshall B Rosenberg
Originally developed back in the 1960’s, Rosenberg’s writing starts with the assumption that all human beings have the ability to act with compassion and empathy. He himself, described the approach as follows ‘Nonviolent Communication shows us a way of being very honest, without any criticisms, insults, or put-down’s, and without any intellectual diagnosis implying wrongness.’
In a time where casting blame is prolific, where pushing outwardly is perhaps easier than taking responsibility inwardly – this book has an incredible amount of current value. Rosenberg outlines very practical ways to ensure that we can use our words wisely so they speak the truth but do no harm. Harmful communication to him is that which judges, criticises and discriminates. Non violent communication is that which is empathetic, responsible and conflict resolving.
Rosenberg outlines in very palatable easy to access chapters a 4 part process, along with core skills and principles to use.
It’s not dry, it’s exciting and in my mind an essential read for all of us. Together, this is the kind of communication that can resolve conflict, increase understanding, happiness and overall make out work and home environments more fulfilling places to be.
Howard recommends - Working Out Loud, for a Better Career and Life
I first read John Stepper’s book four years ago, and have tried to implement the ideas within it since. This Christmas I’m going to reread it an make it an intention of mine to focus on a WOL approach in 2021.
So what is working out loud?
The simplest explanation offered in the book is originally from Bryce Williams, and defines it thus:
Working Out Loud = observable work + narrating your work
So you make your work visible to others, and you talk about it.
You can make your work visible by sharing the finished article, whether that be within your organisation, or across your network, or beyond. Its easy to recognise the value of doing this; few of us want or have the time to reinvent the wheel. However, finding the best way to do this can be more challenging. It’s certainly not by email. One of my favourite quotes from the book is Bill French’s: “Email is where knowledge goes to die”.
So if it’s not email, what could it be? The book has answers which are worth considering.
The second, and more challenging part of working out loud, is narrating your work. It’s more challenging because you’re revealing the bones of your ideas, your thought process, your first efforts and your mistakes. That’s quite nerve wracking… But it’s also strangely liberating, because if I start with the disclaimer that this is a work in progress, you, I hope, will judge it as such, and give me a lot more leeway in the process.
John talks about two ways of narrating your work in progress: This is how I did that. This is what I did and why. To that I’d add a third: This is where I’ve got so far…
You do yourself few favours if you focus on comparing yourself to others. Whilst we all can acknowledge this easily enough, to put the alternative into practice is trickier, although it shouldn’t be. It requires you to focus on getting better, rather than being good. It asks you to look at improvement instead of performance, which as the research John refers to shows, can make a significant difference in effectiveness and confidence.
In summary, “The next time you find yourself thinking, I’m just not good at this, remember, you’re just not good at it yet.”
My experience so far is that:
Working out loud is motivating and liberating.
Working out loud is about making your work visible and talking about it.
Working out loud is about getting better at something rather than being preoccupied with being good.
If you want to know more, here are links to start you off: