Good stuff that’s said in the course of a day could fill a book. But someone has to capture useful information, write it down and make it sensible. Otherwise, great words, sayings, pieces of advice evaporate in the wind. Something gets said, the audience/listener nods, then it’s time for lunch. There’s no follow-through.
Recently walking out of the fitness facility, I said to a guy I see there most mornings, “It’s not a tip unless you use it.” Pretty simple statement. But loaded with meaning. It works on several levels.
He appreciated the phrase, so I’ve saved it here for others to consider. If you don’t take advice/tips/suggestions/direction and do something with it, whatever was stated becomes useless. It might as well not have ever been introduced into a discussion.
All of us get advice regularly. Most of it runs through our ears like a freight train. “Choo, choo,” and it’s gone. The engineer never slowed down to drop the message into our memory banks for further consideration.
It’s not really advice then. It’s someone talking, and even if we’re actively listening, that doesn’t mean anything unless you take to the next level. You must capture that information. Write it down. Repeat it to yourself. Think about it. Discuss it with someone else. Go back to it a few days later and contemplate it.
If you don’t take those steps, whoever has provided you a leadership tip or some explanation to self-improve your life has wasted his or her time. Nothing is going to occur, because you no longer have that information in front of you. And that’s just the first step.
Because you’ll never get to behavior change or actually applying something new to improve yourself, your business or your relationships, unless you incorporate it into your behavior. Hence, “It’s not a tip unless you use it.”
How do we make people pay attention? How can you influence people to incorporate a tip to improve their work performance or how they deal with others? All those gurus out there think they have the solutions and sell their ideas on the speakers’ circuit. What they say is often mashed potatoes. Nothing new.
What would be new though is a forum on how to get people to follow-through and take 2-3 important concepts for improvement and use them. Don’t just think about it. It’s not a tip unless you use it.
Are all those leadership gurus successful or are their presentations pointless? I would argue mostly the latter. Unless there is follow-through, if you hire an outside speaker to change your corporate culture, you’re wasting your time. People feel good afterwards. Employees may laugh at the speaker’s jokes. Then they all return to their cubicles and act exactly the way they did the day before.
The current cultural change in outing bad male behavior directed towards women (and sometimes men) is an example of something where there’s a lot being said, and now we need to use what we’ve found and take the long path to get better. There won’t be change without sustained application of a new model that’s reinforced regularly.
Right now we hear the message. Next, we absorb it. Specific steps must follow. What are they? It’s not a tip unless you use it.
Recently walking out of the fitness facility, I said to a guy I see there most mornings, “It’s not a tip unless you use it.” Pretty simple statement. But loaded with meaning. It works on several levels.
He appreciated the phrase, so I’ve saved it here for others to consider. If you don’t take advice/tips/suggestions/direction and do something with it, whatever was stated becomes useless. It might as well not have ever been introduced into a discussion.
All of us get advice regularly. Most of it runs through our ears like a freight train. “Choo, choo,” and it’s gone. The engineer never slowed down to drop the message into our memory banks for further consideration.
It’s not really advice then. It’s someone talking, and even if we’re actively listening, that doesn’t mean anything unless you take to the next level. You must capture that information. Write it down. Repeat it to yourself. Think about it. Discuss it with someone else. Go back to it a few days later and contemplate it.
If you don’t take those steps, whoever has provided you a leadership tip or some explanation to self-improve your life has wasted his or her time. Nothing is going to occur, because you no longer have that information in front of you. And that’s just the first step.
Because you’ll never get to behavior change or actually applying something new to improve yourself, your business or your relationships, unless you incorporate it into your behavior. Hence, “It’s not a tip unless you use it.”
How do we make people pay attention? How can you influence people to incorporate a tip to improve their work performance or how they deal with others? All those gurus out there think they have the solutions and sell their ideas on the speakers’ circuit. What they say is often mashed potatoes. Nothing new.
What would be new though is a forum on how to get people to follow-through and take 2-3 important concepts for improvement and use them. Don’t just think about it. It’s not a tip unless you use it.
Are all those leadership gurus successful or are their presentations pointless? I would argue mostly the latter. Unless there is follow-through, if you hire an outside speaker to change your corporate culture, you’re wasting your time. People feel good afterwards. Employees may laugh at the speaker’s jokes. Then they all return to their cubicles and act exactly the way they did the day before.
The current cultural change in outing bad male behavior directed towards women (and sometimes men) is an example of something where there’s a lot being said, and now we need to use what we’ve found and take the long path to get better. There won’t be change without sustained application of a new model that’s reinforced regularly.
Right now we hear the message. Next, we absorb it. Specific steps must follow. What are they? It’s not a tip unless you use it.
