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Persistence is defined as:

• continuing firmly or obstinately in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition
• continuing to exist or endure over a prolonged period

Learning is defined as:

the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or by being taught

High-performing organizations have a superior commitment to persistent learning. A relentless pursuit to figure it out. To closely examine what went wrong, not to assess blame, but to figure out what can be learned. To closely examine what went right, not to assess honor, but to figure out what can be learned.

Buffer.com published a report entitled, The 2021 State of Remote Work. I’d encourage you to review it and see what you can learn from it. For our purposes in today’s show, the persistent learning available due to this pandemic grows more evident every day. This is just one report, of many, that have come out of the changing nature of work and workplaces because of the pandemic. Organizations who never thought it possible to have remote work are finding that not only is it possible, in some cases, it’s vastly more efficient, resulting in happier employees. So it goes with learning. Sometimes it’s forced on us.

High-performing organizations don’t wait for external forces to impose learning. They look for opportunities at every turn asking seemingly naive questions. Questions others are too proud to ask. Or questions others may fear to ask. Persistent learning demands a fearless approach to asking questions. Intense curiosity.

The quality of our questions determines the quality of our decisions…and our actions.

Good questions push us to figure out better answers. High-performing groups and teams join forces in asking the questions. They don’t rely on any one person to bring curiosity to the challenge or opportunity. Everybody embraces curiosity. It’s contagious as collectively everybody is working to better understand.

The progression I have used for years has remained unchanged mostly because I’ve not found a better sequence to follow.

Persistent learning requires persistent humility and curiosity. It’s not a one-off, but it’s a lifetime habit.

Guage the level of curiosity among your group or team by measuring the questions that are asked before suggestions are offered. When you do, you may find that people leap straight away to a suggestion. “I think we should…” or “I’m in favor of…” That’s an indication of people who aren’t curious and may be disinterested in learning more so they can better understand.

For many teams, the lack of humility is manifested in self-centeredness. People can easily concern themselves with themselves. They know what they think should be done. They know their own opinions well and may tend to over-value their opinions as superior to all others.

If an opinion is truly high value, then rigorous questioning and discussion (even disagreement) will prove it more so. Defensiveness disrupts the process and stymies the learning. Humility affords us the opportunity to see if our opinions are right (or best), and to see how others may view them. Be courageous enough to be wrong and you’ll be more likely to be right more often (maybe). 😉

Persistent learning focuses on trying to figure out what we’ve yet to figure out…or trying to better figure things out we once thought we had figured out. It is NOT a procrastination tactic to avoid taking action. It’s NOT delaying so we can get our actions more perfect. It’s the realization (humility) that drives our curiosity to know more and to know it better so our understanding can deepen. The ultimate goal is compassion, which is basically being concerned about others! And now you may better understand why that’s important in building a high-performing team or group! It’s not about YOU. It’s about US.

Be well. Do good. Grow great.

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Tom Hart has served as Grand Prairie City Manager since 1999. Prior to that, Hart was Assistant City Manager and later City Manager in Euless for 16 years. He was one of the youngest city managers in the history of Texas when he served as City Manager in The Colony from 1978-1981. Known for his attention to world-class customer service and innovative management style, Hart created the city’s popular and successful mission to “create Raving Fans by delivering World Class Service.”

During his tenure as Grand Prairie’s City Manager, he has overseen the reconstruction of the historic Uptown Theater and construction of QuikTrip Ballpark, Verizon Theatre, the Ruthe Jackson Center and Gardens, Grand Prairie Memorial Gardens, Tony Shotwell Life Center, Prairie Paws Adoption Center, the Splash Factory, Alliance Skate Park, the Public Safety Training Center, Municipal Court House, the Public Safety Building, and Active Adult Center. Check out the parks, arts, and recreation available. Grand Prairie, Texas is a living testimony to what high-performance culture can accomplish.

Today, I join Tom in his new office at a beautiful city hall. We talk about leadership and culture, two key ingredients for Tom’s success and ongoing quest for excellence.

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Today, I’m rejoining Dr. David Childs, Ph.D. for a conversation about what Jim Collins referred to in his books as Level 5 Leadership. David is highly qualified in high-performance leadership. In 2015 he published a book, The Organization Whisperer: 12 Core Actions That Ripple Excellence Through Your Organization. I encourage you to connect with him on Linkedin. Visit his website at The Organization Whisperer.

David and I have been engaged in some ongoing email correspondence conversations about leadership for months now. Today’s show is an outgrowth of some of those as David shares with us his list of 10 traits that characterize Level 5 Leadership as he sees it. We discuss the first 5 in this conversation because those are the ones David thinks deserve the most attention. We’ll cover the remaining 5 in part two, which I promise will be shorter. 😉

Here’s his list:

1. Inspiring Vision
2. Integrity
3. Lives with a positive/can-do spirit
4. Partners with other positive excellence
5. Measures efficiency and outcomes
6. Synthesizes
7. Prioritizes effectively/holistically
8. Innovatively improves
9. Multi-tasks with focus
10. Completes/implements

Enjoy.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:58 — 32.0MB)

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This photograph was taken sometime in 1982. Today’s episode is from the now unpublished archives. It was recorded on Friday, May 11, 2012. I resurrected it because recent client work went where it always seems to go sooner than later. Personal. Struggles. Sorrows. Challenges. Opportunities. It made me think about how we’re human, all of us. Sharing many similar feelings and emotions. It doesn’t matter if we’re high-performers or average-performers. That whole “check your personal problems at the door” nonsense is impractical and unrealistic. With that context, I bring you today’s show from 2012. Below are the original show notes to the episode.    -Randy

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Some time ago I was listening to a businessman explain his operation. Every industry has a language all its own. This man’s industry was wealth management. During the conversation, he used this phrase, “Guaranteed lifetime benefit.”

My mind wandered.

Wealth management? I muted myself on the phone (thankfully this conversation wasn’t face-to-face) in order to avoid having my chuckle heard. It struck me funny to think about a person who might have an opposite business model, poverty management. I think I could help a lot more people manage their poverty. Of course the problem is obvious. They wouldn’t be able to pay me.

But it was the other phrase that captivated me. And lingered on days after the conversation ended.

Guaranteed Lifetime Benefit

For days I considered that phrase. I thought, “What are the guaranteed lifetime benefits in my life?”

The question morphed into perhaps a better question that serves as the headline of these show notes, “Where are my guaranteed lifetime benefits?” Where are yours?

Days later. Miles later. Sleepless nights later. I realized my first answer was right all along.

Let me know if you agree. Or not.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 38:40 — 35.4MB)

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Joining me today via Zoom is Sheri Chaney Jones. She is an expert on public sector evaluation and applied organizational research. Sheri is the President and Founder of Measurement Resources, a consulting company dedicated to helping the social sector with performance management, evaluation, and organizational behavior. She is also the author of Impact & Excellence: Data-Driven Strategies for Aligning Mission, Culture, and Performance in Nonprofit and Government Organizations.

In 2006 two of my favorite business management writers Jeffrey Pfeffer and Bob Sutton published an article in the Harvard Business Review entitled, Evidence-Based Management. Sheri’s work focuses on providing clients evidence upon which improvements can be not only measured but improved. Connect with her on Linkedin.

As we strive to accelerate our own human performance and those around us, it’s increasingly vital that we take advantage of the tools that can enable us to see more our outcomes more accurately. We all prefer to think that the things we’re doing are accomplishing the desired goals, but what if they’re not. In fact, what if they’re working against what we hope to accomplish?

You hear me say it often. We’re here to help you figure it out. Sheri’s company is focused on using hard science coupled with psychology and organizational behavior to help clients do exactly that.

Be well. Do good. Grow great!