Managing with Aloha Coaching

A letter to my Managing with Aloha Coaching subscribers

2009-01-02T14:29:13-10:00

Aloha everyone, and Happy New Year!

You may be wondering why my Day One essay for January still has not been posted.

I sent out the first issue of Ho‘ohana ‘Ōlelo (my monthly e-letter) this morning, and within it I made a very important announcement: I will not be continuing my publishing of Managing with Aloha Coaching in 2009 to make way for my two BHAGs this year. Yep, time to get back in gear with Big Hairy Audacious Goals.

There is a bit more in the preface of Ho‘ohana ‘Ōlelo for the benefit of those who primarily keep in touch with me that way versus on the web, but here is the excerpt which explains it for those of you who do not have that subscription as well.

In many ways this was a very hard decision for me to make, for I so love this site! However I do feel that it IS a good decision, and the best possible one out of the options I considered. I do NOT want to leave you high and dry without a“Value your Month, Value your Life” plan of your own, however MWAC was always intended to be a self-coaching guideline, and if you have been working the site as opposed to simply reading it, all but the newest subscribers will be ready to now model the program and create a plan of their own.

(Skip down to the next major heading “What I left out” if you do subscribe and have already read this.)

From Ho‘ohana ‘Ōlelo:

Rough as it has been, 2008 was a good teacher, dealing out some tough love in the teaching.

Are we listening? Are we learning? I do not believe that we in business, and in life, can continue the way we have been operating if we are to thrive again, and prosper in ways which will be good for us as soon as possible. I do believe we can change, and I do believe our change can be for the better.

In recent weeks I have asked you not to rely on any cycle, and to make room for a better vitality. I need to practice what I preach too, and I feel I need to lead. So the first thing I will do in my yearly planning, is a stripping away of the non-essentials which can be masquerading as worthy Ho'ohana work, when in fact, they are sneaking in some auto-pilot, some laziness or complacency so that mediocrity can find its foothold and get comfortable. I make more room for the good stuff.

In years past it's been a no-brainer. My value of the month program would never, ever be the casualty, for Managing with Aloha is about managing by values, and is mission more than book: Even my beloved Talking Story came on the chopping block. Well, we've now had five years of "Value your Month, Value your Life" and it's time to move on. I will not be writing a value of the month program for the Ho'ohana Community in 2009.

Don't stop eating just because I stop spoon-feeding

I still believe in the greatness of a value of the month program, still recommend every workplace adopt it, then truly live and work it, but I must move on in my leading, both self-leading and idea-leading. If I don't, I will let you down and let myself down.

"Value your Month, Value your Life" has taken up an awful lot of room on my calendar and in my days, and for me personally, it has to go. I will never ever stop my own living that way, and I have already assigned myself a value to work on in each month of 2009 as I have done with you these last five years, but as of 2009 the Managing with Aloha Coaching container for it as a community program will remain available to you as archives, but will not be newly updated.

So what am I making room for?

I am making room for much more realistic progress with accomplishing these two important goals well before year's end, both of which are not brand new, but got shelved when 2008 began teaching me, and I began listening:

I will be writing my second book.

I will be launching a third business entity named Writing with Aloha.

What about SLC and Ho'ohana Publishing?
They continue, but they will shift.

This letter has been long enough, and I will tell you more as we go forward. That will be another change you will see from me.

This, our Ho'ohana 'Ōlelo newsletter you have subscribed for, will continue, but it will not be on the same Day One recurring pattern each month. I will instead be writing to you when I have new developments to share, or when I do wish to better communicate with you than I have been. In one way, we all have a love-hate relationship with email, however I sense we are all more dependent on email these days -it's become another no-brainer of sorts, and I simply feel it is more effective for us both.

I anticipate you will hear from me more than you have been, not less. My messages can be shorter. That is my intention: To be more timely and responsive (versus pressed for time as I prepare value-based coaching essays for a coming month as it has been). I also want to do more project work versus program maintenance so that there is room for the new idea generation that better leadership is all about.

I am excited about 2009, and I hope you are too.
I also pray this is not a let down for you, and that you will keep your subscription going to see where my new calendar plan will take us.

Between our emails, please continue to join me online at Talking Story (it's back!) and at Joyful Jubilant Learning (JJL Day One Essay for January).

If you need some help with setting your own personal value of the month plan in motion, visit my most recent article for Say "Alaka'i" at The Honolulu Advertiser blog I am now writing (essentially, Say "Alaka'i" is the first pilot project of Writing with Aloha): Hau'oli Makahiki Hou: Hawaiian Values for 2009

While it was written for our Hawai'i newspaper in tone, you know I do not write solely as a Hawai'i-based reporter or journalist, and what you will find there would be the universal structure of "Value your Month, Value your Life" were it to continue. As I explain in the article linked above,

"...choose [which] values you
a) ethically believe in at gut-level,
b) feel will engender the behavior you want to happen for your business, and
c) are fully prepared to champion with constancy.
What you will then discover, is that those values do an incredible amount of the work for you."

Here is a Talking Story link to the same article if you prefer it.

All of which can free you up too, to work on the best year you have ever had. Let's keep doing that together.

What I Left Out

What I forgot to say, but it probably applies more to you who read me here anyway, empathizing with my webby ways, is that my letter today triggers a LOT of publishing updates I must do online, most of what must still be done. For instance, I must quickly update my Ho‘ohana ‘Ōlelo page too so new subscribers aren’t misled.

As I work through my 2009 goals, my Talking Story blog will be the best place you can find me, and know for sure what I am up to.

Mahalo nui for your patience, and please know that if things still look confusing elsewhere the decisions and writing here at Talking Story will trump them all, okay?

Please consider replacing your MWAC subscription with that one!

To unsubscribe from this one, go to the very bottom of this email, and click that link which reads, “To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.”
To subscribe to Talking Story, which I also use as the most up-to-date aggregator of ALL my writing on management, leadership, and the values of Aloha, click on this next link for the FeedBurner email subscription similar to this one you’ve had here at MWAC:
Subscribe to Talking Story with Say Leadership Coaching by Email

Thank you so much for reading Managing with Aloha Coaching these past seventeen months! I look forward to continuing our conversations at Talking Story. If you need my help in any other way, please write me.

With my aloha, for we will Ho‘ohana together, Kākou.

~Rosa

The Virtue of Vitality

2008-12-29T01:01:00-10:00

The first time I wrote about Vitality as a virtue, I was thinking about the holidays and how much energy they can stimulate for us:

Vitality. There is a fire that burns within us during the holidays. Give in and let it burn up any stress, replacing it with enthusiastic and eager energy. Zip. Zeal. Zest. All vitally and dynamically virtuous.

Well, what about the rest of year?

We are days away from a new year as I sit here writing these words, and I find that I am steeped in more peaceful thoughts; not the peace of “goodwill toward all men” (though a constant on my Aloha Virtues as well) but the peace of calm and of contentment, of the Hawaiian value I call Ma‘alahi [the persuasion for calm contentment.]

I am sure it has much to do with the year-end reflection we all so naturally go through in this final week of the year, asking ourselves what we will keep and decidedly perpetuate (Ho‘omau comes to mind, and causing our good to last), and conversely, what we are willing let go of.

The ‘letting go’ is valuable in our New Year reflections, for it usually has to do with making room for other things we’ve set our sights on, as opposed to some loss. A full 365 days are ahead of us, and oh the possibilities! Those are the thoughts that now bring Vitality back to mind for me, making room, and I’ve been playing with the word, wondering how I would rewrite my Aloha Virtues description if it was more appropriate for the entire year to come.

What would keeping vitality as a year-long virtue mean to you?

How would you turn it into a value, if you chose it for a month in our Value of the Month program, or if you decided it would be the theme for your entire year?

I can tell you this much (for I am still thinking about this too): Vitality is a word I love. I still associate vitality with verve, and with lively energy, and with those Zs: “Zip. Zeal. Zest.” To me, vitality is very much about that ‘fire which burns within us.’ You might call it passion, or purpose, or as I do, Ho‘ohana; the Ho‘ohana of intentional work, but it is less serious and more spontaneous and impulsive; there is a good giving in quality to it. All the while you are smiling, or laughing; you feel brighter, healthier.

Back to Ho‘ohana for a sec, those feelings of vitality can happen there too.

I like work. I like the value of work. I like that it makes me feel very alive, active and vital, and that its results can be so important to me and worthwhile to other people too. For me to live well, work has to be part of the whole, for if I am not churning something out, getting things done, creating and inventing as I go, I feel bored and lazy and unaccomplished. I feel like I am wasting those gifts that the good Lord (and my parents, and others) gave me, and invested on within me.

Complacency is the opposite of Vitality, and because it is such an opposite I am constantly aware of it, and aware of warding it off; complacency is simply awful to me. However I find that complacency has this tricky cousin which trips me up sometimes, and keeps me from being less than totally vital. That cousin’s name is Maintenance.

As I sit here today and consider how I will keep vitality in my life in the coming year, I wonder what I am simply maintaining, and nothing more. What am I maintaining in a less than creative way? What am I maintaining that has stopped growing, and I would be far better off letting it go, so that my Vitality can appear elsewhere, becoming something more?

It’s like that plant that you might be keeping alive on a kitchen window sill in filtered light, over-watering it unconsciously, when you suddenly look at it one day and realize something: It’s so very sad! While it’s true not a single leaf has withered, yellowed or fallen, you haven’t seen a new shoot or bud in months. The poor plant has essentially stopped living on that window sill, and the prospects of reviving it are very dim unless you can find a safe and sunny place for it outside somewhere, where Mother Nature will be a much better caretaker than you can ever be —even when you are at your very best. You are not a great gardener, and you will likely never be one.

But that’s okay. Your vitality lives elsewhere, and you know that it does. The thing is, every day you have watered that sad little plant longingly was a bit wasted in that effort, and now you know it’s time to redirect your efforts, and make every single one of them vital again.

Yep, I do think that is what Vitality will mean for me the rest of the year, and 2009 suits the bill perfectly. In fact, I can start today.

Photo Credits: Window Sill, Wellington, by ms sdb on Flickr, and Sill still life by Brenda Anderson on Flickr

Wonder, Gratitude and Joy

2008-12-22T00:19:10-10:00

My camera was with me constantly yesterday: I kept it with me to snap photos of my day as it happened, participating in the 18th group photo shout-out held by Flickr, one they call DILO ~ A Day in the Life Of.

I did not plan a special day: I decided to have a very ordinary one, and just see what would happen. Wonder, gratitude and joy happened.

I was so grateful for all I am surrounded by each day; things that are not unusual but add to my life in some way, the ways of wonder and joy. Here is what we had said about these three virtues:

Wonder. To have an inner capacity that can always make room for awe and wonder is such a blessing. To return to child-like innocence and acceptance, to be rendered speechless, and have it feel good and right, never helpless. To not have all the answers but feel it is perfectly fine not to, to just have wonder.

Gratitude. There may be no mightier force in our lives than learning to live in thankfulness for all we are and all we have been given. An attitude of gratitude is an attitude of aloha; The breath of life within you is meant to be shared in appreciation, thankfulness, and gratitude.

Joy. Happiness with more than contentment. Happiness with bliss and euphoria. Silliness without self-consciousness. The holidays are so perfect for splashes of joy in color, in song, in tinsel and texture, even in the scents that fill the air. But most of all, in people’s faces.

You can see all of the photos I had taken in this photo set; some of my personal favorites follow.

I need to choose just five to add to the Flickr photo pool; perhaps you can help me choose?

What are the very ordinary things which fill you with wonder, gratitude and joy?

Are you taking the time to notice them each day?

An Update: Visit this page to see which photos I chose, and why (two of my choices are not shown here).

Running with Virtue

2008-12-15T07:20:04-10:00

Yesterday marked a goal realized for me; it was the first time I ran The Honolulu Marathon.

Having never done a marathon before, my goal was to run a half; 13.1 miles (or 21.08km if that’s your preferred measurement). Not something the event officially offers; your choices are a quarter-marathon (10k) or the whole thing, and so pursuing my goal meant that once I reached the 13.1 miles I’d set my eye on I had to get back to the finish. Thus altogether I ended up having a 20 mile day.

I felt such a mix of emotions after my last mile was run (and yes, they accompanied two very weary legs), and as I sat later in the evening trying to put them to words our virtues came to mind for me again. Among them, faith, vitality, and joy seemed to particularly suit with generous splashes of wonder for that time between the 13th mile and the 20th one!

Pursuing those goals you have set your heart on, and working through the achieving of them must be a virtuous act, don’t you think? We have called our list of virtues “nouns begging our action to make them verbs” and spoken of how they require courage and the “disposition of man’s powers directing them to some goodness of act.”

I’ve never quite thought of goal-setting in this way before, as the potential to bring more virtue into your life, and I like that thought very much! So today, with my first try at the Honolulu Marathon now part of my personal history it is time to set a new goal, level my sights on the achievement of more virtuous acts.

Perhaps I can do the full marathon next year? Just six and a half more miles.

Virtuous Thinking with Aloha to help me

2008-12-08T08:23:59-10:00

What was your first reaction when you first looked at my list of Twelve Aloha Virtues?

Were you satisfied with them, or did something else come to mind that you immediately wanted to add? If so, I hope you took the liberty of adding it to your own list.

Maybe you picked out one or two as favorites? Maybe they weren’t exactly favorites, but they resonated in a different way?

Did the twelve give you a feeling of recognition’s contentment, or the longing of discontent, and a wishing for more?

Part of my own enchantment with my list is that my reactions have differed from year to year. Particular ones do jump out at me, and every year those ‘jumpers’ leaping off the page are different, causing me to wonder about the roominess (and fickleness) of my own brain with its ever growing and ever changing capacity for abundance and scattered possibility (Palena ‘ole goodness :).

Because I always do this in December, I wonder about the influences of the past year, and how many are recent, insistently pressing because of any gravity (the economy truly is a doozy right now), or spectacularly influential in the way they have lingered or created habits over the course of the entire year.

So ultimately I do choose each year, and I then sit down with a blank Word doc opened on my laptop, and as I look at the blank screen and rest my fingers on the qwerty of the keyboard, I ask myself, “Why?”

Why these? (or why this particular one)
What are they trying to tell me?
What shall I do with them?
Is it just for right now? Is it a quick fix, or is it a could-be-forever kind of thing?

And this year, there is a different question, one which has not come up for me before;

Who shall I share this with?

Usually this is an exercise of self-reflection I tend to keep to myself. A private pleasure, sort of like a candy bar you buy with no intention beyond licking your own lips in savoring the sugary, chocolaty goodness of it. There will be no sharing of the candy.

But not this year. The need to share was immediate. It was yet another “Why?” for me.

I think my virtue page jumper this year created the question at the same time as it jumped at me, for the virtue is one I have never written about before: Humor.

Within virtue, we set our hearts free.

Humor. Speaking of hearts, this comes from Proverbs 17:22 “A cheerful heart is good medicine.” Laughter fills the holidays, and no one can tell me our ability to laugh at ourselves is not character-building and virtuous.

And...

Your character emerges from the deep inner weavings of your values, your spirit, and your instinctual emotional well-being: It is flushed out and propelled toward others on the vibrations of your good intentions. Indeed, the virtues you choose to practice were in fact chosen by your “moral excellence.”

From: In Keeping with our December Tradition: Twelve Aloha Virtues

This year though, I know Humor will be important to me. I don’t know how I know, I just know that I do. And because I believe that my own Aloha spirit talks to me, I am okay with just listening to that part, being okay with the ‘just knowing’ and then going on from there.

Curious about what would come up, I searched my own Flickr photostream for “funny” and this was one of only two pictures which came up: Kūki‘o Tidepool Life; a Sea Urchin I had very unkindly flipped over. In both cases, “funny” was curious thinking for me, it decidedly was not humorous at all.

Yep, there is some reason humor is calling to me right now...

So I will be off to that blank Word doc next, and see how else Humor will talk to me.

How about you? Which one did your Aloha pick out for you?

We will Ho‘ohana together, Kākou.

~Rosa

Want a bit more coaching with your own questions? From the archives:
The power of questioning: Ask “Why?” Five Times

In Keeping with our December Tradition: Twelve Aloha Virtues

2008-12-01T00:15:00-10:00

Aloha, this page has been updated, and moved to Managing with Aloha. Here is a direct link: Twelve Aloha Virtues.

Not just ‘again.’ Ho‘omau better.

2008-11-25T00:15:00-10:00

Aloha, thank you for your visit today! This is the last essay I will present in November for Ho‘omau, the Hawaiian value of persistence and perseverance. Here are quick links to what we have done so far:

Today

There is one word that sometimes can be associated with persistence, a word that Ho‘omau is definitely NOT about. The word is stubborn.

Most will agree that good managers and leaders are not stubborn. Neither is Ho‘omau. On the contrary, great managers and leaders call upon the value of Ho‘omau to help them resist any tendency with immovable, inflexible or obstinate behaviors; Ho‘omau will keep them exploring and reaching higher.

Do you believe the possibility for better always exists?

Ho‘omau is anything but stubborn, for Ho‘omau extends beyond the dogged persistence of repetition to valuing the processes of continuous and incremental improvement.

The Hawaiian value of Ho‘omau is quite similar to the Japanese concept of Kaizen, where even something which seems to be working well will eventually be taken apart and examined anyway, within the assumption that every aspect of our life deserves to be constantly improved — and can be. The possibility for better always exists.

Kaizen is actually a way of life philosophy (which is simply saying it is a value lived thoroughly); it harnesses the universal value of persistence that we translate via Ho‘omau as “revealing the good, and causing it to last.”

The Kaizen devotee will passionately argue that Kaizen is highly preferable to BPR (business process reengineering) because it is less radical and drastic. The Kaizen philosophy is thought to be more people-oriented and easier to implement because it is already habitual, formed by the lifelong discipline is requires. Changes are smaller, incremental and happening non-stop in Kaizen, whereas BPR will usually recommend large-scale change that is purposely jarring to achieve shift.

Why is improvement so important to us?

Beyond the obvious contentment we enjoy when our work processes are glitch free and work goes smoothly, improvement makes us feel that we are moving and growing.

When things don’t improve we feel like we are standing still and getting nowhere, even when there isn’t a single problem to be found in the standing still. This ever-present searching for the next best thing is simply hard-wired into our humanness, and we thrive on it; we wouldn’t have it any other way.

That’s why routine, boredom, complacency and apathy are such cancers in the workplace; they are spirit killers which diminish our potential.

There is one kind of boss worse than the boss who might be excessively hard on you, and that’s the boss who ignores you, or ignores the worth of the work you do.

Thus I will always coach managers and leaders not to shy away from being the boss. Our problem is not that we have too much management, but that we don’t have enough of it.

Be the Boss, and have a Ho‘omau plan

“As a manager, Ho‘omau challenges you to have a carefully crafted plan that makes good business sense. You cannot have a strategy that will both motivate and support your staff without sound business objectives to ground you. Working hard is not good enough, you have to work smart. You need a great plan with evolving dynamics of its own, responsive to the ever-changing needs of your business. It’s part of your responsibility as a leader.”
—from Managing with Aloha, page 61

Yes, strategic planning is about bringing profitability to the bottom line and getting ROI: Money is not evil; it is a means to an end and it finances the other components of your business model. However much as I advocate financial literacy, ROI alone is only part of the picture within a thriving workplace; we err when we only align strategic planning with our financial statements.

Happy human beings want to be challenged, they want to learn, they want to work within movements, and they want to grow. Valuing Ho‘omau without a plan of some kind is like saying “just try harder” without any reason why.

And oh my goodness, there are so many options to choose from!

Here is my suggestion with wrapping up our study of Ho‘omau this month:

Review the 4 building blocks within The Role of the Manager Reconstructed. When you review what we have learned about Ho‘omau this month, where can your Ho‘omau intentions best be applied?


MY MANA‘O (what I believe to be true) ~ ~ ~ 1. People: Managers concentrate on strengths and make weaknesses irrelevant. Discover what strengths each of the people you manage possess. Place people where they are called on to employ those strengths and capitalize on them. Give people authority to completely own their responsibilities. 2. Place: Managers create great workplaces where people thrive. Focus on creating an environment where rewarding work happens. Continually work to remove obstacles, barriers, and excuses. Be the steward of a healthy organizational culture. 3. Mission: Managers get the work to make perfect sense. Connect the work to be done with the meaning why. Plan to succeed with a viable business model, so people always see realistic possibility. Encourage people to work on the enterprise with you, not just within it. 4. Vision: Managers expect and promote the exceptional. Never settle for mediocrity; champion excellence so people rise to the occasion. Lead, mentor and coach. Harness energy and drive action. Do with, not for. Foster sequential and consequential learning so people continue to grow.

And that, my Ho‘ohana Community, will wrap up our value study for the month of November as far as my essay presentations go. However we have 5 full days before we say Aloha to the month, and the comments are open! Got some good words for me, and to share with each other?

We will Ho‘ohana together, Kākou.

~Rosa

Decision-Making and Decision-Management seen through Ho‘omau

2008-11-18T00:15:00-10:00

One of the things we’ve said about Ho‘omau is this:

“People are more apt to invest in and be committed to their own decisions than they are to following the marching orders of a leader—even a leader they respect and trust to make decisions for them.”
—from Managing with Aloha, page 58

(If you are just joining us, Ho‘omau is the Hawaiian value of persistence and perseverance, and you will find a more complete definition within my Day One Essay for November: Ho‘omau: Reveal the Good, and Make it Last.)

Today

I’d like to connect our decisions with the value of Ho‘omau. While you are engaged in the work you do, you are primarily in the process of one of two things. You are either

Working to make a good decision (as opposed to an impulsive or auto-pilot one), or

Working to execute a decision (and also managing its consequences).

If we view this through the value filter of Ho‘omau, we are pursuing best-possible continuity of our good constants. However we want growth too, and thus we must embrace change. If we ask ourselves, “which change is best?” I believe that considering Alaka‘i (the value of leadership) can be of great help.

~ MWAC Value of the Month Connections ~
Some extra credit for later, for any of you who studied Nānā i ke kumu with me last month:
(By ‘later’ I mean with a second reading of this essay today with the ‘extra credit’ intention of connecting it to your Ho‘ohana newly drafted this past October… this is the sequential and consequential learning of MWAC.)

Look at those two bullet points above, and see if you can align them with the Nānā i ke kumu work we did on these two bullets within How Nānā i ke kumu Helps You Embrace Change and Growth.

“…look at “both source and capacity to learn” in another way, as constants (source) and as change (capacity to learn). At any given time, and with any given effort, we are working on one or the other: Either we are

Working to maintain our healthy constants, or

Working to effect a change we desire.

Further, it is in effecting a desired change that we experience our most elevated experiences with learning.”

Think of Decision Making as a Leadership Function

We too often consider decision making to be a chore, and worse, we allow so many of our decisions to succumb to the chopping block of political correctness, where soon the inherent integrity of our decisions have been watered down into hardly more than safe mediocrity. Pure yuck!

Leadership is braver than that, and if decisions are to be worth much at all they must be brave too. In other words, you, the decision maker, must be more courageous.

I know what you’re thinking… “yeah Rosa, sure. More easily said than done.”

Not necessarily. Not when you bring in the heavy artillery we call leadership. You see, I believe that leadership is a service discipline, one which creates positive energy via well-articulated and future-directed ideas: Leaders are the champions of great ideas.

Now consider this: A great idea is the precursor to a great decision.

The great idea is the pioneer who breaks new ground; the great decision is the settler who says a blessing over the land and then begins to plan some seeds where the soil is most fertile.

Now think of decision management as a management function, where all the settlers are now in execution mode; they’re farming. They are working on the optimal way to put the decision into play, and pull it off, where “it” is the great idea turned into the great decision to farm in that new place to begin with.

I also like the farming analogy because it constantly reminds me that we reap what we sow.

Think of Decision-based Work as a Management Function

It’s that second bullet point we started with.

Great management is akin to missionary work. And mission-directed work counts on great leadership because leading is visionary work. Vision is simply the well-articulated great idea turned into a clear, compelling, cool and sexy, wildly exciting picture of our best possible future. Those seeds will turn into bountiful rows of corn, plumped juicy yellow by our hard work (or tomatoes!) and harvested in plenty to both sustain us easily, and invite our neighbors to feast with us so we can all share in the spirit of thanksgiving together.

Leadership tells us that happy ending to the story as the consequence of a great idea (i.e. the right idea, and the best idea) turned into the great decision to do the work it takes to get it done.

Now I’m not at all minimizing the work of decision-management, for there is likely a considerable amount of effort involved in that bullet point of “Working to execute a decision (and also managing its consequences).” However isn’t it better to start with a great idea versus a so-so one which will drain your energies? Pump those energies up to the momentum of exciting runaway instead! Isn’t it better to be the brave leader and work on your own idea of what good to make last in your life? Why work on the idea someone else created when you have a great one too? What was the title of my Day One Essay again? Oh yeah... Ho‘omau: Reveal the Good, and Make it Last.

From last week’s essay, you also know this:

To suppose that persistence and perseverance describes “trying harder” isn’t the Kaona, and hidden meaning of Ho‘omau. You now know it is being smarter and more deliberate: Throw those extra veggies into the cargo hold of our ship! Ho‘omau is fully anchor smart and compass point intentional.

You can manage, and you can lead. Yes, you.

So let’s go back to that quote for a moment:

“People are more apt to invest in and be committed to their own decisions than they are to following the marching orders of a leader —even a leader they respect and trust to make decisions for them.”
—from Managing with Aloha, page 58

What that quote alludes to is this: In your everyday decisions about virtually everything, you can be both leader and manager, both decision-maker (the scout and pioneer) and decision-manager (the settler and farmer).

You start with the idea you have that you are most excited about, and you Ho‘omau; you persist and persevere, you push through any adversity (resisting things like political correctness and less-than-courageous mediocrity), and you make the change you have chosen come true for you.

When you get others on your team —say you get more land, decide to grow with a bigger farm, and need more help, you Ho‘omau more diligently as a farmer-manager: Managers are the champions of people who Ho‘ohana together.

You are growing more than just corn, and it all starts with brave decisions. Farms do not sustain us, grow us and give us feasts worthy of Thanksgiving celebrations when they settle for mediocrity.

Next Tuesday: Our Ho‘omau study continues with Not just ‘again.’ Ho‘omau better..

“As a manager, Ho‘omau challenges you to have a carefully crafted plan that makes good business sense. You cannot have a strategy that will both motivate and support your staff without sound business objectives to ground you. Working hard is not good enough, you have to work smart. You need a great plan with evolving dynamics of its own, responsive to the ever-changing needs of your business. It’s part of your responsibility as a leader.”
—from Managing with Aloha, page 61

We will Ho‘ohana together, Kākou.

~Rosa

Understanding Kaona in our Ho‘omau Language of Intention

2008-11-11T00:15:00-10:00

ALOHA ~ ~ ~

Have you newly arrived here at Managing with Aloha Coaching? Thank you for clicking in!

Each month, we adopt a Hawaiian value to study together in a universal way, thus the tagline you see up top: Value Your Month, Value Your Life.

I publish a new coaching essay here every Tuesday. They are essays, longer than most blog posts, and though you can read them through once in less than a Daily 5 Minutes, they are intended to give you a full week’s worth of Ho‘ohana-inspired self-coaching.

This month we are learning about Ho‘omau: Reveal the Good, and Make it Last.
Begin here: Day One Essay for a quick introduction. We’ll wait!

Welcome!
~ Rosa Say

**Our Value Study: Ho‘omau. Reveal the Good, and Make it Last.**

In my Day One Essay, I asked you to think about the persistence and perseverance of Ho‘omau through two metaphors, anchors (which keep you steady or in safe harbor) and compass points (which give you direction).

You can think of the good in your life (and in your work) as the constancy you want keeping you anchored; you can “make it last” by choosing directional movement which fortifies and builds upon that good with connective opportunities, making it even stronger.

Let’s explore the metaphor a bit further today, by talking about one anchor and one compass point:

The anchor: VALUES
The compass point: LANGUAGE OF INTENTION

Third, I’d like to introduce a wonderful Hawaiian concept to you, called KAONA.

Values reveal the correct path to take.

Values teach us to seek goodness by their very nature, and the assumption we make when we use our values as an anchor, is that the best path will also be the right path, a good path.

Simply speaking the value of Ho‘omau can be a thought-provoking suggestion, one which causes us to self-coach, looking inward at our own choices with self-propelled action, instead of outward at variables that we tend to shift blame to, or justify circumstances with. When we say we want to persist, or persevere, it begs questions; Persist with what? Persevere with what? Why is it so important?

The result of answering these questions, is one of true ownership of the situation at hand (i.e. defining the what), where we begin to reach for our own values (i.e. defining the why), continuing to strive for what we believe in as “the right thing to do.” We then choose actions which are in alignment with our values with a greater sense of self-affirming confidence.

People are more apt to invest in and be committed to their own decisions than they are to following the marching orders of a leader—even a leader they respect and trust to make decisions for them. Their actions are much more immediate and definite. Their confident certainty creates a sense of urgency, because anything less will not do.

The reason is quite simple: If there is anything we trust in completely, it is trust in our own values, for in essence we trust in ourselves.

Choose your language; set your intention.

Language, vocabulary, and conversation combine as our primary tools in business communications. What we speak is fifty times more important than what we write; think about the tone, inflection and body language which accompanies our words and this is easy to understand.

The need for CLEAR, intentional, reliable and responsive communication is critical in thriving businesses. Drive communication of the right messages, and you drive momentum and worthwhile energies.

It makes perfect sense that a directional compass point must be clear too, doesn’t it. It would be unacceptable for a navigator to tell his Captain, “I think the compass is pointing in that direction as north most of the time.”

Momentum and energy is about movement forward, and it becomes directional (like a compass point) when it is clear and intentional; you have a destination in mind, a place (either physical or figuratively speaking) you want to arrive at having completed a successful journey.

So think about your language, vocabulary and conversation in this way: When you have a place in mind you would love to arrive at, as the culmination of your persistence and perseverance through all adversity;

What is the forward momentum and energy you want created?
Where do you want any and all movement to take you?
When does language make a destination clearer, and thus more compelling, and when does language make it too complicated and fuzzy?
What vocabulary excites? What vocabulary distracts?
What conversation is necessary to keep all players in sync, and when does conversation do little more than interrupt momentum which is trying to achieve runaway without your intrusion slowing it down?

Now stop for a moment, and think about what we have done in our “language of Ho‘omau-intention” with our metaphors of anchors and compass points. We’ve created a kind of story, where it is easy to imagine adversity as a stormy sea; it is easy to imagine a laser sharp sail through the opportunity of a beautiful day with good conditions. It is easy to put story-descriptive words to what a happy ending would look like, sound like, feel like.

The story of the successful voyage has become the kaona, or storied meaning within the intentional work done by the ship’s crew; by your crew.

Kaona: Fewer words, more meaning.

As a manager, I found that the beauty of speaking the Hawaiian values was their promise of more meaning with far less words. Values are textured with hidden meanings for different people, yet these varied and unique interpretations will always circle back to the good intent at the very heart of the value in mind. When you incorporate the language of values into your own management culture, the unspoken message you give your peers and employees is that you have the faith and belief they will come up with the interpretation meaning the most to them. You imply the confidence you have that they will then choose the best path to take moving forward. In doing so, you’ve taken another step forward yourself toward building trust between you.

Ho‘omau is perhaps the best example of this, for in saying Ho‘omau you encourage others to continue, to persevere, often without even mentioning what it may be you want them to do. You say, simply and cleanly, “Ho‘omau.” What they hear, in a single word of encouragement, is “You know what to do” and “You are doing well so far—continue.” The implication is that you trust them with figuring out the what and the how, and you have faith that their decisions will be sound ones. You are encouraging them to simply continue on course, —on their charted course, and to never give up. For that person to feel that you have confidence, trust and faith in them is powerful stuff.

When we started the month, did you imagine that Ho‘omau would prove to be a good teacher with creating so much? To suppose that persistence and perseverance describes “trying harder” isn’t the Kaona, and hidden meaning of Ho‘omau. You now know it is being smarter and more deliberate; Ho‘omau is fully anchor smart and compass point intentional.

Next Time: Tuesday, November 18 — Decision-Making and Decision-Management

More about this:

“People are more apt to invest in and be committed to their own decisions than they are to following the marching orders of a leader—even a leader they respect and trust to make decisions for them.”
—from Managing with Aloha, page 58

We will Ho‘ohana together, Kākou.

~Rosa

Ho‘omau: Reveal the Good, and Make it Last

2008-11-01T09:00:00-10:00

IF you are a MWAC “regular,” our value for the month of November should prove to be a good complement to the past month’s study of Nānā i ke kumu. In short, we will move from “Source and Truth” to “best continuity.”

IF you are new to MWAC, you will find that this value is immediately applicable for you given the current state of affairs in the world. It is a value I think of as a kind of “anchor in the storm.”

I am looking forward to the month to come for both reasons. Ho‘omau is the value of persistence and perseverance. The objective of this value is getting all which is good in our lives to be more pervasive and long lasting. Doesn’t that sound great?

Our value for the month of November 2008, is presented in Chapter 4 of Managing with Aloha;


Ho‘omau Perseverance and Persistence. To continue, to perpetuate. Never give up. ~ Ho‘omau. Anything worth having is worth working for. Persistence is often the defining quality between those who fail and those who succeed. ~ There is never much satisfaction in giving up, and Ho‘omau is the value that will cause you to continue, to persevere in your efforts, and to perpetuate those that have worked well. ~ Celebrate your strengths in the face of all adversity. The obstacles that test you can actually make you stronger. ~ Ho‘omau. Persevere. Never give up. Cause the good in your life to last.

I had written this within my Managing with Aloha manuscript back in 2003, and as I sit here today, the words again apply, feeling almost too real for comfort:

“In my own personal striving within the business environment the last few years, Ho‘omau would be the single word that caused me to focus on what was most important and move forward with resolution, determination and confidence, for Ho‘omau encompasses all of these qualities. Ho‘omau will always be the value reminding me I can be bigger than my perceived adversity, for anything worth having is worth working for.”

Those words feel starkly real again given our economic struggles universally, however because Ho‘omau is a personal value for me, there is only enough discomfort to be useful discontent — to push me toward positive actions which corral my energies wisely and keep me optimistic.

That is my goal in the writing I will present to you here this month: I want to share that feeling of optimism I have — yes! Even right now in this global recession we find ourselves in. I feel there are silver linings in these storm clouds, and we need to feel their comforting assurance. Ho‘omau will help us do so.

Also from that 2003 manuscript, and also true today:

“I wanted to get the job done; I did not want an excuse not to.”

From Values and Strengths to Anchors and Compass Points

A note about our continuity:

I have also chosen Ho‘omau for November because it connects so very well to Ho‘ohana (September) and Nānā i ke kumu (October). If you are a manager using our MWAC self-coaching in your workplace, you will find it easy to repeat and reinforce what you’ve brought to your team over the past few weeks.
[Find a refresher on spaced repetition here: Managers: Are You Teaching? Know Can Do!]

We have a value of the month program here to model the “MWA way” for you:

I strongly encourage you to have your own campaigns of monthly intention in your life design (‘Imi ola) and within your work (your Ho‘ohana), whether you choose the same values or similar ones of your own (Choose your values). The habit-forming nature of doing so creates a beating of positive rhythm for your spirit in much the same way your heartbeat does so for your body’s best health. This is the vibrant rhythm of the lifelong learner (‘Ike loa) who is building their growth capacity (Palena ‘ole) by constantly weaving their values (Value-alignment) and their strengths (Strengths-management) into their intentional daily work (Ho‘ohana). A value of the month program is an easy-to-adopt pattern of self-leadership (Alaka‘i).

Over the past two months we have talked quite a bit about your values and your strengths in the context of the values of Ho‘ohana (intentional work) and Nānā i ke kumu (source and truth). Values teach us to seek goodness by their very nature, and the assumption we make is that the best path will also be the right path, a good path.

During November, I want you to think about the ideas, concepts and goals you have that you think about as your anchors or your compass points along that path:

Anchors:
An anchor keeps a ship in place when its crew is not intentionally steering it (such as when they are at rest or play in a safe harbor), or when there needs to be added resistance in stormy seas.

It is a great metaphor for our work as well. We have certain things which anchor us when we need them to: An example is diversification as the ‘business anchor’ of multiple revenue streams, one everyone is finding they should have in today’s economy. Our study of Ho‘omau will help you identify your anchors, and remind you to maintain them.

Compass Points:
Compass points are directional. No ship remains in safe harbor very long. Once a crew is refreshed they become restless, anxious to use their innately held talents (Strengths-management) on the next voyage. They head out to sea, however always with some direction in mind, and an unwavering commitment to the compass point they have chosen.

This, November 2008, is a time where you have a choice between waiting it out (whether in safe harbor or raging sea) or following a compass point to your future, now and on your own terms instead of simply waiting for everyone else. Ho‘omau will encourage you to choose your direction and set sail.

Seafaring voyagers will also set sail when conditions are less than balmy. They are not foolish and they know when it is best to wait out a truly raging storm, but ocean swells are natural occurrences; high seas might represent adversity, but they are not obstacles. Seafarers with a passion for their Ho‘ohana know that “anything worth having is worth working for.”

They choose to set sail.

Our November Tuesdays

These are the topics I plan to write on within our every-Tuesday publishing schedule here on Managing with Aloha Coaching:

Tuesday, November 11 — Understanding the Kaona in your Language of Intention

“As a manager, I found that the beauty of speaking the Hawaiian values was their promise of more meaning with far less words. Values are textured with hidden meanings for different people, yet these varied and unique interpretations will always circle back to the good intent at the very heart of the value in mind.”
—from Managing with Aloha, page 59

Tuesday, November 18 — Decision-Making and Decision-Management

“People are more apt to invest in and be committed to their own decisions than they are to following the marching orders of a leader—even a leader they respect and trust to make decisions for them.”
—from Managing with Aloha, page 58

Tuesday, November 25 — Not just ‘again.’ Ho‘omau better.

“As a manager, Ho‘omau challenges you to have a carefully crafted plan that makes good business sense. You cannot have a strategy that will both motivate and support your staff without sound business objectives to ground you. Working hard is not good enough, you have to work smart. You need a great plan with evolving dynamics of its own, responsive to the ever-changing needs of your business. It’s part of your responsibility as a leader.”
—from Managing with Aloha, page 61

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We will Ho‘ohana together, Kākou.

~Rosa