Meditations on Running

                             Lessons in the Pursuit of Running

        There is a big difference between the performance of professional runners (those committed athletes who win races and compete at the Olympic level) and the amateur runner (those who jog as an exercise activity).  Yet, just like the professional, almost all amateurs have a desire (or at least a dream) to run further and faster while being injury free.  The question always is: How to achieve it?

     The major difference between the amateur runner and the professional (the mediocre and the excellent) is that the amateur has not learned to use his body efficiently to propel himself forward. The biggest mistake that an amateur runner makes when attempting to improve performance is in focusing on a part instead of the whole; an amateur, for example, may pick-up a piece of advice such as “lift your knees higher,” and end up with worse performance and maybe an injury.  Instead of understanding how the whole body and mind works in unison, the amateur runner too often tries to improve one aspect of body movement; this unfortunately often creates a situation in which muscles are actually working against each other and decreases instead of improves performance. 

   The real impact is that while attempting to move forward, the amateur runner simultaneously pulls sideways, downward, upward, and even backward. Rather than enhancing performance, much of the effort goes toward sabotaging it—as if he were piling weights on his own shoulders. Not only does he work harder in the process, but he causes undue stress to his joints, which may eventually lead to pain and injury.

   The professional, on the other hand, does not contradict himself, but instead, over time and working with proper coaching, coordinates every part of his body to propel himself forward. Because the professional runner possesses more awareness of how different parts of the body can work together, he does not enact unnecessary movements that “cripple” the amateur runner.   As a result, the professional’s stride is smooth, graceful and powerful, requiring much less effort for an even greater amount of propulsion.

   Looking at running this way, we could say that improvement is a result of learning how to stop contradicting ourselves, or in other words, understanding how different parts of the body relate to each other and the environment and can be made to work in unison not in contradiction.  Understanding the whole, how the parts work together as one, is the easiest way to achieve real performance improvement. 

   The amateur often sees running as one thing, for example, a cardiovascular workout or a calorie burning activity.  The professional sees it has a series of related functions: Breathing, muscle strength, coordination, balance, awareness and feedback learning.  The professional sees the whole but also breaks improvement into smaller, more digestible parts, understanding the fundamentals of efficient, powerful and coordinated movement in a much deeper way.

   Once the building blocks for powerful, coordinated movement are in place, it was much easier to put them together into larger, faster, more efficient and powerful movements. The result is holistic strength, and it is several times more powerful than strength that relies solely on one element—for example speed over endurance or safety. 

  Excellence in running—or in distribution—is about going further—faster, longer, more efficiently and in a sustainable way.  The lesson from running in achieving excellence—professional level performance—is in thinking a different way:  Excellence is achieved not by taking one piece of advice and trying to fit it into an existing system; it is achieved by breaking things down into constituent parts, understanding each, developing each to a high level of performance and being able to put all the pieces together in a way that allows them to work together, in unison, instead of in contradiction. 

   One of the areas LaserShip is working on in its 25^th year is breaking down our values into organizational traits that clearly represent our purpose and direction.  Each of the six traits that have been identified is supported by action statements.  Our Values of focusing on customers, employees, quality, image and ethics creates an organizational trait of having a Passion for Excellence.  This means that we are obsessed with delivering beyond expectations. The observable behaviors that support this obsession are: 

 

• Consciously considering the impact of actions on the whole; recognizing that every action has multiple consequences.
• Actively seeking to be the first to foresee problems; and identify opportunities to improve processes, service, work conditions, revenue and profits
• Taking immediate action when identifying a problem
• Constantly communicating excellence: What it looks like, how to achieve it, who it impacts and why it is important
• Rejecting “Okay” as a satisfactory standard
• Always asking “What’s next?” to achieve

Lessons from the Forest Service Firefighters

     Managing the Unexpected When the Unexpected Always Happens

 

Our lives are not on the line, but in seems we are often putting out fires.  In some ways our jobs are often like those of professional wildfire fighters—the people who fight forest fires for the U.S. Forest Service.  Wildfire fighters put their lives on the line in a fast changing environment, the following are also true:

ü      They depend upon immediate and accurate communication

ü      They must know where the fire line is and how it is moving at all times

ü      They must pay attention to the smallest detail and the surrounding environment at all times

ü      They must remain flexible and make quick adjustments as circumstances change

ü      They have to put the right resources in the right place at the right time

ü      Timing is of great importance

ü      They have to expect the unexpected at any moment—or perish. 

    All of these elements are eerily similar to things we face in our time-sensitive, fast changing, and communication intensive work environment.  That’s is why we can possible learn from how the Forest Service copes with their challenges.

   Mindful of the dangers and challenges they face, the U.S Forest Service has adopted the principles of High Reliability Organizations (HROs). These principles were explained in yesterday’s LaserDay.  Perhaps the one HRO principle that gives people the most difficulty is “preoccupation with failure.” People like to plan for, expect and celebrate success—and find it difficult to focus on failure. Yet, this is precisely what is required for the Forest Service wildfire fighters to survive.  Think of it like defensive driving: being constantly alert to the possibility of what could go wrong and having a mental plan of action to deal with the situation should it arise.

  The firefighters have had to adopt an upside down way of thinking about and looking at the world: What they stood on its head—to gain a different perspective—is the very concept of expectations. 

   To have an expectation is to envision something, usually for good reasons, that is reasonably certain to come about. To expect something is to be mentally ready for it. Every deliberate action you take is based on assumptions about how the world will react to what you do. Expectancies form the basis for virtually all deliberate actions because expectancies about how the world operates serve as implicit assumptions that guide behavioral choices. Expectations provide a significant infrastructure for everyday life. They are like a planning function that suggests the likely course of events.

    Yet, the very problem with expectations is that we expend so much energy on expecting the expected—what we have planned for, built our systems around, trained for, wake up hoping for—that when the unexpected starts to happen we either do not see it or we deny its existence until it is too late.  It is as if the continuing search for confirming evidence of the expected postpones our realization that something unexpected is developing. It is human nature to actively seek out evidence that confirms our expectations and avoid evidence that disconfirms them.

   This is the very “problem” the firefighters have turned upside down.  They understand the problems that expectations create: Expectations guide people to search narrowly for confirmation that the plan is correct, that the expected is happening even when it is not. 

   Trouble starts when we fail to notice that we see only whatever confirms our expectations but nothing else. The trouble deepens even further if we kid ourselves into believing that we expect to see is really happening. The truth is that we see what we expect to see. We see what we have the labels to see. We see what we have the skills to manage.

  Surprises are inevitable. And with surprise comes the necessity to improvise, make do with the hand you are dealt, adapt, make adjustments, think on your feet, manage on the fly, and contain the problem, then bounce back from unexpected events.  It is impossible to manage any process that depends solely on stable and fixed rules and routines or expecting to operate on automatic pilot.  No one knows enough to design such a system or process so that it can cope with a dynamic environment.

  Yes, surprise is inevitable which is why the firefighters have learned not focus on what is expected but have a preoccupation with failure—the only way to live is to constantly entertain the thought that they may have missed something that places them at risk.

All About the Culture

 Ask Google, “Why no looting in Japan?” and it returns with well over 3 million websites asking that question.  All over the world, people are asking why Japan is different than other places that have experienced devastating crises.  It is a legitimate question, with a revealing answer.

   Parts of Japan look like the aftermath of World War II—complete destruction with no infrastructure, no homes, no services like water and electricity but no massive build up of security forces to keep the population in check and safe.

  It is a time of real crisis, yet the underpinnings of Japanese society have not broken down producing fear, panic, and the acting out of self-interest over everything else.

   Japan seems to be demonstrating how humanity can rally round in times of adversity; how solidarity in a crisis prevents it from getting worse; how important are strong, deep and shared cultural values in weathering a crisis.

   At its core, culture for a society—or any formal organization of humans—consists of the basic shared assumptions and beliefs that are learned responses to the group's problems of survival in its environment.  To the Japanese, who have long confronted and overcame environmental problems such as earthquakes, volcanoes, floods and even the destruction of nuclear war, their strong cultural bonds and tight knit connected groups foster a society that has learned for survival to depend on each other, help each other and trust each other and their leaders. 

   The calmness and determination with which the Japanese have faced their latest crisis shows their inner strength, mettle, resilience, and ability to be cooperative and supportive.  In a crisis they have demonstrated their real culture and its value to them.

    Many believe that organizations too show their real culture during times of crisis.  Crises, by their nature, bring out an organization’s underlying core values.  Often, this is when the rhetoric meets the road—does the talk walk.  Reactions to crises are normally highly visible, because everyone's attention is focused on the incident or situation. Disconnects between actions and words will usually be apparent, and actions always speak louder than words.

   And it is in times of crisis that employees have their eyes turned on leadership. Employees look to their leaders for cues for the appropriate behavioral responses to a crisis; they seek to emulate the leadership’s behavior.  The way leaders react to crises says a lot about the organization's values and culture:  Is the culture strong, positive, supportive and deep or are is it proven to be weak, negative, unhelpful and shallow?

   Consequently, one of the primary responsibilities of leaders is to create, maintain, strengthen and spread the elements of organizational culture that rewards and encourages collective effort.

   Each day, LaserShip leaders and employees are confronted with many situations in their attempts to generate collective achievement—only some situations rise to the level of crisis, but all are complex in their nature and eventual solution.  What supports us in these daily collective efforts to overcome adversity and achieve are the values that make up our culture:  We trust each other, we are honest with each other, we communicate with each other, we collectively understand the correct ordering of priorities, and we share a long term perspective.    

   Just as the Japanese draw upon their culture to withstand the fury of nature, we too draw upon our culture in all nature of events to be collectively strong and supportive so that we can continue to fulfill our core purpose of connecting people with products and information; to always consider our customers and their customers in everything we do; to consistently provide our people with the resources and opportunities to achieve excellence; and to be forever be committed to each other’s success.”

The Daffodil Principle

                   Creating a Legacy One Small Step at a Time

An email reminds us of an important lesson on how to get better: 

“Thank you for the superior customer service,” writes an Amazon customer following a day of back and forth, blogging, tweeting, emailing and phoning to get a packaged delivered safely.  “Would like to praise the customer service of @LaserShip,” continued the customer.  First choice is for there not to be a problem, but appreciate the follow-up when things go awry.  Would recommend and use again.”

   The point:  We get better and better in small steps.  We don’t just take a leap to the level of perfect in one giant leap.  Excellence is achieved in small steps, making a vision come true one day of effort at a time: Which is the lesson from the daffodil garden:

    Each spring the daffodils emerge.  For those who live in California there are 5 acres of a mountainside completely covered in daffodils.  Each spring it looks as though someone has taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over the mountain peak and slopes. The flowers are planted in great swirling patterns—great ribbons and swaths of orange, white, yellow and pink. Each different colored variety was planted as a group so that when the flowers emerge they flow like its own river with its own unique hue.

   Near the daffodil garden there is a sign with a posting: "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking.”  The first question is answered: “1 million bulbs.”  The second answer reads, "One at a time, by one woman.” The third answer states: “Began in 1958."

   This one woman started more than 50 years ago, planting one bulb at a time to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountain top. Still, just planting one bulb at a time, year after year, has changed the world for those who have the opportunity to witness the springtime event.  She created something of indescribable magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.

   The principle her daffodil garden teaches is one of the greatest principles which brings us back to the beginning of this story: 

We did not just reach perfection overnight in being able to get an Amazon customer to appreciate our efforts—it took a lot of small steps.

   Moving toward our goals is a long term proposition that requires us to have a vision of what we want to achieve and of the legacy we want to leave; it takes effort one step at a time—often just one baby step at a time; it takes learning from each step, loving the doing and perfecting the next step just a little each time; finally it takes learning to use the accumulation of time—when we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can achieve greatness and a lasting legacy.