Internet of Things

Are you interested in the internet of things? Whether you're in facilities or federal program management or general business, here are a handful of articles I found helpful when I went looking for more than just the basic definition to try and wrap my head around the magnitude of all of this stuff that will be connected and communicating in the future.

Fascinating, right?!

The Internet of Things Is Far Bigger Than Anyone Realizes, by Daniel Burrus

A Simple Explanation Of 'The Internet Of Things', by Jacob Morgan (INCLUDES A VIDEO!)

The Internet of Things, by Michael Chui, Markus Löffler, and Roger Roberts

deliciously technical and controversial

My meetings started here this morning. As my grandfather would have said it, "We couldn't have had a prettier day." And, it's AUGUST.  In DC.

Gorgeous weather aside, I had the pleasure of working with a group of scientists gathered in DC this week to share their climate change research and talk about the challenges they see in doing this work going forward.

As is so often the case with highly-skilled experts, the technical challenges are big-- no doubt-- but those don't scare them. The issues that keep them up at night are around talking about their findings, building understanding and acceptance, gaining support, and, ultimately, seeing behavior change. In short, all of the communications stuff. I learned this week that answering the common question, "what do you do?" can start a debate in a bar.

The vested man above is Paul Ollig. He's a National Park Service employee and the Chief of Interpretation for the National Mall and Memorial Parks.  He's a fantastic storyteller-- if you ever have a chance to walk the Mall with him, you're guaranteed to learn something new. So, Paul led a tour today for this group of climate scientists to talk about climate change impacts to the Mall and the city and park's adaptation efforts-- including the construction of a massive levee to protect the monuments from storm surges.

Before setting off, he opened up a discussion on what techniques are effective when talking about climate science. The insights shared by the group were great-- and I think can be a good starting point to communicating any highly technical and controversial material.

1. Humanize your work. Describe why you personally are drawn to the specifically challenges. What experiences or beliefs lead you to this point?
2. Chunk the message. Talking with someone who is incredibly knowledgeable and enthusiastic about their work can feel like being sprayed with a fire hose. Be able to chunk your message into "bite site" points and know how to sequence them in case people ask for more information.
3. Avoid trigger words (audience-dependent). Know your audience and what trigger words might cause them to shut down and stop listening. For some, "climate change" are those trigger words that have such a strong association that it might be difficult to overcome someone's position. The goal often is to talk about the impacts, the risks, the behavior changes needed, etc. Being flexible enough to do that with more general language can keep a much-needed conversation going.
4. Make it visual. Snow, I learned, is a visually compelling way to talk about climate change. What are the pictures that help people understand the risks and impacts of your issue?  Use those.
5. Take opportunities to talk with kids. Of course, any conversation with a kid has to be age appropriate-- and ideally pre-approved by a parent or teacher.  The point is though that kids help you test how accessible your message is. Can a 5th grader understand your point? Kids will also has great questions and will typically come to a conversation with fewer preconceived ideas. If nothing else, you both might learn something.

One of my colleagues has this great picture of Einstein with a quote that reads, "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."  I love this because it's so true. Times (many, many times) in the past that I've stumbled over technical messages have come down to precisely this problem.  My understanding was more superficial that I realized. Engaging with an active listener can quickly reveal those holes.  

So, if there was one overarching recommendation, it would be to know your topic well.  Know it so well that you can avoid jargon or terms that only another technician would understand. My key takeaway from meeting with these awesome scientists this week is that they're not out to impress anyone with their smarts-- though their knowledge and skills certainly are impressive.  They've trying to make a difference in the world and you can only do that by bringing others along.

what are you talking about?

No, really. It's an honest question. What are you talking about?

I came across The Good Men Project during a typical click to click to click browsing session. I was curious to learn what was meant by "good men" and why the hell this too had to have the "project" bit at the end. (I think PMI's relentless marketing is to blame for the runaway use of this term for anything and everything people want to say, do, or explore on the Internet. Time for a universal find and replace!)

Anyway, I got sucked in and spent a good hour or so clicking around trying to understand what good men are talking about. Scanning the site, I saw stuff on social and family issues, professional challenges, and personal values. This are thoughts on how to raise good children, achieve work/life balance, and improve relationships.

I was surprised. I guess not surprised that men were talking about these things (after all there are men's opinions all over the place) but previously unaware that they were swapping views within a circle of other men.

Prior to coming across this site, I'd imagined that most man-to-man conversations (outside of work or direct father to son type stuff) were focused on sports, maybe a little politics, and on the one slow sports day each year, you might get a a calendar review that went something like, "I went to X, then ate Y, then sat in traffic back to X."

To my knowledge, no such site exists for women. In fact, women have been trying to un-have the conversation about what makes a "good woman" for more than 50 years now.

It made me wonder what people are talking about within their circles of same-ness.  For me? I have a pretty good handle on running conversations among federal management consultants (procurement is broken), working moms (there's never enough time), and half-assed vegans (green smoothies count, right?)

Reflecting on what people are talking about with others they view most similar to them (in life stage, circumstance, interests, race, religion, and so on) provides a lot of insights into their worries and priorities. Understanding these ongoing conversations is important-- not so that we can parachute in to solve them-- but so that we can better understand each other, be more empathetic, and more helpful when the opportunity presents itself.

It's sometimes difficult to answer the question-- what's on your mind? To get to the same place we might instead ask, what are you talking about?

knowing the limits creates freedom

This is desirable not to discourage you from stepping out of bounds. On the contrary, knowing the boundaries enables you to step out with intention which is much better and, ultimately more successful, then doing so accidentally or with sheer force.

When you have a great idea, you want to win over your leadership in a way that sparks their imagination and gets the wheels turning on “how to.” Anything short of that kind of deep, resounding support is risks wasting your time in the long run. But winning someone’s support isn’t easy. The sheer force of your personality—even coupled with strong relationships—won’t cut it.

Instead, you need a plan to ensure that your approach reflects your leadership’s interests and concerns—just to be heard—and then is logically structured around the purpose and function of the organization. Two components are essential to planning your approach:

1. knowing your boss and
2. knowing the boundaries, or the organizational “box.”

“Knowing your boss” involves gaining an understanding of your leadership’s strengths, weaknesses, and work style. Unfortunately, we most often have this information about ourselves and our subordinate staff. We don’t often have the conversation with our leadership about what their styles are. What you’re even less likely to have are any insights into the issues they are working on for themselves with their supervisors. Gaining more insight into what issues your boss or leadership are working on might be difficult, but it’s important to understand as much as you can about where they are in their professional journey. 

In addition to knowing your boss, you need to understand the “box” within which you’re working—what are the documented (and less formal) rules of engagement. This step includes understanding the limits by engaging leadership in sketching them out (if they’re unspoken or inferred). Once you know where the boundaries are, you will also better understand where your solution falls—inside or outside of those bounds. Understanding this upfront is critical for building buy-in for your idea. Shedding any self-imposed constraints and determining anything and everything you can do within your current power is also important to fully exploring the organizational box. 

To solve something in a new, innovative way, you first have to know what new is. Only then can you purposefully step off the prescribed path. One of the most compelling things you can do early on to build support is to demonstrate that you have the perspective, vision, and direction to at least get your idea started and implement whatever aspect of it you can in your own work. Your own adoption of the idea will go a long way in gaining buy-in from leadership.

the truth about change

Didn't George Carlin have a classic joke about driving? It went something like -- anyone driving faster that you is a maniac, anyone slower is an idiot. So, so true. And actually, the same is true about change at work. The bottom-line is that we're all most comfortable when we're in the driver's seat and controlling the speed.

So, counter to the concept that “people hate change,” the desire for change is fundamental to who we are. We just want to be in charge of change and how it impacts us. We can’t help but observe our surroundings and think of all the ways our processes, relationships, and environments could be better. 

And we crave impact from that change—and not in a static, predictable kind of way. We crave being part of a team and being connected to others. This isn’t an introvert versus extrovert thing, but a recognition that we all need and want to feel part of something greater than ourselves. 

We want to leave our mark by making changes—even slight ones—to our world. This desire is most often channeled through our work but because we’re paid to do so, an immediate, dynamic tension is created. As we arrive at the office or log on in our jammies from home, we become a force driven to make change. I don’t know about you, but that’s what I’m thinking when slogging through hundreds of e-mails each day.

And on that point, what if you’re already feeling overworked and overwhelmed? Doesn’t pitching new ideas just make matters worse? Is it even worth it?

This is one of those cases where the opposite is true. You feel better when you proactively pitch ideas and pursue the changes that you want to see at work because it puts you in the driver’s seat. Conversely, we get anxious when we cede control of our days and stop being the director of our own energy.

All of our organizational constructs—the org chart hierarchies, networks, training sessions, meetings—were all created to tamp out, fan, guide, or otherwise control all that energy. Taking some of that control back can be accomplished by thoughtfully pitching an idea.

this is your career

Available on Amazon!

This is your career. Whether you have your dream job or “just a job,” you owe it to yourself to bring your best ideas forward. If you’re doing work today in exchange for money, it all counts toward the body of work that is your experience, your contributions, your career.

Waiting to do your best work until a better role comes along is a lost opportunity regardless of whether you plan to stay in this line of work in the future.

Once you make the decision to fully participate in your career (and if you’re reading this, my guess is that you made that decision a long time ago), getting leadership buy-in and support for your ideas is essential. Not taking action because you can’t (or because you don’t want to try) to earn your boss’s buy-in is, ultimately, an excuse and one that completely impedes your ability to meaningfully contribute.

Don’t you owe it to yourself—and your ideas—to share them?

Today, I'm launching my first book, Flock: Getting Leaders to Follow. It's the why and how to gain leadership buy-in and support for your ideas so that you can have the kind of impact you want in your career.  Click here to download a copy and let me know what you think!

when more data doesn't work

I get so much out of reading Seth Godin's posts because he puts words and perspective to many of the common frustrations we encounter at work. His precision around communications is just so, so useful such as this post on how to win an argument with a scientist.

Seth's point is to know when to stop talking and charting and start to regrouping and trying another angle. This trick is knowing when additional data and logic has ceased to persuade your audience. Recognizing this this point-- which may come at time between the spark of an idea and full implementation-- saves tons of frustration and rework.

To make it a little personal, I'm interested in nutrition.  The more science the better. I'm a complete sucker for any food-related headline starting with, "New study shows...."I'll read and consider it especially if it relates to the benefits of wine and chocolate.

Conversely, I'm completely uninterested in an electric toothbrush. I couldn't care less about how many dentists agree and actually get annoyed when certain people keep pointing to the science. A plain ol' toothbrush and floss seem to work great for me and I might resort to posting my cavity to cavity count scorecard in the bathroom if those same certain people persist. 

We accept and embrace science when it jives with how we already see the world. This truth doesn't mean that we can't be convinced to change our minds, it just means that we have to examine other angles. This is the fundamental challenge of communications at work and what makes coming up wit the strategy so interesting. 

fit in or stand out

Girl with Asymmetrical Bob Hair by Marta Biittner

To advance your career, you can only do one at a time. Trying to do both will make your head spin—and not in a good “just a glass of rose on the patio” kind of way.

Ahh. It’s really lovely here in DC at the moment. And, it’s really just for the moment because, as any resident will tell you, the weather here is exempt from complaining only about 2 days a year. It’s either too cold or too hot and humid to do anything—so we all just work, instead.

Some of the lovelies that I have the pleasure of working with daily had me thinking about this tug we all feel from time to time. It’s a tug that pulls us in-- seeking ways to make ourselves fit. At other times, it’s a tug the other way—a pull to stand up and stand out. 

Both states of being at work are right and are both important. Despite what your coach or momma might tell you, you can’t be all one way, all of the time. Building awareness of where you are in your career, what the organization needs from you at the moment, and how to intentionally toggle between the two is an important skill.  

Understanding that being new to the job or newly promoted probably warrants a period of learning the ropes and fitting in. Your days might be filled with a lot of active listening, reading, studying others, and sticking pretty close to delivering what you’ve been asked to produce. 

Other times demand that you intentionally stand up and stand out. Big changes on the horizon? Is leadership needed to set a more profitable course for the future? Assuming that you’re working under normal office conditions (i.e., not managing a crisis response team in Nepal), efforts to stand out are more effective when done from a foundation of understanding. When you have a solid grasp of your organization’s purpose and culture, your ideas and suggestions come from a point of strength and awareness, as opposed to wild ass guesses about what might just work.

the facilities frontier

I've had the good fortune to consult on federal facilities programs for the last 12+ years.  No, seriously. The issues around managing our buildings and road and utility infrastructure is important, interesting work. It's real, it's tangible, and the people devoted to these programs are some of the most smart, earnest, passionate, and hardworking federal employees that you'll ever meet.

But the biggest challenges facing facilities aren't facilities problems at all.

Managers and engineers have the facilities best practices nailed through the concept of proactive, life-cycle asset management. The work is done. It's written down. The measures are in place. What's left to do is to hack away at building buy-in and coping with the massive, growing mountain of data. These are known problems with knowable solutions. Not easy problems to be sure but fixable.

Instead, I see three big challenges on the horizon for facilities that are unrelated to the construction, operations, and maintenance of the asset itself.

1. Funding and financing.  Figuring out how to pay for desperately needed repairs and new construction is in no way figured out. This is true for everyone and most of all, the feds. Creative solutions used by the private sector and state/local governments provide some hints but for the most part federal program managers lack the authority and support to tap into alternative funding and financing sources. So, for the time being, most fixes depend on federal appropriations which is not likely a sustainable, long-term solution.
2. Leapfrogging technologies. We celebrate innovative technology advances in consumer products and services every day. Yet we focus less on areas of real need in fixing our infrastructure. Engineering innovation could help overcome the limited options facilities managers have today to fix really big problems. When you think of leapfrog technologies think of cell phones in the developing world. 20 years ago, leaders in Africa were stumped on how to come up with billions to build out the telecommunications infrastructure needed to connect people. Then, pop! Cell phone technology advanced, costs went way down, and now nearly every community-- no matter how poor-- has at least one person with a phone.  The technology negated the need for a big infrastructure build out. Amazing. The same phenomenon is possible for other big facility and infrastructure issues. I'm personally hoping for self-driving (and eventually flying) cars.
3. Professionalization. Okay, a big, fussy made up word for an issue that isn't made up at all. Facilities folks are awesome in many ways. However, they've historically been excluded (or just skipped over) from participating in C-suite level leadership discussions and decisions. This is a huge missed opportunity because facilities leaders are responsible for what is often the single greatest budget line-item (and value generator) behind labor and personnel costs. Facilities managers are getting better at making their case for inclusion but there is still a ways to go. All facilities organizations would benefit from elevating and professionalizing their interactions with their leadership and other division chiefs.

I'm still interested in the nuts and bolts of asset management and the incremental improvements that can come from thorough, thoughtful implementation. However, for those looking to make a bigger impact on the future of facilities, the frontier is funding/financing, leapfrog engineering solutions, and professionalization. There is lots more discovery to be done.

high impact organizations at CBODN today!

Kid prep, run, meet with a client, get to the conference, present, and then we’re off to Gettysburg for the weekend with the entire family for dinner, nostalgia, and mini-horses. There is a lot going on today but I am so excited to hear the others, then speak at the Chesapeake Bay Organizational Development Network (CBODN) conference today!  

Here’s the gist of the message. The slides will be up on Slideshare later today.

High-impact organizations—what are they and how to we get there?

We all want impact. We want to do work we think is important and make progress. Too often, we’re held back by missed opportunities to connect with our leadership and get buy-in because we’re using our language, not theirs.

When I start working with new clients I often hear them say, “We’ve told them (their leadership) this before but they just don’t get it.”  Sometimes that is true but I’ve found a lot of times that our bosses understand the numbers but they’re not seeing the connection with the bigger picture—something they care deeply about.  And I believe that it’s our job—not theirs—to make that connection.

How might you do this?  Well, to start… 

1. Inventory your current ideas, key proposals, objectives, goals or whatever you call the stuff you would really like to see done.  
2. Then, document the top issues for you organization—coming from a recent speech or memo or your agency’s strategic plan.  It’s important here to pull from materials and use the language that will seem most familiar to them.
3. Complete a mapping exercise.  Look ideas that can either be renamed or pitched slightly differently to better demonstrate the issue.
4. Lastly, sit down and plan a series of conversations with the right staff—heads of each line of business or other senior staff to build a broader base of support.

With revamped messages and a calendar loaded with a handful of strategic meetings, you can begin demonstrating a connection with the broader mission.

3 "must do's" for your next advisory council meeting

Sprouts by Louise van Terheijden Tilburg, Netherland

Before you click away to check out a more interesting topic-- such as the effectiveness of various types of dental floss-- just stick with me for a moment.

Do you have an external council or advisory committee whose raison d'etre is to review your program's progress, provide guidance, and make strategic recommendations? Uh, yeah. Me too.

In fact, just about every client I can think of has 1 (if not 14 active groups) hovering nearby who are "here to help!" And by "help" they mean ready to offer context-light suggestions and fancy footwork to avoid doing any actual work because they have other full-time jobs.

We do this advisory council thing to ourselves. It all sounds like a good idea in the beginning.  "Hey, we're kicking of our new strategic plan so we should probably create an independent group to help steer the ship."

There is a lot right about the concept.  Infusing an external perspective in any important new program is invaluable. If they're able to provide top cover too when things invariably go awry, then they're worth their weight in the coffee and light refreshments you have to provide to get them to show up in person at the meeting. The problems pop up about a month before the prescheduled quarterly meeting.

Usually, someone suddenly remembers that the council meeting is coming up and the program team immediately starts to get anxious. These external advisory councils are typically comprised of senior staff-- a gaggle of folks you clearly want to impress.  However, they're also intentionally disconnected from day-to-day program operations.  That's what gives them supposed objectivity.  Council members are also selected to represent a variety of organizational interests.  So in one meeting you and your program team has the delightful opportunity to piss off and disappoint not just one executive but a one from every division!

So, yes. Communicating with these folks can be tricky, distracting, time consuming, and even risky. To overcome these, you need to check yourself and your team against a list of "must do's" YOU need from the them and not just what they're expecting out of you.  Counter to our typical approach, the best communications strategy is to consider the council a resource-- not a validate-or.

1. Review the year's action plan. Too far out and they'll lose interest.  Nobody cares and a few might be thinking they won't be around.  Don't waste any time on super, outyear vision-y stuff. Instead, ask them to add and delete actions to ensure alignment with broader organizational goals.  You might make a rule that this is a one for one swap.  Anything new can be added as long as something else drops off the list.  The objective isn't to overload but to hone the edges.
2. Highlight hurdles-- which likely include money. Because they're advisory, you're not asking them for money but you're seeking advice on how to secure the resources you need. The tricky thing here is to be open to creative suggestions. Be prepared later to laugh over drinks with friends on the most ridiculous ones.
3. Ask for advocacy.  Seriously, this is big and should be relatively easy for them to do. The question is-- when do you have an upcoming meeting or speaking opportunity that you can share some of the highlights on what we're doing, our accomplishments, and plans for the future. Be bold in soliciting their support and get them to make a commitment out loud-- if you can.

On top of these, if you keep the presentations relatively short and end early, you're sure to please.  Good luck!

talking nerdy

Cloud Print by Yangyang Pan

In this awesome TedGlobal presentation, Melissa Marshall shares a simple and elegant formula for more effective communication between scientists and engineers and, um, the rest of us. I encourage you to watch the short talk and won't spoil the fun by spilling the beans on the formula itself.

However... I'll say that her points apply to the science community, as well as, technical folks in a wide array of disciplines-- information technology and anything related to the cloud, health and bleh-insurance, facilities and infrastructure, and just about anything else you can think of that truly required understanding calculus and not just doing the minimum to pass.

In working with technical clients to come up with content and communications that resonate beyond their internal meetings with each other, there are two really, key things.  

1. In my experience, we must fiercely and unrelentingly tie the purpose and benefits back to something any general smart person can understand.  This isn't "dumb-ing it down." That's a poke in the eye that doesn't get conversations off on the right foot.  Instead, there is some important underlying purpose for why technical folks are doing the important work that they are.  What is that?
2. The second is helping manage the level of detail. Highly technical folks often can't actually tell the difference between a headline and a detail.  They're too close to their work to effectively differentiate.  To help here, I work with clients to outline all of important thoughts they want to share. After a first pass to streamline and sort everything into the right buckets, you can then have a more objective conversation about what is appropriate to share.  For most general audiences, content should only be at the highest (most outdented) level and include 5-6 points. And maybe, just maybe, you can go one level down for a new program pitch or Congressional hearing.  All the rest can be saved for questions or just admired in the notes.

Big hugs to all the science and techie types out there. We love ya... we just don't always understand ya.