The “Pace” of business is important. Quickness, speed, and endurance are winning combinations in sports. The same holds true in business. Here are some ways to express it, to challenge ourselves, our teams, and set an example:
Adopt a “decide now” attitude. We don’t often need more time, we just need to decide. “Let’s decide now.” “Why are we waiting on this?”
Reply to relevant emails, texts or calls from clients within hours, not days.
Do “it” now. Get it done. Follow through. Finish.
Set hard deadlines, not goals or suggestions. (We are going to get “XXX” done this week.) Make it visible and be accountable.
Prioritize quickness with revenue-based activities; proposals, sales, executing work, delivering product, following up with clients, fixing problems, removing barriers.
Cut down written and spoken communication to its essentials; direct, clear, candid.
However long we think something might take, seek to cut the time in half (at least.)
Speak it and model it repeatedly: “Come on, let’s go, let’s move, let’s push the communication. Let’s get in front of things. Initiate, move, decide, deliver, focus.”
Some things take time for answers to emerge and need to “percolate.” That’s fine. Keep setting intermediate milestones to analyze, assess signals, etc.
Call time out when needing more clarity or redirection, just like in sports. “Huddle up” for 2, 5, 10 minutes, reset, decide, go.
None of us hit 100% on these, but that’s ok. Keep making the effort. We are better when we do so.
One of the biggest impediments to our personal and professional growth is comfort and slowness. Resist complacency. Growth requires friction, discomfort, struggle.
Life comes at us quickly. The world is dynamic. Train. Stay agile. Be proactive. Set the pace.
Things to Stop Doing – A Professional Outlier’s Perspective
I’ve mostly had the experience in my life of being a bit of an outlier. I didn’t understand it when I was younger, but I do now. It’s not something I contrive or try to make happen, it’s just part of who I am, how I think, and how I interact with the world. At this stage of my life, I am comfortable with it.
So, here’s my view on something we need to STOP Doing.
State boards of professional engineering and architecture need to stop mandating continuing education- professional development hours (PDH) for registered design professionals (PE’s, RA’s and similar.)
Am I against education? No, quite the contrary. The very nature of a “professional” and our work, the statutory compliance requirements, ethics, protection of health and public welfare, certification of documents, education, fundamentally require the constant growth and learning with or without PDH’s.
Being a “professional” implies that we are in a category of self-governance, self-learning, training, and needing to stay “sharp” regardless of mandates. The state rules already provide enough accountability to encourage technical competency.
And if a registrant isn’t committed to it, or the very nature of their work as PE, RA, or other type of licensure is just a title at this stage in their career, then that’s okay. We all still must practice only in our areas of specialty. And if we waver from that, we face the consequence of a potential reprimand, civil and even criminal penalties.
Mandatory Professional Development hours might look good on the surface, but it doesn’t define the value of a design professional and their capability. It doesn’t ensure more quality work.
Most of it in my view is just an extra burden. Find the courses, get the hours, check the boxes.
While I do it and seek to make it work to my advantage, to learn, and to find courses as closely aligned to my field and interest as possible, I wouldn’t do it if it was not required. I don’t need it. I get plenty of real and applicable PDH’s every week, month, year, through the nature of the work, literally.
Plus, apart from Industry-Specific seminars from various companies in the building enclosure and components space, try to find PDH’s on that relevant subject matter through the major online players. You won’t find much.
More compliance is just more burden, less value, less trust in allowing professionals to be who they have chosen to be.
This won’t make it stop, but I had to say it. I’ll bet others in this space may feel the same.
Add a comment…
JOHN L WHEATON BLOG 