Author: Mary Ila Ward

Week 4

Week 4 Mileage: 31

Long Run Distance:  13

 

I don’t just run to run, and I don’t just work to work.

I run for the health benefits, which is probably the most common reason cited to run, but I also run for the social camaraderie,  for good conversations, and for the endorphins and productivity it produces. I’m sure there are more reasons, but for now, that will do. Oh, and because it provides good ideas for blog posts.

I work, as many primarily do, in order to provide for my family along with my husband. But I also work to try to make a difference in people’s lives, for the social interaction, and if I’m honest with myself, to try to prove or justify my worth.  And it also provides for good blogging content.

In reality though, I could combine my list for running and working into one, because I talk about work when I run and a talk about running when I work.  Many of the reasons overlap or are one in the same, and they all roll into how and why I do life the way I do.

I happen to, also, (just barely) be a millennial. One of the stand-out features and values you will see in the literature about my generation is the need and desire for work-life balance, or what I would prefer to call work-life integration.

In a Runner’s World article and another corresponding article in the print version of the magazine, a study about what millennial runners want emphasized the surge in millennials gravitating towards the half-marathon distance. Making up 43% of the running population, millennials run primarily as a way to stay fit, not primarily to compete, and as a way to do fun too with pre and post race parties and travel destinations. The half marathon distance is the perfect one to train well, have fun, and not let running take over your life. The Disney Princess race is cited as drawing the most attention for millennials, for all of these reasons. The article concludes by saying, “Here’s a plan for anyone who wants to train for 13.1 like a millennial- running without giving up other activities you love.”

And just like millennials don’t want to sacrifice other parts of their life in order to be able to run and race, they also don’t want to sacrifice and segregate for the sake of work.

Work isn’t and shouldn’t be stand-alone activity and running isn’t either.  It’s a way to incorporate and integrate.

Here are some ideas for creating an integrated culture in the work place to help spark not only millennials’ engagement, but also your entire workforce:

• Offer and make community service opportunities a part of work.
• Set-up a mechanism for interest groups to form. Who knows, a running group may emerge.
• Offer flexibility in scheduling in order for employees to structure their day that allows for integration of other life activities.
• Larger employers offer one-stop services on-site like fitness centers, daycares, cafes and even dry cleaning and massage services on site.  For more on this and how it can be justified with the business bottom line, check out Work Rules!  for insights from inside Google.
• And quite simply and most importantly, hire and train leaders who are focused on seeing employees first as people, with lives in and outside of work.  This promotes leaders to ask and care about people’s whole lives.

You don’t necessarily have to create a princess race to draw engagement, but all of these things, if done right, lead to more engagement in the workplace, which has been tied time and time again to better results.

What leads to more engagement for you in the workplace and in life?

 

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I’ve been focused over the past couple of months writing about how to create innovation in the workplace.  Really, being an innovation leader comes down to one simple question:

Do you believe people are fundamentally good?

Because if you do, you are led to:

• Hire for diversity
• Give people freedom with trust at the core
• Structure rules that help people exhibit the good instead of bringing out the bad 

So, do you believe people are fundamentally good?

Innovate or die.

 

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Week 3 Mileage: 27 miles (with 6 on the elliptical for cross training)

Long run distance: 11 miles

 

“Just keep swimming.”

“Crush it.”

My two running mantras.  The one I use depends on how I’m feeling.

The swimming reference from Dory in Finding Nemo is my go to when I just want to stop. When I really just want to quit and take it to the house.   I say it to myself often, like on our long run last week when it was blazing hot, and Drew and I both wanted to quit.

The Brad Paisley song “Crushin’ It” inspires the second one.  I heard it on the way to a 15K race a few years ago when I pulled up to the starting line a mere four minutes before the race started with spit up all over me from our 3 month old. I didn’t have time to change my shirt. This run became my time. I was running solo, and it was my time to prove I could do something other than nurse, change diapers and try to find a time to actually sleep.   “Crush it” ran through my mind the whole race, and I was able to PR on the course.

What primarily differentiates humans from other animals is our ability to think about our thinking.  In scientific terms, it’s called metacognition. A “Think Fast” article in Runner’s World points to elite runners being masters of metacognition.  They are able to self-monitor their thoughts and adjust as needed, just like emotionally intelligent leaders.

Steering thoughts away from pain or negativity and redirecting them to a singular focus is what the elites in any field do well. It helps runners run faster and leaders lead better. The article goes on to site mantras as one example of how runners can self-monitor their thinking in order to get better results.

Leaders sometimes need to push harder- run faster- and sometimes they just need to keep their heads above water- simply not giving up.  Regardless of where you are now as a leader, needing to step it up or just keep up, picking a mantra can help you through your leading. This helps you focus and readjust your thoughts when we you may be getting off course.

Great quotes about Leadership can be a good start for establishing your own mantra.  Or it could simply be words displayed visually in your office and internally in your mind that align with your personal and/or company values.

My two, “There is no elevator to success.  You have to take the stairs.” And “Dream Big,” both hang where I see them daily.  Whether it’s these, or “Just Keep Swimming” and “Crush it”, singular thoughts help me adjust or maintain focus whether on the roads or in the office.

What words and phrases do you keep handy to redirect your thinking and therefore your performance?

Go crush it today!

“Victory awaits him who has everything in order—luck people call it. Defeat is certain for him who has neglected to take the necessary precautions in time; this is called bad luck.”

Roald Amundsen -The first person to lead an expedition to reach the South Pole

We live in a VUCA – Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous- world.  Innovation, in part, creates this dynamic.  However, creating an environment where innovation can be cultivated and thrive relies on people and businesses having the opposite of this- a house in order.

As Jim Collins stated in Great By Choice, leaders who have navigated this world successfully “prepare with intensity, all of the time, so that when conditions turn against you, you can draw from a reservoir of strength. And equally, you can prepare so that when conditions turn in your favor, you can strike hard.”

In other words, it’s hard to innovate if you don’t have endurance of mind and endurance of resources. Innovation requires the bandwidth to be able to test and fail and this requires resources.    As stated in the Innovator’s Dilemma:

“The dominant difference between successful ventures and failed ones, generally, is not the astuteness of their original strategy. Guessing the right strategy at the outset isn’t nearly as important to success as conserving enough resources (or having the relationship with trusting bankers or investors) so that new business initiatives get a second or third stab at getting it right. Those that run out of resources or credibility before they can iterate toward a viable strategy are the ones that fail.”

Bottom-line, you better have cash in the bank if you want to innovate.  If, as an organization or as an individual, you’re worried about the next check bouncing you aren’t going to get very far.  This is why many organizations now offer personal financial training to employees and rightly so.  If your people are worried about their personal cash flow, how productive and creative can they be for you?

If you don’t have your resources in order, start saving now.  You’ll get beat if you don’t, regardless of whether or not you have the best people or the best strategy.

 

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