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Authors: Nancy Ortberg
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today are contributing members of a flourishing church in the land of sunshine.
One of the most powerful ways to motivate yourself as a leader is to remember back to a time when someone did it for you. Think back to a boss you had who took the time to notice the work you did, and let you know. That was probably a pretty powerful time.
I can still remember the first time this happened for me. I was twenty-two years old and working as a registered nurse. I was one of many new nurses in the orientation pro gram at a large Catholic hospital that had a great reputation in our area. I felt a bit lost in the bigness and newness of it all. Although I had gone to college for five years to study nursing, now that I was working in a hospital for the first time, it seemed as though most of what I had learned was “theory.” I quite literally found myself praying every day on my way to work: Please don’t let me kill anyone today.
At the time, I was dating a guy who was attending an outof-state school, and he was planning to come home on break just about the time I was scheduled to rotate from the day shift to my permanent shift: 3:00–11:30 p.m. I really wanted to stay on the day shift for two weeks longer. It would mean the difference between seeing my boyfriend and not seeing much of him at all. Although I was pretty motivated to ask, I was also terrified. I was new. No one knew me very well, and the director of nurses was a former nun. I don’t know why that made her seem more formidable to me, but it did. That, and the fact that I had never even met her.
But I really wanted to see my boyfriend, so I rehearsed what I was going to say for days. I practiced presenting my case, not sure exactly how to ask for something after having only worked there for three months.
I picked the day and time I knew I would see the director walking in the halls. I asked the butterflies in my stomach to please take a break, and then, with all the courage I could muster, walked right up to her, put out my hand, and said, “You don’t know who I am, but my name is Nancy Berg and . . .”
I kept talking, having memorized my request, which included good, solid reasons why this could work. But she interrupted me.
“I know who you are.”
That’s what she said to me. “I know who you are.”
She then went on to say that she knew I was working on the medical-surgical floor, and that she had heard good things about my work. Eventually—perhaps out of pity (maybe the fact that she was an ex-nun was working in my favor)—she granted me the additional two weeks on the day shift, and I got to see my boyfriend.
There is power in paying attention.
I ended up marrying someone else, but I will never forget those five words:
I know who you are .
There is power in paying attention. And a power is released in someone who knows he or she is being paid attention to.
Someone did it for you once. Now it’s your turn.
Rubber Bands II
SO, BACK TO THE rubber band thing. Leadership is not an either/or, but rather a both/and. And as leaders, we constantly need to determine whether something is a problem to be solved or a tension to be managed. (One of my partners, David Ross, says this at nearly every off-site conference we conduct.)
Much of the frustration that leaders face comes from trying to solve what needs to be managed and trying to manage what needs to be solved. Being able to distinguish which areas need clarity and which areas will be ongoingtensions is a necessary skill. See, there it is already: the managing of the tension between clarity and tensions.
What needs what? If something can be solved, it is up to us to engage our teams in the problem-solving research and discussions that lead to solutions. But when we try to solve something that is really an ongoing tension, our frustrationlevels will inevitably rise, because tensions cannot and should not be resolved.
Working in the medical field a number of years ago, I had an employee who
One of the most powerful ways to motivate yourself as a leader is to remember back to a time when someone did it for you. Think back to a boss you had who took the time to notice the work you did, and let you know. That was probably a pretty powerful time.
I can still remember the first time this happened for me. I was twenty-two years old and working as a registered nurse. I was one of many new nurses in the orientation pro gram at a large Catholic hospital that had a great reputation in our area. I felt a bit lost in the bigness and newness of it all. Although I had gone to college for five years to study nursing, now that I was working in a hospital for the first time, it seemed as though most of what I had learned was “theory.” I quite literally found myself praying every day on my way to work: Please don’t let me kill anyone today.
At the time, I was dating a guy who was attending an outof-state school, and he was planning to come home on break just about the time I was scheduled to rotate from the day shift to my permanent shift: 3:00–11:30 p.m. I really wanted to stay on the day shift for two weeks longer. It would mean the difference between seeing my boyfriend and not seeing much of him at all. Although I was pretty motivated to ask, I was also terrified. I was new. No one knew me very well, and the director of nurses was a former nun. I don’t know why that made her seem more formidable to me, but it did. That, and the fact that I had never even met her.
But I really wanted to see my boyfriend, so I rehearsed what I was going to say for days. I practiced presenting my case, not sure exactly how to ask for something after having only worked there for three months.
I picked the day and time I knew I would see the director walking in the halls. I asked the butterflies in my stomach to please take a break, and then, with all the courage I could muster, walked right up to her, put out my hand, and said, “You don’t know who I am, but my name is Nancy Berg and . . .”
I kept talking, having memorized my request, which included good, solid reasons why this could work. But she interrupted me.
“I know who you are.”
That’s what she said to me. “I know who you are.”
She then went on to say that she knew I was working on the medical-surgical floor, and that she had heard good things about my work. Eventually—perhaps out of pity (maybe the fact that she was an ex-nun was working in my favor)—she granted me the additional two weeks on the day shift, and I got to see my boyfriend.
There is power in paying attention.
I ended up marrying someone else, but I will never forget those five words:
I know who you are .
There is power in paying attention. And a power is released in someone who knows he or she is being paid attention to.
Someone did it for you once. Now it’s your turn.
Rubber Bands II
SO, BACK TO THE rubber band thing. Leadership is not an either/or, but rather a both/and. And as leaders, we constantly need to determine whether something is a problem to be solved or a tension to be managed. (One of my partners, David Ross, says this at nearly every off-site conference we conduct.)
Much of the frustration that leaders face comes from trying to solve what needs to be managed and trying to manage what needs to be solved. Being able to distinguish which areas need clarity and which areas will be ongoingtensions is a necessary skill. See, there it is already: the managing of the tension between clarity and tensions.
What needs what? If something can be solved, it is up to us to engage our teams in the problem-solving research and discussions that lead to solutions. But when we try to solve something that is really an ongoing tension, our frustrationlevels will inevitably rise, because tensions cannot and should not be resolved.
Working in the medical field a number of years ago, I had an employee who
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