The Fist-BUMP Manifesto
Better Understanding Manifests Progress/Passion
I have been trying to qualify my thoughts around the concept of the fist-bump as it pertains to the work that I do to create, maintain, and support healthy and high-performing teams. Several years ago I had the honor of being a “gapper” while working with the wonderful team at gap intelligence under the leadership of Gary Peterson. One of their many ceremonies that left an indelible memory was when Gary would walk through the office each morning and fist-bump every person, rain or shine.
This was not a fist-bump in the “brogrammer” sense, but rather an intimate, “hey, thanks for all you do, how are you today and what can I do to help you?” way. How unique! I had never seen this approach and it really stuck to my ribs and is a tactic that I use to this day. Thanks Gary!
My aim with the Fist-Bump Manifesto use it as an underpinning to ignite small changes and conversations so that we have a more complete and wholehearted buy-in across all teams. Repeated success breeds confidence and along the lines of SMART goals, if we refrain from boiling the ocean, we allow for a string of smaller wins to create a tipping point. The Fist-Bump Manifesto will act as a recipe book that will guide our ability to Identify, Create, Measure, Relate.
Over the next several posts I will codify my experiences helping to engineer outcomes and wins, create and maintain processes, bask in the glow of high-performing teams, and capitalizing on an agile mindset to be a successful provider in a B2B SaaS marketplace where the customer is the divining rod and your ability to ship expected product is your gold.
If we are not growing somewhere, we are not going anywhere.
Better Understanding Manifests Progress/Passion
Progress and Passion can be mutually exclusive but I truly believe that they are reliant on one another as key ingredients in a successful company. I feel that if you do not have Passion you cannot make true Progress. Similarly, if you are not making Progress, you tend to lose your Passion. By understanding all that is in play, the pains, the values, and the opportunities, you cultivate both. As a leader, these are the ingredients that you need to inspire. I have had leaders in my life who led with a limp and it was usually a deficit in either their emotional intelligence or their outward values/passion/intention which created a malaise that became paralyzing.
If your sights are not trained on improving, if your teams are not in lock-step with your passion and resolve, and your buy-in across your organization does not bend to cover your mission, then you will have a hard time aligning the work and change that goes into building success.
The more you understand, the more you can do. If you can name it, you can tame it.
My next post will focus on an exercise that I came up with while working at MindTouch and that has proven itself useful many times. It calls all stakeholders to the table in order to build a story that can define a collectively understood opportunity.
Do you need some help with your teams or processes? Maybe just a sounding board to bounce ideas? I would love to help. Ping me here or holler at me on LinkedIn and lets grab a coffee. You will be surprised at what you find when you lower the water.
P.S. Thanks to Eric Weiss for the name, Fist-Bump Manifesto. I had been playing around with Fist-bumps and pissing rainbows, and his sounded so much more PC and on-point.
Help me to Help You
Part of my process to reprogram is to solicit further feedback from the people in my life so that I can address the noise and amp up the signal. If you have any thoughts or feedback that you think I can benefit from, please Text the word “BIRKY” to the number 24365. I am using RallyCorp’s SMS Engagement Platform as a means for me to gather more input to add to my equations.
One last thing…
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