#UCSIA15: Reflections so far…
Sunday mornings, whilst preparing the roast dinner for the family, always seems a timely opportunity to allow for reflection on the week gone by, and the direction and hopes for next week. As the mind strays into cutting the spuds, the key highlights (and lowlights) fit together. Here are some reflections on #UCSIA15, one week in…
Whilst ending a practical session this week, I was asked “What colour is this dress?” by a student.
“White and gold”, was my immediate response, “What else could it possibly be?”.
The variation in interpretation from the global audit, built on the viral spread, evidences that given the same resources, people will always see things differently. This opinion could be an optical interpretation or perspectives made up from different experiences, attitudes and beliefs. However, I was only made aware of this question by people spreading it. There are people out there who are unaware of the question, just as there are people unaware of #UCSIA15, or maybe have just not visited yet. An open course, which is free and accessible, is also optional. It will be interesting who joins in the course and helps co-construct the content and contribute to the discussions within…
This led me to consider the worldwide community of practice that is growing, how it could mature to represent a community of providence, and how this is catalysed through the malleable scaffold of this course and other social media mechanisms.
This week, we have raised a discussion around the use of a single hashtag. An example of the power of harnessing social media in action, was the aggregation of opinion and conversation around ‘PAID’ — the Performance Analysis Internship Discussion. This prompted the use of #papp to strengthen the voice and contain it within a communal #; with a snapshot Storify. Personally, it was great to witness an outcome, through the release of a BASES position stand, but it also raised the question: where did ISPAS contribute, have an opinion or support the growth and health of the industry.
The screengrab from my Vizify archive provides a visual representation of how big this topic area was. It also serves as a reminder of how some start ups fail (or are acquired), so there is always an initial degree of wariness around using the new.
In contrast, another reflection this week, is the frustration of how the conversations are so hard to follow! Even within the scaffold of the course and the notifications, there is still a need to explore through to be alert to all the activity. For example, an announcement does not have an option to subscribe, and this page has neither a subscribe option or a comment box (although this could be my lack of familiarity with the platform); thus requiring the observer to check in at intervals to see if there are any new contributions. This blog was rounded up with a proposal: are there other options for a functional basecamp (in case Medium as a platform is not a long term solution)?
Maybe using #UCSIA15 would help create an active, and evergreen, voice to springboard into the next generation of the industry as a self organising group with a diversity of backgrounds, geographical location and professions (at different stages) merging for collective intelligence, ideas and ideals.
“Ultimately, within our industry, we are all leaders and we are all followers. There is no real hierarchy, just a series of groups with their own agendas/ambitions with many more shores to discover and bridges to build, but there is plenty of room for groups to co-exist independently in the habitat. Just try not to leave yourself marooned…” Source
Returning to the theme of diversity, it has been particularly interesting to reflect on how and why conflict is positive. Today, this catalysed flashbacks of listening to specialist coaches debating the role of a player at the back of the lineout (own throw). The lineout coach wanted to use him as a lifter, the defence coach wanted him as part of the defensive system, in case of an overthrow. I watched the head coach whilst he listened to and relished the debate. He allowed it to unravel, before intervening to make a decision based on the conflicting points, supported with a simple question — “Why are we going to lose the lineout?”. The discussion revealed the importance of trust in each other, their dedicated areas of expertise and the systems created. People are ultimately temporary custodians of their current role, and have an ownership, responsibility and accountability to deliver on these commitments; but there is also a need to have contingency plans in place, to recover if/when things go wrong.
This Diversity slide was summarised from these 3 articles, serving the purpose to emphasise how people from diverse backgrounds can all learn together:
The Courage to Move From Management to Leadership
Dynamic Tension: The Key to Better Decisions
Why Conflict is Good for Business
Two of the articles that arrived in my feeds this morning also assisted the joining of some dots:
Why the most important question is still ‘Why?’
Improvement is a process, not an outcome
This linked me back to Josh Bryans blog emphasising the importance of the process of performance analysis, and this recent response regarding tools and skills. This is turn coincided with Jason Lears tweet regarding shared resources under a creative commons license, along with returning to this discussion with Mark Upton re: connector role of a performance analyst.
Connecting this weeks triggers, it suggests the differentiator in performance analysis will become what you do with the data/information, rather than how you acquire it, and how active sharing can help develop Performance Analysis practice and the search for better solutions.
On a side note, the similarities between cooking the lunch and performance analysis were highlighted in the initial selection and organisation of ingredients and tools (with stakeholder input), the routinised order of the processes after preparation, preparation, preparation; the teamwork to finalise and present the outputs, digestion of them, and the feedback and communication around these outputs afterwards…
Through my on-going dialogue with Keith, I have enjoyed the serendipity and synchronicity of the process of becoming an organic performance analyst. I hope you enjoy your journey as much as I do… (along with your Sunday lunch).
“Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress, no matter how slow” -Plato
