Transformation: making a ruckus
I used to be a:
Student.
Unemployed.
Artist.
Freelancer.
The IT guy.
The manager.
The fixer.
All previous working lives that built today’s current T-shaped skills. Whenever I’m asked how did I choose my path I say I try something and do more of it or less of it depending if I like it. I don’t know what’s next but it’s definitely more of what I like. Oh and being good at something helps me like it. So I practice. If it’s a skill it can be learned.
I get asked from time to time how we work across nine with people scattered across the world at any given time (hey I’m writing this over the Atlantic).
Here at BMT we use a tool called Basecamp to support our communication. It is a tried and trusted tool used by thousands of people. We use it because effective communication is critical yet very hard to do at scale. We use it for both internal communication and working with partners on our products and services.
You can read about it’s tools etc on their website so I won’t repeat it here. In short the reason we don’t just use email like everyone else is because email across 150+ people is asking for trouble. Instead we choose a different path.
Basecamp is purely for communicating.
We need to share announcements, proposals, decisions and such like to group’s or globally across our organisation via our HQ group which every person is part of. Using Basecamp makes it the go to place for this.
Over time Basecamp becomes a form of corporate memory. When did we decide X? Answer check Basecamp. Why did we decide Y? Answer check Basecamp. People may leave but their comments remain. Clever huh.
Doing effective meetings is difficult and time consuming. Often times people just want to know the outcome. Share your proposal to a group(s) and get their feedback. To make it sweeter, get their feedback or approval when they are ready. Why wait for a meeting in two weeks when you can make it a simple proposal and get approval. One of our strategic aims is to support working anywhere at any time and this underpins our ability to do so.
Get it on your desktop or mobile if you choose.
We can make as many groups as we need and share with external partners.
Does Basecamp work well? Yes very much so.
However getting us all to use it effectively is a game of patience!
If I had to pick the biggest gripe people have with the tool it is confusion around managing notifications. When you normally post a message by default the setting notifies everyone in the group. It is easy to change but isn’t a behaviour most use/understand is possible.
My personal experience too is that writing with clarity is the key and that’s a skill most of us need to continually hone.
Every biography of a successful person has that line, “And then, things took a turn for the worse.”
Every year I document the books I read. You can see a decade or so via the archives starting with 2023.
When I think I’m being very clear and someone doesn’t get me I’m reminded of the example of getting to the number four. My brain and worldview is 2+2=4. Simple. Yet another person may say 8-4=4 or 2×2=4. Then I realise there is lots of ways of arriving at the same number and that I made the assumption there was only one way. I think of this often when someone else has a different worldview but may be agreeing with the same outcome. Does it always matter how we arrive at four?
https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/museum-worlds/11/1/armw110105.xml by Serena Iervolino and Domenico Sergi
A car advert using Salvatore Dali reference
When something needs doing it is easy to insist it is done the way you know. Which spins into saying to a teammate “don’t worry I’ll do it myself”. They lose agency and you end up doing something they could have done by them and you did that other important thing.
Next time you hear yourself saying “I’ll do it myself” try to catch yourself and see what happen.
If you want others to know what you are doing you need to tell them. If you did a good thing at work but didn’t share this with the person you think needs to know then it is invisible. When you go for a walk, do your neighbours know where you are headed unless you tell them, of course not. Your destination is invisible. I frequently hear people lament that their boss doesn’t acknoweldge their contribution and I reply “did you tell them?” the answer is almost always “no”.
In order to get known in your workplace or community you need to show up and when the time is right tell them something that makes you proud. Then on the next thing, tell them again.
Maybe it is through a conversation, an email, staff briefing, a talk or a poster.
You are either visible or invisible.
Pssst being invisible is also a superpower some folks would dream to have.