A Weekend Challenge: Try Something New!

Over the past week or so, I’ve been writing a lot about our commitment to the status quo. How we seem to continue to do the same things, over and over, even when they are failing. I’ve written about how we are trapped in “business as usual.”

I’ve gotten some questions, “Dave, how do we change, what should we do? There are so many things we need to address, where do we start? What if we fail?”

As understandable as these concerns are, they stop each of us, and we don’t change–though we know we must.

I know I am sometimes prone to make things more complicated than they need be, which keeps me from moving forward. And I know this to be true for most of the rest of us.

As we finish the week and are going into the weekend, take some time to think about what you are going to do next week I’d like you to think of one (possibly two) things that are new. Stated more clearly, “What one new thing are you going to experiment with, in doing something differently next week?”

While I’m challenging you to think about this with respect to your work, for extra credit, you might think about something outside of work.

Some things to think about as you consider this challenge:

1. Avoid “doing more” of anything. Think of something that’s different.
2. Keep it very simple, don’t overthink it. If we were speaking to each other, I would say, “Tell me now what new/different thing you want to do next week, you have 30 seconds to respond…” That response is the most important new thing for you to experiment with.
3. Things to consider:
   1. Start a conversation with a customer or prospect with a different question than your normal script. Try to learn something about them and their job, not their interest in what you sell. Just think of one question and use that to start every conversation you have with a customer or prospect. Listen to the response and engage them in that response.
   2. Have a conversation with someone that you normally don’t talk to. The goal is just to learn more about them and what they dream. Maybe it is someone in your company that supports what you do, or someone that depends on you for support. Or a customer/prospect that may be tangentially involved in
   3. Take the time to have one conversation with someone that has nothing to do with their job performance (if you are a manager talking to one of your people, or if you are talking to one of your customers). Try to get to know a little of who they are, what their dreams are, what drives them.
   4. Read something that is very different from your normal reading. Or listen to a podcast that’s very different than what you normally listen to. Make sure it has nothing to do with sales, marketing, customer experience, or even business. Think about what you’ve learned from it and how you apply it to what you do. (For those who have followed me, think of the concept of artful plagiarism.)
   5. Find someone, in your organization or a customer, that has been recently helped you and thank them for their help. Let them know what it meant to you.
   6. Change one email template, experimenting with it. Make sure it has nothing to do with what you sell or do, make it all about the customer and their business.
   7. Find one thing you can say or do to show someone you care about them as an individual. A thank you note, something that shows you are interested and not focused on being interesting.
   8. Recognize you may fall flat on your face. But what did you learn about the experience? What might you change?
   9. There are unlikely to be any “AHA” experiences, but there may be an “aha” experience.
   10. Keep at it for a week. Share your experiences with me, I’ll share them, anonymously, in a future post.
   11. Then think about the following week, what one new thing are you going to experiment with?

While this topic has been on my mind for a long time (as is clearly indicated by my obsessiveness in my writing) something happened to me this week that was remarkable. A person I deeply respect asked me a question I’ve never been asked, nor posed to myself. I think I’ve probably been too “busy,” to think about the question. She asked, “Out of curiosity, what was important to you when you started working and what’s important to you now?”

My immediate reaction was, “Why does she care, why is that an important question for her?” But as I answered it, I realized the answer was, possibly, more important to me than it was to her. She caused me to pause, reflect, and recenter myself on things that are important to me. And I’m deeply grateful for her curiosity and caring.

At this moment, I’m still thinking about something that is work/client related that I will do differently. There is one thing outside of work that I am doing differently. There is an individual that has very different ideas on politics and some of the social change than I. We’ve managed to have some conversations at dinner parties, sometimes uncomfortable, mostly avoiding different sensitive topics. I’ve invited him to breakfast tomorrow just to talk and get to know each other, not to prove either of us right or wrong. I don’t know what will happen, neither does he, but we’re up for an interesting breakfast.

What one new thing are you going to experiment with next week?