Multi-Dimensional Thinking

Encapsulating the Theory and Application of Managerial Communications, In my opinion,  is the ability to have a growth mindset. In order to have a growth mindset, you are continuously challenged to apply the characteristics of a good communicator, while focusing on improving your management/leadership skills. A manager with he growth mindset, has the ability to think multi-dimensionally, because they can find the positive in every scenario, as well as always finding room for improvement. Like Lowe's, a manager with the growth mindset, "Never Stops Improving".

What are these two mindsets?



According to Carol Dweck, the founder of this theory:

The growth mindset is "founded on the belief that your basic qualities are cultivable and flexible things that can grow with dedication, time, and a commitment to getting better, smarter, and more talented" (Dweck, 2006).

On the contrary the fixed mindset, "assumes that our character, intelligence, and creative ability are static givens which we can’t change in any meaningful way, and success is the affirmation of that inherent intelligence, an assessment of how those givens measure up against an equally fixed standard; striving for success and avoiding failure at all costs become a way of maintaining the sense of being smart or skilled" (Dweck, 2006).

Why is the Growth Mindset Better?

Those who are focused on improving, worry less about looking smart because they are putting their energy into learning. According to Carol Dweck in a Harvard Business Review article that she authored, "When companies embrace a growth mindset, their employees report feeling far more empowered and committed; they also receive far greater organizational support for collaboration and innovation" (Dweck, 2016)

In opposition, "people at primarily fixed-mindset companies report more of only one thing: cheating and deception among employees, presumably to gain an advantage in the talent race" (Dweck, 2016)

By just adopting a growth mindset, better things will happen. According to Dweck, "Organizations that embody a growth mindset encourage appropriate risk-taking, sowing that some risks won't work out" (Dweck, 2016) This is important because turning knowledge into action in a quicker cycle, requires risk taking, and trial and error is important for a company to grow.

Aiding in building an innovative culture, a company with a growth mindset rewards employees for important and useful lessons learned, even if things didn't work out. This fosters creativity, and employees won't walk around on eggshells, afraid of getting in trouble.

 The growth mindset supports collaboration across organizational boundaries rather than competition among employees or units. Again, reinforcing the goals of successful managerial communication.

According to Dweck, managers with a growth mindset, are committed to the growth of every member, not just in words but in deeds, such as broadly available development and advancement opportunities, and they continually reinforce growth mindset values with concrete policies" Dweck, 2016). 

In the Marine Corps, a positive mental attitude went a long way. A positive mental attitude was not only rewarded, but it improved your shooting. By blocking out negative thoughts, and focusing on positive ones, your shots would magically become more accurate. Same should apply to management, focus on the positive aspects of every scenario.





Dweck, C. (2006). Retrieved from https://careersinpsychology.org/fixed-vs-growth-mindset-success/

Dweck, C. (2016). What Having a “Growth Mindset” Actually Means. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2016/01/what-having-a-growth-mindset-actually-means

Everyone an Innovator

One of the things that the United States Marine Corps is best known for, is creating professional rifleman. As a whole, the Marine Corps carries out the most effective riffle training, creating some of the most effective shooters. The biggest reason that Marines are so good with their riffle, is not only because they shoot accurately. It is because they are safe. Why are Marines so safe? It is because the Marine Corps has adopted the principle that everyone is a safety officer and can stop any exercise when they notice a potentially unsafe condition, without any fear of punishment or embarrassment. If that Marine saw something in error, no harm no foul. It is better to stop something potentially dangerous, just in case, rather than let something bad happen because you were to afraid to speak up.



Similar to the Marine Corps Riffle Range philosophy of "Every Marine a Safety Officer", Leadbeater discusses how users are the driving force in many innovations.  Businesses are all about sales, and sales are all about the consumer. By having a product that consumers want, sales will be made. In Leadbeater's (2005) Ted Talk, he explains how many things that are being sold successfully were created by the consumer, or user.


Instead of everyone collaborating and coming together for increased safety, Leadbeater explains many success stories where users collaborated to create innovative new products.

Leadbeater states that "Payoffs for innovations is the greatest where uncertainty is the highest" (2005). In his examples, is is described how something is invented, the inventor doesn't necessarily know what the invention can be used for... consumers get their hands on it, and it becomes very successful. For example, text messaging and mobile telephones. These technologies were invented and it was because of consumers using these products in unique ways. This also explains how phone  evolved into what they are now.

The more the uncertainty, the more innovation and use is needed. For this reason it is important for inventors and users to collaborate. Most creativity is cumulative and collaborative, and develops over a period of time. Leadbeater explains that "Big corporations have an in-built tendency of an reinforce past success", and find it difficult to find expanding new markets. (Leadbeater, 2005).

With this Ted Talk in mind, it is important to give everyone a voice and not have dedicated special people in charge of all innovation. It is important to provide a platform that allows not only employees, but also consumers to collaborate together with new ideas and solutions to problems. By adopting a philosophy of "everyone an innovator" you have greatly multiplied your productive resources, much like having everyone on a Marine Corp Rifle range looking out for safety.

In my Workplace, we pilots should collaborate more with customers in order to get new ideas. By offering a suggestion box, or having open meetings encouraging "off the wall ideas" can take the company in new directions.

Relating to an article referencing workplace health management, to relation to innovative climates, it is stated that "Innovative climates are vital for a company's economic success" and that "executives should focus more on improving the social processes in their organizations by having a positive influent on internal communication and social capital" (Kohler et al, 2010) Therefore not only does boosting creativity amongst  an organization help drive future sales and create potentially high grossing products, it also creates a better work place environment and more satisfied employees. By empowering employees to be creative and have the ability to collaborate with consumers, great things will happen.



Köhler, T., Janßen, C., Plath, S., Reese, J., Lay, J., & Steinhausen, S. et al. (2010). Communication, social capital and workplace health management as determinants of the innovative climate in German banks. International Journal Of Public Health, 55(6), 561-570. doi: 10.1007/s00038-010-0195-7

Leadbeater, C. (2005). The era of open innovation. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/charles_leadbeater_on_innovation?language=en

Front to Back

Teamwork across organizational boundaries is very much unnatural and very challenging, especially when it is two different companies working in collaboration. While there are plenty of challenges when working across boundaries within the same organization, there are certain things in common that makes it easier to work as team... such as shared management/leadership, resources, funding, and anything else that you can think of. When you bring another company into the mix, you lose a lot of those things.

In my organization, we fly for a couple of membership services that sell seats on private jets/planes. This allows people to experience the thrills and joys of private aviation at a fraction of the cost. We are breaking across organizational boundaries in a mutually beneficial relationship but still do not share the same management and have certain differences that can be frustrating to work around at times. 

Some of the problems include marketing the ability to show up close to departure time, which ends up delaying a full day of flights because we missed our first departure time and each subsequent flight is scheduled to depart shortly after arrival. We have many issues with scheduling flights and communication about changes, due to each company having their own software. The membership services do not not have the best knowledge about aviation, so there are a plethora of problems when member expectations aren't met because they were promised something that was impossible for us to do because of legal safety/operational requirements. Additionally, my company sees many improvements that can be made to some of these membership services, but we don't have the ability do anything about it. We offer suggestions to our company, but unfortunately these other companies aren't always willing to listen.

In a Harvard Business Review article, it is mentioned that "competition today punishes companies that make episodic improvements in key processes" (Power, 2012). Therefore it is so important to continuously seek improvement in all areas of an organization, and encourage teamwork across company boundaries: so that all departments of a company works together with suppliers and customers. The unfortunate truth is that "Getting people to improve processes across boundaries typically requires a crisis or constant pushing from a senior leader" (Power, 2012). "The only way to sustain improvement in a cross organizational process is for workers in the process to see it from end to end" (Power, 2012). In my organization, if each company involved would understand the "flow and logic" behind operations and procedures everyone would benefit. We can both held each other improve, and learn why things are a certain way. 

Once everyone has a better understanding of each other, it would translate to better communication to the customers. For example, it would allow a customer service representative to better explain why a flight was canceled or rerouted. Customers can have more accurate expectations and less disappoints. With everyone working together, the things that can be changed become clear and identifiable.

It is crucial to implement the changes that have been identified, but it is even "[more important] to maintain the team's effort to continually improve the process and not accept slippage"(Power, 2012).
By encouraging an open door policy, accepting criticism, and encouraging teamwork across boundaries it the best way to ensure success. In my example, both companies directly benefit from each others success and should learn how to work better together as a team.

Power, B. (2012). Get Your Team to Work Across Organizational Boundaries. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2012/04/building-a-team-across-organiz

Actionable Data

Businesses rely on customers for their success, and considering the customers in all aspects of operations is important to ensuring customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction increases the likelihood of repeat business and new referrals.

I'm a pilot for a membership based air-shuttle platform that arranges travel for a membership service. Based on where the members want to fly, we fly them. It is basically an "Uber" of the skies, and members use a phone app to sign up for flights. A majority of our shuttles operate several times a day between Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Tahoe/Reno and the Bay Area. The other day I over heard a customer complaining to one of the Customer service managers.  One of the things that he repeated several times was "you need to collect actionable data, instead asking about useless information about a flight that took place three weeks ago".

While I didn't agree with what the customer was complaining about (upset about us diverting to other airports due to weather, without understanding airplane performance and operational legal safety requirements), I did agree with he fact that actionable data is required to improve customer satisfaction for the purpose of future growth. 

By collecting actionable data, you can isolate and resolve problems much faster, which will sustain higher customer satisfaction and save the company money in the long run. The Data-Information-Knowledge-Action (D-I-K-A) cycle is a tool for managers to turn data into an appropriate action. A problem that many businesses have is that they fall into the trap of "information overload" and not create anything of real business value, instead just collect and store information. However, those businesses that can focus on actionable issues and speed up the D-I-K-A cycle are far more likely to have favorable results and achieve greater levels of success. (Clampitt, 2017)






What is actionable data?

Actionable data is a "term in data analytics and big data for information that gives enough insight into the future that the actions should be taken become clear for decision makers" ("What is Actionable Insight? - Definition from Techopedia", 2019). In other words, actionable data provides the necessary information to managers to make an informed decision. 




In the situation for my company, every time a customer complains about diverting to a different
airport, we have actionable data. It is data that is credible, objective, and timely. We pilots have compiled this data and have come up with possible solutions. One idea, is to only fly into airports that can be assessable no matter what. The problem is, we are flying into airports than can only be accessed in good weather because they contain smaller runways and have stringent cloud ceiling requirements. A solution could be to no longer serve these airports due to customers not understanding the reasoning behind diverting, and not allowing the room for disappointment. Another idea is to be very transparent from the beginning about how weather effects aviation, and  continuously explain that diversion is likely to happen when certain conditions exist. It would be a good idea to provide customers with a survey about how they would like issues like diversion and delays to be handled, and continuously ask for feedback. 

As far as other actionable data, it would be important to collect information on new areas that we should provide service to, friends or family that would be interested in joining, and anything else that we can do to boost customer satisfaction. This data and information combined with the companies knowledge on the aviation industry can create actionable strategies to expand operations and increased customer satisfaction, while remaining safe and reliable. 

References:

Clampitt, P. G. (2017). Communicating for Managerial Effectiveness: Challenges, Strategies, Solutions. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications

What is Actionable Insight? - Definition from Techopedia. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.techopedia.com/definition/31721/actionable-insight

Don't Catch Me If You Can

Online profiles allows us the ability to connect with friends, coworkers, new acquaintances, or even prospective employers in a manner that we want them to see. We create our profiles based on how we want to be presented to others. We share our best hand-selected pictures and our favorite attributes. Much like our resumes. 

The Virtual World can be notorious for deception. Between online dating, internet chatrooms, and various blogs... the trust of the internet can be very questionable. Lots of vetting has to take place to insure accurate information. Especially when using internet sources for work and school. Professional oriented sites, such as LinkedIn, allow people to upload their Resumes and create career focused social media profiles in order to form connections for the purpose of networking. 

Now, people are able to publish their Resumes in an environment that is notorious for fostering deception, giving people the opportunity to enhance their self-presentation. LinkedIn allows you to manage what other people are able to see. 

One may be inclined to think that Resumes Profiles on LinkedIn would contain more inaccuracies and deception than on paper. However, studies and research show that Resumes posted on LinkedIn are more honest.

However, the Consequences for lying in resumes can be devastating, and career ruining. Yet... people still do it! "One resume consulting service suggested that 43 percent of [traditional resumes evaluated contained significant inaccuracies" (Guillory & Hancock, 2012). However, "Compared with traditional resumes, Linkedin resumes were less deceptive about the kinds of information that count most to employers, namely an applicant’s prior work experience and responsibilities, but more deceptive about interests and hobbies" (Guillory & Hancock, 2012).

Why is this the case? Peers and previous employers can see peoples profiles. In order for someone's profile to be considered valid... their profile has to have connections and some sort of "proof" that what this person is saying is true. However, things that are not verifiable such as hobbies and interests are said to be "more likely to be deceptive". LinkedIn, has a page that allows people to report false information and false profiles as well. Therefore, people are more likely to be called out if they aren't being truthful. LinkedIn also allows people to endorse your page and write comments about you. These are huge indicators about someone. 

As I look at my profile as well as my friends profiles on LinkedIn, I notice very accurate information about people's work experience. I see short concise job descriptions along with peer endorsements verifying that person's work experience. 

In this day and age, everything we do online can be archived forever. Things may be hidden, but it is all too easy for someone to gain access to something that you've posted or something that someone else has posted about you. It is important to take into consideration that anything you say or do, at anytime can and will be used against you in the future. With that in mind, it is important to ensure you are honest and set a good example to others. 

If you want to make yourself look better to others, make your self better. Work hard, and go get the experience that you want to claim. It takes one Lie to make you a Lier, and one Lie to make someone never trust you again. 

Reference:

Guillory, J., & Hancock, J. (2012). The Effect of Linkedin on Deception in Resumes. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, And Social Networking, 15(3), 135-140. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2011.0389

For many ages, people have gathered together and when people are to together they tell stories. Story telling communicates a variety of signals. Stories can tell other negative thing to scare them away, or positive things to encourage others to try new things. Stories can be told to make someone look good... or better. Stores can be told to make someone else look good or bad. Whatever the case may be, if it is a good story... people listen.

"The wise leader seizes the power of the story and uses it as a tool to regularly communicate the core values" (Clampitt, 2017, P89). When a Manager wants to convey a powerful message to their team, maybe they want to illustrate a critical organizational value. Employees will understand and always listen to a good story. 

On the contrary, stories can be used a deterrent. When I was in the military, hearing about other people's punishments motivated all of us to behave accordingly. We did not want to end up like the guy who got punished harshly. 

I think that the best stories are positive stories, these are the stories that inspire people to be better and work harder. When I worked for Boeing, they wanted to show us that our families were important to us, so they would pay for a family member to meet for a brief all inclusive vacation during deployments... if you were recommended by your supervisor for doing a good job. 

As high performers came back from these trips, where they met their spouse in Dubai or France, they would tell everyone the stories from their trip. What did this do? MAKE EVERYONE WORK HARDER. What else did this do? Make people willing to go on more deployments so they could get an opportunity to take a trip like this again.

For me, I had the great opportunity to have my parents flown to Dubai on two separate occasions. It was a great way for me to provide a thank you to my parents for all their support throughout my life. But for them, it was a way to tell friends and family how great the Boeing Insitu family was. During these trips a member of executive management would take us all to dinner and tell the stories to our families about the work we were doing and how meaningful it was. 

When it comes to your company... strive to be part of a good story.

Clampitt, P. G. (2017). Communicating for Managerial Effectiveness: Challenges, Strategies, Solutions. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications

Know the Enemy, Know Yourself

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

Sun Tzu

Unrealistically, I would like the opportunity to have a safe lunch with the enemy. Having joined America's finest fighting force, the Marine Corps Infantry, at 18 years old, about a third of my life was dedicated to the War on Terrorism. I have lost friends, teammates, supervisors, and other associates. Years of conflict have left me feeling unsettled to say the least. I know the enemy has had their struggles. 

Where did this idea come from? I was taking a "macro-meditation" class, and the theme was wishing peace on others. We started with those we loved, then worked our way to strangers, then finally OUR ENEMIES. I thought to myself, why would I ever wish peace on my enemy, our enemy. I thought, clearly this teacher has never dealt with terrorists and insurgents. But, the more I think about it... there is always another side. 

Not only would having lunch with someone from the enemy provide great intelligence for future operations, maybe it will give a little closure to some of the lost years of my life, and help others who feel the same way I do. 

We would have the following ground rules in effect as a minimum:

1. Don't kill each other 
2. No Indoctrinating 
3. Don't persuade, defend, interrupt 
4. Just be curious, conversational, and willing to listen

I would be curious about their upbringing, childhood, family life, culture, and their life experiences. I would be curious about what their training was like, what their goals and aspirations were. We could talk about the fears we faced and how we coped with them. We could definitely discuss the issues that led us to joining our respective organizations. We would literally be two warriors dropping weapons and learning what it's like to be on the other side. Maybe getting to a point where we can both let go of some of the anger and resentment that we have towards each other, and some of the stereotypes.  

Branching into the business world, it can be said that "if you know your company's capabilities and have astutely sized up your competitors, you can duke it out and stand to be victorious in battle" (Eisen, 2018). While corporate espionage is highly unethical, learning your operational environment and understanding your competitors better will do nothing but make you better.

"Knowing your enemy" can be applied not only to competitors external to your workplace, but also internal competitors that are not the "conventional enemy". If you are competing for a promotion, learning more about that person can help you be better. Maybe these people can inspire you to work harder, be more organized, or not act a certain way. Or, the enemy is someone that you don't necessarily get along with in the work place and getting to understand each other will resolve past and future dilemmas.  Understanding other people's goals, life experiences, and concerns can improve many different situations. 

Eisen, D. (2018). Knowing your enemy is only the start. Hotel Management, 233(8), 4. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/2064341011?accountid=27203

Tzu, S. (2017). The Art of War. Knickerbocker Classics.