#1: Finding Common Ground When Every Minute Counts
“Learning to discern the right things to invest time and energy into is important for our goals. By eliminating the non-essentials, space and time are able to be redistributed and one is able to achieve the valuable results that are desired.”
BOOK RECOMMENDATION:
New York Times best seller: Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
In a conversation with a senior leadership member of a non-profit school in Asia, the challenges of building a schedule were brought up, especially in an environment where the refrains of ‘not enough time’ seemed to echo as if in a canyon.
“How do we encourage buy-in for a new academic program where teachers will feel that the time we take away from a busy schedule has true value?”
Listening carefully, it may seem that at first glance teachers, students, and the broader community had competing interests and values when it came to time.
But interests don’t have to compete- the key is to find common ground and build from there.
One great resource that I have found helps reframe thinking when seeking common ground is the book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, a NYT best seller written by Greg McKeown. While there are several key lessons that run throughout its chapters, a larger takeaway is the importance of learning to discern the right things to put time and energy into.
By eliminating the non-essentials, space and time are able to be redistributed and one is able to achieve the valuable results that are desired.
Often when we feel crunched on time, it’s easy for a belief to creep in that says there isn’t space or time to consider alternate perspectives; rather the focus has to be on the main objective that has been set and we don’t have a choice in the way forward.
However, taking time to do a time and value audit provides an opportunity for teams to ‘declutter’ the non-essentials and begin to discern what is truly important for success.
By encouraging space and conversations between various stakeholders, teams are able to see trade-offs they may not have considered; as result, a stronger clarity often arises. This in turn leads to greater decision impact, often eliminating hundreds of later decisions.
As leadership and I sat together, through asking open ended questions and actively listening, we began to create a tri-venn diagram that included all stakeholders perspectives. We found complementary interests and values between everyone; as new perspectives were brought forward, there was more common ground than initially suspected when it came to time distribution. By the end we had an outline for a program that leaders felt comfortable they could bring back to their teams and have buy in with.
Identifying the right areas to focus our time and energy is crucial for achieving our goals. By removing the non-essentials, we create more space and time to pursue meaningful results.
#1:
Finding Common Ground When Every Minute Counts
