BLUF: What tools or techniques have you seen to help High Cs to overcome their natural tendencies? What approaches, goals, ressources do you suggest for coaching?
Background:
While generally happy with me, my boss wants me to:
- get more things done faster and in parallel with the absolute minimum level of effort necessary to achieve their business purpose
- take on tasks and responsibilities where I don't control some of the variables and there's a risk of making mistakes or even failing
I know I certainly could improve by adding more of these behaviours to my arsenal. However, I have a high C component, so they run somewhat counter to my natural tendencies.
Questions:
- What mental or organizational tricks, tools, techniques and systems have you used to overcome your High C tendendies? What tools have you seen work for others?
- My boss is willing to coach me in these areas (not necessarily MT-style). What approaches, goals, ressources do you suggest for coaching?
Thanks for your help!
Falk Bruegmann
3-6-4-7
3-6-4-7
How comfortable are you with
How comfortable are you with failure as such, and how familiar are you with the literature on making mistakes, on producing a "minimal viable product" and adjusting as you go?
Here's a nice little trick: if you're being asked to just get a rough estimate out there, or a thing that just works but is ugly, or which isn't perfect but is "good enough", well... you're thinking to yourself, "No no, this and this and this will be wrong with it! These qualifications and adjustments are needed!"
So, how about, when you're thinking that you stop, and rather than trying to implement those adjustments, you note down all the ways in which there are problems and drawbacks and sloppy things done in producing what you made. Note what's wrong and what problems they could lead to. Essentially, just try focusing on ways that you can *predict* the problems that might occur. Make that a separate part of the project. Then focus on giving your boss the minimum that she wants, all the while holding onto where you've made a note of all the problems. And if she's happy with it and wants to go forward, then... well, go ahead.
Now, see, the thing is, she wants to move forward because she needs that stuff to help the business move forward for the sake of the bottom line. From her point of view, short-comings are fixable after you've moved ahead (I'm assuming she's not giving such tight deadlines as to encourage carelessness and slopiness though, of course) - what's so important in business is moving forward as quick as possible. Once you've given her what she wants, then you've got a whole list of things that can be added to improve the product or proposal or whatever it was you were asked to produce - you have a whole schematic of various problems and things that could go wrong, and she's in a position to decide where adjustments can begin to be made.
I guess what I'm saying is this: you're going to need to make adjustments whatever happens. Whatever you do it's never going to be perfect. But it doesn't mean you have to sacrifice conscientiousness. It just means you're going to change when you let that superpower of yours shine. Rather than using it to try and create something perfect straight away, you're instead going to use it across a broader time-scale, listing details and numbers and all sorts of stuff about improvements that need to be made ex facto, and then implementing those in order of priority.
I hope this is more helpful to you than simply being told to "not sweat the details, just focus on getting something vague and mostly good out there". No. That's anathema to you! And it's totally ignoring this wonderful tenacity and ability you have for detail and planning. Instead, you want to think about adjusting how you do it. See, I think the C way of thinking is trying to (1) approach a project which has one or a few central struts to it, (2) pick it apart in all its intricacies and notice how much more complex it really is, and then (3) try to solve each bit, puzzling through all the various ways to do that, and (4) implement those solutions. I suggest you start doing (1) and (2) on whatever project you have, but then solving just the central struts as best you can without brining in all the other complex details, and implementing (3) and (4) afterwards, once your boss is happy with those central struts.
And see, that's the great thing about being a C - you can plan for these things. A low C might just barrel on ahead, oblivious to all these problems! And then they've got to start agonising over picking things apart afterwards, dealing with the added stress of admitting their thing wasn't as awesome they were so confident is was. Whereas you have the confidence only a C can have, of knowing all those details, knowing just what the problems are, and knowing that you've already mapped them out, and are just ready and eager to pounce in and start fixing thing!
Rory
6-1-4-7
The little things
> How comfortable are you with failure as such,
Failure and making mistakes? Oh, I absolutely HATE that. That's kind of the point...
> how familiar are you with the literature on making mistakes, on producing a "minimal viable product" and adjusting as you go?
You mean, in the rapid prototyping/lean/agile vein? Yes, I'm familiar with that. We're actually pretty good at that - we have been releasing to production every few weeks for years now. Or have you got anything else in mind?
What I realize now probably isn't very clear from my initial question is, I'm not asking about project management so much, but more about personal behaviour in the little, everyday things.
> Now, see, the thing is, she wants to move forward because she needs that stuff to help the business move forward
Yes, thanks, I understand that quite well. I fully understand and embrace the need to do more, faster, with less-than-perfect precision and certainty - that's why I'm asking.
But what tricks has everybody found to implement these principles in their everyday behaviour? For example, to resist the temptation to check back with somebody else before writing an email to a customer when you're already 95% sure in your answer, and 95% is good enough? To not write the very nice three-paragraph email when two lines might be just good enough?
One technique I'm using, and this is probably opposite of what pure Is and Ds need to be doing: When I have just written an email, I quickly hit the "Send" button, before I'm tempted to restructure it and make it just a little bit nicer (unless it's important, of course).
Is anybody else using such little tricks?
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Falk Bruegmann
3-6-4-7
Ah, ok. Sorry. I was
Ah, ok. Sorry. I was assuming you were unfamiliar. Sorry if it seemed like I was talking down to you. :)
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Rory
6147
Many, many thanks!
Many thanks Mike and Mark! I got an offer yesterday for the opportunity I wanted. I bought your resume guidebook this past February and followed your guidance diligently to produce a solid resume. I then bought your Interview Series podcasts, listened to each of the podcasts, and studied 30+ hours for my phone interview. Feedback I got from one of the 4 interviewers is that, although my technical skills might not be as strong as the other candidates interviewed, my attitude, questions asked, and my strong close put me over the top in total points scored! You've sold me on the close - it's crucial! Now I'm going to focus on strengthening my Dad's CV with your guidance. Thanks again! Jason
What, no more High Cs around?!
What, are Rory and I the only High Cs around? Don't others have any "High C coping strategies" to share? Or should I try and ask the question differently (shorter) in a new thread?
High C Coping Strategies
So far we've got:
Any more?
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Falk Bruegmann
3-6-4-7