November 28, 2017 • 3 minute read • by Saeed
“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” ~ Wayne Dyer
How We Work…
As human beings, we have two basic kinds of capabilities that must work together to advance our progress: knowing and doing or what I call mindset and mechanism.
Mindset includes learning, discipline, work ethic, transparency, commitment, being proactive, how we orientate towards growth and development, how we make decisions, and how we plan for the future. We plan and make decisions largely based on using past experience to judge the future. Mindset is about readiness. Readiness for opportunity, readiness for change.
Mindset is how you view the world.
Mechanism includes execution, action, methodology, tactics, deployment of resources, mastery of skills, goal setting and adjustment. That means establishing goals, following a plan, and then adjusting it according to both reality and perception. Mechanism is about competency and consistency. Competency to implement solutions consistently.
Mechanism is how you act in the world.
The unity of mindset and mechanism are the pillars that uphold everything else.
Your mind is a garden, your thoughts are seeds. You can grow flowers or you can grow weeds.
How Teams Work…
People, by nature, have the ability to know and do well. Success is about developing the right mindset and providing the right mechanisms. Then, stepping out of the way and trusting people to do their jobs.
From a team perspective, mindset comes in the form of motivation, buy-in, commitment, and synergy. Mechanism comes in the form of methods and tools the team can adopt and deploy to execute.
Everyone is involved in the planning, and everyone is involved in the execution.
After some time of working in this way, the team becomes proactive and synergized. The managers begin to let go of command and control.
In the old way, the leaders handled the knowing and followers the doing. When mindset and mechanism are separated, plans and decisions are made by a supervisor and tasks are done by lower level staff. Tasks are assigned without full involvement of the team. People don’t see the big picture, have less opportunity for personal development, and can’t feel achievement and growth. They aren’t engaged. They aren’t motivated.
Alternatively, the plan is made by team. Decisions are made by the team. The manager is only a facilitator. The team has the authority to decide how to carry out the project. The team feels empowered and they have buy-in to the process. They can see the big picture, they can volunteer for tasks that interest them (which helps their personal development), and they can feel a sense of achievement from their day-to-day decision making and implementation. They are given the tools to execute on their ambitions.
Old ways won’t open new doors. It is this unity of mindset and mechanism that releases the team’s full potential and your own.
This is the key to transformation.
Good luck.
Wait! Before you go…
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Last thing, if you liked this post, consider checking out my other recent posts for inspiration and concrete actions steps to become more effective at work and life.
Best,
Saeed
Saeed H. Mirfattah, MA, CPCC 