I have to share this post and the accompanying video. Everyone should watch it! I'm including the video here in case you don't take the time to go check out April Gonzales' eportfolio. But you absolutely should. Adam Grant is both amusing and incredibly truthful and April has great insights and reflections to share.
Giver, takers and matchers. Is it best to live right in the middle? Some give and some take? Be a matcher? According to Adam, the answer is "a very definitive maybe." Givers make teams and organizations better by helping and sharing, but sometimes they are the worst individual performers. Takers will rise quickly, but also fall quickly and usually at the hands of the matchers. The best individual performers also end up being givers. Givers on both ends of the spectrum. They are incredibly valuable, but we have to protect them from burnout. Adam talks about the five minute favor, establishing a culture of asking for help, team building, the concept of agreeableness, changing the definition of success and pronoia, "the delusional belief that other people are plotting your well being." That's a state I'd like to be in for sure!
As future digital leaders, making sure that the people in our organizations embrace asking for help will be a key focus area. In fact, knowing that an innovation project of my choosing is headed my way, I'm going to add this concept of giving/taking and creating a culture of requesting help to the short list of topics I'd like to pursue.
I'm fairly certain I will have more thoughts on this topic and video, but I need to listen again, take notes, and contemplate. I didn't want to hold off on sharing April's post on her reflections of her current coursework, team dynamics and the accompanying video though. Do your self a favor and watch the video. Thirteen minutes that you'll come back to again and again.
References
Gonzales, April. (2018, September 23). Are you a giver or a taker? [web log comment]. Retrieved from https://agonzales266.wixsite.com/agonzales/blog/are-you-a-giver-or-a-taker
TED. (2017, 24 Jan). Are you a giver or taker? | Adam Grant. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/YyXRYgjQXX0
Comments