Reflections Nov 2020 – Week 4: The need to be needed, novel experiences, People Ops call notes, emotion classification and more…

Agency musings

The need to be needed

As an agency grows beyond the multiple hat wearing circus parade of the founder. Owners of agencies often become redundant. Congratulations! Wait, but what is your role now? At this stage we see many founders fall into the caretaker role. Either by careful design, or more often by the simple need to be needed or guilt. Here are some examples:

There may be an unspoken feeling of pressure that comes with the company making lots of money and you are not ‘doing’ much. What value do you bring to the business? Founders find themself doing things for the sake of being perceived as ‘contributing’.

You feel good when you get praised for having helped a team member with a problem. The need to be needed.

You have previously worked in a fast growing company where the owners have neglected individual team members. You don’t want your team to feel the same - you start to over nurture.

The problem with all these examples is that you may be hindering the natural development of your team members. If a challenge arises, founders who identify themself with the above, often provide an immediate solution for their team members. Not only does that approach restrict independent learning, but also has a potential to reduce self confidence.

Good learning and development processes take time to flourish and a need for founders to drop their ego - the need to be needed. It will always be easier and quicker in the short run to just provide the solution. Rather than letting the learner find their own solution.

Inside Polymensa

Team Mintaka

Remote working - team engagement and management

Last week we had the pleasure of getting insights from Human Systems coach Daryll Scott.

Something we all related to was that our lives in 2020 have become incredibly planned out. Little room for novel experiences or spontaneity. It is also the very thing that is causing mental wellbeing challenges in agency teams. Especially during Lockdown 2. Try something spontaneous this week. Go for a walk and do a meeting. Pick a new path for walking / running. Let serendipity take over and see what happens...

Check out these Slack discussions from last week

For Agency Founders/MDs/CEOs

Future of client relationships

Live streaming solutions for a local event

Would a tax refund help you right now or just taking some cash out of the business?

For People Ops / HR

Call notes and recording of our monthly peer call are now available

Join our community of team members who are involved in People Ops / HR of agencies with a minimum 20 team members: Find out more information here

The beautiful mind

Emotion classification

The other week I posted a personal reveal about my upbringing on Linkedin - as part of my new charitable mission to helping young people get out of a life of crime - supporting the Gloves Not Gunz charity. 

Shortly after I spoke to a friend who was gobsmacked and admitted how problemless her upbringing was. That the only thing that may have been tough was her dad not being around that much - as he was working a lot. We often compare our own circumstances to others purely based on the scenario. However studies show that the way we feel about events in our life is the same. Everyone who has experienced pain, knows what it feels like - regardless of how that pain was inflicted. Other studies show there may be different levels of intensity, but fundamentally we can find ways to empathise with anyone.

There is a very interesting article on Wikipedia on emotion classifications for further reading.

Quotes of the week

“Be quick, but don’t rush.” John Wooden

“The air is thin on the mountain, so you can’t stay up there too long.” Jill Ellis

Company spotlight

Videoask

Video messenger on your website, instead of the usual chat function.

Lego Serious Play

A framework for workshop facilitation.

Chatty Cards

Talk without talking.

Random information
(entertaining at the very least)

• The UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs has set out these 17 sustainable development goals. 

• Like a swan gracefully glides along the water, frantically flapping its feet - the team at Done + Dusted work their magic in the TV control room of the half time Superbowl show. Incredible to watch!  

• The Lost Cosmonauts theory claims that the Russians have been sending cosmonauts into space before Yury Gagarin. Further random fact, cosmonauts are trained by the Russian Space Agency, while astronauts are trained by NASA, ESA, CSA and JAXA.

Thank you for reading.

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"Be an infinite learner." - Polymensa

Have a great week!
Cheers, Daniel :)