We’ve just had a wonderful time snowboarding and skiing in Sierra Nevada in the South of Spain. The range is nowhere near as big as the Alps, and warm weather meant that only about 30% of the slopes were open.
My younger self would have written this off as a dull holiday, and would have been disappointed with the lack of variety.
We had a few chats as a family. I decided that I’d take the opportunity to work on my posture especially when leaning back on the board – my legs tend to be too straight. My daughter worked on her ski turns. My eldest son, having been boarding of late, worked on his ski technique. My second son worked on trying to demolish the land speed record.
In other words, we created challenge where we could have been bored. Learning where it could have been the same. Interest where it could have been dull.
Sometimes at work, my team felt that the projects they were taking on felt very samey. They didn’t want to work with the same tech. Or the requirements seemed to merge into one. Or they took on old tech.
I used to suggest that they look for challenges and ways to learn if this was the case. And to get explicit about it up front. I suggested making this a part of their project kick-off process to embed continual learning into their work, and to share it with each other.
Perhaps looking to optimise and make the code more elegant than before rather than churning out the same.
Or taking the opportunity to attend more client meetings which they might not have taken part in before.
Or mentor someone less experienced in the team as a part of the project.
On occasion, when they shared their goals with each other up front, they ended up supporting each other’s learning.
If you run a company, see if opportunity to grow can be explicitly embedded in all your team’s work.
Everyone has the chance to learn, even if the work looks the same. To create interest where it looks dull.
Your shout.
I think my boarding has improved. My daughter’s turns look like elegance on skis. My eldest is the pro in skis. My second son clocked his highest speed yet. As, I suspect, did my eldest. My youngest ended the week a different boarder than he started it.
And my wife and I? We’re learning the skill of controlling our nerves watching them all.
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