MOOC with Me: Week 2 - Part 1: Strike a Pose
If you’re just joining our MOOC with Me series: Power Onboarding, you’ll want to start here.
Ready?
Time for Week 2 - Part 1
This course is a weird mix of information. At times directed at students. Other times more appropriate for seasoned leaders. Bit of a mish-mash. But there’s some good stuff here, so worth a look.
This week - we revisit an old favourite (the STARS model) and check out a fun video where we strike a pose.
Here’s what stood out for me:
Reading List:
I read/watched: Everything
I recommend: Pick and choose based on my comments below. Be selective.
Picking the Right Strategy
By the author of The First 90 Days, this is an expansion of the chapter on strategy (chapter 3). A couple great points:
“Leaders in transition reflexively rely on the skills and strategies that worked for them in the past.” Something to be ever vigilant about.
This article argues you need to know what kind of organization you’re walking into. And so… the STARS model is back.
Turnaround vs. Realignment: Fast change vs. slow change. Great chart. And a brief discussion on which leadership style suits the different situation. Hero vs. Steward.
Success: You could work on these 4 pillars……. Or just do that feedback thing we talked about last week. So much easier.
My favourite part of this article. 2 brilliant questions you can build into your self-reflection time:
What am I good at/like doing, that I need to do less of?
What am I mediocre at/dislike doing, that I need to do more of?
And the last thing to consider - what do peers think you’ve been hired to do? It may be different from what you (and your boss) have agreed to. If so, there's potential for conflict and resistance to your ideas and initiatives. Building allies will be critical in this situation.
There’s also an interview with the author on this topic. It’s just under 9 minutes.
Connect then Lead:
Interesting article. If you already do this, this validates your approach. If you'd like to try this, hold off. Save the article and revisit once you've settled in. This is a tricky skill set to develop. Do it when you've got more than enough time to focus and follow up.
One thing you can do. Posture. Day 1. Easy. Big impact.
There's also a 45 minute webinar if you’d like to do a deep dive into the topic.
Amy Cuddy Videos
I’d suggest you watch the full TED talk instead of the 2 videos. It’s awesome.
There was a bit of a dust-up about the validity of this research a few years ago. But as of 2018, the power pose research has been vindicated. The hormone stuff - less conclusive.
Transitions are a time of “acute vulnerability”. Power posing is a perfect life hack for this period. Small effort for a big, big impact. I love this kind of thing.
Course Videos:
Video 3.0: Build your support system. Family & friends for support. A mentor or 3 for advice.
Video 3.1: Schedule 30 minutes/day to work on your transition, to prepare. 30 too much? Try 15.
Visualize: I'd think of this as planning instead. But the instructor brings up a great point. Get ready for those first few days.
Who will you be meeting? These meetings can be a bit awkward, so have a little small talk ready.
What do you want to be learning - write down questions for meetings. Your brain has a lot of new information coming her way....... it's easy to forget things you'd normally remember with ease.
What do you want to be doing? Create your to-do list.
You may not need all this, but it’s there in case you do.
Discussion & Other Resources:
Discussion prompts were almost a checklist this week. Worth a look:
What stage is your company at? STARS model.
Build your support system: Support + Advisors/Mentors
Power Posing: give it a go?
Other Resources: Nothing for me on the Tip Sheet. And of course waiting til the end of the course to work on the Personal Onboarding Plan (POP).
Conclusion
While this course isn’t what I was hoping for, as I’m going through my notes, it’s clear there are some good ideas here. Some valuable insights that make it worth the effort.
Now….. if you’ll excuse me….. I’m gonna go do a little power posing. Big meeting coming up!
That’s it for Week 2 - Part 1. Next up - Week 2 - Part 2.
See ya next Friday