The 60 Second Investment

“Growth requires you to look in the mirror until you see something that makes you uncomfortable. You can either change or purposefully choose to stay the same”.

If your organization is anything like mine, your role involves participating in a fair number of meetings and other interactions which evoke a range of emotions from excitement to ambivalence to dread. We have all heard and the phase “you can learn something from any experience”, and while I agree, we can all think of examples of meetings we attend or other interactions that challenge this conventional wisdom.

Learning exists on a continuum, and while many think of learning as the pinnacle of the internal process that precedes a given behavior, my conception places growth at the end of the continuum.

Here is my take on it:

Hearing (sensory) ►Listening (attentiveness) ►Learning (processing) ►Growing (changing)

Here are three things that differentiate growth from learning:

• Growth requires your willingness to use what you learn as a catalyst for changing yourself.
• Growth typically requires other people to challenge and sometimes frustrate you.
• Growth requires you to look in the mirror until you see something that makes you uncomfortable. You can either change or purposefully choose to stay the same.

So how do you operationalize this to make growth a part of your professional routine?

While you cannot always control the content of a meeting and therefore what you learn, by taking 60 seconds and using a few key questions before and after your meetings, you can press your boundaries and create a routine of professional & personal growth.

Prepare (30 Seconds) – This does not need to be directly prior to the meeting, just sometime prior. Here are some general questions to ask yourself to get started:

• How is the attitude I take into this meeting moving the group forward?
• What is/are the one or two topics I would prefer we somehow did not cover or avoid altogether?
  • Am I as prepared as I should be for this meeting?
  • Are there any issues that would be better to settle prior to the meeting?
• Is there anyone expected to attend that I secretly hope is absent?
  • Is there latent conflict between me and a colleague that is unaddressed?
  • If someone is being unreasonable or annoying, what is my strategy to focus on what is productive and not personal?

Monitor (during the meeting) – In response to the topic and/or who is speaking, pay attention to changes in your:

• Observable non-verbals (body language)
• Breathing, heart rate or other physical signs
• Patience in listening to others, tone of voice or tendency to cut off/talk over others

Reflect (30 Seconds) – This is best if it takes place directly after the meeting.  Here are a couple of questions to get you started:

• What did I hear during the meeting that challenged me and what does that say about me in relation to something I may need to change?
• Are there certain people or topics, to which I have a potentially negative reaction?
• If there was any tension in the room, what is my part in resolving it?
  • Is there someone I need to seek out, in humility, to have a follow up conversation?

These questions may seem to be focused heavily on the interpersonal dynamics, but I find that interpersonal challenges lead to the greatest intrapersonal growth.

If there is tension between you and a colleague, is addressing it always the most productive thing?  Besides the above, what questions (or modifications of questions) did you come up with?  Please share or let me know what you think in the comments below.

Connect with me on Twitter @thyrone or if you are in the Columbus, OH area @careercolumbus.  For more about me you can find me at thyrone.com.