Do you ignore or dismiss signals that you are going to professionally blue screen? Consider these signals are opportunities for you to move one millimeter beyond where you are today. Get to where you really need to go, tomorrow.
Now, a computer blue screen is nothing to look forward to. I dealt with this issue, on and off, ever since I got a new computer in 2018. While the system self-corrected, eventually the self-fixes were no longer effective. Then, the Blue Screen of Death showed up more frequently during 2021.
Over time, I became tolerant of this scenario. In fact, I incorporated it as a “normal” part of my professional life. That is, until I realized this scenario was not anywhere close to professionally acceptable. How can I rely on this undependable, inconsistent computer to power my speaking and coaching business?
What about you? Is the operating system of your corporate culture and work environment compromising your professional aspirational values, principles, and skills?
A continuous diet of tactical self-fixes and work-arounds creates an even bigger problem when you finally professionally blue screen.
For the record, a Blue Screen of Death is a type of computer stop or exception error. A solid blue error screen is displayed on Windows computers following a fatal system error: a crash. Ugh! This is one screen no Windows user ever wants to see. Why? Because the screen is telling you that, for sure, your operating system no longer functions safely.
What happens when your own professional operating system crashes, gradually or suddenly? Not only do you find yourself out-of-sync with your environment. But also, your values, principles, and skills just may be incompatible with those required to get to where you really need to go.
The root cause is subtle yet its impact is profound. Yet, when played out over time, the way you originally learn to solve problems is out of sync with the problems you face today. And while you become comfortable relying on your favorite solutions, these are insufficient to apply to what is new and next for your professional future.
Actually, my computer’s epic, final blue screen event was perfectly timed! I saw the event as the universe presenting me with an opportunity.
You see, I am a continuous learner and relentlessly curious. Are you? I like to learn new stuff and let it percolate inside my brain and experience its impact on how I process information and solve problems.
Like you, I chose to upskill and reskill during the pandemic. However, I chose coursework and books and thought-leaders who were cross-functional and not necessarily inside my professional wheelhouse.
My choices catalyzed me to think differently about models, mindset, and applications for my speaking and coaching services. Thus, consciously and unconsciously, my professional operating system upgraded. It populated with new tools, techniques, and mindset recombined with what already was there. And a very different professional me emerged. That “different me” provided a fresh perspective and another opportunity. Asking the right questions the right way allowed me to identify new professional resources. For starters, I gained a new collaborative partner capable of doing so much more for my business than fixing computers.
Are you experiencing the same, as you move into the post-pandemic workplace? Do you ask the right questions the right way for your professional blue screen issues?
What coursework and books and thought-leaders changed how you perceive your professional role in solving problems? These feelings are your professional opportunities to get to where you really need to go, tomorrow and future forward.
Why wait until you professionally blue screen to acknowledge you are a different professional today than you were yesterday? Because, in truth, we all are. It’s time to move forward, together. One millimeter at a time. Take these next steps.
Searching for a coaching catalyst to get you unstuck professionally? Looking for a meeting or event speaker focused on what is new and next? Then engage me to present a One Millimeter Mindset ™ program! Delivered virtually or in-person.
Change Agent | Collaboration Catalyst | Complex Problem Solver | Professional Innovation | Cross Functional Leadership | Speaker, Consultant, Coach, Author |
Babette Ten Haken’s One Millimeter Mindset™ programs catalyze people who solve problems differently to collaborate more successfully. Become more professionally visible, cross-functionally relevant, and strategically valuable as you create and implement innovative and robust business outcomes together. Babette is a business-oriented STEM professional, qualitative Voice of the Customer facilitator, PMI-certified Wicked Problem Solver, and Six Sigma Green Belt (Quality). She is a member of the ASQ, SHRM, PMI, the National Speakers Association. Her playbook of cross-functional collaboration, Do YOU Mean Business? is available on Amazon.com. Contact Babette here. Image source: Adobe Stock.
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