Habits 4-6 {it's all connected, post #2}

For Pete's sake, it's habits 4 through 6 now, in a dog training blog.


Habit #4 - Think Win/Win  (Work to find that 3rd solution that really is a win for everyone, instead of everyone, or one person, just compromising.  With this attitude, no one has to compromise, and everyone can really buy into the solution, since it's actually better than what either "side" brought to the table.)

Habit #5 - Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood  (I think/hope this one is self-explanatory.  You can communicate more effectively when you really get where the other is coming from, not just the words, but the intentions, passions, and motivation behind their words and actions.)

Habit #6 - Synergize  (This is working in a way that ensures the results are the very best efforts the team has to offer, truly valuing and leveraging everyone's strengths and diverse ideas and perspectives.  To synergize, you must set up an environment where everyone is bringing everything they've got to the table, leaving no talents unutilized.)

After the first three habits focusing on ourselves, these are the three of the seven habits that teach us how to interact with others in a way that makes our collaboration more than the sum of its parts, better than what we each could achieve with only our own efforts/ideas/talents.

And here's an interesting look at a "problem" dog behavior - a dog learning to open doors and gates - from another blog:

 "This is the very kind of creative ingenuity that enabled dogs to survive and thrive around hazardous human activities for the hundreds of years before we began to contain and control them. This is the dog’s default program. Why would we want to snuff it out and exchange it for the dutiful compliance of a measly few orders—what we call “commands”—we actually take the time to teach a dog? Who would want to trade an animal with such incredible potential for one who won’t or can’t do anything unless and until he his told or allowed? "

[Here's the link if you'd like to read the whole thing:  http://conceptualdog.blogspot.com/]

The title of the blog's entry is:

"Trading Possibility for Control."

Wow.  That to me hammers it home.  This is what we do so often in the workplace.  Just insert "employee" for "dog" in the excerpt above.  We require compliance, but unwittingly buy it at the cost of creativity and enthusiasm.  We forget habits 4-6, because they require us to honor the other person's (dog's) perspective, and communicate with them in a meaningful way.  And that's hard a lot of the time.  We make mistakes, and it's not pretty, it's not smooth.  We need to make an investment in the other person (dog); to lay the groundwork of a strong relationship that can sustain minor miscommunications and keep on rolling.  We need to truly accept and honor the other's perspective.  So I think sometimes we learn to AVOID any kind of real collaboration.  We inadvertently squash creativity and passion, because we either don't know how to channel it, or don't want to do the "extra" work it takes to turn it into a finished, collaborative product.  I think we've all seen workplaces, and dog training classes/events, that have employees/dogs who are acting like mindless automatons, who if they take initiative to do anything on their own it's mostly centered around keeping a low profile so as not to draw fire. 

I agree that every team needs a strong leader, who takes responsibility for developing and leveraging the members' talents, charts the team's course, and makes final decisions.  But the fact is, if you truly commit to the kinds of actions and attitudes described by Covey in habits 4-6, you GET compliance.  Willingly.  To an often-better plan everyone genuinely buys into.  Enthusiastically.  Person or dog.

I say, trade your control for Possibility! 

Habit #1 {it's all connected, post #1}

Lately I've been noticing common themes that keep coming up in my life.  These ideas keep arriving on my doorstep, refusing to be ignored.  They will try to work their way into my life any way they can, through work, hobbies, books, friends, whatever's handy.

The fact that the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People relates directly to my choice of dog training methods is freaking me out a little.  At the same time, it's reassuring that right is right.

Theme #1:    Don't spend any time on things you have no control over.  That leaves a surprising amount of surplus time and energy to spend on things you can influence.  Spend more time on THAT.

******************

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."  - the "Serenity Prayer"

******************

“’Look how he abused me and beat me, how he threw me down and robbed me.’ Abandon such thoughts and live in love.” – Dhammapada: Choices


“Look to your own faults, what you have done or left undone. Overlook the faults of others.” -Dhammapada: Flowers

******************

The Circle of Concern includes everything you care about.
The Circle of Influence includes only those things that you can influence / control.

"Proactive people focus their efforts in the Circle of Influence, working on things they can do something about. The nature of their energy is positive, enlarging and magnifying, causing their Circle of Influence to increase.


Reactive people focus their efforts in the Circle of Concern. They focus on the weakness of other people, problems in the environment, and circumstances over which they have no control. The negative energy generated by that focus, combined with neglect in areas the could do something about, causes their Circle of Influence to shrink."  -  Stephen Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

******************

 

In dog training, I start with myself, and how my behavior influences the dog's.  I can completely control my own actions, so spending time on that is very worthwhile.

 

******************

 

Of all of those ideas that seem to be collecting around me in pools, this one is everywhere. I would not be surprised to see it on a billboard today on my way home from work. Which would be appropriate, since this is one place I could work on this idea - while driving. What a waste to feel even brief anger at a discourteous driver. To spend one fraction of an emotion on someone I will never meet, to accomplish nothing at all. And "spending" it is. I really think that expending mental and emotional energy on another driver actually depletes my resources.  Certainly, all the nerdy brain science books I've been reading would support that - it takes energy and a mix of all kinds of brain chemicals to produce and process all that frustration.  Resources I could spend being kind, or empathizing, or being appreciative, or something productive.

So I'm going to try to let things go - anything at all that I have no control over.  I've never really been so awful at this I think, not usually stewing over things, but better is better.  So far I like it, just the absence of even those brief moments of seething frustration.  I had always thought of some of this activity as "venting" in some kind of productive way, but just letting it go feels much better.  Venting is tiring.  I actually think it will be energizing, saving up all that consternation to be applied to something else. Or so the world is shouting.

Two in the bush

You know, I don't really think that a bird in the hand IS worth two in the bush. 



Better to have a hand open to endless possibilities, and a world filled with birdsong.


Better to be on a journey toward a hopeful destination than clinging to what one has, grasping to keep it, regardless of what else the world might hold for you if you could let go.

A shy pileated woodpecker in our woods, which in my opinion is worth more than, oh, a sparrow in the hand. 
Even if there's not TWO of them.

If I had the choice to win $1000 in the lottery, but would have to forgo any future chance of winning the big jackpot, I wouldn't want it.  I play rarely, but what I'm buying into is the idea that something of legendary proportions could happen. 

I buy into that idea in life. 

There are great things out there, better than what's in your hand right now.  I don't mean to say I'm constantly longing for something I don't have, but that you can be both happy with what you have and where you are, and also open to all of the other, wondrous possibilities the world has to offer.

The fruits of our labor.

Lots of fun, lots of Q's (meaning we "qualified" for a leg toward a title, by meeting the standard requirements of the course, quickly, and with minimal errors).

Seelie: 2 Q's in her 2 runs (her first ever), in FullHouse and Standard.  One 1st and one 2nd place.

Brutus: 3 Q's in JackPot, Jumpers, and WildCard.  (With a special mention from the judge for how much fun they were having.)

Rowdy: 5 Q's in his 8 runs, in FullHouse, Standard, Jumpers, Jackpot, and Wildcard.  Three new titles: CL1-S (Standard Level One), CL1-H (Handler Games Level One), CL1-F (Fun Games Level One.)

All in all a great weekend!

Two days and a wake-up till...

This weekend we're entered in our second-ever agility trial.  Paul with Brutus, and me with both Rowdy and Seelie.  As usual before any kind of competition, I'm totally nervous, and the evenings of lying awake visualizing runs and obsessing over our training gaps began in earnest last night.

A new twist:  I've entered a dog with minimal training that I've had for just over three months.  Predictably, this has raised the ante of my nervousness. 

Seelie can safely execute all of the obstacles and stays focused and with me while running even if I don't have any treats.  She has run full competition-level courses in practice, with mixed results and frequent re-tries of obstacles.  I will admit she does NOT really have enough training to enter a trial, and I'm sure some dyed-in-the-wool aficionados of the sport would find it offensive that I'd enter such a novice dog (maybe I will give them the raspberries).  I doubt she will qualify, particularly if there is a competition-height tire jump involved.  But I'd plan to bring her along anyway, and heck, why not?  Saturday we're entered in Fullhouse, so we can pick our own course (each obstacle worth a given amount of points).  We have a pretty good chance of doing OK, pending she doesn't have some kind of freaky-beans moment.  But Sunday, we're entered in Standard and we'll need to run whatever course the judge designed, so we'll just see about that.  Hopefully I won't chicken out at the last moment.  If nothing else, it will help me identify any trial environment things that might freak her out, so that we can work on them.

Rowdy has been just great in practice, and I'll admit that I'll be disappointed if we don't do well.  We've been flowing through courses like a mountain stream, rushing with power but also serene along its purposeful path, flowing around obstacles like we've been doing it for millions of years.  Well that's what it feels like till the end... THEN it feels like I need an oxygen tank.  Rowdy is very, very fast particularly when he's running seamlessly from obstacle to obstacle. 

A trial environment is different than class, so I'm trying to adjust my expectations back to the "let's just have fun with it" setting.  It's difficult, now that I've gotten a taste of the awesome runs we've been having for the past several weeks in class.  But we have eight runs (2 Standard, and 6 games), so I'm hoping to at least have a few runs that are of the quality we've been doing in practice.

Here's hoping we don't have any of THIS this year.... Rowdy visiting the ring crew during one of our runs last year (so disappointed she is shunning him!  Please lady, don't you have something in your pocket for a poor cattle dog?)...

Paul and Brutus move to Level 2 in Standard this year after two solid runs in last year's trial.  I've been their "weave pole coach," since those are added in level 2. They're doing great, and I love to see them run - both truly enjoying the moment, with such wonderful teamwork.

OK, this is Brutus Lure Coursing... don't have an agility pic handy.  :)

"Every day, a little up."

At work as a Quality Manager, I use Lean continuous improvement methodologies. I love this aspect of my job, as Lean methods fit right into my own natural way of thinking. In the US, Lean is often defined as the “elimination of waste,” but this definition focuses only on the results and not the methods, where the true genius lies. To convey Lean thinking, I like a story I read in the Toyota Way Fieldbook that goes something like this. An American executive goes to a Toyota site in Japan to learn about Lean. After walking around the facility and talking for a while, struggling somewhat to convey Lean to the American in English, his Japanese counterpart walks up to a dry erase board and draws a simple set of stairs. He indicates just one of the steps and says “every day, a little up.”

This is Lean. We honestly assess ourselves and embrace our imperfections, so that we might all work together to improve them, by digging down to find the true root of the issue and focusing on changing the things we can control. When we want to improve an area, we look for a small bite-size piece that we can easily change for the better - even if each small change only improves the area a little bit, the sum of these small changes for the better over time makes for amazing results. We form cooperative teams of employees at all levels, from in and outside of the work area in question. And instead of focusing on a giant, looming goal, we feel a sense of accomplishment when we make the change that we had planned, and it indeed improves things. In the end, we’ve scaled the huge staircase, but along the way each step was carefully done and its own achievement.

Another bit from the Toyota Way Fieldbook is a critique that American managers tend to "Ready, Fire, Aim" in problem-solving - basically shooting from the hip.  In Lean, it's more like "Ready, Aim, Aim, Aim, Fire."  More time and effort are spent before an action is taken, to ensure that this action will "hit the target."  The actions themselves may be dreadfully simple, but if they are sure to make a positive improvement in your desired result, then they are better than a thousand expensive, expansive actions that miss the mark.  But next to a flurry of firing and re-firing without thinking, all of that thoughtfulness can seem lackadaisical.  It's important to remind ourselves that the process that generates these dramatic and amazing positive changes over time can look peaceful, quiet, and reflective at each step.

I am not into stalking employees taking notes on my clipboard about their mistakes, though this is what people typically think of when they hear my job title. I spend little time as a Quality Manager focusing on our error rate, and analyzing our mistakes. I find that if we spend our time ensuring people are doing the right things every day, small things that are under our control, then quality automatically follows.

*****

Sometimes, I think I seem like I am not very serious about my dog training, and do not care about the results, that I am a dabbler without high aspirations. This is true, and it isn’t. It’s true I spend very little time thinking about titles and accomplishments, and that I favor versatility over perfection in one sport.

But my dogs often attain just as much, if not more, success as others – certainly not reaching elite levels, but they compete quite respectably alongside others who seem to be far more serious about the individual sport.  For the amount of time I put into training on a given canine sport or activity, I have a pretty high return on investment. I’ve been thinking all along that Rowdy is just an exceptional dog, bright and willing and versatile. Which is true, but as I embark on teaching Brutus to do basic weave poles in the one month remaining before the CPE trial (so that he and Paul can move up to Level 2), without even a doubt as to our eventual success, I have to admit this is not all that’s going on. In the two months I have had Seelie, she has grown tremendously, and in our agility class yesterday it became obvious that she will quickly surpass other dogs’ skills who have been working with their owners for years. My dogs’ most fluent skills of course reflect the things I hold most important – to willingly give their all toward any request I might make of them no matter how odd, to be able to easily understand what I want of them, and to be the kind of companion I enjoy most. I am far from a perfect trainer, but I have to admit that I think I’m on to something.

I spend a great deal of time learning about training methods, and I choose my methods carefully.  By the time my dogs and I are actually working on something, the serious part has already been done. When I train, it is lighthearted and fun for my dogs, but rather than indicating a lack of seriousness, it is an integral part of the methods I’ve chosen. The methods are solid, and I work hard to implement them correctly. My goal is to spend all of my energy on the journey – enjoying it, being in the moment, and also ensuring the quality of that journey. In each training session, I focus on improving just one or two small things as a team. It must seem like I have low expectations at times, since all I ask is that my dog and I complete the exercise of the day. I am almost always satisfied with whatever performance my dogs give me, because I know that the methods I’ve chosen will bring forth from them the very best performance they were able to give that day, according to the job I did as a trainer that day. Over time, this choice to focus on small, achievable training goals in each session has paid off. I choose to work first and most on the underlying foundations of our relationship and communication - this results in exactly zero impressive tricks or titles, but I find it to be serious and important work though an onlooker might think we’re just playing. I spend a good deal of time quietly assessing and re-assessing my training plans – but rather than having huge game plans and lofty goals, I really just want to build quality into the next session. And then the next. Every day, a little up.

Weasel Joy

For watching when you need a smile...

My ferrets have to remind me sometimes that there is joy around every corner.