Humble, Hungry & Having an opinion

Over the last six months ITRS has been working through its values, acknowledging those that have existed for years (such as family is important & wear the client’s shoes) but also those which are emerging, which are not yet demonstrated in everyone and every place but those which are behaviours we often exhibit and want to see more of and thus are values that we aspire to.

It’s been a great conversation and has made me think why I enjoy working here so much…. A lot of it is contained within those 3 aspirational values: Hungry, Humble and Have-an-Opinion.

Hungry: You have to want to move forward, to have some sort of desire and plan to be better tomorrow than you were yesterday, however you define ‘better’. Many years ago I was privileged to hear Barbara Harmer speak about her journey from hairdresser to the world’s first female Concorde pilot. What stuck with me from that talk all those years ago was her belief that having a 5 year plan was key to her achievements, especially given the unorthodox starting point. Barbara spoke about how mostly she hadn’t actually made the end point of her 5 year plan but for good reason: some other, more interesting opportunity came her way in this 5 years that reset her direction. However, she strongly believed having the plan was critical in her success and progression in a tough field, because it meant she was always moving forward, always striving for something and that momentum, action and drive was what actually enabled that next great opportunity to cross her path, to become the new thing to strive for.

I have been around long enough to know that what people hunger for is different. Some hunger for promotion, some hunger for the order and efficiency that a well-oiled process brings, some hunger to be a part of the top selling product, and that is OK. Actually it is better than OK, it makes for a well-balanced team, but a lack of any kind of hunger, of any drive, is something that leads not just to an unmotivated individual, but a demotivated team.

Humble: At the heart of everything we do is collaboration and teamwork, and that means first and foremost being humble enough to listen to others ideas and to realise that on every topic you may not be the smartest in the room. After 23 years, a lot of experiences, and not quite as many scars, every day proves to me that there is always something to learn and times to put aside your ego for what may be a better solution. I have seen many times a plan that is OK, backed by a team truly pulling together, do far better than the perfect ‘correct’ idea that some of the team either don’t understand or don’t buy into.

Have-an-Opinion: could at first glance look like it goes against humble, but I think not and let me explain why. Your invariably unique view and experience on any given situation is valuable, expressing it can give more depth or perspective to a problem making a good outcome for a (also invariably unique) team or client. In any workplace, but especially one that is intelligence and information led, you are employed for your knowledge, and in an environment that is rarely black and white, not sharing that opinion forged from said knowledge and experience (because you don’t want to create waves or you are worried you sound crazy) is seriously short changing your employer and your team out of a chunk of your value. Our clients don’t just buy our software, they buy our expertise, whether that is in a presentation or workshop or if it manifests itself as the priorities in our roadmap. We have all been told over the years in brainstorming sessions that there is no such thing as a bad or too crazy idea because each idea feeds into the thinking and ideas that follow and may take it in a different direction. In my experience the same is true of opinions; a well thought out opinion even if it seems a little out there, can help you gain a different perspective. Sometimes it changes the idea or plan, but actually many times it just expands it, resulting maybe in something as tangible as a plan or outcome with better coverage of client perspectives and possibilities, or maybe less tangibly but still valuable, awareness of risks or edge cases that may otherwise have blindsided you.

Have you ever gone into a meeting or sent an email that pretty much started with “what do you think”, the virtual blank page, and then been disappointed that no one seemed to care. Yep, me too and you know what, that very rarely happens if I start with a straw man, an opinion, something to debate from….. I find having an opinion leads to quicker, more creative debate and discussion.

So what is not an opinion (just in my opinion, of course):

• “I could have told you/them that would happen” is not having-an-opinion, it’s having-a-whinge. The opinion that counts is the one given before the horse has bolted, when the risks of being wrong remain but so does the opportunity to affect the outcome.
• The 20 minutes spent explaining your opinion which is actually the same as the previous guy’s…. (apparently you just felt you should say something for a bit). “What she said” will suffice at these moments.
• I hesitate to say the not well thought out opinion as actually, many of the most valuable opinions come from people’s gut feeling, which is the sum total of their experience and knowledge. However, the opinion you struggle to find in yourself on a topic you barely know may be less opinion and more flim-flam that the world can live without ;o). That doesn’t mean you can’t have an opinion, but sometimes you may need to listen or think some before you can form it. Don’t be frightened to say that you need a little time.

I love the fact that the combination of have-an-opinion and humble means I am employed not just for my knowledge and experience but also for my ability and willingness to utilise, and sometimes even trade, it for a greater outcome. The best of master craftsmen, in my eyes, has not only a bag full of tools but the wisdom as to when to use them.

Finally, for me, they always come in that order: hungry, humble, have-an-opinion because to me the right order to solve any problem is have an end in sight, listen and then speak.

Note: originally published on our ITRS company blog