atkinson advisor

Moving very fast. Constantly analyzing the best strategy to win. Knowing that one critical mistake can cause a crisis.

Sounds like a lot of CEOs we know. It’s also what happens on Sundays at NASCAR superspeedway races, like Daytona and Talladega. Believe it or not, this uniquely American sport can teach us a lot about cooperation and competition in business.

Put simply, winning a superspeedway race requires a driver to reach the finish line first. Getting to the front of the pack and having an opportunity to win requires competing drivers to form a partnership known as a “draft.” A draft is two or more cars that create a close, single file line, which maximizes their collective aerodynamics and speed.

Throughout the 200-mile race, drivers must make numerous decisions about drafting partners, when to abandon a slower partner in favor of a faster one, and track position. It is nearly impossible to win at a NASCAR superspeedway without cooperating with at least one opponent during the course of the race. The ultimate choice comes in the final laps when drivers in the lead pack must decide when to abandon their partnership and race the other leaders for the checkered flag.

David Ronfeldt, a senior social scientist with RAND, contends that the “draft line” theory has many implications for career advancement, diplomatic alliances, and the evolution of the Internet. Read more of his work

Most business communications are contracts. They involve a discussion about who is going to do what, by when, with whom, and for what explicit and implicit rewards.

How people relate during the process will determine the quality of those contracts and the impact they have on future relationships among the people involved. Transactional Analysis (TA) is one way to make sure the process works well.

Developed by Dr. Eric Berne in the 1950s, TA defines three ego states – Parent, Adult, and Child – that all adults possess. The Parent is the status figure. The Adult is rational, logical, and non-threatening. The Child is emotional and free. These ego states help simplify the complex communications between people.

In business, the ultimate situation involves Adult-to-Adult transactions or communications where rational, logical people are discussing an issue in a non-threatening way.

Without knowing it, however, people often cross-communicate from one state to another. For example, someone can communicate in the Parent state to co-workers: “You guys need to get that report done by Friday.” Authoritative terms like “need,” “have to,” and “always” sound like our parents talking and often inspire a response from the Child state. In our example, the co-workers think, “This sounds like my dad telling me to clean up my room. What I really need to do is avoid this guy as much as I can.” If neither party changes style, this discussion could quickly deteriorate into an all-out argument.

This is just one of many possible communication combinations in the TA model. Understanding and utilizing the appropriate style can help managers communicate better with others, influence key negotiations, increase sales, and improve employee relations.

For more about Transactional Analysis, go to http://www.businessballs.com/transactionalanalysis.htm

Next time you have trouble deciding whether to use that or which, try this mnemonic.

“Go to the third house on the left, which is green” means go to the third house on the left. The house just happens to be green.

“Go to the third house on the left that is green” means go to the third green house on the left.

Use which when information is non-essential, meaning you can delete it without changing the context of the sentence.

Use that when the information is essential to the meaning of the sentence.

Crises require quick, decisive action. Pre-authorizing certain decisions is one way to speed up your organization’s response regardless of the situation.

Pre-authorization means making as many decisions about crises as possible well in advance of the need to actually respond. These are important decisions made ahead of time so that those empowered to respond to the crisis are also empowered to decide and act.

Pre-authorized decisions are a good complement to the centralized crisis response team approach employed by many organizations. They set parameters the centralized team is comfortable with while giving those closest to the crisis the opportunity to act without having to seek approval for every decision.

For example, a district manager may be pre-authorized to hire temporary workers and offer meal vouchers during a natural disaster. A chief nursing officer may be pre-authorized to pay for laundry and hotel rooms for nurses having to work round-the-clock during a crisis.

Pre-authorized decisions start with a complete understanding of crises that could strike your organization, the impact those crises would have, and how you believe the organization should respond. Ideally, your leadership team would conduct a drill organized by a crisis or risk management specialist. Your leadership team would then critique the key decisions made during the crisis scenario and decide whether or not to pre-authorize those decisions to others in the organization.

Mindtools.com provides resources about more than 100 different business skills in nine areas, including time management, stress management, management complexity, and decision-making. Each of the tools is presented in everyday language with examples and key takeaways to remember. We especially liked the “reframing matrix” in the practical creativity section and the “cause and effect diagram” in the managing complexity section.

How to think like Leonardo da Vinci by Michael Gelb

Leonardo da Vinci is often acknowledged as the most brilliant person to have ever lived. Michael J. Gelb’s book dissects da Vinci’s life and achievements in seven categories that Gelb claims people can use to improve the qualities of their lives. 
 

	Curiosita	An insatiably curious approach to life
	Dimostrazione	Testing knowledge through experience and willingness to learn from mistakes
	Sensazione	Continual refinement of the senses
	Sfumato	Willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty
	Arte / Scienza	Balance of art and science, “whole-brain” thinking
	Corporalita	Cultivation of grace, ambidexterity, and fitness
	Connessione	Systems thinking

Gelb’s insights can be found in other personal development books and audio series. Unlike those other works, Gelb’s use of da Vinci provides great continuity from chapter to chapter and makes the overall work more memorable and interesting.

Each chapter contains exercises and insights for those interested in personal development.