day 885: Advice

"Timely advice is as lovely as golden apples in a silver basket."

Have you ever received a piece of advice or feedback that you said after, "I sure wish you would have told me this earlier and I could have done something about it!" We likely all have had this happen to us at one time or another. This is one of my beefs with an annual performance appraisal/feedback process. Because bosses know that they have a time in the year later to give the feedback they store it all up and hold it until that one moment and by then some of it is so old that it isn't actionable or relevant. Feedback and advice is not like wine. It does not get better with time. Feedback and advice is best when delivered as close to the event or circumstance as possible. It's a little like training a dog. It doesn't do any good to scold or reward a dog for something that happened earlier. To be most effective it has to be on the spot. I'm not saying we are like dogs, but maybe we are when it comes to feedback and advice. Look, if it was easy to give advice on the spot then we all would do it. We worry about whether or not we are going to say the right thing, or that we will be providing the right advice, or that we will hurt someone's feelings, etc. There is lots to consider, yes, but we should remember that timely advice can outweigh all the rest of the concerns.

Solomon gives us a promise in Proverbs 25:11 about being timely; "Timely advice is as lovely as golden apples in a silver basket." Let's consider today if we are sitting on some advice and feedback that we need to give but have been hesitant to do so. Let's also be bold enough to go and seek the advice/counsel/feedback that we know is out for us but will not come to us unless we ask now. Let's let timeliness rule for a bit and see what comes of being able to take in and give out what can be most actionable.

Reference: Proverbs 25:11 (New Living Testament)

day 582: Timely Advice

Have you ever received a piece of advice or feedback that you said after, "I sure wish you would have told me this earlier and I could have done something about it!" We likely all have had this happen to us at one time or another. This is one of my beefs with an annual performance appraisal/feedback process. Because bosses know that they have a time in the year later to give the feedback they store it all up and hold it until that one moment and by then some of it is so old that it isn't actionable or relevant. Feedback and advice is not like wine. It does not get better with time. Feedback and advice is best when delivered as close to the event or circumstance as possible. It's a little like training a dog. It doesn't do any good to scold or reward a dog for something that happened earlier. To be most effective it has to be on the spot. I'm not saying we are like dogs, but maybe we are when it comes to feedback and advice. Look, if it was easy to give advice on the spot then we all would do it. We worry about whether or not we are going to say the right thing, or that we will be providing the right advice, or that we will hurt someone's feelings, etc. There is lots to consider, yes, but we should remember that timely advice can outweigh all the rest of the concerns. Solomon gives us a promise in Proverbs 25:11 about being timely; "Timely advice is as lovely as golden apples in a silver basket." Let's consider today if we are sitting on some advice and feedback that we need to give but have been hesitant to do so. Let's also be bold enough to go and seek the advice/counsel/feedback that we know is out for us but will not come to us unless we ask now. Let's let timeliness rule for a bit and see what comes of being able to take in and give out what can be most actionable.

Reference: Proverbs 25:11 (New Living Testament)

day 157: Fill It Up

I have been in meetings the last couple of days where I was struck by either someones intense intellectual curiosity and insatiable appetite to learn and try new things or another person's complete opposite reluctance and unwillingness to learn. In one meeting I could hear both sides. The learner is asking, "Why do we do it that way?". The other person will say in the same conversation, "We have tried it that way before and why would we want to do it any differently?" It's fascinating to watch and listen. It makes me wonder why we slow down our learning and in some cases just allow our minds to calcify. As I write this I am with a group of people who are on the front line of changing the way we educate and retrain people using technology. They are all learners and open to new and different ways of getting things done. Even among themselves there aren't many of the people who resist the new. When you are with these kinds or people the feeling of the room is full of positive energy and optimism. It is almost palpable and certainly evident on the faces and the body language of each person in the room. it began to make me wonder why some people want to take in the new, have others reveal to them what they don't know, and then there are others who put up one barrier after another to other feedback or advice. The Bible tells us that we are to be open to the words and advice of others. As such, I believe that we are to be open minded to new ideas and ways we do our work. To close down and not accept advice and instruction is to be foolish. We see this in Proverbs 19:20;"Get all the advice and instruction you can, and be wise the rest of your life." So today when you are hearing from others that there is a "better way" and your first reaction is to shut them down and not listen then try listening and looking at what the others are saying in a different way; optimistically, with an open-mind, and with a positive reception. What you are likely to find is that not only will you feel more positive but that others will react to you by delivering back their own positive vibes. If we are open to this advice and instruction we can be filled up with all kinds of found wisdom. Yes, fill it up, please.

Proverbs 19:20, (New Living Testament)