How Much Water Do We Have?
Employees, bosses, the self-employed, owners, partners, executives, managers, supervisors, volunteers, club members, travelers, hobbyists, coaches, players, outdoor enthusiasts, indoor enthusiasts, mothers, fathers, kin and anyone else that has ever uttered, or even thought of, the words “What have I gotten myself into?”, this is for you.
Some questions in life are asked to get more information, other times questions are asked to prompt more questions. This one is more of a rhetorical question that signifies frustration more than it does a desire for a specific answer. A more accurate question to ask when this level of frustration is felt is “What made me feel this way?”. To make sure we’re all on the same page, so to speak, the purpose of this particular question is to prompt more questions.
To add more clarification and to get slightly closer to my point, there is always some thing or things missing that have lead us to this point of overwhelm. It could have been a situation where we were so excited about an idea we were presented with that we didn’t spend enough time planning for it. Anyone who has ever read a book or article like this one knows the familiar cliche of what happens if we fail to plan.
Other times, we create a wonderful fail-proof plan based on the information that we have. So what happens if our wonderful plan is based on only some of the information we need? Maybe the information existed somewhere, but we were either not supplied with the information, we didn’t ask enough questions or didn’t ask the right questions. I’m certainly not trying to sell you on the idea that it’s possible to think of every alternative that could happen given a specific situation. I am, instead, a believer that a lack of information is the primary contributor to the overwhelming feeling when we wonder what we have gotten ourselves into.
What happens, then when we have an amazing plan based on plenty of information, but lack true motivation? People do things for their own reasons, not for somebody else. At the core of motivation is the question, “What’s in this for me?” For many who volunteer their time to help others, the satisfaction of knowing they are making a difference is enough motivation for them to drive through any adversity that will potentially deter them to give of their time. Some take on a new role or position because they are motivated by a pay increase. Motivation is unique to each person and is driven by personality, culture, social reasons, personal history, future goals and many other factors.
Allow me to invite you to reflect on a time when carrying out a well thought out plan with all the information you needed and all the right motivators were in place, but at some point you thought to yourself, “Am I the only one who wants this?”. Now think of the amount of (or lack of) support that you received. When more than one individual is included in and affected by the very same initiative, lack of support can cause that initiative to fail.
There is another quality that is needed for success and clarity in a new situation. Behind every great initiative, be it in the business world, volunteer work or personal situations, is great leadership. I’m not only talking about the executives, managers, supervisors and positional leaders. I’m talking about the individuals who offer anything worth repeating. Even among a group of friends, the leader of the group changes regularly. Sometimes, it’s the one who came up with the great idea for a dinner spot, or the one who provided comfort to another. When combining leadership with some or all the other factors, amazing things can be accomplished, even those that seem impossible. For example, a great leader can identify motivating factors in each person and will encourage that individual to satisfy their personal or professional motivators. Some refer to this as “motivating others” when it’s impossible to motivate another human being. The greatest leaders truly assist others to reach their own state of motivation.
If they can do this by involving others in the plan, providing accurate and pertinent information and continually providing support, all individuals who are part of the event, or initiative will carry out that initiative with so much momentum, that it would be nearly impossible for it to fail.
Since you’ve made it this far in the book, I would assume you’re not thinking we are building rockets. These ideas are fairly basic. This book will bring these ideas together in a format of helping each of you better identify when one or all of these items are missing from your own new endeavors. You have likely also noticed by now that the book did not come with a magic wand, so you shouldn’t expect that by the end of the pages that you will be able to solve everything and never become overwhelmed again.
One single event in my life gave me the idea of gathering all the ideas into an organized place. The first version of “How Much Water Do We Have?” was a presentation that I designed and facilitated several times within the organization I work for. I first presented it to a small group of people to get their opinion. From their responses, I presented to another, larger group. The third time I gave the presentation was for a room of nearly sixty supervisors and managers. Since that specific presentation, I have heard several stories of people reaching out to others in email or over the phone and the conversation starts with “I need some water over here.” Or “I have some spare water if anybody needs it.”
I will explain each of the ideas in depth later in the book, but first I need to share a story of my own real-life experience that first gave birth to “How Much Water Do We Have?”.