A vision without a task is but a dream, a task without a vision is drudgery, a vision and a task is the hope of the world. – From a church in Sussex, England, ca. 1730
I’m a dreamer. I dream about running a faster 10k, biking to work everyday, and getting as much done in a day as Rahm Emanuel, the White House Chief of Staff who “…seems like he has a 72-hour day!” As a new Dad, I also dream about a full night’s sleep. But that’s another story.
Sadly, a dream and a vision are not enough…pair them with a task as those wise church inscribers suggest. The same can be said about feedback.
I get lots of feedback everyday. And I constantly dream about the myriad improvements I’m going to make so that one day, I too can take advantage of a post-financial-crisis drop in Gulfstream private jet waiting times. Inevitably, these dreams get lost in the shuffle, and despite my best intentions, those myriad improvements remain to be made.
Well, that all changed yesterday when I stumbled across the new Take Action feature in Rypple.
Sure, I’d heard about the feature in our daily standup meetings. But yesterday, I used it and discovered a subtle, yet powerful, shift in my approach to feedback.
Rather than passively listening to feedback, Take Action lets me act on it, and more importantly, publicly commit to doing something! The act of thinking about what action to take transforms intangible feedback into something real. The act of making it public adds that powerful element of peer pressure that’s the basis of Nike’s phenomenally successful Nike+ project (which we’ve talked about before, and which I’m happy to say has increased my running mileage). There’s also the bonus that people who gave me feedback now know what I’m going to do with it. They feel good. I get better. What’s not to like?
When you look at the lives of successful people – and success can be defined in a million ways – the common element is that they took action. President Obama didn’t just dream about the White House in 2006, he took a myriad actions that transformed the once unknown Senator into a history changing President.
Whether you want to change the world, or just change your work, taking real actions – and not just dreaming – is the key to success.
So, Take Action, I must. Report back, I will. (Translated: I’m committing to taking action and not just dreaming, and will report back to you on how well my new approach is working!)
Tags: customer outreach, daily standup, decision support, dream, dreamer, feature, Feedback, feedback is fundamental, george babu, improvement, peer review, personal review, professional development, quick polls, Rypple, success, take action, taking action, team review, vision
George Babu is responsible for Corporate Development and IP at Rypple. Prior to joining Rypple, George spent the last several years working on a variety of technology and intellectual property-related projects with both Research in Motion (RIM) and Bereskin & Parr, one of Canada's leading IP law firms. George holds B.A.Sc degree in Electrical Engineering and is currently completing his JD and MBA degrees, all at the University of Toronto. Given all that's on his plate, George doesn't sleep all that much!
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