Rising to the Thrill

Wanted: thrill seekers in the world of work

Last weekend, my children jumped out of an airplane to celebrate one of their birthdays.  Several years ago, two of them went up in a plane and jumped.  This year, they took their younger brother.  All three of my children jumped. The conservative finance major jumped.  Be still my heart.

The last birthday thrill jump was off a bridge in Oregon, with bungee cords tied to their bodies.

These faces look happy right?  They look like they are so glad they paid over $400 to jump off a bridge and plummet to the rocks and river below?  So glad that they would pay more to jump out of a 1959 Cessna aircraft for a parachute experience?  Yes, and yes they did.  Thrill seekers that they are.

Needless to say, I did not go watch this event.  I went the first time and it was all I could take as a mother.  To assuage my concern, I started thinking about thrill seekers and the applicability to work environments.  How would this scenario play out at work?

My environment is a combination of e-commerce, payments and government solutions.  Not the brave new world of Mars or the thrill seeking world of Indiana Jones. Quite the contrary, most of our world is secure, locked down, predictable, controlled.  My environment is full of people who rely on consistency and try to resolve inconsistency.  Problems with the website, problems with the payment, problems with up-time?  Radical change in the website?  New products on the fly?  None of these are good things for our people and they work hard to keep the outside from creeping on the inside.  Consistent, routine flowing processes are what we strive for.  Most of the time.

Challenging though it may be, even the staid, route, IT guy needs a thrill once in a while.  Even our banking and eCommerce, "let nothing happen today" people need a thrill once in a while.  But what does the "thrill" look like for them?  And how is it helpful to the employee and the organization?

This question is something I have pondered for a few weeks.  Ever since I heard that my children were jumping again, I wanted to mitigate my fear.  And they wanted to show off theirs.  In talking to them later, half of the learning was the bright new experience.  The finance major said never again, but check, I have done it.  He also said that he had to be twice as brave as thrill seeking is outside his wheelhouse.

WheelHouse

My point is, when looking at our workforce through this lens, you can see the "thrill seekers" and those who don't normally, but then do.  What does that mean for your organization?

It means you can develop a way to recognize those who make a bold move, but who won't do it again because it wasn't right or who wouldn't normally step out of their comfort zone. Sometimes it is about a supervisor that manages too tightly.  Sometimes it is just a shy person.   BUT, sometimes they make a bold move!  Check out the shy tech guy link to see what this can look like.  We should recognize and reward them.

It also means that we should keep an eye on our thrill seekers, and help them direct that energy in positive ways for the organization.  Could your finance person take a bold move and introduce a new way to show value?  Could your Service Desk Manager introduce a wild idea to integrate all managers into the data base?  Would that be a thrill?  Or a NightMare?

It is hard to allow the thrill seekers to go out on the edge in a work environment.  The dreamers are often confused with thrill seekers.  They are not the same by a long shot.  Even harder, keeping the thrill seeker from thinking this will be everyday. Thrills are not usual by definition.   Managers are responsible for balancing this in themselves and in their subordinates.  Leaders of the organization must learn to inspire thrill seeking in those who might, and to inspire confident idea presentation in those who will. There is a balance and truly healthy growing organizations need that balance.  Challenging the status quo from the inside is far better than challenge from the competition or worse the Board!

I assure you that my children will be doing something other than white water rafting, bungee jumping or skydiving for the next trip.  They are already talking about flyboarding.  I guess thrill seekers will never stop.  Just for the record: my oldest is in IT, middle in PhD pursuit and youngest in Finance.  Their father in law enforcement.  We have no idea where they got this!

Rising to the Occasion of the World Equestrian Games Interview

The morning begins with us traipsing past the Abbay aux Homme with full knowledge of where we are headed.  Or so we thought.  As usual with adult children and parents, there is the struggle to yield when appropriate.  So we are off to the bus stop that we cannot find, and continue to walk to the World Equestrian Games interview that starts at ten a.m.  We are up and out the door at eight a.m. mercifully with plenty of arrival time.  When we cannot find the stop, we walk.  uP Hills and DOwn hills.  We continue to a divide in the yellow wood so to speak.  Daughter says go right, Mother says go straight.  At the top of the hill now 2.9 miles from start, we are staring at an emergency room.  I can't say for sure that Morgan wanted to put me there, but I can tell you there were ample I told you so's for the error!

Just as we were bickering, the interviewer calls and says, " I see you are not here and shall we conduct the interview via tele?"  Heck no, I say and get directions.  And a short jaunt later ( and much complaining about pastries not had), we are there.  The lovely young British man greets us and takes me in for the interview.  Proper interview, I might add.  Lots of questions on horse knowledge, but interestingly enough, about work or as he says, profession.  After several questions about spreadsheets, excel and word, I get the impression that he is looking for something.  Finally, he confesses: yes he will put me where I want to be, but position not guaranteed.  But in exchange, I must agree to be the English speaking welcomer for judges and jockeys on any day requested.  i  committed for six days in August.  My boss approved last year, and I have told all my colleagues, so I should be good to go.  "Your English skills are needed for the judges as the second most common language will be English and the others may not have such a command."  There are many nuns and lay persons I need to thank for those English skills!

The gentleman who was also an interviewer/screener for the 2012 Olympics, showed us the way to the bus.  He also recruited Morgan for a position.  She is interested in para Olympics and Vaulting.  We soon will purchase the billets (tickets) for the games and be on our way.

Many hours later and two restaurants later, Morgan has sort of forgiven me for the wrong direction and for not getting her food in a timely manner.

 We are off to tour the Chateau and the fort and he musee of modern art which turns out to be 1545 year, modern to whom?

Then I must tell you, we spent an exciting night in the laundry machine magazine... washing clothes which we hung to dry in our tiny little flat of 90 sq feet.  Morgan made us a salad and cheese and potatoes and it may not sound like a three star but it sure tasted like it. Did I mention her chien?  

 au revoir!

and eventing is really fun Mom!