The word ‘GRIT’  or ‘GRITS’ has been around for many years.  Perhaps I first heard of it as a food of Native American origin, most commonly served in the Southern United States.  Then ‘grit’ went Hollywood when in 1968 the book True Grit was made into an academy award winning movie starring John Wayne … a film that was re-made recently in 2010.  So we know that ‘grit’ is something we can eat and watch.  Yet is there more?  Evidently so because now GRIT is being researched, studied and acknowledged as a very meaningful personality trait that can really make a defining difference in business, differentiating the successful and achievers from those who are less so.  Actually it’s exciting.  Whereas IQ has often been considered a good measurement for how well one might do in a given field … or in life, GRIT seems to be giving that concept a run for its money.

I just viewed a TED video made by  Angela Lee Duckworth, a researcher, psychologist and educator.  Ms. Duckworth has identified six characteristics of GRIT.

• having true passion and perseverance to drive to the long term goal
• having the stamina to stay the course
•  sticking with your future, not for the day, week or month.  Rather for a very long time
•  working very hard to make the future happen
• viewing life … not as a sprint … rather a marathon
• is not IQ.  In fact it is seen as being inversely related to talent or capabilities.

I was fascinated because as businesses have struggled for the recent 3-4 years in attempts to survive a challenging economy, it is possible that the individuals who have been most responsible for that survival of the organization seem to posses the characteristics attributed to one having GRIT!  I can assure you it has nothing to do with eating.

Working with many, varied businesses in the capacity of ‘coach’ we have had the opportunity to witness leaders and employees as they navigate the rough waters of recent times.  And you know what?  The ones who have made the greatest contribution to survival are those who would be labeled as possessing the GRIT gene, a gene that is available to leader and employee alike.   In most every case each person possessed each of the six personality components above.  Whereas those considered the brightest in terms of IQ offer a clear value to an organization, when push comes to shove it’s not the IQ about the industry or the product that saved the day.  It’s about the survival of the ‘grittiest’.

If you’re curious to measure your own degree of GRIT,  that of your company or your leadership team take a short quiz here.  To what extent do you have it and is it evident in your organization?  Are you using it to your advantage and that of your company?  Can you see ways to up your ‘gritty-ness’?  Seems like a good topic to think about … while eating them of course.

Mike Dorman

I recently was involved doing some ‘preparatory’ work with a group of people who were about to embark on a training program.  It was one designed to provide them will skills and tools that, when applied, would enable them to climb higher on their personal success path.  Climbing higher varied for each participant.  For some, it meant finding gainful employment of a most basic type.  For others it meant moving into ranks of management and still there were some who wanted to use the training to move boldly into a very different field.  They were all well-educated people and yet, somewhere along the way, they’d  gotten  off track.

So what was my role you wonder and what was the ‘preparatory work?

The organization spearheading this initiative realized that training and learning is a two-pronged endeavor.  First there is the learning itself.  Haven’t we all participated in a seminar that we or our companies sent us to so that we could learn to  ___________ ( fill in the blank).  We leave the session on a high, filled with enthusiasm and energy to return to our jobs and put the learning into practice.  Yahoo!  This is SO great!  And then Monday morning arrives and “life happens”.  Our habits and ‘normal’ routine roars into our day and the learning dissipates … and rather quickly.  It’s has nothing to do with our desire to employ the new things we learned.  It has everything to do with creating the time and mind-set that allows us to use it.

Herein lies the second prong …  creating the mindset and determination to ensure our new skills are applied.

When we don’t execute this important step, the results often look like this:

• Just tack it on to the end.  – Why disrupt something that has been working even when the new learning would improve the previous process?  If only we would break that apart and reassemble around the new learning or new tool.  Efficiencies?

• I love it but I just don’t have time.  We are ALL busy.  The real question is … are we busy with things over which we have actual control and influence?  Are we wasting time being involved in things we have no responsibility for or no control over?

• What’s the point … I’ve tried so many other things that just don’t work.  Right! Then why even take the course or attend the seminar?  I’m defeated before I even robotically go through the learning.

My job in working with this group was to help them both practically and mentally open up their minds and make room on their plates to embrace and utilize the learning that was to follow.  What will I need to do to employ the learning in a way meaningful to the way I work and to the others who are involved with me?  What room do I need to create for the changes?

As it turns out it was a good call from the organization.  The participants approached the learning knowing that they had created the vision of how they wanted to use it, the room on their plates to make use of it and the determination to apply it for all it was worth to help them climb to their new height.  There was no wasted learning here through the recognition of that all-important second prong.  So it seems that we are wise to deal with the prongs in reverse order.  What we all should question is how prepared and determined are we to apply the learning and address that … before we enter the ‘classroom’.  It will save us time & scarce resources for sure.   How much richer that will be?

Mike Dorman