Source of Challenge vs Source of Support vs Source of Inspiration

By Duncan Anderson and Alison Montalti. To see all blogs click here.

Reading Time: 6 mins

Summary: I think we are taught to be sources of support, but I think at work it’s normally far more impactful to learn how to be a positive sum source of challenge. 

We are all players, we are all coaches… and hopefully sources of support, challenge and inspiration! 

• Taxonomy levels

  • Poor team player/bad manager = Source of support when you shouldn’t be, ie having someone become dependent - AKA negative sum support

  • Good team player/manager = Source of support when external circumstances necessitate - AKA positive sum support

  • Leader = 1. Positive sum source of support + 2. Source of challenge

  • Visionary/playmaker = 1. Positive sum source of support + 2. Source of challenge + 3. Source of Inspiration

• Comment: 

  • Traditionally, in the workplace we consider people as workers, managers and then leaders. However, not everyone can be or wants to be a manager, but they most definitely can be team players. Therefore, ‘we are all players, we are all coaches’. At work, I’ll try to help you, I expect you to try and help me too. 

  • Effectively I think one can be a bad manager of oneself (a poor team player), a good manager of oneself (a good team player), a leader of oneself (a leader) or a visionary for oneself (the playmaker)… or others! 

  • One area I didn’t get at all 10 years ago was even the concept of being a ‘source of challenge’ for others. If you can’t be a source of challenge for yourself then you are likely significantly under achieving. If you can’t be a source of challenge for others then they are likely significantly under-levelling up. 

• Jingle: learning how to be a source of challenge… is a source of challenge… you’ve got to challenge the source of the challenge! 

++++++++++++

Details

I think that what a visionary is can be shown as a classic iceberg = what you see is the outcome of more complex mechanisms.

I think the impact that support, challenge and inspiration can have is likely an upside down pyramid.

• I think the impact that support can have is less than challenge. 

• You only have 24 hours in a day and can support people only so much. 

  • Often 1 hour of support given = 1 hour of support received. 

• But someone can challenge themselves when you are not around! 

  • I think that challenge normally means you need to interact with someone, eg they work in your team. 

  • 1 hour of challenge provided can turn into 10 hours of someone challenging themselves. On average the multiplier of challenge is bigger than support. 

• However, one can get inspiration from people you never meet. 

  • As an example I’m inspired by Andrew Carnegie and he died ~100 years ago. I hope I inspire some of the people at Edrolo even though we don’t work together on a daily basis. 

  • If you’re inspired/or others are, the effects of inspiration are limitless because when you are inspired you are enabled.

If you want to get to visionary status...

• L1: Source of Positive Sum Support

  • Good team players can make good managers because they enable and create self-managing people, they don’t just manage people well. 

  • Work on yourself to be self-sufficient 80-90% of the time. 

  • Help others to level up to the point of being self-sufficient 80-90% of the time. 

  • If you are properly in a state where  you need support, then ask for it = Positive Sum

  • If someone properly needs support, then provide it = Positive Sum

  • But if someone doesn’t need support then don’t provide it. Providing support here = Negative Sum

  • We don’t want dependents, we don’t want independents, we want a mutually positive sum ecosystem.

• L2: Source of Challenge

  • Roger Federer’s coach wouldn’t beat him in a game of tennis, but hopefully Federer’s coach makes Federer a better tennis player than he would be if the coach wasn’t around. 

  • There are different kinds of jobs, and while not everyone needs to be nor should be like this, I hope many people are like this: “Aim to be the best in the world at whatever you do professionally.” Sam Altman. 

  • If this is your aim then you should be challenging yourself every day at work. Likely not all day everyday, but likely at least some part of each day. 

    • Take a moment to think about those you work with, who makes you feel supported, challenged or even inspired? How do they do it? Then, who do you support or challenge? How do you do it?

  • Learning how to challenge others in a way they want to lift is key. Some blogs:

    • A framework to articulate expectations: Level of expectations ≈ Amount of new 

    • Professional self development: an essential tool to cultivate yourself, an essential capability to build inside of companies. 

    • I almost never start off knowing how to make something better

    • Growth generations: current skill levels < growth rate of your skill levels

    • Building innovation ability in others = the best thing you can do? 

  • But it’s hard to challenge people much if they don’t respect you. 

  • Michael Jordan “I never asked anyone to do anything I didn’t do.” 

  • Learning how to challenge people in a positive sum way is key. Like most things, I think one gets better at challenging people by trying to first challenge yourself, and then to challenge others! ***more on this below

• L3: Source of inspiration

  • I wrote this blog on inspiration. 

  • Inspiration = 1. Being inspiring + 2. Saying inspiring things

    • 1. Being inspiring = 1.1 Aim to be the best + 1.2 do the work to be the best + 1.3 When you get knocked down get up

    • 2. Saying inspiring things = … saying inspiring things hopefully each day or week. 

  • In some respects inspiration is challenging others indirectly = Having others be inspired to challenge themselves to level up

Positive Sum vs Negative Sum Challenge

• There is much literature on how high expectations are good for learning outcomes. As they say, people rise to the level of your expectations if they feel supported and adequately challenged. 

• Model:

  • Low expectations = Bad

  • High expectations = Good

  • Unrealistically high expectations = Bad

• Normally finding the middle ground is key. 

  • This can be messy and challenging for you as you navigate the intricacies of your team.

  • As an early manager I tried to help people as much as possible. Now I think you want to be the best at ‘helping others help themselves’. 

  • As an early manager I wanted to be supportive, which often meant expectations that were too low (well I wasn’t consciously thinking about what the right level of expectations were). I think one way I’ve been able to level up significantly in the last 10 years is as a positive sum source of challenge. 

  • At work, as long as challenge is positive sum, I think the more the better. 

  • As per positive sum support: I think you should be supporting someone 10-20% of the time and only when external circumstances necessitate it. 

  • I think you likely should be challenging people to some extent for the other 80-90%.

  • … and hopefully inspiring yourself and others 100% of the time! 

If you only take away one thing

• I find at work that often it’s easy to support people too much. 

• And easy not to challenge others enough.