IT'S MORE FUN TO COLOUR OUTSIDE THE LINES

Early in my career, during what I expected to be a stellar performance review, I was told that I needed to stop being a "superstar" because it was making other people in the organization uncomfortable. I probably sat there for a few minutes acting like a deer caught in the headlights, when I responded "I am not a superstar. It is just everyone else seems to embrace mediocrity and if they upped their game, well, I would just be normal!"

That commentary from my boss lasted a lot longer than my time at this company. You might think that this was just a backward place with a backward leader, but actually, I have found it is more commonplace than you might think.

As a society, we try to normalize. We metric and measure people against an average. We are constantly quoting averages, teach to the "average" in schools, bell curve to the average, and on and on. And when you are an outlier, when you push the envelope, when you challenge, when you are creative, when you are different-- even when you get results -- you can often be looked at askance by others who believe trending to the average is the goal.

I have always been an outlier. Even in elementary school, I did well academically, but spent a lot of time in detention as well. You see, I always enjoyed debating points of view, but teachers, well, they often couldn't or didn't want entertain differing opinions. Or if I got bored (which was often) I started talking.  I had some teachers who understood me, and I remember their names to this day  -- otherwise, without them, who knows, I might have well ended up not continuing in school, because of the frustration I felt.

Working in corporate, I continued to challenge, cajole, and persuade. I am creative and the status quo generally makes me uncomfortable. When someone says "it's because we've always done it this way," the hackles go up on the back of my neck, and for me, this usually that means it is time for a change. I love change, and would shrivel without that possibility. But I also don't do any of this as an island. I like working with the individuals who make up the team and enjoy seeing others embrace their inner change agent and creativity fairy. And often they didn't even know they had it in them.

When in a leadership role, I have tried to understand the INDIVIDUALS that worked with me. I capitalized individual, because in a work setting, we often focus so much on teams, that we lose the individual in the mix. The best teams are made up of many different types of individuals, as this encourages creativity, challenge -- different ways of thinking. The individuality of the team members when encouraged, makes for a great team. I don't buy into Aristotle's adage of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. I believe the opposite is true.

I have written before about the Christmas TV story "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", and particularly about the Land of the Misfit toys. These toys weren't like the "normal" toys (a Charlie-in-the-box vs. a Jack-in-the-box), so they were banned to an island, where they spent years until finally they were "saved."

Are you encouraging the Charlie's-in-the-box working in your organization? Are you tapping them for their unique viewpoint, or are you just letting them idle? Do you give the "normal" folk more opportunity for advancement than those that don't fit on your bell curve? Do you let other team members isolate them?

Let's embrace our individuality. Not at the expense of the team, but to enhance the team, challenge the team and push to comfort envelope. Let's not ask people to be the same, let's bring the outliers into the fold and then you will see your team, your company, and your customers flourish.

Normal is actually non-existent, although it is a word we use all the time (according to my blog template, I am writing this in a "normal" font size).

It's ok to colour outside the lines. It is something I've been doing my entire life!