Power Tool: Consistency and Randomness

A Coaching Power Tool created by Samar Naim
(Life And Executive Coach, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES)

What is behind my Power Tool?

My Profession and Me

My profession:

The common definition of Official Protocol entails following a set of rules and guidelines that prescribe accepted and agreed upon conduct and forms of communication in official and formal situations and occasions. Another modern definition proposes that Protocol is the art of creating a distraction- free environment. Sharing these two definitions and looking back at my almost- seven- years of experience in Protocol, I have come to witness and understand that Protocol highly values consistency and does not favor room for randomness.

Me:

I am a very two-sided person, not bi-polar, but two-sided. I value rules and standards, but I also value fun and spontaneity. I can be crazy, childishly competitive, and silly in some parts and times of my life; and I can be professional, assertive, and structured in other parts and times of my life. I am a certified Zumba instructor and a certified Protocol Practitioner. I am two-sided… and I so-dearly love the both sides of me.

The two sides of my Power Tool:

Consistency/ Randomness What does Consistency mean to me?

You can easily look up the meaning of consistency in a dictionary, but below is my description of what consistency means to me (in life and in relation to my Power Tool)

I see consistency as an on-going adherence to set plans.

I see consistency as regularly following certain rules and standards.

I see consistency as predictable patterns and behaviors.

I see consistency as working in harmony, with compatibility, in alignment and in congruence.

Some concepts and perspectives that I find relevant to consistency:

What does Randomness mean to me?

For some people, the word randomness hits the alarm and raises the red flag! I understand. Randomness is usually associated with chaos and headaches. But I would like to invite you to wear my glasses and see it from my perspective (at least for the sake of this power tool).

Briefly put, my idea of randomness involves letting go, moving with the flow, living the moment, having the curiosity of a child, embracing variability and unknowingness, allowing yourself to do mistakes, stretching your comfort zone, and trusting your intuition. My randomness however does not invite random extremism such as walking into a brick wall or throwing yourself in a ring of fire.

Some concepts and perspectives that I find relevant to Randomness:

From the real world: The Value of Embracing Randomness (Inventions made by mistake)

What my Power Tool IS NOT:

It is not consistency versus randomness.

It is not the balance between consistency and randomness.

What my Power Tool IS:

It is consistency and/or randomness. It is about finding the right blend of both perspectives in a certain situation to avoid rigidity and to welcome flexibility. It can also be sequential (i.e. consistency followed by randomness or randomness followed by consistency).

It is what serves you best depending on the situation and your goal.

It is about empowering yourself by freeing yourself from burdening and imposed behaviors and thoughts that are not working for you. It is about having “you” choose and decide what is best for you in a certain situation (even when it is so different than the norm).

Why is it so?

Because not all experiences are the same

Because not all people are the same

Because values and their meanings are unique to each individual and they vary in importance and worth from one person to another.

It is about fully embracing who you are… embracing your wholeness with all its different parts. It is about acknowledging yourself as a multi-dimensional being. It is about understanding that just because you have different sides does not mean that they should be conflicting or that one is always better than the other.

My Power Tool and the Yin-Yang Philosophy

As I was trying to find a way to explain my Power Tool, I have come to realize how it is related to the Chinese Philosophy of Yin-Yang. Seemingly opposite or contrary factors are in fact natural dualities that are complimentary to each other. When they interact together, they create a dynamic whole that is greater than the parts. It is also likely that either one of the two may dominate and manifest itself more strongly in certain situations than in others.

Assessment Task: Create Your Power Tool

Self- Application and Illustrative Examples:

Taking the flags to Abu Dhabi:

We had a very busy week at work and all our drivers were occupied with guests and special missions. I was getting stressed because our transportation department was not sparing one driver for the next day to deliver flags of the US and the UAE from Dubai to Abu Dhabi (for our training graduation ceremony). That is the way we have been doing it for the past 5 years. In the midst of my stress, I received an email from our knowledge partner who did not know of what I was going through and she randomly proposed this offer:

I was just thinking if you would want me to pick the flags today and take them with me to Abu Dhabi tomorrow as I am commuting anyway.

My thought was,

What a relief! How dumb of me not to even think about it!

Consistency in this situation was a limiting perspective to me as it made me dismiss having alternatives or even considering the value of asking for help.

My Zumba Classes:

As a certified Zumba instructor, I receive DVDs to learn the steps to certain songs. When learning a new song, I focus on consistently following the steps till I master them. Later on, I start adding my flavor, adding playfulness, thinking of ways to motivate my class, and changing some moves to better fit my style and my class. This can be random depending on the class dynamics and on my mood on that day… and that is ok. In the beginning, consistency helps me master my moves; later on, randomness comes into play to give me a bucket of alternatives to pull out from or to even come up with something new in the spur of the moment.