Three modes of work life

There are three modes of work life: Serious Professional, Creative Management, and Social Contemplative that, without knowing it, we cycle through all of the time to create stuff.

Serious Professional.  The Serious or professional mode is primarily seen in project and delivery teams; when we are in operations mode.  In this mode we must be good at what we do, professional, and outstanding.  We prefer not to be overly gregarious and crazy in this mode because the whole goal here is to make the customer happy by producing the thing that they want and expect (which can be very elusive at times!).  We must be humble in this mode because we are not sure that the customer will be happy with our service and we really want them to like it!!

Creative Management.  The Creative Management mode frequently occurs in product life-cycle management processes (Plan, Define, Realize, Commercialize, Phase Out).  In this mode, we're thinking about what's possible, how to deliver it and what will make people happy.  Also, we're thinking about the business and operations and what will be that right mix of value (products, services, and experiences) that people love and keep them coming back.  We really have our management hats on in this mode: ie "How do we manage all of this opportunity and risk?"

Social Contemplative.  The Social Contemplative mode is when we think about the customer and market and how to reach them.  We think about perception and public relations.  We worry about ourselves and our organizations and how we might be able to improve.  We often see this mode in sales, marketing, and business development roles.  The Contemplative or reflective mode is often seen in internal teams, cultures, and organizations where they focus on how they can improve and what they can do better to improve their operations, systems, processes, and selves.  This is a humble and reflective place.

In all, we're cycling through these modes all of the time as we figure out how to make decisions about our selves and our organizations.  We need these different modes to be able to act effectively in the given context.  Determining which context we're in and which mode we need can be a challenge.