The first set of questions will focus on who Maureen is as a person. Youâll find yourself asking her, âWhat do you love most about your job right now, Maureen? What do you love most about ballooning? Do you love the piloting part, the thrill of the lift, the sensation of getting airborne; or do you love the navigating part, the movement of the light-as-air balloon through the cold northern winds, the calibration of the flame to achieve just the right altitude; or do you love the part where you show the guests the sights and get to tell them interesting facts they may not have known about this part of the world?â... Each of these questions addresses who Maureen is as a person, what she loves, what sheâs really into, and what she yearns for in terms of her career. Youâre basically being curious about the specifics of what itâs like to be Maureen-at-work.
The second set of things youâll ask her about will focus on how sheâs moved through the world thus far, and what sheâs picked up along the way. Youâll ask her about her current performance: how many balloon trips she completes and how many guests she takes up in a month. Youâll ask her about her past performance: youâll want to find out how long sheâs been a balloon pilot, how many hours sheâs logged, what her safety record has been, how often she is able to put her balloon down within the designated landing range. ⊠And with each of these questions, youâll learn more about how Maureen has moved through the worldâwhat she has measurably achieved, and measurably learned.
From the answers to these two sets of questions, youâll have discovered, first, who Maureen is at work. These are her traits. These are things that are inherent and enduring in herânot entirely unchanging, but nonetheless resistant to change. These are the loves and aspirations that are uniquely hers, and that she carries around with her everywhere she goes, just as surely as she carries her own body. Wherever she goes, they are there. You can call these her mass.
And second, youâll have unearthed some things sheâs acquired as sheâs applied herself in the world to move in a particular direction: her current and past record of performance, and her tested certifications. Obviously, since she can change any and all of these things, these are states. But since they describe how she has moved through the worldâhow sheâs done it, how well sheâs done it, how quickly, and in what directionâyou can usefully label these her velocity.
In the world of physics, thereâs a name for the discrete, measurable, definable, and directional thing that is produced when mass and velocity combine. Itâs called momentum. In the world of teams and team members, the same applies. Maureen has momentum.
By keeping these two ideas about Maureenâmass and velocityâ separate, and by using momentum to describe their combination, we suddenly enable you, the team leader, to do all manner of useful things to help her.