Salesforce C3 Formula

Looking to join the Salesforce ecosystem? Wanting to expand your circle of influence? Keen to increase value in what you do everyday? Keen to tackle cross cloud projects? Seeking to make an impact in the community? Welcome to the Salesforce world.

I had an ‘aha!’ moment recently.

Whichever of the above questions you’re seeking answers to, I believe this C3 formula can help.

1) C = Curious

We often hear that we need to tell ourselves “I can do it!” and hold that infamous “power pose”; although that may alleviate some doubts in the moment, it doesn’t quite have the lasting effects that one may have hoped for. In fact it can function as trying to suppress an inner voice rather than opening the understanding to it.

I have come to realise that asking oneself the Hows and Whys is so much more powerful. Cultivating curiosity helps us to think more deeply and widely about things, and that enables us to come up with more creative options.

Being curious in meetings, in interviews, approaching a promotion, a bid, a challenge: this fosters innovation. It’s helping our minds to open up, seek understanding and, in a sense, being playful.

Looking for a job? Ask yourself:

How can I convey my context, my experience, my uniqueness… as a narrative worthy of being listened to? Memorable. Remarkable.

Tackling a project? Ask yourself:

What is one thing you usually take for granted that you want to ask about? Start with the end in mind and ask many ‘why’ questions.

As an added bonus, it’s also good for your health: A 2005 report in the journal Health Psychology described a two-year study involving more than 1,000 patients that found higher levels of curiosity were also associated with a decreased likelihood of developing hypertension and diabetes.

2) C = Consistent

If you’ve ever joined my Agile talks/sessions you probably know that I love this quote from Aristotle:

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

Not only are habits important. They grow stronger and stronger over time and become more and more automatic.

Let’s go personal > That being:

• the habit to wake up at 6am to do some study in the morning before work day,
• the habit to bulk up social notifications to reduce noise and distractions,
• the habit to do 30 mins of yoga between study and client work,
• the habit to start a session with its purpose,
• the habit to do workout dance on Wednesdays because exercise and laughs are a good mix,
• the habit to read every day,
• etc

What are the tiny habits that could bring you closer where you want to be? What are 3 you can try out, starting today? Experiment!

3) C = Connective

The work that we do is related to users, teams, end consumers, other technologies… you name it. An interconnecting network it is.

Systems Thinking deserves its own article (if not book!), we must be aware of not only the quantity of connections but the quality of their interactions.

So in the context of a project be curious about the interconnectivity with the rest of the system(s), how is it iterative and incremental to what is already in place and preserving optionality for what the future may bring.

Connect the dots.

That is in the system we build and the system we are part of.

We are, after all, social beings.

The Trailblazer Community in my opinion is the Salesforce advantage no one can compete with. It blew me away years ago when I got introduced via the Answers section in the online community… little did I know.

So connect, reach out with meaning and purpose.

Quality over Quantity. After all we (humans) want to connect in a whole new way. A random connection has no value.

For example get involved in your local community groups and meet genuinely your peers: https://trailblazercommunitygroups.com/

And how do you get involved and contribute? It has to be you, your style, your passion, yourself!

Each one of us are the creative force of our own life!

Conclusion

The Salesforce ecosystem is so broad that there is space for everyone. I don’t do well with boxes, so don’t try to fit in one. Find your niche, what are you passionate about?

Practice makes perfect. That’s also true in product development, so get hands on! Try things out and learn from your experiments.

• Be you
• Mean well (Empathy & Humility)
• Supercharge with the C3 formula:
  Curious + Consistent + Connect