This years travel December 28, 2009
At the end of each year, I like to review what I did, things I liked, things I didn’t, how I grew and other interesting things I learnt.
This year I thought I’d share some of my explorations in Travel…
First off, I did plenty of travel. This year I traveled to (sometimes multiple times):
New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Phillipines, Japan and Malasia. And around Australia to Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Cairns, Byron Bay, and many others. All told about 26 weeks away.
Worst situation while traveling. Once again, a stop over story. Returning home from Malasia and routing through Singapore I had a 7 hour stopover. Now I hate stopovers anyway, but this one was extra special as it was between midnight and 7 am.
I knew this would be the case when I booked the tickets, and I thought – incorrectly it turns out – Singapore being an international hub, would have the business class lounges open between those hours.
Next time (and I’ve said this several times already in my personal history) I’ll book a more direct flight…
Best situations in transit:
Traveling through Malasia for the first time. On arrival the city didn’t touch me. The food was great, but I can find great food almost anywhere. It took about a week for me to get a real feel for the country.
Practicing my language learning in Japan. Both encouraging and disheartening all at the same time. Encouraging because I had the ‘tip of the toungue’ feeling while listeining to certain conversations. Disheartening when I compared that to listening to the news.
Being slammed into the Aikido mat over and over again in many and varied cities.
Fire-fighting and stress September 3, 2009
Problems occur regularly. Every single problem that occurs adds to your stress. Some people are able to anticipate these events, and prepare contingences. If you’re good at this, great, keep doing it! If not, you the following few tips might well help.
The best sequence to run through when your schedule has suddenly been ruined by an unforeseen problem is as follows
1. Stop and take a breath. Allow the initial biological effects of the shock and stress to recede. Take time to think.
2. Write down the problem before taking any action. This gives you extra time to breathe and will make sure that the problem is not forgotten as you attempt to fix it. That may sound strange, but how often do we go off half prepared, stressing over something that isn’t a real problem?
3. Get the facts of the problem. Just the facts you need to make the decisions now.
4. Delegate the tasks to achieve a solution where possible.
5. Develop a system to effectively deal with this problem in future. Recurring problems should be dealt with once, twice at most. After the second time, your should not have to deal with it again. When I was working as a technical consultant, I was what I call productively lazy. I would spend a week working to ensure I’d never have to spend another hour fixing an ongoing problem. Get productively lazy!
How to get an hour of free time August 26, 2009
If you have an office, and are constantly interrupted throughout the day, there is a simple thing you can do to get an hour or two uninterrupted.
Yes, an open door policy works well and can be good, however, it can distract and derail your thinking.
Invest in a $2 “Do Not Disturb” sign. While this does not always work, with training, the people in your office will get the message. You can also add a “Will return at X O’clock”.
Let everyone that visits the office know what you’re doing, and why.
Then be consistent. For example every three to four pm be unavailable. It might take a little time, but soon everyone will know you’re unavailable during those times.
Indecision and Poor Decisions August 3, 2009
We make decisions every day. Some decisions are more important, and have different results than others. The decision does not have to be perfect. An incorrect, but immediate decision is usually better than a perfect and withheld decision. But think about it; there is no such thing as a perfect decision, there is only the best decision with the given information.
In every case, the immediate, incorrect decision will be more valid than a perfect unmade decision.
When I was learning to play golf many years ago, my teacher taught me: “When you are putting, having the ball go 3 feet past the hole is better than 1 foot short. Three feet past has a chance to go in, 1 foot short will never go in.” And when I’ve told other golfers this they sometimes argue with me and say things like, “if you putt too far to the left or right, it’s not going in”. This is true, and yet if you don’t put the ball past the hole there is zero chance of it ever going in.
Some tips for making good decisions.
1. Delegate where possible. This will give your employees more stake in the business, more responsibility, and save you work.
2. If the decision can’t be made immediately, set a date and time for when the decision will be made. Stick to this timeframe regardless and decide on or before that date (re-deciding to set another date might be valid).
3. Get only the facts you need to be right 75% of the time. If you think you know the best choice, you do. Make that decision now.
4. Courage is needed to make the decision and then act. Have that courage with the knowledge that if you get it wrong, you can always re-decide.
What other things do you think help in making decisions?
Who’s on your side? July 29, 2009
A year ago today I got access to an online group called Triiibes.com. The entire group, like me, joined without knowing what we were joining.
A short while before joining Seth Godin asked to pre-purchase his latest book (Tribes), sight unseen, to get access to the group, also sight unseen.
It was a leap of faith, and it was well worth the leap.
Over the year this diverse group has asked, given and shared advice, implemented many new businesses, made a difference and changed the world.
I’m constantly surprised and awed by the skill, expertise, humour, and support that flows freely.
We were on Seth’s side in the beginning. Willing to support him in an unknown adventure. I suspect it grew much larger and further than he ever expected. And now, a year later, the Triiibe members have bonded and are helping each other to do and be more. That kind of support is needed in any environment.
Call it your mastermind, friends, associates, or mentors. This group is willing to listen to your problems, and share their own. Willing to offer you suggestions, and implement yours. Be able to honestly and openly communicate, even when it’s difficult. All of this came for me with a leap of faith a year ago. These are the people who are on my side.
Who’s on your side?
P.S. For more reading on the Triiibes experience from others, have a look here.
More stress is better! July 9, 2009
Day to day, I train people to do new things.
Every day is different, and yet every day I’m helping someone break out of their comfort zone, expand their boundaries, learn and grow.
All across the internet you can find articles, posts and comments about how to overcome stress. Thing is, stress is good! The more stress the better!
Well, there is an upper limit. Too much stress can and does kill. As long as you handle the stress, the more the merrier.
Take for example the Olympics. Most, if not all of the world records set are set when the Olympics are on. Combined with the world championship, very few happen elsewhere. Even the athletes so called ‘personal best’ is usually broken when under the pressure of the final. Why is this?
One reason is that stress expands capacity. If you were a body builder and only ever lifter 1kg weights, you’ll rarely reach your full potential. Only when you lift more than before, stretch beyond your best, reach further than before, step outside your comfort zone, add extra stress to your performance do you get better.
Push past your comfort zone regularly. Don’t do it continuously, that’s a sure way to burnout! But push yourself, respond to the demand then relax. The more you can do this, the faster and better you’ll get…
Heritics, questioners, coaches and agents of change June 24, 2009
We’re almost never wanted, but critical to the success of any group.
We’re the court jester – the only person in the whole court that can call the king (or anyone else) a fool.
We’re the questioner – asking the stupid question that have stupidly profound answers.
We’re the provoker – helping (sometimes hindering) other people ideas meet reality.
We’re the objectors – standing up for our and other people’s ideals.
We’re the sword – cutting the knots people and groups tie themselves in.
We’re the outcasts – Outside looking in, offering those inside a different perspective.
We’re the condemned and cursed – For asking the questions, making the comments, and doing what every group needs.
We’re the aliens – Doing and saying things others find strange.
We’re the black sheep – producing wool that others can’t.
The real difficulty in doing this is not that we do, but when and how we do it. We are needed in every group, tribe, culture or society – we are the ones that notice the emperor is naked. Some groups and people embrace us, others reject us, but they all need us.
In case you haven’t guessed, I’ve done much thinking, talking and teaching around this exact point. One example is right here.
Are you a Heritic? A questioner? A coach? An agent of change? Comment below!
Four tips on how to motivate a new team. June 3, 2009
Getting everyone in a new team, group, company or organization to work together is a challenge but not impossible. To give you some of the ideas I use, let me start with a metaphor to get a point across.
As a teacher, I teach to specific individuals. Even in a full class, I teach to the individuals. If the individuals get my point, I move on. If half of them do, I restate the case till they all do. Sometimes I even intentionally confuse the ones that get it, to help them learn a different thing.
In short, I have my learning outcome. I know what responses I want from the students. The students also have their out outcomes for learning. As the instructor, I have to match those two up.
Now, just for a moment, consider a team or company a class. How do I navigate through each individual’s needs, wants and desires to reach my corporate outcome? It takes time and attention (your and theirs!). If they don’t want to belong, then you’re kind of stuck. You can’t make anyone learn something they don’t want to learn. In either case you either have to make them want it, ignore them, or expel them from the team. Having a disruption in a new team can be unrecoverable. In an established team, the team itself usually deals with it naturally.
So some specifics as I appreciate them.
1. Ask the team. You might not use everything they tell you, but you have to take the team ‘pulse’.
Ask the individuals within the team a few specific questions.
“Is the team helping you do what you want?”
“What are you trying to do?”
“What do you most value about the team?”
“Other than yourself who do you think the team finds is the most beneficial member?”
“Who do you think the team finds the least beneficial member?”
2. Give the team clear instructions. So many times I’ve watched highly effective teams self destruct because they were given a wishy-washy goal.
These instructions can also be about how to act as a team. Instructions on WIIFT (What’s In It For Them), what they have to do (both individually and as a team), how they contribute, what ‘contribute’ actually means and more.
3. Be an example for the team. They will follow your lead, not knowing anything else to do. If you stifle creativity, you’ll get less of it and the team will begin to stifle it itself. If you foster creativity, it will grow and be nurtured by the team.
4. Following on from point #3, if you notice the team moving in a direction you don’t want, be the example that moves them in the other way. This can be the toughest of all because most of the time we don’t notice the direction the team is heading until it’s already halfway there.
What other tips to motivate a new team can you think of? Comment below!
Three kinds of meetings … March 4, 2009
… and one of them is a waste of time, effort, attention and money. The other two are the same thing.
As Seth describes, there are 3 types of meetings. From his post:
- Information. This is a meeting where attendees are informed about what is happening (with or without their blessing). While there may be a facade of conversation, it’s primarily designed to inform.
- Discussion. This is a meeting where the leader actually wants feedback or direction or connections. You can use this meeting to come up with an action plan, or develop a new idea, for example.
- Permission. This is a meeting where the other side is supposed to say yes but has the power to say no.
If you call a meeting simply to inform, there are much better (read more effective) methods to use. Things like: memos, email, word of mouth (the old rumor mill), phone calls, delegation, chain of command, newsletters and much more. Information based meetings are what give meetings a bad name.
The other two, discussion and permission meetings can be boiled down to one thing; decision making. If you pull a bunch of employees together to discuss something, make sure a decision is made at the end of the meeting. Even if that is just to collect more information to enable better informed decisions in the next meeting. A permission meeting is having the other side to decide one way or another.
Meetings are to make decisions. If a decision isn’t made, it’s a waste of everyone’s time, effort, attention and money.
Simple non-verbal communication changes get massive response January 29, 2009
Late last year I spent the week training in
But this post is not about how good
Let me give you an example. The class contained only Koreans. Their primary language is Korean. English is a distant second (or third or fourth!) So on the first day when I asked a question, I would get no response. The first question I asked? “Can everyone speak English?” The response; silence.
Two days later, we are having an interaction, a conversation. Their English is ok. Not perfect but perfectly understandable. They are (and were able to) on the first day understand me. What changed them from silent attention to asking questions?
One specific non-verbal behavioural change on my part.
I play with things – all the time. If I’m not, then I’m thinking about how to. I also test, constantly. I try things in new ways, use tools where they are not meant to be used, push boundaries and edges. Doing so keeps me interested and learning. This is play.
So after lunch on day two, I started playing with facial expressions. Normally, I smile a lot – but I decided to stop and freeze my facial expression. Suddenly the students started asking questions. Confused, I slipped back into my regular smiling and they lost interest with my answers and didn’t ask more. It was like turning on a switch. Freezing my face induced more questions. Back and forth it went.
One ’simple’ change and my results change. What simple thing can you change in yourself to get different results?
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