Greetings to all far and wide. I have returned from the United States of somewhat sugary. Los Angeles...a strange place - the feeling of somewhere very hot, and yes even in October it hovers around the equivalent UK temperature of early-mid June. Sunset Strip feels as fake as one might expect, and rather an anticlimax after the tales of bands such as Motley Crue, Guns n Roses, Van Halen, The Doors and the myriad others who are fabled to have marched the golden pavements in search of their fortunes. No fortune awaited us, however, apart from extreme exhaustion from an 11 hour transatlantic flight.
That was Thursday dealt with. Friday was our day to soundcheck and I was blessed with a lovely Yamaha Stage Custom Absolute to play with, which even came supplied with DW 9000 pedals! Heaven. Very nice indeed, with a lovely warm tone, although I'm not a fan of the ball-joint system, it's always struck me as a little unreliable. Nonetheless, a great kit and a pleasure to play.
The gig went well, and was made more fun by our raiding of the prop stores backstage (my apologies to the local theater group, I promise we didn't damage anything! Lucky we didn't use the trees!) where we found a number of polystyrene tombstones, painted in authentic fashion, which we scattered around the stage with much glee.
I believe most of it has been filmed, photographed and recorded so im certain there will be some interesting snippets on offer shortly.
From LA, TC and I caught an internal flight to New York to see my brother and family who live there. And this brings me to part one of my title story - customer service. Legend has had me believe that a certain airline, while not necessarily the cream of the United States airline crop, aren't too shabby and could pass off a decent in flight experience.....
....don't be fooled. It was uncomfortable, shabby and the cabin crew left alot to be desired. I couldn't sleep, the seats were terrible, there was no in flight entertainment, and when I was woken up by the air hostess with the southern drawl and asked "Wanna drink sir?" which needless to say was met with an expression of questioning confuddlement, and a very British mumbled "err....ye....umm...yes, yes please" she simply looked, as if to the heavens and held her arms out as if to say 'well, what do you want then...duh!' which I found a little outrageous!
To cap it all off some idiot was chewing cinnamon gum behind me, I felt awful, and it was a red-eye so my experience of the airline was.......well.....it was pants. I do not reccomend flying with them.
Our time in New York was pleasant enough, and went by far too quickly, apart from of course the one day where I was laid up in bed with an evil virus. The sweating, delerious, dizzy, tossing and turning kind that leaves you all achy and sees you through a fever of 101. Great!
The second part of my customer service rant occurs today however, now back in the UK and catching up on various pressing issues such as my earplugs, which I ordered from a reputable high street retailer before I went away to the states. I was told they would be ready in seven to ten days, which puts their maximum production time somewhere in the middle of last week. I called today, to ask if they were ready....
...one assumes that when a delivery is made, the customer name is clearly stated and all of the deliveries end up in one place....so why was it so difficult for one woman to get off her backside and go and look? It never ceases to amaze me how people in England are so disnegaged and disenamoured with their work that they do anything they can do get out of actually doing their job.
I find that many service based industries pride themselves on what is a common myth - customer service. I'm sorry, but the clue is in the title. If your job is customer service, that means serving the customer. I don't necessarily think that going beyond the realms of reason, decency and taste are required, but certainly doing more than passing the buck over to a senior member of staff and claiming ignorance should be the norm.
I'm consistently disappointed by people in service level occupations failing to meet the grade. Being polite, alert, switched on, and at least frugally helpful isn't much to ask, especially when you're being paid. Maybe it's born out of a severe hatred for the management, and if the management don't take time to look after these staff is it any wonder??
I may be on a one man crusade to end all ills to the consumer, (not that I entirely agree with consumer culture) but don't say it's customer service when you're clearly talking rubbish, and all it is is a limp-salad-leaf attempt at making your evil scheming money-making operation more personable. I'd be happier if you just robbed me.
What can we do to change this? There is a general hanging depression about the British people and the British public. A sour-mouthed underlying malnourishment which seems to underpin all of our actions. Why? What is it about being here that turns everyone into such a......bastard! We don't have to be nice and all dance around with daisies in our hair but since when was it so reviled to say "Good morning" and MEAN IT. Or when was it so bad to enjoy your job and be happy with it and just get on with it without having to conform to some middle-management dour sensibility.
Even some of the people who claim to be forward thinkers are backwards. Actions speak louder than words.
In summary, I think we are due a change. I just hope that there are more people out there who are prepared to try and make life slightly better for everyone involved instead of just giving up and being as miserable as they possibly can. How does this relate to A Different Beat? Well....the whole company was based on an idea that would help people take a closer look at their relationships and understand why they behave the way they do, and how that behaviour affects others, in the hope that it makes their time together prosperous, productive and happy for everyone involved in the equation. What could be better? I just hope it works....
Viva la Revolution! Or something like that.....
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
Monday, 5 October 2009
It's been a while...
Well, It's been a while - sorry I've been out of touch. Things have been hectic in the A Different Beat camp in the last few months, with some fantastic results!
A Different Beat are now an official supplier to Champneys, Tring as part of their new stress relief day package. Watch this space for further details - you can also access the Champneys website from the A Different Beat homepage by clicking on the logo.
There has also been a great development in working with a fantastic company called Soul Traders, based in Hertfordshire run by an expert in the field of business coaching - Michael Martin. He is also the Managing Director of Qdosology, but our work so far has been in the field of education. More specifically, preparing year 11 students for work experience and sharing with them some insights into the world of work and how they may feel about it.
The last few months have proved incredibly rewarding, and we have grown as a business and as people - long may it continue!
On a personl score, I am off to the USA on Thursday for a couple of weeks with Touchstone, which should prove interesting.
Catch you on the flipside.
:-)
A Different Beat are now an official supplier to Champneys, Tring as part of their new stress relief day package. Watch this space for further details - you can also access the Champneys website from the A Different Beat homepage by clicking on the logo.
There has also been a great development in working with a fantastic company called Soul Traders, based in Hertfordshire run by an expert in the field of business coaching - Michael Martin. He is also the Managing Director of Qdosology, but our work so far has been in the field of education. More specifically, preparing year 11 students for work experience and sharing with them some insights into the world of work and how they may feel about it.
The last few months have proved incredibly rewarding, and we have grown as a business and as people - long may it continue!
On a personl score, I am off to the USA on Thursday for a couple of weeks with Touchstone, which should prove interesting.
Catch you on the flipside.
:-)
Monday, 20 July 2009
After a great session at the Luton Hoo Walled Garden on Sunday 19th July, I thought I'd write another post here. This time I'm philosophising about the symbiotic nature of business.
When I was younger people would mention business to me and all it conjured up was images of men in Bowler hats and pin-stripe suits, wandering up and down London streets with intent purpose, or men in red braces talking loudly into a telephone while stomping around a big office with a sizeable Cuban cigar in their mouth. The stereotypical public face of business, to me at least, was cold and unashamedly harsh, somewhat grumpy and stuffy, and certainly not for the free willed, free spirited and fun loving creatures of the world.
More recently however, having come to terms with the necessity of using the term 'business' in all its many guises, I have noted that many things are made what they are not by their true nature, but by the perception and opinion of those who are viewing that object at that particular point in time. Don't worry I'm not about to embark on a Hawking-esque visionary journey into the world of particle phsycis, but am merely taking steps to point out that....as with my own initial perception of business, the way in which one describes a certain activity, object or event can have dramatic consequence on how that person views that activity, object or event.
Therefore it seems sensible to conclude that an idea, business model or venture is only as good as the opinion of those who are aware of it. Since personal and public opinion is easily swayed by the use of clever terminology, good phrasing and ultimately the social skill of the person directly linked with that product, it is never actually the product which is on sale, but the people involved with it.
People don't really buy products or services, they buy people.
It is with this in mind that I have embarked upon a new strategy of being a thoroughly nice bloke to everyone I meet, whether it's 'business' or just buying some stamps. And by jove it's working! Since the entire ethos of A Different Beat is to encourage people to work more effectively together and to understand each other more, this further underpins the simple points which I make while running my sessions whether it is for school children, businessmen, or community groups - the baseline behind all of human communication is understanding and careful thought. Think about your actions, your words, your standpoint - understand it, then think about how it affects the people around you. This is the basis for effective communication.
Think on!
When I was younger people would mention business to me and all it conjured up was images of men in Bowler hats and pin-stripe suits, wandering up and down London streets with intent purpose, or men in red braces talking loudly into a telephone while stomping around a big office with a sizeable Cuban cigar in their mouth. The stereotypical public face of business, to me at least, was cold and unashamedly harsh, somewhat grumpy and stuffy, and certainly not for the free willed, free spirited and fun loving creatures of the world.
More recently however, having come to terms with the necessity of using the term 'business' in all its many guises, I have noted that many things are made what they are not by their true nature, but by the perception and opinion of those who are viewing that object at that particular point in time. Don't worry I'm not about to embark on a Hawking-esque visionary journey into the world of particle phsycis, but am merely taking steps to point out that....as with my own initial perception of business, the way in which one describes a certain activity, object or event can have dramatic consequence on how that person views that activity, object or event.
Therefore it seems sensible to conclude that an idea, business model or venture is only as good as the opinion of those who are aware of it. Since personal and public opinion is easily swayed by the use of clever terminology, good phrasing and ultimately the social skill of the person directly linked with that product, it is never actually the product which is on sale, but the people involved with it.
People don't really buy products or services, they buy people.
It is with this in mind that I have embarked upon a new strategy of being a thoroughly nice bloke to everyone I meet, whether it's 'business' or just buying some stamps. And by jove it's working! Since the entire ethos of A Different Beat is to encourage people to work more effectively together and to understand each other more, this further underpins the simple points which I make while running my sessions whether it is for school children, businessmen, or community groups - the baseline behind all of human communication is understanding and careful thought. Think about your actions, your words, your standpoint - understand it, then think about how it affects the people around you. This is the basis for effective communication.
Think on!
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
STRESS!!!!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1195115/Stress-costs-working-days-lost-1970s-strikes.html
Have a read of that! Makes for an interesting distraction and the thing I find most odd about Stress and how people relate to it, is that the majority of people seem to have a very outmoded and old fashioned opinion that stress is just part of life and you've got to get on with it.
There's a hotbed of debate surrounding this and it could be argued that there is a certain naivety in suggesting that Stress can easily be avoided, but I firmly believe that stress is one of the main symptoms of poor communication between people who are brought together by a common goal, whether that is work or a relationship.
Perhaps the most dumbfounding this is the sheer weight of factual evidence supporting the notion that people feel trapped in a situation that they cannot change.
to quote the article directly;
"13.5million working days a year are lost because of stress-related illness"
Now that's alot of money going down the drain on a daily basis. An average working day must cost a company at least £60.00, so when you tot that all up the economy is losing well over £800million a year because people are stressed out about their situation - and that's just work. This 21st century phenomenon is destroying our society from the inside.
I feel there needs to be a concious shift from our current way of thinking to a more productive and relaxed outlook. We all wonder how the Europeans keep their cool so readily - perhaps we need to take a leaf out of their book, especially in this near tropical sunshine we're getting.
Take some time out to relax, and watch this stress nonsense disappear.
Have a read of that! Makes for an interesting distraction and the thing I find most odd about Stress and how people relate to it, is that the majority of people seem to have a very outmoded and old fashioned opinion that stress is just part of life and you've got to get on with it.
There's a hotbed of debate surrounding this and it could be argued that there is a certain naivety in suggesting that Stress can easily be avoided, but I firmly believe that stress is one of the main symptoms of poor communication between people who are brought together by a common goal, whether that is work or a relationship.
Perhaps the most dumbfounding this is the sheer weight of factual evidence supporting the notion that people feel trapped in a situation that they cannot change.
to quote the article directly;
"13.5million working days a year are lost because of stress-related illness"
Now that's alot of money going down the drain on a daily basis. An average working day must cost a company at least £60.00, so when you tot that all up the economy is losing well over £800million a year because people are stressed out about their situation - and that's just work. This 21st century phenomenon is destroying our society from the inside.
I feel there needs to be a concious shift from our current way of thinking to a more productive and relaxed outlook. We all wonder how the Europeans keep their cool so readily - perhaps we need to take a leaf out of their book, especially in this near tropical sunshine we're getting.
Take some time out to relax, and watch this stress nonsense disappear.
Friday, 19 June 2009
Employee Engagement
Having thoughts on employee engagement this afternoon. A big question is what does this Learning and Development jargon mean? Allow me to explain;
Engagement, in terms of people at work, is not betrothal to a lifetime with your colleagues, but a coined term for how 'connected' people feel with their jobs and the people they work with. So, a person who constantly daydreams about the girl they met in the pub last weekend and is easily distracted, doesn't like the majority of people in the office, feels tired and stressed and is thinking about quitting this lousy job....are most definitely not engaged.
It's a nice idea to pretend that everyone loves their work, and bounces out of bed every morning like tigger and sings zippetty doo dah on the way to work - lets face it folks, that's just not a vision which is rooted in reality.
In my experience, most people feel trapped or incapable of making a change, viewing the problem as an uncontrollable lump, and the only way out is to leave their job, or to grit their teeth, and plough on through - from an objective point of view, common sense dictates that both of these options will only prolong and exacerbate the problem in question, so where does the answer lie? More commonly now people are suggesting that it lies with the employer.
Employers in the modern business environment are becoming more and more switched on to the fact that it's not their customers throwing money at them that is keeping the company afloat on the seas of international finance (thankyou Monty Python) but the people in their own company. CEO's, HR bosses and Finance directors are starting to take an inwardly-focused stance on what makes their company tick, and investing more time and resources into the people who keep a company running.
Without people, an organisation or company is just a name registered with Companies House. If it doesnt do anything, it won't go anywhere. This is as true for a one-man-band battling the elements, as it is for a multinational conglomerate - look at the mayhem caused by any number of the recent Tube strikes when an entire workforce downs tools and decides that enough is enough.
It is with this in mind that looking after the people in your company becomes paramount, and this brings us back to engagement;
How do you engage a workforce? Look at your own experience and try to pinpoint those times when you felt ready to face the day and full of energy - perhaps it was the last time you knew you were going to have an awesome weekend, or perhaps it was the last time you got up to go on holiday and you were full of beans, perhaps it was your wedding day, or the day you first got the job you're in.
In an ideal world, we should all feel like this all of the time, and why not?! Imagine how great the world would be if everyone was happy and loved their job and overflowed with enthusiasm about it.
The work I do with A Different Beat leaves many delegates feeling refreshed, invigorated, awake, engaged, motivated and empowered to take charge of the day. Perhaps it's down to the physical activity, or the distraction, or the fact that its new and different, or maybe its just that the focus has moved from a team doing something (lets face it) quite monotonous or grinding, onto something completely detached from their daily routine.
Whatever the reasons behind it, the fact is - it works. Time and time again, simply the action of pulling people together and playing the drums seems to dispell all the negativity which gathers like a thick dust around teams. We act as housekeepers for organisations, and with the extra discussion and self-awareness we promote during our workshops, the company is destined to save themselves a considerable amount of expenditure.
The UK based CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel Development) released figures last year that the cost of hiring a member of staff, who then gets upset and quits, is in the region of £5,800. That's alot of money to be throwing away, when regular internally focused reviews and sessions could stop any number of employees from walking out of the door, and would only come at a fraction of the cost of high staff turnover.
Modern business requires that we look after talent, and retain high quality staff. With more stringent processes in palce to vet applicants for a job, and highly effective recruitment companies such as Asset Resourcing storming the marketplace, the battlefield topography has changed to becoming more about looking after those who have run the gauntlet and won the faith of your organisation, rather than employing a prehistoric view that they should now knuckle down and be satisfied with their bread and water.
But surely Team Building or personnel development alone cant solve these issues? No they can't. I don't believe that a company throwing money at their employees and sending them on a golf day, or a day at the races, or a weekend in Monaco is going to help - the fundamental problem is still there. It is far more effective for an organisation to take the time to impress upon their people that they are being looked after in a thorough and attentive manner - people need to feel valued, but they also need to 'buy in' to the notion that the responsibility for their engagement is shared between the employer and the individual.
The rabbit hole of Learning and Development branches in many directions with many theories and complicated stuffy concepts on what we should and shouldn't do and where we should spend our money - it's almost as confusing as car insurance.....but the important thing is to figure out three things;
Where you are now
Where you want be
How are you going to get there?
Sometimes, you need an external point to pivot around - that is what A Different Beat provides.
Engagement, in terms of people at work, is not betrothal to a lifetime with your colleagues, but a coined term for how 'connected' people feel with their jobs and the people they work with. So, a person who constantly daydreams about the girl they met in the pub last weekend and is easily distracted, doesn't like the majority of people in the office, feels tired and stressed and is thinking about quitting this lousy job....are most definitely not engaged.
It's a nice idea to pretend that everyone loves their work, and bounces out of bed every morning like tigger and sings zippetty doo dah on the way to work - lets face it folks, that's just not a vision which is rooted in reality.
In my experience, most people feel trapped or incapable of making a change, viewing the problem as an uncontrollable lump, and the only way out is to leave their job, or to grit their teeth, and plough on through - from an objective point of view, common sense dictates that both of these options will only prolong and exacerbate the problem in question, so where does the answer lie? More commonly now people are suggesting that it lies with the employer.
Employers in the modern business environment are becoming more and more switched on to the fact that it's not their customers throwing money at them that is keeping the company afloat on the seas of international finance (thankyou Monty Python) but the people in their own company. CEO's, HR bosses and Finance directors are starting to take an inwardly-focused stance on what makes their company tick, and investing more time and resources into the people who keep a company running.
Without people, an organisation or company is just a name registered with Companies House. If it doesnt do anything, it won't go anywhere. This is as true for a one-man-band battling the elements, as it is for a multinational conglomerate - look at the mayhem caused by any number of the recent Tube strikes when an entire workforce downs tools and decides that enough is enough.
It is with this in mind that looking after the people in your company becomes paramount, and this brings us back to engagement;
How do you engage a workforce? Look at your own experience and try to pinpoint those times when you felt ready to face the day and full of energy - perhaps it was the last time you knew you were going to have an awesome weekend, or perhaps it was the last time you got up to go on holiday and you were full of beans, perhaps it was your wedding day, or the day you first got the job you're in.
In an ideal world, we should all feel like this all of the time, and why not?! Imagine how great the world would be if everyone was happy and loved their job and overflowed with enthusiasm about it.
The work I do with A Different Beat leaves many delegates feeling refreshed, invigorated, awake, engaged, motivated and empowered to take charge of the day. Perhaps it's down to the physical activity, or the distraction, or the fact that its new and different, or maybe its just that the focus has moved from a team doing something (lets face it) quite monotonous or grinding, onto something completely detached from their daily routine.
Whatever the reasons behind it, the fact is - it works. Time and time again, simply the action of pulling people together and playing the drums seems to dispell all the negativity which gathers like a thick dust around teams. We act as housekeepers for organisations, and with the extra discussion and self-awareness we promote during our workshops, the company is destined to save themselves a considerable amount of expenditure.
The UK based CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel Development) released figures last year that the cost of hiring a member of staff, who then gets upset and quits, is in the region of £5,800. That's alot of money to be throwing away, when regular internally focused reviews and sessions could stop any number of employees from walking out of the door, and would only come at a fraction of the cost of high staff turnover.
Modern business requires that we look after talent, and retain high quality staff. With more stringent processes in palce to vet applicants for a job, and highly effective recruitment companies such as Asset Resourcing storming the marketplace, the battlefield topography has changed to becoming more about looking after those who have run the gauntlet and won the faith of your organisation, rather than employing a prehistoric view that they should now knuckle down and be satisfied with their bread and water.
But surely Team Building or personnel development alone cant solve these issues? No they can't. I don't believe that a company throwing money at their employees and sending them on a golf day, or a day at the races, or a weekend in Monaco is going to help - the fundamental problem is still there. It is far more effective for an organisation to take the time to impress upon their people that they are being looked after in a thorough and attentive manner - people need to feel valued, but they also need to 'buy in' to the notion that the responsibility for their engagement is shared between the employer and the individual.
The rabbit hole of Learning and Development branches in many directions with many theories and complicated stuffy concepts on what we should and shouldn't do and where we should spend our money - it's almost as confusing as car insurance.....but the important thing is to figure out three things;
Where you are now
Where you want be
How are you going to get there?
Sometimes, you need an external point to pivot around - that is what A Different Beat provides.
Friday, 5 June 2009
A short one
Sorry, it's been a while I know....but that shows one thing - that I've been busy! Plenty is happening, and one thing I've learned recently is that the old Scout adage "if you fail to prepare, be prepared to fail" is more true than we might at first think!
Research, preparation, and taking the time to digest our surroundings (metaphorically speaking, don't go munching on the horizon!) are the keys to getting to where you need to be.
Think on.
Research, preparation, and taking the time to digest our surroundings (metaphorically speaking, don't go munching on the horizon!) are the keys to getting to where you need to be.
Think on.
Saturday, 30 May 2009
Motivation...
Without wishing to sound like a standard 12 bar blues track - woke up this morning, got out of bed...and after having convinced myself that I should really go out for a ride on the bike while it's early and sunny, had an overwhleming lack of motivation to do so.
It's interesting how the human mind will concoct as many reasons as you can number to avoid doing something - "It'll take too long", "I'll look silly", "There's chores to be done"....
I was cycling across a field this morning singing "Watch Over You" by Alterbridge (badly), which was a simple nice experience - got some photos of Poppies in an Oil Seed field as well. The British countryside is something that shouldn't be missed - get out there, enjoy the colour and forget the world for a while.
The fascinating thing about exercise, fitness and just getting out and about is that it's not just about training your body, it's training your mind to change the way you think about not just going for a run or doing some situps, but how you approach everything in your life. I've found that since I've made the choice to pick up the handlebars and pedal my way around most of North St. Albans and the surrounding countryside, other things have fallen into place, like getting my washing hung out on the line, sweeping and mopping the floor regularly, and most importantly pushing harder with A Different Beat to get things done.
I've read a million times in books that Mind and Body are linked (we'll leave soul out of this for now, because that's an entirely separate debate) but.....this is also an interesting angle - we never really fully understand something until we experience it. Perhaps that's just my skeptical outlook on all things intangible.....
Anyway this is getting too deep. The best way to make bad times look better is to go and sweat it out a little bit, listen to some stand up comedy, and get involved with some others and have a laugh - organise a drum workshop with a few friends, do a whip round and give me a call, I'll come down and help you out.
Life is for living, so do that to the best of your ability!
Friday, 29 May 2009
Old ways of securing New business
I walked out of my local Budgens last night clutching a can of beans and some Cod Cakes for my dinner, and a fine sunny evening saw a group of 'youngsters' gathering with mountain bikes, ice cream, and twittering at each other with wanton abandon....(how poetic!)
Since my business corners not only on getting people to work better together, but promoting a love of music amongst young people, I saw an opportunity and so approached the group - with fascinating consequences.
How many of us assume that children between the ages of thirteen and seventeen hanging around in groups are clearly out to cause trouble? I'd hazard a guess that the percentage who answered yes to this is quite high. You'd be wrong.
Think about when you were a teenager - you get home from school, you do your homework, or at least pretend you have, you maybe have some crisps and try to watch TV which is all news that you don't understand or care about. So you go out to meet some friends and spend some time laughing, enjoying the outdoors, and messing about doing silly harmless things, only to be told off by miserable adults and avoided like the plague by anyone who happens to be a passer-by.
Bringing this back to the point, I went over to the group and simply said "Hi guys, do any of you like music?" and got a fantastic response - presumably because somebody other than their parents or a schoolteacher had given them the time of day. We had a very positive chat and they took some business cards.
By the time I'd walked away I felt far more comfortable in my neighbourhood knowing that the kids were alright. It also proved a theory that I'd been nurturing, which was that perhaps the best way of getting in front of the people you need to, is to just say hello.
Since my business corners not only on getting people to work better together, but promoting a love of music amongst young people, I saw an opportunity and so approached the group - with fascinating consequences.
How many of us assume that children between the ages of thirteen and seventeen hanging around in groups are clearly out to cause trouble? I'd hazard a guess that the percentage who answered yes to this is quite high. You'd be wrong.
Think about when you were a teenager - you get home from school, you do your homework, or at least pretend you have, you maybe have some crisps and try to watch TV which is all news that you don't understand or care about. So you go out to meet some friends and spend some time laughing, enjoying the outdoors, and messing about doing silly harmless things, only to be told off by miserable adults and avoided like the plague by anyone who happens to be a passer-by.
Bringing this back to the point, I went over to the group and simply said "Hi guys, do any of you like music?" and got a fantastic response - presumably because somebody other than their parents or a schoolteacher had given them the time of day. We had a very positive chat and they took some business cards.
By the time I'd walked away I felt far more comfortable in my neighbourhood knowing that the kids were alright. It also proved a theory that I'd been nurturing, which was that perhaps the best way of getting in front of the people you need to, is to just say hello.
Afraid of your own shadow?
The prescribed answer to everything is "NO!" - the cultural symptom of Britain in the 'naughties' seems to be stone cold fear. Everybody is afraid of bankruptcy, being mugged, getting dumped, being fired, losing their keys - and this seething, deep seated paranoia seems to have spread into business like an unchecked disease.
Banks today are afraid of going down the pan, businesses terrified to spend money - irrespective of the source of the fear, whether it is due to greed in more bountiful times, or media hype, it still grips us with it's foul slimy hands and influences our daily choices. Whatever happened to simple business and economic acumen? Speculate to accumulate.
My recent visit to the United States with Touchstone opened my eyes to the way the Americans conduct their daily lives. Funny as it may be for some to unkindly accuse them of being fat, stupid and humourless with no grip on sarcasm, they actually have things down pretty well as far as interpersonal relationships go. The overall attitude seems different from ours, and from what I can see they focus less on what they can lose or acquire themselves, but more what they can indemnify their friends, family and colleagues against, or - more to the point - what they can gain for them.
From observing different attitudes and behaviours on both sides of the Atlantic, it seems (and not without a wry smile of irony) that many of the problems with society, business and relationships in Britain today boil down to our desire to please all the people all of the time, and our inability to simply say "no, thank you". Our fear of reproach or unpopularity drive us to cruel heights and twisted views on what is acceptable.
So many complain about being treated badly by the people around them, when all it may take is a purge of old sensibilities and a fresh look at the way things can be done to effect a significant change.
Next time you meet somebody, ask yourself not what they can do for you, but what you can do for them - you'll be very surprised by the results.
Banks today are afraid of going down the pan, businesses terrified to spend money - irrespective of the source of the fear, whether it is due to greed in more bountiful times, or media hype, it still grips us with it's foul slimy hands and influences our daily choices. Whatever happened to simple business and economic acumen? Speculate to accumulate.
My recent visit to the United States with Touchstone opened my eyes to the way the Americans conduct their daily lives. Funny as it may be for some to unkindly accuse them of being fat, stupid and humourless with no grip on sarcasm, they actually have things down pretty well as far as interpersonal relationships go. The overall attitude seems different from ours, and from what I can see they focus less on what they can lose or acquire themselves, but more what they can indemnify their friends, family and colleagues against, or - more to the point - what they can gain for them.
From observing different attitudes and behaviours on both sides of the Atlantic, it seems (and not without a wry smile of irony) that many of the problems with society, business and relationships in Britain today boil down to our desire to please all the people all of the time, and our inability to simply say "no, thank you". Our fear of reproach or unpopularity drive us to cruel heights and twisted views on what is acceptable.
So many complain about being treated badly by the people around them, when all it may take is a purge of old sensibilities and a fresh look at the way things can be done to effect a significant change.
Next time you meet somebody, ask yourself not what they can do for you, but what you can do for them - you'll be very surprised by the results.
Team Building - is it just a game?
A fine Friday morning and a brisk walk to work found me digging deep into the pages of Linked In to find some nuggets of wisdom hidden somewhere within. I read a few posts, nudged a few new contacts, and stumbled upon this.
An interesting discussion thread I thought - so I posted a reply which you can read by following the link, but I also want to publish my thoughts here.
"I will obviously defend team building activities since it is a large part of what I do, but I use the worn-out moniker of team building as a coined term. You can play games and have meetings until you're blue in the face, lets be honest - change only occurs if the people involved want it to. I can facilitate for hours and give insights, tips etc, but using me as a consultant is always going to be a waste of money if the Managers and Team Members have no desire to change their habits and the way they work.
An interesting discussion thread I thought - so I posted a reply which you can read by following the link, but I also want to publish my thoughts here.
"I will obviously defend team building activities since it is a large part of what I do, but I use the worn-out moniker of team building as a coined term. You can play games and have meetings until you're blue in the face, lets be honest - change only occurs if the people involved want it to. I can facilitate for hours and give insights, tips etc, but using me as a consultant is always going to be a waste of money if the Managers and Team Members have no desire to change their habits and the way they work.
Just like anything that requires a change of outlook, attitude and mindset, it requires effort on both parts to reach a satisfactory conclusion. Take weight loss as a poignant case in point. People who try fad diets and expect to reach a target weight as if by magic, sadly remain overweight. Those who make a conscious effort to change habits, enjoy far better results.
I therefore suggest that while some team building activities are linked tenuously at best to the overall outcomes required, it takes more than expecting a consultant to wave a magic wand and for a companies problems to vanish overnight.
I think alot of people in business tend to get blinded by conceptual theory and analysis - at the end of the day (and I don't mean this to sound as crude as it does) any team is just a group of people trying to do something together, and unless they're very very lucky people and love their job, they're probably thinking they'd rather be somewhere else. Contempt breeds contempt, so far from the 'skipping through a flowery meadow' image that most "team building" companies love to portray, the reality is usually more an exercise in damage control and pointing out to delegates that they will find life as a whole a far more pleasant experience if they put some time into forging stronger relationships with the people around them.
They don't have to be best friends, they don't have to swap recipes or watch the game together - they just need to be able to say "Hey, I don't think that's a good idea" or "yep, sure, I'll get that done so we can get this project finished".
Office politics is the mortal enemy of effective teamwork, in my personal opinion - gossip, intrigue, scandal. I've seen the most effective workers are those who ignore this and "just get on with it".
In a nutshell, I don't feel that demonizing Team Building is accurate, nor is it fair. We should perhaps take more time to look inwardly and question whether it is the processes employed that stand in the path of change, or is it us?
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