Well, I was thinking about this the other day. I was in conversation with someone about how to best market oneself when looking to change jobs . (They were looking to change jobs, not me, I hasten to add). There is no doubt that the Knowledge and the Skills that you have are important attributes to describe. But if you stop there, the CV ends up looking very dry, just like everybody else’s. Sure, we need to describe our Experiences, the depth and breadth of it. That helps – but there is one more dimension to ourselves which really helps us to stand out from the crowd.

Deliverables – the things we have achieved in the jobs we have held. In some cases deliverables might be actual products – a report, publication, a new innovation. Sometimes it might be a significant change in a service. Identifying these deliverables – perhaps, 5 or 6 key ones – and setting them out clearly in your CV will really help to differentiate you. Above all else, it shows that you can really deliver in jobs that you do.

So, perhaps we should be talking about Knowledge, Skills, Experience and Deliverables.

I have created a small “shrine” in the corner of a room. It is nothing sacred or special in the traditional sense. I used an upside down cardboard box covered with some really nice blue material. Then I placed a Tibetan singing bowl and a small oil burner on the top. It didn’t feel quite right, until I had the inspiration to place some cards on the top with pictures of Tibetan Buddhas (Vajrasattva, Medicine Buddha and Buddha Shakyamuni) on them.

I am sitting for about 20 minutes each day, and am contemplating a range of topics:

• Fear of death
• Fear of loneliness
• Fear of success
• Beauty
• Creativity
• Tranquillity
• Power
• Peace

Sometimes I just concentrate on the out breath and try to still the mind. These seem like two very different types of meditation, each with their own place. It’s curious, almost like a neurone realignment takes place after meditating. I feel like a different person.

The model which follows was developed in a coaching session with a client who was experiencing a process of massive change for the organisation that she was leading. 

At these times it is often difficult to see ‘the wood for the trees’. One can easily feel overwhelmed with the volume of work that needs attention, and confused as to the priorities. The model identifies three pillars of activity – business as usual, transition, and self care. The model applies equally to issues relating to the organisation as a whole and to the individual working within the change process. 

The first pillar is the essential activities which the organisation needs to address to keep going whilst change is taking place. It is important to stay focused on this if organisational and individual performance is to be maintained. 

The second pillar addresses the activities that need to take place to create the transition to the new. This may involve setting up time limited task groups, a wide range of organisational development activities, helping people to adapt to the change, offering key support. 

The third pillar is important because it acknowledges the fact that it is all too easy to forget our own needs as leaders of change. Addressing self care ensures that needs are met, and resilience during the change is maintained. 

Above the pillars sits ‘Legacy’ – the need to ensure that the organisation looks at the things which it has been doing in the past that need to be retained – either as activities or as tacit knowledge. Ensuring that we capture the legacy is a way of maintaining respect for the work that everyone has been doing. 

Below the pillars sits ‘Values’. We work from a value base which determines how we function on a day to day basis, how we make decisions. It is important to stay in touch with our core values as we lead people through the change to ensure that we maintain integrity and are able to take people with us on the journey. 

So, that is the model. How does it work? It helps us to see that there are activities in each of these boxes that we need to give attention to. In order to take things forward with balance we need to be mindful of activities in each box, so that we do not neglect any particular area. 

The model builds on the work of William Bridges in his book ‘Managing Transition’, and on the work of Stephen Covey in ‘The Eighth Principle’ which looks at the importance of leaving a legacy. 

The coaching client I worked with on this model found it really useful to orientate herself as she worked through the change process.

It helps to keep looking at the model and ensure that each of them is being given the appropriate attention.

But I do use the principles of Buddhism to guide my thinking and my actions. I find the principles both illuminating and supportive. I also think that my training in philosophy has left me feeling that Buddhism is the best fit with a rational mind.

Atheism seems to be a scientific principle without a psychological understanding. It’s too easy. Too simplistic. There must be more than just random acts of atoms. When I look for Jungian synchronicities I find them – I find these links and ‘coincidences’ that lead me to believe that there are forces, unifying characteristics that make no sense without the ghost in the machine.

There needs to be a link between us all, a reincarnation, and a collective unconscious for everything to fit together and be coherent. And the moral principles of Buddhism help us to live a life that has the happiness that makes for a fulfilled life. Without this we enter a nihilistic version of living that makes one wonder what it heads towards.

Earlier posts:

Part Three
Part Two
Part One

 ”Two hands clap and there is a sound; what is the sound of one hand?”

 This phrase resonated with me for years, and versions of it appear in many of my poems, particularly in the collection ‘Zen Words’ (2003).

 At this age I was also listening to an increasingly diverse spread of music. Psychedelic music was introducing me to the idea of meditation, as was ambient music. In particular, I explored the music of Gong and Daevid Allen. Beyond the references to drugs and drug-induced altered states, and the obsession with pixies and silly worlds, there was a playfulness of words that drew my attention. It was clear to me that much of the thinking about alternative worlds and altered states borrowed heavily from ideas in Buddhism.

 Ambient music was also bringing me closer to the ideas of mindfulness – states of mind where it is possible to shift to different planes of consciousness. Rightly or wrongly, I thought that the route to all of this was probably through exploring Buddhism in more depth.

 See the first two parts of this series on Buddhism here:

Part One  – an introduction

Part Two – the early spiritual journey

The inbox isn’t our work

For those of us who spend a lot of time working with email it is easy to become caught up in the illusion that the inbox is the workplace. It is true that a lot of our work may come to us through this medium, but that does not mean that work is equal to and captured by the email inbox. There are other places for us, other media which we should be adopting. When we become a slave to the inbox, we lose our sense of perspective and can often not see what is important (especially if it doesn’t show up in email!)

I’m more productive than I think I am

I now do a weekly and monthly review process. This gives me an opportunity to look back over a meaningful timeframe and see what I have done. I look through the diary, email, personal and work journals. I capture a summary of what I have done that week or month, and give myself a mini-report (it doesn’t have to be written). These reviews invariably dig up a volume of work beyond what I would expect. They are a pleasant surprise.

So – by taking myself out of the inbox, and ensuring that I don’t spend too much time each day on email, and regularly reviewing what I have achieved – it is possible to shift perspective and escape the ‘busy’ trap.

Ice breaking - ice breakers at work

 What it does

 This is a great warm-up exercise for the beginning of a group meeting. It can also be used in a one-to-one situation.

 In a group, it will change the atmosphere in the room and create a co-operative energy to prepare for the business of the meeting.

 How to play it

 The exercise is done in two rounds. For the first round, each person takes it in turns to describe something which is really annoying, something which ‘bugs’ them. It can be in any context, although it is helpful if it is in the relevant to the context. There is no judgement of that ‘bug’ – but the rest of the group has the opportunity to contribute with comments or suggestions for overcoming the ‘bug’.

 In the second round of the exercise, each person describes something which gives them a real ‘buzz’. Again, others can contribute and add comments.

 How it works

 The first round gives each person an opportunity to describe something which is causing problems in the daily work. There is also an opportunity to create a shared approach to problem solving. It also gives air-space to issues which might otherwise be considered too trivial to raise.

 In the second round, the focus on positive things which make each of us buzz, helps to create an environment of appreciative involvement.

Well, over recent months I have been revisiting the GTD book and have found myself stepping up to the next level with this approach.

I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts from the GTD community (try here and here) over the last few days. It’s helping me to get GTD to the next level. David Allen talks about GTD in the same way as Aikido and other martial arts, so he adopts the belt model in the same way that processes like Six Sigma have. In that context, I am just moving up a belt as I get to grips with more of the key principles of GTD. I have to say, I think this only takes me from White Belt to Yellow. There’s still so much to learn!

One particularly interesting idea which I came across on several of the podcasts is the ‘Pomodoro Technique’ which is essentially a focus tool, using a timer to ensure that you stay to task for 25 minutes. I also like the idea of seeing specific tasks in units of pomodoro. Interesting idea! I’m going to try it out for some of the tasks that I have trouble getting to.

In progressing from White Belt to Yellow as I grapple with some of the key concepts of GTD, I would summarise these as follows:

•  Weekly Review – not doing this at all regularly yet. See the need, and am aiming for a set time each week
• 6 Level Model for Review – not really got this at all. The idea of the different altitudes of perspective. Needs more study. It captures the idea that we need to see our life from different levels all the way from the ‘runway’ i.e. day to day actions, up to a view of our life’s purpose.
• Inbox to Zero – must have only achieved this a couple of times in the last few years. I am conscious that the reason I don’t get there often is indecisiveness in the moment.
• @Context – finally getting my head around this now. I’ve found the division of lists makes sure that I push my focus where it needs to go at the appropriate time. This is all about not having the complete list of tasks in front of me at any time – only the tasks that fit the context I am in right now.

So much to work on, but the payback in terms of both productivity and what Allen calls a ‘Mind like Water’ is huge.

So, here are a few ideas / questions about networking to push the thinking into some of the mechanics and principles of the activity:

Who is in your network?

Think broadly about this. Not just people who are close friends or colleagues. Improve your skills at collecting contact details for people. To get you started, use a mind map (or spider diagram) to set out the people who you are in contact with. Each arm of the map reaching out from you at the centre can be a domain or area of your life e.g. family, friends, work colleagues, people with common interests etc. Work on this for at least 30 minutes. If there aren’t at least a hundred people on this mind map you haven’t thought deeply enough!

Do you have an effective network planning tool? Is it backed up effectively?

There are many ways of managing a network. I use Microsoft Outlook’s Contact Database to capture my network contacts. It means that I have details with me at all times as I use a blackberry. It’s a great way to capture people’s contact details as well as snippets of useful information about them if like me you have a poor memory. The database should be backed up so that system failure (i.e. your computer dies) doesn’t mean that you lose all your contacts.

Do you review your network regularly?

I go through my network at least once a month, looking for people who I need to get in touch with to ensure that I am keeping regular contact. It takes maybe five minutes to just skim through all of the names A-Z and check for anything that jumps out at me. I usually come away from this with a few people I should drop an email to, or phone. And I may see someone in there whose details need updating.

Do you archive dormant contacts, and do you capture all contacts no matter how fleeting?

A network needs to be up to date.  The regular review helps you to keep it current. It’s also worth looking for people in the network who you haven’t been in contact with for some time. If there is no good reason to make contact now, archive the contact. Don’t delete it – you don’t know what is just into the future. You may have a reason to contact them which you are not aware of now. Try to capture contact details whenever you can. A business card, a phone number or email address. I input them into the database as soon as I can. If possible, follow this up with a quick contact if that is appropriate.

Who else should be in your network?

Take regular opportunities to review your network and think about potential gaps. Then take proactive steps to fill those gaps.

Do you have a worthwhile contact to make?

As I implied in the opening paragraph, effective networking is not about what you can get out of people, it is about what you can give. People are naturally suspicious of the “salesman” type approach to marketing where there is a pitch either explicitly there or implied. For effective networking it helps to begin by thinking about what you have to offer before you make the contact. That helps to maintain integrity in relationship building.

A key skill

It’s difficult to overstate the importance of networking. Relationships between us is what makes the world go round. The process of networking is at the heart of this. The first step of making the initial contact is something I used to find really difficult, particularly at networking events, conferences, seminars etc. I found a way round this by introducing myself and asking a quick question about the other person to get them talking about themselves. After a few goes at this it felt more and more natural. It has helped me to really enjoy the networking event.