Posts Tagged Productivity

Learning Academy 2

It has been a few months now, and the Academy is progressing really well. We have used the Myers Briggs Type Indicator and had a really useful workshop on that. Then we started work on our first book – ‘Transitions’ by William Bridges.

The book we are working on at the moment is ‘Do More Great Work’ by Michael Bungay Stanier. I wrote to Michael a few weeks ago to see if he would be interested in working with us. He lives in Canada so there were some practical difficulties to overcome. However, thanks to the wonder of Skype we managed to plan and deliver a 1 hour workshop at the end of last week. The technology worked beautifully thanks to a team with plenty of bright ideas. In the end 12 of us worked with Michael and we had a small camera crew in the
space with us to capture the event. This will be online soon on the work website along with a few small clips on YouTube.

One of the interesting things about the workshop was that we invited in some of the freelancers who work with us on various projects. It was a great opportunity to recruit the wider team to work together – and the
feedback from the freelancers was incredibly positive. “The first time in years I have had the chance for any personal development” said one of them.

All in all, it was an incredibly positive experience. Michael’s input was really helpful and very focused, and as a team it was a really productive experience. One of the team commented that it was as though Michael was in the room with us.

The Development Academy will continue over the next few months.  I will post further feedback on its progress.

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Somewhere between head and heart

I found a completely new idea, startling me as I considered it, and it appeared in a fascinating conversation with a colleague. We had co-created it.

I am looking for the point of balance between head and heart. It’s the dance between the known and the unknown. I have written before about the way in which so much of the work that we do is a performance. Well, that has made me think more about the nature of the performance. Sometimes we work from a very scripted place – at such times it might be a meeting with a formal agenda, clear goals and a project plan. There is little space for innovation or creativity. This is the head space.

Then, at other times we are drifting in creative space, looking for ideas. Perhaps we are brainstorming or generating new ideas in other ways. This is the heart space.

The place between head and heart brings these things together into a creative tension. The closest of comparisons would be with improvisation. Especially with musical improvisation. If you haven’t listened to a CD of one of Keith Jarrett’s live improvisations, I would recommend that you do. He goes onto the stage with the parameters of the live event as the only boundaries. Beyond that, he empties his mind of pre-conceived ideas and creates new and fresh music on the spur of the moment. It is remarkable to hear and incredible to watch.

It is this space that I am thinking about. Thus, somewhere between head and heart, we find a creative space of improvisation. It can come in giving a presentation, running a workshop, in a coaching session. When it arrives, we find that the words springing from our mouths are a surprise. The ideas that come forward are new, they form in the interaction with others. We find a completely new perspective in the connecting with others.

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How do we know unless we ask

We spend so much time trying to figure out what other people are thinking, trying to second guess what someone means when they ask us to do something. This is the stuff of working life, the ambiguity that we face every day.

We are given a project to deliver, or we are asked to become a member of a group. In each case we may get an email, see the person who is briefing us on the project. Then we have to make sense of the task. What did they mean? Is there a sub-text to this that we don’t understand? Why have we been asked to involve that particular person when they always seem to be so resistant? What exactly should the outcome be?

So we set off on a mission to clarify what this all means. We may spend ages trying to unpack it all in our head. Then we check it out with friends and colleagues.

We can get lost in the multiple layers of an onion, each time we speak to someone a new layer of intrigue is revealed. We piece together a complex picture, wondering how we are going to navigate our way through all of this.

And then at the point where it all seems like a state of chaotic confusion, the glaringly obvious suddenly strikes us.

Just ask.

Instead of trying to read minds, trying to make sense by going all around the problem, we should go direct to the heart of the problem. If it’s the boss we often don’t feel able to check back. But that is what we should do.

We should go back to the source – and ask. Seek clarification.

Yes, I know it seems staggeringly obvious. But how often have you wasted time trying to make sense of something when you could have just asked?

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Spirit Soul: Pursuance

On Sunday I settled down late morning to write a poem. It’s approaching the anniversary of my father’s death and I wanted to do something that would help with this. I was also keen to build on something I had already written. I took a poem from a collection of poems back in 1998 called ‘Brother Spirit Brother Soul’ and thought this would provide useful inspiration.

The poem had 24 lines, so I dropped each line at the top of a separate page. The intention was to write a poem for each of the lines. After I had written one I thought I’d try another. Well, without going into detail on the passage of time, 6 hours later I had written 24 poems, chosen a photo for the cover and had a booklet completed.

I may return to it to do some further editing of the poems, but for now here it is. I’ve sent it out to a few people for comment. I’ve never had such an intensive period of creativity before. It’s fascinating to look back at it now and see how the ideas ebbed and flowed as time passed. Pushing myself on with the experiment brought through ideas that wouldn’t have otherwise emerged. An interesting experiment, which I think I will repeat.

What did it teach me? Immense amounts of creativity come just one step at a time. Commit to small steps. Having 24 titles to work with created the instant stimulus to work from, which made the process of generating something new easier because there was already a starting point.

Anyway, feel free to download the pdf by clicking here and have a look at the book – “Spirit Soul: Pursuance”. You can also go to this page to find other pdf’s for download. I’d welcome feedback. I’m still unable to open up comments without being deluged with junk, so use the contact form.

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The Coaching 30: ten to keep you going

OK, I wrote a few months ago about the book I am writing called ‘The Coaching 30‘. Back in April of this year I sent out ‘The Coaching 30 - four for starters‘ to a group of 30 people to get feedback. This was really useful as it gave me lots of ideas for the manuscript as I continued to work on it.

Time passes, and I am nearly ready to send out the next instalment. It will comprise 10 of the 30 tips / ideas developed from my coaching practise. The distribution list is growing. Let me know through the contacts page if you would like to be included. What does that mean? Well, I will send you the pdf of the 10 tips and ask you to give me feedback on it – not a lengthy review, just your reaction and any useful comments you may have. I also ask you to send the pdf to anyone else who you think might find it useful.

So, do get in touch if you are interested.

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Coaching and the Laws of Physics

Spinoza said, “Nature abhors a vacuum”, by which he meant that empty or unfilled spaces are unnatural as they go against the laws of nature and physics. If we create a vacuum, nature will conspire to fill it.

What does this have to do with coaching? There are many ways in which we can use the metaphor of a ‘vacuum’ and apply this law to help us to understand what is going on.

We often find ourselves needing to create an empty space in our diary. We may have a big project to do, or need to clear a day so that we can do some serious strategic thinking. And then once we have that space created, something weird happens.

Instead of getting down to the task in hand, we find countless distractions filling the day. The emptiness of a day becomes filled with detritus before we get to the big thing we were going to work on. So, the presence of a ‘vacuum’ in our schedule creates this strong urge to fill the space. We often criticise ourselves with this habit, seeing it as procrastination. Perhaps a better way to see it is simply as the workings of this natural law. If we are not careful, we find the wrong things filling the gap.

One way to overcome this, is to change the order in which we do these things. It is often better to put the new task in to the mix before we create the space, so that it is the first thing to drop into the vacuum ahead of anything else. So, create overload, then a space in the diary. The sequence of this is critical to success.

There is an equal and opposite law which is often referred to which explains what is happening here. It is called Parkinson’s Law – work expands to fill the time available. So, if we start creating spaces in our diary, we need to be clear what we will do with them if we are to be sure that we will focus on the right things.

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The Coaching 30 – 4 for Starters

Over the last few months I have been working on the latest book, “The Coaching 30″, which is a set of 30 tips drawn from my coaching practise. They will be useful for coaches, and also for anyone looking to improve their creativity and productivity. I have 28 tips prepared and undergoing editing. So I thought it was a good time to share some of this. I’ve already posted a few of them on this blog. But I wanted to share 4 tips in a booklet form, so that readers could see what they will get in the full 30 tip e-book. I have sent this booklet out to a small group of contacts who are acting as a ‘Critical Friend Circle’. The feedback from this so far has been incredibly helpful.

I’m keen to keep building this circle of support, as well as building a readership for the finished book so if you would like a copy of the booklet please do get in touch using the contact form and I will send it to you.

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The Coaching 30: #3 – A Working Model for Handling Change

 

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.

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The Coaching 30: #2 – Handling a crisis

OK, so you have a crisis on your hands. And then that is followed with another crisis. You are really clear that the challenge for you above everything else is to find a way to avoid feeling sorry for yourself. Finding a way to ensure that you don’t start to look for as many things going wrong as you can. The slippery slope into pity is easy to slide down. So, what do you do to counter this?

Well, many people advocate positive thinking and taking your mind off what is happening. But that amounts to a process of denial. Ignoring negative feelings doesn’t make them go away. They just end up being submerged and surface sooner or later.

One solution, which creates a helpful balance, is to use a small notebook. If you already keep a daily journal then you could use that. Take two facing pages. At the top of the first page write “Pity Page” and write down everything that is going wrong for you – ensure that you get out all of the associated negative feelings too. Once you get to the bottom of the page you need to stop! Don’t be tempted to go onto a further page. The next page needs to have the following title at the top – “Passion Page”. Here you can write down everything that is going well for you, everything for which you can be grateful, everything you have done that was good. No matter how negative you feel, there will always be something great – even if it is the sun in the sky or the food on the table. Again, work to the bottom of the page and then stop.

You’ve had the opportunity to express some of those negative feelings, but have also balanced that out with the passion of living. Now take a deep breath and move on to the next thing!

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The Coaching 30: #1 – Celebrating Procrastination

So we all find it difficult at times to apply ourselves to the things that need doing, when there are lots of things that don’t need doing, but we want to do because they are fun!

This morning I was supposed to be settling to the redrafting of the new book which I feel like I have been working on since the beginning of the 18th century. I have been sitting down to do this for weeks now, and only succeeding maybe one in six times. The rest of the time is applied to other useful things, but not the task in front of me.

It’s a great way to clear backlogs of papers, and wipe away the dust. There must be a good book to be written on the subject of everything that can be done when you’re trying to avoid doing the main task of the day. Except that you probably wouldn’t get round to writing it, because you would find heaps of other things to do. Let’s face it, even writing weblogs is a good way of avoiding doing that difficult task.

Well, this morning I managed to overcome the problem by spending half an hour on an exercise from Julia Cameron’s book ‘The Artist’s Way’. The exercise is called ‘Blasting through Blocks’ and is well worth a try if you find it difficult to get on with things. She focuses on the two big blockages – anger and fear. By bringing them into sharp relief we can unravel all sorts of baggage about fear of success, avoiding the risk of failure and so on. The key to the whole thing is that it really does work. It uses a simple set of questions which are worked through before settling to the project. You are basically looking for issues of resistance.

The questions are:

  1. What resentments do you have in connection with this project? 
  2. What fears do you have that relate to this project? 
  3.  Is that everything, or is there something else? 
  4. What do you stand to gain by not doing this work? 
  5. Make a deal with yourself – “Okay, Creative Force, you take care of the quality and I’ll take care of the quantity.”

Try working through these and see what happens.

Music and the letter B

Last night I surfed the internet and found musical downloads from Christian Fennesz (the guy who contributed to the last track on David Sylvian’s album, ‘Blemish’) – beautiful and mysterious music. And I found heaps of material in the archive of Resonance FM which is a London based music station broadcasting over the airwaves and the internet. Some interesting stuff here. I’ve also been listening to tracks by Farmers Manual and Autreche – strange noises, but interesting experiences still. On the CD player, I’m listening to Eno, Sylvian and the latest Radiohead album which is growing in my consciousness. In the car is ‘Heathen’ by David Bowie which has some incredibly catchy tunes on it. This morning my concentration was helped by listening to late Beethoven string quartets – Beethoven, Bartok and Bach really help me to concentrate. What is it about the letter B?

And why am I telling you all this? Sometimes music can permeate into the activities of the brain, and settle a distracted mind so that we can find our way to the work that we need to do.

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The Coaching 30 – an introduction

Over the coming weeks I will be posting excerpts from a new booklet which I am working on. Called ‘The Coaching 30′ it will be available as a pdf downloadable file with 30 sections, each giving a tip or suggestion which I use in my coaching practise. Some of these tips will be ideas which I have developed in working with clients, others will be suggestions for materials, books and ideas from others – particularly leaders in the field who I have studied. The plan is to offer up some of the 30 tools and tips here on the blog. Then, if you want the whole thing you can get hold of the pdf. I hope you find the resources useful.

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Inbox and Productivity Principles

blackberry-curveThere are two principles which have helped me to increase my productivity recently. They occurred to me during a coaching session.

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.

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The importance of reflective practise

What do I  mean by ‘Reflective Practise’? This is the regular habit of asking yourself questions about how you are going about your work, your daily habits of living. Finding the opportunity to step back, and take a critical (but positive) look at what is working, what is not working, and what the key learning points are from the day.

Doing this on a regular basis is key, writing it down is also a fundamental part of the learning process. The act of writing ensures that the points are captured for future reference, but it also ensures a level of objectivity through the writing act. Seeing the words on the page helps to detach me from the points that are being made so that I can reflect on them, look at what they mean and take action based on them.

Key questions for this reflective practise would be:

  • What was good about today?
  • What 3 things worked really well?
  • What didn’t go so well?
  • What have I learnt from this?

Not too many questions – this isn’t meant to be a major exercise. And the questions are just pointers to prompt thinking.

If we are to move habits and behaviours, embedding those which are productive and doing something about habits which don’t serve us, we need reflective practise to act as a prompt to move us forward.

What did you do today? What were you proud of? Can you point to something and appreciate it, so that tomorrow you begin the day from a positive place and continue to build?

Commit to this new practise for 30 days and see where it takes you. New habits take this long to become embedded. Work with this as a form of self appreciation, and see how it builds a sense of direction and esteem. Good luck.

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David Allen’s GTD

Many of you will already be aware of a book by David Allen called ‘Getting Things Done’. This book, published in 2001 has become something of a phenomenon over the years. Allen has gone on to publish a couple of other books which build on the concept. The approach, ‘How to achieve stress-free productivity’, is known on the net as GTD. I first came across it back in 2005 and have been experimenting with the techniques since. They are a really useful add-on to the underlying principles to be found in ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’ by Stephen Covey.

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.

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Ideas like Stars

My head is full of ideas at the moment – a million ideas. Like a million stars in the sky. And that set me to thinking about the power of the metaphor.

  • which ones shine the brightest
  • which ones are dying
  • which ones are new born
  • which ones are nurturing life with their brightness
  • which ones need more focus with the telescope to see them clearly

I’m talking about ideas and stars here – it’s an interesting way to look at ideas and decide what to do with them.

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Exercises for creating new poems

I thought it would be useful to set out some of the ideas and techniques I use to produce new poems. When the creative muse is off on holiday, I sometimes draw inspiration from old poems. I am also really interested in techniques from popular music, particularly approaches like remixing, remastering and cut-ups. These ideas can be adapted to the printed word.

So, I am currently using the following techniques:

  • Take a selection of old poems and re-work each one into a new version, using different lay-outs or verse forms.
  • Take old poems and redraft or create new poems as reactions, prequels, sequels and observations on the material in the original poems.
  • Take a number of poems and dismantle them to create new works from the pieces by putting them back together in new ways.
  • Take one poem and use each line from it as the first line or title of a new poem, creating a whole sequence of poems which builds on the original.
  • Take one poem and reconstruct it into a series of remixes – like musical remixes, draw out key lines and phrases for repetition and distortion.

I’m going to experiment with some of these techniques over coming weeks. If you use any of them, feel free to post feedback in the comments.

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Triplux :: 101 Things in 1001 Days

Triplux :: 101 Things in 1001 Days

I was referred to this meme by Clare at Eclectic Artisan. It’s a great idea – basically you draw up a list of 101 things that you want to complete in 1001 days. There are many sites out there with versions of this. This one has a great list, partly completed.It’s interesting to see which ones he has done so far. The first ten are:

1 Learn enough French to watch Amelie without subtitles
2 Learn to juggle 4 balls
3 Visit Stewart Island
4 Stop eating meat for a week
5 Win at least $10 on an Instant Kiwi lottery ticket
6 Read 10 books on the Modern Library (Random House) top 100 list
7 Release a message in a bottle containing this web address
8 Publish this list on the web
9 To have seen all IMDB top 250 movies
10 To have seen all AFI top 100 movies

I like the idea of this – it’s an alternative to New Year Pledges. The idea of 1001 days is that it is a more realistic time frame to work with than a year. I’m going to have a go with this. I already have a heap of goals which I could put into the list. I need to remember the following basics:

The Mission:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on your part).

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David Gurteen’s Knowledge Letter

GURTEEN View: Gurteen Knowledge Letter

I have been a member of David Gurteen’s on-line Knowledge Community for about a year now. His website is a tremendous resource comprising web links, book details, people profiles and event summaries. It is well worth a look. I also subscribed to David’s newsletter. There are a lot of sites offering regular newsletters, many of them are a bit feeble. David’s newsletter is full of great information and links. As a rough guide, I usually spend anything up to an hour exploring the various links and sources of information which he cites in each issue. The link takes you to the archive of newsletters – why don’t you sign up to the newsletter too? It goes to over 12,000 people in over 130 countries. David sees himself as a knowledge management specialist, but you don’t have to be into KM to find his information useful.

On the subject of newsletters, I’m experimenting with the idea of a newsletter. I have put together a pilot issue for June. It would contain the blog entries for the previous month and any other internet stuff that I thought might be interesting. I’m aware that not everyone wants to check a blog regularly (although you can use useful services like Bloglines to make it easier – see subscribe button to the right). So I thought a newsletter might help. Comments welcome on this.

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WikidPad – wiki notebook/outliner for windows

WikidPad – wiki notebook/outliner for windows

I’ve spent some time over the last few days experimenting with a new piece of Open Source software called wikidPad. It’s an amazing piece of software based on wiki technology. I think it might be really useful for managing to do lists in a more flexible way than mainstream software like Microsoft Outlook. There is also a really helpful discussion group to support the software. It has recently become open source so I guess there will be a lot of development from the group over coming months.

It also looks like a really good outliner, and space for keeping notes. I’ve copied the book manuscript over to it, so that I can try it out. It has the ability to create hyperlinks between pages ‘on the fly’. You just type in a WikiWord, which is a word with capitals in the middle, like WikkiWord itself.

Another great thing which it can do, is to export the wiki as html, so it is possible to put together a series of linked pages and then export it as webpages, all without the need to know any html.

One to explore some more.

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