After the summer, to infinity and beyond

I think if the famous Pixar designers  of Toy Story had a pragmatic catch phrase for their iconic space hero Buzz Lightyear to be  more recognisable in the real world, they would have him leaping off the bedroom lamp stand and forcefully hollering, ‘To Autumn, Winter, Christmas, Spring and our financial target policy’.  

In fact, why not consider a more realistic maxim for all our role models or significant life champions, whoever you choose them to be.  Arnold Schwarzenegger robotically pronouncing ‘I will return at some point with a stable plan which complements a new business model;’ Winston Churchill, stoic, ‘We will engage in a pugilist rule based combat system potentially on or near a sand centred saline fluid area’; Pepsi’s authentic description, ‘It’s a vegetable based fizzy beverage which is quite good’; British Airways stimulating ‘The Biosphere’s preferred aeronautical conveyance systemic enterprising purveyor of human commodity’ and Carlsberg’s mouth-watering ‘Almost a strong chance that this is close to a reasonable product if compared to global influential competitors of similar merchandise’.

Well of course; “to infinity and beyond”, I’ll be back”, “We’ll fight them on the beaches”, “It’s the real thing”, “the world’s favourite airline” and “(probably) the best lager in the world”, are definitely more impactive and stimulating for which there is a very powerful reason.

The truth and undeniable certainty is that your people want to see, feel or hear a vision which will motivate them towards being their professional best, and of course, this is defined in an authentic mission statement based on values.  And why value?  If we don’t value, we don’t care too much; if we don’t care too much we don’t deliver; if we don’t deliver we don’t compete.  Compete! In business?

So please complete this simple and free questionnaire

Is your mission statement incredibly impactive?

·         Yes
·         No
·         What is a mission statement

Do your staff value your great business mission?

·         Yes
·         No
·         Erm

If yes to the above, how do you know?

What is built into your business world to completely understand what motivates your people?

This is a free text reply area.

 

Finally the end of summer for me is triggered by my annual negotiating cost with mechanics.  As I sit in the Saab garage waiting for the service cost to my reasonably modest estate car and having instructed them NOT to replace the cam belt, the sales guy leans over and says ‘You’ll be back’’, a great statement because I will be (probably).

Speeding in Business by Paul Cook

Yes, yes, yes, I know, this is highly embarrassing - look at my profile on the Zest web site and you will understand why! http://www.zestbusinesscoaching.co.uk/business_coaching_consultant_profiles.php

Yesterday I was sat in a classroom, TLR Crowthorne speed awareness course, with 25 other dejected individuals.  Until a couple of months ago I was the proud owner of a Ford Galaxy people carrier, affectionately or sometimes mockingly referred to by my friends as ‘the van’ or ‘the brick on wheels’.  In the year two thousand with the arrival of child number 4 I forlornly handed the keys to my BMW 3 series in (my ultimate symbol of free will) and swapped said liberty for this 7 seven seater, economic, low carbon, environmentally efficient, reliable, benign transport.  Jeremy Clarkson reviewed this model in top gear magazine and I quote ‘people carriers are for people who have given up all hope’.  Should I buy the carpet slippers now?   Not so, over the forthcoming decade this miraculous piece of machinery conveyed 4 children, plus equipment, several tonnage in garden waste, dump runs,  golfing trips with six overweight friends and their expensive clubs; on one occasion this miraculous engineering phenomenon emptied  two bedrooms including two double beds and conveyed the contents to Berkshire from Kent.  Oh, and sometimes I would have to remind my trusty steed that it may need to consider drinking some fuel now and again.  So synonymous was I with this car that greetings would align as ‘Hi Paul how’s your van?’  Then one day, two months ago, tired of a long cart horse life my Galaxy said ‘sorry about this Paul but I am going to have to blow up now’ and in true Galaxy style kept its word and did.

Moving on, children now at that age (subject of another blog), space not needed etc. I found myself hurtling along the road in my new acquisition and of course new car equals test drive equals showing off to friend in passenger seat.  And, suddenly, camera, 47 in a 40, letter, speed awareness course. Welcome to your new liberation.

Here is the correlation.  I had a very strong belief about my future life in the ‘Galaxy’ world which was manifestly untrue once I had experienced the reality benefits.  I had very strong beliefs about speed cameras as did the majority of the class, in fact I was fervently struck by the strength of emotion expressed by a large group about something so straightforward.  Expressions of ‘revenue generation’  ‘persecution’, ‘oppressive government’, ‘police should catch real criminals’ - this wasn’t Stalag Luft 49B but TLR Crowthorne! A group of middle class middle England professionals being spoken to by a gentle experienced driving expert who simply explained that 10% over the speed limit you are 80% more likely to kill that child, speeding is on average only likely to get you to your destination between 5 and 8 minutes earlier, but guarantees you will be in a considerably more anxious state.  

So ask yourself these questions

·         Where do you ‘speed’ in business?

·         Where does it really get you?

·         What effect does your anxious state have on you and others?

·         Which parts of your business do you kill when you rush?

·         Does anyone want to sell me a Ford Galaxy?

Go beyond multi-tasking, its much safer and you achieve much more.

http://www.zestbusinesscoaching.co.uk/business_coaching_workshop_multi-tasking.php

Being 50 by Paul Cook

I resolved recently, that after due consideration and comparison with many other factors; world events, climate change, youth unemployment and general global unrest, that I must contribute a bit more. I decided therefore that I would be 50.  This decision luckily coincided with my 50^th birthday and so I wouldn’t be in trouble with the data police at The National Statistics office.  ‘It’s just a number’ the kinder of my friends and colleagues declared, ‘so you are officially old now’ the less compassionate (most of them) utter.  So what is in it for me?  Being 50 that is, The comedian Ricky Gervais described it as a time when you can now be grumpy about absolutely everything and  everyone will understand because you are 50.  Is that all there is?  An equation that unravels as
50/ - = Change of self-perception ability and belief.  Well of course it absolutely does not.

Although, I do find it interesting that such an insignificant change (after all, one second you are 49 the next 50) can drive a whole belief shift and outside perception; is it because that is the way our culture works?  Is it because the stigma attached to this says that in your 40’s you are capable of world domination, in your 50’s carpet slippers.  In his thought provoking book The Inner Game of Tennis, Timothy Gallway describes how we have a self-1 and self-2 and how due to self 1’s ‘judgement’ of self-2 (You are too old, to slow, not good enough etc.) we alter our own belief system.  Gallway explains a circumstance that is unchanging; imagine a tennis player serving a ball to the opponent the ball is called out by the umpire, self-1 immediately judges ‘you have done that again, what is the matter with you, you are not good at this’.  Take exactly the same circumstances and the umpire calls the ball in, self-1 and self-2 are now in harmony ‘we are great , fantastic, invincible’.

49 or 50 one second to the next, carpet slippers or world domination it’s up to you.  Surely the real equation is experience + belief= behaviour.

• Mary Dixon became a pilot at the age of 50, fulfilling a lifelong dream.
• Terri Tapper became the oldest female certified kiteboard instructor in the USA (and possibly the world)
• Larry Silverman of Ballston Lake, NY, achieved his 3rd-degree black belt in karate.

Etc.

So one of my closest and most trusted friends reassured me ‘It is only a number….. but quite a big one’!

Tune in this time next year for ‘ Being 51’.

Paul's Working Holiday

Want to improve your NLP skills?  Simple, go to Morocco!

My 82 year old Mother in Law is really 26; she has 82 years on planet Earth but they have not stopped her traveling like a Michael Palin on acid.  As an executive coach and NLP practitioner I am well versed with ‘well-formed outcomes’.  These fundamentally refer to a positive intention, evidenced by knowing what it would be like when you do it put into context, a reality check and then a positive first step.  When my Mother in Law says to my wife ‘’I’m going to Marrakech, will you come with me?’’ I think she hits all the ingredients.  What I hadn’t recognised and a new NLP model (I suggest) is what I now refer to as the ‘Third party well-formed outcome effect’ i.e. my wife to me- ‘’Paul will you come with us?  We would feel a lot safer.’’

Walking, no, fighting your way through the old Medina in aforementioned city as chief security/health and safety officer for elderly lady and pretty blonde woman brings many challenges; cobbled streets with many holes designed to trip elderly lady, moped riders who are hell bent on running over elderly lady should pot holes not succeed, middle aged Arabic gentlemen assertively staring at or touching hair of pretty blonde lady, unidentified persons looking for opportunities to relieve me of my wallet/camera/hat! And if one dares to make the audacious judgement to stop and view a map then this clearly is a signal to young boys to surround us and demand money.  Yes of course, as in NLP classes I would suggest this is the situation based on my own perception; what I needed to do was change that and see it from the Moroccan perspective.  This led me to also think about other presuppositions (of NLP) and how we can apply them in more challenging situations, after all the world is a challenging place, think of today’s economy and how you may need to do things differently in business:  Einstein said ‘in order to affect the world’s problems we need to think and act differently: that we won’t change the issues with the thinking that generated those issues in the first place’.

So my changed perspective linked to NLP presupposition tactics took the following forms;

The map is not the territory.  I now see what you see; it is ok for everything to be in disrepair, old and young to beg in the streets and people to be second best to mechanical transport.  It’s the way it is.

The meaning of communication is the response you get. Telling you that I don’t want to buy that old tat for extortionate prices if it was my last day on Earth is not clear enough, I just need to be more precise.

The person with the most flexibility in thinking and behaviour has the most influence on any interaction. After stealing my camera and demanding 50 Dirham to get it back can be easily addressed by me offering you half that amount.

There is a problem to every solution. Next year we are going to Blackpool, I hear the weather is lovely in April.

NB Morocco is a beautiful place with charming history.  It is also boot camp for NLP training.  

Business is all about the warmth of the Club House

As the father of four very active children I found myself again this weekend stood on the touchlines of many a football and rugby pitch.  It was particularly challenging this time around because the British spring time is nearly here and of course this means sub-zero temperatures and rain that has the ability to circumnavigate my arctic warfare attire and channel its way through to my unprepared human skin.  What is starkly ironic amongst the parents are conversations about how their precious didn’t want to get out of bed, ‘it’s too cold’ ‘I want to lay in’ ‘I can’t find my kit’ and of course’ it wouldn’t hurt to miss one week’  One such Father and long suffering friend who has energetically turned out week on week to watch his eldest perform asked, ‘remind me why we do this again’?  It was a tricky question because first, in between syllables a large bucket of cold water was thrown over him and second, at our most challenging times it is easier to forget the reason.

Another long suffering Dad and good friend of mine is Andrew Hull.  Zest are proud sponsors of the team he tirelessly coaches, Bray FC. http://localgiving.com/charity/brayfc

Bray is a very small outfit, in a small village, with a small pool of players to choose from.  They are a club operating in a South East league which can boast big towns and big players.  A metaphor once used by local media was that of ‘a rowing boat in a channel of battleships’.  However, since they were founded as a club they won most things in their group last season; now compete a full year above their age and this summer will be competing in Holland against international competition.  It is quite simple; Andrew is a coach in the full sense of our business ethos.  He recognises the talent in the team, he is flexible to their needs, he stands alongside them, he lets them play in every position, he lets them develop, he listens to them, there is only ever learning from mistakes and the focus is always on the goal.

In his hilarious account of managing a boy’s football team, Jim White vividly explains ‘You’ll win nothing with kids, fathers, sons and football (ABACUS Publishing).  Actually what really happens throughout is he discusses something more valuable than any trophy; a means of connecting and communicating with people and nurturing the relationship between fathers sons and football.  In other words, Leadership, Team and Business.

There is a raft of research concerning positivity, people power, focus on the goal and not the barriers.  As a business development company we have the beauty of independence from our clients.  We stand with the CEO’s (The parents) on the touchline, we listen to the comments and we see the frustrations in the cold weather of the current economy.  There are the parents who feel the cold and wet, the parents who complain and indeed the parents who don’t even turn up!  There are of course the successful ones who respond to the question ‘remind me why we are here’?  ‘just wait until those kids are warm in the club house and talking about how well they played’.

Next weekend?  Same again, different opposition but we will all be better equipped after last week.

Post written by Paul Cook

Drowning In Policy

I was on safety duty at the sailing club on Sunday and found myself in a boat with a man whom, like many friends at the club, I know well enough to ask about his last race, the repairs he has done over the winter on his boat and his recent ski trip.  What I didn’t know, until we had 2 hours together in a 4 metre boat looking out for capsizes on a cold, windy February morning, was that he works for the local, government-funded Health and Safety laboratory.

 As we were chatting about the struggles he has at work to implement policies effectively he told me about a piece of research that fascinates him.  On arriving in my much warmer, drier office on Monday morning I looked up the research and was immediately struck by its relevance to so many of the work conversations I have had recently.  Hans Monderman was a Dutch Traffic Engineer whose radical approach to urban transportation planning won him several awards including a nomination for the prestigious World Technology Award for the Environment (see www.pps.org)

Monderman showed that only when city and village streets are stripped of their traffic controls do the roads become safer. Drivers begin to take their cues from looking at other road users instead of the signs.  Monderman’s concept is known as Shared Space and its results are the reverse of what many people would expect: without all the traffic controls the traffic moves more slowly and major accidents decline drastically.  Ben Hamilton-Baillie, an English urban designer, is quoted as saying ‘It’s a moving away from regulated, legislated traffic towards space which, by the way it’s designed and configured makes it clear what sort of behaviour is anticipated’.

AM (alpha male) in our house returns on a daily basis railing against the ever increasing raft of policy boxes he is required to tick before anything gets done in the engineering business with whom he is a director.  Zest have recently completed a piece of research in the Police Force which looks in some detail at the effect of policy and procedure on officers using their discretion in making decisions. The outcome of our work suggests that the more policies that are in place the less likely people are to apply common sense to situations which don’t exactly fit the policy.  And yet, it seems, that both public and private sector organisations are increasingly dedicating time to designing ever more complex policies so that every last possibility is covered.

An endless ream of policies and procedures in organisations which are designed to guide every behaviour in every situation is like an endless procession of road signs on a highway.  They take the eye of the driver away from the road and say to him ‘if you follow these and behave in this way, then nothing bad can happen to you’.  The message is wrong, organisations are taking responsibility away from individuals and suggesting to them that there is no need any longer, to think for themselves.

Where is the brave organisation willing to take Monderman’s approach to limit the policies to those which ‘design and configure the space’?  Where is the organisation who is willing to work hard to inspire responsibility, create awareness of self and others in all its staff and then to sit back and watch the amazing results?

Blog written by Elaine

Antarctic Record Breaker!

As of 7:00AM (GMT) Bryony Balen became the youngest Britain to ski to the Geographic South Pole from the Hercules Inlet! Overall Bryony and the team have skied 1134.9km (705miles) over a period of 56 days. The journey took her across the planets coldest continent, where temperatures reached as low as -45°C (-49°F) and facing the daily struggle of high winds, white-outs, sastrugi, and an almost permanent uphill climb!

In the last two days of the expedition the team trekked 67km, a huge push to get there just a little sooner! Bryony told me she would promptly sleep after the long days (and nights) skiing, followed by a visit to the centre and the pole marker before heading back to the Union Glacier Base (via aeroplane) at 4PM (GMT). Naturally, she is ecstatic! 

Congratulations Bryony!