‘Happier’ by Tal Ben- Shahar

This book and its companion were impulse buys at an airport bookstore.  I can get desperate for something to read on a flight and Melbourne is a two hour journey from Brisbane.  I have begun weening myself off the Australian Financial Review, (at least being compulsive about reading each issue).  ’Happier’ has been an excellent investment.  It has been beneficial for me to have an opportunity to reflect upon my own journey that constantly struggles for a happier existence; it is not easy for me.  But on another level this book is an excellent development program for leaders.  In this era it is so often obvious that people are struggling to maintain happiness in their lives and when this is manifest in the workplace its effects can be very destructive both for the individual and the surrounding people.  Understanding how happiness can be fostered and encouraged is a leadership facet.  The use of goals, understanding purpose, finding an inner calling; these are all things raised by numerous leadership experts but many times they are trampled beneath the stampede of the latest and greatest leadership fads.  Meaning, Pleasure and Strengths- very important principles but when applied in a holistic way in a workforce can ignite the best in people.  I am still in the book and looking forward to starting ‘Even Happier’ in the next few days.

Do You Think Democracy Can Handle It?

The future- can democracy handle it?  Do you look around at the people next to you on the train and the footpaths on the way to work and have faith in their ability to bring critical thinking to a ballot box?  I have had the idea for years that the status of superpower should be an assigned status.  My preference has always been Norway. It has nothing to do with my heritage but Norway is a sane democracy.  Let us hand the nukes over to those guys and let them manage diplomacy with a calm pragmatic nordic paradigm.  I think the United States is well past being a reliable superpower.   It cannot deliver essential services to its populace and it is still filled with folks who want to go backwards (out of fear) rather than face the reality our species is facing.  We are all waiting for the day when China is the new superpower- the economic ascendancy of China is remarkable but the fact remains that China is not a democracy.  As resources get tight, climates change, people rebel and refugee number swell, who will cope best?  I have a sinking feeling that authoritarianism will become a competitive advantage.    The stagnation in the US built on the sludge of special interest greed will be a huge impediment in dealing with a potentially dangerous future.

What Helped Me Decide to Migrate?

I guess a trip back from Perth on a 737 can often elicit some strange thinking patterns.  I actually find that flying generally causes my brain to go off some tangents.  The trip last week home from Perth included some reflection on my decision to travel down-under and seek to forge a life as an Australian.   There were many factors in this equation but one in particular I wish to note here. Bob Hawke.  Yep – that’s right.  As a young man I alway perceived Australia as a progressive society with a can-do attitude to make things good for everybody.  It seemed to have a culture that was more concerned with ‘who you are’ rather that ‘what you are.’  My tipping point came when I saw Bob celebrating the America’s Cup win achieved by Alan Bond and his crew. I knew I had to live in a country that had a Prime Minister who stuck up for the working people by foreshadowing massive celebrations and absenteeism at work.  Bob was my kind of guy; in fact he was everybody’s kind of guy who expressed the most profound joy at the win his country had just achieved against the Yanks and particularly the NY Yacht Club. I liked his politics for the most part too.  Now – imagine that happening now- in 2009.  I am not sure it would be the same.

Does Process Kill Innovation?

I think this is a fairly common debate.  I tend to find a lot more Six Sigma types in resource and commodity companies.  In these environments they also tend to have more clout.  The mindset is conducive to the engineering process driven environment and hence like a hot house flower they thrive.  I am sure that process is not a bedrock for  excellent innovation; what I am not so sure of is whether process supports and sustains innovation.  I think this will form part of my next research project in Metacomm.  I have plenty of clients asking me these types of questions and I can draw upon my own business experience as a leader, owner and consultant.  I do think the paradigm will be either/or; it will be an ‘and’ paradigm- my forecast now.  Process is to many a comfort- to others a big brick wall.  Our environment as individuals and organisations demands agility- the world is changing quickly and big changes are more sudden than in the past.  My own bias is toward a non- process dependent collaborative environment with my colleagues.

Is Your Planning Short or Long?

We live in a short term world. The short term world is looking down the barrel of environmental, social and financial disaster. Oh yeah- another doom and gloomer. Well I see the reports that the economy is now lifting again but yet I can see no fundamental changes to the capitalist paradigm. I see business leaders sighing relief around the world but not really changing the way they approach sustainability. Sustainability across the interconnected environment we live in; healthy organisations tend to sprout healthy communities, more effective families and better educated and adjusted children. SImplistic? Darn right. I could spend a lifetime outlining this treatise but the principles that guide this universe (or at least our part in it) are indisputable. Have a look at this guy;  he gets it.  Whether his market forecasts are correct are not is not material; it just shows us how ridiculous it is to delegate our future to ‘the market.’   The recent financial meltdown is not the end.  It was a foretelling of some grander impacts we are going to deal with in years to come.  It was a great alert about hubris but unfortunately it was not enough to create lasting change.  I hope many people watch what happens in Copenhagen.

A Great Way to See How Fast Things are Moving

Intention

What is your intention today?  Did you wake up and consider how you are going to spend your day?  I am talking about more than a to-do list or calendar.  I am speaking here of a thought process cloaked in the joy and awe of being granted another day of life.  If you can imagine waking up every day with a sense of absolute joy without external forces influencing your activities; what would you do?  Of course we can all imagine such a reality but few of us realise such reality.  It does not matter.  Our intention can be applied to every activity and can dramatically shift our consciousness while we undertake our day to day activities (or to-do list).  What is your intent as you enter the office?  Are you kind or aloof?  Is your intent to spread happiness and positivity or are you indifferent.  I guess the best the way to get started is take the time to consider your intention.  It could be a part of your morning routine; half conscious in bed, enjoying a coffee or a warm shower.  Capture the intent in words and then link that to an emotion- usually happiness, joy, peace, serenity etc.  Once you have captured the intention in a word or phrase and you can feel the emotion you then create a visualisation of the acitivities of the day being undertaken with this intention.  You can imagine the spreading positivity as you walk in the city with a pleasant face and eye contact with others.  You can visualise positive interactions with other people, successful meetings and a wonderful evening with your spouse or partner.  Intention- emotion- visualisation.   Intention has helped me drive focus, maintain mental equilibrium, enhance my awareness, and provide a behavioural compass.  In the next post I might write about dedication; a higher degree of intention and one not commonly explored.

Too Divided to Progress?

Over the past couple of weeks I have had some time to listen and watch a greater quantity of news out of the United States.  It is not as if we do not already get an enormous amount of US news in our normal Australian news sources but my recent exposure has included blasts of CNN, ABC, CBS and MSNBC that would make you wither.  I recall a few times when I told family and friends I can instantly quash any pangs of homesickness simply by turning on Fox News.   The health care debate has been raging in the United States the past few weeks.  On the back of the pain and uncertainty of the global financial crisis the debate over health care has been for me a scary experience to witness.  For a moment I digress but I recall some Australian commentators expressing amazement at John McCain’s campaign criticism of Obama’s implied desire to ’spread the wealth.’  Obama was being attacked as if this was a mortal sin.  For those of us who have lived or traveled in the US a bit of wealth spreading would be a darn good thing.  The disparity of wealth is amazing and salaries in the multi-millions are hardly noteworthy.  Australia has also increased wealth disparity but at least has  a social safety net to maintain some cohesion (and civility).  Anyway in a roundabout way I am getting to my point.  My point is I have a sinking feeling that the United States is now such a divided society that true progress is now almost impossible.  I get the sense that the spirit of ‘ we are Americans first’ no longer applies.  I sense that there is not much sense of the common good; ‘what is good for my brother and sister is good for me.’  I grew up feeling that even though things in my country (back then the US) were not perfect we could always improve by working together and pulling as one.  Sadly I see the past two or three decades of greed and divisive politics of fear have eroded common principles.  Am a pessimistic?  Yep- afraid so.  I cannot fathom a society that can so easily accept wide disparities of health and education services simply based on how much damn money you make.

Corporate Reality in the Trenches

Today has prompted me to have a rant about organisational behaviour and in particular corporate behaviour.  This observation is not limited to large organisations although the pathology I outline here is far more common in larger organisations.  There is one level of corporate behaviour that we read about in places like the Australian Financial Review or the Wall Street Journal. This is wear the slick looking folks wearing suits and wearing the rectangle fashion eyeware play the business game in our society that worship business.  This is all fine for those that want to play the game.  In the trenches where the lengthy chain of command finally touches a customer is what I call the trenches.  This is where we see what real corporate behaviour is like when it is expressed in a relationship with a customer.  The folks in the tall glass box might get some figures but never can figures illustrate behaviour and effectiveness in customer dealings.  Today I had an experience with a major telco that I never imagined could occur in the day and age.  I had an experience that if  I had a chance to convey by word or print would be considered fiction.  This telco has ‘invested’ millions in new systems, processes, fancy brochures and websites.  I am sure this company would also claim to conduct training for those with customer interaction.  The problem is the people were nice but the execution was pathetic.  There was no acountability, no escalation, no empowerment to make a decision.  This was a scene out of the 1980’s  and maybe early 90’s.  For goodness sakes most firms have evolved but this one is stuck.  If I were a suit in the tall glass box I would never know what is happening in the ‘trenches.’   If this is the result of our business obsessed, business school idolising,  spend massive bucks on consultants ethos then we have little to cheer about.

Review of ‘How Did That Happen’ by Roger Connors and Tom Smith

 I have read this book without previously reading the authors’ original bestseller ‘The Oz Principle’, Roger Connors and Tom Smith. The title ‘How Did That Happen’ is poignant and super relevant on the macro level given the global economic crisis and its genesis. On the micro level I ask how many managers and leaders have not at some point asked this very question when plans have gone awry, “how did that happen?” A few years back I read ‘Execution’ by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan. This is a fine book and one that is perfect as an entree into ‘How Did That Happen.’ I found ‘Execution’ to be more of a topographical map while ‘How Did That Happen’ is a GPS system that provides a definite and clearly visible set of directions. Connors and Smith use simple models to ensure understanding of the concepts. The models are supported by smooth easy to understand writing that uses an explanation, followed by an actual example of the concept applied or the consequences of it not being applied and then bullet points and end of chapter reviews to ensure understanding. I did not find myself having to go back and re-read sections either due to lack of understanding or a wandering mind. I like the way the authors use Principles as opposed to techniques. Principles can be applied and implemented for sustainable enduring change. Leaders who apply principles as opposed to using techniques in an organisation are creating an environment where individual differences and diversity can thrive. ‘How Did That Happen’ does not avoid the need for accountability. Accountability is interdependent with culture, motivation and training. The authors have wisely created a ‘scaffold’ effect to ensure accountability is effective as opposed to punitive. I can recommend this book as a practical guide to addressing communication, engagement and accountability issues we all face in organisations. I read the book and recorded some key ideas on a mind map for referral later. I have a number of clients for whom this book will be on the essential reading list. The authors should be commended for creating a book of insight, clarity and practicality. How Did That Happen by Roger Connors and Tom Smith is published by Portfolio. It is due out in August/September 2009.

Health Care and the Never Ending Whinge

I like the word ‘whinge’.  We use it here in Australia to describe complaining or moaning behaviour.  “Stop yer whingeing” is a phrase often directed to children from parents.  Well I guess I would like to send a giant “Stop yer whingeing” to the United States- to every citizen of the US.  It seems like no matter what happens over there from the President to Health Care to the death of a pop star the whingeing masses join a chorus that infiltrates conversation, social, informal and formal media.  I used to think the US had the capacity to re-invent itself; to shake off the past and move on with boldness and daring.  Now it seems the population is risk averse and wants no progress, no change and no investment in anything to propel that society to better days.  It is obvious to any person who visits the US that there is a huge divide between classes and all of this creates festering disintegration of values and institutions that glue a society together.  I guess I am whingeing here as well.  I had to have a rant to release the urge I have to tell each and every American to get on with it- support your President-become part of the solution-offer your ideas and participate.  But for goodness sake “stop yer whingeing.”

Interpersonal Leadership-Can It Be Virtual?

This is an interesting blog from Tom Davenport regarding firms who are begining to migrate back to office based work.  In the past few years we have heard the constant drum beat of firms who have offered home based work, leadership that is dispersed in different locations and the adoption of the ‘you can work anywhere’ paradigm.  Indeed we can all ‘work’ anywhere thanks to our technology but there is a big difference between ‘doing work’ and creating and executing on objectives effectively.  Leadership is difficult on a webcam- worse in email and instant messaging.  A face to face interaction may deliver faster results but there is far more going on in an interpersonal interaction that contributes to interpersonal leadership and at its core the creation and sustenance of trust.  Of course we need not apply one extreme or the other but I am certain that many of us who have worked in both co-located office environments and home based offices realise that each is good but not necessarily exclusive.  Of course there are many other factors that contribute to the effectiveness of working remotely and not the least is the type of work peformed.

The Power of Intention in an Organisational Context

I have recently completed a book written by Colin Wilson.  Colin is top of the list on ‘those I would most like to sit next to on a plane.’  I read the book after reading Gregg Braden.  I guess there is a bit of a path here but both solidified some thinking that has had me somewhat preoccupied lately.   Values have little use in an organisation.  An organisation may communicate and espouse values incessantly but we all know that individuals in the organisatoin may not adopt them.   I always felt that there is a state of being that can be classified as a peak experience (Maslow).  If an organisation is able to engage its people to achieve a high percentage of peak experience in the work environment you are able to elevate the organisation performance to a level that is self sustaining and pervasive in its operations e.g. it permeates all interactions internally and externally.  This is not done by values- mere words that do not strike all persons similarly.  The way to achieve an organisational peak experience that is sustainable is through definition, discipline (more similar to empowerment), imagination and engagement (more similar to collaboration).    When people are able to use their mental (or physical) capacities to achieve progress in a work sequence we can tap into a part of a human brain that is often discounted in normal managment practice.  Why do I want to get out of bed?  I am not interested in meeting a time deadline (start by 8), nor do I get engaged by pleasing my manager (I am here before 8- look at me).  I get engaged when  my mind is connected to a series of tasks that comprise a project that result in a defined outcome.  People want to see ‘traction’ in what they spend their time doing.  Why is waking up on a Saturday so different than waking on Tuesday?  Must it be different?  Think about the last time you were so engaged in a project that you lost track of time?  (can’t remember? )  Total focus with a vision of an outcome is what produces peak experiences.  More on this in the next post.

Keith Ferrazzi – Who’s Got Your Back

I do not comment on books that I read too often.  I find that my comments are best left to myself since each of us has individual needs and tastes.  I have just finished my latest commuting companion; Keith Ferrazzi’s ‘Who’s Got Your Back.’  I read Keith’s previous book ‘Never Eat Alone’ some time ago.  I think  I would like Keith as a person but I find his books point to a substantial ego and one that cannot get enough self praise.  This comes in intermittent doses but he makes sure you get the message.   I read Section One and thought I was in for a good read.  Keith laid a bit bare by indicating that his company ‘Ferrazzi Greenlight’ was going through some change and tumult as well as some inner feelings he had about his own performance.  By page 26 this is all sorted and the company is booming and Keith is an effective executive!  Ok- maybe the rest of the book will provide the play by play action as a real life case study.  No such luck – the rest of the book follows the all too common and now tiresome formula of self -help business hybrid books.  I guess I am getting jaded but these books are plentiful and frankly useless without a means of application for behavioural change.   When I finished this book I vowed to avoid this genre of books.  That said I revisited by bookshelf and grabbed my old copy of ‘The War of Art’ and once again could not put it down.  I think the 4.5 Star Rating at Amazons for ‘Who’s Got Your Back’ is puzzling.

GTD and the Never Ending Quest

I downloaded the new GTD Outlook plug-in developed by Netcentrics.  I have used this product before in previous versions but uninstalled it for a range of reasons.  The GTD phenomenon shows few signs of abating.  There are limitless blogs and practitioners who have added their own unique twist to what is essentially a solid productivity system.   I use GTD (most of the time and with my own twist) and I have taught a large number of clients on the philosophic framework of GTD as well as how to implement and sustain the process.  There are those that are suited to GTD and there are those that are not.  Back to the software!  I am a big Outlook user and most of my clients implement GTD effectively without an add-in, however this  one is great.  I highly recommend you have a trial download and apply some discipline to using this fantastic tool to manage your email and your project management.  I find the project managment toolset to be particularly compelling.  I am pretty good at email management and using my Tasks and Calendar as trusted loops.  The Project Central feature in the GTS Outlook add-in is my saviour- finally a simple way to record and track my projects with a simple interface and rapid way to enter information.   This is a keeper.

Whingeing Yank Business People – How Much More Can We Endure?

From the land of Ivy League business schools, economic disparity and virtually no social safety net we must hear the incessant moaning of overpaid executives about their fate.  It must be good to know that if the whole free market capitalist system collapses you can live off your wealth.  I love the word used in Australia to describe complaing…….’whingeing’ or better said as ‘wingein’.  The rest of us need to keep working and most of us out here in the ‘rest of the world’ (developed) live in sane societies with social safety nets and without the incredible disparities in income and lifestyle.  We have to compete with companies shielded by the hard and soft power of the United States.  It was not always so.  Globalisation and ‘flat earth’…..maybe but not yet.  I have worked for American companies run by supposedly well educated B school graduates who disappeared into the a**hole of complexity while their organisations were moribund.  Maybe we will all collectively learn from this recent economic cycle, maybe not.  My hope is that at least some folks in the world’s current super power learn that those at the top are not necessarily the most qualified to be there.  I hope we can regain a common sense- quit worshipping business leaders, stop segregating with false classifications based on privilege.  Intelligence is not necessarily reflected in common sense.  Common sense is not a graduate program from Harvard Business School.  Academics are not necessarily ground level participants.   Everybody stop your ‘whingeing’; get real about what is really important in your life and get on with it.  Business is business- like a merchant stall in Damascus.  Love the Bazaar!

Commitment Maker or Breaker?

I have always had a real problem with a growing phenomenon in the business world that is spreading in the common social sphere as well.  This is the pervasive tendency for commitment breaking.  People do not follow through like they used to.  In business this is frustrating but my recent experience working with a client has demonstrated how lack of follow through on commitments is a serious issue.  My client is a fast paced consulting firm that has enjoyed some reasonable growth in the past few years.  They have had the normal teething pains with systems and processes but nothing too serious.  The real problem is that action items from meetings are not done, commitments made in conversations or informal meetings are not followed up or followed through.  The visual clues that raised yellow flags to me was the lack of any note taking in any meeting!  The lack of execution has caused a culture that has little trust and interpersonal relationships are under strain since there is a pervasive belief that you cannot rely on your colleagues.  This has led to territorialism and reduced sharing and collaboration.  This has led to poor enculturation of new employees and on it goes….YIKES!  But why?  I know these guys are not unique.  Are we too bombarded with stuff to do and information to digest?  Or are we unable to discipline ourselves to do our work and execute our plans despite the external bombardment?  The real scary part is that this behaviour creeps out of the organisation and begins to infect client and other stakeholder relationships.  The commitment to call back or ’send some information’ that never gets followed through is a certain precursor to a relationship breakdown and lack of trust.  I know this sounds simple but just once I would like to see my client replace those Blackberries for pads of paper.  I recall seeing many more people taking notes and reminders with a pen than I have ever seen punched into a micro keyboard on a handheld.

Can You Assemble a Team of Rivals?

I look forward each evening for the chance to get back into this book!  I was lucky enough to catch site of this book in Melbourne Airport.  My first copy was left behind in a Sydney cab so I was off to buy a new one when I was on my return trip to Brisbane.  I cannot speak highly enough of this book.  As an American I never had a good feel for Abraham Lincoln as a man or as a President with any great depth.  Doris Kearns Goodwin has made Abraham Lincoln come alive in my imagination.  The lessons in this book are so relevant across so many dimenstions in modern political, business and community life.  Lincoln encouraged his political (and personal) rivals to take senior positions in his government.  He was a master at interpersonal and strategic leadership despite some apparent missteps in the latter early in his tenure.  How many CEOs are able to draw a team of contrarians together to create a dynamic team focused on execution?  How many politicians actively seek to include rivals in a ‘conversation’ on issues to drive resolution as opposed to point scoring.   One thing that really whacks me when I read this book; times may be tough now but they had enormous challenges in Lincoln’s era.  The Civil War is almost beyond description for its bloodshed and the day to day lives of people were always tinged with death whether by war or disease.

Are We Really That Helpless?

We hear how angry many people are about the demise of the world’s economy and the reasons for it.  The media is showing interviews with working people losing homes and jobs and in Europe of people actually hitting the streets to protest.  But what will really change?  We are ruled by the rich and privileged.  We have been brainwashed into believing the market economy is the only way to structure our economic affairs.  The rise and fall of our economic destinies is just a natural outcome of this system of political economy.  Why is this accepted?  The masses of humanity are poorly served by free market economics yet we blindly accept that we cannot have a system we control.  We accept that we can not have an egalitarian political economy in which all are fed, housed and educated.  Civilisation?  You are kidding.

Performance Flipping- Leadership Inverted

I have been troubled to the point of some deep pondering about performance management in the so called modern organisation.  What I see and experience does not really conform to any of the previous descriptors- performance poorly defined, management- you have got to be kidding, and modern defined by a mechanistic paradigm.  With the rush of enthusiasm for web based tools to ‘manage the process’ I see even more detachment from anything resembling a dialogue or conversation between two human beings.  I am not a big fan of lagging indicators- any idiot can look at the past and reflect although in my own experience my reflection includes biases that seem to increase the further back I try to reflect.  The same thing occurs when assessing performance.  When you add a keyboard and a neat software interface with cute little icons the whole thing becomes a safely detached process that can be completed with all the bias and fallibility both in human perception as well as human communication.   The results of these ridiculous rituals are then fed into a neat little sorting mechanism that can graphically depict my workforce and neatly separate the favoured the from the also rans.  How about turning this around.  How about a reverse performance review that is a predictive indicator.  How about inverting the pyramid of hierarchy and have the pointy end on the bottom with organisation providing performance feedback on the leadership?  This would provide a great way to weed out the dead leadership wood as well as offering a predictive indicator of how well the organisation may perform in the future.  The one tool I have seen that approximates my vision of this is the XQ Survey from Franklin  Covey in the United States.    I would like to see more work in this area- flip the performance maniacs on their head.  Servant Leadership?  Based on what we have all been through the past few months maybe we need a real shift in our thinking about leadership and who should be measuring whom?

Love, Fear and Leadership

I guess I have been focusing a bit on the atmosphere of the world around me lately.  Difficult times are useful for reflection and although this is an economic crisis that dominates our world view at the moment there are a collection of issues facing humanity that will affect how or whether we survive.  We all know they are there but most of us make our way through our lives without paralysis caused by fear or withdrawal.  One can sense a collective reduction in the energylevel of people- I sense it on the train, on the street and in offices.  It is a strange sort of feeling coming off the highs of the past decade or so.  Have you read ‘A Course in Miracles?’    I still pick it up occasionally and it long ago introduced me to the concept that all human behaviour is linked to either love or fear.  If one looks at our lives within our tribes, families, communities and organisations you can engage in an interesting analysis.  Consider the structural leadership model from S. Covey that includes four levels of leadership.  In a concentric set of rings the innermost is Personal Leaderhip, next is Interpersonal Leadership, then Managerial Leadership and Ultimately Organisational Leadership. This is an excellent little model.  My observation is that our society (choose one since I believe this is a common characteristic) has lost the ability to motivate human behaviour from Love at the Managerial and Organisational levels.  Do not get hung up on the labels; Organisational and Managerial can be substituted for Strategic and Operational, (some may differ).  My position is that the higher we go in human organisation the less we use Love as a paradigm for behaviour and decision making and the more we rely on Fear.  Often the reliance on Fear is grounded in the fact that this is what drives our own behaviour and we transfer this into our organisations, communities, families, nations, wherever.  Love resides (if at all) in the personal and interpersonal levels.  Love of oneself, love that emanates from the self outward to others in interpersonal thought and action.  The fog of fear permeates our thoughts and behaviour when we begin to lead others in groups or we need to drive outcomes from others. We have not yet learned that love is far more powerful and its manifestation creates dramatic and lasting change in individuals and the collective output of organisations, clubs, communities, families and nations.  I guess this rant is a bit raw but it is felt.  I know one of my repulsions at what is going on in our world now; economically, environmentally, geo-politically is the fear that we have allowed to creep into our individual psyches and the total lack of resistance we have shown to the fog of fear permeating everything. Leadership is needed now more than ever; we all know it and now is the time to show it.  Motivate yourself with love, reject fear where you find it.

Perform Your Way to a Pigeon Hole

In a cynical moment I may lament a sense that human interactions are increasing digital as opposed to interpersonal with physical proximity.  I like social networking but I am on a self restricted program after discovering I could burn golden hours responding to emails and updates.  Well the other day I had another experience that ignited my cynicism.  The world of human resources (a ridiculous term) is moving strongly digital with on-line software to automate processes and capture data.  I was invited to explore a few ‘Performance Management’ software solutions that are popular and growing in acceptance.  I cannot stand the term ‘performance management’ and after seeing these new software systems to assist this process I dislike the term even more.  I have recently written an article that has as its premise the notion that our ideas around leading people are prehistoric.  If you wish to assist a person to be more effective in their work life then you must have a conversation; not one time based conversation but an ongoing conversation that never ends- it is always open. You do not support or improve a person’s work effectiveness by meeting with them once a quarter or half yearly or worse annually.  Those of us who have sat on both sides of the desk in these ridiculously uncomfortable rituals know they do not usually result in much at all.  Well back to the software.  With these software ’solutions’ a manager can simply add observations about a person that is recorded against that person in the database.  They can even include a picture to make it a bit more personal!  The manager can add commenets and measures against all sorts of indicators and behaviours.  Once we have the inputs then we can create a neat diagram where all our people are represented as coloured humanoid figures placed against a grid to indicate comparison with others.  So you want to look for some candidates for a new role?  Simply visit your computer screen and pop up one of these graphical depictions of our biological assets and select a few that are positioned up there in the top right quadrant.  Easy!!!  Time for a cull?  Do the same thing but now we are going to terminate those in the bottom left quadrant.  I know I simplify this whole thing……..just a bit.  I know I don’t want to be a coloured humanoid positioned on a quadrant- as a leader I want to see into the faces of the people I work with.  I want to have an ongoing conversation as broad and expansive as we wish to make it and this will vary between individuals.  My experience has strongly demonstrated that people conjoin to a common purpose when they are supported as individuals with autonomy and leadership; not management.

A Personal Growth Manifesto

I have just finished Broken Open by Elizabeth Lesser.  I am sure glad I read this book.  My mom brought the book over from the United States for her visit with us here in Australia.  I devoured this book in a few train journeys to work and a round trip flight to Sydney.  I must admit to not knowing much about Elizabeth Lesser before reading the book but I had heard of the Omega Institute of which she is a co-founder.  Broken Open explores personal growth through the prism of human hardship.  It speaks to all of us whether we want to admit to having difficult periods in our lives or not- we are all pretty much the same.  Elizabeth writes in a conversational style with great clarity to enable easy comprehension and a strong link between the words and your emotions.  Some of the examples of personal hardship and growth are emotional triggers that in my case need some subduing in the train and the 737.  I highly recommend this book- it is a trigger for introspection, gowth and centering back on what is important in our lives amongst the turmoil and gloom.  I vowed I would make the lessons of this book stick- I can say my head is still above the black clouds that seem to be consuming our humanity currently.

Enough Already! The Mass Attraction of Doom.

I guess I am feeling a bit torn.  I am not a guru or a prophet but I was telling people four years ago that the world’s economy and particular the United States was heading for a fall.  Well here we are in 2009 and I cannot escape the parade of economic ‘experts’ telling me how bad things are.  These experts probably went to the same esteemed university institutions that trained the Wall Street greed barons that could not get enough wealth generated in unrestrained capitalism.  Hindsight is easy stuff.  There are a lot of very deep implications of this economic collapse- some are  bad and some are potentially very good.  I am sure I will feel inspired to write about the positive side but at this time I find it difficult.  Those ‘brains’ that played with other people’s livelihoods with no sense of social responisibility and on a deeper level have no sense of the interconnectedness of all things.  I question so much about a society that worships  business to the extent of making commerce so much more complex than what it needs to be.  The warning signs should have been evident when universities began throwing so many resources to business education and God Help Us- the MBA.  Well here we are suffering thanks to an elite created from the loins of a society too numb to see the risks.  A societywith its head too deep in the trough to see the approaching storm.   It is the first bad downturn in the new media society and have a look at the climate out there.  The incessant messages of doom and catastrophe are self fulfilling and they are coming from everywhere and in every medium.  Do you think we could engineer a turnaround based on The Secret?  More on the positive stuff soon.

Currently reading Transcending the Levels of Consciousness by David R Hawkins.  I am really enjoying this book after reading Power vs Force last week.  This is great brain food for the train journeys to and from work.  Recently I have also devoured Content Rich and Presentation Zen- both of which I highly recommend.

Broadband Anybody or Pissing in the Wind

As we continue to explore the valley o f our economic ‘crisis’ there is no sense of having reached the lowest point nor have we a strong sense of having a Sherpa to guide us out. I have a lingering fear that must be expressed in words just to prevent thinking about it as the Australia Day holiday nears commencement. Yes, I take this holiday seriously as I do Anzac Day. I am an Australian by choice.

There must be an investment in broadband in Australia. Yeah Yeah Yeah— was there not a recent tender for the provision of improved broadband services in Australia- you know the one Telstra tried so hard to win with a 2 page submission? We cannot afford politicians to play politics nor business persons to use their leverage to extract maximum wealth. The web has a community commons nature and importance. Yes- this means some public control as opposed to free market stewardship.

It is a fact that ‘infrastructure’ now includes broad band as well as structures we build and maintain. Our country must ready itself for the next upswing that will include enormous investment in energy and related technologies. This will demand greater innovation, collaboration and knowledge capture that is increasingly reliant upon broad band connectivity. We are going to speak, email, share, capture, design and commercialise our intellectual property via the web. The web will not play a supporting role in the cast of infrastructure elements supporting social wealth. The web (is) will be the key enabler to advance our society and its communities.

In my own experience I am teleconferencing more, travelling less. I have an account with a web conferencing service that is now in use multiple times per week as previously I would have endured one or two hours on a 737. Australia will one day need to evolve to a country that sells innovation and knowledge as opposed to earth’s resources in raw form. Australia will come under increasing scrutiny if we insist on harvesting the remains o f previous geologic ages in the hopes of creating wealth to satisfy our insatiable gluttony.

So much talent- so hard to expose and promote.

The Alignment Imperative

One of the key elements that contributes to the success of a learning technology platform is the alignment between the technology and the organisational strategy. It has been my experience that many learning strategies are developed and executed in some degree of isolation from the organisational strategy. In some cases the project team implementing the learning technology does not possess an understanding of the organisation’s strategy and its cascade of objective and tasks down to individual level.

There are a range of reasons for this lack of understanding. In some projects the team responsible for the technology implementation is comprised wholly or in large part by contractors. In others it is simply a case of ineffectual communication from board and senior executive levels. In any case the implementation of a learning platform as part of an organisational development and/or learning strategy will be compromised or short lived without proper strategic alignment and the establishment of metrics both as performance measures and useful output for decision making and planning purposes.

In the past few weeks I have been working to develop a workshop to assist project teams in establishing strong strategic alignment linking learning strategy and system implementation to an overall organisational strategy in a chain comprising supporting goals, team objectives and individual tasks.

Recovering from Productivity Overload

It sounds weird and it is……I am now in recovery from a bout of productivity obsession. I think it began with an innocent experimentation with GTD and continued through numerous blogs and books; some good and some not so good.

Sure, there were some good times along the way. I have a great deal of admiration for the analog folks at DIY Planner. If you have not visited this site it is worth looking at if you still find a pen and paper preferable to a keyboard. I enjoyed the blogs by Mathew Cornell as he shared his personal growth journey to becoming a Productivity Consultant. Mathew offers incredible value with his insights into personal productivity. I believe Leo at Zen Habits takes the whole idea of productivity to a new level and combines this with some great common sense for life design.

The world of productivity is rife with systems and tools. I do not like thinking about how much money I have spent on gadgets and software. I was an early adopter of both electronic and paper based productivity systems. I have reverted between the two with sickening frequency up until about six months ago when I laid my beautiful Filofax to rest on my library shelf.

But alas I had to break free. There were too many lost minutes reading the latest blog, exploring a fee software demo or devouring yet another book on productivity. About two weeks ago I received what will be my last productivity book. Total Workday Control by Michael Linenberger has been the silver bullet that completed my productivity growth path. Finally I have found an answer to the frustration I have experienced trying to force fit Outlook into a productivity tool to suit me. It is a big book that is comprehensive and delivers great depth. I am very grateful that I finally broke down and purchased the book after hesitating on the first edition. The second edition covers Outlook 2007 as well as previous versions.

I still admit that an electronic solution has been hard for me to use. Outlook and other software solutions are very prescriptive and do not allow the free flow of ideas and doodles that used to fill my Filofax pages.