The remarkable turnaround of the fortunes and performance of the English cricket team has not gone unnoticed, though it has been coming for a while.
Coach, Andy Flower, is renowned for the dedication he expects of the players – expecting physical fitness, determination and focus plus positive team working and behaviours.
A great example of Front Foot Organisation we reckon – see this for more www.idenk.co.uk/frontfootorganisation.
In our work helping individual and teams through change, we find the ideas from Prospect Theory of use.
Behavioural economists note that humans, when faced with a discontinuity or transition, tend to focus on the things we fear we might lose, rather than the things that we might hope to gain. They point to the ease with which disposable income gets spent on insurance, long in advance of choices for savings!
Page 5 of this booklet shows one way of trying to get some balance and buck this inbuilt orientation that most of us share.
Of course, some are not wired this way. For example, those going onto reality TV shows seem to focus on their dreams over the likely prospect of failure, ridicule and humiliation!
You can read a bit more here.
Tags: behaviour
We have a range of assessments that we do in advance of a development workshop – or on arrival. This one exploring team or organisational culture has been used with well over 1000 people since we started using it 5 years ago. We have results from teams in commerce and education, health and charities, in the UK and abroad.
There are some familiar patterns when reviewing the results from all the assessments. First, many groups rate themselves highly on their sociability or drive to get things done. However:
1) The quality of meetings regularly comes out low.
2) Living and reinforcing the values is often a challenge too.
These are two dimensions that get to the deeper levels of relationship and performance – beyond the fire fighting culture and the desire to get on with each other that many people report.
There are a couple of things we offer to help better meetings from DIY effort to developmental help .
And our values in practice paper continues to be popular .
Enjoy!
Tags: management, meetings, values
A number of years ago we wrote a fair bit about some of the defining aspects in health care, with a particular focus on compassion
This ‘poem’ is a more recent take by one of us.
In our work – and lives – we find that the questions we focus on are usually more useful than the abundance of easy answers. Taking time to think through to the right question can be very useful – and even fun!
Working to a short, straightforward and significant question takes some effort.
Often a “how” question might be more useful as a “why” or a “what”.
For example
“How do we need to organise this project over the next 90 days to increase its value”
is quite different to
“What would it take to increase the value of this project over the next quarter”
See here for a bit more on our Question Fanning method. This is taught on our Brilliant Thinking Made Easy course. It helps get the scope of a question right (both the subject and scale of inquiry)
For example, ‘project’, ‘value’ and ’90 days’ may not be useful to focus on!
We do believe that as humans we are drawn in the direction of the questions we ask. We see this in science, business and in personal pursuits of happiness.
And a few quotes that pick up the point:
“Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question” – e e cummings
“He must be very ignorant for he answers every question he is asked” – Voltaire
Tags: change, communication
How do we listen?
1) We notice
– But do we notice assumptions as well as information?
– Emotion and energy as well as ideas?
2) We filter to recall (and forget)
– On the basis of thought-out criteria?
– Or is it more haphazard?
3) Also, we can be more aware and mindful if we listen with our feelings.
So here is a ladder of listening…
I
-Listen behind the emotion (what is not being said)
I
-Listen to the emotion
I
-Listen for information, facts and data
I
-Listen partially or from a distance
I
-Not listening
I
Much time is spent at the bottom.
The most effective listening is at the top……
We tend to take the easy route.
Humans are like that.
It is something innate in us.
Trying to take the path of less resistance.
Like water when it leaks.
When might you need to pause, think and try to take a harder road?
Starting a business?
Within a friendship?
The more noble the purpose, the more the leadership and the team working, needs to be top notch.
The more passionate and powerful the mission, the more the organisation needs investment to live up to the individual passions and motivations.
Caring about something is not a sufficient guarantee of doing a good job.
It seems like it might be.
Especially in noble purpose enterprises.
But competence and taking time and space not to impose your own views on your colleagues does too.
Possibly more?
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