What a great post to help you think about grabbing attention, sharing a story, making an impact during a presentation…
What a great post to help you think about grabbing attention, sharing a story, making an impact during a presentation…
Tags: communication, confidence
From this hotel chain customer service programme (see the third section: People-ology) marketed nicely to staff with this high end video production (which, by the way, I think is making a difference to my experience of their hotel group)….
…to this concern for important consumer issues around the world from the campaigning organisation CI.
From the sublime to the ridiculous? From the service to the haves, to the exploitation of the have not’s?
Consumers? Users? Buyers? People?
‘Customers’ unite??
Two top TED talks on the power of connectedness…this one emphasises the importance of living wholeheartedly. The second shares some unexpected results when asking for help.
Thanks Gema for pointing them out.
Tags: culture, responsibility
This interesting piece on symbolism and impact of the different training room layouts in a number of GP practices got me thinking about the range of set ups I like in the events I run:
1. Flexible theatre – that can be moved to allow for small groups, standing tasks
2. Circle of chairs only – that emphasises vulnerability but is often not popular as “there is nowhere to put stuff”
3. Herringbone or fan with square tables
4. Café – a small version of the ubiquitous cabaret
5. Open U – I am coming back to this (with a gap in the middle often)
6. etc.
But do you know what, in all, the quality of the seat matters more than ever normally considered. There are 101 things to do with a room, (any room), so it is functional for the task (and fresh in some way too), but good chairs are much harder to change at the last minute. How often do you choose a meeting space based on chair quality?
When thinking of a fresh, functional format maybe this venue checklist from 2007 will help.
I like doing scenario planning work. It is built on an awareness of the past (shocks, surprises, events) and a view to future times (trends, drivers, uncertainties). It is also, maybe surprisingly to some, about seeing the world today as it is: it is fundamentally about the present (understanding it, acting in it).
I like this quote attributed to Lao Tzu: “If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.”
Being a visual person, I sometimes see the past and future as a yin yang symbol– with the present as where the two meet. But maybe a venn diagram with two circles, where the past and present overlap – maybe the overlap is bigger than we sometimes imagine. Or a three circle venn like this one – enjoy.
The key in scenario work, and maybe our individual life, is to find time and ways to
1) Reflect and learn the lessons of history
2) Scan from many points of view to spot and learn about the future(s) – plural as they are unknowable
3) Calmly embrace and live the uncertainty in the present. (fyi -this is a key part of our work on personal and organisational resilience)
This is a blog about healthy eating (and drinking)…both informed by conversations and articles read in Australia earlier this year. Maybe some ideas to SWP (steal with pride)? You decide.
[Health warning – this might seem a bit surreal after some recent ‘heavy’ topics. But in the words of the film, ‘Notting Hill’, hopefully “Surreal, but nice!”]
One thing I am finding helpful is what I call the 4:3 nutrition rule…not the 2 day a week fasting diet fad. Nor the ‘no booze during the week’ mantra. Rather, thinking of a few things to avoid Monday to Thursday…such as wheat products (bread and beer). Seems to work really well for fine tuning the balance between exercise and ingestion.
One thing that has wheat in it, is beer. I play drums in a band. I like drinking beer when gigging. I drum up quite a thirst – literally, but don’t want too much beer (alcohol and calories that is – the fluid is ok). A leading Australian educationalist shared with me the idea of diluting beer with soda water…a tip I find very useful. See what you (or someone you know who likes beer) makes of what I call The Oz Beer Trick. It works on the basis of the boiling frog analogy – how we don’t really notice subtle changes going on around us. It works with cocktails too – and I think I can use with wine if I am careful.
So what is it and how does it work?
1) Order a pint of soda or sparkling water with your beer (soda water is free in most pubs in the UK).
2) As you drink the beer top up the glass with soda every couple of mouthfuls.
3) The Beer gets progressively weaker, but in a way that you don’t really notice.
4) You end up having what feels like 2 pints of beer, but is in fact one.
5) You get to just over 1% alcohol, but don’t really notice the weaker taste…the impact is still there, it is almost homeopathic.
If you want a bit more on the maths behind this, let me know and I will share a spread sheet!
Ps
And why “Venn in Action”? – two reasons
1) The band and beer angle of the main text
2) And I am in Australia at the moment – and have a band practice next Monday when home – but sans beer (as it is a Monday : ))
Pps
For those who like Venn thinking – you will love this.
You know we like the work of Lencioni on teams.
His work on meetings is helpful too…from this sort of video to ideas like these; from his early work in ‘Death by Meeting’ to the more recent book, ‘The Advantage’.
We note quite a lot of others like his work too, such as this model of meeting types – from the regular daily ‘check-in’s’ to rhythm of longer quarterly sessions.
See what you think……..
Over the last few weeks there have been a number of key stories in the UK press. Two are especially notable: the Francis inquiry into health care standards and the scandal of unlabelled horse meat in burgers and ready meals.
What do these have in common, other than their prevalence in media minutes and column inches? Both are about unexpected and once hidden failings in the quality and supply of a good service. Both raise issues of legality and individual practice. Both raise issues about who you can trust in the supply chain – in terms of both its management and regulation.
Where do they differ? One affects human health. And the other is not a lot more than a bit of a yuk to many – and only worthy of a laugh.
Sadly, the NHS story is the one that is more profound. Already there are politicians in Europe decrying the scrapping of perfectly ‘good’ food (if labelled differently), at a time when increasing numbers of people face food insecurity. The health care stories raise issues that are, surprisingly to some, more rotten and that can’t be labelled away quite so easily.
Many are now talking much more worriedly and openly about health care culture and standards – probably a good thing.
In contrast, the horsemeat scandal has largely led to plenty of photo humour – and is already leading to improvements in supply chains that value more local sourcing and fair trade.
So, maybe the question is not ‘where is horsemeat in health care’, but
1) ‘why the scandal in health care’ (maybe it is a result of the sort of management promoted since the mid 80s…an example of values in action where generalist leaders have been promoted to achieve a certain narrow set of things, and have done so pretty well) and
2) what can be done especially at a time when no individuals are being held accountable by Francis.
To help think about this second question we will go somewhere pretty unsavoury – but illuminating too. Where might that be? From one animal to another. Not dodgy cuts of horse, but what comes out of a doggy. Something has changed quietly and profoundly on UK streets, namely the cleaning up of dog mess…more on this analogy later (but in the meantime, can you guess what the learning points are – let us know).
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