Short Steps (not short cuts) to Making Good Choices

Some decisions are easy, others hard.  Here’s some steps that can help make a few of them a bit easier, rather than leaving them to chance:

1. Keep you eye on the prize.  What is the outcome you want and how do the options fit with it? If you’re not clear about your goal, spend some time to clarify what you want. visualise what you want
2. Use your head and your heart. If you tend to be a rational/logical thinker, allow your intuition to come to the fore and visa versa. 
3. Take your potential decisions into the future.  how does the the future look, feel, sound, taste and smell once they’ve been made? Are there any unintended consequences? How do they align with your desired outcome?
4. Plan the choice you've made.  If there's a big step to take, what would half-way be?  If it's ok, move on, if not, what would half-way to half-way be like - I think you get the idea.
5. Act now.  If you find yourself hesitating, what is holding you back? Is it physical, intellectual or emotional? Imagine for a moment what would you do if you weren’t afraid.  There is no failure only feedback.

Imagine what you want, plan what you imagine, do what you plan 

Are You Tuned In To Change?

A friend of mine turned their tv on this morning, only to be greeted by the dreaded snow storm screen of televisual death. After a brief moment of panic, she remembered that it was her turn for the bis switchover and her digibox simply needed retuning.  Five minutes later, Adrian Chiles' face was smiling happily down on the assembled family and normal service was resumed.


On reflection, my friend thought her reaction to tv failure was hilarious, but also brought home a serious point:  For months the media have been telling everyone the changeover is going to happen, support lines have been set-up, information websites created, advertising campaigns pushing the message out there and what do we do? We ignore it and then panic when it happens!


So how do you manage change?  Do you plan and prepare, let it happen and go with the flow, or ignore it, hoping it will never happen?  It's your choice, but your choice affects not just you but all those around you. Corporal Jones made a career out of shouting "Don't Panic", but it's unlikely to work for you.

OK Computer

It's official, computers have changed the way we think.  or to be more specific, computers have changed the way we use our memory.  Rather than remember the information itself, people are starting to remember where to find the information.  Our brains are becoming huge search engines, locating the source but not the info itself. No doubt there are people already working hard at how to wirelessly network our brain to Google or Bing, and as soon as Apple can, there will be an app for that, which will be launched by a small gesture or facial expression.


More importantly, are we in danger of losing something vital for human and organisation development? Will the changes in our brain degrade the creative thinking that is the catalyst for change, or will this evolution lead to something better ?  Current research in the USA suggests that children there are becoming less creative.  What does this mean for the next generation of businessmen and women and how will organisations need respond to the decline in creative thinking?


All too soon we could all be passengers on a super space liner, being waited on hand and foot by automated robots, managed by Skynet, oblivious to the reality that is delivered to us by a hyperband, cerebral cortex connection.  Pixar has seen the future and all we have to do to live it, is do nothing.

How High Performance Happens

Photo by clix www.sxc.hu

The most successful sports teams focus on performance not the outcome. How often do you hear football mangers talk about performance regardless of the result? Great performances will ultimately lead to success but poor performances will not. Focus on the performance and success will follow, focus on the result and success will continue to be elusive.


Success is not controllable but performance is.


Performance is all about decision-making and execution. Decision-making is a skill that can be analysed and developed in the classroom, but execution happens on the pitch. It can be practised in training, where the outcome is more controllable, but ultimately it’s on the pitch where high performance is put to the test and where the least amount of control exists

It’s common amongst high performing sports teams to analyse key moments (critical incident analysis), but how that analysis takes place and where the emphasis lies, will have a decisive impact on what is learned. The intent has to be from a positive perspective; otherwise the outcome is destructive rather than constructive. Here is a simple template for a discussion:

• Experience
• What happened
• What were the consequences

• Analysis
• Why
• Controllable (internal self)
• Uncontrollable (external)

• Learning
• Beliefs
• Feelings
• Future action

What is fundamental to developing high performance is the culture. There has to be a culture where the focus is on the positive intention to use analysis and measurement as a development tool, rather than to highlight shortcomings. Research by Losada and Heapthy (2004) discovered that when teams focus on positives and on each other, performance improves.  Critical and negative feedback had a detrimental impact on performance.


This brings us to the question of leadership and how leaders build a culture of high performance where development is at the heart of improvement. Leaders create the climate and the culture that leads to high performance. What leaders often lack is a framework, the tools and techniques to create the conditions where high performance can emerge.


The Four Stages of Contribution model is a great template for developing and managing high performance. Over 30 years of research has gone into defining what high performance looks like in organisations.  The answer to the question what does high performance really look like is, of course, "it depends", and you're right.  It depends on where someone is in their career.  A football apprentice wouldn't be expected run rings round1st team players, but they do have to meet expectations appropriate to their stage of development.  The same is true for a graduate entrant in their first role.


what is important is to be able to articulate these expectations and give them a clear line of sight about how those expectations will change as their career and performance progresses.  To learn more about the Four Stages of Contribution download and  read this really useful guide  Developing and Maintaining a Competitive Career and if you want to know more contact me at ememex 

Imagine this was true

After a visit to the Anthony Gormley statues on Crosby beach, I travelled over to Southport – mainly because I’d never been there before.  It’s a pretty town and apparently the Champs Ellise in Paris is modelled on Southport’s main shopping street.

Another claim to fame is Southport’s pier.  It’s the second longest in England, although that sounds like a runners up medal – close but no cigar.  At the end of the pier is an old fashioned penny arcade full of early 20^th century amusements from one armed bandits to the very scary laughing seaman (remember the film?).  And of course the fortune telling machines.

I tried out a few slot machines, penny rolls and finally had a go with a palm-reading machine.  After ‘scanning’ my hand with what felt like ball bearings, out popped a card with the analysis.  As I read the results, I was thinking “this sounds just like me, how could it be so accurate?”  Was this just a mechanical toy, or something more?

Of course it’s all very nice to be hear that you have such positive qualities, but we all know that it’s just a game, nothing more.

But wait.  Imagine for a moment that everything on that card was true.  All of those qualities were mine in abundance.  How would that change thing for me?  How would that impact on my confidence and performance?

So, here’s my gift to you.  I’m going to read your palm.  

Hold up your palm to the screen so I can see it.  No it doesn’t matter which one.  That’s right, perfect. Now hold it still ….  

Done!

Here’s what I see.

You hand denotes great ability for business details; hence you are bound to succeed in whatever you take in hand.  You are freehearted and know how to make and spend money.  You are slow to make friends, which is a very good quality.  You have great determination, which should stand you in good stead.  Life for you will not be a bed of roses, but you have courage to overcome obstacles as they arise.  You are logical and have splendid willpower, which is a great asset.  You are fond of the good things of life and like comforts to an advanced degree.

Imagine this is true.  Imagine you are courageous, determined and have great business acumen. What would change for you, what would you do new or differently? 

So what is stopping you?

Think carefully about your answer, it may be the start of making your dreams come true.

Performance Under pressure

Golfing's greatest competition has been taking place this year at Sandwich.  The Open Championship is one of the great tests in the sporting calendar.There will be some truly great performances and some surprisingly poor ones.  Already the 2 top ranked players in the world have been eliminated and a 20yr old amateur has held the lead.

So what makes a Claret Jug winning golfer?  Here are a couple of quotes from some famous golfing winners:

• Bobby Jones - Golf is a game that's played on a 5 inch course, the distance between your ears.
• Tom Watson - Talent doesn't make a winner.  Two of the worlds most successful golfer miss more fairways than anyone else.  What you need is tenacity and focus.
• Gary  Player - The harder I practice the luckier I get

Dr Bill Gerrard is a technical consultant for Saracens rugby club, who won the Aviva Premiership this year. Using his performance analysis methodology he looks at two keys aspects:

•  -the ability to make the right decision during a game play and
• - the level of execution of that decision.

The best athletes don't just execute well, they are able to think clearly under the intense pressure of a game and make the right decision at the right time.  I'm reminded of some advice from Master Yoda - Be mindful of the future, but not at the expense of the present.

PS. I wrote this before the final round, so well done and congrtulations Darren Clarke

The Power of Words

A friend recently sent me a link to a YouTube video.  It was a moving film, but the ending credits revealed the source as a viral ad from a marketing company.  Comments from other viewers pointed out that the film was actually closely based on the 2008 Cannes Short Film Award winner Historia de un Letrero (The Story of a Sign) by Alonso Alvarez Barreda.  I tracked down the original and linked to this rather than the viral ad.


For me, the film a powerful reminder of the power of words and how reframing a context can change peoples' thinking and actions. Reframing is an important part of a coaches toolkit and elegantly used, can be a game changer.  I'll leave you to watch the film for yourself, and while you watch think about what you can do to reframe a current situation for yourself or someone you know, where it would make a positive difference.