How Iceland bounced back

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Recently I discovered PopTech and via PopTech a talk by Iceland’s current President, Olafur Grimsson, about how Iceland bounced back following the stark economic crisis of 2008.

Iceland’s experiences illustrate some general principles of the modern world.  The first of these is this:  that we – whether “we” equals country, company, society or some other entity, are subject to the effects of events beyond our control.  In Iceland’s case, even before it fell prey to the effects of a global economic crisis its economy was severely affected by the eruptions of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano.  As leaders we are naive if we fail to understand that our plans will be affected by events outside our sphere of influence.

Grimsson’s talk suggests, for me, a second important principle:  that our success as leaders lies as much in how we respond to events as it does in the events themselves.  Watching Grimsson’s 20-minute speech I am particularly struck by the way he interrogates the events that affected his country in order to identify the key questions that needed to be answered in a time of major upheaval.

In case you missed the link to Grimsson’s talk, click here.  And if you’ve been following my recent series of postings on developing your ability to think strategically, add this one to your list – it’s a neat example of stepping back to see the big picture.

I welcome your comments and responses:  what comes up for you when you watch Grimsson’s speech?

When there isn’t enough time in the day

Developing as a leader

I don’t know about you but for me, 2012 has got off to a whirlwind start with new projects alongside my ongoing coaching commitments.  I have found myself squeezing things into the diary – booking phone calls over time booked for other work and then having to work out when to do the work.  I have had early starts and late finishes.  I’ve dropped a (small) ball here and there.  I’ve had to say no when I’d like to say yes.  I have struggled to find time to do the ordinary, everyday things.  I know I can handle this pace for a while – quite a long while, even – and still, it’s not the way I want to live my life.

It is the lot of a coach to find him- or herself working with clients who are grappling with the very issues the coach is working through.  At the moment, for me, it’s time management.  I am fortunate right now that my client base is growing and I’m running to keep up (remember those days?).  My clients are experiencing a range of issues that make it hard to manage their time.  One issue that is making all our lives increasingly challenging is technology.  Recently I have found myself waking up to the alarm on my mobile and – oh!  finding myself looking at e-mails before I’ve even got out of bed.  Especially when clients work in global organisations there is always somebody sending an e-mail.  This is particularly challenging because, if we’re not careful, we are always just a little “wired”:  ready to respond and never fully relaxed.  Clients also find it hard to manage their time in times of change, or after a promotion.
If you’re struggling with time management what can you do to come back into balance and productivity?  Here are a few thoughts from me:
  • Take time out to dream:  You may think I’m crazy and still, this is my number one recommendation.  If you want to create something different, you need to know what it is you want to create.  Put aside all questions of how you might get there and ask yourself what might be true when you have got it right on the time management front.  You’ll probably find it surprising just how much this reveals;
  • Set your sights at the right level:  Especially when you’re newly promoted, you will need to  recalibrate your sights.  Maybe it used to be your role to manage the big projects, but now it’s your job to work out which projects need to be managed – and delegate.  Maybe it used to be your job to make sure everything got done, but now it’s your job to set the direction of your area and to engage others in your team in how to make progress in that direction… you get the gist; 
  • Set some boundaries:  As long as the amount of time you are willing to work is infinitely expandable you will find yourself giving more time than your contracted hours.  (My brother, currently working in Japan, wrote a blog posting recently – The salaryman – about habits in this area in Japan).  Decide what hours you are going to work and when and then use this as your guide.  The question then becomes:  how can I best use the time available to achieve my aims? 
  • Organise, develop or expand your resources:  You may need to take a long hard look at what’s possible in the area of resources.  Maybe you have all the people you need but lack a structure (organisational design, clarity of roles and accountability, ways to monitor progress etc.) that supports effective working.  Maybe you need to expand your resources in one area or more.  Maybe you need to develop the capability of your staff.  Sooner or later you need to come to a view on what you can do and with what resources and establish boundaries for your team as well as yourself;
  • Identify and address the big agenda items:  Some of these may well emerge from your dreaming (above).  They may be significant in scope and require effort across the whole team:  if only, for example, you could establish the reputation of your team with your key customer group, you would have clients in the business who gladly come to you rather than making the case for using contractors to do the work of your team.  Or perhaps they’re more limited in scope and still they eat up your time:  if only, for example, you could get John to perform effectively in his role, you would free your own time and that of others to do the job they are paid to do.  I don’t know what the big ticket items are in your area – do you?
  • Chip away:  This last suggestion reflects the possibility that there may be all sorts of small things you can do differently in order to achieve a whole set of results without risking burnout for you or your team.  If this is the case, you might like to spend a period of time experimenting with changes you can make or you might want to open up this question to your whole team.  The more you ask the question, the more you will find all sorts of changes you can make including small changes that make a big difference.
Your ideal path to balance and productivity may include some or all of these – or other options that I haven’t listed above.  Either way, I’d love to read your comments on time management.  What’s working (or not working) for you?
   

Is a need to please hurting your business?

Emotional Intelligence

Mashable.com recently published an interesting blog on the need to please:  Is a need to please hurting your business?  You can read it here.

If you click through to the article, you’ll find it speaks for itself.  In case you’re hesitating, here are three questions you might ask yourself to see if this article might be of interest to you:

  • Do you ever say yes when really, you want to say no – and end up feeling angry and resentful afterwards?
  • Do you ever say yes and then do no – hoping that the yes will be enough to keep someone (your boss, clients, spouse etc.) happy?
  • Do you ever find yourself feeling stretched and overworked because you haven’t found a way to negotiate limits to your total workload?
And of course, you might also ask yourself if you’re managing anyone who displays these patterns.  If you’re managing a whole team that act this way – well, that’s also a sign to pause and reflect.

Kitchen confessions

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I know, I know… it’s time I gave an update on the progress of my kitchen.  Is it finished yet?  In fact, Jeannie Morrison, my friend and fellow member of the London Symphony Chorus, was kind enough to e-mail before Christmas and to express her hope that I would be enjoying my brand new kitchen at Christmas.  Sorry, Jeannie,  I’m not there yet.

An old Chinese cupboard before its kitchen transformation

The amount of preparation has been prodigious.  The walls have been stripped.  The chimney breast has also been stripped back to the brick work along with a section alongside it.  And because the bricks were in such a poor state, Wills rebuilt part of the chimney breast.  The old sink has been moved round so that the window at the end of the room can be taken out to make way for a door.  And now the new door is in, Wills has started the process of converting the old doorway to a window.  I could carry on – but you get the idea.

You may spot part of the old cupboard as well as
getting a rough idea of the design of the new kitchen

Gary, who spotted a 19th Century Chinese cupboard (rather worse for wear) and saw its potential, has been working miracles with it in the kitchen, creating a cupboard as planned with the central section of the original piece and another wall-to-ceiling cupboard to house the boiler.  If only he’d consent to having his picture taken I might have caught his boyish delight this morning when we discussed just what a success this is proving to be.  And yes, the picture above also gives you some idea of the state of my kitchen at Christmas.  Fortunately, my nephew Edward, who lives with me, was away and – when I was not with friends and family – it was just me at home.  Oh!  Me and the mouse that is!  Seen once but not since.

New appliances are multiplying in the lounge   

Over time, various appliances have been delivered and some of them are biding their time in the lounge.  The new sink has been with me for a while, and now the dishwasher, a new radiator and (I confess) the first proper kitchen bin I have ever owned, are all ready and waiting.  It feels so grown up!

I’m smiling as I write, recognising that I, too, share a good deal of Gary’s childlike glee.  I’m also smiling because I recognise just how many of my friends see this kind of experience as the ultimate nightmare.  I think of Roger Hamilton’s book Your Life, Your Legacy:  An Entrepreneur Guide to Finding Your Flow which I’ve mentioned before on this blog.  Hamilton highlights different ways in which entrepreneurs generate wealth and I know that my own signature approach to generating wealth is primarily creative.  I am loving the creative process of designing the new kitchen.  Even in our private lives our key strengths and preferences show up.  

After a racist thought, what do we do next?

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Well!  Diane Abbott does seem to have put her foot in it!  A quick Google search threw up an article by The Telegraph which highlighted reports that forty people complained about her comments to the Metropolitan Police, which is probably the least of her troubles.  All in all, we’ve all had a field day discussing this particular gaff.

As it happens, I had a curious experience over the weekend.  By way of background, I have a neighbour – a few doors down – who likes to play his music very loud and often late at night.  At times I’ve knocked on the door to ask him to turn it down – usually unheard above the music.  At times I’ve asked for help from the “noise patrol” of the local council.  At times I’ve resorted to using the earplugs that are supplied occasionally when I’m seated by the organ speakers at a concert when I sing.  I have managed to speak with my neighbour a couple of times and, most recently, agreed that next time it happened I would send him a request, by text, that he turn the volume down.

So it was that at about 1.30am on Saturday morning I texted him with said request when his music woke me up.  I was half asleep and eager not to wake up any more fully than necessary.  I sent the text, turned off my phone and was successful in going back to sleep.  In the morning I woke up to a couple of text messages.  The first let me know he’d got my text and had turned his music down as well as wishing me a Happy New Year.  The second was a response to my lack of response and included the following:

….given the fact that u find it difficult 2 reciprocate a simple happy new year has made me realise ur colonial mindset which ur apparently unwittingly a victim of n probz dont even realise it to the point of even feeling justified.

I am so unused to being spoken of in this way that I chewed it over in the morning with Edward, my nephew and Gary, who is working in my kitchen at present.  Of course, it would be easy to go to precisely the place my neighbour describes – the place of feeling justified.  It seems so obvious to me that my neighbours don’t want to hear too much noise that I feel some anxiety when I listen to Radio 4 in the summer whilst gardening – how does my neighbour not understand this, too?

Maybe one of the reasons – the reason, even – that Diane Abbott’s Tweet stimulated so much discussion is precisely because it offered an opportunity to accuse the accuser.  No matter what atrocities our ancestors may have committed or we may commit now, we don’t like to be seen as racist.  Ms. Abbott’s misfortune was to show her own biases even whilst being known for campaigning against the biases of others.  And perhaps at a deeper level her misfortune was this, to have imagined that racism is the sole domain of any particular racial group.

Coming as this does in the aftermath of the trial and conviction of Gary Dobson and David Norris for the murder of Stephen Lawrence I tread with care, recognising just how much people can – in the words of my neighbour – feel justified in carrying out the most awful acts of violence.  The murder of Stephen Lawrence has been a bitter reminder of this fact throughout the last eighteen years.  At the same time, it seems to me that we need to show ourselves – and each other – enough compassion to recognise that we are all, more or less, racist:  to see the differences in the “other” is the natural response of one who fears.  For me, the important question is this:  having had a racist thought, what do I do next?  And equally, how do I respond to the racist thoughts of another?

I responded to my neighbour’s text as best I could and with the intention of keeping the door open to communication and understanding.  This was not because I have an intrinsic need to be on good terms with this particular neighbour or even because I’d like to be able to talk to him about the noise he makes.  Rather, I recognise that his comments may well be a sign of how tender issues of race are for him and, whatever my own perspective, I want to see beyond my own response to understand a fellow human being.  

Emotions after the event

About Dorothy
Amidst the various commitments I have today – coaching calls, project calls – I am expecting a visit this afternoon from PC Jane Kilduff of Lewisham Police.
Jane called me last week to follow up the photos I submitted following the riots on 8th August last year.  She wanted to get some details from me in order to prepare a statement which I shall sign today.  After her call I sat down and read the posting I wrote at the time, entitled There were riots outside my front door today.  I realise that the notes I captured in that posting are, perhaps, a useful addition to anything I could say now, offering testimony written so soon after the fact.  I also realise that none of the sentiments I expressed at the time have changed.
In our call, Jane asks me questions about what happened that day and I notice something happening as our call proceeds, a rising of emotion that I didn’t feel at the time of the riots because – I knew it even then – I was in shock.  When I put the phone down I sit for a few moments with the emotions – not fear, not anger, but grief, sorrow…
As I write I am aware of the way the work of Elizabeth Kuebler Ross has been used in businesses to describe our natural responses to change in the workplace.  My own response is part of the same cycle.  In this moment, though, I simply write in the awareness that something happened last August which changed my world and which stimulates some sense of loss in me.  I can seek to rationalise that – to understand what it is that I feel so sad about and still, I can only approximate.  I decide not to rationalise in this way and take a moment to sit with the emotions.
UPDATES: Riots in Lewisham

Finding the points of leverage in your life

Developing as a leader, Emotional Intelligence,

Last year, several times, I mentioned Richard Rumelt’s book Good Strategy Bad Strategy as part of a series of postings on developing your strategic thinking.  I feel drawn to his book as the New Year begins.

In particular, I feel drawn to return to the concept of leverage.  Rumelt defines this in various ways, pointing to what he calls the “pivot point” that will magnify the effects of focused energy and resources.  His examples include President Ronald Reagan’s speech on 12th June, 1987, at the Brandenburg Gates in West Berlin.  Reagan – knowing of the gap between Mikhail Gorbachev’s claim that the Soviet Union was liberalising and the facts on the ground – took the opportunity to say:  “General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalisation:  Come here to this gate!  Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate!  Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”  His speech had the effect of highlighting to Western Europeans the imbalance that existed between a system that allowed free movement of people and one that had to restrain its citizens with barbed wire and concrete.  This in turn gave political leverage to Reagan.

In my own life, I am often delighted by small acts which have a disproportionate effect.  In 2007, for example,  I was contacted by a former colleague who had been asked to join a project team as a coach.  She wasn’t available to say yes but she thought of me and passed on my name.  I worked extensively with the team’s client that year and one of the people I coached has often referred potential clients to me since.  This simple act on the part of my former colleague continues to make a big difference in my life.  In similar fashion, I have written before on this blog about the ease of giving vouchers from my local supermarket – incentives to spend more money in exchange for extra reward points – to people who are already spending that amount of money at the till.  Sometimes this small incentive clearly makes a big difference to someone for whom money is tight.  Always it brightens the day both of the giver and the receiver.

It’s not that I want to focus in this posting on giving and receiving.  Rather, if you are wanting to take some of the hard work out of achieving results – to achieve more and with greater ease – looking for and acting on the points of leverage in your life can yield a bonus prize of easy results.  Perhaps you are spending a disproportionate amount of your time and energy on managing someone who you know, in your heart of hearts, is in the wrong job.  Tackling the issue head on takes time and energy and still, in the longer term, you know it will benefit you and the person concerned.  Perhaps in your own work you are holding on to a task you really hate when actually, delegating it to a member of your team could support their development and free your time to leverage your natural strengths.  Perhaps as a parent you are constantly trying to steer (control?) the activities of your teenage child when actually it’s time to loosen the rein a little, saying your piece and being ready to support whilst recognising you cannot protect them from all the dangers of the world.

I wonder if this idea of leverage has any resonance for you, right now.  Are there areas in which you find yourself expending time and effort with little by way of return?  Are there opportunities you’re currently missing to take some small action that will make a disproportionate impact in your life or the lives of others?  As you enter the New Year I invite you to take five minutes to identify five fruitless activities you need to let go of and five easy wins you have yet to harvest.  Please share them here.

Happy New Year.  

Go big or go home – starting the year with lessons from Lady Gaga

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Lady Gaga in that dress

It’s January, 2012 – the beginning of a new year.  The turning of the year is often a time for reflection – a time when we look back at the year just gone and forward to the year ahead.

Lady Gaga’s rise to fame reminds us just how much can change in a short space of time.  You may not remember – believe, even – that as recently as the autumn of 2008, Lady Gaga was the little-known supporting act to a reunion of the erstwhile boy-band, New Kids On The Block.

Recently I was intrigued to come across a case study (from the Harvard Business School, no less) exploring the decisions Team Gaga faced when an untimely action by rapper Kanye West put Gaga’s future at risk.  In a summary of this case, the heading Go big or go home highlights the decision that opened up in what could well stand as a lesson in how to assess and manage risk.

“But let’s keep it light” you may say, “and step gently into 2012”.  So for now I offer this question as you look forward to the year ahead:  what’s your ‘go big or go home’ decision for 2012 – the one that could transform your future?

If you’re willing to share, please use the comments box to do so.  If you prefer to read about Lady Gaga, click here.

Putting a smile on the face of life in 2012

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2012.  Some people believe that the world ends this year – based on the prophecies of the Mayans, whose calendars extended as far as 2012.

Maybe it will, though it doesn’t need to end without humour, as some of our colleagues in the marketing industry have been reminding me with the Lynx 2012 ad.  In case you haven’t seen it yet, take a moment to watch it by following this link.

Whether you’re celebrating the beginning of a new year or anticipating the end of the world, I hope life puts a smile on your face in 2012 – or that you put a smile on the face of life.

Asking the right questions as the year draws to a close

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This was my last posting of the year for Discuss HR and also published on the HRUK group on LinkedIn.  As the year draws to a close I thought you might enjoy it here, too:


Recently I came across a talk by Icelandic President Olafur Grimsson, describing how Iceland bounced back after firstly the world financial meltdown of 2008 and then the Eyjafjallajokull volcano sent Iceland high-speed into economic meltdown.


It’s easy to forget the drama of Iceland’s experiences (unless, of course, you had money invested in Iceland’s apparently safe and secure economy) in the light of the wider events of 2011 – the deaths of Osama bin Laden and Colonel Gaddafi, dramatic events in a number of Middle Eastern countries, freak weather events in Japan, Thailand, Australia… to name but a few.  More locally, Berlusconi finally stood down as Italy’s long-standing Prime Minister and, in the UK, London saw anti-cuts protests, protests against plans to raise tuition fees and protests – together with people in countries around the world – against capitalism and its effects.  In the summer riots shocked the nation – one of them right outside my front door.  As I write, the fate of the Eurozone is still in the balance.

UPDATES: Riots in Lewisham


Outside my front door, Monday 8th August, 2011



Some alternative thinkers see these and many other events as part of a significant transition to a new epoch.  A number of authors have written about the Mayan prophecies for 2012 and one of them, Diana Cooper (in her book Transition to the Golden Age in 2032:  Worldwide Forecasts for the Economy, Climate, Politics and Spirituality), points to a twenty-year period of transition before we enter a new, “golden” era in 2032.


All this probably seems more or less remote from our day to day world of work:  what, you may ask, does any of this have to do with HR?  As the year comes to a close, I come back to the talk I mentioned at the top of this article.  Watching it, one of the things that strikes me is how, in responding to the events that befell Iceland in 2008, Grimsson – as new President – identified and responded to some of the key questions that were raised by those events.  Grimsson highlighted the social unrest that followed the world economic events in a country that had a lasting history of peaceful democracy and which threatened that democracy:  Iceland’s response – to initiate and execute comprehensive political, judicial and social reform – was borne out of the conviction that the issues of the day required an appropriate response and that anything less would not be sufficient.


Writing the last pre-Christmas posting for Discuss HR, I find myself wondering what are the key questions for you as 2011 draws to a close – what are the issues you face and what would be a sufficient response?  Some of these questions will be key for you as an individual.  Some of them may be key questions for you as an HR Practitioner and even for HR as a whole.  I hope you’ll share some of those questions as comments (and perhaps your answers) below.


For my part, I wonder if the key questions that face us all are the questions that connect us both with our heads and our hearts.  These are questions which, whilst stimulating thought and reflection, remind us of what really matters to us in our work and our play.  For this reason, my own key questions at the end of the year are these:

  •  As the year draws to a close, what has been most significant for me about 2011?
  •  What do I celebrate about this year – what needs of mine have been met?  What do I mourn – what are the needs I really want to meet that have yet to be fulfilled?
  • Looking forward, what’s it time for – in my life, in the life of my business?  What are the outcomes I most desire in 2012?
  • What are the implications of my desires and aspirations in terms of where I invest (my time, money, energy and other resources) in 2012?
  •  What factors in the world around me are most significant for me in 2012?  What challenges will I need to overcome in order to make progress towards my desired outcomes?
  • What resources do I have that will help me to meet those challenges and to make progress towards my desired outcomes?