Friday 30 September 2016

Is organisational design in your top 10?

The Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends 2016 report provides valuable insights into what's crucial for the future performance of your business.

Based on more than 7000 survey responses from over 130 countries, 10 key drivers are identified as very important or important as follows:

1. Organisational design (92% of respondents identified as very important or important)
2. Leadership (89%)
3. Culture (86%)
4. Engagement (85%)
5. Learning (84%)
6. Design thinking (79%)
7. Changing skills of the HR organisation (78%)
8. People analytics (77%)
9. Digital HR (74%)
10. Workforce management (71%)

I'm not surprised that organisational design is the top driver. For me the key to effective and executable design revolves around asking people 3 powerful questions:

1) What is essential to ensuring you feel valued?
2) How can we better articulate and measure the behaviours that demonstrate we're living our values?
3) What value are you delivering, to whom, and how can we make the processes simpler for you?

Image Courtesy of Shutterstock

I will address valued, values, and value in my post next Monday. For now what would make your top 10 list?

Be remarkable.
Ian

Wednesday 28 September 2016

Every 90 seconds, minutes, and days are crucial to your performance

The first performance enhancement tool that I co-created with my clients 25 years ago, when I began my work as a business mentor, was a one page personal and business possibility plan.

It's become known as a PPP. Go on a bit of a treasure hunt here and you'll find my personal PPP that you can download.

Since 1991 I have co-created many one page documents with my clients. They all embrace the following profound idea.


More about the power of 90 day plans or projects as Gihan Perera calls them here.

All one page documents that I co-create with my clients are focusing tools that I recommend be used in 90 minute blocks of working time. I then recommend a break. More on the value of 90 minute blocks and breaks here in a excellent post by Tony Schwartz called 'The Freedom of Boundaries.'

Finally in working on your 90 day plans/projects in 90 minute blocks, focus one moment (about 90 seconds) at a time.

Be remarkable.
Ian

Monday 26 September 2016

"Key human indicators" trump the traditional and tired KPI's

Of the 30 books I’ve read so far this year, ‘Technology vs. Humanity The coming clash between man and machine’ by Gerd Leonhard has been the best.

‘Everybody Matters The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family’ by Bob Chapman and Raj Sisodia, is a close second.

I've placed both these books on my top 21 recommended business books for people who want to change what’s normal should read here.

Of the many great take aways from ‘Technology vs. Humanity’ the concept of "key human indicators" as a far better way forward than the traditional and tired KPI's (Key Performance Indicators) got me very excited and led to a lot of thinking about how I can best integrate the concept in ways that benefit my clients.

Of the many great take aways from ‘Everybody Matters’ " ... process must serve the people not the other way around ..." was a favourite and also resulted in a lot of thinking about ways my clients could benefit.

More take aways from Everybody Matters here.

More take aways from Technology vs. Humanity here.

An appreciation of both “key human indicators” and “process must serve the people” are keys to finding your treasure inside The Appreciative Leader Handbook.

I know your treasure is in these places yet I don’t know exactly where. As I said in my last post “what I say is important yet nowhere near as important as what you hear yourself say to yourself, and then do your own unique work.

Be remarkable.
Ian

PS I’m currently reading ‘64 shots: Leadership in a crazy world’ by the retired long term CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, Kevin Roberts. This book too might end up making my top 21 list! Kevin introduces a wonderful idea that the COO role (insert your own role) of business is that of a plumber, someone who handles blockages and potential blockages, and prevents blockages. This is what Appreciative Leaders do. You?


Friday 23 September 2016

It's not what I say, rather what you hear yourself say to yourself

The opening minutes of my presentations always include the statement: It’s not what I say that’s important, rather what you hear yourself say to yourself, and then do your own unique work.

This philosophy is integral to all my work with clients. And, it's the key to you gaining your most value from The Appreciative Leader handbook, now with the designers and printers, with expected publication within the next 30 days.

There will only be 150 copies of this signed, numbered, limited edition handcrafted guide. I've chosen this number very carefully based on my decades of experience with Dunbar's number or as Seth Godin rightly calls it here, Dunbar's Law.

I have also chosen this number due to my increasing boredom with social media, the media in general, and the associated obsession with the masses. In my case I prefer to have meaningful and highly valuable and mutually rewarding relationships with a few people, rather than trying to engage with many people.

Become 1 of the 150 and you'll also be able to enjoy the benefits of the exclusive Appreciative Leader Community which are outlined here.

You'll see at the link above details of how the 150 copies are available:

24 already spoken for. Should you have emailed me and/or completed the special survey then you are among the 24 people and therefore you don't need to take any further action. I'll be in touch with you very soon.

18 via online seminar. Registration desk open.

18 via wine and wisdom evenings.

18 via full day master-classes.

15 via conference package.

15 via tailored leadership team master-class.

15 through membership of an online master-mind group.

7 through membership of in person master-mind group in Ballarat.

20 via a bespoke program for 1 organisation.

All the details here.

Be remarkable.
Ian

Wednesday 21 September 2016

Reward and punishment are outdated

This is a brilliant post by Seth Godin. In it he refers to this post. The following caught my eye:

Reward and punishment are outdated ...

and Natural consequences are the direct result of the child's behavior.
Logical consequences are established by the parents, and are a direct and logical--not arbitrarily imposed -- consequence of the transgression.
Natural consequences are usually effective.
Logical consequences can only be applied if there is no power contest; otherwise they degenerate into punitive retaliation.

The above is a common sense approach for you and your employees too.

Who will you become? What will you do next?

Be remarkable.
Ian

Monday 19 September 2016

The great collaborators - Instigators and Implementers

In every manufacturing environment I've been in there's creative tension at best between the engineers (designers) and the manufacturers (builders). Often the tension is destructive, meaning delays in the building/making, and therefore deadlines are missed and costs blow out.

For the longest time this positive and negative tension has also existed between the makers and the marketers, the marketers and the sellers, and of course between sales and administration people.

In the most remarkable workplaces there's great collaboration between the people who instigate and those who implement. In such workplaces I find the following 4 minimum best practices:

1) Roles have been carefully clarified with emphasis on what value is being delivered to whom, and how such value is delivered.

2) There's a shared-view about who is accountable for what and when.

3) Leaders continually invest time and energy ensuring that there's role respect for and between both instigators and implementers.

4) Everyone is investing in ongoing mastery of 8 conversations that are crucial to remarkable performance.


Who will you become? What will you do next?

The 8 conversations crucial to remarkable performance are a critical piece of the execution sparkenation in The Appreciative Leader handbook that is now with the designers/printers and on track for publication this month.

Here's how you can get your numbered, limited edition copy.

Be remarkable.
Ian

Friday 16 September 2016

'Technology vs. Humanity The coming clash between man and machine' by Gerd Leonhard

This is the best book of the 30 I've read this year.

So good in fact that it makes my top 21 recommended reading list.

You can get the book yourself here.

I first met the author Gerd Leonhard at a conference we both presented at in Munich, Germany in 2012. Since then I have followed Gerd's work with great interest.

In this book Gerd lays out a compelling case for ethical use of technology and always in ways that enhance the human experience while not altering what it means to be human.

You can read my full Amazon review here.

There's is much to love about this book. Three aspects that I love in particular are:

1) The idea of exponential humanism "the philosophy to find a way forward that will allow us to embrace technology but not become technology, to use it as a tool not as purpose."

2) The concept of "key human indicators" as a far better way forward than the traditional and tired KPI's.

3) The insight of androrithms "those qualities that makes us human" having more meaning than algorithms.

Be remarkable.
Ian

Monday 12 September 2016

Only pay attention to feedback you've asked for

In this blog post I explore why I believe that feedback is the least most valuable conversation. In the post I say "I'm from the Alan Weiss school - I ignore feedback I didn't ask for!"

In this article, centred around the model below, Matt Church provides great insights for acting on valuable feedback.


Be remarkable.
Ian

PS More great advice from Alan Weiss

Stop depending on, expecting, and hoping others to validate you. You're valid. Move on. 

Wednesday 7 September 2016

Monday 5 September 2016

Work is love made visible

There's a lie out there that persists. It says "do what you love and the money will follow."

I'm certainly all for doing what you love.


Steven Farber's words below changed everything for me a decade ago in the first release of his book 'The Radical Leap' (10th anniversary edition recently released). Steven's words inspired how I illustrate the personal change journey for my clients as pictured below.



I've be inspired again recently by the words below



Work is love made visible. Says it all for me.

Who will you become and what will you do next to live the wisdom above?

As always should you like some help with this please contact me on +61 418 807 898.

Be remarkable.
Ian

Friday 2 September 2016

The simplest solution to most of your problems

Several times this week I've been involved in conversations with clients where one person (or group of people) is not fully satisfied with the value that is being delivered to them by another person (or group).

It turns out that most of the time there's been a misunderstanding or miscommunication about expectations.

The simplest solution to most of your problems is to find out exactly what other people need and want from you, and then deliver that in the format/s they've asked for.

Zig Ziglar was onto this long ago.


This all sounds simple enough, yet in practice simple rarely means easy!

Actions

1) Next week invest time and energy reflecting on all the roles you play, and all of the people you have relationships with, and write down what each person needs and wants from you.

2) Over the course of this month make a time to meet with each person (in person or online using a facility that means you can see each other) (don't email) and check in with them to ensure that what you believe they need and want is precisely what they need and want and in the format/s they desire.

3) Make the necessary modifications/changes to how you deliver the value that other people need and want.

As always should you like some help with this please contact me on +61 418 807 898.

Be remarkable.
Ian