Pay it forward

In Paul Cash's book "In Remarkable we Trust" there is a timely reminder about the power of pay it forward. You may remember the film from 2000 with Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment in which a school boy experimented with the impact of doing something for someone else and expecting nothing in return.

 In today's fast paced world riddled with celebrity, some people expect 'something for nothing' or instant reward for action.

I challenge you to do 5 things for others to help them in their job this week. It could be sending them a link to a useful article, connecting them with someone or giving them a card or small gift because they deserve it. Do it just because you can and not because you think it will lead to something.

Please share what you have done on this site... you never know it might help someone else too. Thank you.

#BeRemarkable

I have been very lucky to have been given a copy of a new book by digital marketing guru Paul Cash @zagology. It's a wonderful scrapbook of ideas on how to create a truely Remarkable brand in today's crazy age.

As Learning Entrepreneurs this is an invaluable insight into tangible actions we can take to reinforce our value and shout about the contribution we make and on this blog I will share some of these insights and how they translate to us.

This quote really struck me as valuable to our community
"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who can't read & write, but those who can't learn, unlearn and relearn"Alvin Toffler, Futurologist

If you had to change 5 things in your role right now what would you stop and what would you start?
Our article on "The fantastic power of failure" challenges and supports us to take responsible risks to stretch our approach and offer more.

How to laugh off failure and giggle our way to success

I don't think many of us could fail to be bewildered at this June 'summer' weather. My neighbour and I set up a relay this weekend of taking our washing in and out of the garden in response to weather which went from heavy downpour to blistering sunshine in seconds.It made me wish I had had the stuff on a pulley and could just press a button to have it rotating in and out of the house as needed. Bedraggled, bemused and wet as we were, nevertheless we laughed - well you have to don't you!

Then the most vivid memory I have from Jubilee weekend is those poor singers on the barge bellowing out 'Land of Hope and Glory', whilst dripping wet. They were hardly visible from the torrent of rain hitting them and yet as soon as the song switched to a little sea faring shanty, the audience and royals alike were knees bending, swaying and singing in time to the music.

I am a firm believer that this sort of 'British Weather induced Humour' has given us all a much needed workplace skill. Humour can and should translate to the workplace. If you can't laugh and carry on you may as well give up. I can remember someone who worked for me many years ago made an almighty IT blooper which crashed the entire system, his response was a cheeky grin as he uttered the phrase 'ooopps'. Well he could have made excuses, tempers could have flared and we could have wasted time worrying. Instead we all burst out laughing and rallied to fix the problem. This I think is why humour is so powerful, it stops us getting caught up in excuses, pity, worry and anxiety and quickly moves us to getting on and sorting things regardless.

Maybe we need to look at having a course on how to laugh off failure and giggle our way to success!!

Whats the difference between L&D and OD?

Now this is something that has been puzzling me for a number of years. What exactly is OD and how does it differ from L&D. Linda Holbeche has at last brought some light to my murky darkness on this topic in her Training Journal Article .

If you are in L&D and considering the move to OD (or vice versa), I recommend you read this article. In a nutshell these are the top three insights I gleaned from her article:

• L&D Professionals who also have mastery of Human Resource Development Disciplines are well equipped to cross the divide between L&D and OD due to similarities in the disciplines
• One reason for my own confusion is that so many of the 'techniques and tools' of OD have been mainstreamed that it is hard to spot where the 'edges' are and what defines OD
• OD practitioners think strategically and systemically, rather than viewing change projects in isolation, as such they work 'apart' rather than 'within' the business enabling them to challenge and surface conflict

As OD by Linda's definition is about giving people the tools and resources so that they themselves can build internal capacity and capability. As the role of L&D is becoming less about formal delivery of learning and more about enabling people to undertake self directed learning, perhaps the division between L&D and OD will narrow naturally. What do you think?

Music and optimum performance

I have just written a new article on www.connectingdots.co.uk about the role of music in learning and in my research I found this.

This year, Red Bull has teamed up World Champion Hurdler Dai Greene with Sports Psychologist Dr Costas Karageorghis and Music Producer Redlight to create a bespoke music track, scientifically designed to help improve his performance whilst he is training.

The track is due out later this week and it will be amazing to hear how this specially recorded track combines, rhythm, tempo, timbre, and build up of energy to provide the optimum focus for this athlete.

So what can we do as Learning Entrepreneurs to provide the same mental support for our learners to help them engage with their work. their learning and the power that is within their minds to exercise on behalf of the organisation? Take a look at the full article for more details.

Look in your mirror and see an Entrepreneur!

There is a lot of talk about entrepreneurs these days, even the Government thinks they are the saviours of our economy and our route out of recession.  

But hang on - what is an entrepreneur? Can we be an entrepreneur if we are an employee in a big organisation, is this a status achievable by  most of us?

If you think of  entrepreneurs as people who own  their own businesses and are the Richard Bransons and Lord Sugars of this world then you are not alone. However, surely, there is something about applying an entrepreneurial spirit which we can all do.

According to Wikipedia an entrepreneur is  an enterprising individual who builds capital through risk and/or initiative, they are willing to launch a venture and take full responsibility for the outcome. Entrepreneurs are innovators who seize opportunities and are well positioned to take advantage of them. Wowza, wouldn’t it be great to be one of these!

Well there is a great little article on Forbes this week called 5 Ways to be an entrepreneur for life what is great about this article is that it recognises that people can be employees and still act in an entrepreneurial way.  The author Victoria Barrett suggests the following to help you adapt to being entrepreneurial in spirit even as an employee:

• Learn how to use social media to keep tabs on your industry by finding the expert voices
• Talk about what you have done and delivered rather than where you have worked
• Cultivate your connections
• Ask your social networks for help
• Work outside your office

This article fits so snugly with our aim to create learning entrepreneurs, that I had to share it with you. In our minds a learning entrepreneur is a type of individual who harnesses the spirit of the entrepreneur to really add value to the business. Our short video explains why we think taking an entrepreneurial approach to learning is crucial. If you haven’t seen it yet, take a look and then share our mind-set of the Learning Entrepreneur!

A quote courtesy of Nike

"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly.
AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES."

What will you do today that says you are strong enough, good enough, talented enough? 

Seek first to understand

Typically we seek to be understood. 

Most people do not listen with the intent to understand. They listen with the intent to reply.   

They are either speaking or preparing to speak. 

They are filtering everything and interpreting it in the context of their own lives.

And in today's world of instant communication with tweets, facebook notifications and emails popping up all the time the problem is compounded. Just take a minute to reflect on some of your conversations over the past 2 days..... would you have made the other person/people feel like the most important people in the world? If not, then you are falling short in your journey to becoming a Learning Entrepreneur... read on!

Levels of listening

Four common levels of listening have been identified, they are:

1. Ignoring.
2. Pretending to listen - i.e. “Right”, “Yeah, Yeah”, “OK, OK”.
3. Selective listening - hearing only certain parts of the conversation that have a particular interest for them.
4. Attentive listening – paying attention and focusing on the words.

Empathetic listening

The highest form of listening is empathetic listening, in other words listening with the intent to understand.  It involves more than registering the words that are spoken; it involves trying to understand what the person is saying, feeling and thinking.

To develop empathetic listening use your ears, eyes and heart.

You listen for feeling, meaning and behaviour.

This approach is a power resource for your networking helping you access needs that will enable you to fully connect with that person and offer tools/ people/ resources that might be of use to them. 

So over to you, will your listening be a power resource or a power zapper?

Connected posts

The joy of networking

How celebratory do you feel?

Following the celebrations of the weekend it made me think about how much as L&D Practitioners do we really celebrate the achievements of those who are learning? We know instinctively the connection between success and motivation so here's some quick ideas for helping others feel great about what they are doing.

1. Set high expectations at the start of learning
Explain expectations and support those who are keen to stretch themselves to excel. Acknowledge their achievements at the end with a small reward - a certificate or a kind acknowledgement from you and their manager.. or something more if funds allow.

2. Acknowledge individuals
Everyone has strengths, seek out these strengths whilst you work with them and give each person learning a personal message ... it can be on a post it or a certificate or an email the following day in which you thank them for their work and acknowledge one thing that the individual brought to the session, no matter how challenging they were.... that in itself can be a positive

3. Encourage positive feedback
At key stages in a session encourage individuals to share one thing they have gained value from so far on which you can build

4. Ask for peer feedback
Get individual learners to pick a name out of a hat at the start of a session and during the event they have to find something positive to say about the person at the end,. if you think this is too high risk, then ask them to write it down and put it in an envelope for the individuals to open once they have left.

5. Explain why something matters
When they have completed a section of learning remind them about the difference, working positively in this area can have on them, their customers and the organisation, By doing this you set a powerful purpose for stretching them

We are often so busy just trying to get through 'stuff' we don;t focus on the value of celebration - try some of these ideas and enjoy the benefits you and your learners will experience.

Long Weekend Over - Happy Face or Sad Face?

It has been a great weekend!

You have partied with friends, eaten lots, drunk a few glasses of your favourite tipple and lounged in umpteen different positions across your sofa.

You are chilled, jammed, relaxed or however you care to express it, amazingly happy. Then you remember you are back to work tomorrow and you look at the clock. Tick, tock, tick, tock... your last remaining leisure time is being eaten away, the second hand in perpetual motion towards the working day. How do you feel?

If you are excited and energised then brilliant, you are clearly geared up to use your replenished energy to make great things happen over the coming days. A quick check on what your priorities are will ensure you don't get distracted by those inbox time stealers. Write down three things that are a priority now so you are focussed when you open that inbox.

If you have a feeling of gloom and despondency, you are not alone! Lots of us feel a sense of foreboding after a break from work. However, often it is not as bad as we imagine. Make a quick list of what is worrying you now, then put an action against each to help you deal with that worry. Remember, having a break from work gives us three important tools in our toolbox:

1. Time to re-energise. When we are tired we don't think straight, when we relax it is amazing the resources we find we have inside ourselves.
2. Space to get a sense of perspective on things. After a few days away from problems the emotions have settled down and work takes its place in the grand scheme of our lives rather than being centre stage.
3. Time for your subconscious to tackle those problems you thought you didn't know how to deal with. This is the crucial and wonderful magic of the human mind. Stopping distracting activity and letting your mind wander does lead to magnificent solutions and ideas.

Trust in your own unique ability to resolve problems and smile your way to success!

Why put up with it?

It was a real lesson this week as I upgraded from my very, very, very old laptop to a brand new desktop. quadrupling the processor and hitting a terabyte of storage. 


OMG I didn't know how bad things were till I discovered how amazingly good they are now.

Suddenly I have internet connection as soon as the thing is switched on (no longer am I doing a ritual of disconnect/connect several times to jump start the wireless recognition).

When I type words they now appear on the screen immediately, not umpteen seconds later. The cursor no longer disappears into a black hole and that darn virus software no longer kills all activity whilst it downloads its updates. Then there is the editing software which when it ran before used 100% of the processor and still crashed due to insufficient resources, now it slickly starts up within seconds and runs like a dream.

So how had I let things get so bad? When things get worse and worse over a gradual period of time it is very easy to get used to it being rubbish and only focussing on the latest thing to bug you. We can easily get desensitised to things which are not making us happy or are draining us. So here is my Friday gift to you. Use this weekend to look at your life through someone else's eyes. If someone else walked in your shoes what would they observe, what would they think and ultimately what are you settling for that you could change AND it would give you an OMG moment!! Food for thought eh!

Happy Jubilee Celebrations to all from ConnectingDots!