The grass isn’t greener on the other side.
A few years ago, I was lucky enough to be able to see Jerry Seinfeld perform a live set in a small theatre in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. He had so many wonderful stories, insights and anecdotes. Whilst I laughed loud at the time, and was blown away by his ability to observe and craft a story, I struggle to remember more than a couple of stories he mentioned. Cognitive Psychologist George A. Miller created what is known as Miller’s Law. Miller’s Law is commonly understood to mean that in our short term memory, on …
How are you viewing technology?
A recent insights podcast from McKinsey (In Conversation: The CEO’s new technology agenda) highlights the change in how organizations are or should be viewing IT right now. Technology enabled organizations to quickly shift gears as staff were sent home to work. A spotlight was shined on the adequacy, or inadequacy, of the business capability during this time. For some clients there was a mad scramble for funding to purchase laptops to enable desktop bound staff to work from home. For others it was a much easier transition, staff were already mobile with laptops or multipurpose devices such as Surface Pro’s. …
Technology Skill Gaps
In the past 12-15 months there has been massive change in how organizations work with and interact with technology. For many organizations it has bought to the fore the importance of building capability and closing skill gaps. A recent McKinsey survey reported organizations increased skill building during the pandemic. The need for basic digital skills was 16 points higher than McKinsey’s 2019 survey. Some industries might be viewed as more “advanced” in how they use technology, but the generic “level” is just that, generic and subjective. When I present Excel programs (by far my most in-demand virtual and in-person topic …
You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know!
When I present, I tell audiences “You don’t know what you don’t know!” It’s one of my favourite things to say because it genuinely taps into technology’s true intent and purpose. I love how it creates “light bulb” moments when, after a presentation someone shares what they learnt and tells me they didn’t realise they don’t know what they don’t know. Our knowledge is limited to our experiences and is different to someone else’s. When you close yourself off to learning you miss the opportunity to grow and be challenged. To me, “You don’t know what you don’t know” is …
The Snowball Effect
Technology was supposed to make it possible to achieve more, with increased productivity and less risk and stress. But instead, it has resulted in a “snowball effect,” and there is often an underlying sense that being overloaded or constantly struggling with your workload is normal. Learning how to produce a report more efficiently in Excel or automate a regular email helps making your day less stressful and also reduces the risk of errors. Sometimes making the investment of time, and sometimes money, upfront can end up saving you hours of stress and frustration. Don’t accept the “snowball effect!” A simple …
What business can do to make it easier, not harder for staff to be productive
The lightning speed at which organizations shifted to online during the COVID pandemic meant many workers had to learn new technology to access organizational data remotely and participate in workplace meetings online. In a recent Raconteur article, Five Priorities for CIO’s in 2021, CIO’s identified the importance of engaging and educating their workforce with system capability. Whilst to many this may seem obvious, every organization has workers with different skill levels, confidence and exposure to technology that impacts on their perception of their capability. As restrictions start to relax and staff are settling in to returning to work or a …
Productivity isn’t about deflecting, it is about supporting
I’ve been working with a client who is trying to shift the organization’s “culture” when it comes to support using programs such as Microsoft Excel or Word. The culture has been one of passing the buck. Responsibility for “fixing” things they didn’t know how to do, where to find files or documents resulted in constant calls to the IT “help desk”. The culture was, they were called the help desk for a reason…. “they’re there to help right??” In this organization, technology training was considered an expense with the help desk looked upon as the source of all answers as …
Better Decisions
Does having access to more information mean we make better decisions? Not necessarily. Regardless of the amount of information we have access to, we can always get more. It may take more time or more resources to access. Sometimes we decide to hold off and gather more information. Other times there may be a sense of urgency, real or perceived, that requires us to make decisions and act based on the information we have at hand. I remember watching the movie “Sully” with Tom Hanks. It is the story of Chesley Sullenberger the pilot who landed his damaged plane on …
Workplace Learning Transformation
Interesting infographic from Racontuer Publishing. A much higher demand for digital learning post COVID with over 90% of learners broadly satisfied with virtual learning experiences. Not a surprise but, 94% of workplaces surveyed have changed their learning and development strategy since the pandemic, 59% think their digital learning adoption is in its infancy and 21% have implemented a new digital learning solution. As we move out of COVID to a new way of working a “one size fits all” approach to learning and development won’t work for everyone. Virtual or digital options need to be part of our blended learning …
Do something different.
When I first start working with clients, they always wanting to fast track results. Whether it is getting their Inbox under control, building and delivering more effective presentations or analysing data in their Excel spreadsheet, they KNOW there will be work involved, but they want to get there quickly! Reality is we didn’t get to where we are, overwhelmed and overloaded, overnight and a one day workshop, one hour seminar or reading a book is not going to “fix” our sense of overload. In his latest book, A World without Email, Computer Science Professor Cal Newport beautifully encapsulates where we …
