There’s No Such Thing as a Dumb Question!
When I present at conferences or in-house professional development events, I regularly get a sheepish hand raised and the phrase “this is probably a dumb question…” spoken as the precursor to a question. When I hear this, two things immediately come to mind. The first is recognition of the huge leap of courage the individual has taken to ask the question, and the second is, the trust they feel in the moment that I may be able to answer it. When I respond, I always reassure the person that it is not a dumb question, and that it is likely …
Maybe it’s time we stop thinking technology alone is the key to productivity
Businesses look with hope when new software is released. Could this be the ONE? Software that truly delivers the turn-key productivity solution every organization dreams of? As a veteran of over twenty years in both business and adult education and training, I think it’s time to let go of the mystical belief that software on its own will magically improve organizational productivity. Technology is the mechanism by which corporate data is stored and categorized, but the productivity power lies in HOW an organization chooses to leverage it. Increased productivity doesn’t automatically happen simply by containerising data into a central location. …
Do You Know Your Peak Time?
At 5am every day, alarm or no alarm my body tends to wake me up. A sleep in for me is 7am which might occasionally happen on a weekend or public holiday. I love to get up and exercise, then after my first coffee (a freshly ground, single origin from a Fair-Trade roaster) I’m ready to go! I focus on my highest priorities first thing so they can be ticked off my ‘to do’ list and then deal with everything else after that. By about 4pm I’m starting to slow down, and by about 6pm I know I am at …
Sometimes it’s just a NO!
I recently received a call from an organisation wanting me to speak at an upcoming event. They had been referred to me by someone in their organisation who had seen me speak previously and thought they would reach out to check on my availability and fee. We arranged a call to find out a bit more and for me to determine if I felt like I was a “fit”. This is something I do with EVERY potential client. In our conversation we discussed what they wanted as the outcome from the event, which, although it was like my topic, was …
Has your tech ever gone wild?
Occasionally stuff happens and I call it “Tech gone Wild”. When in the US we hired a car to drive from JFK airport in New York up to Boston to visit a friend. We got upsold in a great way at the car rental counter to a brand new vehicle with an inbuild GPS system, heated AND air conditioned seats, the whole works! Whilst a GPS system in a vehicle isn’t unusual these days, in this car it was different. We got into the car and started to set things up for our drive, move the mirrors, the seats etc. …
There is no “ab cruncher” for technology!
I regularly go into organisations and meet frustrated people, and as a result, I get frustrated! Why do I get frustrated? Because so often people made things harder than they needs to be. Everybody is looking for the “Ab Cruncher”. The one piece of technology, the tool or the process that is going to make our lives perfect. Then when that happens when I just sit back and enjoy the ride, right? That’s how it works isn’t it? Not at all. Reality is everyone is looking for the magic pill or thing that will fix everything. It does not exist. …
Never underestimate the importance of planning
On a recent trip to the US, I visited the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock Arkansas. Spread out over three floors, the library houses all manner of information related to the Clinton Presidential era including a reproduction of President Clinton’s oval office – with replica furniture and artifacts. Of the many items on display that chronicled the Clinton era was a glass case that housed two pages of one of President Clinton’s State of the Union addresses. The State of the Union Address is delivered by the President of the United States to Congress at the beginning of each …
Needle in a Haystack
I’m sure you’ve heard the cliché about looking for something but not being able to find it referred to as looking for a needle in a haystack. It’s a metaphor I sometimes use to describe how we tend go about trying to solve problems. In a lot of instances, we look for a complicated answer. We think is the answer was easy, we would be able to see it straight away. The challenge becomes the fact that we are exposed to so much information every day that our brain is trying to process, and reality is sometimes we just can’t …
The Art of Conversation
When was the last time you had a real, totally focussed conversation with colleagues or clients? After a conference in the Dallas, my husband Paul and I drove down to eclectic Austin, Texas. During a Segway tour of the city, the guide mentioned a secret bar. After the tour, I found it online and made a booking to visit that night. At our designated reservation time, we turned up to the address provided. It was a run down building with a rickety fly screen door with tears in the wire. We pressed the relevant button to gain entry. A slot …
Everything is easy when you know how
Like riding a bike, everything is easy when you just now know to do it…. About 30 minutes into a recent one on one coaching with an executive, they shared that a colleague had recently raved about pivot tables in Excel. When the colleague tried to explain them, the executive told me of eyes glazing over, and head nodding but no comprehension. The executive shared that the concept of pivot tables remained one of those “mystery” in their mind. They wondered did they really need them and if so, how were they ever going to understand them? We chatted for …
