Craig loves music – it’s such a large part of his life everyday…

Recently I heard a radio interview with a ‘professor of music enjoyment’ (self titled I think). He was being asked why people still bother with the inadequate and outdated sounding, time consuming format of vinyl. He listened and then responded about how listening to vinyl is a listening experience from start to finish, I listened and I was speechless. The parallels between music listening and listening to people each day is massive…

Music is to be enjoyed, un-rushed giving time and respect to the artist and the actual music. Too much of life is rushed. The joy of picking an LP placing it on the turntable, carefully placing the stylus on the album and listening to the first few crackles is romantic, passionate, engaging and draws you in as a listener. The listening experience is enhanced as you have to work to hear the results. Anyone can play an mp3 anytime, to truly listen takes time, effort and commitment.

Thanks to the professor I’ve re discovered vinyl. It makes me stop everything and do nothing except listen. As a listener to truly engage with the source of information is glorious. Music, an ocean hitting the shore, or someone talking – how often do you try to emerge yourself in just listening? How much more enjoyment could you get if you really focussed on listening and nothing else? What difference would it make to you, your business, your family and friends if you stopped what you were doing, and worked at listening?

Just a thought…

How do you make your customer smile? Is there something small you could do to differently to have a big impact? Recently Jill took a train trip with her four year old daughter…

It was quite a short journey, but my daughter loves trains so for her it was a real treat. The journey itself was quite uneventful (as much as it can be with an over-excited four year old). When we arrived at our destination we went up to the exit which was manned by a smiling ticket inspector. My daughter eagerly handed him the ticket and he said “ooh we have something special for children who are polite and well behaved”. She beamed as he stamped the ticket and handed it back to her. Instead of using the usual ticket stamp, the inspector had used a cut-out in the shape of a heart. My daughter was so pleased and it really made our day! How refreshing.

Lucy recaps the day Rambutan spent at the University of York with Ben Hun-Davis, Growing for Gold.

Last Thursday saw a rare appearance of the whole Rambutan bunch at the same place at the same time. Having been invited by the University of York to help them showcase their new Ron Cooke Hub, we designed and ran some taster session workshops that would allow visitors to see the Hub in an innovative way and get some Rambutan refreshment too.

Following a fascinating opening talk by our very own Olympic gold medallist, Ben, we offered workshops on leadership, presenting, time management and listening; all vital business skills and all delivered in 30 minutes (time is money as they say!). In true Rambutan fashion the style of the workshops was interactive and memorable. We got some amazing feedback, summed up nicely by one attendee who commented: “Very inspiring. Fabulous!”

We’d like to thank the University for asking us along. We had a great day!

Lance was recently asked the question ‘if you ruled the world, what five things would you do and what five things would you stop?’

Okay, before you read this, close your eyes and think of the things you’d do and the things you’d stop……………….

I asked the same question of my six year old and he replied:

“I’d keep the world healthy, keep the air and water un-polluted, keep the world safe, keep astronauts going to the moon, keep the space shuttle. I’d ban fighting, ban shooting birds, ban robbers, ban people moving house, ban bad guys going into space”.

Wow, did I feel humbled.

Isn’t it amazing what can be achieved when it doesn’t matter who gets the credit. At Rambutan, we think we’ve a selfless approach too. Our clients know we’ll help them achieve their objectives and they value our straightforward and honest opinions.

On Tuesday evening Jill and Sarah went to hear Richard Reed, co-founder of Innocent, speak at a seminar in London.  He was an awesome presenter and had some fabulous stories to tell.  What’s more, it reminded them that every now and again it’s really refreshing to go and listen to other business people’s perspectives about the world of work: you always come away with reflections, ideas, affirmations about what you’re doing, or just a spring in your step!

‘Can I give you some feedback?’ When you hear these words how does it make you feel? What do you actually hear someone say?

Here are Craig’s thoughts:

The art of receiving feedback well is just as precious as the art of delivering great feedback. It’s true some of us could do with a bit of help in the way we deliver feedback so it feels more like a gift and less like a character assassination, but equally there are good and bad ways of receiving it.

Imagine how wonderful it would be if from now on whenever we got feedback we were able to take it gracefully and recognise it as a gift?

How we choose to take feedback is down to each and every one of us. Sure it can be painful but sometimes it can be wonderful. Look at the alternatives… if we react badly, people stop giving us feedback and then we never learn more about ourselves!

I personally choose to believe that someone offers me feedback because they care enough to help me learn more about myself. This mindset changes the way I view things and can stop the feedback stinging so much…

Next time you’re lucky enough to get some feedback ask yourself ‘what am I feeling about this?’.  If you’re feeling ‘anti’ feedback, change your mindset and see how much more you learn about yourself.

Feedback is a gift

It’s amazing where inspiration can come from.

Whilst sat in traffic last week, Sarah started reading the adverts pasted on the back of the van in front of her (as one does!).  The company sells appliances and after-sales care from three different manufacturers and what struck her were the ‘strap-lines’ that each one had underneath its logo:

• LEC – fresh thoughts
• Belling – think of everything
• Stoves – make a statement

Which happened to trigger some creative ideas in Sarah’s head about how to design a workshop she’s got coming up with one of her clients who has been made redundant and is thinking through what to do next: ‘Think fresh thoughts (possibilities)… be unconstrained and keep thinking them until you’ve exhausted all the possibilities… then decide on what you’re going to go for and think about how to let the world know that you’re there and available!’ 

 Where are you looking for your inspiration?  How open are your eyes to what’s out there just waiting to provoke a thought or two?!

Apparently today is the saddest, most depressing day of the year. It’s known as Blue Monday following a publicity campaign a few years ago.

So our challenge to you is to think about what you have to be positive and optimistic about today…  Then to ask yourself the same questions each day until the third Friday in June, which is apparently the happiest day of the year.  By that point you’ll have stacked up enough positive thoughts to have them positively oozing out of your pores as you prepare to strut your stuff on the beach or in the local park!

Apparently an average child laughs 300 times a day whilst an adult only laughs 15 times! How awful is that?  The good news is that Sarah has found a technological solution to close this gap for us adults…

“I realised recently that in my efforts to be savvy and learn enough text-speak acronyms to avoid appearing naive in the ways of the teenager I had only picked up on the ones that involved laughter:  LOL, LOVL, ROFL, PMSL, UMBJ… you get the picture!  I’m sure there are lots of others too, so please let me know if there are and I’ll endeavour to commit them to my ageing memory…

So now I can laugh 250 times a day – job done!”

If, like Sarah, you happened to see Sport Relief on BBC2 on Friday evening at about 10.20pm, you’ll have had the good fortune to see how focus, teamwork, playing to strengths and a compelling goal can come together to produce amazing results. 

The Olympian Choir, formed of Olympic and paralympic medal-winners, was transformed from a bunch of in-the-shower-only singers into a team singing a four-part harmony… Always on My Mind was what they sang, and to be fair, their performance always will be! 

We reckon there’s a lesson in there for all of us if we think about it…