The latest from David…

So four people turned up late to today’s workshop and one person was on time but 60 miles to the west. Yet I was told ‘they’d all been sent an email so it’s their fault’. What a blast from the past. In my formative years at Tesco we didn’t talk about communicating or sending…we talked about ‘ensuring understanding’. It was never about what you thought you’d said but what the recipient had understood and done as a result. If people didn’t turn up to a workshop it was your fault not theirs. Communication was, and thankfully still is, about the impact (and action) of the recipient, not the intention of the sender…thanks to today’s latecomers (and geographically challenged) for a timely reminder.

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 walking along the beach at Filey in North Yorkshire, when he found something that got him thinking about how you can do amazing things with limited resources.

How often at work or home, do you hear ‘I could have done much better if I’d had: more time; more people; more money; better technology; more experience; better facilities etc’. It’s dead easy to let limited resources distract us from being amazing. But this is just a mindset and can be changed by thinking differently. Imagine what would have happened in April 1970 if NASA scientists had said ‘we don’t have enough time, electricity or ideas’? Fortunately for James Lovell, John Swigert and Fred Haise, astronauts of Apollo 13, the scientists had the right mindset and did an amazing thing with the resources available.

We all have the capability to think differently, it’s not rocket science (okay, maybe it is in the example above). At Rambutan we do things differently and we’d love you to too. If you’d like to know more then give one of us a shout because we’d love to help.

How much do you need to spend to get great communication?

If you really think about it the answer is probably ‘not a lot’. We’ve helped our clients deliver some amazing conferences over the years with whistles, bells and knobs on. Yet when the budget became tighter we managed to get the same or better feedback scores without the use of actors, PowerPoint, DVD’s, fancy booklets, expensive venues or funky speakers (the human kind not the type that you plug into your iPod).

We hired a cost effective venue and replaced all the glitz with gritty (honest, human, hard hitting) face to face conversations. The feedback score for ‘enjoyment’ went down but the scores for how much people understood and related to the key messages went up.  It all took a bit of coaching, cajoling and midnight rehearsing but the end result stopped the media getting in the way of the message!

Here at Rambutan we don’t follow or express any specific political or religious views. In general our work puts us in a neutral position from where we find ourselves best placed to illuminate and facilitate*. So on most events, whether local, national, international or intergalactic, we don’t offer a view but the recent events in Libya drew David to Sky News like a moth to a floodlight.

One particular piece of communication stood out like a person in a black and white top at the Stadium of Light*², and was reportedly said by a famous leader, once loved by the west. It was when Tripoli had fallen relatively peacefully and people were celebrating in the streets all around the country (or so we were fed).

I’ve never heard a quote before that, in very few words, gave a full insight into the mindset and state of mind of a leader, the advice this leader was being given, the leadership style, and the prevailing culture that surrounded him which was the root cause of the societal problems that had led to his demise. He said (reportedly):

“ We will kill all the Libyan rats and be victorious. We will be brave and fight on. We are not women.”

* you will by now have heard the early rumblings of a ‘but’ approaching in this blog

*² for those of you who don’t know where or what the Stadium of Light is, take a look at Google

David’s thoughts on connections…

Earlier this year I visited Kelmarsh Country Fair; this week ‘RambuJill’ attended a VW Camperfest; and today everyone is talking to one another on the train platform where they normally stand as silent as railway sleepers.

So what’s the connection? Well the connection is ‘the connection’. All the trains to London are delayed or cancelled and the platform and ticket hall are full of complete strangers who, today, have something unusual connecting them. Today everyone is looking up and chatting rather than looking down and fumbling with their divisive devices. Today the lack of a transport connection has caused a human connection that wasn’t there yesterday and will start to fade tomorrow if the trains are back on time. It’s lovely while it lasts but to make it last will take ongoing effort or a similar accidental connection tomorrow so I bet it will be back to thumbs and touch-screens by the morning.

At Kelmarsh a similar connection occurs every year…not by accident as it is a well planned three day event that is well worth the entry fee, if only to feel the warmth and connection that the ‘regulars’ have between them. And you can tell they are regulars by what they wear, what they applaud and what they laugh at. They are connected by a love of the land, of animals and of history and they pay an entrance fee for the feeling as much, if not more, than for the exhibitions. A couple of the shows (of sheep dog tricks and falconry ilk) failed spectacularly and no one seemed to care but everyone was caring.

As for the VW Campervan? Well that speaks for itself – and speaks internationally. Not my cup of tea…never been an enthusiastic enthusiast but I understand the connection and whilst it may seem strange to the onlooker it feels great for the connected. I believe that most people strive for this connectivity at work too and providing it should not be left to chance. I believe every company should have a CEO (Connecting Everyone Officer)….we certainly have one at Rambutan..hi Nicki if you are reading this!

Lucy was recently chatting to a group of people tasked with considering ‘green initiatives’ that could be introduced to their workplace.

I was told about a sign they have that asks that lights are switched off as the last person leaves the building. Fair enough, I thought, but then they told me that it was on a wall right next to an escalator that churns round constantly. The gentle suggestion to turn off the lights seemed a little inadequate.

I wonder if the juxtaposition of the notice and the escalator occurred at all to the person who put the notice up. Sometimes we are so engrossed in the task in hand that we don’t take a minute to check how it looks in a bigger context. If the person who had put this notice up had done this, perhaps they would have thought, “Hey, we need to be doing something about getting this escalator to turn off when no-one is using it”. Perhaps the person who put the sign there was just tasked with putting up his notice, so didn’t think it was his responsibility to question the other issue?

Even a message on the bottom of the notice that said, “We’re working on a solution to solve the energy wasted by the escalator”, would have reduced the irony.

David read an article by European Leaders on the link between motivation and communication on the Personnel Today website.

From a business perspective I guess that all communication and HR professionals will say ‘yep…already knew that’ but I wonder what we’d see if when reading the article we took out ‘company’ and added in ‘country’. Could you say that you know your country’s vision and values and how you fit in? What if they surveyed the thousands of people who brought fear to our streets and shame on our country over the last week? Not, repeat NOT, looking for excuses or someone to blame here. Theft and violence are not acceptable and I’m relieved at the speed at which offenders are being brought to justice, but when the dust has settled and the enquiry gets underway surely this is something that we should consider as a country. What do you think?

Here are the highlights of the article:
Lack of communication between senior managers and their wider workforce is leading to low motivation among staff, according to research published today.
The survey, by people development company European Leaders, found that more than two-thirds (68%) of respondents said that they fail to understand their company’s vision, leading to a lack of motivation and reduced productivity. In addition to this, almost two-thirds (64%) of respondents claimed that they could, and would, work much more efficiently with better motivation.

Currently, less than one-fifth (18 %) of respondents view the business they work for as a good organisation and, as a result, only one-third (36%) describe themselves as working to their full potential.

Respondents to the survey cited strong management as being crucial to building motivation among employees.

Ashley Ward, director of European Leaders, said, “It’s widely accepted that people performance is the biggest influence in business performance, yet, as a nation, we’re still not doing enough. If you look at the UK’s best companies to work for, their focus on company values and employee engagement is right at the top of their agenda.
“The fact that people want to be more involved in their work and their company shows they think about their employer’s business and care about how they’re managed. They have more to give and opening the minds of management to fresh ideas can release a huge amount of energy and skill from the workforce, benefiting the business bottom line as well as the employees as they become more passionate about the organisation they work in. A seemingly negligible investment can get teams much closer to their full potential performance, resulting in a happier workforce and significant financial benefits.”

Craig was with a friend recently and playing Lego with her little boy…

My friend, Nikki, was chatting to her son as we were building the world’s ‘fastest ever racing cars’. At certain points Aaron would become frustrated; for example, if he couldn’t get two pieces to fit together or if he couldn’t find an exact piece he was looking for. This is no biggie to us, but a six year old gets frustrated and on occasions a missing Lego piece can cause huge amounts of upset and anguish – to them it’s a HUGE deal.

Now, as I was listening to the frustration Nikki smiled, remained beautifully calm and said something like, ‘It’s OK, we know the piece is here, where have you looked?’ Her little boy carried on being frustrated until Nikki then said, ‘ How’s this going to help you?’ She paused then said, ‘We’ll find it, let’s relax and you can show me where you’ve looked then we’ll look together’.

Aaron slowly began to relax, he also smiled and he began looking again and the frustration was instantly lifted.

Nikki’s reaction to the outburst was to ignore the behaviour that wasn’t desired and focus on what was wanted. The calming approach and use of positive questions helped her little boy change his state from frustration to one of being more relaxed.

Focus on the outcome you want and not what you don’t want! This works brilliantly with adults too. Think more about what you want to happen and less about what you want to stop which helps to focus on your desired outcome.

And for the record… I built an awesome racing car, however Aaron’s car was quicker as it had ‘invisible, secret rocket boosters’!

Isn’t it funny how life reflects life?

When rock pooling you can plough into the middle of the pool, create havoc and find nothing.

Or you can stand at the side of the pool, let your eyes adjust and observe what’s happening. The slightest movement will attract your attention and you can observe without disturbing the pool. You can slowly approach the pool, gently lower the net into the water without frightening the wildlife and put your catch into the water filled bucket.

One of these methods reaped the reward of:
• 2 butterfish
• 4 small crabs
• numerous shrimps
• 2 hermit crabs
• 1 sea snail

Amazingly you can take the same approach to lots of things in life. Usually with similar results!

If you want to know what all this has to do with communicating, then give me a call and I’ll reveal all!

Note, no sea creatures were harmed in the writing of this blog.

Lance