The latest thoughts from David…

The happiest person I have ever met was penny-less.  She had enough to eat and a roof over her head but very few of what she called ‘luxuries’.  At the time it seemed everyone around her was buying (and sometimes parading) expensive garments and gadgetry, yet this didn’t seem to interest her.  Had she not been my mother I would have called her a fool. Read the rest of this entry »

An insight from Nicki…

Are you one of the many people, like me, who makes lists?  It’s certainly a great way to remember stuff that would otherwise likely be forgotten. Read the rest of this entry »

The latest thoughts from David…

In Tom Rath’s book, Strengths Finder 2.0, he quotes some research on the chances of employees being actively disengaged based on their managers’ focus.  I found it startling and obvious at the same time.  Where a manager’s primary focus is on weaknesses this leads to a 22% chance that his/her employees will be actively disengaged.  Ignoring employees altogether leads to a 40% chance which makes sense when you consider the basic human need for attention (anyone with children will be nodding at this point).

BUT (I hope that you noticed how big that but was) when the manager’s focus is primarily on his/her team’s strengths the figure drops to a mere 1%. Read the rest of this entry »

Fiona’s thoughts on building relationships with suppliers

What’s your opinion of suppliers?  I think businesses should consider them amongst their favourite people; an individual or company which aids your ambition to meet deadlines, reach creative potential and be a guiding force through your ideas until completion.  However, as the days on your advent calendar drop away, just sending out Christmas cards to any old printing firm or local designer isn’t going to make an impression.  Instead, by establishing a relationship with a supplier – a task so simply instigated by inviting them for a meeting (or something less formal if you prefer) will improve the chance of greater understanding of your business needs & what they can offer you. Deals will be done and new relationships will be made. All pretty harmless really!

Because, and to use the old adage, a supplier is not just for Christmas… a supplier will help you through every season, by updating your webpage or printing your marketing materials.  If you call on them quite randomly, chances are they will discard you (and your Christmas card) without a second thought.  But who can dismiss the offer of a homemade mince pie and lovely cup of tea in the comfort of your office? [Other snacks are available for non-mince pie fans!]

Rambutan pride themselves on working with locally based companies, who posess a wealth of talents which make us shine even brighter, and we hope they utilise us as much as we utilise them.

Lucy explores a question which comes up a lot around these parts

I was running a presentation past the bunch recently to get their feedback. The presentation was to be used to demonstrate why we’re quite unique in what we do. At the end, the most valuable feedback was, “It still doesn’t actually tell me what Rambutan does.” Read the rest of this entry »

Yoda from Star Wars had all the best lines, and often they were stunning coaching questions to really make you think. This got Craig thinking about size and assumptions…

How often do you make assumptions based on size? For example do you see a big person and assume they eat a lot? Likewise if you saw a thin person and assume they must exercise loads?

Size plays a big part (excuse the pun) in our business lives every day. How often have you thought about speaking with someone senior to you, or a new client from a company larger than yours, and thought ‘oh I can’t chat to them, they’re too senior or too big for us as a company’?

If this has happened to you, what is the mindset you are choosing? What you think about yourself or your company will impact on who you dare to talk to and how you talk to them. How much do you believe in yourself or your company?

If you have eight people in your company would you dare win a contract with an international business? If not, why not? Size doesn’t determine success, professionalism or expertise.

Challenge yourself and think like Yoda, from Star Wars: he asked Luke Skywalker, ‘Judge me by my size do you?’ just as he raised the X wing fighter from the swamp, after the much larger Skywalker had failed.  And the reason he failed? He didn’t believe in himself and  his ability!

Some interesting thoughts from David

If you are my boss and you want me to do something new then consider this. You’ll get a better response if you can tell me ‘what’ you want me to do as opposed to what’ you want me to do and ‘how’ you want me to do it. Why? Well because if you leave me to figure the second part out I’ll be more engaged with the task. I might not get it right first time or do it the way that you would but I’ll grow as a result and like you more. Sometimes managing people can feel a bit like herding jellyfish (difficult to get everyone moving in the same direction and it can sting quite a bit) and this can cause managers to over-manage (or tell people ‘what’ and ‘how’) to get things done. Be warned…resist the temptation…you may be surprised how well engaged jellyfish*¹ perform.

 *¹ this is probably overuse of a fishy metaphor which you should never^*2 do   

^*2 unless of course you are Pike Place market in Seattle in which case ‘fill your boots’

It may be a cliché, it may not be true at all but I’m sure most people will have heard the story of the cleaner at NASA.

The story tells how President John Kennedy once visited NASA. He came across a cleaner and asked him what his job was. The cleaner replied: ‘My job is to help to put a man on the moon.’ There is some discussion of whether this story is true or not, but what it illustrates is the cleaner’s complete alignment with the aims of NASA, and the collective mission and strategy.

Recently Lucy and I were reminded of the story when we visited The Children’s Trust here in the UK.  The Trust provides care, education, therapy and rehabilitation to children with profound multiple disabilities, complex health needs and acquired brain injury. We did some focus groups and some one-to-one interviews for The Trust and, without exception, everyone we met was totally aligned and passionate about helping children.  Might seem obvious for therapists, teachers and care staff to feel this way but what about ‘Bob from maintenance’ or ‘Maria from housekeeping’ (pictured)… same story!

Maria, housekeeper for The Children’s Trust

Maria, who looks after all the housekeeping for the site, has worked at The Trust for 28 years. When we asked what motivated her to do her job she said, ‘When you see a child start to talk or get up and walk you realise how important The Trust is and why you come to work’.

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…

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.