The Hosk

What to do if you make a mistake at work

2017-01-09T13:12:00.000+00:00

Mistakes are made by individuals but lack of processes is often to blame. This post looks at making mistakes work, why we make them, how to avoid them and what to do if you make a mistake.

Human instinct is driven by fear

we fear being attacked
we fear starving
we fear losing our job
we fear death.

The reason fear is so successful is because it lead our ancestors to survive because a false alarm won't kill you but a hungry a lion would (might). If you are constantly fearful of something you will pro-actively try to avoid it. This behaviour in the long should mean you come face to face with a lion.

At work most of us don't have to worry about hungry lions (unless you are a lion tamer) but we can make mistakes and sometimes we can make great big huge mistakes.

Making mistakes

As a CRM developer I have noticed one of the traits of senior developers is they make fewer mistakes, often acting as calm captain navigating a ship through stormy waters. Senior developers are good at anticipating problems looming on the horizon and safely side stepping them before they become problems.

Senior developers have learnt (often the hard way) when doing releases to a customer live system to have check-lists, go one step at a time and back everything up.

We can fear mistakes, take precautions which can reduce the probability of making mistakes.

How to avoid making mistake

Mistakes aren't inevitable but it's likely you will make a mistake at some point in your career

One of the cause of mistakes is familiarity which is the genesis for this popular quotation

Familiarity breeds contempt

CRM developers have to deploy customizations to the a customers live environment, over time you will do a lot of deployments. The more deployments a developer does the more it becomes familiar and boring.

The familiarity of deploying to the live environment has the danger of making the developer take their eyes of the ball and increase chance of making a mistake.

Take things slowly, rushing leads to mistakes

A common cause of problems is rushing and missing steps. Give yourself time when doing potentially risky tasks

Prepare well

Preparation helps you think and prepare for the task ahead. Getting things ready ahead of time will give you more time when the pressure is on.

use check-lists

Check lists are a great tool to help avoid missing out important steps when you are doing tasks.

Do a pre mortem

A pre mortem is like a post mortem except you do it before the event and target areas of potential problem

avoid personal/people issue

Most tasks involve dealing with people, try to ensure there are no personal issues which take the focus away from the task and towards people.

What do to if you make a mistake

Admit it quickly

The quicker you admit a mistake the more time there is to rectify the mistake. Admitting a mistake is painful but your colleagues will respect you more if you own up and help clean up rather than waiting and trying to hide the evidence.

Not admitting a mistake is a bigger mistake.

Robert Half

Owning up

If there is a chance the customer or someone can find the mistake it's better to tell them than letting them find it.

If you are proactive you have a chance to own up to the mistake and propose a solution. Having a ready made solution makes the problem seem a lot smaller.

If a mistake is found the person who found the mistake can panic and starting thinking of worse case scenarios. Customers finding problems can lead to full blown red alert escalations of small manageable problems.

Create Processes

Mistakes are caused by individuals but it’s often the lack of processes where the blame really lies.

Quickly move pass blaming individuals and work out how to resolve the issue and keep the customer happy.

When the dust has settled you can analyse why the mistake was allowed to happen and put in processes, check lists and double checking.

Summary

If you make a mistake own up quickly but with key information

Why the mistake happen
The scope of the mistake
A list of possible solutions to present to the customer
Does the customer know/will they find out

The quicker you own up the more time you have to resolve the mistake.

If someone else makes a mistake your initial response should be to quickly work on a resolution to the mistake, analyse the cause and probability the mistake could happen again as secondary concern.

Coach Carter's Rules

2016-12-14T09:30:00.000+00:00

Coach Carter (2005) Timo Cruz: Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.

The drive to get and try again after failing comes from your will to succeed #HoskWisdom

I was reading Insights Into Liberating Leadership: How to become a great leader and create a lasting legacy and the book suggested to watch the film Coach Carter to see a good example of a great leader in action.

I watched the film which was very entertaining 

Coach Carter took a team who won 4 games in a season into a team who where undefeated in their first 13 games. He gives his team a contract to sign which insists they get a 2.3 and then when some of the team fail to get the right grades he shut the gym and canceled basketball matches. These events caused outrage in town and lead to national press covering the situation.

Coach Carter kept true to his believes, creating a winning basketball team and improved the grades of the basketball team. He personally went on to be a motivational speaker and got a film made of the events where he was played by Samuel L Jackson. You have to admit that is pretty good going

I was motivated to start reading Ken Carter's book Yes Ma'am, No Sir: The 12 Essential Steps for Success in Life, where Coach Carter lists Carters rules

My favourite quote is "We must use our experiences to build knowledge", we must learn from our failures and successes.

Coach Ken Carter: Motivational speaker

The quote from this article made me laugh.

http://www.esquire.com/sports/interviews/a39829/what-its-like-your-life-made-into-movie-coach-carter/

When they missed their shots in practice, I made the actors do 100 push-ups. After the first three days or so, they started putting in the extra time so they wouldn't miss their shots.

11 Strategic quotes to help shape your future

2016-05-05T14:23:00.002+01:00

Strategy is creating the future you want using the resources you have available. Great leaders create strategies which with hindsight are obvious but when they created the strategy they created a vision, created goals to convert their vision to reality.

Without strategy you are putting energy and effort into actions which could be taking you in the wrong directio

Think - Plan - Strategy - Action - Measure - Adjust

Quotes on strategy

“Strategy is about shaping the future.”
― Max McKeown, The Strategy Book

Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better. —Harry S. Truman

“All failure is failure to adapt, all success is successful adaptation.”
― Max McKeown, Adaptability: The Art of Winning in an Age of Uncertainty

The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet. —Reverend Theodore Hesburgh

“A leader has the vision and conviction that a dream can be achieved. He inspires the power and energy to get it done.”
— Ralph Lauren

“Change is inevitable, progress is not.”
― Max McKeown, The Truth About Innovation

“A leader's role is to raise people's aspirations for what they can become and to release their energies so they will try to get there.”
— David Gergen

“Nothing stops an organization faster than people who believe that the way you worked yesterday is the best way to work tomorrow.”
— Jon Madonna

“Give serious thought to why your company should care about your strategy. Specifically, find problems that the board wants to be solved. What are senior managers scared of? Part of becoming a credible strategic thinker is learning effective approaches to selling ideas for your situation. You’ll know that you’re getting better at selling (or pitching) strategy when managers start coming to you when there is strategic thinking to be done.”
― Max McKeown, The Strategy Book

"Sound strategy starts with having the right goal."
― Michael Porter

"In real life, strategy is actually very straightforward. You pick a general direction and implement like hell."
― Jack Welch

Are you a premium candidate for promotion

2016-03-18T09:34:00.005+00:00

Recently I have been trying to buy a house, house buying seems a lot different from the last time I brought a house, one of the reasons for this is there is a new concept I had to learn

Premium buyer

The area I am house hunting is a popular area, the majority of properties are sold before they are marketed and put onto Rightmove/Zoopla/other websites

Premium buyers at an estate agent get alerted when a new suitable property is added, enabling them to look round the property before the other buyers on the estate agents list even know about it.

The house viewing order is

1. Premium buyers on estate agents list

2. Normal Buyers on estate agents list

3. Everyone else who see's it on Rightmove/Zoopla

What is a premium buyer

A premium buyer is someone who have their mortgage agreed and in place, credit checks done, offer accepted on their house. Everything is done and they are ready to buy.

The premium buy is a no chain buyer who can put an offer in straight away, obviously very desirable for someone selling their house

If you want to buy a house in this competitive environment you need to be a premium buyer.

If you want to get a new job or a promotion, you need to be a premium candidate.

When I started my career I worked on a helpdesk, the next step in my career I wanted to make was to move to the development team in the same company. I had gone for one internal job there once and didn't get it. I asked for some feedback and the conversation went as follow

Hosk - Why didn't I get the job

Manager - You weren't the best candidate

Hosk - Why was the other person better suited for the role

Manager - The person had some coding experience

Hosk - How can I get coding experience when I work on the helpdesk

Manager - Learn it outside of work

My initial thought it was unfair the person expected me to get the knowledge/technical skills/experience for the job before I had the job and in my own time.

Ruminating on this idea more over the days, realizing it was very good advice. If you want to be the best candidate for a position, learning the skills used in the new job is a great idea. Below are the reasons why

Initiative

It shows initiative, it shows you are proactive because you making a more compelling reason for you to be

Desire

You have put in extra work to try and get the role and prepare yourself for the role when you get it. The extra work shows you want this job/promotion and this extra work can put you ahead of your competitors.

Intelligence

Learning the skills for a new role shows the employer/manager you have an understanding of the new role and the skills needed.

The Best Candidate

If you have the technical skills\experience\knowledge needed for your next role it could make you the best qualified candidate for the job, particularly if it's an internal promotion

If you want to move your career forward then you need to be proactive and make things happen. Why wait until you move into a position to start obtaining the skills needed to do it.

So make sure you are the premium candidate for your next position, start preparing for it now

image by Pascal

Networking will find you your next job

2016-03-16T07:41:00.000+00:00

Nigel Frank are one of the larger CRM recruitment agencies in the Dynamics market place. They do a yearly survey and persuade people to fill in the survey by offering the winner a Surface or some other gadget.

I remember one of my previous employers saying customers only ever replied to questionnaires if there was a chance of winning a gadget.

The data is collected fro 17636 Dynamics Professionals in 130 countries, you can download the document here. The results are for the Microsoft Dynamics Industry so it could be different for your industry.

30 percent Dynamic workers are using personal contacts to find new roles, so this should be some incentive to get networking in person and in LinkedIn if you want to move jobs.

I was quite surprised that recruitment consultants only contributed 27 percent but this must be bumped up through people using Job Boards because these are usually recruitment consultants posting those positions.

LinkedIn I should think is responsible for people contacting companies directly and I should think this will grow in the future as will companies doing direct recruitment

The Importance of Networking

If you are one of those people who doesn't get networking or feels it's not worth the effort then consider the facts shown above. Personal contacts and Business networking were responsible for 49.6 percent of new jobs. Half the people moving jobs last year in the dynamics industry did so using their personal connections or through business networking.

The advantage of cultivating a network will allow potential jobs within your network of contacts may reach out to you and mention they have a new job coming up, allowing you to snap up the job before anyone else knows it is available.

Your network will give you the lead on jobs, you will also have a great reference because either they know you directly or one of your network has recommended you for the job.

If there are a number of candidates for a job but one of them has a personal reference (e.g. a contact in your network) from someone who already works at the company, this is a massive advantage because this is a reference from someone the company trusts.

Job Finding You

Recruitment consultants are great at using LinkedIn to find potential candidates and then bait the fishing line and drop it into the email/LinkedIn mailbox. I like the cheeky, do you know anyone who would be interested in this job...nudge nudge, I've looked at your profile and you would be a great match!

Recruitment agents are cheeky/clever, well the good ones are I suspect. If you want to be found then you need to have your profile up to date with the keywords in.

Finding the Job Yourself

The network should be your first method because you may find jobs which are not yet advertised, you will be saving the company recruitment fees and they can hire someone they already know.

There are jobs on LinkedIn, Rockstar365 (and other job sites) and you can search on the various job board sites or directly with the recruiters like Nigel Frank (who I mention just because it was their survey data which prompted the article).

Networking can be Motivating

Don't think of Networking as a choir or necessary evil. Networking can be enjoyable, interesting when connecting with new people, listening to their experiences and ideas. A great career motivator is meeting someone who's has been successful in your area of interest.

Creating connections on LinkedIn can be very beneficial, particularly with the articles people in your network are sharing, it's a great way to keep up to date and interact with your network. The sharing of articles also allows you to share your own content with your network and showcase your knowledge/skills in the community.

What does it mean

For all those people who don't understand the benefits of networking or think of networking as handing out business cards at conferences. The evidence in this survey is saying you have a 50 percent change of getting your next job through your personal or business contacts. Having a bigger network will increase your chances of finding a job within your network.

The results show it easier to connect to people in your industry with the internet and LinkedIn, being active and creating and sharing relevant content will increase your visibility/credibility to the people in your network. When a new opportunity arises your network will work effectively and bring new jobs to your attention (if you want that).

The take away point is - make sure you are networking with relevant people in your industry because they may have your dream job for you in the future.

Here are a few more interesting articles on the subject

NETWORKING BRILLIANTLY CAN HELP YOU FIND YOUR NEXT JOB

How to Network Your Way to Your New Job

robot picture Arielle Nadel

Acknowledging your emotions, focus on the present and keep your cool

2016-03-11T09:00:00.000+00:00

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. Buddha

I was preparing lunch and getting out some plates; I dropped one of my favorite plates featuring a Robin with his nest (pictured).

The smashing sound brought my wife and 2 kids rushing to the kitchen, then I heard

"What's happened, oh no, no the Robin plate, that was my favourite".

"Daddy, you are a silly sausage"

I've been reading Eleven Rings an autobiography of Phil Jackson NBA coach. Jackson was known as the Zen master because he incorporated mediation and Zen principles in his coaching.

Two zen principles I learned

Acknowledge your emotions (read in Sit Like a Buddha: A Pocket Guide to Meditation)
Live in the present moment (Eleven rings and Zen practices)

Acknowledge emotions

Braking the plate and being told how of the greatness of the plate. I tried to acknowledge my emotions/feelings

Stupid Hosk - for not being careful
frustration - if I hadn't tried to pick up a bunch of plates and sort in one motion I wouldn't have broken the plate
Anger - At myself for dropping the plate, at others for reminding me how lovely the plate was.
Sadness - it was an awesome plate

The process of acknowledging my emotions, helped me pause and consider how I should react. During reflection of an emotion and identifying the cause, I have noticed it often seems less reasonable to act aggressively because logically it doesn't seem worth a reaction.

Frustration and anger are instinctive reactions, which is why it's harder to react angrily to situations after you have slept on the problem.

In this situation I reassigned myself to losing the plate and being angry wouldn't help.

Acknowledging my emotions has helped me stop shouting at the kids as often (despite outrageous and persistent provocation) and getting angry at annoying but not important irritations.

Anger is a negative emotion, the side effect of anger is channeling your energy negatively for little or no reward. Anger leads to frustration which leaves you in an agitated state until you calm down and have control of your thoughts again.

This article How to Gain Control of Your Emotions discusses steps to gain control of your emotions, the first one is to acknowledge them and the second step is to breath.

Live in the now

Stay focused on the task at hand rather than dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. - Phil Jackson

When looking at the broken plate, I reminded myself to live in the present.

The plate was broken in the past, that time has gone, using the plate in the future isn't going to happen anymore

Focusing on the present meant focusing on the task, clear the broken plate and set the table for lunch.

This quote from Phil Jackson highlights how thoughts can influence you present actions and feelings.

At its heart, mindfulness is about being present in the moment as much as possible, not weighed down by thoughts of the past or the future - Phil Jackson

Focusing on the past or the future distracts you from concentrating and enjoying the present. Thinking about the future can frustrate you in your current activity, Parents feel frustrated looking after children and think about what they are going to do once the children are tucked up in bed.

To avoid this frustration, focus on the moment, get involved and play with the kids and then when they are in bed focus on doing what you want to do.

Mindfulness is about focusing and enjoying the present, get the most out of what you are doing, you will enjoy the present more and do a better job. These two articles are a great place to learn more

Stop Living in the Past and the Future

Living in the moment really does make people happier

Thoughts

“If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.” ― Amit Ray, Om Chanting and Meditation

Thoughts and ideas obtained from books can change how you view the world, allowing you to see more in a situation than you previously saw.

It was interesting applying the techniques I read about in two different books, how those techniques overlap and interact with each other.

Focusing on the present is a useful technique to focus my thoughts on the task at hand and stop it wandering. Thinking about the past and present occur all the time

The future

Nerves about an exam you are going to take

thinking about things you are going to do, instead of doing what you should be

The Past

dwell on previous mistakes

This anonymous quote encapsulates this thought

"If you worry about what might be, and wonder what might have been, you will ignore what is."

Worry, stress and be anxiousness are caused by thinking about the future, but you can't influence the future until it becomes the present, it's better to focus on the present.

When thinking about the future, remember the Mark Twain quote below because you could be worrying about something which might not happen

"I have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened." Mark Twain

Guilt, regret, sadness, bitterness come from thinking about the past, thinking about the past comes at the cost of missing out on the present.

Flow

In sport thinking in the present it's called in the flow, the person isn't distracted and is focused entirely on doing. When athletes can stop their mind being distracted by the past and future they can focus entirely on the present, focusing all attention to the tasks.

I have heard this called trust the process by Phil Jackson NBA coach, this article is a great story about trusting the process

Kobe Bryant Had A Stunning Quote About Phil Jackson Never Preaching Defense

The insight I take from the story is don't think, trust the process and concentrate on executing the process. When executing a process you need to bring your thoughts to the present, and not the past or future.

Don't be afraid to ask questions

2016-03-09T09:50:00.000+00:00

Some times when you are working with fellow developers, they can use some terminology or design pattern which you either don't know or can't remember, this results in a conversation where you aren't quite understand their point.

This happened to me recently when a developer mentioned the Gateway pattern. Design patterns in coding terms are standard/best practice for reusable code for common design problems. You can compare (ish) design patterns to cookery books, it you wanted to cook a shepherds pie you would use a recipe from a chef in their latest cookbook. If you want to learn more about design patterns start with this Wiki article

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_Patterns

This can be a bit awkward because you can feel like a bit of an idiot and the other person was talking about it like it's something everyone knows.

Don't be embarrassed about not knowing something

There is nothing wrong with not knowing something, it will happen often in life, so get used to it and embrace it.

If you don't something grab the opportunity to learn something from someone who knows about it. They won't look down on you and 99 percent of people will be happy to help and explain it to you (because it makes them feel great being the teacher/master). If they do look down on you, so what, you will be learning more knowledge and improving your value to the company and yourself.

One benefit of a person explain a topic, is it can be easier to understand in comparison to reading it from a book/article and you have the benefit of asking questions and clarify points you are unsure of.

One of my core beliefs is too constantly keep learning and improving, if you don't understand something, don't sit quietly, hiding in the corner, be proactive and learn that piece of information, you never know when it may come in useful in the future (when you really need it).

Don't stay quiet

If you choose to nod your head and try and bluff your way through the conversation, not really understanding what they are talking about then you are losing out on an opportunity to learn and grow.

It's a similar situation to a class or talk when the speakers asks if there are any questions, there is something you really want to know but you think you would look like an idiot if you asked that question.

If you are thinking that question, probably a number of other people are thinking it as well and they will be glad you asked it. Work out the logical outcomes of asking and not asking

Ask (potentially) stupid question

You will get an answer from the speaker
Some people may think you are stupid
Some people may think, great question I was thinking that myself but I was too scared to ask.
People will know of your existence
You learn a bit more
You are interacting with the discussion, this will make it easier for you to remember the details of the point being discussed at a later date.

Don't ask (potentially) stupid question

You learn nothing more
No one notices you
Nothing else happens

I added people notice you as a benefit because this could be used by someone to strike up some small talk with you later, it also shows people you are a proactive person

Gateway Pattern

Back to the Gateway pattern.

The gateway pattern is a lot simpler than it sounds, but sometimes it takes great skill to describe things simply and concisely

Microsoft has a great description of the Gateway pattern, which you can find in full here

a Gateway component that abstracts the access to the external resource. The gateway presents a single interface to the integrated applications while hiding the external resource interface. In addition, the gateway encapsulates any protocol translation that may be necessary to communicate with the external resource.

pictures can often set the idea in the mind

So you can see the Gateway pattern creates a single source of access (a single interface), behind it, it can offer lots of different methods.

You could consider paying for an item on amazon/ebay. The seller only wants to be paid but behind the payment there are lots of different methods of paying likecredit card, debit card, paypal etc.

question image by Raymond Bryson

Who do you work for?

2016-03-08T12:41:00.000+00:00

I work with Microsoft Dynamics CRM product and one of the leading recruitment agencies Nigel Frank survey the Microsoft Dynamics job seekers and then crunch the numbers to produce some very interesting results.

you can download a copy of the survey here

http://www.nigelfrank.com/en/surveyDownload

There are some interesting statistics in the report and one of them is tenure with their current employer.

The figures show almost 48 percent of workers have only been at their current employer for up to the last 2 years. This shows the view of having a job for life is far from the norm in today's market place with only 11 percent of workers staying somewhere for more than 10 years.

Getting Ready to Move

Another statistic from the report show in the UK 45 percent are planning to move in the next 12 months.

Globally, 35% of respondents planned to leave their current employer in the
next 12 months. However, the UK seems to be a much more mobile market,
with 45.1% of respondents planning to find a new employer in the next 12
months.

Why are people moving so much

The biggest motivators were lack of career and promotional prospects
(22.6% vs 19.9%, UK vs Global) followed by lack of training.

I would also add increased salary would also be prime reason to move jobs because people usually only move jobs for a pay increase.

A company might not be life it might just be for xmas

Why are these statistic important because it highlights the importance of making decisions at work which are important for you long term career, which might not be at that company. It's about taking a long term view.

You are being paid by the company, you are also working for a company of one, e.g. you are your own company. Gone are the days you work at one company for your whole career like your parents, you need to be prepared to be on the move and have adaptable skills.

You need to to remember you might be working for a different company in 1-3 years time so you need to create transferable skills, which are useful to lots of companies.

Make sure LinkedIn profile is up to date and when you finish a project you note down the important aspects while they are fresh in your mind.

If possible the experience you get at work needs to be desirable to other companies, specialized skills which are in demand.

11 percent of people surveyed worked for a company for more than 10 years, so whilst 1 in 10 work for one company for a long time, 5 out 10 people will be moving jobs in the next two years.

It is possible you could work for one company your whole career but statistically this would seem unlikely and you need to take this into account in your career decisions.

Recruitment consultants, Internet and LinkedIn

The internet, job boards, searching for companies has all made finding new jobs easier. It has made it easier for individuals to find companies and contact them directly and it also makes it easier for recruitment consultant to find suitable candidates.

LinkedIn and other similar types of sites I believe has had a dramatic effect on job movement and frequency of people moving jobs. Recruitment consultants not only message people actively looking for jobs but also head hunt people not looking for jobs.

Summary

The results are localized and based on the Microsoft Dynamics industry but I think they show an increasing trend in other jobs based in offices.

Most of my friends also work in IT and have all moved jobs over the last 10 years.

The most important consideration is you are working for yourself, take control of your career which may involve working for a number of different companies.

picture by Riccardo Cuppini

Watch out! Recruitment consultants like fishing

2016-03-07T07:12:00.000+00:00

Recruitment consultants can be as slippery as an Eel covered in jelly sliding down a slippery pole into a giant bowl of custard

A key skill in being a recruitment consultant is building up your network of potential candidates.

The more candidates in your network the greater chance you have of finding a suitable for the customer requirements

I have two articles on recruitment consultants, the annoying practices of bad recruitment consultants and the good practices of good recruitment consultants. This article is focused on trick of some recruitment consultants and how you can avoid giving your contact details to them.

How do you add people to your network - Fishing

When I say fishing, I don't mean go fishing with wellies, fishing rod, wiggly maggots, hope to meet potential candidates by the river bank, who would love to join forces with you because you both have the love of fishing.

I'm talking about virtual fishing

One method to get people in your network is to message them and say you have a great job, a job almost too good to be true. Great pay, Great location, Big company, lots of holiday, big bonus, etc etc.

The reason the recruitment consultant is dangling this juicy bait over your virtual head is because at the moment they haven't got your contact details or the key contact detail - your phone number.

They are hoping you will read their tempting offer and quickly ring up. They will have a chat , then you will find there isn't an actual job but they can ring their customers and see if they are interesting in hiring you.

You were just hooked

Don't feel foolish, this trick has and will continue to work for a long time in the future.

Choose to be hooked

You may be happy to talk and build a relationship with the recruitment consultant who is messaging you, in which case get the ball rolling and get chatting. Personally I would like to start a relationship on a more honest and open foundation.

Information is power, you know the trick, so can choose to be hooked but what if you don't want to be hooked or give you phone number to that recruitment consultant (and all those who work at that company)

Here are a few ideas to see if they have a real job

Don't give them your number, just converse through emails\LinkedIn
Look at the recruiters's LinkedIn profile and/or agency before starting a relationship
Ask them for a job description. If they don't have a job description they will say things like they need to talk to you to explain it better.
Ask them who the company is? They may not want to tell you this but it could be legitimate because there is nothing stopping you then talking directly to that company.
Ask them details about the company e.g. size, gold partner, rough location
Location is a good way to tease out whether they have a job. Tell them you want to work in a certain area. They should be able to tell you how far away it is (ish).
If they have a real job but it's somewhere you don't want to work, be on your guard of them also saying, Oh I have job (in exact location you specified previously), they could have a job there but they could also be swapping the bait on their hook.

You are playing a game of poker with the recruitment consultant, your mission is to try to get them to show their hand, you will find out if they are bluffing or if they really have a good hand. You will then know what hand they have and whether you want to bet this round.

Good Practices of Good recruitment consultants

2016-03-05T17:23:00.000+00:00

I wrote a post last week Annoying practices of bad recruitment consultants, I thought I would balance up the argument a bit and note down some of the good practices of Recruitment consultants.

no... I can't think of any, well that was a quick post.

Just kidding

It also intrigued me to see which would be the more popular post, the good or the annoying.

The number of good recruitment consultants I have been in contact with is not many, most are average but there are quite a few poor ones but this is probably true for most professions I'm guessing.

So what do I think are good practices of recruitment consultants (please add your own to the comments section)

I find it's usually in the questions they ask you, which is really to get you to ask the questions about what you want and your motivation.

Question - What do you want in a new job

Good recruitment consultants ask you want you want in a new job. Money is important but after you have been working somewhere for a while you won't notice how much more money you are getting (because it will be the new norm) and then it's all down to the job, the career, the company etc.

Question - what do you want in a new company

Different companies work better for different people so it will help if you have a personality which will fit in well at a new company.

Companies also come in different sizes and shapes, it's very different working for a small company compared to a big company. The candidate needs to think about the type of company he wants to work for, not only now but also in the next 5 years.

Question - How do you see your career

It's important the recruimtent consultant finds out about the candidates career ambitions because this will effect the positions and companies which are a good fit for the candidate.

Money

The better recruitment consultants take money as one part of a new job and it's not the most important. Obviously everyone would like more but the other parts of the job are more likely to effect the

Consideration of workplace

Potential candidates cannot always answer their phone at work, it can be difficult answering questions about pay, what you want in a new job when surrounded by your current work colleagues, boss and sometimes director. Good recruitment consultants will leave a message or send you an email.

It's always good practice to check if it's a convenient time to speak before you set off selling a new position

Contact and relationship

people like it when you remember details about them, so when you call you can refer to something like their favourite football team, location, family, hobby. It makes it feel like the recruitment consultant hasn't just called up because they have a new role.

Frequency of contact

Ask if it's OK to contact you in six months or if a really juicy role comes up and then do that. I personally don't mind fielding a call once every six months

Listen

A sign of a great recruitment consultant is they listen to your answers and note them down. So if someone says they are not interested in contract roles they don't ring them up offering a really great contract role.

Attitude

Good recruitment consultants are not pushy or aggressive on the phone

Do you really want to move

Well it's a good question, ask it early and you can save everyone some time

Question - have you discussed this with your boss, what do they say

This is a good question good recruitment consultants ask because basically it could save everyone a lot of wasted time. If a candidate is unhappy at work it may be easily resolved by discussing it with their boss to see if they can resolve the issue.

This seems counter productive but I think it builds a relationship and a move might happen in the future.

Question - have you discussed this with your family

Moving jobs can have a big impact on family life, it's a good idea for the candidate to have discussed this with the family, especially if he has a bossy partner :-)

Question - how far do you want to commute, commuting can be difficult

Good recruitment consultants will be honest about the commute, poor recruitment consultants will tell you 120 miles isn't that far. I personally think commuting is a very important issue because time is a valuable resource and you have to question yourself if you really want to spend more of it sitting in a car by yourself (or a packed train).

Give you information on the company AND the person you are talking to

Good recruitment consultants will give the candidate lots of information about the company, other people they have placed, size, culture etc. Really good recruitment consultants will also give you information about the people who will be conducting the interview, what they want to hear (based on previous feedback) and lots of extra information to increase the chances of success.

Advice on what technical skills and what type of personality they are after

The culture of a company and the types of personality which thrive are important aspects of a job. A good recruitment consultant will tell you what he knows about the culture and the type of person they are looking for to see if it suits you.

Summary

It's interesting looking at the list, most of the list is building up a good relationship/rapport with the candidate and making sure he is making the correct discussion. This seems counter intuitive but it's a long time tactic that will pay off in the long term. Personally it's the short time attitude and consequence actions of poor recruitment consultants which I find annoying.

Bad recruitment consultants view candidates as a commodity, they quickly see if they are a fit for a role and if not drop them quickly (this makes more difficult next time you call)

Good recruitment consultants see candidates as people.

Annoying practices of bad recruitment consultants

2016-03-04T07:07:00.000+00:00

There are a lot of recruitment consultants on LinkedIn, a lot of good ones and a lot of bad ones. Recruitment consultants do perhaps have a slightly tarnished reputation, the reason for this is because most people have experienced a bad recruitment consultant(s) and it's the interaction with the bad ones that seem to stick in peoples minds.

I will repeat, there are a lot of great recruitment consultants, doing a great job.

I got thinking, what was it that annoyed me about those bad recruitment consultants and here are the points I came up with, if you have any others please add them in the comments.

Getting angry when you are not interested in a position

In a similar experience I have had with people calling me about changing electricity suppliers, I tell them I'm not interested and then the person is saying angrily, "What do you mean, you don't want to save money".

One recruitment consultant couldn't believe I wasn't interested in the job he was offering, he kept repeating the question. The conversation ended

"are you telling me, you don't want to do the same job for more money"

"yes, goodbye"

I remember thinking, I don't want to deal with you and I would prefer you not to get the commission

Recruitment consultants giving themselves the title of CRM Consultant

This is a recent phenomenon but recruitment consultants are not CRM consultants so why are they giving themselves this title. This one has me a bit puzzled, I assume it's a way to improve people accepting their connection requests!?!?!?

Send invites in LinkedIn without writing anything

Recruitment consultants send you an LinkedIn invite without bothering to type any message, nothing to say why they are contacting, why it would be good to connect with them.

They couldn't be bothered to type a message, when trying to connect with someone they have never met.

Posting fake jobs just to get useful contacts

Some recruitment agents have been known to post juicy, high paying roles to get candidates to reply and then send their CV off to the companies they have on their list.

Sending inappropriate\speculative jobs - Desperation

I'm convinced everyone must have been sent an inappropriate job from a recruitment consultant. I have been sent jobs for Senior Office 365 engineer. Office 365 isn't mentioned anywhere in my profile.

Other positions I have been sent are junior/first jobs. It makes me wonder how many emails/inMails these recruitment consultants send until they manage to hit the right target. Please save both you and the person you are mailing by at least bothering to check their profile before sending a message.

Coming through the company switchboard and pretending to be a family member

One recruitment consultant called the main company number and then said he was my brother to talk to me. I have to give him A for effort but what if I didn't have a brother or he had passed away.

No communication

Recruitment consultants can be eager to call you when they have a role but when you try to contact them about a role (which you haven't got but don't know yet) they can go suddenly very quiet and difficult to contact.

Use a conversation to collect information about the company

As much as I like helping people, sometimes the recruitment consultants need to realize they have called someone at work and maybe the person doesn't want to answer your 50 questions about the company and the names/positions of the employees.

All Seperately posting a quiz/funny picture/something about Friday

These useless pictures clog up LinkedIn and it's very tempting for people to hide your posts to stop seeing them in the future

Recruitment Horror Story - Recruiter gets his candidate fired from his Job!

I have recently heard first-hand how a recruitment consultant not only failed to get someone a job but also managed to get them fired from their current role! So the candidate had a final stage interview arranged and was very keen to get himself a bigger salary. The consultant had an idea. Surely if he sent the candidate’s CV to all of the competitor businesses in the local area, he would get the candidate some more interviews and this would allow him to “sell” the candidate to the highest bidder. The consultant already had a list of companies in the candidate’s industry and he put all of the email addresses in a list to mail merge an introductory “speculative” approach. The consultant did not check with the candidate and just sent out the email with his full CV attached. The CV landed in the inbox of the candidate’s own Managing Director! The M.D went crazy and called the candidate straight into a meeting to find out what had happened. The candidate was told if he wasn't happy in his job, he should hand his notice in or get fired. The candidate was obviously mad at the consultant and ended up suing the agency and winning the case. He was compensated handsomely prior to it going to court. It may surprise you to learn that the consultant is still working in recruitment for the same company!

Some more bad practices in this post

I will leave it up to the recruitment consultants to create a post on the good things good recruitment consultants do, in fact there probably is one, please post it in the comments

picture used Alan Isherwood

Master your art

2016-03-03T09:32:00.002+00:00

The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand. Vince Lombardi

The book Eleven Rings and NBA coach Phil Jackson talks about using Zen Buddhism and mindfulness and applying it to basketball,It mentions a story about Prince Wen Hui's cook.

Prince Wen Hui's cook was carving up an ox. Every touch of his hand, every heave of

his shoulder, every step of his foot, every thrust of his knee, with the slicing and parting of the flesh, and the zinging of the knife - all was in perfect rhythm, just like the Dance of the Mulberry Grove or a part of the Ching Shou symphony.

Prince Wen Hui remarked, "How wonderfully you have mastered your art."
The cook laid down his knife and said, "What your servant really cares for is Tao, which goes beyond mere art. When I first began to cut up oxen, I saw nothing but oxen. After three years of practicing, I no longer saw the ox as a whole. I now work with my spirit, not with my eyes. My senses stop functioning and my spirit takes over. I follow the natural grain, letting the knife find its way through the many hidden openings, taking advantage of what is there, never touching a ligament or tendon, much less a main joint.”

The story shows the value of practice and flow. When you practice a process, you become a master and you feel the process.

I have seen and felt this level of expert-ease when I have sparred black belt Taekwondo martial artists. A black belts level of practice and knowledge was remarkable, they could see nuances in kicks, punches and moves I couldn't see. It was beyond knowledge and visual, they could feel the moves flowing.

The story continues

“A good cook changes his knife once a year because he cuts, while a mediocre cook has to change his every month because he hacks. I've had this knife of mine for nineteen years and have cut up thousands of oxen with it, and yet the edge is as if it were fresh from the grinding stone. There are spaces between the joints. The blade of the knife has no thickness. That which has no thickness has plenty of room to pass through these spaces. Therefore, after nineteen years, my blade is as sharp as ever.

It takes years of practice and dedication master your art. Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers: The Story of Success suggest 10000 hours of practice to become an expert.

So how long is 10000 hours?

It's 417 days and if you did 3 hours practice a day it would take about 9 years before you become a world class expert

The more knowledgeable you become, the more there is to learn.

natural talent

When a new pop star appear with a song, people view them as over night success. Britney Spears had the hit single Hit me baby one more time, it seemed she just appeared, a fully formed pop star. People didn't realise Britney Spears had been practicing for years.

If you look at Britney's Wikipedia page

At 3 she started dance class

at 5 she was singing in class shows

at 8 she auditioned for the Mickey mouse show. Britney Spears and her mum moved away from the rest of her family to move to New York for her career.

What where you doing at 8?

She was understudy in a Broadway musical in 1990 and joining the Mickey mouse club with fellow celebs Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Ryan Gosling in 1992.

Hit me baby one more time was released in 1998, imagine how polished Britney was by the time the public became aware of her and her overnight success

Skills are learnt through practice, making mistakes, analyse, reading, learning and advice. Natural talent doesn't exist because you will find no expert on a subject who hasn't devoted thousands of hours mastering the skill.

Become an expert

Keep practicing and become an expert in your chosen art or skill. The more your practice, learn and improve the better you become. If you find something you enjoy you can stick at it for 10 years to get to expert status.

Experts are esteemed is because you can't become one easily, it takes dedication, perseverance and lots of practice.

The good news is you have lots of room for improvement.

Mastery

The more you practice more intricacies you see and understand. An example is the learning to drive a car. Before learning to drive you believe it's pressing the gas and turning the wheel.

When you start to learn to drive everything is difficult, trying to put the separate parts together adds to the complexity.

The separate aspects such as

looking in the mirrors

using the accelerator and brake

checking the different mirrors

checking the blind spot

monitoring speed

understanding all the signs

predicting other drivers

Changing gears

Braking distances

The more your practice you become proficient in individual aspects of driving, this gives you more time to focus on your weaker skills. You master changing gear, braking, understanding signs and monitoring speed. It gives you chance to focus on improving your gear changes and mirror checking.

When you pass your test you can do the basics of driving a car but you lack predicting other drives. This gain this skill you need experience and to drive on the road with lots of different drivers.

The driving example shows the steps you need to learn to become a basic driver, to become an expert driver and race driver.

Most skills have many small parts to master, when you become proficient in particular skills you can focus on others skill.

Masters have great depth of knowledge in their art, they can see and feel intricacies others are not aware of, this comes from perseverance and practice.

The opinions and views on this blog are my own and not my employer

Are you looking for enlightment, try reading books

2016-02-26T09:00:00.000+00:00

Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment. Lao Tzu

Why do people commonly search for for enlightenment in religion?

What would happen if you ever reached enlightenment, would the person search for something else?

I searched for enlightenment in books and knowledge. Enlightenment isn't a destination, it's a journey without end, understanding and knowledge can never be completed.

Here definition of enlightenment?

the state of having knowledge or understanding : the act of giving someone knowledge or understanding

Enlightenment is often associated with religion or spiritual journeys but it's about knowledge and understanding.

For many years I use to read 20 to 30 fiction books a year. I discovered the Farnam Street blog which inspired me to read more non fiction books and learn more.

There was one particular quote from Charlie Munger which resonated

“In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn’t read all the time – none, zero.”

I like this quote as well

“Develop into a lifelong self-learner through voracious reading; cultivate curiosity and strive to become a little wiser every day.”

This page has more Charlie Munger quotes on reading

I read more non fiction books and creating lists in Amazon and Goodreads about great books to read. Ryan Holiday has a great reading list newsletter

I looked at my Goodreads currently reading list. I like to read multiple books at once, I'm unsure if this is a good or bad habit but lets see what it says about my journey for enlightenment

Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success

Recommend by Ryan Holiday, I'm only 12 percent through but this book is magnificent book about a NBA coach Phil Jackson. I'm enjoying his insights and engagement with people. His interest in mediation and religious journey is fascinating and he attempts to still his busy mind. I'm 14 % through but really enjoying it.

Ryan Holiday quotes a great section from the book in the article below, which persuaded me to buy it.

11 Tricks For Staying In Control Without Obsessing Over It, From Former NBA Coach Phil Jackson

My current reading list

Make Your Mark: The Creative's Guide to Building a Business with Impact (The 99U Book Series)

A great book which was free to borrow with my Amazon prime membership, it's one of the few free books I have found. All three 99U book series are free for borrowing. The book is a collection of articles on advise for creative people. Interesting book.

Vurt

A Science fiction book which is weird and great imagination. I'm at the early stages and understanding how the world functions.

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

This is a classic book recommended by lots of people such as Shane Parish from Farnam Street blog, Charlie Munger and lots more. It explains how people use your biases to persuade you into doing things. It is a must-read book to enable you to understand how shops and salesman are persuading you without you knowing.

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

The new book from Cal Newport on deep work. I am trying to improve my focus and banish distractions. This book has great tips on focusing.

Originals: How Non-conformists Change the World

This was the book I asked my wife to buy for valentine's day and yippee she brought it for me. I was looking forward to getting this, and writing is excellent, Adam Grant's writing style is generous and easy to read. Adam uses great stories to emphasis his thoughts and opinions.

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife

Fiction book I'm reading on my phone. I read a few pages whilst I'm stuck in queues or waiting. It's an apocalypticstyle book similar walking dead. The lead character is battling to survive, it makes you question how you would react.

User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development (Addison-Wesley Signature)

User stories are a method to capture requirements and this book explains why user stories are useful and best practices and understand the process better. The books old but it has lots of interesting points.

The Inmates are Running the Asylum: Why High-tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

A look at how technology affects our lives and the counter intuitive way the industry works.

Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

I'm trying to improve my writing, this book has opened my eyes

Sit Like a Buddha: A Pocket Guide to Meditation

A small book written in a friendly and amusing tone. I have learnt a lot from this book and its highlighting throughout.

I have been trying mediation as another method to improve my focus and keep my cool, this books a great introduction to mediation and amusing.

What does it say about my journey

My current reading is trying to understand how people work and insights on my own experiences. Improving focus and concentration would be awesome. Mobile phones, social media and email are distractions which constantly tug at your concentration.

Books offering deep thinking on topics and give the author time to explain topics in detail and offer insights.

I thought enlightenment was searching externally but during the writing of this article I began to think enlightenment is about knowing yourself and your thoughts.

Enlightenment is understanding, which comes from knowledge.

My two favourite books from last year

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

This is an amazing book, Maria Kondo's enthusiasm for tidying for inspiring. I now even fold my socks and pants after reading this book. If something doesn't spark joy then get rid of it.

Thinking, Fast and Slow

This book was fascinating and explained many biases. Understanding how your brain thinks and how it provides you instant opinions and thoughts was really interesting

book picture by kirrus

The views and opinions are personal opinions and not the opinions of my employer.

You can fail but you are not a failure

2016-02-24T08:30:00.000+00:00

I wasn't sure what to give the title of this post

Embrace Failure

To fail is to try

Benefits of failure

but in the end I chose

You can fail but you are not a failure

Failure is feature of all of our lives, peoples reaction to failure can shape their lives and the path they choose to take. Some people choose paths which minimize their experience with failure and others embrace it.

The fear of failure is so powerful that it can stop people trying but people should stop being afraid of failing and remember

Failing = Feedback

Every time you fail you are getting closer to succeeding. You can pick yourself up, analyse what went wrong, learn the lessons in failure and try again avoiding your previous mistakes.

repeat the above until you succeed

I know you are not going to take my word for it, so I have been looking at some inspirational quotes on failure, which I feature below.

Failing does not make you a failure

I watched an inspirational TED talk by Stanley McChrystal called Listen, Learn.... then lead. Four start General Stanley McChrystal talks about what he has learned about leadership from his life in the army.

He had this amazing quote

Leaders can let you fail but not let you be a failure

Not everyone fails because not everyone tries

for some people the fear of failure is so strong they don't even try to do something a bit risky. The quote from Michael Jordan sums this up nicely

I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying.

Michael Jordan

Everyone Fails

It's impossible not to fail at something in life, there will be things you are doing for the first time, things you are not good at, times you just get things wrong or under estimated the task in hand.

All the people who are considered successful will have had a few stumbles on the way to success and it's how they you react to failing that's important. You have to use as motivation to get better, motivation not to make the same mistake.

This quote from Edison is beautiful

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

Thomas A. Edison

I also like this quote from Zig Ziglar (what a fantastic name by the way)

Remember that failure is an event, not a person -Zig Ziglar

It's a great quote because failing is just a small moment in time, don't worry about it because soon no one will remember it later down the line.

Don't call it failing, call it learning

Failing, Failure are strong words and can have an emotional meaning with them. I look at failing, making mistakes as learning and refer to them as such.

Thomas Edison's quote neatly sums up this point, he famously created 10000 light bulbs which didn't work until he finally cracked it.

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” -Thomas Edison

Failure is a learning experience, bang on

Like success, failure is many things to many people. With Positive Mental Attitude, failure is a learning experience, a rung on the ladder, a plateau at which to get your thoughts in order and prepare to try again. - W. Clement Stone

TRY TRY and TRY AGAIN - Failing is a perspective

failing is a perspective, as shown by this great quote from Michael Jordon

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” - Michael Jordan

It's an opportunity

Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, only this time more wisely. - Henry Ford

Failure is one of the many steps on the road to success

It's unlikely you are going to succeed first time because you have to improve

“I’ve come to believe that all my past failure and frustrations were actually laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living I now enjoy.” - Tony Robbins

These two quotes make this point well

“Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” - Dale Carnegie

“Failure is success if we learn from it.” -Malcolm Forbes

Failures are remembered easier than successes

Some of the best lessons I have learnt have been from my failures. For some reason the failures stick out in memory and I think I am more likely not commit the same mistake as I am than doing the thing the thing that lead to a success

I remember once riding my bike and going round the corner with my pedal facing the floor, the pedal hit the floor, I fell off. I never fell off my bike again because of my pedal (but did for lots of other reasons).

Finally a quote from Steve Jobs

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.

Steve Jobs

picture of connect 4 = Andrea Small

perspective picture by Sam Javanrouh.

picture failure miss by BK,

picture of Steve by Chad Anderson

picture failure by cambodia4kidsorg

Why you should embrace wonky thoughts and wonky people

2016-02-23T20:41:00.002+00:00

I always find beauty in things that are odd and imperfect - they are much more interesting . Marc Jacobs

Don't think to straight, embrace some wonky thoughts and wonky people, it's no fun walking down the straight and narrow. Life is a collaboration of individuals of different shapes and sizes with different thoughts and opinions, embrace the differences.

Beauty is skin deep but wonky vegetables are ugly to the bone. I watched a new snippet on how supermarkets are having wonky veg boxes, full of overgrown, funny looking vegetables which you can buy at a discount.

The highlight of the story was the news reporter asking a woman if she wasinsulted by a particularly curly carrot.

It was a daft question, but the answer was glorious

“No, I rather like it, it has character”

Wabi Sabi

I was reading the book ReWork: Change the Way You Work Forever and itmentioned a phrase Wabi-sabi

Wabi-sabi is described as

Wabi-sabi is the quintessential Japanese aesthetic. It is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is a beautyof things modest and humble. It is a beauty of things unconventional...

Wabi-sabi is the art of imperfection, its important in world which moves towards conformity, a world of corporate companies and high streets filled with chain stores.

Wonky Appearance

We live in a world which places a premium on looks and presentation. The mediais filled with pictures, interviews and opinions of attractive people, why listen to the ramblings of people based on their appearance?

It turns out appearance is not only important in people but in our are fruit and veg, people don't want to buy funny shaped vegetables.

Thousands of tons of vegetables are thrown away because they are the wrong shape, supermarkets have stringent acceptable dimensions for vegetables.

We should champion the different shaped vegetables not throwing them away, we should buy them if they are cheaper and bigger. Let us not forget wonky vegetables are funny

Be Prepared for Wonky

Wonkiness is not limited to vegetables, you will meet lots of wonky people in your life. People can have wonky thinking, behavior, appearance, methods, processes and wonky dress sense.

If we were all the the same, life would be boring but yet we are naturally suspicious of people who are different. We should embrace the differences in each other and collaborate to incorporate the different views and ideas.

The difference in thinking of individuals is an invaluable tool, which bares the most fruit when working in groups, this allows the different views to merge and colloborate. I use the term wonkiness of thought because other people have different opinions and methods of thinking, this can seem alien but ask questions and learn from a different perspective.

Wonkiness means you need to work differently with people to get the most from their wonky thinking.

Embrace Wonky

When you work at the same job or do the same process long enough you become a slick machine, to the extent it becomes a habit. Habits are the brains way of beingable to do tasks on autopilot e.g. when you do something enough time the braincan do it without concentrating on the task.

A great example is driving. Have you ever driven to work and forgot how you gotthere? It’s because your brain did it on habit autopilot.

It’s not habit autopilot that s the biggest threat it’s your system 2 logical brain accepting defaults. To progress you need to evolve processes, find better ways andthink about how to become more effective.

When new people join your department or team they bring with them wonkythinking, they question why we do things in certain ways. New team memberswant to understand the goal of processes and then see if there is a better way.

Wonky thinkers ask why?

Enjoy Wonkiness

We should embrace the wonky vegetable in everyone. Everybody has a wonky quality to them, which often manifests itself in fascinating hobby.

I love hearing about the unusual hobbies and stories of colleagues

A friends 2 year old son loved watching Youtube videos of clocks, particularlygrandfather clocks.
I used to collect erasers, which my nephews and nieces loved and some survived which my children play with!

My nephew used to collect can's of Lynx deoderant, he had over 50 cans

A school teacher did Kendo and brought in his sword

I will leave you with the quote from the great Roald Dahl

A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely. ―

picture from here

Leadership is about motivating others to action not making them

2016-02-10T09:00:00.000+00:00

"Leadership is not about titles, positions, or flow charts. It is about one life influencing another." John C. Maxwell

Alex Ferguson was one of the most successful managers of all time winning the Premier League 13 times, 5 FA Cups and 2 Champion League titles. Alex Ferguson's title was manager but his primary task was to lead and motivate a squad of players to produce individual performances and works as team for a whole season.

During your career you will work for managers, if you are fortunate you will work for a leader.

Managers monitor and schedule, checking the work done meets the goals and objectives set. Tasks are assigned and work gets done because the manager has authority.

Leaders inspire people, work is done because people believe in the vision of the leader.

Leading

In the book Leading by Sir Alex Ferguson (Author), Sir Michael Moritz (Author) gives insights into management style of Alex Ferguson. The back of the book has a great quote

"My job was to make everyone understand that the impossible was possible. That's the difference between leadership and management." Alex Ferguson

Leaders sell a vision of the future and everyone works to make the vision become reality.

The differences between leaders and managers is motivation. Managers motivate by fear, leaders motivate by inspiring people.

Leaders are not focused on personal accomplishments or credit, instead they focus on what the group can achieve by working together. The quote below highlights this attitude

“No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it.” – Andrew Carnegie

One Alex Ferguson's motivational stories talks about geese flying from Canada to France. They fly in a V formation show in the picture above. The geese swap positions during the flight to enable the geese at the back to rest, to accomplish the flight the geese must work as a team.

"If one goose falls ill, two always have to go with him. What I was saying was that I'm only asking you to go 38 games in the League to win it. I'm not asking you to go 5,000 miles!" Alex Ferguson

Trust and delegation

Ferguson explains the importance of delegation. when he started out in management he tried to do everything

take training sessions
make sure the pies were right
talk to the groundsman about the height of the grass
negotiate contracts
scouting
everything and anything

Without delegation Ferguson became a bottleneck and he found his staff were frustrated at not being able to do their job. Ferguson was spending too much time on low impact tasks and not enough time on important tasks.

Ferguson's moved to Man utd and with more people to manage Ferguson had to learn to delegate because there was too much to do. This quote highlights his thoughts on delegation

"When I hired someone to do something, I trusted them to do it. I depended on them to get on with their job and come to me with any problems"

Here are some inspiration quotes on Leadership

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams

"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires." William Arthur Ward

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” —Maya Angelou

“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” —Henry Ford

"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it." Dwight D. Eisenhower

picture from here

Why do people stay in boring jobs?

2016-02-02T09:11:00.000+00:00

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. - John F. Kennedy

I'm reading Mastery (The Robert Greene Collection) by Robert Greene, a great book on how to become successful in your career.

The book focuses on getting a purpose, cultivating desire and a doing a job which you are passionate about.

how do we end up in boring jobs?

As children we did things we enjoyed, spent hours on activities we loved doing, never tiring of them.

Music
Sports
Collecting things
drawing
writing
etc

As children progress through school they are funneled into recommended jobs, safe jobs, jobs with careers and job security. Parents, teachers and friends will offer advice to children on potential careers.

Career advice doesn't take consider the passions or interests of the childand steers them towards a safe career choice,.

The next step is to attend university, narrowing down the choice of jobs to smaller standard selection, the jobs recommended by degree course.

Most job recommendations are office jobs, after a few years they are thinking how did I end up in this job. They complain to their parents and friends their job is boring , telling them to get enjoyment and excitement outside of work.

They ask themselves these question

How did they I end up here?
What happened to my passion and purpose?
Can I do this until retirement?

Why do people stay in boring jobs?

Most jobs are 8 hours a day, one third of your time is spent at work, half of your waking hours are spent at work.

Why do people stay in boring jobs, going in day after day, doing something they find boring.

A habit is common repeatable action, which the brain can do on autopilot due to the frequency. A Boring job is a classic bad habit, it's easier to go to work than to take action and change it.

The brain instinct is to take the easiest path with the lowest potential problems. Changing jobs could mean doing something difficult which you are not good at, staying with your boring job is the safe choice.

https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2011/08/changing-bad-habits/

What is purpose?

“No one is really going to help you or give you direction. In fact, the odds are against you.”
― Robert Greene, Mastery

No one can tell you what will give you purpose or what job you will have passion expect yourself. Purpose might not come from your job but can be found in your pastime, doing things such as writing, creating music, exercise, creating something original. convert your pastime into a career.

How do I view purpose

“If you end up with a boring miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest, or some guy on television telling you how to do your shit, then you deserve it.” ― Frank Zappa

You need to active and contributing your thoughts, ideas and energy into a project. Only when you put effort, mental and physical energy into your work/project will you take something out.

Purpose is to be challenged, to learn, to be involved in a challenging project which push you beyond your comfort zone. If you aren't pushing yourself, making mistakes, failing then you are going to easy on yourself and not growing.

“We have to create culture, don’t watch TV, don’t read magazines, don’t even listen to NPR. Create your own roadshow. The nexus of space and time where you are now is the most immediate sector of your universe, and if you’re worrying about Michael Jackson or Bill Clinton or somebody else, then you are disempowered, you’re giving it all away to icons, icons which are maintained by an electronic media so that you want to dress like X or have lips like Y. This is shit-brained, this kind of thinking. That is all cultural diversion, and what is real is you and your friends and your associations, your highs, your orgasms, your hopes, your plans, your fears. And we are told ‘no’, we’re unimportant, we’re peripheral. ‘Get a degree, get a job, get a this, get a that.’ And then you’re a player, you don’t want to even play in that game. You want to reclaim your mind and get it out of the hands of the cultural engineers who want to turn you into a half-baked moron consuming all this trash that’s being manufactured out of the bones of a dying world.” ― Terence McKenna

Make a difference

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Are you making a difference at work? are you contributing to the success or failure of company or project?

Don't waste time in a job you don't enjoy, you could be creating amazing things, leading projects. If you aren't being challenged by your job, you aren't learning and growing.

Opportunities are everywhere

“The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways.”
― Robert Greene, Mastery

People prefer complaining to doing, have you heard these comments

It's not fair I didn't get new job/promotion
I hate my job
My job is boring
I would move jobs but the pay is good
I will wait for my pension and then start enjoying life

People with a passive view of life don't have purpose because they feel life happens to them and not they happen to life.

If you don't like something, what is stopping you from changing it? If you don't enjoy your job, find a job you will enjoy.

Opportunities are only seen by people actively looking and who are ready to act. Think of your dream job and work out how to get there.

What skills do you need
Who can help you get there
what experience will help
Build your online brand/portfolio
Read about it, write about it

Work hard to get that job, focus your effort on it and every day move towards it.

“Everything you can imagine is real.” Pablo Picasso

The picture was from here

10 Simple tips to improve your writing

2015-11-16T17:29:00.004+00:00

"Easy reading is damned hard writing." Nathaniel Hawthorne

Office workers use written communication daily, but few devote time to improving it.

Clear writing can amplify the thoughts of the writer, careless writing confuses the reader.

Good writing happens when you understand the goal of their writing. Know what you want to say before you can create and edit your writing. Readers have a limited bandwidth, you risk losing readers if your writing isn't focused, keep your writing simple and get to the point.

1. Create an attention-grabbing title

The title of your writing should grab the attention of your reader, the first paragraph interests them, the quality of the article will make them come back.

If the title isn't interesting people won't read your work. Create multiple titles and pick the best..

2. Start strong

The first paragraph should keep the reader's attention, explaining why they must read your article.

3. Ideas

You need ideas before you can create a draft. Generate ideas, thoughts, insights for the topic. Generate lots of ideas, good, bad, some not yours, ideas a different topic. To create a few good ideas you often need to create a bunch of rubbish ones.

Ask yourself questions

Why is the this important
Why, When, What, Where, Who
Personal stories
Quotes
Links
A list of ideas

4. Create an Outline

Read your article notes, create sub-headings for your article. Clarify your thoughts, create a logical flow to your article and keep it focused

5. Write don't edit

Writing and editing are different processes, don't do them together. Write your first draft knowing it must be edited.

Stephen King has great advice in his autobiography/writing book On Writing.

”Write the first draft with the door closed, and the second with the door open.”

The first draft is a mess, it includes sentences and paragraphs which will be cut, the writing will be sloppy, but the article exists.

Write the first draft, don't stop to edit, editing slows you down.

Editing is shaping, cutting, organizing, clarifying. You need to create an initial draft before you can shape it.

EDITING

I didn't appreciate editing until I read books and writing tips. Without editing my articles were slow, unfocused confused. The insights were lost amongst the noise of poor writing.

6. Remove as many words as possible but still keep the meaning

The first draft gets thoughts down on the page, editing revises those thoughts, removing superfluous words. ~~Most~~ adverbs are not needed and should be removed.

7. Remove cliches

Don't use cliches, create original thoughts. Replace cliches by describing what you mean.

8. Use short words and short sentences.

Get to the point fast, replace complex words with a simple ones, don't slow the reader down.

9. Question the purpose of each sentence, do you need it

If a sentence doesn't add value or is on a different topic take it out of this one.

If a sentence, no matter how excellent, does not illuminate your subject in some new and useful way, scratch it out. Kurt Vonnegut

10. Always edit your work. The first revision may be rubbish, it's the starting point for you to revise, remove and polish your thoughts.

Writing should quality not quantity. It's better to have a shorter well written focused article than a long rambling article. Readers have short attention spans, make every line count.

Books to improve your writing

The Book In A Box Method: The New Way to Quickly and Easily Write Your Book (Even If You're Not a Writer)

This book helped me focus on the what and the why of writing. The book highlighted the importance of planning and helped me create a blog template.

George Orwell's Essay Politics and the English Language (Penguin Modern Classics) has 6 rules for writing. Keep your meaning clear and your writing simple.

Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
Never use a long word where a short one will do.
If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
Never use the passive where you can use the active.
Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

Writing tools gives grammar advice using a list of concise tools. The writing is interesting and memorable.

Great tips on writing to help writers think about the writing process

fifty tools to help you in writing

Why do people dislike Mondays?

2015-04-13T15:12:00.000+01:00

How did you approach Monday morning at work today, was it with a skip in your stride or did you slowly shuffle into the office, slump into your chair and brace yourself for another long week.

I'm sure most of you will hear someone making a cup of tea bemoaning that it's "Monday" and there is a big long week a head.

Why do people dislike Monday so much?

My daughter who is 2 and a half, she doesn't fully understand the days of the week but every day she runs excitedly into my room "get up daddy, get up daddy".

She is excited the day has begun, she can see the day can be full of possibilities and fun

This is the feeling we should have for Monday morning.

You have a choice how you view the start of the week either view

start of the week focusing on all the possibilities and the things you can achieve this week

start of the week as a long time with lots of tasks you have to do and five days until the weekend.

As a person with a positive outlook, I don't understand why people like to moan about it being Monday, I think we have had a rest from working, you are charged up and ready to rock

AIM HIGH

if your only aim this week is to get through the week, all the way to Friday then that is all you are going to archive but why are you aiming so low! If you aim low you hit low targets, if you aim higher then you could hit those high targets but if you come a little bit short you will still have done a lot better than aiming low.

Set yourself some targets that you want to achieve this week. Once you have your targets, the next step is to create a plan to achieve those targets.

The targets can be linked to your normal work and include other things like read a number of articles, start learning a new skill/technology and read a chapter/number of pages.

Energy

if you trudge into the office, feeling sorry for yourself, feeling there is a big long week a head, you are going to have bad posture and you are going to persuade yourself into feeling tired.

If you view a task or in this case a weeks worth of work as a big task, which is going to be a slog, it's going to drain the energy out of you and make it more difficult, this attitude is contributing to the likelihood of it becoming true.

Bound into the office, Give out some hearty Good Mornings

If you are unsure about how your body language shapes you actions then watch the this Great TED talk from Amy Cuddy - Your body language shapes who you are

Come on it's Monday, you have things to archive, work to do

You have

all week to show what an asset you are

all week to better last weeks output

all week to sell/do more than last week

all week to meet people you have met and increase you network

all week to learn skills to help you in your job

This could be your best work week ever and why not, what's holding you back

Go get em tiger

frog picture used from Mathew T Rader

tiger picture from Christina Saint Marche

Low Carb Low Fat Diets

2014-08-26T11:28:00.000+01:00

Whilst reading articles on low carb diet because I am currently trying the Low Carb Diet highlighted in Four hour body by Tim Ferriss.

I have seen a few videos from the diet doctor, who looks at lots of different diet techniques

he reviews lots of difference diets and other things like learning, is salt good for you etc.

https://www.dietdoctor.com/

he has had lots of people write in saying how effective the low carb diet was for them

https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb-high-fat-changed-life

If life went backwards

2009-09-18T17:51:00.000+01:00

I read a book slaughter house 5 which puts forward the idea of the time as something aliens can see all of it at once and choose which parts to look at. So don’t be sad at the bad things but just look at the happy things.

One part talks about watching a film going backwards and the 2^nd world war involved planes sucking up bombs from destroyed cities and repairing them.

Baywatch going backwards

In Baywatch Hasslehoff would go about the beach, give people the kiss of life and then take them out to water to try and drown them before they could finally escape his grasp and head on back to dry land.

Books

In the backwards world, books are loathed. People spend hours unwritting the foul things. Any books found in a house, are returned to shops where they reward you by exchanging the books for money

Work

People in the backwards world feel sorry for employers and as a favour they work for them 37.5 hours a week and then pay them for the privledge.

Football

One of the most boring pastimes, every single match ends in a nil – nil draw. The league is staggered with some teams starting with more points to get rid of than others but slowly over the season it all balances out and each season ends with all the teams level on zero points.

Eating is terrible.

We go into the toilet, throw some water down the sink, put some soap into a small dispenser using the sucking motion on the top. We then start to take used pieces of toilet paper out of the toilet and then wipe the shit onto are arse, after a while, we take suck a turd clean out of the toilet into are arse!!! After a while we then vomit up whole meals and small pieces of food which we carefully piece together and often wrap up and put on shelves for other people to buy.

Life backwards

Often some people wake up in old folks homes surrounded by these weird old people, who can bearly look after themselves and piss and shit themselves and generally talk crap and believe TV people are real. Some of them keep talking about premonitions of a war that is going to happen. It’s sounds great, this bloke called Hitler, revives millions of people and even makes some Jewish people out of bars of soap. Hitler isn’t happy with this and also invents a shower that you put dead people in, sucks the gas out of the air and they all come back to life. In the backwards world Hitler is one of the most celebrated people, where as Oscar schindler is reviled for making a huge list of people who he sends back to prison. The story of Anne frank is very unusual, she gets revived in a prisoner of war camp and then hides away in a small loft hidden from everyone and unwrites her famous diary until she is a no one again.

Doctors are considered evil. People who have recovered from an illness visit them, only to find the doctor infects them with it. The only way around this is to go home, live your life until the symptoms disappear.

Old people get visited by family members until one day they take them out of the old folks home, you feel a lot better and have more energy. You slowly start to build up your energy and sanity levels until finally you get up enough strength to go to work. Often you will have a good job on excellent pay despite having no experience. No experience is considered the most valuable thing in backwards world. Slowly as you build up more experience you become less valuable and then on a yearly basis your employee meets you for your pay review meeting and they slowly reduce you wages through your life until in the end they sack you. You get disenchanted and see no other choice than going to University, initially you work really hard but then the more you stay at university the less and less work you do, until you get to your final year where you spend most of the time mucking about, not working, drinking beer and shagging women. Finally university get sick of you and chuck you out. Not to be put off you give education another chance and go to school. Same old story, work hard to begin with and then slowly work less and less until they get sick of you and chuck you out. It’s your last chance with education now and you give primary school ago, same story and finally they chuck you out. You give up on school altogether and you just sit around and play. Because of your failure in education people think you are stupid and talk to you in baby language and patronize you by congratulating you on walking and saying simple words.

The Hosk

What to do if you make a mistake at work

Making mistakes

How to avoid making mistake

Take things slowly, rushing leads to mistakes

Prepare well

use check-lists

Do a pre mortem

avoid personal/people issue

What do to if you make a mistake

Admit it quickly

Owning up

Create Processes

Summary

Coach Carter's Rules

11 Strategic quotes to help shape your future

Quotes on strategy

Are you a premium candidate for promotion

Recently I have been trying to buy a house, house buying seems a lot different from the last time I brought a house, one of the reasons for this is there is a new concept I had to learn

Premium buyer

What is a premium buyer

Networking will find you your next job

The Importance of Networking

Finding the Job Yourself

Networking can be Motivating

What does it mean

Acknowledging your emotions, focus on the present and keep your cool

Acknowledge emotions

Live in the now

Thoughts

Flow

Further Reading

Don't be afraid to ask questions

Don't be embarrassed about not knowing something

Don't stay quiet

Gateway Pattern

Who do you work for?

Getting Ready to Move

A company might not be life it might just be for xmas

Summary

Watch out! Recruitment consultants like fishing

How do you add people to your network - Fishing

You were just hooked

Choose to be hooked

Good Practices of Good recruitment consultants

Annoying practices of bad recruitment consultants

Getting angry when you are not interested in a position

Recruitment consultants giving themselves the title of CRM Consultant

Send invites in LinkedIn without writing anything

Posting fake jobs just to get useful contacts

Sending inappropriate\speculative jobs - Desperation

No communication

Use a conversation to collect information about the company

All Seperately posting a quiz/funny picture/something about Friday

Master your art

Are you looking for enlightment, try reading books

My current reading list

What does it say about my journey

My two favourite books from last year

You can fail but you are not a failure

Failing does not make you a failure

Not everyone fails because not everyone tries

Everyone Fails

Don't call it failing, call it learning

TRY TRY and TRY AGAIN - Failing is a perspective

Failure is one of the many steps on the road to success

Why you should embrace wonky thoughts and wonky people

Wabi Sabi

Wonky Appearance

Be Prepared for Wonky

Embrace Wonky

Enjoy Wonkiness

Leadership is about motivating others to action not making them

Trust and delegation

Why do people stay in boring jobs?

Why do people stay in boring jobs?

What is purpose?

How do I view purpose

Make a difference

Opportunities are everywhere