Time to get right: a Lifetime

My Tai Chi teacher often begins classes by explaining how the best practitioners are able to practice moves they have done a thousand times and still retain a state of ‘beginners mind’. This is when they are really aware of what they are doing and how to improve further.

As regular readers will know, I have recently had a real focus on getting out of my comfort zone. I have run a half marathon and raised money for Great Ormond Street Hospital, worked out in Dubai and set up a social enterprise called Leading the Change to enable community leaders development.

All of these were a stretch for me as I haven’t done them before. I had beginners mind easily. What I find more of a real stretch is to get beginners mind in areas I already know well.

By getting the same approach of beginners mind you can challenge assumptions, not rely on old habits and come at an issue with the desire to learn. In any situation you take some learning and make improvements.

I have been practicing beginners mind in as many situations as possible and it makes a real difference to how you listen, understand and notice. All key aspects of being a real leader.

So when do you get beginners mind and act as if you are seeing or hearing something for the first time and become really curious? Try it in your next meeting, task or conversation.

Time to take action: Now

It was such a sunny morning yesterday that I decided to get up early and go for a run on the beach. Having worked up a bit of a sweat I stopped by the waters edge and as the sun sparkled off the sea I thought about going in for a swim. And then I thought some more.. and then I tested the water….. it was cold, really cold. So I decided that March was still a bit early for swimming in the channel so I’d leave it to April.

I often hear of people talking about wanting to get involved with helping their community, or setting up a project that helps others or do more than just donate money to charities. The thing is it can be a bit daunting. We put our toe in the water and then think maybe later. It requires real leadership to get in.

This led me to the question. How can leaders learn from social action?

The answer is a program that enables leaders to get development that is challenging and out of their comfort zone, whilst helping the local community. We put our toe in the water last year and ran a pilot program. Nine projects were created which inspired more than 100 volunteers to help. More than 1,000 people  benefited and graduates from last year’s programme have gone on to generate more than £6,000 of funding for their local grassroots projects since November.

This year we want to do more and have gained £3500 of funding from social enterprise funder Unltd, to set up a new social enterprise called Leading The Change.

It  would be good to get your help:

Toe in the water: Forward this on to all those who may be interested or look at and like our facebook page.
Stripping off: Talk to someone in your organisation about putting their leaders on the program.
Wading in: Let me know if you are interested in being involved in or supporting the program.
Dive in: Apply for a place on a program

The waters getting warmer.

Toby

p.s.

I you fancy having a swim here is what’s involved in the next program:

3 one day workshops in Brighton from 10am – 4pm on the following days:

Sunday 29^th April: Vision, Values, Goals – building a foundation for great leadership

Saturday 12^th May: Planning, organisation and resource management – setting yourself up for success

Saturday 16^th June: Motivation, Engagement and Persuasion
Skills – how to make things happen

All participants on the course are allocated a personal coach who provides weekly 1-2-1 coaching sessions which can take place by phone or in person and there are practical support workshops once a week.

National Geographic TV International were undergoing a massive change process in 2011 with the transfer of this part of the business to Fox Television. Hazelbranch was brought in to coach the senior team through the change management process over a period of six months.

Hazelbranch was working one on one meeting with the VP and management every six weeks to ensure the transition was communicated effectively, goals and priorities set and the management changes were handled effectively, as well as helping individuals deal with their own challenges that the changes presented.

Hazelbranch also provided presentation skills training to key individuals in the organisation to develop confidence and communication abilities ahead of the merger.

Feedback included:

“I thought the course was excellent. I learnt a lot and gained a lot of valuable pointers. It gave me more courage to do the  awards in front of 40 odd people! I think the key thing for me was just giving me confidence and taking away the fear of talking to a group through lots of interesting facts and approaches. I didn’t think there could be any improvements,it was spot on!”

I have just returned from a great week running some leadership workshops in Dubai.

This was the first time I have been to Dubai and this meant  I had to spend a fair bit of time trying to figure out how to get there, where to stay, and try and plan getting around.

As usual when you get to a new city it was all a bit confusing at first so I sought help. When I asked people for advice however I was often baffled by jargon, they abbreviate almost all place names, and they also made assumptions I would know certain things about Dubai, such as the name and location of the worlds tallest building or a particular shopping mall. (They are very into shopping malls in Dubai!)

They also threw in things like, “no taxi driver knows the way anywhere”, “the traffic is terrible” etc, just to be helpful.

This reminded me is what it is like when you have someone making that journey of starting a new job. We can forget exactly how baffling it is to not know the jargon, the organisations unique ways of doing things and even how tasks fits the big picture.

It is crucial therefore to make time to really put yourself in their shoes, and have a structured approach to identifying what they need to know, what things you might falsely assume they know and what information is going to hinder rather than help.

Here are my top 5 training tips to help people find their way around faster:

1. Let them know bigger picture and how something relates to what they already know.

2. Introduce them to any jargon they’ll encounter.

3. Start with something simple as it builds confidence.

4. Go through it more than once. If the message is given once they’ll remember 10% in a years time, if given six times they’ll remember 90%.

5. The adult concentration span is short so break information into small chunks

Happy travels.

Toby

See also How to delegate

Everybody has a different idea of what a challenge is.

I am running the Brighton Half Marathon in a few weeks time. For me the distance is a bit of a challenge, but I am pretty sure I can make it that far.

Trying to do it in 1 hour 45mins is definitely a stretch as that is pretty rapid for me and I need to train hard to come close to doing that.

What is more of a stretch, and indeed has until now been out in my panic/procrastination zone, is to use an event like this to raise money for charity.

Now this is something I know others have no issue with and it’s well in their comfort zone.  I on the other hand, ran a few charity races last year but never asked others to donate.  Something stopped me asking others to help.

We often assume we know what a challenge is for others and indeed ourselves.  It sometimes takes a fair bit of soul searching and honesty to find out what the real challenge is though.

It is usually some form of limiting belief that holds us back. And it often transcends more than one part of our life. Breaking that limiting belief is a real challenge.

I am committing to asking others to donate to a cause close to my heart, Great Ormond Street Hospital who care for my daughter Georgia.  Click here if you would like to know why.

If you are setting goals, take the opportunity to also think about what it is you are not doing, rather than just adding more to what you can already do. What is your real challenge?

It depends a lot on what your area of interest is and your preferred learning style as to what might float your boat, however here are some we would recommend looking at:

Leadership Books

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven R Covey is a great book to dip in and out of. The habits are easily explained and followed and really do make a difference to how effective you are.

Resourceful Entrepreneur’s Guide to Business – How to Succeed in Challenging Times by Christine Miller. A great set of articles from a wide range of leaders including a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and also one from Hazelbranch founder Toby Buckle. Not that we are biased!

Raving Fans by Ken Blanchard is an inspirational book for anyone who aspires to excellent customer service.

Inspiring Videos

I recommend you view this video from TED on how leaders inspire action

This one of Steve Jobs address at Stamford University is great when thinking about your purpose

This is a great one for ethics and leadership The Childrens Fire

NLP

There are so many books out there for NLP it is hard to know where to start.

We would personally recommend NLP Principles in Practice by Lisa Wake. It is easy to read, practical, highlights many of the best tools and techniques and uses an evidence based approach.

Another good sourse of information on NLP is the ANLP. This governing body has a good reputation and its publication Rapport magazine produces some interesting articles whilst the Acuity and Research in NLP give the latest research and evidence to support and develop NLP.

The NLP conference is a great place to get up to date with the latest NLP techniques and theory as well as having good introduction sessions.

To find out more about what NLP is check out our NLP page

At Hazelbranch we have been supporting social enterprise for a number of years. We sit on the expert advice panel for social entreprenuers  for the Business Community Partnership and provide coaching support for Unltd award winners such as Fotodocument as well as working with larger social enterprises such as National Geographic.

We  also hope social enterprise comes to be the norm as opposed to being a niche separate sector of the economy. Social enterprises do not always need to start from scratch. It is entirely feasible that many private sector organisations can move towards a model of working that allows a good proportion of profit, energy or expertise to contribute to the development of communities, society and the environment we all live in.

Charities

At Hazelbranch we donate 12  days a year to social enterprises and community development. We also offer a 50% discount to charities for training.

We are also funding places on our Community Leaders development program to those who unable to fund themselves.

Hazelbranch has been involved with coaching charities such as  Muscular Dystrophy advising Great Ormond Street Hospital and The Mens Network

What is most different about this?

• Leaders are developed and get value from understanding and making a difference to a world outside of corporate life and learning from others outside of their usual scope of knowledge
• Leaders get a better sense of satisfaction from being better at their job and making a difference in areas they are passionate about.
• Wider society benefits from the experience and passion of leaders really being involved, people are engaged with your business in a proactive way.

What is the involved in the Program?

The program includes three one day training workshops, and six coaching calls taking the leaders on a journey from vision to action. There are guest speakers at each workshop who have delivered outstanding results.

Why have this focus?

Why have a focus on community and environmental projects?

Any brand or individual doing exceptionally well, is now expected to demonstrate how they also are giving back to society. Thanks to shifts in power and a relentless transparency, those who don’t know how to will have no excuses left.

Being seen to actively be involved in society and making a difference attracts people to work with your company, and consumers to do business with you.  86% of global consumers believe that business needs to place at least equal weight on society’s interests as on business’ interests. TRENDWATCHING.COM

The 2006 Companies Act placed CSR as a critical component of corporate governance in the UK. Directors must assume responsibility for environmental, employee, social and community matters .

What is the investment?

The program is £3600 per individual. Part of your fees go towards the costs of promotion and kick starting of projects and can come from your CSR budget as well as your people development budget.

We are deeply passionate about providing our tools and training for those with a passion to make a difference. We provide places on a community leaders development programs to self-motivated individuals with a passion for making a difference who hasn’t the backing of an organisation or funds to achieve this.

Who runs the program?

Toby Buckle of Hazelbranch runs the program with:

Glen Poole: an experienced leader, trainer and consultant with a particular interest in what it takes to get different communities to take action and make change happen.

Glen has been responsible for designing and delivering a wide range of change campaigns in the public and charitable sector which included the Fathers 4 Justice campaign, the successful campaign to stop the development of third runway at Heathrow Airport and the Bounce Your Balls testicular cancer campaign. Glen is the Strategic Director of The Men’s Network in Brighton & Hove, a Community & Voluntary Sector elected representative and sits of a number of citywide groups in Brighton such as the Volunteering Strategy Steering Group.

Glen has also delivered training on communication, strategy, creativity and leadership to hundreds of people from the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. Glen enables leaders to identify the actions that make a difference and then empower more people, to take those actions, more often.

When I am at my office I often get asked if I want a cup of tea by the friendly co-workers sharing the space.

I tend to turn the offer down. I head to the kitchen to make my own tea as an when I need it.

On the face of it this is inefficient as I could be working whilst someone makes my tea.

However it is effective as I get to have a break from my computer, have a drink when I actually need it, and often have randomly useful conversations at the kettle.

The difference between efficient and effective is an important one to consider. The drive for efficiency is obviously important, but it often has the unforeseen impact on effectiveness.

Multi tasking seems efficient, until you make that critical mistake because you were not really paying attention.

Listening to someone whilst checking your computer or phone seems like a good idea until your staff leave because “you don’t really listen to them”

Running on a skeleton staff works until sickness hits and you lose that big order because you can’t deliver.

I am not saying you shouldn’t try to be efficient, only that it’s important to make sure you are being effective as well. Sometimes doing the right thing is inefficient, but effective.

I’m off to make myself a cup of tea. How about you?

How well do you fulfill these?