What is networking?

It’s more than just meeting new people.  It’s a structured plan to meet contacts from all areas of daily life who will be of benefit to your success and that of your business.

What’s in it for you?

For building your reputation as a first-class PA, attending an event like office* is the ideal opportunity to practice networking. The benefits to yourself, your manager and your organisation include:

• Making useful new contacts
• Letting people know you can help, with a wide range of skills
• Quid pro quo: people who know you are more likely to help when you need something
• Improved motivation and morale for a positive working environment
• Raising your profile, influence and demonstrating your personal brand

1. How to start:
Opportunities are everywhere – any shared interest is a starting point.  Colleagues, people in the same sector and members of professional associations, community groups, charities and clubs all count.

Conferences, study groups and training courses are fertile ground, and don’t forget online!  There’s a myriad of free social networks that provide the perfect platform for raising your professional profile. Try more business focussed sites such as Twitter and LinkedIn first.

2. What to say
This is the sticking point for most of us – try these four simple steps:

Open
• Be approachable – use open body language
• Use an icebreaker (e.g. have you come far? It’s a lovely venue, isn’t it?)

Steer
• Get conversation flowing over common ground or a provocative statement
• Talk about topics you’re passionate about
• Ask open questions, don’t interrogate, do listen

Close
• Notice when conversation is over, recap the highlights
• Thank them using a physical sign, e.g. handshake,
• Introduce someone else to the conversation

Keep in Touch
• Suggest lunch, coffee or set a follow-up call
• Exchange business cards/contact details
• Connect on Linkedin or twitter

3. Now commit to it!
Once you’ve identified the most beneficial events, find out who you need to spend precious time networking with. The trick is to become proactive and go beyond your comfort zone. Attend at least one new event a month and head for the people you don’t know, or you’ll never build your network!

 networking image courtesy of Renjith Krishnan, freedigitalphotos.net

The Meta Model was created in 1975 by Richard Bandler and linguist John Grinder, the co-founders of neuro-linguistic programming. It’s based on semiotics – the relationship between concepts and the signals we use to communicate them. More specifically, it expands on the idea that when people communicate, they unconsciously transform their message based on their attitudes, beliefs and vocabulary.

This concept is best imagined by thinking about someone drawing a map of a place. Every individual will prioritise different features or know different things, so everybody’s map will be different. In some cases the map might be very detailed and high-quality, while in others it might have very little relation to what’s actually on the ground. Communicating is like drawing a map of our feelings, thoughts and ideas. Just like someone else can never experience things in exactly the same way we do,  maps will never truly represent the place – there’d be no reason to go on holiday if they did! But just as a more accurate map is more useful for navigating a place, communication that maps more closely to our feelings is better communication.

The Meta Model is based on using specific, detailed questions to help people relate their experiences more accurately. It breaks down the categorisations and deletions that people use to respond to their experiences. To go back to our map example, rather than just drawing a road,  someone using the Meta Model would ask someone to specify what type of road it is, what direction it goes in, how busy it is, and so on. By drilling down to this detailed information about our experiences the Meta Model can help us identify specific ways to change and develop our behaviour.

What can it do for us?

The Meta Model is a great way of understanding why we might be struggling to get our point across.  How often have you heard someone say ‘I just don’t get what their problem is’ or ‘they aren’t interested in listening to me’? Often these sorts of feelings come about because one or both parties aren’t communicating clearly. They might think they are, but it’s likely that the unconcscious categorisations and edits they make are distorting their true feelings, preventing them from reaching a consensus. It’s up to individuals to change their behaviour, but the Meta Model can help someone to examine the behaviour they may display in a situation and the impact it might have on others, and so help provide the impetus to make that change.

How can we use it?

It’s an interesting theory, but how do you go about using it in a practical sense? Here is a step by step guide on how I used it during a recent training delivery:

1. Ask the delegates to think of someone at work that they would like to improve their relationship with.
2. Ask a volunteer  to come forward and the others to remain quiet during the exercise.
3. Create 3 positions at the front of the room, then stand outside your subject’s line of sight.
4. Ask the delegate to stand at position 1, then ask them to visualise the person they find it hard to get along with in position 2.
5. Ask them questions about this person. Who are they? What do they look like? What do you experience, think or feel as you look at them? Do you see them everyday? Keep asking questions until you have a detailed understanding of the delegate’s perception of the person they’re imagining.
6. Once you’re satisified, get the delegate to relax for a moment and break state.
7. Walk with your subject across the room to Position 2 and ask them to face Position 1.
8. Now repeat the process, but with the delegate describing themselves from the perspective of the person they were visualising in steps 4-5.
9. Again, ask as many questions as you can. At this point the delegate will often be quite self-critical.  This is not necessarily a bad thing, but ensure the criticism is directed,  structured and appropriate. Support the delegate if necessary – this can be a difficult part of the exercise and they may become emotional.
10. Break state as you did at stage 6.
11. Take your subject to position 3 and help them to stand on a chair or table if possible. This establishes a neutral perspective outside of either party.
12. Ask them questions from this neutral perspective. What can they see between the 2 people? What are the barriers to communication? What do they have in common? What are their strengths? What could be the benefits of them having a better relationship? Who might this impact?
13. Help them down, get them to stand beside you and visualise the two people being brought together.
14. Take your subject to where they began (Position 1) and ask them to visualise their person again. Ask questions like: How is it different for you now? What might you do or say to them differently? How would you approach them to resolve this moving forward?

This can be quite an emotionally draining exercise, so as a facilitator it’s something best left towards the end of a training or coaching session. In order for the exercise to be effective the facilitator needs to ask some really detailed and searching questions. It’s really important to listen to the delegate and ask a range of open questions that break down the assumptions that are hindering their communication. It might be a good idea to practice the technique with a friend or family member before using it in a real training scenario.

The Meta Model is an excellent, interactive way of helping people break down their communication problems through better understanding of themselves and others. Why not try it and let us know how you get on?

World Map image courtesty of taoty, freedigitalphotos.net

What does outstanding team performance look like? How do you develop the competencies of your team to ensure business success? Very simply, it all begins with strong leadership. Managers must understand staff well enough to give them the support and direction they need. Studies have highlighted the importance of team development in determining a company’s success. A well-defined team development programme has a direct impact on both the bottom-line and the softer measures of motivation and learning. So what questions do we need to answer in order to create a high-performing team?

Where are we now?

Teams are created when managers build trusting relationships with individuals. In order to do this it’s important to identify the current situation. Start by assessing strengths and weaknesses of people and develop a clear plan for the team to follow. Analyse what is working and what could be improved, then adapt your leadership style to suit individuals.  There are a range of tools you can use to do this – SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats), for example, can uncover blocks to performance.

Where are we going?

Clarity of purpose and measurable accountability act as powerful motivators and can pull your team in the right direction. Training companies such as The Storytellers help leaders to craft and articulate a company’s vision and strategy.

How will we get there?

Managers need to articulate business objectives and outcomes in clear, motivational language. Teams must be empowered to take ownership and responsibility for their results. Poor communication is frequently cited as the number one sin for managers, so organise regular briefings, celebrate wins and help teams learn from setbacks.

What is expected of us?

Identify the essential competencies and qualities required to perform. Remember, success leaves clues. Clearly outline the role of each team member and define the critical outputs and priorities for each job to save time and increase efficiency. Create energy and momentum by sharing best practice and provide the tools and knowledge needed to generate results. Team members should have a range of short, medium and long-term goals. Staff at Google, for example, are allowed one day a week to work on whatever they like. Over 50% of Google’s products began life as something one of their employees chose to do with this “free time”.

What support do we need?

Assess training needs to identify any performance gaps. Design and deliver the relevant training and offer individuals coaching and mentoring plans.

How effective are we?

Use benchmarking tools, appraisals and performance reviews to measure and monitor performance. Analyse the competition and ask the right questions. Jack Welch, the legendary former CEO of General Electric, used five questions to help him understand the issues within each of his businesses:

• What does our competitive environment look like?
• In the last three years, what have our competitors done?
• In the same period what have we done?
• How might they attack us in future?
• What are our plans to leapfrog them?

What recognition do we get?

Provide developmental feedback. Look at remuneration and fringe benefits and make sure incentives are aligned to performance objectives. Remember that recognition strengthens performance.

Who are we?

Personal values, ethics and integrity are now commercial necessities. Get these right and your team will be energised and feel proud of the work they do.

Dream teams aren’t created by accident. It requires careful planning, support and feedback. However, the benefits are worth it!

‘I am definitely going to take a course on time management… just as soon as I can work it into my schedule’.

- Anonymous

Did you know that an 8 hour day is only 480 minutes? In that time you have to complete tasks, meet deadlines, attend meetings, speak to clients, manage interruptions, write emails, handle voicemail… and often that’s all before lunch!

In the modern workplace speed is king. You must now be effective at working, often under pressure where the art of prioritization, delegating and protecting your time are must-haves.

It’s no surprise that according to a recent global survey by Accenture on management productivity, over 80% of respondents agreed that “they often felt there weren’t enough minutes in the day to achieve everything‟. Can you relate to this? In Japan, this condition is known as Karoshi – death at your desk from stress. A fate to be avoided at all costs!

The good news is there are some proven ways of managing your time and staying in control. If you use these skills well, then you will be able to function effectively even under intense pressure.

• At the heart of time management is an important shift in focus: Concentrate on results, not on being busy – many people spend their days in a frenzy of activity, but achieve very little because they are not concentrating on the right things.This is neatly summed up in the Pareto Principle, or the ’80:20 Rule’. This argues that typically 80% of your outcomes come from 20% of your inputs. It really doesn‟t matter what numbers you apply, the important thing to remember is that in your life there are certain activities you do (your 20%) that account for the majority (your 80%) of your happiness and outputs.
• Write down your long-term goals. Use the SMART formula; make them Specific, Measurable, Appropriate, Realistic and Time-bound.
• Every day, divide your tasks into A, B and C priorities. Always start with a high priority “A” task, even if you can only accomplish a small part of it.
• Block off time for activities that are important. Make an appointment with yourself, and don‟t let anyone schedule anything for the time you‟ve put aside.
• Stop spending time on trivia. Don‟t spend hours writing an email when a good conversation will suffice. And stop fussing over routine administrative tasks. Delegate or automate them.
• Have the courage to say no. Don‟t try to please others all the time. Create personal boundaries that make it easy to say no and stick to your plan.
• Always start meetings on time. Don’t punish those who show up on time and reward those who are late. Do something however minor, but get started.
• Slow down. Productivity isn’t about going fast. It’s about doing the right things. Stop rushing around, driving too fast and getting upset at things you can’t control. A couple of minutes gained aren’t worth the added stress.
• Avoid procrastination by completing unpleasant tasks first. The tough stuff usually turns out to be not so bad. Break complex tasks into easy pieces and give yourself a reward for getting something done.
• Don’t be a slave to email!
• Create time for balance in your life. Set aside time for family, fitness, social, educational and spiritual needs. Plan for balance the way you plan for work.

“The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.-  

Stephen R. Covey

Remember! Even if you haven’t got a plan, it’s still a plan. Use the above techniques to save time and get more done. Good Luck!

Terence’s new book – ‘Management Excellence – What Managers Do” – is due to be published in 2012.

According the 2010 UK Events Market Trends Survey there were over 1.32 million events and 94 million attendees at conferences and events in the UK in 2009. But how many of them actually discovered anything worthwhile at the events they attended? Here are some handy tips to make that time out of the office count.

Know the scope

The term conference covers everything from thousand stall behemoths in the NEC to two people in a car (though we’re not really sure if the latter really counts). So make sure you know what to expect, what the key themes are, and how much time you should budget for your visit. There’s nothing worse than not having enough time and having to leave it half-explored.

Have a plan

It might seem a little over the top to plan too much for a conference you’re visiting as a delegate, but a little bit of work before will get you a long way on the day. And we’re not just talking about the boring administrative stuff like printing off your pass either, though that definitely helps. Instead, take a bit of time to investigate the website. There’ll probably be a map – learn the layout and make a list of attendees you want to speak to. Find out which speakers are there, when they’re speaking and what topics they’re addressing. Plan your time effectively and make sure you don’t miss anything. For example, you could visit stalls that lead you to the speaking area, rather than suddenly find yourself on the other side of the hall with two minutes to get your seat!

Take a sturdy bag

You can’t always rely on getting a decent one there, and you might end up having a lot of literature to carry around. Having a decent bag with you already will make life a bit easier.

Have questions

If you know which areas you’re going to visit and which talks you’re going to attend, it should be quite easy to come up with a list of questions – that’s why you’re there, after all! But make sure you really know what you’re after, and not just superficial stuff. Make sure every question you ask is getting something for you or your organisation; remember that the time you spend with one stall comes with the opportunity cost of not being able to spend more time with others. And make sure you take notes!

Network 2.0

It’s about more than handing out business cards these days. Which is not to say you shouldn’t take a plentiful stock! But be prepared to swap linkedin details, twitter usernames and URLs. Many conferences have a hashtag, too, and you should keep an eye on it. If you don’t what that means, it’s probably time you found out!

Grab the freebies

Well, why not? That’s what they’re they’re for. If you have to put your business card in for a prize then it’s probably a good idea – you might get emails that are useful, but even if they’re not you can always unsubscribe later. And don’t let yourself get dragged into conversations that aren’t relevant. Be firm, focused and move on.

If you stay focused and use these tips you can get a lot from conferences to make them worthwhile time away from the office.  Do you have any top tips or conference experiences to share? Tell us in the comments.

It used to be that qualifications you got at work were only barely recognised, if at all. You might have received a certificate in typing skills from one job, but it was no good to any other employer because they had no idea what work you did to achieve it or how rigorous it was.  But since the start of 2011 all qualifications have to follow a set of standards and guidelines so they’re universally applicable – the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF). You can see an overview of it in this video.

What is the QCF?

The QCF is the framework for creating and accrediting qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It was created by the government as a major reform of the vocational qualifications system.  The idea was to make vocational qualifications more simple to understand, more accessible to a wider range of learners, and more relevant to employers’ needs. QCF-mapped qualifications are recognised by any industry and employer in the UK.  And as the UK job market becomes more competitive it’s increasingly important to make sure your skills are recognised with qualifications.

Of course, just because it’s more simple and accessible doesn’t mean it’s entirely straightforward – hence this article!

 How does the QCF work?

The QCF essentially has a number of units built on a set of performance criteria defined by Sector Skills Councils, industry bodies and the official regulator, Ofqual. Awarding bodies can create qualifications on nearly any topic out of units, which are then approved by the QCF. The part they map is usually called a module. So a qualification about managing a team might have a module called “Recruitment”. That module would be mapped to a QCF-approved unit about recruitment, which will describe the key elements it has to cover.

All qualifications are made up of modules, and the number of modules you have to do varies by qualification. It can be a single module, or it can be lots of modules. It’s a very similar structure to academic qualifications like GCSEs, A-Levels and Honours Degrees.  The QCF recognises “small steps of learning” and lets you build up your studies at your own pace before putting them towards a full qualification. It also supports lots of different assessment methods.

You can bank all your achievements over time so you don’t have to study anything you already know. And all your learning will be stored in your own personal learning record that you can build up as you progress. So you could complete one or two modules, take a break, and then accredit that learning again. This even works if it’s not the same qualification.

Qualification Titles

The names of all the qualifications on the QCF follow a set structure and tell you three things — how difficult it is, how long it takes and what it’s about.

The level shows how difficult the qualification is. There are nine levels in the QCF, from entry level to level 8, and they map to traditional academic qualifications like this:

 Next is the size — that’s how long the qualification takes to complete. Every qualification in the QCF comes in one of three sizes — Award, Certificate or Diploma. The larger the size of the qualification, then the more hours work you will need to do in terms of face to face training, self-study and assessment, though the exact amount varies.

Lastly is the content, which is usually just a brief description of what the qualification is about.  It could be management, learning and development, finance, administration, or almost anything else.

So you might have a Level 6 Certificate in Management or a Level 3 Diploma in Management, for example. The first would be shorter but have more complicated content. It even lets you compare qualifications across completely different topics. A Level 4 Certificate in Administration would be comparable in length and difficulty to a Level 4 Certificate in Waste Management, but with completely different content.

That’s all there is to it! Hopefully it should make understanding someone’s CV or picking your next personal development programme a bit easier.

In a business context experiential learning is a concept that seems synonymous with fun, outdoorsy programmes of dubious practical worth. But it’s actually got a fairly rigorous academic grounding, having been popularised in the 1980s by the educational theorist David A. Kolb. The theory is based around four different stages of response to a “direct encounter with the phenomena being studied”: Experiencing, Reflecting, Generalising and Applying. In Kolb’s later model each of these steps is supported by a specific learning style. The linked article gives a pretty in-depth critique of both the learning styles and the experiential model itself and cites some key drawbacks, but does conclude that it’s a worthwhile framework for use in an educational context.

In a business context creating experiential learning that has an impact can be quite challenging. Too often the fun comes before the facts – a team building retreat is all well and good, but it’s unlikely to drive real change if it’s treated in isolation. As with all exercises the most important thing is to consider the learning need that needs to be addressed and thinking of an activity or experience that can relate to it, whilst providing lots of opportunities for reflection and practical application. Following Kolb’s model, the activity itself is just a trigger to engage with a topic.

Take a fencing day, for example. It might be a good way for your team to bond, but they won’t necessarily learn anything apart from how to fence. However, if fencing is used as a metaphor for conflict or negotiation, it could be an excellent way of sparking reflection and discussion of theoretical principles in an unusal way. Similarly, trekking up a mountain might be physically challenging, but it won’t drive any change or learning unless delegates have a chance to reflect on the experience and think about how it applies to more everyday interactions. Setting measurable action plans and assessing results is vital to ensuring that experiential learning is justifiable and worthwhile after the experience, not just during it.

Have you experienced a particularly useful example of experiential learning, or do you think it’s just a convenient, crowd-pleasing way to blow the L&D department budget? Let us know what you think.

Doing an interview well is far from simple. If you want the best results it’s not just a case of sitting someone down and having a chat. There are a huge array of emotional, technical and legal factors to consider, and getting things wrong can be really costly. So how do you ensure you get the result you want?

Plan the interview

This is absolutely the most important part of the process. In fact, most of the following points fall under planning in some way, and with good reason – research has shown that structured interviews are twice as likely to predict job performance accurately as unstructured ones. You’ll notice that there are scores for other assessment methods too. This article assumes that you’ll mainly be using the traditional interview route, but it might be worth considering other options tested, like ability testing or work samples.  I’d probably avoid astrology, though.

So beyond the usual planning and preparation – reading CVs, booking rooms, arranging times – what do you need to do?

Know what you’re looking for

It’s impossible to pick who’s suitable for a job without deciding what the job is and what’s required to do it well. It would be like buying furniture for a room you’ve never seen. You might get it right, but you’re more likely to end up with a sofa that doesn’t fit through the door.

There are two key documents you need to create to make sure you’re selecting the right person: The Job Description and the Person Specification.

The job description is exactly that. It should be simple but detailed. Include the job title, the location, the working hours and the purpose it serves. The purpose should be summed up in a sentence or two, and answer one question: “What difference will this job make?” Then list the key duties and any particular conditions, like travel or noisy work. The key duties should give an indication of how often they occur and how performance will be measured. The more realistic you can be about the job, the better it is for the candidate and the easier it is for you to make a decision.

The person specification should cover what sort of candidate is required to complete the job. Again, be as clear as you can and divide the requirements into “desirable” and “essential”. It’s better to specify that the person will require “Good written communication skills for corresponding with clients” than “Good communication skills”.

Make sure it’s entirely relevant to the job, too. The requirements should always be Specific, Measurable, Objective and Justifiable (SMOJ). Be careful not to set any that will exclude competent candidates unfairly or unnecessarily, and remember the golden words: “or equivalent”. A poorly worded specification about A-Level education could unintentionally rule out equally qualified people who have equivalents like International Baccalaureate Diplomas, for example.

Get the questions right

Competencies are based on the idea that past behaviour is a good indicator of future behaviour.  Creating a consistent set of competency-based questions and using them on every candidate lets you accurately compare answers. Although these questions can be more difficult for candidates with less experience, they should still be able to draw on activities outside work to provide answers. Creating competency-based questions is easy using the STAR model:

What was the Situation or Task facing the candidate? What Action did they take? What Results did this have?

For example:  “In your current role, how do you know your customers are satisfied? Can you give me a specific example?”

You can also supplement these with hypothetical or situational questions, like “What would you do to respond to a client complaint?” These give you an idea of future intentions, rather than being focused on past events like competency-based questions.

When structuring your questions, be careful to avoid making them leading, or of asking multiple questions in one. These make answers harder to record and less valid. Also be careful to never directly compare situational questions and competency-based ones directly. Someone saying how they would act is totally different to someone explaining how they did act!

Listen actively

Don’t just rattle through your questions. Engage with the candidate’s responses and show that you’re interested. Create a conversation and probe for more information if you feel you need it. Don’t get sidetracked, but by the same token don’t feel the need to stick absolutely rigidly to the question sheet. You might draw out important information or something relevant to the job description.

Be informative

Remember that the interview is an opportunity for the candidate to assess the company too. Be a good representative, and be honest about the culture and expectations. Do your best to answer any questions they may have. The more honest and clear you are, the more chance there is that you’ll find a candidate who really fits in.

At the end of the interview, manage the delegate’s expectations. Tell them how long they can expect to wait for your decision – again, be honest – and give them your contact details in case they have any follow-up questions.

Evaluate the candidates

After the interview, schedule some time to evaluate the candidates properly. Discuss them with your fellow interviewers, if there are any. Compare their answers to the competency questions, and if possible give each answer a score. Be as formal and quantitative as possible, but also consider more emotional factors like their attitude and how well they’d fit into the existing team.

When evaluating candidates, try to be aware of some common decision making pitfalls. Discussing all of these is probably enough for an article in itself, but until then here are quick links: Primacy Effect, Confirmation Bias, Halo/Horns Syndrome (focusing excessively on one particularly outstanding/bad feature), and Contrast Syndrome.  It”s impossible to completely prevent these  influencing your decision, but do your best to be aware of them and minimise their impact, particularly on candidates that stand out. Was that person really brilliant, or did they seem better because the previous candidate was unsuitable?

Give feedback

Finally, once you’ve made your decision, be sure to let the candidates know. Ideally every single applicant should get some feedback, even if it’s just a form letter; sending CVs into a black hole and never hearing anything is a pretty dispiriting experience.

Candidates you’ve interviewed deserve a little more than that. It might be a little bit more effort than just disappearing, but stick to the timescale that you gave them in the interview, and set some time aside to give them a quick phone call or an email to give some feedback. It doesn’t have to be extensive or damning, just a brief mention of something positive coupled with an objective outline of what aspect of the interview led to your decision. For example: “We like your experience handling customer complaints, but another candidate had a stronger background in business development and that was the key factor for us”. Nobody likes being rejected, but at least getting some constructive feedback means that they haven’t totally wasted their time.

It can be tempting to leave the rejected candidates hanging in case your first choice declines your offer. Don’t do this.  If someone was a strong candidate and you’d like to come back to them if things don’t work out, say so. If your first choice falls through, calling out of the blue when you haven’t had the courtesy to confirm the rejection will look far worse than being honest from the start.

Give feedback to the successful candidate too, and get the formal process moving. It’s very frustrating being offered a job and then having nothing happen for months. Stay in touch with your successful candidate regularly and make sure they don’t feel neglected enough to go elsewhere.

So that’s an overview of some top interview tips. But it’s a complicated topic, and there’s a lot to say – no doubt we’ll revisit it in the future. In the meantime, let us know about your interview horror stories or your own foolproof techniques in the comments.

In this article I’ll be looking at four of my favourite creative thinking models.  I’ll cover the theory and how to apply it. I’ll even give you some extra pointers and resources. Hopefully it should all be enough to give you a fresh approach to even the most difficult problem!

Edward de Bono’s 6 Thinking Hats

This is famous tool that’s been used and cited by many organisations.  It’s easy to grasp, can be applied in nearly any situation and provides a great way to approach problems from a different perspective. It was created by Edward de Bono, a psychologist, inventor and business guru. He broke down thinking into six different types, each signified by a different colour of hat:

White Hat: This is neutral, objective thinking based on information. It assesses what data is available, and what data is required. It also looks at the quality of the data and its source. It’s purely based on verifiable, existing facts.  White hat thinking doesn’t have subjective or emotional elements – it’s purely analytical.

Red Hat: Red hat-style thinking is the opposite of White hat. It’s all about emotion, intuition and gut feelings. These don’t need to be explained orjustified, as expressing these feelings can be valuable in balance with input from the other hats. However, it is important that they’re kept brief and on-topic.

Black Hat: This is the devil’s advocate. When wearing the black hat the aim is to identify risks, faults and problems. But it’s about caut ion and problem-solving, not argument for argument’s sake, so these risks need to be analysed and justified. Ideally the black hat approach should generate solutions to problems as well as highlighting them.

Green Hat: This is the creative hat. It’s all about channeling intuition and feelings from the red hat into alternative solutions. When the green hat is on, discussion should be focused entirely on generating new ideas. Analysing them and judging them should wait until a different hat is being used.

Yellow Hat: The happiest hat. It’s about being positive and seeing the potential in every idea. It opens up opportunities, generates energy and is a platform for sharing visions and dreams.  The yellow hat should also provide concrete proposals, suggestions and support to ideas created in the green hat phase.

Blue Hat: The final hat is about process and control. When wearing the blue hat, the aim is to facilitate the discussion – “thinking about thinking”. It’s that hat that sets the boundaries, the focus and the agenda. It provides summaries, overviews and conclusions, and it’s the hat you wear when deciding which other hat to put on.

De Bono’s 6-hat methodology reflects the fact that people tend to have a preference for one or two kinds of thinking, and encourages actively thinking about different approaches by “swapping the hats”. When you’re stuck generating the same old ideas, expanding your thinking to encompass other “hats” can be a really good way to shake things up. Some of the ideas it brings up might be a little outlandish – de Bono once suggested using Marmite to help the Middle East peace process – but sometimes it can throw up genuine innovation.

Pareto’s 80:20 Analysis

This principle was first suggested by management thinker Joseph M. Juran. It was named after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed that 80% of income in Italy was received by 20% of the Italian population. This leads to the overall assumption that most of the results in any situation stem from a small number of causes. Here are some further examples of Pareto’s Law as it applies to various situations:

• 80% of profit comes from 20% of the products
• 80% of activity will require 20% of resources
• 80% of revenue comes from 20% of customers
• 80% of complaints come from 20% of customers
• 80% of sales will come from 20% of sales people
• 80% of work absence is due to 20% of staff
• 80% of road traffic accidents are cause by 20% of drivers
• 80% of a restaurant’s turnover comes from 20% of its menu

It will probably never been an exact 80:20 ratio, but it will usually not be very much different – the principle of a small number of factors having significant impact is nearly universal.

The Pareto 80:20 Rule is commonly used in organisational and business management. It is helpful for focusing on key business areas and managing performance or quality. In the context of creative thinking it brings clarity to complex situations and problems, and helps us decide where to focus effort and resources.

Many of our daily work problems don’t have a single root cause – indeed, one factor might be contributing to a number of issues simultaneously. Pareto Analysis is a useful way of deciding which of the contributing factors to deal with first for maximum impact. Is revenue not growing sufficiently? Then find out the 20% of products that have the biggest impact, and focus on ways to improve their performance.

Fishbone Flow Charts

Fishbone charts were pioneered by Kaoru Ishikawa in the 1960s. Ishikawawa was a quality manager in the Kawasaki shipyards when he invented this process, which saw him become one of the founding fathers of modern management. No prizes for guessing where the name comes from!

Fishbone Charts, or Cause and Effect Diagrams are now more widely used in the business arena to review the causes of a problem thoroughly. A root problem is identified, and then all the factors influencing it are linked on the main chart. The example to the right shows a Fishbone Chart drawn by a manager who is having trouble getting cooperation from a branch office (click to make it bigger).

If the manager had not thought the problem through in this way, they might have dealt with the problem by assuming that people were being difficult. Having reviewed the chart, they may now decide the best approach is to arrange a meeting with the Branch Manager to discuss the issues.

Fishbone diagrams are essentially a more structured approach to brainstorming. Their major benefit is that they encourage people to consider all possible causes of the problem, rather than just the ones that are most obvious. They work really well when used in conjunction with Pareto analysis – which fishbone is having the biggest impact?

Metaphorical Thinking

A metaphor is a figure of speech “in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable”.  To use a famous one, all the world’s a stage; our everyday speech is full of metaphors encompassing everything from sheep to melting pots.

Poets and writers have always been masters at awakening the imagination through the power of the metaphor. A simple turn of phrase can give the reader a whole new perspective. Metaphors have benefits beyond their poetic and aesthetic value: they can also improve our understanding and help us solve problems. They help illuminate even the most complicated concepts: Einstein’s Theory of Relativity was preceded by a “thought experiment”  where he imagined himself riding a light beam into outer space while looking in a mirror.

The origins of Metaphorical Thinking as a modern-day creative tool are widely attributed to Ned Herrmann.  His approach advocates using comparisons to express ideas and solve problems. A simple example is the phrase “time is money”. Thinking about time as money can help create some powerful images and focuses on time as the use of a scarce resource.

Incorporating metaphorical thinking can be a really useful approach to problem solving . Try this exercise, adapted from the book Thinkertoys by Michael Michalko:

1. Think of a challenge or a choice you are facing
2. Instead of describing it in words, browse some old magazines, newspapers or catalogues and cut out images that symbolize the challenge or choice
3. Move your pictures around, exploring different patterns and associations – perhaps even form a collage
4. Look at your collage and search for clues, insights and new ideas related to your challenge or choice
5. Ask yourself the following questions:
   What is my challenge/choice like? What does it remind me of? What aspects of my challenge/choice are revealed through the collage? What can I learn from this?

There they are – four of my favourite creative thinking techniques. Next time you have a problem you can’t solve try one of them out. It might just give you the fresh approach you need. At the very least it will probably make the meeting more interesting!

What do you do when you get stuck on a problem? Are there any creative techniques you turn to, or have you managed to use the ones above? Let us know in the comments!

It’s fair to say that negotiation is part of almost everything we do, from deciding what time to have dinner to setting up a business arrangement. There’s a huge amount of scholarly research on the topic and hundreds of models. It’s a subject that’s well worth reading more about. But sometimes you just need a quick overview from a purely practical perspective:

Know what you want out of the deal

It’s impossible to negotiate effectively if you don’t know what you’re asking for, so the must important thing to do is plan in advance. A good way to use this is using the Like, Intend, Must model (LIM). It’s fairly self-explanatory, as shown by this simple example:

John is selling a chocolate bar to his friend Mike. John bought the chocolate bar for 40p, and he knows that Mike is keen to buy it. John’s Like, Intend, Must could be the following:

Like: 70p, Intend: 60p, Must: 45p

By offering the chocolate bar at a point a little above his Like price, John can negotiate effectively and know exactly where he stands.

Know what the other person wants

The best negotiations aren’t confrontational and give both parties what they want. If either party’s hard-done by then it makes the chance of repeat business much slimmer. It’s very rare to know exactly what the person you’re negotiating with wants, but with a little research and common sense you can usually get a fair idea of their objectives. You might even consider creating an LIM from their perspective to see how it aligns with yours. A little tweaking will often get you to an outcome that works for everyone.

Be ready to compromise

It’s not often that both parties will have the same Like outcome right away. It’s nice when it happens, but the whole point of negotiation is flexibility. If your position is fixed then there’s nowhere to go and negotiating is impossible.

Think about tradeables

Often negotiations are about more than just money. Think about what you’re offering as a whole. Can you be flexible on timescales, additional products, personnel, ongoing support or other options? These are all powerful things to use as negotiating tools, but they shouldn’t be thrown around thoughtlessly. Consider them as currency, and then use them to trade for concessions. For example, if your client insists on a lower price, then that could come at the cost of the work being completed within a longer timeframe.

Be a good listener and don’t interrupt

How can you know what the person you’re negotiating with wants if you keep cutting them off? You can’t. And if you don’t know, then you can’t offer them relevant tradeables or align their interests with yours. So when they’re talking, even if what they’re saying seems unreasonable, stay quiet and listen carefully so you know exactly what everybody’s position is.

Stick to your principles…

If the terms of the negotiation are going below your Must level then you may need to reconsider your position. Is the deal still worth doing? It might be, depending on what you’ve managed to trade to get to that point. Then again, your Must really should be the bottom line, so you need a good reason to break it. Remember, the deal should work for everyone. If you can’t get to terms that work for you, don’t be afraid to end the negotiation and look for alternatives.

… But have a back-up plan

Not all negotiations are going to end with a deal, and it’s not necessarily anyone’s fault. Every time you go into a negotiation you should consider what your options are if it’s not concluded successfully. Are there other suppliers, an alternative solution or an increased budget on the horizon? If you go into a negotiation with no alternatives you’ll rarely get the outcome you want.

Close with confirmation – or at least leave the door open

It’s not done until it’s done. So once you have an agreement, get it on paper, or at least an email. You might not sign a contract then and there, but you should set a definite date to do so. If you’ve got to a win-win outcome hopefully nobody will want to pull out, but why take the risk?

If you can’t make the agreement, then leave – but do it politely.  “Thanks, sorry we can’t make it work out but it would be great to do business in the future and feel free to get in touch” is a much more graceful and savvy way to exit than burning bridges, no matter how tempting it might be.

Hopefully these are useful tips – with a bit of preparation and thought negotiation doesn’t have to be a daunting experience. Let us know in the comments if you’ve got any insights or negotiation stories to share!