I use mindmaps extensively for everything from project planning to mindsweeps to keeping track of all of my horizons of focus. One mindmap that I can’t live without is the one I use over and over every day: my dashboard.

My original dashboard map was created during a flight home after a long trip. I did a mindsweep then started trying to figure out how I was going to keep those big rocks in front of my face. For me, these big rocks were the large, important projects that had deadlines on varying timelines from the immediate week to several months down the road. Being someone who needs a landscape level view of my world to feel in control of the runway operations, my newly created dashboard gave me the altitude adjustment I needed.

Since its original creation, I’ve discovered that my dashboard works as a compass to put me back on track after I’m interrupted or when I find myself becoming distractible. I tune into my map right after I check my calendar each morning. I update the map by deleting items when they’re completed. And during each weekly review, I move between calendar, task lists, and my @Life Personal Brain map to populate the dashboard for the weeks ahead. Generally, the dashboard is a month’s worth of big rocks, which is just right for me. Anytime something I say I care about doing gets to languishing, I can put it on the dashboard to get it right under my nose and in gear again. This blog is a good example--as soon as I started collecting post topics on the dashboard, I was able to make writing a priority again.

Try dashboarding for yourself, it’s a simple and easy way to get better perspective on your day in the context of the weeks ahead and sure to help you to be more productive and in control.
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The screen shots for my presentation for the GTD VSG podcast on mindmapping are now live. You can download those here.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of presenting for the GTD Virtual Study Group. By request, we revisited mindmapping this week. In this episode, I gave a guided tour to how I use mindmaps to
organize projects, brainstorm, stay on track, and much more. You can check out the podcast here. I'm already getting requests for some screen shots to support this episode--thanks to Dan, one of our long-time participants, I've got a head start on fulfilling those requests. I'll post an update here (and on the GTD VSG site) when those are ready.

In the meantime, have a great weekend!

No matter what role or area of responsibility I find myself in, I’m often spending time listening. For whatever reason, folks find me easy to talk to and talk to me they do: on airplanes, in crowded coffee shops, on the phone. Strangers tell me all sorts of things about themselves and afterwards, I often hear some variation on, “Wow, you’re a really good listener.” Part of my listening is a natural aptitude for it but the rest is all learned skills. You, too, can learn to be a really great listener (if you want to be one) by gaining a better understanding of what coaches refer to as “active listening.”

Active listening is a distinct form of listening that is very focused on the other person. The listener is very present and engaged, fully focused on the speaker. This means releasing your own agenda for what’s said, letting go of controlling the topic or flow of information, and allowing a deep interest and warm curiosity to emerge. Active listening is characterized by its deep interest and attentiveness with emphasis on the speaker. For that reason, the active listener is often silent.

When the active listener contributes the conversation, it’s more likely to be in the form of open-ended questions. These sorts of questions begin with words like “how” and “what.”  Personally, I avoid asking “why” questions; people rarely know why and if pressed, will come up with some explanation that they’re stuck with from that point. To ask a “why” sort of question, I might phrase it as “what motivated...” or “what were you thinking about?” In any event, active listeners move the speaker forward by asking for elaboration, inquiring into specifics and particularities in an open, gentle, and curious way.

Another very important feature of active listening is communicating to the speaker that he or she has been heard. Here, the listener is going for making sure the speaker doesn’t merely feel that he or she has been heard but actually has been heard. Some ways to communicate understanding are to
acknowledge what’s been said

• summarize and ask for correction. Phrases like: “so you’re saying [summary here], is that right?” or “I want to make sure I understand. [Summary here.] Am I getting this right?”
• This is also the time to acknowledge the feelings behind the words. Emotions can be subtle or quite strong. It’s perfectly okay to ask the speaker to name the emotion. Alternatively, you can simply state what the emotion sounds like to you and ask for confirmation or correction.

Very deep, active listening is hard work. It genuinely requires you to sit with someone else and be there for and with them. In addition, it means letting go of your own needs to be heard and understood, needs which can be quite strong at times. Nonetheless, if this is a skill you can master, you bring a powerful gift to everyone you come into contact with.

Want to learn more about active listening? My most recent podcast episode, from a presentation I gave for a group of fellow coaches, covers the subject in even greater detail. Check it out here.

Last week, I had a very interesting customer service experience. Being on the customer side of this equation got me to thinking: What does great customer service look like? Here are a few field marks.

You know what successful resolution looks like before you start talking to your customer. For practically any business, the vision of success ought to include that your customer leaves feeling better about your company than before the whole thing started and that they know you really mean it when you say you care.

The customer is heard and understood. First. I’m not one of these folks who thinks the customer is always right. Frequently, that ain’t so. But from the customer’s perspective, it’s their story that carries the most weight. If you are going to talk to your customer, the very first thing to do is shut up and listen. Period. And when your customer has told you what he or she has to say, review what was said until you both agree that you, the business side, understands what the customer said. Do not go any farther until you’ve successfully passed this step.

Apologies are sincere. Saying the right thing only has meaning if there is a ring of authenticity. Profuse apologies, when less than sincere, are worthless.

Your explanations are simple. It can be tempting to want the customer to understand, really understand, your perspective. Remember that in the end, the customer doesn’t care why it happened, they only want it fixed. If you explain anything at all, keep it short and concise, a couple of sentences at most. Elaborate only on request from the customer.

You're ready to set things right and make sure that your customer can say “Wow! That was great customer service.”  Whatever you give or do to make the situation right again should be of real and meaningful value, not some token discount or some worthless something. And while we’re on that subject, throw in some lagniappe, too. And follow up--get back in touch a week or so later and check on how things are going.

On the flip side, here’s what good customer service doesn’t look like:

• An ambush. Make sure that the customer knows that if now isn’t a good time, you respect them enough to make an appointment.
• Being called on the carpet. Do not, repeat do not, make your customer feel like he or she is being ganged up on or being made to be wrong.
• Intimidation. Bad, bad customer service! No! Bad!
• Being blown off. If you really don’t care, don’t bother.
• Thinking it’s about you. The conversation is about the customer and the focus should remain on customer. Long drawn-out explanations sound like excuses and communicate that you’re more interested in talking than listening.
• Failing to follow up. If you say you care and your customer never hears from you again, do you really care? How would they know?

I know it’s tough when somebody’s yelling or really upset. You’ve got to be patient and kind. This is not the time to take things personally. It’s not about you; it’s about your customer, the life blood of your business. If you keep that fact firmly in mind, you’ll do fine.

David Allen talks about two ways of doing work: as it shows up and taking on pre-defined tasks. But in thinking about it, I’ve come to recognize a third way of doing work: doing it when I show up. Here’s an example. I get up from my desk to grab a glass of water. On the cabinet is a box that just arrived. The contents of the box are pre-defined work--it’s a filter for an air purifier. The filter is in my system as @waiting-for, the task of changing the filter is also in my system; it’s all pre-defined work as far as GTD is concerned. Suddenly, I find myself opening the box and changing the filter instead of getting the glass of water and sitting back down to resume what I had been doing. I did that work as I showed up, not as it showed up. Sound familiar?

Doing work as you show up can be part of the cycle of self-distraction. One of my friends called it “learned ADD.” You teach yourself to be easily drawn off, following your nose to whatever activity you run across. On the other hand, there are times when doing work as you show up can be highly efffective. For me gardening is a positive example of this “doing work as I show up;” it’s a relaxing and natural way to accomplish what needs to be done.

The key here is noticing. If you tend to get less done than you think is possible for you, and you’re working your system, take a look at your tendency to follow your nose and do work as you show up. On the flip side, if you have many related tasks and wandering from one to the next feels natural, then having a lot of pre-defined work that you take on in a somewhat associative, sort of random pattern might be just the thing for you.