“ When we have nothing we have everything ”

Jim Bennett

Wed 27 Jan 2010

INFLUENCING

Posted by Jim under Leadership , Health and Vitality , Communications , Safety
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INFLUENCING

Effective INFLUENCE is only possible when there is acceptance of the other.

While we do not control others we do influence each other. In fact it’s your job if you are a parent, manager, older sibling etc to influence others. But influence is not control. As soon as the other senses you are attempting to control them they close up and you lose your influence. Whereas if you simply accept them as they are, they are likely to stay more open and you will therefore have greater influence. Here lies the subtle line between control and influence.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION can only begin when one side accepts the other as they are
In any conflict situation resolution is impossible until one party gives up their resistance and accepts the other as they are, even if it’s for a few minutes. Only then can the conversation, the communication, begin. Only then can the journey towards resolution commence. Acceptance is not the only step, just the first step, but often the hardest. Its here that acceptance is most often mistakenly seen as agreement or acquiescence.

Acceptance is sign that you are OPEN to the other
The shift from resistance to acceptance is also the moment you become open to the other. And when you open to them they are likely to follow and become more open to you… eventually. You only need to be free of ‘wanting’ and ‘expecting’ them to open to you. And as we all know mutual openness is one of the foundations of a relationship that works.

Jim

Mon 21 Dec 2009

BRAINWAVE KNOWLEDGE

Posted by Jim under Leadership , Communications , Safety
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BRAINWAVE KNOWLEDGE FOR PEAK PERFORMANCE

Limitations of The Conscious Mind

YoUr mind can only handle 7 (+ or - 2) pieces of information at a time
Trying to remember too many things at once = danger
People new to the job or with a lot on their mind are more likely to overload their minds and forget about something that can put them at risk.

Brainwave Activity

There are 4 main brainwave activities:

BETA brain waves – aroused and actively engaged

ALPHA brain waves – state relaxation, daydreaming, ‘automatic pilot++’ – rely on habits. 2 hour cycles

THETA brain waves – drowsy, meditating, idea generating,

DELTA brainwaves – deep sleep, dreaming…

The ALPHA State

This is part of the Ultradiam rythymn process that happens for about 20 minutes every 2 hours.
The brain and body is in a more relaxed state and allows both healing and creative states of conciousness. However, the “downside” is that you may be unaware of any hazards that are exposed to (daydreaming). Your are more likely to have an “ALPHA Moment” when you can do your job or task without thinking., also when you are nder stress or unwell. The more competent and experienced you are, and the more comfortable you are with your surroundings, the more at risk you are.

Take ACTION - nobody can concentrate 100% of the time

Use worksite briefings (toolbox talks) to anticipate ALPHA Moments - stop repetitive work frequently to see if anything has changed
Let others be your eyes or sensors
Ask others to intervene with us as we know they may see risks we don’t.
Intervene to stop others from getting hurt.

When in a “safe place” the Alpha brain wave state can be used to great advantage for problem solving and unleashing your creative talent.

With conscious competence you can be aware of your current brain activity level and choose the most appropriate for peak performance.

Jim

Sat 7 Nov 2009

PRESSURE OFF - POWER ON
Posted by Jim under Leadership , Health and Vitality , Safety
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PRESSURE OFF - POWER ON

Are you feeling ‘the heat’? It seems most of us feel pressure, or believe we are being ‘pressured’, at some time or other. The child feels the pressure of parents at exam time. The worker feels the pressure of the deadline. The athlete feels the pressure to perform and break records. And sometimes we feel the subtle pressure of the expectations of a partner.

The list goes on and life can suddenly look like one long journey from one ‘pressure point’ to another.
And yet, in many ways, it is totally unnecessary to ever feel pressure. It is simply a feeling that we habitually create when we learn to believe that something ‘bad’ will happen if we don’t achieve. For some it is a feeling they invoke when they believe a bit of pressure is at least OK, sometimes good and often essential. They believe they need the pressure to get the job done on time and thereby fulfil their own desires or the expectations of others.

Unfortunately, over time, the habit of creating ‘pressure feelings’ becomes more frequent and more draining. If it doesn’t burn us out, as it seems to do to an increasing number of people today, it will adversely affect our efficiency, our effectiveness and more importantly our ‘happiness quotient’.

The first step to begin reducing both the quantity and the strength of your frequent ‘pressure points’ is one powerful insight into the truth about pressure. It’s not the deadline or the expectations of others that creates your pressure feelings, it is always you.

This is easy to see as we watch two people do the same work to the same deadline. One is always feeling ‘the heat’ as they are continuously tense and anxious, while the other is in ‘cruise control’ as the sail to deadline with ease. Both get the job done but each ones ‘quality of life’ along the way is very different. So all feelings of pressure are self-created.

This is good news as it means you can do something about it, unless of course you are addicted to the feelings, which is the case for many, especially those of us who always leave things until the last minute! For the ‘pressure addict’ it’s as if they have become dependent on being pressure motivated’ which is the same as adrenaline motivated.

So what exactly are you feeling when you feel pressure. What is your creation? What is your addiction? It is not difficult to see. It is fear. It may arise as tension or anxiety or worry or panic, or a mixture of all four, but they are all simply different faces of fear.

Switching the Pressure OFF

The fist step in relieving the pressure feeling is to stop for a moment, push the pause button for a minute, to interrupt the feeling.

The second step is to see that you are not only feeling the emotion of fear you are creating it.

The third step is to look at your thinking behind the emotion e.g. “I am going to miss the deadline … I may not be able to do what they expect me…I might not earn enough to meet the payments”.

The fourth step is to recognise that you need to change your thoughts from fear full and worrisome, to fear free and enthusiastic. But to do this you need to ‘get at’ and change the beliefs that are giving rise to the thoughts.

Step five is to identify and eliminate the false beliefs that are shaping your fear filled pressure thinking.

This process requires power. All change requires an input of energy…

Jim

Sun 6 Sep 2009

INNOVATION IN ACTION
Posted by Jim under Adventure and Alchemy , Innovation , Safety
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INNOVATION IN ACTION identifies the critical attributes that enable companies to capture new markets and capitalise on significant business opportunities.

The leaders of innovative companies recognise that well-managed innovation has a positive impact on profitability and market position. So what is it that these companies do that makes them successful?

The key message is that innovation permeates every aspect of their activities - you have to live their commitment each and every day - that’s why we call it innovation in action. There is no single formula for success - no universal panacea. Businesses with innovation in action develop a repertoire of attitudes, skills, and techniques that enable them to pursue the goals and they do this with their support of company cultures

These high-performance organisations inspire, create and connect. Their leadership, mission and values of the company, together with the way people are challenged to perform with support inspire them to pursue innovation with passion, energy and commitment.

Are you innovative?

Do you really know all that your customers want?

Do you generate and capture enough good ideas?

Do you drive ideas successfully through the whole business?

Do you encourage effective team working within the company , suppliers and customers?

How good are you at managing risk?

Do you have effective strategies for protecting your competitive advantage?

How well do you manage intellectual property rights?

How does regulation impact on your business and does it provide new business opportunities? You find that finance is a constraint on the business?

Take that bold step forward to build a culture of innovation, stretching to achieve, enabling your people to be Best InThe World. (BITW) click here for more info

Jim

Fri 14 Aug 2009

HOT COMMUNICATIONS: CRAFTING A LANDMARK SPEECH
Posted by Jim under Leadership , Communications , Innovation
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HOT COMMUNICATIONS: CRAFTING A LANDMARK SPEECH (for more info click on the italics)

Anyone who is preparing a speech can glean some takeaways from this fascinating backstory on crafting a speech for Cairo, when Obama chose to “not be cautious.” The key points are:

Have a single and singular goal for your talk. Obama saw the speech as an effort to “speak the truth” about U.S. relations with the Muslim world.

Determining tone is as important as choosing the content.Together they create the metamessage that the audience will grok. Considering your audience, what is the main tone you want to embody with your audience? Obama, for example, giving his first speech from a “major Islamic forum” chose a respectful tone to maximize the chance to be credible with his bold – some say blunt - content.The secondary and reinforcing tones were steadiness and strength. They were vital when Obama took (content) stands that alternatively discomforted different audiences he wished to reach.For example, bringing up women’s rights upset some Arab audiences. And “Some Israelis and American Jews recoiled at the way Obama juxtaposed the suffering of the Holocaust and centuries of anti-Semitic persecution with the experience of Palestinians under Israeli occupation.”I agree with Nick Morgan that Obama still has room for improvement (as do I) to make his body language get in sync with his message.

Ask for insights from people who have first-hand knowledge of the audience. You may not have a speech-writing team like Obama yet you can get some first-hand insights rather easily.That’s why, as a public speaker I ask the meeting planner who hires me for the names of three disparate leaders in the group. I interview them in advance, beginning with open-ended questions. A helpful starter question is “What are the top-of-mind issues or opportunities for them?”

Delivery with PASSION - this is a key factor in connecting with your audience.

For more on HOT Communications click here

Jim

Sun 26 Jul 2009

PEAK PRESENTATIONS
Posted by Jim under Health and Vitality , Communications , Safety
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PEAK PRESENTATIONS

Some presentations are designed to simply motivate your audience. Some are designed to educate them. It’s this second batch that is tricky to do. It’s probably not that your presentations are lacking in educational material, but rather it’s the way that you are delivering it that really matters. You need to find a way to deliver the information in the way that adults learn…

So here’s the answer to this question right off the bat: research shows that adults learn best when information is presented interactively, using role-playing, and peer-to-peer dialog. The lectures that most presenters use are really only good for passing information along to an audience.

The last thing in the world that you want is for your next presentation to remind your audience of a high school or college class. Having you stand at the front of the room and drone on with no chance for interaction is not what today’s audiences are looking for.

The secret to making your presentation “stick” with your audience is to realise that the more active your adult audience is during your presentation, the more they will learn because they will be tapping into the knowledge and experience of their peers.

At different times during your presentation your role as the presenter should really be to be a “guide on a side” who facilitates discussions among audience members and offering feedback as needed.

We’ve all heard about left-brain / right-brain stuff. Our left-brain is set up for the way most presentations are delivered – logical, analytical, and subjective. It’s our right-brain, our visual & creative side, that is not being fed during most presentations.

Much of what it takes to make sure that a presentation appeals to how your adult audience learns has to do with how the presentation event is set up. Here are some key suggestions on how you can make your next presentation a powerful adult learning experience:

Use Round Tables: having your audience sit at round (or half round) tables that seat 8 or 10 people helps your audience to interact easily.
Schedule Break Time: make sure that your audience has time both before and after your presentation to meet and discuss what they are going to learn and what they have learned.
Use Comfortable Seats: Rarely do we have control over this, but if possible the more comfortable the seats are, the more learning will happen.
Lose The Lectern: This can be done as simply as making sure that you have a wireless microphone so that you are not tied to one spot and can move around and interact with your audience.
Handouts & Downloads Are Good: You audience is hungry for information that they can take back to the office. Giving them something that they can touch and hold is one way to do this.
More Brain Food: This is my favourite. Most food that is served during a presentation can be sugar or carb-heavy. If possible, provide healthful food options.
At the end of the day, you go to a lot of effort to get ready to deliver a presentation. You want your audience to be impacted by your words and you want them to be able to absorb and learn from the information that you are presenting. If you follow these tips, your audience will have a better chance of learning and retaining what you have to say.

What do you do today to help your audiences learn what you are presenting? Do you feel that you do a good job of getting your audience to retain what you are presenting? What was the best learning presentation that you have ever attended? What was it so successful?

Above all “speak from the heart and have FUN”.

Jim.

Sat 13 Jun 2009

SMALL EMPOWERING STEPS
Posted by Jim under Adventure and Alchemy , Health and Vitality , Innovation
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SMALL EMPOWERING STEPS

If you want to do something creative: write a story or a song, paint a picture, dream up your perfect career, or come up with a great solution to an office problem. But you have no idea where to start. Your mind keeps coming up empty.

During times like these, Business Alchemy (click here) can help YOU. A Kaizen style approach can help you summon your powers of inspiration. Although you can’t force your brain to cough up creative ideas on demand you can program it to launch the imaginative process simply by asking yourself a small question. Some of the most popular small questions my clients use for creativity. Experiment at coming up with your own. Whatever question you use, you challenge is to ask it was a gentle and patient spirit. When you use a harsh or urgent tone with yourself - fear will clog the creative process.

What is the one thing I wish to contribute it to the world with my book, poem, song, painting?

Who could I asked for help or inspiration?

What is special about my creative process/talents/business team?

Whatever what would excite and fulfil me?

If you repeat the question over the course of several days or weeks, or for however long it takes, the hippocampus (the part of the brain tht stores information) will have no choice but to address it. In its own way, on its own timetable, the brain will begin giving you answers.

Jim

Sun 24 May 2009

BEING MEMORABLE
Posted by Jim under Adventure and Alchemy , Health and Vitality
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BEING MEMORABLE

Part of being a HOT Leader involves being so brilliant, gifted and human at what you do that people cannot forget who you are. Your good name becomes tattooed on the minds and hearts of everyone whose lives you touch. Hoards of roving ambassadors tell everyone they know about the experience you created for them - and of your rare air genius. That’s the space you need to play at to succeed in business and life today.

May I share 4 Best Practices that will help you get there:

Keep Your Promises. Trust lives at the foundation of every great relationship. And business is all about relationships. When people like you, they buy from you - and help you in all ways. By becoming impeccable with your word, trust grows wildly.

Be BIW (Best in World). Being excellent at what you do is just the price of admission in our globalised, uber-connected world. To succeed and be truly unforgettable, may I suggest that the standard you play at is The Best in The World. At my leadership workshops I sometimes run an exercise that begins with this question: “What 10 things would the person who is best in the world at what you do be doing on a regular basis that you are not doing?”Start your list.

Be Radically Ethical. The pristine reputation that took you decades to build could be torn down in 60 seconds of bad judgment. Seriously. Just watch the news these days (UK Parliament MP’s expenses..) and you’ll get what I mean. To show leadership in business (and life) today, it’s mission-critical to be radically ethical. No dishonorable move goes unnoticed. Decency wins.

Be FUN. Whatever happened to fun? Stop taking life so seriously. Generate the ability to laugh - even at the toughest of times. You become unforgettable - and irresistible the moment you lighten up. And get that smile back on your face. Life’s a short ride when you really think about it. It may be smart to enjoy every twist and turn of it.

Jim

Sun 3 May 2009

BUSINESS TOP 10 TIPS - reaching for the blue sky!
Posted by Jim under Adventure and Alchemy , Innovation
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BUSINESS TOP 10 TIPS - reaching for the blue sky!

RULE 1: REDUCE THE RISK
Entrepeneurs are great believers that the risk should reflect the reward. Their business philosophy is based on a risk-reward ratio. But it’s got to stack up. If it doesn’t, don’t do it. You might as well go to a casino.
If you think you’ve come up with the business idea to end all business ideas, there are just two things you’ve got to ask yourself: what are the risks, and what are the rewards? Many are the most conservative people you will ever come across, and that’s because they’re good at reducing risks while leaving the potential rewards high.
You’ve got to make sure that you’ve got all the information and you know more about what’s happening than the next guy.
RULE 2: DON’T FOOL YOURSELF
If you have a business idea, honesty is very important. A number of people people say, “Everybody I have asked thinks my idea is fantastic.” People say they believe in their ideas. That’s because they have conditioned themselves to believe in them. You have to be honest with yourself about what you are doing.
Then you must ask yourself how commercial it is. “Everyone is going to want one” Will they? Beware of the many ways people delude themselves with “tunnel vision”.
RULE 3: START SMALL
If you’re an entrepreneur and want to start a business, start small. You can start a business on your own or just with a partner or assistant. It’s only when you take on your first member of staff that you’re more than likely to encounter other problems. All of a sudden you’re managing the people as well as the businesses.
But remember, just because you have a good business idea that looks like it’s going to work, it doesn’t mean you’ve suddenly acquire staff-management skills. Legislation is now so watertight - as well as being complicated and restrictive - that you have to consider everybody’s feelings and requirements.
RULE 4: WEIGH UP THE OPPOSITION - AND YOURSELF
You must never underestimate the strength of the opposition. You only have to look around the high-street, where some of the biggest names - household names at one time - are no longer with us.
One of the problems for these high-street giants is the nature of their tiered system of management, where strategy and communication often get misinterpreted and lost en route to their rightful recipient - a bit like Chinese whispers.
RULE 5: KNOW THAT CASH IS KING
Cash flow is king. Profit is sanity. Turnover is vanity.
A lack of cash is like a heart attack for a business. If you can’t pay the rent you shut down, just like you would if your heart packed up. You’re finished. If you can’t pay the wages, it’s all over. Don’t be without cash. You can live without profit for a while, but not without cash. It’s very basic and simple advice.
RULE 6: EMBRACE CHANGE
The retail environment is changing very rapidly at the moment, partly because of the internet, which opens up a vast world at the touch of a button. Internet selling means that you don’t need to pay vast high-street rents and employ lots of shop assistants. You can eBay trade. You can have a lock-up and keep your products there. It’s fantastic - everyone can be a shopkeeper. The amount of business being done on the web now is shifting the balance of power. The internet has unshackled the business world.
RULE 7: USE COMMON SENSE
It might seem blindingly obvious but business is all about common sense. In fact, business is 90% common sense. I apply common sense in all my business dealings.
But common sense is not common. If it were, everyone would have it and everyone would be doing it….
RULE 8: MAKE DECISIONS
One of the things I advocate to clients is never be frightened to make a decision. If one of those decisions turns out to be wrong, then identify it quickly. Deal with it if you can. Don’t let that bad decision cause the business to bleed to death. And if you can’t deal with it yourself, scream as loud as you can so that your colleagues can hear you and realise you’re in trouble and ride to your rescue. There’s no shame in asking others to help you. The shame is in keeping quiet, trying to cover up your bad decision. Rest assured, it will come back to haunt you. Helping each other is what teamwork is all about.
RULE 9: GET YOUR STAFF ON BOARD
In any business I buy, I get as many of the staff together as soon possible. The first thing I ask managers when addressing them is who they think is the most important person in the business.
I’m never surprised by the answer, it’s always the same - the customer. Not so, I say. Then they point to their Manager. Wrong again, I say. Eventually, I have to tell them the answer - and I point to all of them, the workforce. They are the most important people in the business.
Motivating staff is not just about making them feel wanted. Tangible rewards are equally important, if not more so. Incentives go a long way to help staff focus on the work they do.

RULE 10: TURN YOUR DREAMS INTO REALITY
There’s not much difference between a fantasist and a visionary. We all have dreams and without dreams in business I don’t believe you can be successful. The trick is to turn those dreams into reality.
And you have to have passion for that dream. It’s got to be something you’re going to enjoy, otherwise it’s highly unlikely that you will achieve your goal.
You must not however, fall into the trap of ignoring the facts and deficiencies in your idea. That’s where a lot of people trip up - they lose sight of the bigger picture and ignore the failings of the idea. You have got to be passionate about your idea. It is imperative that you have an idea you really believe in, and you also have to be absolutely determined you can make it work. But if you don’t attempt to do it, it will never happen. Don’t let your idea be the one that got away.

Jim

Sun 15 Mar 2009

DEFINING YOUR WORK
Posted by Jim under Health and Vitality
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DEFINING YOUR WORK

One of the most powerful new behaviours I coach clients on during workflow coaching sessions is the practice of defining clear, concise next actions for all of the projects they are committed to completing. If done consistently, this simple practice can substantially impact your ability to be in action on the projects and commitments that are most important to you.

On the surface, it may seem that defining next actions would be a simple, natural thing, but there’s actually quite an art to it.

DEFINING THE NEXT ACTION

When you’re in the process of getting through a stack of “stuff” in your inbox, one fundamental question that you’ll implicitly ask about each thing is “is this actionable or not?” For those things that are actionable, but that you can’t do right now in less than two minutes, you’ll want to define a next action and keep it on a list in your planner or PDA.

Let’s take an example from my life. I was washing our family car and was reminded the vehicle tyres were coming close to their replacement tread depth.

In the old days, before I learned about HLA (Hot Leadership Action), I may have just written down “tyres” on my to-do list and moved on. But now, since I’ve tearned the art of focus I write down “phone tyre store and get some prices”.

Once I capture the project, then I think for a moment about what actual physical, visible next action or actions I need to do next in order for that project to move forward.

CHANGE TYRES VS PHONE THE TYRE STORE FOR PRICES

Notice the subtle but powerful difference between seeing “change tyres” on a list, versus seeing “phone the tyre store for prices.” The former is a somewhat vague trigger, while the latter is a very specific, physical and doable next action that tells me exactly HOW to get that project into action. Without the clearly defined next actions, my list would be a series of yet-to-be-made decisions about how to proceed. I’d suggest that, at least on a sub-conscious level, you’ll be a bit confronted by each bit of uncertainty of exactly HOW you are going to do all of that THAT, and you might just end up sitting down on the couch and watching TV instead!

“HOW?” IS THE KEY

The more clear and doable each next action on your list is, the more likely you’ll be to get into action. The key question to ask yourself when defining next actions is: How? How are you going to set that meeting up? How will you decide which plan to present? How will you clean the gutters? And sometimes you’ll need to ask it several times until you’re able to define the actual next action. It’s always there; just keep looking until you distinguish it.

If it seems to you that all of the time it takes to clearly define and store your next actions is a waste of time, just remember: you’re going to have to define your work sometime, why not do it when you’ve got the mental energy and space to actually think about it, rather than in the heat of the moment when your attention may be compromised by the 3 other things you need to do, the phone ringing in your ear, and the cry of your baby wanting to be picked up?

The basic concept is to slow down a bit when you’re defining your work, so that you can speed up when you’re actually in doing mode – because that’s when it’s really going to count.

So, give it a try. Start your own practice in the art of defining next actions. If you’re anything like me, you’ll be off the couch and into action on your work and in your life before you know it.

Jim

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