During re-entry of the Columbia shuttle on February 1, 2003, the craft disintegrated, killing all seven crew members on board. It was later discovered that warnings and concerns about potential damage were suppressed, resulting in this stinging statement in a follow-up report: “NASA’s organizational culture had as much to do with this accident as the foam did.” Investigators said the culture was characterized by “barriers that prevented effective communication of critical safety information and stifled professional differences of opinion.”
The Columbia disaster is only one example highlighted in a Harvard Management Communication article, How to Get the Bad News You Need. It states that few executives actively engage in suppressing the flow of information, but the absence of policies and procedures to encourage employees to speak up, actually encourages them to keep vital information to themselves. The threat of embarrassment, humiliation or career damage is a silencer that can be overcome using some of the following strategies:
Brady Wilson is an author and expert on how conversation affects organizational energy to create dynamic results. He has been called upon internationally by Fortune 500 clients to help them use a "conversational operating system" to overcome insurmountable challenges and achieve unprecedented results.
My neighbour Jim was sweeping the sidewalk in front of his house. He invests big chunks of time doing this, keeping it immaculate. And he’s always smiling.
Why does he do it? The sidewalk really isn’t his, yet he cares for it as if he owned every single slab. Jim is doing work for his city, keeping their sidewalk in pristine condition, and he never expects a dime for his efforts. Why? It’s all about psychological ownership; in Jim’s mind, the sidewalk is his.
The transfer of ownership from the city to Jim occurred not because of any contractual arrangement – it happened because of Jim’s felt needs. You see, Jim has a strong need for significance and for belonging.
Significance: Jim receives respect and admiration from us – his neighbours - because of how great his yard and sidewalk look.
Belonging: Jim does not want to be “like Bob” – the guy the rest of us look down upon - because of the way his yard tarnishes our street.
Does Jim receive a paycheck for his work? Absolutely! It’s just that it’s an emotional paycheck from his neighbours, rather than a financial one from the city.
Why is this linkage between felt needs and ownership important to understand? Because people go the extra mile when they feel emotional ownership. That emotional ownership is triggered by having their felt needs being met.
Your employees will go the extra mile – like Jim does - to build the success of your company when they feel they own it. That feeling of owning the success of your company gets triggered when doing so meets their felt needs for belonging, significance or meaning.
Energizing employees is an inside job – focusing first on the inner architecture of felt needs – the emotional payoffs that cause employees to own the success of your company. These intrinsic motivators have been, and always will be what drives extraordinary effort.
Here are four quick facts about Felt Needs that will help you deliver an emotional paycheck to your employees:
Brady Wilson is an author and expert on how conversation affects organizational energy to create dynamic results. He has been called upon internationally by Fortune 500 clients to help them use a "conversational operating system" to overcome insurmountable challenges and achieve unprecedented results.
Crista has been part of Juice Inc. since its inception. She is an engaging presenter who brings a vast storehouse of business and personal stories, making her an entertaining and pragmatic speaker. Because of her inviting and open style, she excels at asking the difficult questions that people think about, but never ask. Her marketing prowess and creativity have helped numerous organizations clarify their point of difference to increase sales and improve client retention.
Sharon managed a group of eleven customer service representatives. Brenda, one of the senior CSRs, worked in the department for thirty-six years. The customers loved her because she was dedicated and technically competent. Her co-workers had no use for her. She was abrupt and manipulative, exploded unpredictably and without cause.
Almost everyone on the team had asked Sharon to deal with Brenda, but she couldn’t seem to bring herself to do it. Sharon knew how sensitive Brenda was about critical feedback. Historically, trying to hold her accountable had created outbursts of tears and anger. Sharon couldn’t bear the thought of hurting her like that.
Instead, she counseled the rest of the team to overlook Brenda’s foibles and empathize with her weaknesses. Her justification to herself - “I’m sure she’ll retire within the next five or six years.”
Rather than choosing to be direct and temporarily being “uncomfortable” in addressing a sensitive and longstanding issue, Sharon chose to avoid the situation. In doing so, she also chose to pay a longer-term price. For example:
By being indirect, Sharon was holding back her truth and dodging reality, doing so at her own (and others’) peril. Avoiding reality causes a silent, invisible seepage of negative energy that pervades an environment and destroys results.
Why aren’t we more direct?
During the past twenty years, as we’ve helped individuals and organizations build their capacity for more effective conversations, our observations have led to four main reasons people are not direct:
Each of these fears is energized by something in our past experience that we now accept as truth. For example: When my friend Paul was growing up, every time he had an important conversation with his dad, his viewpoint was disapproved of, judged, and put down. He came to the conclusion that, “If I speak up, I will get hurt.” This became his truth, and his excuse for not being direct.
Life assumptions like these drive our behaviors in unproductive ways.
Here are two actions that can help you increase your level of “directness”?
One.The next time you walk into a situation where you need to be direct with feedback, consider preparing using these two steps:
Two. Over the next week, track and record those situations where you sense a physical sensation (tight chest, butterflies, etc.) that is associated with a situation where you need to be direct with someone. Simply be mindful of those situations and the physical sensation associated with them can lead to improvements in your willingness to be more direct.
Next week, we’ll write about how you can be direct with your needs (rather than your opinions) and why that might be good for you, your team, your organization and your family.
Jean-François (JF) Hivon is a bilingual member of the Juice team who is passionate about creating results through rigorous management processes, authentic relationships, and strategic thinking. Previously, he led the business development and training practice for a successful Canadian Training Company.
Brady Wilson is an author and expert on how conversation affects organizational energy to create dynamic results. He has been called upon internationally by Fortune 500 clients to help them use a "conversational operating system" to overcome insurmountable challenges and achieve unprecedented results.
Read the following items and ask yourself “What do they have in common?”
So, what do they have in common? They are all work-arounds; attempts to patch up a broken and dysfunctional system. No wonder twenty-two patients die an hour from avoidable harm.
Why?The two most important people responsible for our patients’ care frequently never talk to each other, and when they do, the interchange is often dysfunctional.
Humans have a tendency to sensationalize and focus on the negative. But research tells us that less than 5% of physician-nurse relationships are disruptive. What’s the rest of the story? Sadly, only 15% of both physician and nurses rated their relationships as collegial; and only 25% were ‘very good’ (Rosenstein). Considering that the most important factor in a study of 13 ICU’s of patient mortality was the relationship between the nurse and physician, this is great cause for alarm (Knaus, Baggs).
Several structural changes have contributed to the distancing of the traditional physician-nurse relationship over the past twenty years. In fact, you will find both physicians and nurses stating it was ‘better in the old days’. Why?
Physicians have become progressively more sub-specialized, diffusing responsibility and challenging the ability to integrate care. As margin per RVU has declined, physicians find themselves working ever harder, leaving less time for conversation at all levels. In order to protect some time outside of their practice, coverage groups expanded reducing the number of days on-call. Now, the primary attending is often unreachable. On-call physicians are reluctant to make decisions for another doctor’s patient. In fact, it is common practice among physicians that weekend call really means placing clinical decisions on hold until Monday morning. Mid-level providers often perform follow-up care, especially for surgical specialists. Rounding in the morning is hurried. There is no time to locate the primary nurse. Sadly, physicians too often don’t even know the names of the nurses who care for their patients. How easy it is to be disrespectful of someone who remains anonymous - especially over the telephone.
Structural changes have impacted nursing as well. Twelve-hour shifts make continuity of care difficult. The number of tasks a nurse needs to perform in an 8-hour shift exceeds 160 and no task takes longer than 2 minutes 45 seconds. Only 40% of a nurse’s work is actually nursing – the rest of the time they are performing clerical duties, locating missing medications, trying to find equipment or on the telephone on hold. Nearly 30% of her or his time is spent charting information no one reads. The result? 80 percent of a nurse’s workday is away from the bedside.
Economic stresses have caused healthcare organizations to rigorously try to control staffing ratios. Historic patient-to-nurse ratios don’t apply in a world where length of stay shortens as patient acuity increases. While a nurse may be assigned 4-6 patients per shift, the number of admissions, discharges, and transfers can comprise 80 percent of the patients. One nurse admits, another gives care and yet another nurse discharges in 48 hours - another example of why failed communication is the number one cause of medical error.
How can this system of relating to each other be professionally or personally satisfying for either physicians or nurses? How can it possibly be deemed ‘safe’?
Some structural changes have the potential to reverse this trend. The advent of intensivist and hospitalist physicians is reducing the number of doctors involved in complex patient care. Team rounding is becoming more prevalent, and physician availability for an entire shift improves opportunities for communication. SBAR (Situation-Background-Assessment- Recommendation/Request) communication has been useful. It improves the nurses’ understanding, supports their professionalism, and helps prevent the entrapment of physicians when a lack of necessary information precludes good decision-making.
Most of all, it is essential to personalize the nurse–physician relationship. Physicians must commit to knowing the nurses’ names and nurses must insist on identifying themselves before each encounter. When you know someone, and know something about them outside of their work role, it becomes much more difficult to ignore them or communicate in a disruptive manner and communication flows more freely. One important improvement would be to have a physician present a brief teaching experience to nurses weekly or, at least monthly. Another example would be to have the charge nurse present a case scenario at weekly physician rounds – unheard of at most institutions.
Nothing will change without leadership. Executives must lead this cultural change by insisting on daily communication, physicians knowing nurses names, creating informal structures such as joint educational and celebratory venues and bedside rounding, and actually living the values of the institution by zero tolerance on all disruptive behavior – same rules for all roles. Until the two most critical professionals in patient care can work together for the benefit of the patient, we will continue to send subtle, covert warnings to the general public just under the radar – bring someone with you, ask your caregivers to wash, call Rapid Response if you need to- because the two most important people in your care, physicians and nurses, don’t have the relationship that you need to be safe.
What is your hospital doing to improve relationships between professionals who care for patients?
Kathleen Bartholomew, RN, MN, has been called the most important new voice in American Nursing. With breakthrough professional books such as SPEAK YOUR TRUTH and ENDING NURSE-TO-NURSE HOSTILITY. We are proud to partner with Kathleen and represent her keynote presentations in Canada.
A recent article in the Washington Post “How to completely and utterly destroy an employees work life” sheds valuable insight on the impact bosses have on their direct reports’ attitudes.
The researchers analyzed the work diaries of more than 200 people over several months. In addition to learning what motivates and encourages workers, they also learned what discourages and disengages them:
“We discovered a key factor you can use to make employees miserable on the job. It is to simply keep them from making progress in meaningful work. People want to make a valuable contribution, and feel great when they make progress toward doing so.”
When people encounter interference, they can feel like they aren’t able to make a valuable contribution. Interference can be personal, interpersonal or structural. Either way, when there is too much interference and people don’t feel like they are making progress on something meaningful, work gets old, fast. Who volunteers to be unappreciated and ignored? No one – because that doesn’t emotionally engage people.
In our own research (Download the Five Drivers of Engagement), we found that work environments that don’t foster emotional engagement, forfeit extra effort, creativity, productivity, and potentially most importantly, people’s energy.
Some managers and leaders just don’t get it and they seem bent on building and maintaining their own power bases, literally “showing you who’s boss.” This type of leader sabotages employees’ projects, frequently changes goals, assumes low morale is the employees’ fault and attacks or threatens anyone who dares to suggest otherwise.
We have identified five core elements that correlate to engaged people the level of energy they have to give to their work, their families and their communities. The five areas are:
The degree to which an individual can emphatically make these five statements, reveals how engaged and energized they are, and directly relates to the amount of effort and energy they can offer to their organization.
When employees have a sense of purpose, significance and security, when they feel that they belong to a group yet have the freedom to work and advance individually—that creates an environment where people are engaged and energized; one that is primed to deliver real productivity gains and outstanding results.
If you’re leading people, one of your key roles is to understand and remove interference that is getting in the way of people making progress on meaningful work.
What are you doing to remove interference?
Jean-François (JF) Hivon is a bilingual member of the Juice team who is passionate about creating results through rigorous management processes, authentic relationships, and strategic thinking. Previously, he led the business development and training practice for a successful Canadian Training Company.
Brady Wilson is an author and expert on how conversation affects organizational energy to create dynamic results. He has been called upon internationally by Fortune 500 clients to help them use a "conversational operating system" to overcome insurmountable challenges and achieve unprecedented results.
Founding Juice Inc. partner, Alex Somos, is on a mission trip this week in Baja, Mexico, helping to build a house for an impoverished family. Your support has allowed Alex, and Juice, to do good in the world. Thank you. We thought you’d enjoy some of these photos and reflections from his experience…
We are just getting ready to head out to the job site. Today we put on a rolled-asphalt roof, and then we tarred the seams. We need to hang the door and trim the exterior of the house and sheet the interior walls. On the outside, we have to position the new outhouse and a new shower house. Hopefully, the main water container will arrive today and they can have an enclosed container for their water use. They don't have electricity so we are running all the tools off of a generator which makes for a noisy site! Our team is running really well, full of smiles and a willingness to try anything. No one stands apart or alone, and it is a beautiful picture of team work with a tremendous sense of flow. The experienced ones are supportive and they encourage the teens who are trying their hand at everything, with many doing things that stretch them well beyond their comfort zones…
The dark red house is ours. We’ve done everything we’ve needed to do. Tomorrow we place the water tower on top of the bath hose, finish the trim outside, clean the area and furnish it with love and God’s grace!
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Meet Ruby... She melts your heart...
This is a picture of the kids blowing bubbles and playing. We came here last year and the place feels the same. Miguel, who we met last year was first to greet us. He asked us kindly, "It is a while since we have seen you?" Barry, the leader explains we can't always come this way, but today will be a good day. We bring groceries and lots of clothes for everyone. People see the vans and start to come. I always feel the same in moments like this - bittersweet, happy to be doing something and wishing I could do more...
Working on the walls and roof panels.Today is a big day and everybody is working and smiling. We have a young Japanese girl (Mayuko) who came all the way from Japan, (paying her own way to do this). She is just delightful and incredibly sweet.
The final result?
Alex Somos is co-founder of Juice Inc. His ability to cast vision and provide strategic direction, combined with his passion to make a difference in the lives of others' has created a strong leadership style that creates results and breeds loyalty from those around him.
Crista has been part of Juice Inc. since its inception. She is an engaging presenter who brings a vast storehouse of business and personal stories, making her an entertaining and pragmatic speaker. Because of her inviting and open style, she excels at asking the difficult questions that people think about, but never ask. Her marketing prowess and creativity have helped numerous organizations clarify their point of difference to increase sales and improve client retention.
A manager walks onto the unit and observes the secretary texting, a nurse on Facebook, and a resident on his droid checking skiing conditions. What’s the most unlikely part of the above situation? The manager walking onto the unit.
As I travel across the country one thing is eminently clear: managers are noticeably absent from the front line. It happened very slowly over a long period of time as their workload increased and changed demanding that they spend more time in meetings and their offices. Staff complain frequently that “I haven’t even seen my manager for two weeks – and I work day shift!” While most hospitals have a policy regarding use of IT for personal reasons during work, very, very few actually enforce that rule.
If it’s not enforced, then it’s not a rule. It’s the norm.
A recent email blast from “Plexus” entitled “Do Electronic Devices in Health Care Present New Risks for Patient Safety” resonated with me on a very deep level confirming suspicions gathered from informal conversations across the country. Fifty five percent of perfusion technicians admitted having cell phone conversations while monitoring machines – and half had texted during surgery. Then a New York Times story by Matt Richtel highlighted a malpractice case where a neurosurgeon made over ten personal calls during surgery to family members and business associates. The problem is bigger than leaders realize for several reasons.
Acute changes ping our radar, while gradual changes are more insidious. Their great danger lies in the fact that human beings simply don’t notice small and incremental changes (Human Adaptability Theory). For example, I was called down to California to teach high reliability skills after the anesthesiologist accidentally drew up 10 cc’s of Epinephrine instead of Toradol. The eighteen year old patient in an out-patient surgery center coded. I guarantee you that the norm of bringing a phone into surgery started when someone had an emergency (like a very sick child) and put their phone in their pocket on vibrate…. (and no one was harmed); then another member of the team was waiting for a real estate deal on his new house….(and no one was harmed)….so they all started bringing them in until one day… years later….an eighteen year old in for a simple knee surgery nearly dies. Little mini-Challenger explosions…
We lost the Challenger because in two successive launches NASA was able to forget their own rules regarding the lowest safe launch temperature and convinced themselves that prior success with deviation insured future success with deviation – a single solitary voice saying “Don’t do this” was overridden.
Personal use of IT during operations and work time is now rampant because of a lack of awareness of the problem, a lack of leadership and normalization of deviancy. A new norm that holds that human beings can multitask while driving, operating or performing nursing functions now exists despite the fact that research consistently validates the opposite. What can you do?
Tell us your story - is technology creating unnecessary distractions in your workplace?
Kathleen Bartholomew, RN, MN, has been called the most important new voice in American Nursing. With breakthrough professional books such as SPEAK YOUR TRUTH and ENDING NURSE-TO-NURSE HOSTILITY. We are proud to partner with Kathleen and represent her keynote presentations in Canada.
There seems to be some debate on how much of our messages are communicated non-verbally. The range is often quoted between 60 and 93 per cent. There’s a 7% - 38% - 55% rule that circulates, saying seven per cent of our communication is based on the words, 38 percent is based on our tone and vocal cues, and 55 per cent is on our body language.
Despite the breakdown of the numbers, when you don’t go face-to-face in communication, you lose the chemical benefits we talked about in our post about sparking fascination and trust in conversations. In a phone conversation, you have the advantage of using vocal cues, but an email relies completely on the words. If the above formula is true, there is a 7 % chance of conveying what you need to, based on words alone. Add a camera to the call, and you have some of the advantages of face-to-face, but you still lack that chemical connection of being present with one another, in the same room.
Charitable Interpretation, where you interpret the other person’s meaning and intent with goodwill, and attach the most favorable perspective to their words, is a tool you can use in any conversation – virtual or otherwise.
Phone & Teleconference Conversations
•Take a few minutes at the start of your conversation for up-front connection and bonding. Be intentional and authentic, while respecting the need for others on the call, to get on with the business of the call.
•Smile. Even though the other party may not be able to see it, your smile comes through in your voice and enhances connection.
•Demonstrate respect to engage your virtual audience – give your undivided focus. Don’t give in to the urge of answering your email while the other person Is talking. Remember, hearing is more acute in a phone call and the other party may hear the tapping of a keyboard.
•Reflect implications: reflect back the essence of the speaker’s message, and the implications of what that may mean inside their world. This sends a clear signal to them that you deeply understand their message as well as where they are coming from. People tend to trust someone who understands them.
•Use word pictures and stories to intrigue the listener and help them understand your world.
Email Conversations
•Before composing an email, step into the other person’s world and ask yourself whether this is the best way to send the message, or if a phone call or a face-to-face conversation is best. If it is an emotional, personal or sensitive issue, email is not the vehicle to use.
•Consider the language that most appeal to this person. Are they technical or non-technical, formal or informal, expressive or succinct? Frame your message in the language that will make it easy for them to read and relate to.
• When you read something ambiguous in an email and it strikes you the “wrong way”, pick up the phone and ask clarifying questions with the intent of understanding, rather than being accusatory. Get curious. If it’s impossible for you to go voice to voice, then send an email asking for clarification: “I wanted to check with you on your email earlier today. Your comment on me being like ‘a dog with a bone’ could be interpreted as either admiring my perseverance or being annoyed at my stubbornness. I wanted to make sure I understood your intent. Can you say more?” Do not allow your uneasiness to go unvoiced, otherwise your heightened sensitivity may be mis-read in subsequent communication.
What has worked for you in your virtual conversations? Share your ideas here – we want to hear your suggestions!
Crista has been part of Juice Inc. since its inception. She is an engaging presenter who brings a vast storehouse of business and personal stories, making her an entertaining and pragmatic speaker. Because of her inviting and open style, she excels at asking the difficult questions that people think about, but never ask. Her marketing prowess and creativity have helped numerous organizations clarify their point of difference to increase sales and improve client retention.
Brady Wilson is an author and expert on how conversation affects organizational energy to create dynamic results. He has been called upon internationally by Fortune 500 clients to help them use a "conversational operating system" to overcome insurmountable challenges and achieve unprecedented results.
Companies across North America are suffering from communication cancer, a toxic form of communication that destroys respect, trust, energy, and above all, performance.
In our work with business leaders, we have uncovered four of the most common causes of communication toxicity in organizations. They are:
Take these examples:
If you’re ready step into the journey of stopping “toxic communication” at work, at home or in your community, we recommend these four actions:
By removing the toxic communication from your workplace, you create the space for healthier and more productive dialogue that leads to higher levels of energy and more performance.
What other types of toxic communication do you see in your organization?
Jean-François (JF) Hivon is a bilingual member of the Juice team who is passionate about creating results through rigorous management processes, authentic relationships, and strategic thinking. Previously, he led the business development and training practice for a successful Canadian Training Company.
Brady Wilson is an author and expert on how conversation affects organizational energy to create dynamic results. He has been called upon internationally by Fortune 500 clients to help them use a "conversational operating system" to overcome insurmountable challenges and achieve unprecedented results.
Eight years ago, when my son was a sophomore in high school, I came home to find his body lying limp on the living room floor. All 6 foot 2 inches crumbled into a half-fetal position; eyes open, pulse steady, but no response after several attempts to rouse him. Eventually he mumbled, “Leave me alone”.It was then that his sister told me what happened. His classmate from homeroom had committed suicide. “Go away”, he muttered if anyone tried to speak or touch him, wanting to be left alone in his pain.
I am like that too. When hurting, I search out my metaphorical cave and hide from reality until the hurricane of events and emotions pass and I can see where I am again. And then, I write. Because my son would not listen; because I could not reach him; I wrote a letter to all the children in the newspaper:
“We cannot hear a silent scream. If you are drowning, reach out your hand. There are so many of you in this tumultuous sea…these are indeed rough waters.”
I am reminded of this story after hearing about two nurses who committed suicide in the last few months – one related to a medication error and the other related to bullying on the unit. These are rough waters in healthcare as well. What can we do so this never happens again?
Stress precipitates depression in working men and women (Melchior et al). A study by Welsh found that 35% of a sample of medical surgical nurses had clinical depression. For nurses, the amount of stress due to the workload alone has increased dramatically over the last decade. Mental Stress? We know that nurses perform 160 tasks in an 8 hour shift with no task lasting longer than 2:45 seconds; that nurses stack 7 or more items to remember at any given time and that up to 30% of their time is spent charting (Bujak, Bartholomew). Physical Stress? Musculo-skeletal disorders are reported in more than 60% of the nursing workforce (Levtak et al). And then, there are pressures from the system itself. Yesterday several nurses were told (yet again) by their manager to “clock out first and then finish your charting” – a clear federal violation but an increasingly common practice as managers struggle to crunch the budget. As the healthcare system transitions from a business to a service model, nurses are clearly feeling the brunt of the impact.
Nurses were found to have “a general lack of knowledge on how to identify and support nurses with health problems.” (Letvak et al). Respondents in one survey discussed nurses they knew who were working under the influence of drugs to compensate for pain and anti-anxiety etc. We must become as skilled in approaching each other in these delicate situations as we are in attending to our patients.
As professionals, we are trained to be alert to the signs and symptoms of depression and mental illness. It is time to expand our perspective, use this psychiatric skill set, and offer the same level of compassion, education and support we would give our patients, to each other.
Watch for behavioral changes, or changes in thought processes, or moods such as irritability. Don’t consistently chalk it off as a ‘personality problem’.
And if you know of a nurse who is on medications and feel that it is impacting the quality and safety of care delivered, talk to them first. Bring up specific observations.
TIP: Don’t know how to begin?
Remember this: Start with your heart; then say what you see….
“I am concerned about you. I noticed that______.
Perhaps it is human nature to want to draw inward when stressed or upset. But these fast passed, stressful times call for just the opposite. It is time to widen that circle of wisdom, skill and caring to your peers with arms wide open. From this moment on, let us be known as the profession that nurtures and feeds its young; as the profession that cares deeply and passionately about life, healing, wellness and prevention – starting with each other.
We are indeed better together.
Kathleen Bartholomew, RN, MN, has been called the most important new voice in American Nursing. With breakthrough professional books such as SPEAK YOUR TRUTH and ENDING NURSE-TO-NURSE HOSTILITY. We are proud to partner with Kathleen and represent her keynote presentations in Canada.
In last week’s blog post, Are you spreading optimism or pessimism, we discussed how emotions can be contagious. This week, we’d like to explain how you can create connections, increase trust and spark fascination in your conversations.
The Connection Contagion
Great leaders understand the powerful secret of human connection. They spend time interacting with employees, showing interest in them as a person (versus treating them like corporate chattel), listening to them, and thanking them face-to-face for their contribution. When you need to convey optimism, passion, purpose, gratitude or seriousness, the most effective way to do it is face-to-face. The limbic system in your brain regulates emotions, and sends out a wavelength in face-to-face conversations that act as a contagion to imprint others with passion and it can powerfully serve an entire organization. If you need to deliver excitement and enthusiasm, or perhaps compassion and kindness, along with your words, consider a face-to-face conversation as your default, if possible.
Create Trust / Reduce Tension
Face-to-face conversation is essential if you need to create trust and reduce tension in a relationship. It increases trust, bonding, attention, and pleasure, and it reduces fear and worry. As Edward Halowell puts it in his Harvard Business Review article called The Human Moment at Work:
“Nature … equips us with hormones that promote trust and bonding: oxytocin and vasopressin. Most abundant in nursing mothers, these hormones are always present to some degree in all of us, but they rise when we feel empathy for another person – in particular when we are meeting with someone face to face. It has been shown that these bonding hormones are at suppressed levels when people are physically separate.”
That explains why it’s easier to rip someone apart in an email than it would be if you were standing in front of them. But face-to-face conversation not only produces trust, it can be the happy Prozac moment of your day. Hallowell adds that “scientists hypothesize that in-person contact stimulates two important neurotransmitters: dopamine, which enhances attention and pleasure, and serotonin, which reduces fear and worry.”
Spark Fascination
Have you ever had a conversation with an “expert” who is explaining something that is intricate and complex, but you find yourself fully capable of comprehending what is being said? It’s as if all your channels are open - no distorted buzzing in the background. In another conversation, a different expert is explaining a subject that is no more complex but you feel thick and slow, unable to comprehend the message.
What was the difference? Sometimes it’s more than just your affinity with the subject matter or how ‘with it’ you felt on a given day. Often, chemistry can be at play. Perhaps the first speaker made you feel respected and valued. The second made you feel patronized and disrespected. Each of these two interactions sets into motion a very different hormonal chain of events.
Daniel Goleman, in Working with Emotional Intelligence,discusses the scientific evidence regarding the physical effects on people when they are disrespected or respected. “When we experience stress -- for example, when we’re being psychologically “erased” or simply ignored by others -- our bodies release cortisol, sometimes called the stress hormone. When cortisol is released into our pre-frontal cortex, the logic center or CPU of our brains, can shut down up to sixty-six percent of our rational reasoning powers. The unhappy effect is that we find it hard to understand what is being said. We literally remain stupid, no matter how hard we try to understand.”
He adds that whensomeone positively engages us, “our brain is being soaked in a bath of catecholamines and other substances triggered by the adrenal system. These chemicals prime the brain to stay attentive and interested, even fascinated, and energized for an almost effortless, sustained effort.”
If you want to make a deep and lasting imprint on people, make them feel respected and valued as you converse with them. Doing so will enable them to find the fascination that keeps them engaged to the point of full understanding.
This post discusses face-to-face conversation as the ideal default mode when communicating, to take advantage of your body’s natural chemicals to engage in a better connection. Next week will introduce reality, and talk about how to be more effective at having better conversations virtually and electronically.
Crista has been part of Juice Inc. since its inception. She is an engaging presenter who brings a vast storehouse of business and personal stories, making her an entertaining and pragmatic speaker. Because of her inviting and open style, she excels at asking the difficult questions that people think about, but never ask. Her marketing prowess and creativity have helped numerous organizations clarify their point of difference to increase sales and improve client retention.
Brady Wilson is an author and expert on how conversation affects organizational energy to create dynamic results. He has been called upon internationally by Fortune 500 clients to help them use a "conversational operating system" to overcome insurmountable challenges and achieve unprecedented results.
This morning I did a google search for “Think Outside the Box” and received 17,800,000 results. As I scanned the results, it became apparent that there is no shortage of tools, tips and advice on how to “think outside the box”. So, what’s the problem?
Simplistic is right! I sat back and wondered, what does it actually mean to “think outside the box”? What exactly, are we asking people to do?
Take a leap of faith… that sounds nice but the reason I want to innovate is to drive better results. And taking a “leap of faith” feels a little uncomfortable if not downright risky when, really, I’m accountable for improving quality, efficieny and sales. If I was sure that taking a leap of faith was all it took to create breakthrough solutions that would be one thing, but…
Fortunately, there are tried and true innovation best practices that are available to anyone.
Innovation does not have to be complex. There are simple, practical “back-of-the-napkin” tools you can use to create innovative solutions to both everyday problems and your most important strategic challenges.
In the coming weeks, we’ll explore some of these tools, and in the process help you (and us) become more innovative and achieve the results we all want.
Imagine a good friend telling you about a pill she takes every morning that produces amazing results for her in the area of her interpersonal relationships. This is a friend who used to have difficulty connecting with people. Now, she establishes an easy rapport within minutes. Building trust with people had always been difficult for her, but now people offer their trust, information and commitment spontaneously. People used to tune out when she talked. Now her conversations fascinate her listeners.
Do such wonder drugs exist? Yes, but not in tablet form, they’re stored inside you. All of us come equipped with hormones that, when triggered and released, have a remarkable effect on our ability to connect, create trust and fascinate people. These hormones produce a relational chemistry we have with some people and completely miss with others.
Let’s explore the simple science of how human beings ‘synch’ with each other. The limbic system of your brain (the emotional center) is an open-loop system, meaning emotions can be contagious. Someone’s tears, or their smile can trigger an involuntary sympathetic reaction in you.
In their book Primal Leadership, Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee discuss this open-loop phenomenon and describe how emotions spread between people.They cite studies in which scientists measure the heart rate of two people as they have a good conversation. At the beginning of the conversation, their bodies are functioning at different rhythms, but fifteen minutes later their physiological profiles look remarkably similar – a phenomenon called mirroring.
Scientists describe [the limbic loop] as “interpersonal limbic regulation,” whereby one person transmits signals that can alter hormone levels, cardiovascular function, sleep rhythms, and even immune function inside the body of another…The open-loop design of the limbic system means that other people can change our very physiology – and so our emotions.
Put us together in face-to-face conversations and we regulate one another’s emotions. You’ve probably experienced this yourself. One team member’s strong, buoyant mood affects one person after another until the whole team is feeling upbeat. Another member’s critical, negative mood can equally infect an entire team in destructive ways. These authors go on to say:
This circuitry also attunes our own biology to the dominant range of feelings of the person we are with, so that our emotional states tend to converge. One term scientist’s use for this neural attunement is limbic resonance, ‘a symphony of mutual exchange and internal adaptation’ whereby two people harmonize their emotional state.
Recent discoveries in neuroscience confirm there are steps you can take to increase your chemistry in the relationships that are most important to you. In the coming weeks we’ll share how you can create connections, increase trust and spark fascination in your conversations – both face-to-face and virtually.
Crista has been part of Juice Inc. since its inception. She is an engaging presenter who brings a vast storehouse of business and personal stories, making her an entertaining and pragmatic speaker. Because of her inviting and open style, she excels at asking the difficult questions that people think about, but never ask. Her marketing prowess and creativity have helped numerous organizations clarify their point of difference to increase sales and improve client retention.
Brady Wilson is an author and expert on how conversation affects organizational energy to create dynamic results. He has been called upon internationally by Fortune 500 clients to help them use a "conversational operating system" to overcome insurmountable challenges and achieve unprecedented results.
In our work with current and prospective clients around engagement, the discussion will typically start with a question: “How do we get our employees …”.
You may have heard the saying: "People don't leave organizations, they leave people.” (In particular, their direct manager.). A lot of work has been done to try to "fix" managers. I am not suggesting that developing managers is a bad thing, in fact it is imperative that managers continue to learn and grow to become the type of leaders everyone wants to follow. However, when speaking about engaging employees, the burden has fallen again on the shoulders of managers which I would argue is not only unfair, but is also doomed to fail or get little traction. A manager’s role in engagement is to create the conditions in which employees’ needs (including their own), can be met through mutual accountability.
Engagement and the culture of the organization is as much the responsibility of the employee as it is for their leaders. Otherwise the organization is setting itself up to have employees with entitlement issues, constantly waiting for their managers to make them feel better or to give them what they need. Managers are people just like anyone else. They wake up in the morning with the best intentions in the world to support and recognize their people, and to ensure the organization is successful. But they are human—not mind readers. From Juice's research on engagement, we have created a short-cut to understanding engagement from both a rational, and an emotional level, through 5 statements:
I Fit. I'm Clear. I'm Supported. I'm Valued. I'm Inspired.
The degree to which an employee can make these 5 statements with emphasis will uncover how engaged and energized they are, and directly relates to the amount of discretionary effort and energy they can offer to the organization. These are not simply "employee" statements; they apply from the janitor up to the CEO, and typically a manager (unless highly tuned-in and skilled in the art of leadership) will not distinguish which of these are most important to their direct reports. Nor will they recognize what their employee is lacking or needing in order to assist them in moving towards higher levels of engagement.
The manager needs to create the conditions and develop the skills where:
Cheryl Rayfield brings both commitment and an extensive background in client management in her role at Juice Inc.
During the past few weeks, strong anti-bullying messages have been circulating in an effort to end some of the the tragedies of student taking their own lives. Jonah is a 13-year-old boy with a disarming story. He tells his painful and often hard-to-watch journey in this video:
Perhaps I should have been stronger in my warning. As a parent of a child this age, Jonah’s plea is hard to watch. As a parent of a child who has been bullied, it is hard to watch. As a parent, I am just as lost as other parents about what to do to support a child when this happens. This insidious behavior can often leave our kids speechless - lacking the words to articulate and express what is going on. It may be their emotional, irritable or acting-out behavior that signals a problem. Thanks, Jonah, for putting words to what our kids are feeling.
As adults, we are just as perplexed about what to do when bullying happens in the workplace. The government introduced anti-bullying legislation in the workplace in Ontario 18 months ago and it has increased awareness about the problem, yet people are still unsure what to do if it happens to them, or if they see it happening to others. Bullying, in its simplest form, is one person being mean to another. It is an expression of an unmet need based in fear and characterized by threatening behavior.
I tell my kids that if they feel bullied, or if they witness behavior that appears to be bullying, they need to Speak Up, Speak Out and Speak Loud. They need to speak up to an adult or person of authority about the issue, speak out to the person mistreating them by creating boundaries around acceptable behaviors, and speak loud until they truly feel like they have been heard and the issue is being addressed by someone who can help. This isn’t always possible if children don’t feel safe in their school environment, and it isn’t possible if employees don’t feel safe in their work environment.
In addition to holding bullying behaviors to account, it is essential to understand what is at the core of the "bully’s" unmet need. This requires effective conversation and inquiry, which few of us have been trained to do. It is especially difficult when you are the parent of one of the children involved because it is such an emotional issue – staying calm and rational is not easy!
How have you navigated bullying behavior – either in your workplace or with your children? This is an issue that requires more conversation and an exchange of ideas. We’d like to hear yours… As parents, it is our responsibility to model impeccable behavior and perhaps we can do that by talking more about the issue.
Crista has been part of Juice Inc. since its inception. She is an engaging presenter who brings a vast storehouse of business and personal stories, making her an entertaining and pragmatic speaker. Because of her inviting and open style, she excels at asking the difficult questions that people think about, but never ask. Her marketing prowess and creativity have helped numerous organizations clarify their point of difference to increase sales and improve client retention.
I received a query from a magazine editor - whose responsibility should engagement be: management or the employee?
This is not a fence-sitting response - effective employee engagement relies on both employees and management. Employee engagement is not a "broad program" you can enforce upon all. What engages each employee is as unique as that person. It is up to that individual to communicate what it is that he or she needs to feel like they fit, they're clear, what support they need, and what makes them feel valued/inspiredand rewarded. If, as an employee I can't or don't communicate my goals and objectives, seek challenges and build a good rapport with my peers and managers, I will have a difficult time becoming engaged no matter what I do. The manager/leader's role is to ensure there is the type of environment that fosters these kinds of conversations so employees can flourish. There also needs to be "corporate will" from the top that management/leaders are committed to creating this kind of environment and putting into place, the kinds of reward and compensation structures that reward company values, positive behavior, a supportive, challenging environment, new ideas AND results.
Crista has been part of Juice Inc. since its inception. She is an engaging presenter who brings a vast storehouse of business and personal stories, making her an entertaining and pragmatic speaker. Because of her inviting and open style, she excels at asking the difficult questions that people think about, but never ask. Her marketing prowess and creativity have helped numerous organizations clarify their point of difference to increase sales and improve client retention.
An experienced charge nurse reviews staffing for the next shift. She notes that two out of the three nurses coming on have less than a year experience and she is concerned. In addition, the intoxicated patient in 54 is requiring hourly medications and frequent monitoring to avert DT’s (delirium tremors). The charge decides that in order to safely staff the floor she needs four nurses - but the staffing office says they are very sorry (sick call or staffing grid), and she can only have three.
A surgical nurse helps her patient to the bathroom and the patient is weak and unsteady on post op day three from a hip replacement. She foresees the likelihood of this patient falling at home and reports her observations to the physician, recommending that the patient stay another day to gain strength and more physical therapy - but the physician discharges the patient home anyway. He’s being dinged for his length of stay and can’t afford to look like an outlier.
Another nurse notices on the fourth post op day that the patient has not had a bowel movement for four days; but she can’t give Maalox or even a suppository without calling the doctor first. The nurse knows the surgeon is in the operating room and doesn’t want to interrupt. She also knows that the same over the-counter laxative that the doctor would order is currently ten feet away in the medication room.
An undertow is more powerful than a wave. An un-articulated conflict is much more damaging to our esteem than an obvious one. I could just as easily list scenarios where the nurses’ high level critical thinking, skill, autonomy and experience improved patient care. But the reason for discussing these situations is to raise awareness of their presence so that the effect can be mitigated. What effect?
Ambiguity increases self-doubt which in turn decreases self esteem; reinforcing nurses’ feelings of powerlessness. Raising awareness of these internal role conflicts however, allows us to intervene and change course. Many nurses take the above situations as ‘part of the job’, and fail to see how these daily conundrums insidiously chip away at their sense of self. But if we can identify and talk about the undertow that pulls us down, we can chart a different course.
To read the full article, click here The Undertow of Nursing: Charting a New Course.
Juice has partnered with Kathleen Bartholomew to create a two-part CD/DVD series that addresses the problem of nurse-to-nurse hostility and aims to provide the tools to end it. www.juicehealthcare.com.
Kathleen Bartholomew, RN, MN, has been called the most important new voice in American Nursing. With breakthrough professional books such as SPEAK YOUR TRUTH and ENDING NURSE-TO-NURSE HOSTILITY. We are proud to partner with Kathleen and represent her keynote presentations in Canada.
Q: How do we engage you?
A. Contact Juice inc. by phone 519-822-5479, email Kevin @ .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or Rick @ .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or visit www.juiceinc.com .
If you would like to view the Innovation in a Box webinar, click here.
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
As a Business co-op student at Wilfrid Laurier University, I have had the opportunity to work at Juice Inc. as the Marketing Assistant for my first work term. My role has been such a huge learning experience, as well as an enjoyable one. It has given me the chance to learn and grow both professionally and as a person. It has allowed me to build a solid foundation as I pursue my future career in Marketing. The culture and environment at Juice Inc. is truly so enjoyable and stimulating. It has been such a pleasure coming to work and being able to work with such excellent people. From the day I started my position I felt so comfortable and part of the team. Everyone is friendly and more than willing to support and help one another. The non-hierarchical nature was something I also appreciated. Whether I was speaking to my manager or the founder of the company, I was always at ease and able to voice my opinion. The culture and coworkers allowed me to find a fit within Juice Inc., flourish, and have a very pleasant experience.
Q: Can you provide ammunition to make the case to a manager?
A. Ask them to watch the Innovation video (http://www.juiceinc.com/programs/show/innovation-in-a-box) and/or Webinar (http://www.juiceinc.com/media/webinar/innovation-in-a-box-everyday-people-breakthrough-solutions). I would suggest getting together on a call where we can go through the content.
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
Q: While these tools are valuable for generating creativity - how do you "train" leaders to support innovation / create a culture of innovation, i.e., be willing to accept a level of risk from their team?
A: Two parts to this answer:
1. The individual Leader
2. The organization
The leader’s need to "get or understand" innovation in the same way that everyone else does. So, some of the basic theory is important. There is a business case to be made for innovation, and then they need to understand what’s required for implementation.
From an organizational change perspective, the following needs to be true.
There are general best practices that reflect what leaders can do to support the development of innovation as part of a culture. These include:
As each corporate culture is distinct, there are also ways leaders can support the development of a culture of innovation that must be tailored to the organization and the point in time. A process of discovery creates a strategic, targeted approach for leaders to take to ensure innovation settles in to the organization with the least resistance and greatest return possible.
The discovery categories include:
If you would like to view the Innovation in a Box webinar, click here.
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
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Q: When asked to come up with a new idea. What do you find is the best method to start, brainstorming, brain-mapping etc?
A: If I’m working with a new group, I am going to do some standard things right off the bat. Let’s assume that I have a day, and the goal is less about training and more about truly tackling a problem/opportunity. Let’s also assume that I’m working with an average group, i.e. a mix of folks in terms of preferences, experience, buy-in, etc. As we work together, and get to know one another, the agenda may well flex.
I will do some positioning:
a. Torrance Test
b. The importance of breakthrough thinking
c. Brain Poker - lead in to i5, and the process
I like to have spent some time upfront clarifying the problem/opportunity statement. This can save a lot of time in the session.
I would take them through a process of investigation and ideation…
Investigation:
If I’ve done the pre-work, then I can start with this. Since I’m a graphic facilitator (which in this context simply means that I like to draw things out BIG), I may have pre-drawn one of these tools - based on the input I’ve received from my client prior to the session.
1. Let’s understand why this is an issue? Therefore a Context Map and/or Mindmap (which I like more than a Fishbone, but I’m using it as an analytical tool).
2. Springboard off of the Mindmap, generating ideas, I’m leveraging the investigation tool to start brainstorming. This is nice because it’s what I would refer to as a related stimulus (a slight skewing of the term I admit), it’s building off of what they know.
Ideation
I really like 3-12-3 brainstorming as a way to jumpstart beyond traditional brainstorming. It takes traditional brainstorming, and adds some additional structure.
If you would like to view the Innovation in a Box webinar, click here.
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
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Q: How do you go through the innovation process as a group when you have people in the different quadrants?
A: Ideas:
To paraphrase Jim Collins, your best bet is to have the right people on the bus, what IDEO calls "t-shaped individuals". The issue isn’t so much quadrants, as OPENness, i.e. we can think differently, but we need to be capable of dialogue.
However, in most cases cherry-picking a dream team isn’t an option. Even when it is, I start with the assumption that you are going to have people in different quadrants, which is okay, and that you’re going to have people who are less than fully open, which is not really Ok.
So I’m going to answer two questions:
Four Quadrants
Openness
If you would like to view the Innovation in a Box webinar, click here.
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
Following our Innovation in a Box webinar, we received a number of questions that I have followed up and answered. There were some great questions, so I thought it would be a good idea to post them for your knowledge and interest.
Q: How do you approach innovation when your infrastructure doesn't have the technology to implement your ideas?
A: Ideas:
This is almost an expectation, or let me re-frame that. Breakthrough innovation is almost by definition going to be "impossible", so if it’s not an infrastructure issue, it will be a money issue, or some other issue. In fact, use an Implementation Checklist to determine what the issues are. It’s almost a "let’s anticipate that it’s going to rain" approach.
More specifically to answer your question...Collaborate, i.e. who can you hire, partner with, borrow from, acquire, train to do the work, with you or for you?
e.g. Creating an assessment with an outside service provider. The downside is that this is going to cost, either in terms of fee for service, or shared ownership, but there is limited options. Developing the capacity in-house is going to be equivalent...
Apply the same tools to the new problem-statement (your question) that we applied to the original problem statement, i.e. which gave you the product idea to begin with.
e.g. Mindmap + Scamper (Innovation tools part of the Innovation in a Box training program. For more information, contact us.)
If you would like to view the Innovation in a Box webinar, click here.
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
When Shelli was a new scrub nurse with only six months experience, she failed to anticipate that the surgeon would need a particular scalpel.Immediately, her preceptor deftly slapped the correct blade into the impatient surgeon’s outstretched hand with a glare in Shelli’s direction.The surgeon said nothing, but a look of disappointment briefly flashed across his face.At that moment, Shelli learned that if she was not on top of the surgeon’s needs, she would end up feeling embarrassed and looking incompetent.Shelli did not find this information in her orientation manual.
We learn these unspoken rules very quickly in order to survive.We know which physician not to ever call in the middle of the night, which nurse talks about us behind our back when we ask a question, and whether we should even bother to write up an incident report or approach a coworker with a concern we have about ‘their’ patient.This knowledge is vital to our survival because it determines whether or not we will be accepted by the group.
To read the full article, click here: Nurses Heal Thyself: A Culture of Silence
Juice has partnered with Kathleen Bartholomew to create a two-part CD/DVD series that addresses the problem of nurse-to-nurse hostility and aims to provide the tools to end it. www.juicehealthcare.com.
Kathleen Bartholomew, RN, MN, has been called the most important new voice in American Nursing. With breakthrough professional books such as SPEAK YOUR TRUTH and ENDING NURSE-TO-NURSE HOSTILITY. We are proud to partner with Kathleen and represent her keynote presentations in Canada.
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A nurse rolls her eyes at a co-worker as she picks up the assignment sheet that was created by a younger charge nurse. An ICU nurse pretends not to see her co-worker is drowning and ignores her request for help saying she is ‘too busy’. A newly hired RN who was previously a scrub tech finds she is now shunned by both groups. Is this just life as a nurse - or a nurse’s right of passage? Or is it something more insidious?
These behaviors go by several names: lateral or horizontal violence, incivility, nurse-to-nurse bullying, sabotage - “nurses eating their young.” In general, bullying in the United States is a term used to describe uncivil behavior from someone who has power over you – vertical aggression. Rude behaviors from peers are referred to as horizontal or lateral hostility and are defined as: “A consistent pattern of behavior designed to control, diminish or devalue a peer (or group) which creates a risk to health or safety” (Farrell, 2005).
To read the full article, click here: Lateral Violence in Nursing: Breaking the Spell.
Juice has partnered with Kathleen Bartholomew to create a two-part CD/DVD series that addresses the problem of nurse-to-nurse hostility and aims to provide the tools to end it. www.juicehealthcare.com.
Kathleen Bartholomew, RN, MN, has been called the most important new voice in American Nursing. With breakthrough professional books such as SPEAK YOUR TRUTH and ENDING NURSE-TO-NURSE HOSTILITY. We are proud to partner with Kathleen and represent her keynote presentations in Canada.
The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking was developed by Ellis Paul Torrance, an American psychologist in 2003. This test uses benchmarking to measure creativity. The full test involves simple tests of divergent and lateral thinking and other problem solving skills. They were scored on four things: fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration.
In Chapter 1 of the Graphic Innovation Guide, I used one part of the Torrance Test to expand on these four scales. I asked participants to write down as many uses for a tin can that they could think of. When the Torrance test measures your creativity in terms of fluency, it is measuring the number of ideas you are able to think of in a given period of time. Flexibility measures the range of categories for the ideas you come up with. Originality measures the rarity of the idea, or if it is a new, original idea. Finally, elaboration was not mentioned in Chapter 1, however; it measures the amount of detail used in your responses.
This test and the scales that it measures can be very insightful. We have talked about why innovation is so important to the success of a business. Innovation allows you to come up with breakthrough solutions. So if your goal is innovation, then it is important to know that we should increase our focus on all of these four scales. We must brainstorm ideas that have fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration. The Torrance Test is agreat way to do that. If you would like more information on this, email me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
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We all experience stress in our lives. They may be small, everyday stressors like getting stuck in traffic, missing a work deadline or getting into an argument. Or they may be larger stressful events like getting into a car accident and being laid off from your job. Whether experiencing a small or large stressor, we will have a physiological body response to the perceived threat or danger. The response occurs in a part of our brain called the hypothalamus. When we are stimulated, the hypothalamus activates two systems which produce the flight or fight response. You can read more about this process here.
The physical responses that result are intended to help protect you from the danger you are facing. Some of these include our respiratory rate increasing, awareness intensifying, pupils dilate, our sight sharpens, our impulses quicken, etc. They prepare you to either run from the threat (flight) or fight against it. When we are faced with a problem or stressor and in this state of mind it is extremely difficult to think rationally. Out of fear, we are in a negative state of mind, our rational mind is disengaged, we are overwhelmed and only focused on short-term survival, resulting in being unable to make clear choices and recognize the consequences.
Being aware of this can be very beneficial in our work and personal lives. Everyday we are faced with different stresses and try to deal with it in the best way. Knowing this, it is helpful to avoid giving in to our automatic fight or flight response. Instead, we should do the opposite. Try to stop and take time to keep calm so that we can rationally respond to the threat - this is called the STOP model. For more information, read Using the STOP Model blog post.
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
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Working to achieve our goals often causes us great stress, especially when the goal is very important and there is a great amount of pressure surrounding us. The increased pressure causes us to be triggered leaving us unable to think or function as efficiently as we normally would. This concept is discussed in Chapter 3 of Rick Boersma’s Graphic Innovation Guide. In dealing with this, Rick introduces Timothy Gallwey’s S.T.O.P. Model "The First Rule of Coaching".
The S.T.O.P. acronym stands for:
This is a tool that can be applied to many situations in addition to coaching. This process can be very useful in your work life because there are many situations that it can be applied. Rick explains that it can be seen as the first rule of not only coaching, but used in emotional intelligence, innovation, problem solving, team building, etc. The first step, Stepping back, is also the most difficult because we are usually triggered and under pressure. However, in doing so, we are able to move on to the next step and Think with a clear mind. Then we Organize our thoughts and decide how we will execute them. Finally, we actually Proceed to carry out what we have carefully thought through. This tool is especially effective in situations that involve high stress, not only at work but also our personal lives. A well thought out process gives you more awareness of yourself and surroundings, allowing you to better respond.
As many of you know, Wed. July 13th I hosted a live Innovation in a Box webinar which was very successful. If you happened to miss it and are interested, you can still watch the recorded version by clicking or copying the following link into your browser: http://www.juiceinc.com/media/webinar/innovation-in-a-box-everyday-people-breakthrough-solutions
We received many inquiries as to what writing program I used for the webinar, so here is some more information!
The program I used for drawing on the screen is called Ultimate Pen, http://www.snowmintcs.com/products/ultimatepenmac/.
Finally - a bit of practice makes, well, if not exactly perfect, certainly all right.
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
A very effective tool I recently learned and found of good use is Paired Comparison. This is one of the tools found in the Innovation in a Box training program created by Rick Boersma. What I really like about it is the fact that it can be used to help you structure and make decisions no matter how big or small the choice may be. It is a great way of providing a framework and weighing up the relative importance of different options.
Here’s how it works. You list all your options. Then compare every option with each of the others. Once you decide which of the two options is more important, you score the difference in importance. Once you do this for all pairs, you will finish off with an ordered list of the options that are best suited to your needs. I would have found this tool especially useful a couple of months ago when I was making my decision for where I should work for my summer co-op term. Although the choice seems obvious now, I was debating between my position at Juice Inc. and a much larger, more corporate company. I knew the things I hoped to get out of my work experience as well as what each, very different company had to offer. However, it was hard to make this connection. If I had used Paired Comparison, it would have been very useful to help me focus on each aspect in a structured way and more easily establish which job would be the best fit for me. This tool is helpful not only with personal decisions, but also aid in your work life. The Paired Comparison tool allows you to take on a structured approach and come to your solution in a timely, easy manner.
Innovation is a strategic priority for organizations, but simply telling employees to "think out of the box" is a recipe for frustration and failure. A structured approach to innovation leads to a 500 percent increase in useful ideas.
Yesterday, my colleague, Rick Boersma, did a fantastic job on an innovation webinar! He did what he does best - talks about innovation while drawing. The technology he used gave him the ability to draw "live" - this in itself was an innovation for us. And it worked perfectly! A number of attendees have asked how this was done and we are gathering that information and will have it available tomorrow.
If you are interested in downloading the webinar - click here. Great Job Rick!
Relationship Rule #1 states that, in any relationship you will encounter differences. Men and women’s communication styles are very different. South Americans have a different sense of timeliness than North Americans. Operations people tend to value processes differently than sales people. Millennials appreciate technology differently than Boomers do. An introvert views a company party very differently than an extrovert does.
And differences tend to create a sense of tension. The beauty of tension is that it has something powerful residing within it – energy. You don’t get to decide whether energy will get released from the tension – you do get to decide whether it will be intelligent energy or destructive energy.
At work, we deal with business tensions every day:
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- Meet the global needs of the organization and meet the individual needs of the employee.
- Achieve economic and ecological success.
- Do what’s good for the present and for the future.
- Provide a differentiated, tailor-made customer experience and reduce costs.
- Use technology to drive efficiency and help employees feel that face-to-face connection.
- Develop peoples’ careers and maximize productivity.
Great leaders stand right in the middle of the tension, use the power of the and, harmonize the conflicting needs and in so doing, release a powerful energy that drives sustainable results.
I’m beginning to think that in relationships, love lives right in the middle of the tension. My partner Theresa and I have been together for twenty-nine years. I started off the relationship swallowing my needs, overlooking issues and stuffing my frustrations in an attempt to meet Theresa’s needs. That didn’t work. It created bitterness and resentment. I wasn’t loving myself. Then I tried to make sure I got my own needs met. That didn’t work either. It created a pendulum of fiery explosions and icy wildernesses. I wasn’t loving Theresa.
Love lives in the tension. It’s the drive to get your own needs met and the drive to ensure your partner’s needs get met. Love both covers our partner’s inadequacies and calls out their bad behavior. Love accommodates and demands growth.
When two people stand right in the middle of their relational tensions and extend themselves to invest in their own highest good and highest good of the other, astonishing energy is released.
Brady Wilson is an author and expert on how conversation affects organizational energy to create dynamic results. He has been called upon internationally by Fortune 500 clients to help them use a "conversational operating system" to overcome insurmountable challenges and achieve unprecedented results.
What makes you who you are? Although we know our curly hair, straight teeth and overall good looks are the result of the genes we inherit from our parents, it is much tougher to understand how exactly our personality, talents, and behaviours are developed. Are your musical abilities learned from your family or predetermined by your genes? This age old question has been in debate since the 13th century with no certain answer. It is not known how much of our makeup we can contribute to our parents or the environments we grow up in. For instance, you and your siblings may have very similar mannerisms and personality traits, but is this because of the genes from your parents or because you have grown up in the same environment? At the same time, one may argue that their siblings have more differences than similarities, but is it because genes are playing a smaller role, or has the environment just changed due to attending different schools, the child’s birth order, or the different friends and teachers that influence them. It is almost impossible to decipher whether differences are due to environment, simply because even though you may have grown up with the same parents, in the same house in the same neighbourhood, there are many other variables. A major one is the different people that affect our lives causing us to have different experiences. On the other hand, there have been numerous studies on genetics and their influence on individuals, namely twin studies.
Twin studies are a key tool in behavioural genetics and can show the extent to which genes play a role in influencing one’s traits. Studies have shown that identical twins share almost 100% of their genetic polymorphisms whereas fraternal twins only share 50%. This means that most variation in their traits is due to their individual unique experiences. Other twin studies have been conducted when twins are separated at birth and grow up without knowing they have a twin. They are studied and introduced later in their lives to see the similarities or differences that exist. A good example of this study is with twins Elyse Schein and Paula Bernsteinwho grew up not knowing about each other but met as adults. They were fascinated to find they had so many unique similarities even though they grew up in different cities with different families. According to Bernstein, this seems to show that genes influence at least 50% of one’s traits. Although this finding was dominant in this study, it does not hold true for all cases. Many would argue that similar social class, education, and family values are a big influence as well. Every case is different, there has been no agreement on how much of nature or nurture affects us, nor which one has a greater influence. The only thing that has been recognized is that both interact with one another and play a role in our development.
It is helpful to understand how nature and nurture affect and shape us not only in our personal lives, but also in the way we work and how we interact with our coworkers. We all have different thinking preferences, which are explained by Rick Boersma in Chapter 3 of his Graphic Innovation Field Guide. This is depicted in a four quadrant model and depending on which box you fit into, will determine your strengths and weaknesses. Being aware of your own, as well as other’s thinking preferences, can improve your work relationships and help you better interact and communicate with one another.
Want your quads, calves or biceps to grow? Here’s how to make it happen. First you exert yourself to the point of tearing the micro-fibers of your muscles. Next you rest your muscles. In the next couple of days, as the torn fibers repair themselves muscle is built. This is the cycle that creates the growth of muscles: stress and recovery, stress and recovery.*
Extending yourself tears the muscles
Last week my eldest son Adrian and his wife Alison had a triple whammy. They moved into a different house on Saturday, had a baby on Sunday and renovated their entire bathroom in the ensuing week. I had just come off a big month of travel and was exhausted. But I really wanted to invest in the highest good of my kids. Adrian and I gutted the bathroom, re-plumbed it and got the drywall all taped. I worked late into the night with him then woke up at 4:30 the next morning to take off on another trip. I knew when I woke up that my body was sick. Sometimes when you extend yourself to invest in someone’s highest good it requires sacrifice – you tear something in the process. I later told my business partner Alex, “I wouldn’t trade this cold for anything. It means everything for me to be there for Adrian.”
I have stepped into many, many stressful conversations – extending myself to invest in someone’s highest good. In the process I often exerted my intellectual or emotional muscles to the point where they began to tear. In the aftermath I became enlarged – a bigger, more expansive human being.
My scope of care and ownership expanded and I became more mature, no longer just caring for my own good and growth but the good and growth of those closest to me, and then in an ever-expanding orbit – my community, my province, my nation – my world.
Are you tearing the muscles?
Is there someone you need to offer your help to – something that will mean significant personal sacrifice for you?
Is there someone close to you who needs to move to a higher level of growth or maturity and you’re the one who needs to have a conversation with them?
Is there someone with an annoying idiosyncrasy requiring levels of patience and restraint from you, that are almost more than you can bear?
*For more on this concept read The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Lohr and Tony Schwartz.
Brady Wilson is an author and expert on how conversation affects organizational energy to create dynamic results. He has been called upon internationally by Fortune 500 clients to help them use a "conversational operating system" to overcome insurmountable challenges and achieve unprecedented results.
If it’s true that the soul’s stature is measured by the yardstick of love, you might be asking yourself, “How do I stack up in the love department? Am I a loving person?” I have an answer for you: you are a loving person. You love all sorts of things. Whenever you extend yourself to invest in the highest good of someone or something – that’s love.
I often extend myself to invest in the highest good of my customers. So by the definition above, I love my customers.
My neighbor Jim extends himself to invest in the highest good of his Harley. He loves his motor cycle. Kelly extends herself to invest in marathon training. She loves running.
Love is the selection process that determines what you will do and what you will not do; what you value and what you throw away; what you seek after and what you spurn; what you will devote your time to, and what you will ignore. The question is not: “How can I be a more loving person?” You are already a loving person. You love all sorts of things. The question is: “How can I love the things that are most important and beneficial?”
Your marriage suffers when your spouse feels you love yourself more than you love them. Your family suffers when your kids feel you love your career more than you love them. Your business suffers when your customers feel you love your processes more than you love serving them. We do love. The question is: “What do we love?” and “How do we know what’s best to love in the moment?”
The answer is not as simple as, “Don’t love things – love people.” You do love your old Gibson hummingbird guitar, and if my definition for love holds any water you should. By all means extend yourself to invest in its highest good: polish it, store it at the proper humidity level so it doesn’t crack and don’t let your four-year-old shred it with a bread tag.
But if you don’t know when to put your Gibson down and listen to your wife’s concerns about the colleague who’s trying to assassinate her character at work, then she’s going to feel you love your Gibson more than you love her. That will not be good for your marriage. If you go ballistic when your teenager spills hot chocolate in your SUV, he might not have a huge desire to hang with you.
I remember helping a friend move. The ramp of the moving truck was very slick and I slipped and hurt myself. My friend came running over and immediately expressed his concern – for his dresser. He began running his hands over the wood to determine if any damage had been done. The message seemed articulate: “I love my furniture more than I love you.”
I think in general, loving people enlarges our soul more than loving things. Perhaps that’s because people are harder to love than things. They seem to require a greater extending of ourselves and a steeper form of investment. Extending yourself to invest in your cottage has a pretty linear form of payback to it. The relationship between cause and effect is trickier to track when you invest in people.
So love things, love ideals and love people. Most of all, learn to detect what the moment is calling for and focus all your attention on loving that in the moment.
Brady Wilson is an author and expert on how conversation affects organizational energy to create dynamic results. He has been called upon internationally by Fortune 500 clients to help them use a "conversational operating system" to overcome insurmountable challenges and achieve unprecedented results.
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I'm really excited about my Innovation article that was recently published in the Summer 2011 Canadian Manager magazine!
Click here to check it out: http://www.juiceinc.com/articles/show/canadian-manager-article
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
This is the final version of the Fishbone tool. Enjoy!
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Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
In Canada, 44 per cent of female nurses and 50 per cent of male nurses report being exposed to hostility or conflict from people they work with, according to the 2005 National Survey of the Work and Health of Nurses. The survey was conducted by Statistics Canada in partnership with Health Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
Twelve per cent of the RNs, licensed practical nurses and registered psychiatric nurses who responded to the survey experienced emotional abuse from co-workers; however, experts in the field say that percentage is likely vastly under-reported. “It’s a problem at every single level of the entire profession,” says Kathleen Bartholomew, a Seattle-based RN and the author of Ending Nurse-to-Nurse Hostility: Why Nurses Eat Their Young and Each Other.
To read the full article that was recently published in the June issue of Canadian Nurse, please click here Targeted - The impact of bullying and what needs to be done to eliminate it.
Kathleen Bartholomew, RN, MN, has been called the most important new voice in American Nursing. With breakthrough professional books such as SPEAK YOUR TRUTH and ENDING NURSE-TO-NURSE HOSTILITY. We are proud to partner with Kathleen and represent her keynote presentations in Canada.
This is the next phase of the Fishbone Diagram!
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Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
For those of you that don't know, I'm working on a Graphic Innovation Guide based on the Innovation in a Box training program. I'm currently working on the specific tools for the chapter on Investigation. The tool is the Fishbone Diagram and here's how it's looking so far.
If you are interested in more information on the Graphic Innovation Guide, sign up to receive a chapter per month until the book is complete. In exchange, we seek your feedback to make the final product the best it can be.
Click here to read the Introduction.
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
For any of you who were a teenager with parents who embarrassed you or if you are now one of those embarrasing parents you will love this story. What's interesting is that the dad got into his son's frame of mind and this became something he looked forward to.
"Rain Price will never forget the first day of his sophomore year of high school. On the bus, packed with classmates from his suburban Utah school, Rain peered out the window, mortified."... http://yhoo.it/j9bKik
I wish I rode that bus!
Here is a picture of Dale Price waving at his son's bus on the last day of the school year.
(courtesy of waveatthebus.blogspot.com)
Author: Matt Ninaber, CEO/Director, High Rise Studio
Every once in a while you learn something that saves your life. That’s when you write it down and tattoo it to your brain.
Being an entrepreneur is a hard thing. Being an entrepreneur who just got married is even harder. Being an entrepreneur, married and having a team of seven people (and 
counting) is even harder than that. There are so many things that need working on. Such as generating leads, customer service and retention, product development, payroll, employee experience…. the list goes on.
So when I learn something that makes life easier, I like to write it down and share it.
Eight years ago, Josh and I could be found constantly running around with a video camera in hand, living out our dream. Now it seems as though I spend more time with the list above than actually making movies.
By passion, I am a moviemaker; by necessity, I am a business owner.
The question I have been asking myself lately is: “How can I get back to making movies, while at the same time make sure we are taking care of business? How do we get new clients? Stay ahead of the curve? Be innovative and solve problems fast?”
The solution? It’s called the Success Ethic. The basic concept is:
“Take care of your employees and they take care of your business.”
I find this especially hard to do because running a business is a lot like going into battle. There is intense competition in quality, price and turnaround. The idea to stop and ask people how are they doing and give them “felt support” [supporting your employees the way they need to be supported] feels like a time waster. To make sure people fit, ensuring communication is clear, that they feel supported, valued and inspired seems overwhelming.
But something happens when a business makes their employees top priority.
It’s the difference between Peter Parker before he was bitten by a radio active spider. It’s like taking kryptonite out of Clark Kent ribs. Something breaks and you don’t have regular employees. You get superheroes that are faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.
Now the question: How do I know this secret to success?
One of our long standing clients is Juice Inc. In short, Juice Inc. is hired by organizations across the globe to help implement this strategy of felt support through something called the Success Ethic. By creating promotional videos for them (and watching them over 100 times … literally), we’ve learned a thing or two about the Success Ethic and have had numerous opportunities to apply it here at High Rise Studio.
When I was young, at the ripe age of 20, my goal was to “to tell stories that inspire and equip people to live lives bigger then themselves.” Now, my mission is to “build the world’s greatest team that will tell stories that inspire and equip people to live lives bigger then themselves.” Focusing on taking care of the team here at High Rise Studio seems to be one of the keys to doing that and getting back to making movies.
What are your thoughts about making employees your top priority?
Reprinted with permission. © 2011 High Rise Studio
In my role I have the opportunity to pass on books to friends and colleagues but I am never quite sure that they make a difference. I gave a friend of mine a copy of Finding the Sticking Point. She loves to read and I thought it might be helpful in her current role of National Account Manager of CNHR Magazine. Well, she loved it! So much so, she recommended the book to the owner of the publication and he suggested she write a book review on it. Check out what she thinks in the May-June 2011 edition of Canadian Natural Health Retailer Magazine: http://bit.ly/mvBYgu
And to my friend, thank you for the power of your words.
Tears welled up in Shelly’s eyes as she told me about her boss’ sacrifice. Shelly was stuck in a no-win situation. She managed a highly-complex nursing unit with too few resources, too many demands and too much emotional energy being sucked out of her by a chronic bullying issue.
Kate, my boss came to me and said, ‘I’m carrying your pager for the next six weeks while you get things straightened out. I’ll let you know what you need to respond to and I’ll take care of the rest. What kind of a boss does something like that?!”
In short, only big people do things like that. Scott Peck unpacks the concept of human enlargement in The Road Less Traveled*. Psychologists say that when “we are attracted to, invest in and commit to an object outside ourselves 'we actually cathect it' We psychologically incorporate a representation of that object into ourselves.' In the process of cathexis, we extend the boundaries of our personhood by stretching out toward the object of our love whose growth we wish to nurture.”
My neighbor Mary-Catherine is a gardener who loves her garden. When she’s at work and takes a break for lunch she pulls out her Lee Valley catalogue and studies the gardening section. On rainy days she’s creating sketches of how she envisions her garden to be. In a very real way, Mary-Catherine has incorporated the garden within her, and by this incorporation her self has become enlarged. She is not only Mary-Catherine anymore, she is Mary-Catherine with a garden growing inside her.
Those of us who are parents have experienced this first-hand. I am not only a person, I am a person with children and grandchildren living inside me. Through cathexis - being attracted to, investing in and committing to the objects of my love I have become a bigger person. In short, love has made me big.
If love enlarges us, think how large Mother Theresa’s soul was. She cathected thousands inside of her. Think how small the soul of a cold, heartless banker who only lives for his own self interests.
I’ve been on a quest to discover a working definition for love. I think maybe there’s one inside this concept of cathexis. My current working definition for love is extending yourself to invest in someone’s highest good.
So back to Shelly’s question, “What kind of a boss carries her employee’s pager for six weeks?” A boss who is attracted to, invested in and committed to the highest good of her employees. In short, a boss with employees living inside of her. It’s only a big person who makes a big boss.
How big are you on the inside? What, or whom do you have living inside of you? If you extend yourself to invest in the highest good of your employees, it is possible that one of them is speaking positively about you right now and asking, “What kind of a boss does something like that?”
*If you haven’t yet read it, pick up Scott Peck’s book The Road Less Traveled. His thoughts on cathexis are on page 52-53 of Love at Work.
Brady Wilson is an author and expert on how conversation affects organizational energy to create dynamic results. He has been called upon internationally by Fortune 500 clients to help them use a "conversational operating system" to overcome insurmountable challenges and achieve unprecedented results.
Do you think employee engagement reports are an effective way to improve employee engagement levels?
Employee engagement reports are a tool and should be treated as such. A hammer in and of itself does nothing until you know how you want to use it. And, like many tools, if used correctly, it can be used to build something significant. And yet, like a lot of tools, in the wrong hands, it can be destructive. What is the purpose of an engagement tool? To genuinely discover the pulse of the organization and use it as a baseline to improve? Using these tools and then hiding or not sharing the discoveries can back-fire. Ensure there is a plan in place that considers how feedback will be fed back to the people who gave it to you. Share strengths with employees, and share the areas for opportunity so they know where and how management is trying to change things, and where they can play a role. Employees who feel heard and understood will ultimately be those who are more engaged. If they feel their feedback is not appreciated or valued, their engagement levels - the very thing you are trying to improve - may get worse.
Crista has been part of Juice Inc. since its inception. She is an engaging presenter who brings a vast storehouse of business and personal stories, making her an entertaining and pragmatic speaker. Because of her inviting and open style, she excels at asking the difficult questions that people think about, but never ask. Her marketing prowess and creativity have helped numerous organizations clarify their point of difference to increase sales and improve client retention.
A chunk of limestone does not seek the growth of another being. Neither does a turnip. As far as we can tell, minerals and vegetables have no drive to seek the growth and preservation of others. The cocker spaniel, on the other hand, does exhibit this drive. She cares for and protects beings outside her own scope of concern. Humans take this trait to even more sophisticated levels.
If you were asked, “Does a rock have a soul? Does a turnip? A cocker spaniel? A human?”, what would you say?
Mihalyi Csikzentmahalyi, the author of the book Flow, has an opinion on this. “No matter how complex a system is, we judge it as having no soul if all its energies are devoted merely to keeping itself alive and growing. We attribute soul to those entities that use some portion of their energy not only for their own sake but to make contact with other beings and care for them.”
With this thought in mind, one could argue that the cocker spaniel has a bigger soul than the heartless lawyer who devotes all his energies to serving himself.
The bigger the soul – the more it seeks to extend itself to invest in the highest good of another. In short, the soul’s stature is measured by the yardstick of love.
In a very real sense, love is the metric of maturity. Got a soul? How big is it? You can tell by the amount of energy you expend seeking the highest good of others – the drive to seek the growth and preservation of an ever-broadening community. This journey of maturity started when you began to share toys with other toddlers. It continued with your friends as you protected them in the schoolyard. It progressed when you protected a colleague’s reputation at work. Perhaps you’ll get married and have children. That part of the journey will give you millions of opportunities to grow your soul. The journey includes all your dealings with your community, and your entire world.
Here’s my definition for love at this point in my journey: Love is extending yourself to invest in someone’s highest good.
Breaking apart this definition will provide you with a choicepoint many times a day: Will I extend myself? This can mean sacrifice, stress, stretching and pain. To invest. This part requires risk. You take time, energy or money that’s in your hand as a for sure thing and you spend it on someone else in the hopes that good will come out of the investment. In someone’s highest good. This part requires relationship and conversation. A person’s highest good is not tattooed on their forehead. Not only that, most people aren’t crystal clear themselves, about what the highest good is for them. We all have blindspots and are a little bit unaware of what’s best for us. This is a discovery process: seeking to co-explore what someone’s true potential is and how you can help them fulfill it.
Animal, vegetable, mineral – the choice is yours every day.
Brady Wilson is an author and expert on how conversation affects organizational energy to create dynamic results. He has been called upon internationally by Fortune 500 clients to help them use a "conversational operating system" to overcome insurmountable challenges and achieve unprecedented results.
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THE JOINT COMMISSION SAYS HEALTHCARE FACILITIES, labs and other related organizations must establish a code of conduct that defines and sets out a process for handling unacceptable behavior by health care workers, such as rude language, temper tantrums and bullying. The Commission said such behavior can impact patient care by causing breakdowns in provider communication and teamwork.
To read the full article, http://www.juiceinc.com/articles/show/hostility-or-connection
Kathleen Bartholomew, RN, MN, has been called the most important new voice in American Nursing. With breakthrough professional books such as SPEAK YOUR TRUTH and ENDING NURSE-TO-NURSE HOSTILITY. We are proud to partner with Kathleen and represent her keynote presentations in Canada.
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How important is it that CEOs are bought in to innovation initiatives at a company?
When I was asked this question by an editor recently, this is my response...
Innovation can definitely happen at the grass-roots. Innovation initiatives can be driven by individuals, project-teams and departments. Individuals and managers can work within their own circles of influence and do incredibly innovative work almost regardless of the overall culture of innovation in the company. But, if one looks at icons of corporate innovation: Apple, Google, P+G...Companies that really do have cultures of innovation ( cultures which allow them to reap a harvest in terms of innovative products and services) then having the CEO on board is critical.
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
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Is there a gap between how companies value enterprise innovation versus the resources they actually devote to it? What are the reasons behind this disparity?
When I was asked this question by an editor recently, this is my response...
There is absolutely a disparity between how companies say they value enterprise innovation (or innovation of any kind), and the resources they devote to it. The proof of this is evident in an examination of the financial-results posted by different companies in any given sector. Truly innovative companies in every sector out-perform their less innovative competitors by an order of magnitude. Although lip-service is paid to “innovation”, relatively few companies follow through.
The principle reasons are
Let’s look at each of these briefly.
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
Aligning practice with policy to improve patient care...
Recently, a highly accomplished orthopedic surgeon was scheduled to work on three consecutive cases with his OR team. The operating rooms were state of the art within the medical center’s newly constructed orthopedic hospital, which had not yet celebrated its first birthday. A system of time outs including use of the World Health Organization (WHO) surgical checklist had been in place at the medical center for almost three years now, with multiple checklists for patient identification, pre-op procedures and instrumentation.
To read the full article, http://www.juiceinc.com/articles/show/the-silent-treatment
Kathleen Bartholomew, RN, MN, has been called the most important new voice in American Nursing. With breakthrough professional books such as SPEAK YOUR TRUTH and ENDING NURSE-TO-NURSE HOSTILITY. We are proud to partner with Kathleen and represent her keynote presentations in Canada.
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Well we are done. Yesterday was early to late...dust, dirt, paint, tar, wood, glass, windows, screens, cement, noise, people, hard work, laughter, prayers, dedication, team, heart and tears...a week of our time and a families prayers answered...feels so good!
Alex Somos is co-founder of Juice Inc. His ability to cast vision and provide strategic direction, combined with his passion to make a difference in the lives of others' has created a strong leadership style that creates results and breeds loyalty from those around him.
Today there was a big push to tar the roof and roll on the shingles. Yet again the youth stepped up and worked so hard. They tried their hand at everything and came out more confident after being challenged and experiencing their success. The interior wall went up and windows were cut to size, trimmed and framed.
Every morning prior to heading out to the building site, we gather in a circle and talk about the upcoming day. Yesterday we spoke about walls and I asked the team to think about what walls they would like to bring down. This morning I asked if anyone wanted to share about their reflections...One 14-year-old said she wanted to bring down the walls of control and worry and another talked about how to really trust God to be there for her. I would like to get better at leaving my judgements behind. Another dad in the group said he would like to shed fear. Our circle time has become powerful!
This morning we talked about what it means to be content when we have much and when we have little. Tomorrow we will talk about that question, and specifically what grips their heart and prevents them from being content.
The sun is going down right now, the breeze is cool, birds sing their song of days end. A small group has just finished singing and are doing their
devotional. What a great day!
Alex Somos is co-founder of Juice Inc. His ability to cast vision and provide strategic direction, combined with his passion to make a difference in the lives of others' has created a strong leadership style that creates results and breeds loyalty from those around him.
We managed to put up the walls and tack on the roof in very windy conditions. Our teen volunteers were determined to get that roof on and the house is painted beautiful Canada Red!
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We stopped work early today so we could put together care packages of flour, semolina, oil, and 2 types of beans and rice.
Once the packages were complete, we drove off-road passing a dump until we came to a migrant camp. The kids saw us first and started waving and hollering at us! They ran on ahead calling out to the others. Everyone played with the kids: soccer, ring-around-the-rosie and many piggy-back rides. The camp has no working toilets and water is delivered. Fences are made with whatever material they have or can be found and many houses have tarps covering their roofs. I am reminded that it makes a difference where you are born and it determines so much... We, have much to do, and much to be thankful for...
Alex Somos is co-founder of Juice Inc. His ability to cast vision and provide strategic direction, combined with his passion to make a difference in the lives of others' has created a strong leadership style that creates results and breeds loyalty from those around him.
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Juice Inc. president and partner, Alex Somos takes an annual trip to Mexico to help build houses for families there who go without the basic need of a roof over their head. This year, the goal is for he and his team to build two homes in a week, rather than one. Over the next few days we will provide you with some of his thoughts as he and his family offer their support to those in need. This is the first of his “Mexican Blogs”.
My day started with the call of roosters trying to outdo each other, and mourning doves filling in the spaces. It was sunny all day with a strong wind constantly at our backs. We laughed as we wiped our faces and saw how much dirt clung to our cloths.
When we got to the work site we were greeted by three children ages two up to six. It’s hard to tell how old they are because they are small due to poor nutrition. Their mom, Maria Carmen, came out to greet us with her baby wrapped in blankets. It just gave us so much joy to see their expectant, happy faces. They live in a patchwork building made of cardboard, discarded pieces of wood, hard board and plastic. The outhouse is in much-needed state of repair and doesn’t offer us gringos the comfort we are used to. We take bathroom runs back to the base to ease everybody’s cares and fears. Our group has 12 people of mostly teens, a great group of women (all of who are moms) and a couple of us veterans.
The team gathered in a circle on the top of a cement pad. I asked the group what they were standing on. After a number of different answers someone finally said, “A foundation?” I commented that we all have foundations, 
except ours are typically invisible. I encouraged the group to think about what beliefs make up their foundations and to use this time to reflect upon them and ask themselves if they need to address any.
Beliefs are foundational and they drive our behavior. Are yours serving you and your life purpose? Are there any you need to leave behind? After a little reflection time we reviewed the plans, organized our team and got busy. I can tell you the teens were enthusiastic, they were fun and they worked very diligently. I was so touched as they engaged with the kids - helping them hammer or move smaller pieces of wood. The day flew by... We managed to build the outer wall and roof panels. Tomorrow we paint (always fun with the kids, everyone helping), assemble the outer shell and put the roof on. Hopefully we will have it sheeted before day’s end. Maria Carmen picked a bright red for the exterior colour with white trim...
Alex Somos is co-founder of Juice Inc. His ability to cast vision and provide strategic direction, combined with his passion to make a difference in the lives of others' has created a strong leadership style that creates results and breeds loyalty from those around him.
Do you think companies are more concerned with product innovation than enterprise innovation? Why? Does the economy have anything to do with it?
When I was asked this question by an editor recently, this is my response...
I’ll be provocative here and say that companies should be more interested in product innovation then enterprise innovation because of the numbers associated with breakthrough products. Truly superior new products have 4-5 times the success rate, market share and rated profit of “me too” new products.
Having said this, the reality is that few companies are willing to dedicate the resources necessary to ensure breakthrough innovation on either the product or enterprise side. Most innovation in most organizations is incremental.
Most enterprise innovation efforts are focused on the maintenance or mild improvement of the status quo. More often then not it’s focused on incremental cost-savings. In fact, it’s questionable whether it should even be called innovation - it’s really problem-solving.
Does the economy have anything to do with it? Absolutely. Under pressure companies are risk-adverse. Rather then making bold-bets they focus on maintenance. The irony of course is that while they do this, their competition may pass them by. The low-risk strategy in the short-term is high-risk in the long-term.
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
Learn how a so-called "average" group using innovation tools can produce 500 percent more useful ideas than a "creative" group. Innovation in a Box™ unleashes the creative thinking that powers business success.
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
The most critical action you can take to decrease your personal level of stress in the workplace is to raise your own awareness of the emotional work of nursing, and to honor your own feelings at all times.
As the mother of five children under the age of 12 living in a 500-square foot trailer in the south, I thought I knew stress. I had struggled with adapting to single-parent life while attending nursing school full time, working at the university, dealing with financial concerns and spending tremendous amounts of psychic energy to nurture my young family. But I was wrong. The kind of stress I was familiar with was tangible and expected—acknowledged and validated by friends and family. The stress that I experienced in the transition from nursing school to staff nursing was like nothing I had ever experienced before because it was intangible and unnamed.
To read the full article, http://www.juiceinc.com/files/documents/Stress_The_Heart_of_the_Matter.pdf
Kathleen Bartholomew, RN, MN, has been called the most important new voice in American Nursing. With breakthrough professional books such as SPEAK YOUR TRUTH and ENDING NURSE-TO-NURSE HOSTILITY. We are proud to partner with Kathleen and represent her keynote presentations in Canada.
Although the industrial age is long over, most organizations’ key people systems, processes and practices still have roots from that era. Traditional performance management processes are no longer relevant. In fact, they deliver the opposite of the intended performance objective and de-motivate employees (see my article “Dirty Words in the Workplace – Performance Management!”).
The critical performance question business leaders would like to address is how to unleash potential in their organization.
Here are my Five Tips to Inspire Exceptional Performance :
It’s time to re-think how we work in organizations. I am passionately committed to helping organizations make significant changes for the better. What are you inspired to do? To read the full article by Susan Stitt, please click here.
By Susan Stitt, Director/Human Resources Business Partner, AstraZeneca Canada
You know it when you feel it. At least I do. I become defensive. My face goes red. My breath gets shallow (and so do some of my words…) I get tense and my lips purse. Physiologically, my body is prepping for flight or fight mode. In fact it does at the mere mention of the word. Conflict.
What does it do to you? Conflict comes from the word confligere, derived from con, which means together, and the Latin fligere, which means to beat down. No wonder our bodies take on a protection stance when we hear the word.
As a kid, my conflict training came from sibling combats for the last cookie or remote control. There was very little guidance at school, except to say you turn the other cheek. (Was that another way of saying run away from it?) Turns out though, with a little bit of education, conflict doesn’t need to be such a threat. In fact, there are benefits to conflict. It can catalyze change, force decisions, boost trust, promote diverse opinions, and even strengthen relationships. An absence of conflict can signal suppressed views, it stifles growth and it limits the ability for attitudes, behaviors and relationships to evolve and change.
Do any of these opportunities exist within a current conflict you are struggling with?
Finding common ground is critical to resolving conflict but that is so much easier said than done. The same can be said for trying to understand another person’s values. Yet there’s a way to get there. The first step is to remain open, and you can do that by being curious. Ask questions genuine questions that get at the heart of the issue rather than those that help you prove your point.
Another approach is to change your perspective. In conflict, each person feels like they were “hit” first – they were wronged by someone else and there’s no possible way they did the harming. Consider for a moment, where the other person is coming from and how they could have possibly perceived a wrong-doing by you. Also think about the qualities you like in the person with whom you are quarreling. The hope is that you become more open as you are consumed by compassion and empathy rather than closed off, by anger and bitterness.
Finally, conflict is not intentional. Typically, there’s an issue behind the issue, and the presenting conflict is not the true source of pain - there's something else going on. Explore the true source and remember, people don’t do things to you – they do them for themselves – to get their own need met.
Crista has been part of Juice Inc. since its inception. She is an engaging presenter who brings a vast storehouse of business and personal stories, making her an entertaining and pragmatic speaker. Because of her inviting and open style, she excels at asking the difficult questions that people think about, but never ask. Her marketing prowess and creativity have helped numerous organizations clarify their point of difference to increase sales and improve client retention.
I just returned from China. Here's how it came about. Over the past few years my 22 year old daughter Katelyn has been poking me in the ribs saying, "You go on so many trips - when are you going to take ME on a trip?" I've been looking for the right opportunity for some time. It presented itself through Katelyn's boyfriend Josh, who is teaching at a University in Hunan Province. Katy wanted to go and visit him but didn't feel comfortable navigating China by herself. I didn't have to be asked twice. We started planning our trip and got excited about hanging out together.
That's when I got the email from Josh. "I was wondering if you could transport something over to China for me?" It turns out what he wanted transported was an engagement ring - he was asking for my daughter's hand in marriage. So I began thinking about how I was going to transport the 'rock'. I didn't want to put it in my checked luggage: I'd feel horrible if it got removed. I didn't want to put it in my carry-on luggage: what if the security people asked me to open it up and Katy saw the ring. So I decided to wear the ring around my neck on a strong leather cord: people go through the security scanners with diamond rings all the time and they don't go off. I should be safe.
Well, I got through security with no problems. A few hours later I was sitting beside Katelyn on the plane, the ring that would change her future a mere 16 inches from her eyes and she had no clue. Sweet. I did have to be careful though. I had this compulsion to keep touching it beneath my turtleneck - is it still there I wonder? A few days later, after I delivered the ring safe and sound to Josh I began reflecting on the experience.
You know, engagement should be close to the heart. It should be something we carry on behalf of others. It should be something we safeguard. And it should be something we deliver for the people we serve. Doing so is love at work. And I can promise you one thing, making engagement happen won't cost you nearly as much as it's going to cost me!
Cheers, Brady.
Brady Wilson is an author and expert on how conversation affects organizational energy to create dynamic results. He has been called upon internationally by Fortune 500 clients to help them use a "conversational operating system" to overcome insurmountable challenges and achieve unprecedented results.
These little fellas are having a great conversation. Notice their technique - the one little guy moves closer, they take turns expressing themselves, they are completely open to one another's point of view, they inquire, they're direct and they use body language well. In a conversation, people don't remember the words you use, they remember how you make them feel...
Crista has been part of Juice Inc. since its inception. She is an engaging presenter who brings a vast storehouse of business and personal stories, making her an entertaining and pragmatic speaker. Because of her inviting and open style, she excels at asking the difficult questions that people think about, but never ask. Her marketing prowess and creativity have helped numerous organizations clarify their point of difference to increase sales and improve client retention.
I want to talk about love and share a truth that has had a profound effect on me, illustrating it with a story from my marriage.
I had been married for a number of years and loved to show my wife Mary how much I loved her and appreciated her. Being a romantic at heart, I would write her cards and bring flowers home for no other reason than to let her know how much she meant to me. She received them gratefully and with smiles, although one day she sat me down. “Honey, I don’t want to hurt your feelings. I love the cards you give me and I appreciate the flowers and kind words. However, if you want to show me you love me in a more meaningful way, then maybe you could do the dishes more often. That would be more meaningful to me.” You can imagine how that made me feel! My internal voice was in disbelief and I felt hurt. It took a while to settle my own feelings and to really hear what Mary was saying to me. As I reflected on her preference I realized that I had been demonstrating my love for her out of my own construct and how I believed she wanted to be loved. I realized that even though I had the right intent, the action was not having the intended impact. So often, we love others out of what we think is meaningful rather than loving them in a way that is meaningful to them.
A while after, I had a conversation with a friend about this experience, he shared with me how he applied this very principle to raising his kids. “As parents we go out of our way to let our kids know they are loved and accepted. We tell them often ‘I love you’ or ’you know I love you, right?’ But a question I have learned to ask my children that is way more powerful and scary is ’Do you feel loved?’ The distinction is important. I have never forgotten that moment; it helped me become a better dad. At night after story time and later during the teenage years I found opportunities to ask my kids this question. In turn, their answers helped me love them in ways that made them feel loved – and helped me understand my kids in a more profound way. In the realm of those that are most important to us, we need to learn that if we really want to love someone we have to love them from their point of view and not from how we think we should love them or how we like to be loved.
Alex Somos is co-founder of Juice Inc. His ability to cast vision and provide strategic direction, combined with his passion to make a difference in the lives of others' has created a strong leadership style that creates results and breeds loyalty from those around him.
Powerful words, aren’t they? It’s the name of a book published by StoryCorps based on the idea that the stories of everyday people are important. They say that when we take the time to listen, we are rewarded with the wisdom, wonder and poetry in the lives of the people around us. Knowing our lives matter and that we won’t be forgotten is an intrinsic part of our being. Listening, they say, is an act of love.
StoryCorps launched in October, 2003 with 91-year-old Studs Terkel proclaiming, “Today we shall begin celebrating the lives of the uncelebrated! We’re in Grand Central Station. We know there was an architect, but who hung the iron? Who were the brick masons? Who swept the floors?” Since then, StoryCorps has captured and archived the legacies of over 30,000 people, falling into the categories of life, death and love.
Fundamental to the success of this project was the courage for someone to initiate a conversation, and then for another person to join in. Conversation starters included questions like, “How do you want to be remembered? Are you afraid of dying? What are you most proud of?” If we can’t take the time to have these good conversations with the people we love, how can we tackle the more difficult conversations that cause tension and conflict? The tools on the StoryCorps website including the question generator provide an excellent opportunity for you to practice mining for the treasure in the lives of those you love, so when you run into conflict you have the strength of your relationship and a deep understanding of that person’s values to help make them feel heard, and for you, yourself to be heard. Every voice matters. And listening is an act. Of love. Now go and explore someone's story. I'd like to find out more about Studs Terkel's name...
Crista has been part of Juice Inc. since its inception. She is an engaging presenter who brings a vast storehouse of business and personal stories, making her an entertaining and pragmatic speaker. Because of her inviting and open style, she excels at asking the difficult questions that people think about, but never ask. Her marketing prowess and creativity have helped numerous organizations clarify their point of difference to increase sales and improve client retention.
Human beings rarely, if ever, succeed at accurately perceiving their own culture.
So deeply entrenched is culture that no one talks about it: the unspoken rules and behaviors (called norms) are never written down, and yet everyone knows them. We learn these norms the hard way through the process of assimilation into a culture. For example, when Shelli was a new scrub nurse with only six months experience, she failed to anticipate that the surgeon would need a particular scalpel. Immediately, her experienced preceptor deftly handed the correct blade to the impatient surgeon with a glare in Shelli's direction. At that moment, Shelli learned that if she was not on top of the surgeon's needs, she would end up feeling embarrassed and looking incompetent. Shelli did not find this information in her orientation manual.
Culture also determines what we see – and what we don’t. Scrub nurses do not innately “know” which surgeon tolerates technical questions or joking and which ones do not, or what subjects are acceptable to talk about among their team. They figure this out. Humans quickly pick up on these subtle cues and then act accordingly. Like any group, operating teams learn norms by induction and trial and error because the need to belong is so strong. So without a conscious thought (whether scrub nurse, anesthesiologist, tech or surgeon), we mimic the behaviors of those around us in order to be accepted. After a while, no one even notices the subtle, unspoken rules. And why would they? Everyone exhibits the same behaviors. The norms are now downloaded into our subconscious mind.
To read the full article, http://www.juiceinc.com/Cultural_Chains_Kathleen_Bartholomew.pdf
Kathleen Bartholomew, RN, MN, has been called the most important new voice in American Nursing. With breakthrough professional books such as SPEAK YOUR TRUTH and ENDING NURSE-TO-NURSE HOSTILITY. We are proud to partner with Kathleen and represent her keynote presentations in Canada.
Feelings drive behavior. Marketers have been selling feelings for years. Watch any good television commercial and you will see that marketers constantly connect to people’s emotions, whether it’s selling coffee or cars. Good branding is about evoking feelings and emotion in your audience. People have a short memory about facts, but they never forget how you make them feel.
When it comes to people you work with, how you make them feel makes a significant difference in their performance. Why? Because feelings create energy - much like gas in a car or food for the body. People’s emotional state affects their performance. If people are positively charged it enables them to tackle tough issues and they can access their knowledge and experience faster because there is little or no interference from negative emotions. If people are negatively charged, motivation plummets and the ability to access knowledge or experience is compromised and ultimately productivity is affected.
If people forget what you say and remember how you make them feel, how can we practically make this happen in a real and authentic way that produces results? At Juice, we help people understand it is possible to create environments where it feels good to work and it is easier to get things done. You can apply this truth to how change is managed. If you approach people purely on the rational level, the likelihood of enabling change will have more to do with pushing it on them and mandating it. In turn, this creates friction, interference and resistance in the system even when it is the right thing to do. If you engage people at an emotional level and speak to their heart and mind, 
people will be more open to your message and it enables them to act. John Kotter illustrates this truth beautifully in his book The Heart of Change.
My business partner, Brady Wilson goes further in his latest book, Love at Work, Why Passion Drives Performance in the Feelings Economy and he makes a compelling case for the role of feelings in the workplace.
Humanizing the workplace is good for employees and good for organizations because humanizing the workplace gets results.
Alex Somos is co-founder of Juice Inc. His ability to cast vision and provide strategic direction, combined with his passion to make a difference in the lives of others' has created a strong leadership style that creates results and breeds loyalty from those around him.
Thank you for the opportunity to submit a blog post to the new Juice Blog!
Dirty Words in the Workplace - Performance Management!
From every perspective - employee, manager, business leader and HR practitioner - performance management systems have become an antagonistic tool. At many organizations, it is referred to as the annual de-motivation cycle. And it’s a fitting label.
Here are five reasons why I think “performance management” fails to achieve its intended goal:
The bottom line is that organizations have lost their way with respect to performance management systems and forgotten their purpose. Instead of inspiring performance, most systems de-motivate and disengage employees.
Where do we go from here? Being aware of what’s gone wrong is the first important step! Next time, I will share practical and easy-to-implement solutions that will call forth exceptional performance from your employees. To read the full article by Susan Stitt, please click here.
By Susan Stitt, Director/Human Resources Business Partner, AstraZeneca Canada
I am very pleased to be able to post a blog entry on the new Juice Blog and look forward to posting here again. Thank you for the opportunity.
Nurses vs Robots: No Contest
A recent article, Robotic Scrub Nurses Could Boost OR Efficiencies caused quite a stir in the nursing community.
Of course a "robotic nurse" would create a visceral reaction - the same reaction as if there had been an article on "robotic doctors" or "robotic teachers". The word means ‘automatic, technical, predictable’ and Nursing is anything but – it is dynamic, complex and requires a sensitivity and wisdom well beyond the perceptions of the profession by the general public – or even other members of the health care team.
Just a scrub nurse? Then you have no idea of the skill set which a good scrub nurse utilizes to orchestrate her/his entire OR environment. Even the seemingly simple passing of an instrument is much more than meets the eye. For when the surgeon asks for the wrong instrument on a bad day, the experienced scrub nurse reaches for the correct one with questioning eyes – eyes that speak volume – eyes that can convey encouragement, support, questions or concerns. Just handling instruments? I don’t think so.
Of course there are no reality TV shows that truly represent nursing – it’s not entertainment and never will be. Nursing is one human being’s presence, skill, compassion and energy guarding, advocating and guiding patients through their very complex journey in our dangerous health care system. And the real sore point is that the public doesn’t see or appreciate this critical role.
To read the full article, please click on the following title - Nurses vs Robots: No Contest.
Kathleen Bartholomew, RN, MN, has been called the most important new voice in American Nursing. With breakthrough professional books such as SPEAK YOUR TRUTH and ENDING NURSE-TO-NURSE HOSTILITY. We are proud to partner with Kathleen and represent her keynote presentations in Canada.
There is a tension between being asked to “Think Outside of the Box” and the type of “strength-finding” research and recommendations of thinkers like Marcus Buckingham, Dan Pink and even Jim Collins.
We know that there are a series of Innovation stages, what we call “the i5”: identification, investigation, ideation, impact evaluation, and implementation. These stages roughly correlate with different personality or thinking preferences. When we ask someone to think outside of the box - we might very well be asking them to think “outside of their preferences” as well. In turn, Buckingham, Pink and Collins might all say that we’re setting them up for failure:
- Buckingham: “Operate according to your strengths”, i.e. stay in your box.
- Pink: “Gain mastery”, i.e. stay in your box.
- Collins: “Focus on your hedgehog”, i.e. stay in your box.
And I largely agree with them - or I would if we lived in a perfect world. If you work in a context where you can enlist a collaborative “dream team” (what Collins would call getting the right people on the bus), then each member of that team will probably be able to spend time operating from strengths, gaining mastery, doing what they do best. Who wouldn’t want that?
However many of the clients we work with don’t have that luxury. They are charged with innovation, but need to rally their existing teams to the cause, and although their teams may be wonderful, they’re not necessarily “dream” teams crafted specifically for innovation. In fact if anything they’re probably crafted for execution and efficiency. I’d argue that the biggest challenge of Innovation training is to give self-professed “normal” or “average” teams tools that will help them comfortably and effectively approach opportunities in a new way.
Einstein said that the definition of insanity is, “Doing the same thing you’ve always done, and expecting a different (innovative) result”. I’d say our challenge is helping people bridge the gap between doing what they do best, and trying something new, without losing their engagement in the process.
As Collins says in Good to Great, Great companies act like hedgehogs. I’d say in every company, and in every career, there are moments where you need to think like a fox.
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
A friend of ours died tragically in an accident this past week. He was in Africa teaching the poorest of the poor new ways to farm. He leaves behind a loving wife, three gorgeous and very young children and a legacy to us of courage, undeniable commitment and a deep belief that drove how he lived his life.
This is a blog post from September, 2010 that he wrote...
“Today we went to Edinburgh Castle. While the kids sat on cannons and climbed the ramparts I pursued the museum. At the top of the castle the Scot’s have turned the chapel into a war memorial. I decided I would hunt for my Uncle who was killed during WW2 a few days after D Day.
What I came upon startled me. In one of the many great volumes of names was my own. Even my initials...
D. Robert Hall.
It hit me….He died (my namesake), in a war because he loved his country, and I trust the cause. It is a somber thing to think he died, voluntarily, willingly. He at some point put his name on a piece of paper knowing full well he may die for having signed it.
I prayed that when and if I needed to do the same, I would have the same courage. I pray that I would have the conviction to put my name in on things that I believe to be right-even though I too may suffer.”
I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes from the movie Braveheart “Everyman dies. Not everyone really lives.” Rob Hall really lived.
If you want to learn more about Rob go to http://www.danielroberthall.net/about/
Alex Somos is co-founder of Juice Inc. His ability to cast vision and provide strategic direction, combined with his passion to make a difference in the lives of others' has created a strong leadership style that creates results and breeds loyalty from those around him.
I read an article today that hit a nerve. It was in an HR publication and it talked about how to find the right words to use in an awkward situation. Many of the steps I agreed with. For example, it suggests that you should be direct in a conversation, “be respectful, be empathetic, but get to the point…” It was one of the examples used where I took umbrage. The example they use of a direct, empathetic conversation that gets to the point is “I know you have a sick child but your work is falling behind.” There are two things wrong with this. First, “I know you have a sick child” is not empathy. Gary Harper, author of The Joy of Conflict, http://www.joyofconflict.com/ says “Empathy involves understanding and acknowledging another’s feelings. It flows when we attempt to put ourselves in another person’s shoes and identify with their feelings and perspective.” There is no identification with any feeling in this example, if anything it sounds cold and calloused and everything that an empathic reflection is not. Harper goes on to say, “We demonstrate empathy by reflecting the emotion we sense in another. We don’t even have to be right; we just have to be genuine.” Do you think the person with the sick child feels genuine concern from the person saying it? This type of language will make them defensive and resentful. If you said this to me, my internal response would be “Are you saying my work is more important than my sick child?” By bringing these two thoughts together nobody is going to walk away feeling engaged or motivated to do better.
The second issue I have with this example is the use of the word “but”. Small words can have a big impact on how we think and they affect how we communicate and in turn how we are perceived. The word “but” is very divisive; it takes a thought and separates it into two. Most of the time the person you are speaking with does not even remember the first part of your statement and becomes fixated with what comes after the but…
At work:
You are a great employee, but…
Your performance has improved significantly, but…
I know you are working hard, but…
I know you have a sick child, but…
At home:
You did a great job cutting the grass, but …
I love you, but …
You are a wonderful daughter, but…
There is a more powerful and inclusive word. It is the word “And”. Try it on the examples above and see how different it feels and how much easier it is to transition to the next thought.
Let’s be perfectly clear that the work issues in the above example need to be addressed. By not addressing them, it may be creating more stress for the person with the sick child because he or she knows it is an issue, creating one more element of interference. A solution-based conversation can actually relieve stress, foster appreciation and strengthen commitment once it is addressed. In the above example I would “Pull” out how the other person is feeling and then reflect that back in a way that lets the employee know I understood their context. It is only after I have sought to understand where they are coming from, that I would seek their input on how to address the work issues that were manifesting.
Brand & Culture
Most leaders understand their business well. They pay attention to market trends, forecasting, cash flow and product cycles. They understand their assets and try to capitalize on them to build long-term results and improve the bottom line. Sales, marketing, product development, manufacturing, and operations are all reviewed and tightly managed. What I don’t see very often are leaders who understand and appreciate the value of the culture in which they operate. Culture and the normative behaviours that come from it can have a profound impact on all of the other assets in an organization and can add significant long-term value if they invest in it wisely.
The by-products of cultures that work are innovation, teamwork, higher retention of corporate IP, on-boarding others and problem solving. It attracts talent, motivates, reduces costs and engages people at an emotional level. People feel it. Culture, without getting too heady, is the soul of an organization. And most leaders don’t know how to satisfy that truth.
Interestingly, leaders have the most profound impact on an organization’s culture. Here are some of the unspoken and damaging beliefs leaders have about organizational culture:
“Human Resource” is a thing;
We pay people to work, we don’t pay them to feel; Culture is what I say it is;
I don’t have time for that sort of thing, I want results;
I am the boss - people do what I tell them;
What your managers and leaders tell you is reality;
We have a mission, vision, values statement that is enough;
Culture is like a brand- it is an identity. And like it or not, your work culture really matters to employees. And like a brand, it needs to be designed, articulated, supported, believed and measured. If your culture was a brand, what would it be?
Alex Somos is co-founder of Juice Inc. His ability to cast vision and provide strategic direction, combined with his passion to make a difference in the lives of others' has created a strong leadership style that creates results and breeds loyalty from those around him.
Imagine your daughter faces a dangerous situation, and rather than call 911, she updates her Facebook status to seek help. When two girls in Australia got lost in a storm water drain, that’s exactly what they did – they posted an update on Facebook.
Whether we like it or not, Facebook and other social media tools are becoming THE vehicles our children are using to communicate. It is perpetuated by the world in which they live. Social status is measured by friend counts, schools use these tools to update their students on news and events, and corporate brands like Skittles seduce our kids with special offers found exclusively on their corporate Facebook pages. (Please “Like” Juice. You can do it here).
I thought I was a few steps ahead of my tween children in understanding the dynamics of this media. I use Facebook as a connection tool to stay in touch with a large family and a close network of friends. I decided I would allow this platform to become one more opportunity to stay in tune with my children and let them know I trust them, but I would not allow it to replace the essential one-on-one conversations I know I need to have with them. And so, as long as I was a “friend”, and I received their username and password information, I allowed them to “get creative” about their age to get an account. I set the privacy features to the highest security settings and then I started to cheer them on in their wall posts, much to their embarrassment. But something changed on October 5, 2010, and all security settings in Facebook were re-set to “everyone”, meaning anyone can view almost all information on a Facebook page. I learned this through Chris Vollum , a Facebook “Security” expert who speaks to parents and kids at schools about how to safely play in this field.
His 90 minute talk was practical, fun and easy-to-understand. If you have children, here are three things you can do now, to make their account more secure:
Virtual conversations are a reality in the workplace, and they are becoming a reality in our personal lives. We must remember they are simply tools, and nothing can replace the value of a face-to-face conversation to foster connection – especially with our kids.
Crista has been part of Juice Inc. since its inception. She is an engaging presenter who brings a vast storehouse of business and personal stories, making her an entertaining and pragmatic speaker. Because of her inviting and open style, she excels at asking the difficult questions that people think about, but never ask. Her marketing prowess and creativity have helped numerous organizations clarify their point of difference to increase sales and improve client retention.
Words have the power to persuade and inform. They make or break relationships, incite action and reaction, and sadly, words – have the power to discriminate, divide and wound. I’ve seen great communicators get what they want, and I’ve watched poor communicators lose what they need. People who lack the ability to communicate effectively are denied the basic need of “feeling understood”. This is particularly true of the most disadvantaged in our society, the immigrants, the poor and the uneducated.
Back in my school days I witnessed this form of “discrimination” first-hand as I watched an Asian student sit quietly at the back of the class, avoiding the professor’s glance. I worked with her in a study group and we always had brilliant conversations about the content. She was very smart yet she confessed she was failing half of her courses. With English as her second language, she knew in her head what she wanted to say, but she couldn’t get it out so it was easier for her to just be quiet.
Have you ever felt this? Where you know what you need to say, but you just can’t get it out? Some people, when you have a conversation with them, are brilliant at pulling the good stuff out, while others are just as talented at making you feel like it is easier to remain quiet. This is especially true when a conversation turns emotional. Our ability to think rationally and articulate needs seems so difficult. It isn’t until we step away do we think about all of those great things we could have said!
When we choose to engage in a conversation with someone - a colleague, a partner or our kids - we have a responsibility to pull out the best in that person. We can do this by practicing “IOU” (Interest, Openness, Understanding). Demonstrate INTEREST by being present and inquiring more deeply into their needs. Practice OPENNESS by listening to them without judgment and being curious about their thoughts, feelings and ideas. Finally, convey UNDERSTANDING by restating what you heard and understood using your own words. It is only once the other person has felt understood, that you can begin to invite them into your perspective . Without understanding, words are tools that can hurt or heal. How will you use them?
Crista has been part of Juice Inc. since its inception. She is an engaging presenter who brings a vast storehouse of business and personal stories, making her an entertaining and pragmatic speaker. Because of her inviting and open style, she excels at asking the difficult questions that people think about, but never ask. Her marketing prowess and creativity have helped numerous organizations clarify their point of difference to increase sales and improve client retention.
Today’s marketplace offers an abundance of tools to help make the hiring process more efficient and effective. We can scan resumes for key words, penetrate defenses and look for evidence of related experience with behavioral interviews, test for affect, personality and leadership styles, and check references through our connections using social media. All of this is designed to help us validate our conclusion and it is a helpful and prudent thing to do. However, with all of these tools, it is sometimes easy to overlook the human side of hiring people. I have had enough experience and bruising in hiring the right candidate to know that finding a good hire comes from these three techniques:
Humanize the Experience: Look for a mutual fit. Imagine enlisting the candidate in the process of seeing their hire as a one-way street with both of you walking in the same direction, toward the same destination. Be real and speak candidly about the positives and negatives of the job. Create an environment of openness and disclosure where you become vulnerable and lower their defenses all with the intent of making the right hiring decisions together. Speak gravely about the costs to all of making a misstep and draw out fears and assumptions that may be present. Demonstrate genuine interest in the person and their story because you are hiring a person - someone with hopes, feelings, aspirations, responsibilities and a desire to perform. This is a person, not just an asset or a pair of hands; they are unique, gifted and multidimensional.
Pay Attention to Chemistry: Chemistry, a key ingredient, when present, fosters the flow of ideas, allows people to initiate, and the higher good of the organization and the team to be served. There is a feeling when all the right things are in place that can best be described as hum. Positive energy is present, enabling people to overcome daunting challenges and obstacles to create truly outstanding performance. To access this chemistry, include your team in the interview process. I don’t mean a perfunctory interview to get to know them, I mean your team actually helps you make the decision. Include your top candidates in team meetings, invite them to job shadow, and take them out for lunch. Understanding the dynamic of chemistry will inevitably lead to superior hires and a great team.
Listen to Your Niggles: Everyone has experienced a niggle, but not everyone knows what a niggle is. A niggle is a question, a feeling, or that something “inside” that you or your team may not be able to articulate but is present nonetheless. I can’t tell you how many missteps have been avoided by paying attention to my own or other’s niggles. They typically come from a place of tacit knowledge that is manifested in a feeling, or a dis- ease the person may or may not be able to put into words. You may feel something is off, but you’re not sure why. My rule is, follow the emotion to the reason much like you would follow smoke to a fire. It pays off.
What ideas do you have to help you find great candidates?
Alex Somos is co-founder of Juice Inc. His ability to cast vision and provide strategic direction, combined with his passion to make a difference in the lives of others' has created a strong leadership style that creates results and breeds loyalty from those around him.
Leading people who have the inability to follow simple advice or suggestions is frustrating. Why don’t people listen? And how often do I have to tell them to do something or not do something?
Helping people change is just not that simple. It’s not as simple as telling them what to do or not do, and repeating the directive numerous time certainly doesn’t help. When we hit a spot where we need to change, we seem to give ourselves a lot of grace for our intent even if we don’t achieve our goal. But when others miss the mark, we are quick with judgment of the activity, and seldom take the time to understand their intent. Here’s what I’ve learned in my 31 years as a leader:
Never underestimate the information morass that people are being flooded with. People are swimming in information but starving for context and implication thinking. Repeat the same message but from different perspectives.
People have different frames of reference. Don’t settle for “I got it” or a nod of the head. Check their understanding of what you said. I used to doubt the value of taking the time and opportunity to check understanding. I soon learned that when things went sideways it was because people typically misunderstood my instructions because their frames of reference were different. I am amazed at how often people reflect back what they have understood and discover it is not at all what I meant!
Take most of the responsibility for how your message is understood. I now believe that YOU are responsible for making sure another person understands what you are trying to convey because your responsibility to the person is not discharged until they do. How can people do what you have asked if they don’t really get what you have asked them to do? It’s your message; take the responsibility for making sure it’s understood.
What is the payoff? The paradox of doing the above with consistency is more speed, engagement, better results and less stress and frustration for you and for people you work with.
Alex Somos is co-founder of Juice Inc. His ability to cast vision and provide strategic direction, combined with his passion to make a difference in the lives of others' has created a strong leadership style that creates results and breeds loyalty from those around him.
One of the things I love about DVD's are the extras, and particularly the "Making of..." background documentaries on the films themselves. I remember watching the BBC's Planet Earth Series, and each episode had a background doc on making that episode, and they were often as interesting as the episode itself.
I won't claim our little test video, nor the "making of it" is in the same category as Planet Earth, but hopefully you will find it interesting.
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The video started with the content. I've been running Innovation in a Box programs for several years, and having been working on the Graphic Guide for over six months, so there was lots of content. Also, the programs are highly visual, employing a lot of graphic facilitation. Since the goal of this video was to provide an introduction to the world of Innovation in a Box, we knew we wanted to animate it, i.e. live drawing. So I pulled out some 11x17 paper and a pencil and started do a visual mindump. The illustration below is the second version that I did. It's admittedly very rough (and hard to read) but it will give you an idea of the process - and particularly how my mind works. The globe in the video is in the upper left portion of the video.
This next illustration is a larger version of the globe.
We decided not to use whiteboards because...well, I wanted more control of the line, texture, and colour. And because although I love whiteboards, I love drawing on paper more. In order for that to work, our video team at Highrise Studios set up a glass table with lights underneath, and camera above. Here is a picture of the set-up.
The lighting rig: there's a light to my left, and another bounced up through the table. The tripod is between me and the monitor in this shot with the camera mounted pointing down on the paper. The positioning was a bit awkward, forcing me to draw from the side instead of head on. The tape on the table was the frame I had to stay within.
I wrote and recorded the voice-over, and then we shot the video. Both the voice-over and the video required three takes. The video is a minute and 57 seconds long. The actual shoot was closer to 20 minutes. It was then sped up...a lot...to match the voiceover.
And a link to the actual video:
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
This is a "test" video for introducing Innovation in a Box. Ultimately we'll produce a series of videos to support the Innovation in a Box training and tools. In other words, as well as the Graphic Guide and Participant's Toolbox, we'll have video support for each of the chapters, and each stage of the i5 Innovation Process.
This video clip is actually a portion of a longer Introduction video that we'll be shooting in February. We were really just working out some of the technical kinks at this shoot - but liked the results enough to post it now. We'll be tweaking the next shoot in terms of lighting, content, colour, and having clearer handwriting (and removing the price stickers from the pens). We're really psyched about it. In the meanwhile however we hope you enjoy it - and we'd love your feedback.
My next post will look at the "making of..." this video.
Test Animation Video - Draft 3 from Juice Inc. on Vimeo.
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
Putting on my graphic-novelist’s hat for the afternoon, and here’s the result. Continuing the story of the Torrance test. The quantity of ideas is important, but you also need diversity or range. But, as this page implies, there’s more…
Looking for some feedback, then we’ll edit and re-post.
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
I find myself with a backlist of blogging topics – but not wanting to spend the time when I “should” be working on the Graphic Innovation Guide. So this is another two-birds with one blog post, a partial page from the Guide done this afternoon. Once it’s done I’ll post the complete page, but in the meantime, enjoy…
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
Still needs some shading, backgrounds and colour, but coming along!
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
A colleague, Lara, asked me today whether I had seen the latest ads from Mark’s Work Wearhouse. I don’t watch much TV, so I hadn’t, but I went online to 
check them out. http://www2.marks.com/InnovationTV.asp
A few things stood out.
One is that “Innovation” is hot. We know that innovation is critical, for organizations, for individuals, for society, for humankind, for the planet. It’s also a buzz-word: “innovation” sells as a marketing adjective, as in “innovative products and services”. It’s the new “green”.
But real innovation also sells because it produces real improvements in products, services and processes. Truly revolutionary innovations create (and disrupt) services, users, industries, markets, categories. IDEO’s Tim Brown in Change by Design presents a simple matrix for talking about types of innovation…
In addition to radical or revolutionary innovation, there are evolutionary innovations, and incremental innovations – the latter category being the bread + butter of most organizations.
So where do Mark’s innovation lie? I’d argue that they range along the spectrum from incremental to mildly evolutionary.
I think they’ll do well by these products. The marketing is right, and although they’re not radical “wow!” breakthroughs, they are addressing simple but real performance gaps in the products they’re highlighting.
Graphic Innovation Guide – Sign up now!.jpg)
Our very own Rick Boersma, Illustrator, Facilitator, Educator and Innovator is completing a Graphic Innovation Guide and we would love to get you involved! If you sign up you will receive a chapter per month until the book is complete. In exchange, we seek your feedback to make the final product the best it can be. Click here to read the Introduction.
PS - To learn more about the Juice/Floworks training program
Innovation in a Box, email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and we will send you one of the experiential exercises to try!
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
“I believe that success can be measured in the number of uncomfortable conversations you’re willing to have.” – Timothy Ferriss
I’d have to agree with Tim Ferriss. My definition of love is “extending yourself to invest in someone’s highest good” and uncomfortable conversations are just the type of extension that demand a big investment; one that a small percentage of people are willing to make.
The unsuccessful managers is caught up with his email. He attends the meetings he is required to attend. His reports are all completed. What’s the one activity he has left undone? Uncomfortable conversations.
The risk and discomfort involved can be paralyzing. Today (and most every day) I’m out helping people extend themselves to become skillful in those types of conversations. It’s a large privilege to help people figure out how to Love at Work.
Brady Wilson is an author and expert on how conversation affects organizational energy to create dynamic results. He has been called upon internationally by Fortune 500 clients to help them use a "conversational operating system" to overcome insurmountable challenges and achieve unprecedented results.
Recently one of our distributors told me about a conversation she’d had with the CEO of a global logistics firm where he made the comment, “I don’t believe that you can teach innovation. Some people are creative, but most aren’t.”
I would have reframed the question for him: “Do you think that we can give people tools that will help them think more effectively? For instance, are there time and project management tools that will help an individual or team organize itself? Are there processes and tools that will help you analyze problems more effectively? Like six sigma ?”
My guess is that he would have had to reply with a “Yes”. Our argument in Innovation in a Box is that there is an innovation tool-set that will help anyone, creative or non-creative, generate more innovative ideas.
Let’s imagine that we have an individual who is decidedly not creative, by their own admission and frankly by the evidence. Based on the model outlined in our last blog post, they are acutely left-brain dominant. In fact let’s call then “green”: they’re linear, procedural, organized, practical. They’re very good at project-management, but when asked to “think outside of their green box” they have a tough time. They’re not sure what this means, let alone how to do it. Innovation in a Box answers both of these questions.
What does “think out of the box” mean?
In the same way that a traditional IQ test measures analytical thinking skills, there are a variety of tests designed to measure creativity. The classic is the Torrance Test. Developed by E. Paul Torrance, it uses benchmarking to measure relative creativity. The full test involves simple tests of divergent and lateral problem solving skills. A highly creative individual will perform well in three categories:
By definition our “non-creative” test subject will not perform well. They will produce a few ideas, that tend to be similar to one another, and similar to what other test subjects produce. An antiseptic test environment however is very different then the real-world, and we can use those test results as the basis for increasing innovation. Basically we can legitimately “cheat” to get a better score, as in an open-book exam. We’re interested in results rather than labeling or judgement.
When asked to think “out of the box”, we’re really asking people to come up with great ideas. To do that you simply have to support people by giving them methodologies and tools that help them increase the number, range and originality of their ideas. This is no different then giving a disorganized person time-management tools, or someone who is always late, an alarm on their watch or phone. In fact research shows that teams that use innovation tools produce up to 500% more quality ideas then unsupported teams.
So, the “what” of thinking outside of the box is increasing our impact: the number, range and originality of our ideas. In future posts we’ll give various examples of tools that will help you deal with the “how”.
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
In a world that is defined by complexity and ambiguity, we need innovation in both the private and public spheres. A real challenge in both is framing issues and solutions in ways that people understand.
We had a municipal election this week in my hometown of Guelph, Ontario. The winner was our incumbent, Karen Farbridge, who could be described as an activist or progressive mayor. Although Guelph is in Canada, we’re close enough to the U.S. geographically, and perhaps even “closer” media-wise, that the tension between progressives and conservatives is a factor in elections, and I always wonder how much individual’s innate mental preferences (or wiring) plays a role in their voting.
In Innovation in a Box we use a four quadrant model to describe thinking preferences. People (voters) who are left brain dominant tend to be analytical and linear – organized, disciplined and procedural. If they’re strongly left-dominant, they will see the world, problems, and solutions in black and white terms. They will tend to vote for the candidate who mirrors these preferences. The astute politician speaking to a Left Brain audience will want to outline black + white solutions to problems.
On the flip side, voters who are right-brain dominant will tend to take more of a strategic and creative approach to issues, and will tend to be more people-centric as well. Again, they’ll support candidates who reflect those preferences. The astute politician speaking to a Right Brain crowd should feel comfortable speaking in big-picture, even visionary terms, and needn’t shy from complexity. Their supporters will be comfortable with “shades of grey”and ambiguity, in fact, they may even prefer it.
A successful politician needs to speak to the concerns of all constituents in order to get elected. If it stops there, we call it pandering. A truly successful politician however is one who leaves a legacy of accomplishments. This requires a “whole brain” approach beyond the election – where they identify and analyze key issues (left brain), enlist the public and brainstorm solutions (right brain) and then implement those solutions responsibly and effectively.
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
While editing the Graphic Innovation Guide, I noticed that there are a lot of light bulbs.
For decades of course, lightbulbs have symbolized innovation, and in my rough draft I’ve used them liberally – they’re a convenient shorthand. They’re also easy and fun to draw. However it crossed my mind that perhaps I could, even should, “walk the innovative talk” by coming up with a new icon. So I pulled out a pen and scrap piece of paper and did a bit of two step mind-mapping.
The reason we use icons (e.g. traffic, washroom and safety signs) is they are immediately recognizable – we don’t have to think about them. When I look at the options I generated, none of them jump out at me crying “I’m a clear symbol of innovation!”. In my pursuit of innovation for the sake of innovation (or novelty) I’d actually be doing the reader a disservice – and undermining my own work in the process.
In short, there are tools, products, services and icons that are classics, and just fine they way they are. Give thanks to the lowly lightbulb!
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
Tomorrow I go on a date with my granddaughter. As I interact with her, I often think, “What kind of a world will you grow up in?”
What if she could experience an education system that identifies her unique potentialities and helps her cultivate them so she can contribute to society in an ever-expanding way.
Maybe because of that education system she’ll be part of the team of engineers and researchers that discovers a, clean, alternate form of energy to power our autos, homes and businesses.
Maybe she’ll design a breakthrough negotiation technology that will end the bloodshed in the Gaza strip.
Or perhaps she’ll help transform our penal system to produce contributing members of society.
Maybe she’ll be an economist and use her economic brilliance to end poverty.
Maybe, twenty years from now, she’ll come out on another date with me and say, “Grandpa, I can’t believe that people in your generation used to call people ‘Human Resources’. Why did they treat them like resources, Grandpa? Didn’t they know they were people?”
My hope is that she won’t have to ask that question. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to tell her that because of my work people began to Love at Work – extending themselves to invest in each other’s highest good. I want to build a better world. Maybe I’ll let my granddaughter know that tomorrow.
Joy,
Brady
Brady Wilson is an author and expert on how conversation affects organizational energy to create dynamic results. He has been called upon internationally by Fortune 500 clients to help them use a "conversational operating system" to overcome insurmountable challenges and achieve unprecedented results.
I just attended a Restorative Justice conference in Rochester. You may not yet be aware that there are pockets of the world where people are approaching justice in a way that actually restores the aggrieved, the offender and the broader community impacted by the crime.
Restorative Justice goes far beyond punitive and retributive justice (our North American justice system) and even beyond ‘repair-ative’ justice. This system, pioneered by Dominic Barter in the ghettos of Brazil, has had a transformative impact on gang wars, prison violence, schools and youth drug addiction.
Restorative Justice engages the offended, the offender and the larger community in a form of dialogue that is strikingly authentic and powerfully transformative. I am intrigued about this phenomenon for one simple reason, and it’s the reason I wrote Love at Work: I want to build a better world. Restorative justice is a great example of how that happens. Let me use a metaphor to unpack this idea.
Think of a raging river, roaring and foaming its way downstream. Does it have power? Yes, immense power. But it’s not a particularly useful form of power. If we were to be able to install a dam and a turbine, we could transform all that power into useful energy – the kind of energy that could power a hospital or a university.
Restorative Justice does the same thing – it places itself right in the middle of the stream of hatred, bitterness and vengeance and installs a system that transforms all that destructive energy into something useful – the kinds of actions that restore people and allow them to become or return to the place of contributing to society.
Love at work is all about that very activity – stepping into our business tensions and extending ourselves to invest in another’s highest good. When we practice that at work, we learn how to do it more effectively for our communities and ultimately, for our planet. That builds a better world.
Brady Wilson is an author and expert on how conversation affects organizational energy to create dynamic results. He has been called upon internationally by Fortune 500 clients to help them use a "conversational operating system" to overcome insurmountable challenges and achieve unprecedented results.
I heard Dominic Barter (the Restorative Justice guy from my last post) say something interesting about the word intelligent. He told us what the word actually means. Do you know what the word intelligent means? Smart? Wise? Knowledgable? Bright?
It comes from the word intelligere and is comprised of two parts: inter + legere. Inter = between and legere = read or choose. Intelligence is the ability to read between the lines. Anybody can read what’s on the lines – it’s the intelligent person who can extrapolate and read between the lines – connecting the dots to uncover the hidden meaning.
So intelligent listening is the ability to read between the lines – bringing a blend of intense interest and refreshing directness that pulls out the deepest meaning possible in any situation.
Intelligent Listening is one of the most demanding expressions of love- demanding not only immense psychological effort but a transparent authenticity that is just unfake-able. I’m passionate about helping leaders learn to be intelligent listeners because intelligent listening releases emotional engagement – the magnetic element that unlocks four times the discretionary effort of rational engagement.
Walk into your next conversation with the curiosity that will enable you to read between the lines – then do the implication reflection – reflecting back to the the speaker what their words might mean to them – inside their world. Demonstrating this level of understanding in conversation distunguishes you as an intelligent listener.
Brady Wilson is an author and expert on how conversation affects organizational energy to create dynamic results. He has been called upon internationally by Fortune 500 clients to help them use a "conversational operating system" to overcome insurmountable challenges and achieve unprecedented results.
I can’t believe it’s been two years since I started to write down my thoughts about Love at Work in my journal. I was at my cottage on Manitoulin Island. (my native friends tell me that Manitoulin Island means ”The Home of the Great White Spirit”) Each morning, as I sat overlooking Tobacco Lake, a flood of ideas and impressions presented themselves to me. I remember writing, “Why would I write a book about love in the workplace? People will think I’m a nutcase.”
Well, Love at Work landed on Amazon.com this June and the initial response from readers has indicated that I might not be too far gone – in fact, for several people, the notion of practicing love at work came just on time – confirming what they knew in their gut and practiced in their leadership style all along: 1. Love creates feelings 2. Feelings release energy 3. Energy produces results.
It is so intriguing to look at the pages in my journal now – two years later, and see how the thoughts I wrote on the page, which seemed so amorphous then – have morphed into something solid and useful for people in the midst of their very real and challenging work-life tensions. How appropriate that a timely and useful message would be sparked in the home of the Great White Spirit!
Brady Wilson is an author and expert on how conversation affects organizational energy to create dynamic results. He has been called upon internationally by Fortune 500 clients to help them use a "conversational operating system" to overcome insurmountable challenges and achieve unprecedented results.
One of the core principles of innovation is synthesis, which is defined as “bringing two or more entities together to create something new”. Since I made yesterday’s Innovation of the Day Pickaxe post, I’ve had exactly that experience.
I had emailed my friend + designer Ed O’Connor (eOleo Design, http://www.edoconnor.info) my sketch of the new pick-axe design, and he in-turn went online to see if he could find an ergonomic pickaxe. He didn’t but instead sent a link to Lee Valley Tools, and a framing hammer that prompted some more specific ideas for shock-absorption http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=58697&cat=1,53193.
Based on that picture (note the blue padding in the exploded view of the hammer head) I sketched the following detail for my pickaxe design. One of the nice features of a traditional pick-axe is that head slips onto the shaft from the bottom, and can’t fly off because the top of the shaft flairs out. In this design I wanted to maintain that feature. Even if the bolt holding the shock absorption loosens, it will be held by the head.
(Why don’t they design splitting axes the same way? I’ve had more then one axe-head fly off over the years. There’s another re-design opportunity!)
I realize that you might not actually be interested in pick-axes, but of course I’m really using this example to illustrate some basic innovation principles. 
In another example of synthesis (and perhaps serendipity) I was reading the book Change By Design written by IDEO’s Tim Brown at the same time as I was working on this sketch. The section I was reading had to do with Design Thinking vs. product design. To quote Brown, p.42
“Evolution from Design to Design Thinking is the evolution from the creation of products to the analysis of the relationship between people and products”…
Which led directly to a slot-screwdriver vs. allen-key insight.
A small feature of my pick-axe design is that instead of using an allen-key to tighten the bolt that holds on the shock-absorption, I specified using a slotted-screwdriver. This comes directly out of some recent IKEA furniture dismantling experiences – where my kids couldn’t find the standard allen key. Although an allen-key is a better tool, can you find one when you need it in the back-garden? There is generally a screwdriver around however, and in a pinch you can use a table-knife or a dime, because this slot will be designed to be large enough to accommodate either. The point here is simple – innovate with the user in mind.
You might have noticed the Bell Curve diagram at the bottom of the sketch. We’ll explore that in the next post. Until then, take care!
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
We’re all familiar with “corporate-speak”, e.g.
Like cliches, these phrases have a foundation of truth: there’s nothing wrong with synergy and teamwork and working smarter. The problem is that the phrases become thoughtless short-hand for complex processes that actually require attention and discipline. In the area of innovation the worst corporate-speak offender is “We have to think/step/get out of the box”. Again, there’s nothing wrong with the basic sentiment, but if you’ve ever been involved in a brainstorming session that ran out of energy and ideas within 15 minutes of marker-hitting-flipchart then you know that it is easier said then done.
The title Innovation in a Box is an obvious provocation, but it recognizes a couple of, uhhh, boxy things about innovation:
The three points are connected. If our goal is to enable individuals, teams and organizations to be more effective at Innovation, then we need to provide them with the knowledge, tools and skills necessary to identify, generate and implement solutions by building on their existing strengths. This blog, the Innovation in a Box Graphic Guide (see below), and the In a Box Program are all designed to do this.
We’ll build on these three ideas in greater detail over the next several blog-posts.
Also, new to this post is a feature called “Innovation of the Day”. It’s based on the belief that there are very few areas of our lives that would not benefit by innovation and better design. Today’s example is the humble pick-axe. I’m in the midst of landscaping my back garden, and have been using an old-pickaxe to loosen up the ground. Although it has a definite nostalgic appeal, it’s certainly not ergonomic – hard on the back and jarring on the joints. This sketch is a quick concept drawing and if you happen to be in the tool business feel free to build it. I would appreciate it if you sent me a prototype however, because this promises to be a multi year project.
Enjoy your day!
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
Welcome to this test post – which also happens to be the first post of the Innovation in a Box blog.
We’re still getting things settled behind the scenes, and part of that is experimenting with the first post. We also wanted to send out Chapter 3 of the 
graphic guide Innovation in a Box, and since it mentions this blog we figured there should be something here if you happened to hit the link.
The main purpose of this blog will be to support the development, design, and ongoing publication of Innovation in a Box. I’m not completely sure what that means at this point, but will probably consist mostly of “footnotes” to the main text. For instance in Chapter 3 there is a brief foray into thinking preferences. We’ll take that further in the blog. I’ll also try to pepper it with real-world examples that support the book. And of course this is a forum for comments - I’ll be floating “ideas in progress” here, and would welcome your feedback. Since the book is graphic, a good portion of the content will be graphic as well. More opportunities to draw, and since it’s a blog perhaps an opportunity to draw a bit more freely. I’m looking forward to both of those aspects.
Finally, if you just happened across this randomly, without knowing anything about us, the blog, or the book – you can hit one of the links below to find out more.
Rick has been in the field of education and training since 1985 working with dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, designing and facilitating experiential training programs. Rick's energetic personality and contagious enthusiasm will leave audiences inspired and mezmerized.
