When did you last 'inspect your equipment'?

The work we do with other humans is very 'human' work; conversations, listening, talking, problem solving, planning, discussing...

So when did you last check on the equipment you use in your human work?

Not only your own equipment - your brain, your attitude, your listening skills - but also the more tangible equipment you use: technology, collaborative tools like paper and pens, and the apps, processes, models, facilities and spaces you use. 

I was sitting at Sydney airport this afternoon waiting for a flight and I watched with interest how the pilot of the huge Qantas A380 walked down the stairs from the terminal gate, put on a high visibility vest and did a 'walk around' of the plane. 

There he was inspecting this massive piece of equipment, with so many other pieces of equipment (and people) in it. 

He walked around... stopped and looked at each of the four engines from all angles, hands on hips, peering up at all aspects of them. 

He checked the navigation lights on the wings; the wing tips, the tail elements, the landing gear. And there was a nod and quick conversation with flight engineers also walking around the plane, attending to pre-departure matters. 

When did you last do a 'walk around' of your workspace, and have a really good look at the tools you use, the space your occupy and the equipment you employ to get to your daily, weekly and yearly destinations? 

Get up out of your seat and go and have a look. Are the tools and equipment you use doing what you need them to? Are they up to the job? What more do you need? What needs fixing or maintaining? What would bring you greater efficiency with some attention and a 'look over' from you or others on the team?

Go and inspect the equipment and support materials you use that help you do your job.

When a couple of pilots walk around a more than 500 tonne plane with between 500 - 800 people on board to check it's fit for the task ahead, the least we can do is to check on our own equipment and see that it's fit for the purpose we require of it every day. 

Do it with the lights on and the blinds open

Yep, put it on show and make it visible.

Stand out, loud and clear so people can see and hear you!

Doing what and where ... you wonder?

Last week I was working with a team on their leadership day. They put so much effort into making the conference room dark enough for the PowerPoint presentation and slides. I figured this was gonna be one heck of a deck. 

But, well, it wasn't. It was a bunch of dot points on the company template. zzzzzzz, yawn and dull boring, #fail.

This was a leadership team and a big event focused on communicating change, inspiring the team, getting everyone on the same page.

A darkened room and a deck of uninspiring, forgettable bullet points. Yep, that's really going to have staying power... no.

Leaders need to get real when it comes to communicating change. Turn the lights on. Let them see you. Keep the blinds open. Let natural light in. Be authentic - there's so much 'authentic leadership' talk going on, yet when leaders have the perfect opportunity to influence, persuade and deliver messages as a real human being, they sanitise themselves and hide in the dark, clicking and 'blah-blahing' through lists of linear nothingness.

Stop spending so much time on your bullet points and slide deck and spend some more time crafting, rehearsing, speaking, engaging, sharing and humanising your leadership communication.

Lights on. Blinds open. Now. 

Do you have any idea what you're doing?

Disruption, reinvention, rapid change and transformation. How do we know what to do? And is it ok if we don't know what we're doing?

Will Dayble presented a great session last week at the Future of Leadership in Brisbane, on Disruption.  
Here's the still and below is the moving picture of my digital visuals from Will's session. 



You can check out the rest of the visual content from the event's nine brilliant speakers in digital format. When the topic was about the future, paper and markers just wouldn't do!

Over managed and under led

These words oozed from Darren Hill's mouth to a packed venue full of people who'd come along to learn and think about the Future of Leadership:

"We're over managed, and under led!"

Darren's a behavioural scientist and he's been studying people - and specifically leaders - for a few years now. 

In his presentation at The Future of Leadership event in Melbourne recently, he said that leaders have always needed to:

• manage pressure
• make progress, and
• establish connection

My visual notes from the session captured his key points.

In today's workplaces, leaders need to 'deal drugs'. No, not illicit drugs, but the human chemicals that drive our behaviour!

As Darren talked about adrenaline, cortisol, endorphins, dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin, it became clear that leaders indeed need to lead, to manage the pressure that change brings and to ensure the team makes progress. 

Leaders need to be the heart of connection in the team, to help celebrate failure and to understand these powerful human chemicals and how they impact team performance, behaviour and success. 

Are you leading... or still occupying yourself with managing things? 

'One person can make a B - I - G difference,' he said.

The Future of Leadership event heads to Brisbane, Australia on October 14. Get tickets here because 100% of the ticket sales go to Hands Across the Water. Now that's leadership!

The best selling exhibition in town

In a busy workplace it can be tough to get people to listen and tune in to your change message, your key message or any of your messages!

How do you get people to listen to and understand what your team is working on? How do you get them to sign up, buy in and want to be a part of it?

Watch my short sketch video this week and you'll see how a clever project team got people to come along to their best selling 'exhibition'.

What important thing are you working on?

What will you do to make the people you work with want to tune in to it?

Download the video here