What happens when you 2x the speed

Busy busy and no time to watch a replay or trying to catch up on a podcast or learning video?

It’s just a tap or two and we accelerate the speed of it all 1.1, 1.3, 1.5 and 2 x … still barely holding the threads of the information together.

But more ⏩⏩ than that and we struggle to comprehend and catch the nuances in the story, the style and the speaker.

And how s l o w can it seem when you go back to 1x or even 1.5 speed?

Tip for speakers and trainers, online or not - keep it pacey!

But back to the fast forwardness of information and replays. I think we
want to know we’ve watched it and we’re keen to keep FOMO at bay.

And so at what cost all of the speeding?

This HuffPost piece by Monica Torres reveals the thinking that we do in those spaces between words and ideas. So if the spaces are gone … perhaps the thinking opportunities are deleted too.

And our self control could be suffering too. You know that feeling of impatience and irritation. Come on — hurry up!

Remember though you’ve still got control over the pause button even when you do 2x.

You can continue to think and allow time for thinking.

But it’s another version of the changing nature in how we are desperately addictively trying to handle the increasing flow of information.

We’re just ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ 😩

Do you make it easier

Today I’m working with a group of leaders on building their facilitation skills.

Facilitation at its heart means ‘ease’, to make progress with ease.

And ease is a great perspective to take.

Ask yourself
- are we making this harder than it needs to be?
- what could we do that would make it easier?
- how can I make it easier for them?
- what does the team think would make it easier?

Easy doesn’t mean it’s not good or not valuable.

It’s about being able to manage and juggle a mix of things happening in teams :

🌕 Engagement - that we are connected to this work

🌕 Involvement - that we are doing something with the work

🌕 Contribution - that we bring our ideas and efforts to the work.

🌕 Productivity - that we are getting the work that needs to be done, done.

The skills of getting people aligned, engaged, inspired and participating doesn’t happen automatically.

You’ll have to do something. Many things. Many micro things that together make great progress.

Facilitation skills apply to work, communities, groups and causes where people are in-person, online and in the changing world of what hybrid work is and how it happens.

This is work I am mildly obsessed with 😁😁

Refresh leadership development/Do you soak it up/The voice in your head/Not a priority/Open to the new/Meetings get you down

When they say, 'you don't need to take notes' - what do you do? 

It happens at conferences; it happened in a meeting yesterday; it happens in presentations and workshops.

The presenter/speaker/leaders suggests you don't need to take notes. You can just

• sit back and soak it up
• focus and pay attention
• read the pack/info/transcript later.

But they're not you. You know how you like to absorb information, convert it to information you'd like to keep/retain/recall - and most of all, you know how you learn.

So what about the assumptions above? 

• We may sit back and soak it up but we can only soak up about 90 seconds of information before our short term memory conks out. So while information might make sense to us as it's unfolding, we may not recall or retain it for later.
• We may focus and pay attention, giving the presenter their much loved eye contact and facial expressions (you know when cameras are off in remote meetings and people complain/ed about how they couldn't read facial expressions or know if they were engaging? Yeah, that's a post for another time) but that's also about the presenter/speaker/leader. It's not what you'd like to do or how you'd like to do it.
• We may defer to 'catching up' with the detailed content later, but few of us truly do and, not as much as our future self thinks we will. Whether you're pro notes (analogue or digital) or not, know that you can't recall all you think you will and that your brain doesn't hold as much in the moment as you think it can.

It's why cognitive load coping in this era of so much more information is such a clever skill. It's clever because we must accept and acknowledge that we need a little guidance on dealing with information in better ways.

Then we'll:

• feel better at the end of the day,
• have processed and stored information more effectively,

and

• be able to connect the dots through the information we're processing.

We become better trend spotters, insight gatherers and more able to spot cues and hints, weaving them into what we already hold.

Do you. Yes, do you, when it comes to notes; but also know that your future self will hope like heck that you did capture something in the now.

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Leadership development needs a refresh

This recent piece in Fast Company shares some of the reasons why leadership development could be ‘broken’.

Some of the issues include:

💀 overwhelming online learning libraries (who’s got time to explore them?)

💀 training experiences that don’t deliver change (they’re fun — but then what?)

💀 pricey retreats that don’t create true impact (but the wine was good wasn’t it?)and

💀 1:1 coaching that’s too slow and labour intensive (but coaching is so hot right now, no?)

What do you think?

We’ve all experienced the overload of learning content that does little to change behaviours or install new capability.

Learning events can be euphoric but unless there is a behaviour shift designed into the program, it’s just more and more and more information put in the hands of participants to absorb and embed.

Development tools, methods and techniques need to keep evolving. Just as new ways of working have been spreading across the world, so too must new ways of learning, and targeted at developing an entire workforce — not just leaders.

Skills gaps continue to be felt at all levels in many businesses.

And for many learning program participants, old ways of learning persist; there are too few opportunities in a business to put new skills into practice or experiment with them, with true safety.

Is leadership development broken where you are? Or is it evolving into something new and hopefully, a little different?

Whether it’s budget, time, ineffectiveness or the same old topics, leadership development — and development generally — needs a refresh, update, and probably a rebrand too.

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Is there a voice in your head as you’re reading this?

There’s one in my head; I can hear it as I’m typing/writing this and I hear it as I’m reviewing and reading what I’ve written.

Most of us have this ‘subvocalisation’ as it’s called - and gosh, I’m relieved it has a name! 😁

This human behaviour helps us with

🔅 memory and recall

🔅 understanding and comprehension

🔅processing and integrating information.

Read more — and listen to yourself 😜 — in this piece by Madeleine Muzdakis.

🎤 I’m a conference keynote speaker on the topic of Cognitive Load Coping. Open your event with a session that helps people better handle the torrent of information they’re drowning under.

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Engagement isn’t a priority

Yes there’s just too much else going on. The modern workplace is shapeshifting and right-sizing. It’s steaming ahead with priorities and results.

And engagement probably isn’t one of those must-have/must-do goals anymore.

Engagement levels have been decreasing for years and while they continue to be measured, how much do they matter?

And if they matter, how much effort do we want to put in to improve them?

And if we improve them, what difference will we notice against the goals, outcomes and results the business is aiming for?

Believe in the benefits of engagement and making it better; and don’t stop. But equally, don’t be surprised when other priorities (more urgent/more important) push engagement down the list of ‘why we’re doing this’.

Whether it’s engagement in a meeting, in a team, on a project or towards the greater goals of the business, it could be time to stop focusing on it — and attend to other more valuable needs.

Read more in this Fast Company article from Mark C. Crowley who suggests it is wellbeing that our sights should be set on improving.

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Come on - are you really open to new things

I think we want to see ourselves as open and creative and willing to try and experience the new — but are we really, truly?

We can prefer the same menu items at the same places, the same holiday experiences and the same work, friends, genres of reading and music. So how much do we really explore novelty and newness?

In this Inc. Magazine article, the trait is labeled as ‘openness’, to the new and unfamiliar. And openness is a cracking good personality trait.

Read on and consider if you’re due for some more novelty, more of the unusual. It could lead to the many other benefits mentioned like happiness, slowed ageing, more creativity and better learning. Might be worth trying something new then?

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Sync Async: Making progress easier in the changing world of work - Lynne Cazaly -

Meetings getting you down?

There’s no denying work has changed in the past couple of years.

The rise of remote work, work from home, work from anywhere, work across different time zones and hybrid work continues to create change and challenges.

What’s one of the best ways to respond to the changing world of work? It’s to consider not just the work itself … but the WAY it gets done.

ASK:

◻️ Do we really need everyone at the same meeting at the same time? (synchronous work) 🥱

◻️ Could some people contribute prior to, or after the meeting or begin working on tasks outside of a meeting? (asynchronous work) 😃

A growing number of teams and businesses are learning and experiencing the value of deliberately working in sync / async ways. That is, some work is completed synchronously — at the same time with other people; and other elements of work completed asynchronously — at a time and in a way that suits them. 😄

And the state of meetings at work is also driving this shift.

Hey, you don’t need to wait for a culture to change or for someone to give you the go ahead on this. You can start working better in both sync and async ways from today, right now.

There will always be too much to do and not enough time in which to do it.

Putting practical sync async techniques to work can make your work easier … and the rest of life better.

➡️ Read more about how to make the shift to better working practices in my book ‘Sync Async’. It’s available in paperback, ebook and audio book - yep I’ll talk to you and read it to you 😄

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Productivity is changing … to anxiety 😳

Some recent research results show this state of ‘productivity anxiety’ that many people experience. Have you felt it?

The feelings of anxiety reveal the questions that come up about work. They might be familiar.

▫️What should I be working on?

▫️What outcomes are most important?

▫️Am I focused on the right things?

▫️What is the highest priority right now?

▫️Is there anything that I can push until later?

▫️Is this the best use of my time?

▫️Is this valuable work?

While there’s always a drive to do more or better, what cost or impact does it have on us?

Remote employees are experiencing it more. It’s absolutely worth addressing when work is in any way connected to anxiety.

Read more about it in this Fast Company piece by Stephanie Vozza

Age of haste/Show your thinking/Obsessed with activity/Share your knowledge/Do nought/Best at the end Lynne Cazaly CSP

Show me what you're thinking...

Could you? Or would you talk about it for awhile? Or spend way too long working on a detailed pack of information - with too many charts, with pillars and cogs and pie charts?

Thinking is evolving and so can our skills -- to show what we're thinking.

Visuals, scribing and sketching have become powerful tools to help with thinking, brainstorming, communication, collaboration, learning and coping with information overload.

Given there are so many benefits to using visuals, it's a shame that we discount our abilities to sketch and draw and therefore don't use -- or wildly underuse -- these clever and powerful skills.

Is it time to add this capability to your toolkit so you can:

🧰 quickly sketch out ideas

🧰 communicate complex concepts

🧰 think more clearly

🧰 take better notes (that you'll actually use again) and

🧰 make sense of all the information you're drowning in?

Yes, totally!

And these are even more epic skills for hybrid times when some people are here, some are there and conversations are remote, online, in person or asynchronous - happening at all different dates and times and locations.

I've been helping people cut through with their thinking and communications, make sense of their complex ideas and influence and engage others with ease.

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3 school students …

walking behind me along my local shopping street.

I was obsessed, eavesdropping on their conversation. They were coaching, advising and guiding each other through various parts of their school project. It was divine, clever, pointed and clear.

They were asking questions of each other. And they were eagerly contributing suggestions, ideas and insights.

One student shared a point or two about part of the assessment.

And then I heard it - another of the students said,

‘What was that? Share your knowledge?’

The student with the knowledge then delivered a succinct, clear and capsuled few sentences. Brilliant. No waffle. No grandstanding. No blah blah blah.

The group coaching was impressive.

The direct ‘share your knowledge’ request… even better.

And then the tight piece of knowledge delivered was the slam dunk, the cherry on top.

Students. Overloaded with information and learning … and developing mentally, physically and emotionally at record speed. And still this clarity in the asking for and the delivering of information.

Boom. Superb.Try it. Ask a colleague to, ‘share your knowledge’.

And if you’re ever asked, try to be succinct, clear, insightful. It’s harder than it sounds.

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Obsessed with activity

Do do do do. It’s not a song! It’s the obsession many workplaces have with wanting their people to be busy doing.

As if activity = productivity.

And if you’re not busy doing then you’re not ‘engaged’ or ‘performing’.

But the cultures of interruption and disruption (and not that innovative disruption either!) are growing in the workplace.

The 8 features of a badly disruptive workplace are outlined in this Psychology Today piece — and the list is looking increasingly like the standard workplace.

Read on and then reconsider these 4 points:

▫️how you’re leading people

▫️what constitutes performance

▫️how you know people are engaged and

▫️how your work practices need to evolve.

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In the age of haste

The treadmill of life is accelerating at such a pace, many of us are overstimulated, overwhelmed and overloaded. All the time.

Perhaps

▫️Timefulness

and

▫️Longstorming can help.

Autocorrect knows neither of these concepts, attempting to change them into tunefulness and long-standing!

But these are two ways we can consider how we cope with the changing world and all of its busy newness.

In redefining our relationship with time as it is whizzing by, timefulness helps us refresh our experiences of

▫️wonder

▫️curiosity

▫️awe and

▫️introspection.

And lonsgoeming, err I mean longstorming, is more about nature, the outdoors, and venturing ‘out there’ so you can

▫️step back

▫️slow down

▫️and deliberately think about the longer term.

Writer and social scientist Vincent Ialenti shares some deeper ideas, building on the philosophies of others in this Psyche article.

You’re probs too busy to read it or don’t have the mind space to change your speed and consider its suggestions.

But save it. And savor it. These might just be some ways to help us rethink what we’re doing and how we’re so hastefully doing it.

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But I can’t do … nothing

Among the trends of toxic productivity, the endless workday and the society of should, lives a little thing called ‘relaxation anxiety’.

Doing nothing. Well, at least doing less.

In a recent keynote and workshop on cognitive overload, participants fessed up about the challenges of taking short breaks between meetings, work tasks, work and the rest of life, and … little breaks for no reason at all.

And they found it tough.

We’ve been so slogan-ed into getting as much out of our time that the idea of getting less out of it — or getting nothing at all but rest out of it — can feel guilty, wrong or naughty.

That’s a habit gone too far - don’t ya think?

As we continue to evolve ourselves, knowing when to stop is as important as when to go go go.

Pausing, resting and recovering are all mighty valuable uses of our life and times - so get on with it. Resting. Whenever you can.

A micro rest here, a sliver of sleep there, and a spot of doing absolutely nought … right now.

Read more about it in this TIME article

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The best can come at the end

There have been a few more conferences on lately -- the events industry keeps picking up the pace, more events, more registrations, a more healthy return to eventing together ... in real life.

A quick survey of the last six conferences I presented at:

only one of them used a deliberate summary/synthesis/wrap up session that went beyond, 'Oh well, that's it, wasn't it great, see you next time.'

And the one that had the deliberate conclusion... I was facilitating it. Ha! 🤩

But seriously, it seems a waste to have a massively curated conference event program, full of speakers, panels, insights and messages, a-ha moments, learning, revelations and updates and then... what? Bye?

Missed opportunities right there. Big mistake. Big.

The collection, curation and co-creation of insights gathered at the event can be harnessed, revealed, elevated and shared.

And by more people than just the MC sharing things from their perspective.

Stop keeping all of the conference insights a secret!

The wrap-up or conclusion of the event can be a hugely impactful experience; deeper insights, more learning, sense making, ideas for application, possibilities for future connections - they're all possible.

Most conference events pack in so many speakers, presentations, panels and topics ... there's little if any time to digest, learn, share or embed the learning moments.

Facilitating a shared synthesis and a curated closing is a sure way to multiply the value people get from the event.

It reminds people of key messages, fills gaps from sessions you couldn't get to, and shows us what happened when we were distracted by emails and the love for our devices.

I can't wait to facilitate the next conference event closing this week where all my skills of improvisation, facilitation, co-creation, creativity and performance come together to extract insights -- in a friendly way -- from conference delegates.

There's so much value in that conference room at the conclusion of the event. Don't keep it a secret. Multiply the benefit and ROI of the event for delegates.

Yes... a best bit CAN be the wrap up when all of the other best bits come together!

5 ways to beat meeting overload

5 Ways to Beat Meeting Overload - or zombie meetings will get you!

Click on the image to download the PDF