Take a leadership selfie this holiday season

Does the number of photos you take with your phone or smart device spike upwards at this time of year? Mine does! More social gatherings, more group or family photos, more end of year and new year stuff.

In between photos this season, you'll likely read plenty of blogs, posts and articles over the coming weeks saying it's a time of reflection, the end of the year, the start of a new one - you know the drill. They'll be saying what a great time of year it is to pause and reflect and journal and ... 

How about every time you read (or start to read) one of those articles or posts, just think 'leadership selfie'. 

Think of how you hold your camera or digital device out there, and when you're taking a selfie of you and others, or you and a scene or gathering, you're also taking a snap of you and your leadership self.

A leadership selfie. 

In writing this blog, I noticed that Tim Milburn also talked leadership selfies last year in relation to self evaluation and checking in with yourself. He said that 2013 was the year of the selfie. 

This year to get a wider perspective of you, your leadership and your team (or family, community, group or organisation), think of it like using the selfie stick - that has to be the accessory of 2014!

It gives more perspective, more background, a better view and a broader horizon. 

"Click" and "snap" - when you're smiling over the coming weeks when people tell you to 'smile', think 'leadership selfie'. 

How am I going?

How did this year go?

Did I do what I wanted to?

What would I do differently next year?

What will I do differently next year?

What about the longer horizon, the wider horizon?

What comes beyond that?

Check that selfie.

Want to take it again?

Look, there's 2015 just up ahead... <smile>

Fire up the BBQ - it's ideas time

It's summer in Australia; there's sunshine, beaches, cool drinks and plenty of barbeques to be had. Before you put anything on the BBQ, turn it on, heat it up and prime it, ready for the tasty treats to be grilled and flamed... beyond recognition!

Priming the BBQ is like getting people ready for doing good work, producing tasty treats and creating great stuff. 

Too often we expect things from people when they're 'cold', as in "come up with some ideas on ..." or "tell me what you think about ...'

We've all got lots on our mind; give people time to get up to speed and be focused on what you're asking. 

You need to warm people up, prime them and create the environment so they'll deliver, and cook up some goodness. 

I think there are four stages or elements to priming people to come up with ideas or respond to your request:

1. environment - creating the right space so it's possible to think creatively and generatively;

2. mindset - framing why we're doing this ideas thing and how it will be used;

3. process - setting up the stages of the idea generation and gathering; what will happen now, next; and

4. acknowledge - reward and recognise early contributors, all participation and the success and progress being made. 

And then when it's done, finish it. Shut it done and stop.

Then move on to the next thing.

Fire them up, prime them and frame it so you will all get to taste the great stuff created. And you'll want to come back for seconds! 

Leading change is a three-step thing

At a retailer's staff forum on innovation recently, the team was encouraged to 

• envisage
• think big and
• imagine

These are all such visual, thinking and 'possibility' words. It was all about what they could 'see'.

To survive and thrive in the challenging retail environment, this team had to change how they were working, how they were responding and how they were evolving the business. 

That's a lot of change. 

Add to that the usual change processes of new technology, systems, and other ways of working that go on across the business. 

For this team, change had to be a three-step thing. But it wasn't the boring three-step of: 

1 .analyse

2. think

3. change. 

Dan and Chip Heath in their book on change 'Switch' report on research from Kotter and Cohen where this approach is mighty popular, yet super ineffective at creating, driving and embedding change. 

Folks... the dance steps have to 'change'. 

The three-step thing that will work is:

1. see

2. feel

3. change.

Am I getting all emotional on you here? Well, analytical stuff works best when things are known and the future is clear. 

But in the VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) environment we all operate in, often the future is... out of focus, blurry. 

See, Feel, Change is about seeing evidence that gives you a feeling and from there you can change. You can help guide people through their responses to that feeling about what they've seen. Show people what's going on. Let them see how things could be. How do they feel about that? That's when change will come. That's when people get on board, buy in, sign up and advocate for the change. 

Otherwise you're just dancing in the dark!

Read more in Dan & Chip Heath's book 'Switch' here

Getting Back to Joy

How do you Build a Workplace People Love?

It's a time of year when 'joy to the world' and 'peace and goodwill to others' is seen on baubles and banners and heard in songs, hymns and cards. 

Many teams wind up 2014, with an eye on 2015 and breathe a sigh of relief at the year's end.

We often see more human interaction at this time of year; more support, more engagement, more concern - particularly amid tragic events or fearful challenges.

We are, above all, human. This message was loud and clear at the Above All Human innovation conference in Melbourne last week. No matter the work we do, whatever the field or sector, it still involves people, is for people and has to do with people. Can we bring more of this engagement, support, concern.... joy.... to the workplace?

Richard Sheridan of Menlo Innovations, thinks we can. We can build workplaces people love... if we just add joy. Richard says we do important work. So joy matters. And the company he's a part of welcomes dogs, babies, conversations, (no cubicles or pods by the way), but there's plenty of book sharing (without having to 'sign out' which book you've taken) and so many other sweet tools that make work human and joyous. 

If you can get back to the joy you felt when you were a little kid, you would be:

• doing the work you love, with people you like, the way you want (a key element of Thought Leaders)
• experimenting
• trusting the team
• flexible
• embracing learning.

To build a workplace people love, keep out of chaos. That's the land of not getting anything done!

Bureaucracy isn't much fun either. Too much red tape.

Between chaos and bureaucracy is ... structure. This structure is based on human relationships. 
It's about building an open and collaborative culture and then you can create the environment that will fit that culture.

Allow support, empathy, and encourage creativity; let in some joy and you and your team will do great work... and love the people and the place and the fact we are all... human.

The Importance of the Start

'Begin as you intend to continue', or 'start as you mean to go on', are maxims or sayings that I've often heard.

There's such a great application of this when you start a project, piece of work, a meeting, workshop or strategy session with a team. 

I cringe when people kick off an inspiring team day or a high value strategic session with this: "So just some housekeeping... the toilets are over there, the wifi password is there and ... blah blah blah"

Think of how a movie starts. It's usually some scene setting for the whole story or a dramatic exchange that sets up the 'why' of the film. 

The same goes at work. How you start something sets the scene. It says so much about what is to come. 

Starting with housekeeping ain't inspiring. Yes it needs to be said, but not in the first few seconds or minutes. 

Bring some drama, impact, presence and creativity to the scene. Set the scene. Do something that makes sense for people, that inspires them to think 'WOW I'm glad I'm here... this is gonna be good.'

The start is your opportunity to deliver impact and most importantly, to FRAME what this is about, why we're all here and what's going to happen. 

Check out any athlete - swimmers, cyclists and runners are perfect examples - and you'll see how much effort they put in to the starting part of their event. Without a brilliant start, they've got to work too hard to claw it back. It's near on impossible to regain the lost time, momentum and to 'catch' those who've lept ahead. 

Start. Strong, clear, bold and audacious. 

Then continue with that momentum and it will be a great meeting, workshop, strategy, conversation and event.