It's alive! Is it human?

In a planning meeting with a client recently there was lots of talk about 'who'.

Who the audience was. Who the workshop was for. Who would be there. Who needed to be consulted with.
I think that we can too often and too quickly group people into .... well, groups, that we can forget they are people. You know, humans! Alive! You. Me. Us. 

When I'm leading a workshop, facilitating a team day or delivering my training programs, as soon as there is talk about stakeholders, clients, customers or teams, one of the tools I use as quickly as possible is a visual that helps humanise the conversation. 

I'm helping us see that the groups we're talking about are actually people and not things. (This icon is a 'click and save' image for you this issue for your visual collection.)

It's easy to sketch - look at each of the elements: a 'hill' shape for the body, a circle, two lines for the arms and then the key word for that person, like 'stakeholder'. They're holding their own little sign! A smiley face adds another human element.

A simple thing? Symbolic? Sure, but time and again I've worked with leaders who are driving change, teams who are shifting the way they work and businesses transforming culture and it's always about what people will be doing now and in the future.

We can more easily identify and connect with the human aspects of change when visuals of people are used. 

Keep an eye out for how you're representing the important people you work with, collaborate with and want to engage with.

Remember they're people ... and not just a bullet point list of words.

"I didn't think; I experimented"

Kick off 2014 with some experimentation. No need to overthink, ponder for too long or wonder. 

Just start. 

Try something out. 

Then try something else. 

Keep on experimenting. 

"I didn't think; I experimented" is exactly what Wilhelm Rontgen did. 

If you or someone in your circle or network has had an x-ray lately, you can thank Wilhelm.  It was he who discovered and detected the wavelength that we know today as x-rays, or 'Rontgen rays'.

A Nobel Prize later and he was recognised as truly having changed the future of health care and medicine. 

And if you're a fan of the TV show 'Big Bang Theory', you'll understand how cool it is that Wilhelm was also recognised by having one of the elements named after him. Number 111, 'Roentengium'.

He didn't just sit, gazing out the window thinking about how x-rays might work. He got to it, experimenting, testing, trying things out. 

Wilhelm took notes after each of his experiments and kept on testing and investigating. He was human... and he was worried that his ideas may have been seen as a bit too out there or in error. 

But without his experiments, our health care and medical diagnoses could be so very different. Wilhelm is a brilliant inspiration and a reminder that few pieces of truly impactful work are created by just thinking. Sure, start with a thought, an idea... but then go and test it out. 

Talk to someone about it. Get a minimum viable product up and out there to see how it might be received, how it could work, what else needs to happen. 

The Conference Cringe List - Part 2

Following on from, curiously, Part 1, there are more things at the events I am often speaking at or graphic recording for that make me cringe. These spotted in the past fortnight. 

Onward...

• Why that uninspirining 'holding slide' of the event logo, name and the word 'Agenda'? Bluh. It's so uninspiring. Use full size visuals or some slides (plural) to outline the agenda or use none.  
• The currency you need to focus on is time. That's what people are really spending when they're there. Make the event efficient, engaging, creative and 33 times worth the price they are paying to be there. 
• That theatre-style seating you've arranged and the interactive speaker you've got on the program, are not a match. If the room is jammed with seats because the venue you have is too small, you've failed. If you've attracted more people than you thought, you needed a bigger venue. 
• The long, seemingly unrelated items on the agenda are nauseating. Have section themes for focus and make it build up to a crescendo, not whimper off into a corner.
• That awesome adventurer/motivational/inspirational speaker you paid for (wow they were good!) has just been negated by your dull executive who wanted some 'air time'. What a waste of time, money, energy and the result of your poor planning and flow. The mood has changed and it's on you to bring it back up again. Good luck!
• And that dull executive that wanted the 'air time' - oh dear... so focused on trying to get a key message across, they had no heart, no soul, no passion. D-u-l-l. That equals no leadership. They're not as good as they think they are at presenting. You are stronger than you think you are to persuade and influence them to not do it or do it very differently.
• Doh - You made it about you the organiser again! Why do you say 'when WE were designing this day we thought...'. Just deliver a brilliant event. You'll be thanked for it. You don't need to claim the designer kudos in the first three minutes. 
• No I'm not going to 'bear' with you while you 'read this out' - and then you read a written story, list of points or other wad of information you're already feeling bad about reading out. Frame WHY you're reading it and then get on and read it with your best acting skills, as if you're an Academy Award winner on their 12th take. Sell it to me. I'm not bearing with you on anything, particularly if you ask me to.
• Ok, you have a cold or flu. Gee, thanks for telling me as your first key point. Now I'm not going to shake your hand or be within breathing distance of you, all day. No need to apologise. Don't say a thing about how you feel. Get on and do great work speaking, presenting, leading and inspriring.

Yeah, there are more. I'll definitely need a Part 3. 

And now a word from our family: Our Yuletide Yarn

It’s Christmas time and the Christmas letters are well and truly here…

Dear all

Well can you believe another year <insert sentence about how time has flown by>

We can’t believe we’re doing one of these group letters <insert guilty statement about how busy you've been and don’t have time to catch up anymore but want to share the news> 

<Start year in review now>

The year started off with a bang when we reaffirmed our marriage vows on the Spirit of Tasmania at midnight on the way over to visit Jeremy’s brother Donald in Launceston. Thank god we took a double dose of Quells because combined with the grog, we didn’t feel a thing!

Jeremy is over his bout of ‘not-wanting-to-go-to-work’ and now it’s my turn to put my feet up for awhile this year. I might take up golf in earnest this time.

Jemima is doing so well; she’s passed fourth grade and is such a social butterfly, bursting with creativity and energy. She’s a darling and Jeremy and I are taking it in turns at obedience school with her so she ‘get’s it’ with both of us when we’re out walking with her on the leash.

As for Max, well he seems to just skulk around most days. He’s fit and well and not off his food, but I swear if he scratches at the new curtains in the guest room again I’ll scream.

<Insert personal anecdotes here about travel, hobbies, gardening, trips to a local popular holiday destination, then another holiday destination a bit further away, caravanning, camping, sailing, fishing, trailbike riding, dressage… you know>

<Close now with a big finish>

We wish you all a great 2014 and hope that we will have the time to catch up this coming year.

<Insert another guilty statement about not letting the year get away from you this time>

Much love from your dear friends Deborah, Jeremy, Jemima (dog), Max (cat) xxxx

PS: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

We may love them or hate them, but we’re increasingly relying on them to know what the heck has been going on this past, fast year!

It’s the generic and totally un-customised page (or four) of correspondence from dear friends.

I’m already pondering again as I do most years about why we do this, to create our very own newsletter.

Firstly, we can! Our computer, colour printer and digital camera all make publishing a breeze. There are Christmas and family blogs and websites all over the internet, so it’s a fun and creative exercise to come up with a natty title (The Young’s Yuletide Yarn, or Collins’ Christmas Communique) include photos of the year in review, press print and mail or email.

The authors circulate these letters to those who are within the circle, and I suspect, a great number who are teetering on the edge of the circle; those people we haven’t seen as much as we would have liked. Perhaps it’s because of distance, geography, living in another country, or simply moving in a different circle these days.

The ‘hope to catch you soon’ or ‘we must have you over for dinner’ statements come and go throughout the year. Each of our lives becoming increasingly complex and mathematically stretched as families grow up, separate, rejoin, conjoin or just hang out with different people.  Maybe we’re not in that inner circle of friends who get to share each other’s more regular developments during the year.

Is there some feeling of loss that the close friendship that once was, is not the same anymore? Or the things we had in common have changed? The relationships change as we change.

Reading about their year’s happenings keeps me in the loop another year longer. I now know names of children and grandchildren and I get to see photos of family milestones.

Or is it catharsis? Yes, release that emotion and reflect on that year. The year flew by didn’t it? The years are going faster aren’t they? We might barely recall what happened among the chaos of life, but we know something did.

The newsletter helps recall it, topic-by-topic, child-by-child, holiday-by-holiday, month-by-month, in one colourful publication with tiny colour digital photos. I can see myself in one of the photos! I was there to share in their year. Smile.

There is always true newsy-news to share; international travel, postings to community organisations, illness and health, births, deaths, marriages, loves found and lost, and achievements relating to golf, bowls, netball, investment properties, wine, gardening.

Is it a trend? Am I nearing the age when Christmas letters are de rigueur? Should I start this year?

Last year I was the proud recipient of seven pieces of Christmas-circular coloured-paper correspondence. The most ever. I sat on the couch with a glass of red, and I read.

I hereby publish my first draft. If you’re new to Christmas letters, you might like to copy, paste and edit. Then press ‘print’ or ‘send’.

Stop thinking, start living

I try and read the book Stop Thinking Start Living at some stage of each year.

It's a classic and a quick read and is a brilliant reminder to get outta your head and into yer life!

I might read it on a plane, while I'm staying in a hotel while away for work or simply pick it up and read a few chunks when I need it, or even when I don't!

When things get a bit much or you find yourself deep in your thoughts... too deep... this one can work so well. 

The first time I read it, I wrote up this page of dot points on a piece of bright pink fluro paper.

This page is a little faded now, but it is my list of reminders on a pinboard in my office to help me lead my own thinking better. It's my shortcut to the book, my key messages or my list of 'must try and dos'. 

While the dot point list has sentimental value, I find it challenging to recall any more than one or two from the list - no matter how many times I've read it. 

So this visual I created this afternoon will give my mind all the visual anchors it needs to recall the detail and retain the essence of my 'takeaways' of the book - so much better than the list. 

 It's my end of year wish to you that you too can stop thinking and start living - particularly at this time of year when families are together... or not, and friends are there for you... or not.

You are always there for you. So get on and live rather than thinking about living.