Our conversations on Facebook

You may not know that we have a facebook presence at https://www.facebook.com/thebuchaninstitute. To introduce you to the conversations happening there I thought today I'd repeat them here as a single post with a little more comment.

TEAM

You've all heard it. TEAM stands for "Together Everyone Achieves More". How many teams are you involved in that are together only in title and not practice? Without the Together, your team is TORN: "Team Opportunities Result in Nothing." (original fb post)

Some ideas, like this meme on the mnemonic for TEAM, pop up regularly in our training culture. They are easy to understand and have a life of their own. Sadly, that means they can be easily dismissed the second, third or thirtieth time you've heard them.

Robbie Williams on the truth

"Well, there's three versions of this story. Mine and yours and then the truth" sings Robbie Williams in the song Shame. Wise words to take into your next business meeting when opinions get heated. We're not responsible for what may occur if you sing them though ;-(original fb post)

Popular culture can be a source of learning for all of us if we listen. The assessments we carry with us can easily be confused with "a truth" which is also different from "the truth". For more on this read the April edition of Human Nurture.

Conversations and your responsibility

Speaking means being 51+% responsible for a conversation's outcomes. Listening also means being 51+% responsible for a conversation's outcomes. Today, put in your 51% regardless of which side of the conversation you are on. (original fb post)

Simply put, if understanding is missing, it's your responsibility. Never blame others for their inability to understand what you're explaining or failure to help you understand their ideas.

We're all different

Different personalities show up as having different priorities in the workplace. Do you ever consider that when you mouth off about someone's poor performance? Learn to work together. (original fb post)

Too often we forget that we are not all the same.

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Human Nurture, April 2013 issue published

The latest edition of our monthly periodical is available for free download on the Human Nurture page or directly using this link.

In this issue of Human Nurture we look at ways to identify fact from fiction in the workplace and come to understand why mistaking them is dangerous to the decision making process.

Dangerous Language

Two people I know have mentioned this presentation that I did in the mid 2000's within the last week. We've just added video to YouTube for you.

Dangerous Language

The primary focus of activity within a workplace is towards getting things done. One of the factors contributing to success in this area is the use of language to coordinate action between employees.

We tread a dangerous path when we fail to understand how "sloppy requests" and "slippery promises" negatively effect the efficiency of a workplace. This is a material issue and lies at the heart of people understanding one another.

Communication Through Conversation

We are big on communication through conversation as the primary means of working together. People who converse well, with an understanding of conversation as a core technology, will out perform those who don't. Here are some terms to get you started.

Communication is sharing understanding, knowledge and the experience of life through conversation.

Conversation is:

• Collaborative; requiring people to come together with an openness to joint mutual benefit.
• Controlled; instead of speaking whatever comes to mind, focus conversation on desired outcomes, listening to what we say as we say it, and the why behind it all.
• Continuous; we are always in some form of conversation, be that internal or external.
• Critical; to our survival. Everything we have learnt or do occurs through conversation.
• Connection; the shared conversation we have in the background of our life.
• Competency; it can be learnt.
• Caring; conversation should always be entered into in a spirit of care.
• Courageous; many of the conversations we have in life require courage to hold.
• Characterful; the conversations you have with others and the way you have them, including those you won't have are a window into your character.
• Creation; much of the action we effect upon the world occurs as a result of our conversations (now or in the past).
• Commitment; promises to the future.

Conversations are language driven by our moods and emotions, and are created through our body, occurring within relationships.

The skills of conversation are: * Listening * Suspending judgment * Identifying assumptions * Reflection * Inquiry

Related Articles

• Human Nurture, on Listening
• 10 Tips For Managing Difficult Conversations

Google Reader Powering Down in July

In any relationship you have to be open to the possibility of betrayal and with Google announcing today that it is powering down Google Reader in July the relationship that many hundreds of thousands of people have with their RSS news aggregator is over in the blink of an eye.

The announcment effects those who access The Buchan Institute's Free Articles and Quantum Gardener via Google Reader. The change will not affect the RSS feeds themselves (at least until Google pulls Feedburner as well!), but will have an impact on the software you use to access them. If you collate your RSS feeds in anything except Google Reader then you are fine. For the rest of us who rely on Google Reader as an aggregation service we have to keep an eye out for an alternative. No doubt the Internet will be alive with marketing for new and existing offers soon.

Once we find something we're comfortable in recommending we will post something here and on Quantum Gardener.

Delegate To Manage Change In Professional Service Firms

We've just uploaded a new white paper titled Delegate To Manage Change In Professional Service Firms. There's enough here that even if you aren't an accountant or lawyer, we think it's worth taking a look.

Today, change after change relentlessly assaults the modern accounting, legal or other professional service firm. Technology, social media, globalisation and differences in generational attitudes threaten models of work we have become comfortable with—even if we’ve only been comfortable for a week.

It is the partners, CEOs and managers who have responsibility for the frontline. They set and contribute to company strategy and so must make decisions on which opportunities to pursue through change.

Yet for most, each new change further burdens an already overwhelming workload. Under such pressure it is easy to forget others are there to share the load. Learning to delegate proficiently allows the leadership to properly assess the positive and negative risk of a change.

Free download of PDF white paper

Human Nurture: First Issue Published

The first issue of Human Nurture, a publication designed to provide deeper insight into the principles of humanity in the workplace is now available online. Free for a limited time only, you can download your copy on the Human Nurture page.

In this issue of Human Nurture we explore a powerful interpretation of listening to assist you reduce conversational waste, and improve your productivity in the workplace.

BNI Business Partner Promotion: The Last Free Boardroom Edge

Every Tuesday we meet with other like minded businesses in Bendigo (VIC) to learn about each other's offers and generate quality referrals.

Today I'd like to let you know about an event being held on Wednesday 13 March in Bendigo by Kylie Blanchard, the holder of the Sales Coach category in our BNI Chapter. This is the last time that Kylie will be running her Boardroom Edge program for free (value $98) so if you'd like to attend, act quick. All the details are in the attached PDF.

Click to view PDF registration form.

Improve Productivity by Avoiding Common Sense

Everybody knows how to recognise common sense. It is, after all, common sense to be able to do so. Since we all know that, I won't attempt to define common sense here. What I will do is point out why common sense can limit our growth and productivity if not avoided appropriately.

Every day I help educate people on the benefits of holding the right conversations in the workplace. It's a tough row to hoe because once I put the idea forward, holding the right conversation at the right time has obvious benefits. It is, as we say, "common sense". The gap between recognising something that is common sense and the belief that because it is common sense you can already do it yourself is infinitesimally small. There's the rub. Confusing what you know and what you think you know is too easy when common sense is involved.

Upon someone hearing of how better conversations might help improve productivity, you might expect the internal response is, "Yes, that makes perfect sense and is obvious. Common sense really. Therefore I already know how to do it. As I know that already, there is no value in me listening further."

Since I'll have already been conversing with this person for a while I'll have an idea of where improvements in their use of conversation as a technology may assist them reach their goals so I believe the internal response is more likely to be, "Yes, that makes perfect sense and is obvious. Common sense really. Therefore if I admit I don't know how to hold useful conversations, I'll look like an idiot. Better off to say nothing."

The term for this is "enemy of learning". A barrier is put up (by you) that prevents you from learning something of value. It is one of many, and they are more common than you may think. Common sense would say, "putting up barriers to learning makes no sense," yet we all do it. The Wikipedia page on Common Sense informs us that "Often ideas that may be considered to be true by common sense are in fact false."

The next time you feel your common sense coming on and building a wall to your learning how to be more productive, take a moment to look over the wall common sense has raised and you might find what you thought was common, is in reality, uncommon. Taking a moment to check is common sense, isn't it?

Keep talking

Book a meeting with someone and it defaults to an hour. The conversation will fill the space available. What if an hour isn't enough?

I've been privileged to be part of some conversations over the past couple of weeks that only realised their potential after the first hour.

• In one case, an idea raised 20 minutes in, connected to another 110 minutes in, creating a whole new direction.

• One short conversation, led to another, was built upon in a third and came to resolution in a fourth.

Wouldn't it be great to always have the space to simply talk and let the ideas flow for as long as they need to?