tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27849032309421417562024-03-13T08:20:24.824+00:00Matt RowleyMatt's personal blog and weekly tipsMatt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.comBlogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2784903230942141756.post-62270953069966333602014-05-13T18:32:00.000+01:002014-05-13T18:32:29.004+01:00Weekly Tip - See in the dark<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Okay, my tips are normally business, or personal development related, but I thought that I would try something different this week as a little bit of fun;</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So here is my tip; Keep one eye open when you turn on the light and you will see in the dark.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Think I'm talking crazy talk? Well read on;</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Your eyes adjust to the light that it available, so if you wake up during the night, or you have been in the dark for a while, your eyes will adjust and you will have limited vision, and as such, be able to see in the dark (not very well, but you will be able to see). But, when you switch the light on (or torch if you are camping), you lose all of your wonderful night vision you have built up and it can take quite a while for it to recover.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, there is a way to cheat it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Build up your night vision (or remember to do this next time you wake in the night)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Use your night vision to get where you want, (lets say the kitchen to get a drink)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Close one eye tightly</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. Turn on the light (and get your drink, check Email, or whatever you do in the kitchen at night!)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. Turn off the light (at this point everything will go much darker, or even into blackness to in relation to what you could see before)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6. Open your other eye (your other eye will have kept it's night vision and you will be able to see in the dark!).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Okay, so maybe I've over promised with the tip title of "See in the dark". But it is a strange sensation as half of your vision is in darkness an they other is in a strange grey-scale (the eye that you did have open recovers much more quickly than regular night vision too!).</span><br />
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Matt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2784903230942141756.post-6425267137010040782014-05-07T21:01:00.003+01:002014-05-07T21:04:17.741+01:00Weekly Tip; Learn how to learn<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apologies, I've been studying for an exam so had to miss a weekly tip, but this study got me thinking. Many of us out there, me included were never taught how to learn, or if we were it was by outdated methods of repetition and myths such as reading slower equals better comprehension.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will be honest, I didn't try very hard when I was in high school, I sailed through and got pretty good grades, A's, B's, C's. But when it came to A-Level's, it suddenly wasn't so easy, I was bright enough, but it was a lot harder, and I wasn't prepared. After this experience, I thought I was done with education, but within two years, I was at University. In the two years break, I did something that would have been very useful in my School days. I learned how to learn.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The result? I went from barely passing A-levels to a 1st class Business degree, to the great surprise of, well, everybody - including me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So this tip is all about learning how to learn, in summary;</span><br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don't be afraid to learn</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You still need to study hard, but it can be more enjoyable</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The key techniques; Memory Techniques, Speed Reading and MMOST (Mind-Map Organic Study Technique)</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Don't be afraid to learn</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When it comes to learning new things, many adults shut down. I've actually heard people say;</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Now I'm older there just isn't the space to remember new things", or;</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I couldn't remember things like that, my brain doesn't work that way" and my favourite;</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"It's harder for adults, as children are like sponges when it comes to learning".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lets think of it another way. Young children don't have inhibitions, they learn by asking "why?", and aren't afraid to get it wrong, that's why they seem to learn languages faster - it's because they don't anticipate the humiliation of getting it wrong, or the frustration of not being able to recall a word, they just have a go and if the word sounds passable they get applauded. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another thing that a toddler will do differently, is they don't get hung up on using the written language to learn, they learn with their innate ability to process the world using pictures, sounds, touch, taste and smell. In fact, they use these innate skills to learn how to read.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So don't be afraid to learn - if a toddler can do it, I'm sure you can.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>You still need to study hard, but it can be more enjoyable</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After years of frustration of comprehending the things that I was being taught, I figured there must be a better way of memorising things other than just looking blankly at books and notes and repeating things. As a part of this, I found a great friend called Amazon.co.uk, it showed me a world of books I had never heard of before, the stuff that just wasn't available in my local WHSmith. You may have come across these techniques already - great! The thing is, many people haven't, and I still know people that think the way to learn is slow and by repetition.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The techniques I will mention will feel like magic if you've never used them before, and are actually pretty easy to get to grips with. Also, don't worry, t</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">his isn't an all or nothing thing. You can pick and choose a few favourite techniques. I really do suggest trying one or two out, as even a little bit of knowledge about better learning techniques can have tremendous benefits. Actually, just being aware that memorisation by repetition is all but useless is a start! I'm going to share the Key Techniques I've had most success with;</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Key Techniques;</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are many resources, techniques and books out there, my favourite is still Tony Buzan's work, he has a vast amount of publications, but I suggest starting with <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Memory-Book-Remember-Anything-Want/dp/1406644269/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398919846&sr=1-1&keywords=the+memory+book+buzan" target="_blank">The Memory Book; How to remember anything you want</a>, Buzan also has published dedicated Speed Reading and Mind-Mapping Books.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Memory Techniques</i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are several techniques out there, but I suggest getting to grips with a Roman Room and the Peg System. <br /><br />The Roman Room uses a room or place you already know, and objects such as furniture within that room to link to things you need to remember. So if you are in your lounge and you need to remember 'Banana' then you might look over at your sofa and see it's covered in rotten, smelling bananas (the more vivid the better), then you might look at the coffee table and you need to remember 'Theatre Tickets', you might imagine the whole cast of the play you want to buy tickets for trying to balance on the table, you can hear the table groan as its cracking under the weight... get the idea? Do this yourself, write down 10 items (or more!) and use this technique. If you struggle, don't worry visualisation can be tough if you are not used to it, but use all of your senses not just sight and sound - use touch, smell, taste, make it exciting or repulsive - anything to make it memorable. You can use an ever increasing number of rooms and build up your memory palace. This isn't just the stuff of Sherlock.<br /><br />The Peg System is another useful tool that I use regularly for shopping lists and other items that I need to remember. This is where you have a pre-set list of memory 'pegs' that you use to link to the thing you want to remember. There are a few different types, but I use the number shape peg system where my <i>peg</i> is an image that looks like a number. So for example, I imagine;</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 looks like a paint brush</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 looks like a Swan</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 looks like mountains</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 looks like the the Sail of a boat</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5 looks like a wheel chair</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6 looks like a yo-yo spinning</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7 looks like a boomerang</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8 looks like an hour-glass timer</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">9 looks like a periscope</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">10 looks like a bat and ball.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I suggest coming up with an image that you are comfortable with, but once you have this list that you permanently keep, you then use this image to remember the thing you want by imagining the peg image with the item you want to remember.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For example, if you need to remember 'Coffee', take your number 1 peg, a paint brush, and imagine putting your paint brush into a big mug of coffee and accidentally drinking it! You can smell the odd mix of paint and coffee and see the mess you've made of the mug and the horrid taste! Use your senses (I could just imagine painting a coffee bean, but the more surreal and vivid you make it the better!).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here are a few other examples;</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You need to remember "Red Wine", you are on peg number 2 now, which is <i>Swan</i>. You could imagine a huge wine glass with a Swan swimming around it, staining it's perfect feathers red, and yes, drinking the wine, and because there is so much, the swan is very drunk!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You need to remember "Biscuits", you are on peg number 3 now which is <i>mountains</i>. You might imagine trying to climb a steep mountain, but the footpath keeps on breaking up, you look down and you are actually walking over a huge cookie that's full of chocolate chips, you dive down to eat it, but it tastes funny because of all the hikers that have been walking over it - mountain cookies are no good!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now pause here, I've only gone through pegs 1, 2 and 3. So I would expect you to remember without the aid of this technique. So now try doing it with ten items and see how easy it is, and how long you can remember it for!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Speed Reading</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This sounds positively frightening for many, but actually you will not only get through more material, but you will also remember more of it. The basic problem most of us have with speed reading is actually sub-vocalisation (we read the words in our head to ourselves). Getting rid of this is takes quite a bit of practice, and I only mention it because it's a good way to think differently about reading; So for a second, imagine looking at a picture of a boy on a bike, you don't need to stop and think "There is a boy, and he's riding a bike", you could probably take a 1 second look at it, turn around and someone will say "What did you see?". You would be able to describe it easily, perhaps in lots of detail, colour of the bike, age of the boy, his surroundings etc. All with out repeating it to yourself first. See how speed might be applied to words?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Okay, so that's not particularly actionable, so lets start with something easy to explain. I was sitting reading quite merrily using my finger as a guide across the page and someone sitting near me said, "You never learned to read without taking your finger off the page?". I smiled, as actually, this was something I had re-learned, as it is a fantastic technique for keeping your eye focused on the words you are reading and pushing your speed (ever had a time when you are tired and re-read the same line two or three times? This just doesn't happen if you use your finger!). Actually, it's better to use something a little finer than your finger, such as a pen. If you are reading text on a monitor, using the mouse cursor can do a similar job. Give it a try and just see how much easier it is!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>MMOST (Mind-Map Organic Study Technique)</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many of you may be familiar with mind-mapping, it's quite widely used. If not, Tony Buzan's books are amazing, but just type "Mind-mapping" into a search engine for examples. Now, I don't want to go over mind-mapping, but actually the study intervals suggested by Buzan. I've used these to great effect and always kick myself if I try and take short cuts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you are trying to learn something, try this;</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Study the subject for say 30 mins or perhaps you are in a class, then at the following intervals review what you have done and check for understanding (this can take a few seconds or as long as you need);</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 hour later</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 day later</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 week later</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 month later</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6 months later</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">12 months later</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you are doing a course, revision becomes a breeze, I did this during my degree and it made everything so much easier. Even if you are not interested in learning memory techniques, speed reading or mind-mapping, this sequence of revising your notes will be much more effective than trying to cram before your exam!</span></div>
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Matt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2784903230942141756.post-36360624110047770562014-04-22T19:41:00.000+01:002014-04-22T19:41:39.538+01:00Weekly Tip; Develop your strengths<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Developing strengths isn't a new idea, if you look at <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Strengthsfinder-2-0-Upgraded-Discover-Strengths/dp/159562015X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398188482&sr=8-1&keywords=strengthsfinder" target="_blank">Strengthsfinder 2.0</a> it details how you can find your strengths, and has some great examples of why developing your weaknesses isn't productive. Here is my spin on it, along with an idea on how you can introduce this into either your development plan, or that of your direct reports;</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In summary, if you develop your strengths to a higher degree, then your weaknesses will naturally develop as a result. So yes, you do need to know your weaknesses, but developing your strengths is the key. Here is the way I think about it;</span><br />
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<li><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don't get hung up on fixing your weaknesses</span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Understand what you need to be good at</span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What to do when your weakness affects your job</span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beware of over-developed Strengths</span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dealing with others forcing you to develop your weaknesses</span></b></li>
</ul>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don't get hung up on fixing your weaknesses</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Okay so you may be sitting there and thinking, "but I need to fix my weaknesses". To be clear, this isn't about lack of knowledge of something, if you have never driven a car then this isn't a weakness, it is just a tool you have not tried to learn how to use. This tip is about that conversation you have with your Manager around appraisal time, that repetitive development plan discussion where the Manager says;</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Bob, this year you did really well in planning, and delivering to that plan, but your stakeholder management needs improvement. This year, lets focus on Stakeholders and make some SMART objectives so we track it properly and maybe get you some training in stakeholder management."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After getting over the deja-vu Bob nods along with his manager and agrees that he will make some improvements, and perhaps resign himself to a life of mediocrity because of his poor stakeholder management skills. Can you relate to Bob's situation? Let me ask a question;</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Does this process really develop you?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would say no.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can blame your Manager for not setting a good development plan, you can blame yourself for not sticking to it. But in the end you can spend your entire life trying to be good at something you are terrible at.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Understand what you need to be good at</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now pretend for a moment, I was Usain Bolt's coach days after he won gold at the 2012 Olympics. Imagine me sitting there and saying the following;</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Usain, you are an absolutely amazing sprinter - the best the world has ever seen. Now that's great n' all, but your marathon running is poor. This year, lets focus on that. Let's make some SMART objectives and get you a coach and sort out a plan..."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Seems a little silly? This is the same conversation you are probably having with your manager year after year. You are really good at one thing, but you spend your time trying to develop something you are bad at. It's madness.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What to do when your weakness affects your job</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hold on a second, what if that weakness is important to the job?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well that's where developing your strengths comes in. First, you need to be clear, will developing that weakness make me better? Really? In the example with Usain it's easy. He would probably say, "No, sprinting is my thing, I have no interest in long distance running". This may be something to consider, if you are poor with numbers, maybe a career in finance isn't such a great idea. But I think it's safe to say, in almost any job, having poor stakeholder management skills is something that sounds reasonable to work on, or is it?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes and no. I would suggest in the first example, Bob is great at planning. Well how can we make that better - it's good, great even, but how can we make it first class? Does he need to do more, does he need to do less (remember an over developed strength can become a weakness!), is everyone on board with the plan... oh wait... here we are, if he were a truly great planner, he would have included people in the planning process, maybe developed a stakeholder management plan... all by working on the planning. The thing Bob is good at may develop, or at least mitigate his weakness with stakeholder management. As he plans and follows a plan of engaging with stakeholders (poor Bob, he's not one for words, but now everyone knows what's what and are happy with Bob's communication). Job done.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beware of over-developed Strengths</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My 69 year old Dad has a stronger grip than anyone I know. If you give him a screwdriver and a screw, through sheer brute force he will get a screw into pretty much anything. The issue is, it's difficult to get my Dad to stop. Quite often the materials get broken, split or damaged as a result of this over developed strength (don't let him near Ikea furniture!).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So is my Dad 'Good' at this? Well he is has a phenomenal grip, but not a great sense of knowing when he's used it enough. So for example, having a great strength in analysis can be an asset, but if you spend days doing unnecessary, detailed analysis that wasn't required - is it really a strength? It may be great, but who's going to read it? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dealing with others forcing you to develop your weaknesses</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Okay, by now you are hopefully on board with the idea of developing strengths, but not everyone else will be, and you may be forced into a scenario of working on your weaknesses. I suggest that you agree to plans, training and coaching to develop your weaknesses but always think about it in context of your strengths. So you are great with people, but poor at analysis and you are told to improve your analysis. Who can you talk to? You are great with people, work on your network, find great analysts, ask them questions, maybe you can help each other? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To sum up, develop your strengths, you will enjoy it a lot more than fixing your weaknesses.</span></div>
Matt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2784903230942141756.post-19099583648719847222014-04-13T09:31:00.000+01:002014-04-13T09:31:53.986+01:00Weekly Tip - If it's not broke, prove it<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have you ever heard the phrase, "If it's not broke, don't fix it" and rolled your eyes. Or perhaps you've been frustrated because someone is always meddling with something you think works fine, and you've said it (or thought it) yourself, then this tip is for you!</span><div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In summary, if you believe that a process or task that you are working on is working well, or perhaps well enough, be in the position to prove it. Especially if you <i>could</i> improve it, but choose not to. On the flip side of the coin, if you are looking at a process or task and believe it could be improved, think about what you are asking first. In these cases, I suggest thinking about the following;</span></div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Take any feedback as a gift</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is the task that is being criticised done often?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Would the improvement to the task really make a difference?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is there a bigger problem?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are you distracting yourself with unnecessary improvements?</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Okay, this seems straight forward, but these are the following things I suggest thinking about in both of these situations (I'm not taking a detailed report here - just run through this quickly in your head before making a knee-jerk reaction);</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Take any feedback as a gift</b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's really easy to get defensive if someone challenges your work personally, so if someone has some feedback for you, take it - and be pleased about it. Understand where they are coming from and what they are trying to say. Do you really understand what they are getting at? Remember, folk that have it in for you won't give you the feedback at all, so you might be offended, but they are actually trying to do you a favour.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the other hand, if you want to impart some advise, but the recipient is defensive. This is probably your problem, not theirs. In the first instance, I would suggest building a relationship with the person first and think carefully what you are saying, as challenging their work can often feel personal - like walking into their home and saying you don't like their curtains... you need to have a good relationship before you say something like that! </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Is the task that is being criticised done often?</b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If the thing that you, or someone else is picking fault with is done once a year - is it really worth improving? Every situation can be different, and the answer isn't always no. So if you are doing a yearly task that someone criticises, or you are about to criticise, have a discussion. What would go wrong if the task wasn't done correctly? Does it matter that it's being done inefficiently?</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Would the improvement to the task really make a difference?</b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This one is tough. There is, of course lots of techniques that can be applied, but all things being considered, including the amount of time that it takes to scope, plan and execute the task is it really worthwhile making a change?</span></div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Step 1; What would happen if you stopped the activity? (If the answer is nothing, then you really need to question its value!)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Step 2; Assuming it is required for some reason, does the current task create an output that is fit for purpose? (And by that I mean, <i>good enough. </i>You can tinker with things forever!) </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Step 3; How much more efficient can you really make it? (If it's only a minor improvement, is it really worth it? Be honest here, don't waste your time or anyone else's - don't massage figures to try to get your way!). </span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Is there a bigger problem?</b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've often seen operations attempt to solve problems at a team level, that really need to be solved at a cross-functional, or even organisational level. This really is like trying to put out a house fire with a water pistol. Raising a risk or issue to the right people, that shows the likelihood and impact of that risk or issue is worthwhile. Don't be dramatic here - try to back it up with real numbers and real cost savings.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are you distracting yourself with unnecessary improvements?</b><br /><div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will be honest, I often find myself trying to improve my productivity system unnecessarily. I think if I try a different note taking method, or a better task capture method that somehow I will do the tasks more effectively that are sitting on my task list.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I catch myself doing this, I check to see if there is anything that I <i>should </i>be doing, but just don't want to. It's a great way to look productive, fix lots of stuff with the belief you are making a great improvement (if it's your own project, it is doubtful that you will have the objectivity to really say whether or not something you've changed is for the better or worse, so be as honest as you can when the idea pops into your head!).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So whether you think your thing isn't broke, or someone else thinks their thing isn't broke. Prove it.</span></div>
</div>
Matt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2784903230942141756.post-33852555926382298652014-04-07T06:14:00.003+01:002014-04-07T06:22:43.931+01:00Weekly Tip - maintain a fixed list for your repeated actions<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We all procrastinate, and there are plenty of great books on the subject, such as Eat that frog by Brian Tracy. This tip is associated with procrastination but it's really just a simple idea to stop stress building up over the little stuff turning into a mountain that needs to be conquered. I would however recommend this for anyone who has to perform repeated tasks in their life that seem to get in the way of the important things;<br /><br />In summary;</span></div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Maintain a list of actions that you repeat at regular intervals</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Refer to and work the list on a regular basis</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Only put must do items on the list</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At this point, if you are thinking that you always stay on top of your regular actions and wonder what I'm talking about, then I am very jealous, and please carry on the way you are! On the other hand, if you, or maybe someone in your team is ill prepared for team meetings and the monthly reporting is always late, then please read on...</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><br /><b>Maintain a list of actions that you repeat at regular intervals</b><br />So you may be thinking, why not just put a repeat calender entry in you email client? or a repeating task in your task app? Well my tip is based on experience, and I've tried everything, and every trick ended up with me thinking that procrastination, too much work, other priorities and trivial nature of some of the tasks were the reason for not doing them.<br /><br />The real reason was that I didn't see the value of many of the actions, such as weekly reports, checking tasks, time sheet submissions and so on. Mainly because if I didn't do them, often nobody would call me on it, and if they did, I could say that I had other, more important priorities. So my thinking was, little or no value, don't bother!<br /><br />This was where I was wrong, as the value of doing these tasks are cumulative and it may take months or even years to reap its rewards.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Refer to and work the list on a regular basis</b><br />To make sure you stay on top of your tasks, referring to the list will make it easier to update and think about other tasks you may need to do. It's also good when you are being pressured to take on more work, it may trigger you to remember that you have the month end report to do and the essential one on one's with your team.<br /><br />As days weeks and months go by, building up your own repeating tasks give you a real sense of how much time you are spending on them, in addition, the tasks become easier as you do them regularly, and your stakeholders, be it your manager, peers, directs or customers will begin to see you as reliable and trustworthy, constantly reinforcing that you are on top of stuff and can deliver.<br /><br /><b>Only put must do items on the list</b><br />There is a requirements prioritisation technique I like called the <b>MoSCoW</b> analysis. It puts the requirements in order of things that;</span><br />
<ul style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<li><b>Must </b>be done to make the thing work (usually agreements made with others)</li>
<li><b>Should</b> be done to make it really effective (usually agreements you've made just to yourself)</li>
<li><b>Could</b> be done because it would be cool, added extra (Perhaps a suggestion or idea)</li>
<li><b>Won't </b>be done because it's a waste of time (Re-negotiate your agreements if you need to)</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now make sure you only choose your Musts for this list. If you really want a should on your list, then make an agreement some how to get it there. For example, if you want to read the economist, then agree with your manager to provide a summary of your favourite article each month. Otherwise, you are devaluing the list.<br /><br />If, after six months or so you are working the list without issue, let maybe one or two should do items creep on, but I wouldn't do too much too soon, as this is a drill for the stuff you must do to keep your professional reputation for delivery going.<br /><br />So to recap, get a list together of all those must do things that you repeat on a regular basis, and do them!</span></div>
</div>
Matt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2784903230942141756.post-79318488182644037902014-03-27T22:31:00.002+00:002014-03-27T22:31:27.554+00:00Weekly Tip; Treat unexpected, urgent issues like a real fire-fighter would<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you’ve ever experienced a major issue that needs urgent
attention, you have probably seen a lot of people running around with bits of paper
in their hands, in a panic, trying to fix the problem. The day-to-day work just
stops, and for many is addictive as it gives them a thrill to their day. This
is often called ‘fire-fighting’.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My tip this week, is treat unexpected, urgent issues like a real
fire-fighter would. In summary;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><b>Be prepared</b>; (Have a structure for dealing with
emergencies)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Plan your week with space for emergencies</b>; (You
still need to get your day job done!)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Be clear that you are dealing with an emergency</b>;
(Let people know what’s going on)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Treat the problem as a project</b>; (It will save you time to pause for thought)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Keep your emotions in check</b>; (Running around in
a state of panic won’t help anyone)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Once it’s over, find out why it happened</b>; (Make
sure it never happens again, and share your learns with others)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Don’t cry wolf</b>; (If you tell people it’s an
emergency and it’s not, they will be less willing to help in future).</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Reward root cause identification and counter
measures, not heroics</b>; (Fire-fighting is exciting, so you need to make sure that
reward is focused on fire prevention)</span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the workplace, the term fire-fighting tends to describe urgent,
important, often unexpected and sometimes preventable work. I’ve not met anyone
that hasn’t experienced this, and it is often to the detriment of your
non-urgent, important work. Every heard the phrase, “We couldn’t get Project X finished
on time because something mega-urgent came up…” It’s not unusual and almost
everyone will have something like this in their lives, the call from the School
because a child is ill, an employee stuck in traffic somewhere, a supplier not
delivering something for an important order.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some fire-fighting is actually preventable, the same issues
occur over and over again because of a problem within the ecosystem of that
activity. Stopping and fixing the problem might prevent the fire-fighting.
Prevention (Continuous Improvement or Transformation activity) is better than a
cure, but still, it’s unrealistic to think unexpected and urgent problems won’t
happen. The way you deal with it can make a massive difference to you, your colleagues,
your business, and most importantly, your customers, making you look like a competent
professional (a real fire fighter) or an amateur running around with a bucket
of water screaming ‘fire, fire!’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what can you do?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Be prepared;<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Knowing that you might have something urgent to deal with
this week can help you plan your week, so having a structure in place for you
and/or your team on how you deal with unexpected, urgent issues can make all
the difference. For example, would a fire fighter hear the alarm, slide down the
fire poll and think “I wonder what I need to take with me?”. So, get your tools
ready. Here’s what I suggest;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Plan your week with
space for emergencies<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If your workplace has lots of urgent issues on a regular
basis, over-estimate your regular work, so when emergencies eat up half a day,
then you still have time to complete your day job (fire-fighters still keep all
their equipment maintained and manage to respond to emergencies – so can you!).
If you respond to a lot of urgent work, over
estimating your work might help manage your agreements more effectively.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Be clear that you are
dealing with an emergency<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Real Fire-fighters have this a little easier, an alarm bell
rings and they know they are dealing with an emergency, on the other hand office
environments can be losing millions and it is plausible that nobody would notice
for days… So it may seem obvious, but make sure the people you are enlisting
help from are aware that it is an emergency. It doesn’t need to be dramatic,
but being clear as to why it is urgent will help for example, “We have an
urgent and important issue that needs to be dealt with today. If we do not
resolve it, we are at risk of losing £1M of sales from Customer ABC”. Well that
got my attention, how can I help?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Treat the problem as
a project<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you just think of any emergency as just being a task or
project that needs to be dealt with, because, er… it is. Difference is, you may
need to come up with much of the information yourself in a short space of your
time (do you think a real fire-fighter would run in to a burning building
without a plan?). So no matter if you have minutes, hours or days, make sure as
a minimum you have the following*;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">You are clear on </span><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">Scope</i><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">; What you are dealing with, and why (Clarifying key
stakeholders helps at this point)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Create a basic </span><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">Plan</i><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">; This is just who does what by when (My favourite </span><i style="text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="http://www.manager-tools.com/">www.manager-tools.com</a></i><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">
rule for Project Planning)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Clarify how the team will </span><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">Operate;</i><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> During this, know when updates are required (Hourly Email
updates might be necessary, daily team meetings might be needed, sub group
meetings and so on)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">State what </span><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">Tasks</i><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">
need to be addressed immediately (What can the team walk out of the room and do
right away!)</span></span></li>
</ul>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Keep your emotions in
check</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Emergencies tend to lead to high stress, this is the time to
keep calm and stick to plan (fire-fighters need to keep their emotions in check
as rash decisions can lead to injury of themselves or others). At this point it
might be worth noting, that your emergency isn’t always someone else’s emergency.
This is where you need to rely on your relationships you have forged with your
peers to make sure that if you need help, they are willing, even if it won’t
benefit them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Once it’s over find
out why it happened</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You’ve come to the rescue, you’ve dragged a child from the
building and saved their life… people are patting you on the back, all is
great. But why was there a fire in the first place? Knowing the cause means you
can prevent or reduce the likelihood of this happening in the future, this is
the less exciting part, and certainly in the UK, most people sneer at the Health
and Safety inspector, for ‘being a jobsworth’, even though they may have saved hundred’s
of lives through accident prevention. Be careful here, the root cause is often
not addressed, and the symptoms are just dealt with more effectively. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Don’t cry wolf</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you tell people it’s an emergency and it’s not. They will
figure it out eventually and not take it seriously – there really has to be an
unexpected, urgent issue. I have seen this before where people have said, “there
is a £1M risk”, and after the third or fourth time of being used people are
less sure that it’s a reality, where in fact, on close inspection, the issue
was related to £1M total, and at worse, the problems may result in a late
payment of the £1M, but not a loss of £1M.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Reward root cause
identification and counter measures resulting from emergencies, not heroics</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Using the imagery of a fire-fighter running out of a burning building, saving a
young child from near death, I’m guessing for most folk is more exciting than the
imagery of a Health and Safety inspector standing next to a set of cables and
saying, “Those need to be sorted, they are a fire hazard”. The thing here is
imagery, the real fire-fighter would have been reprimanded if saving that young
child put them or their fire-fighting colleague’s lives at risk to do so. Thing
is, often in the workplace, we reward the fire fighter for the save even if the
behaviour was reckless (think about it – the stakes aren’t as high a fighting a
real fire!).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So how, after this fire fight do you reward people? Well, business
is different from real fire, sure, but keeping in mind how well the fire-fight
was executed is one way but no glory, another way is to reward the
identification of, and resolution to the root cause of the problem. So which
would be best for future behaviour;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Well done team, you managed to get a £1M customer contract
together in one day – it normally takes 10! I know you worked through the night
and pulled out all the stops”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Or;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Well done team, a problem was identified with processing of
customer contracts, and now you have put in steps to ensure that all contracts
are produced in a timely manner. The customer told me today that they are so
happy to be dealing with a professional company that makes good on its promises”
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Okay, I will admit, the first one does sound cooler – but
going with the second one, you might just get someone come along one day to you
and say, “I’ve identified an issue in payment processing… if we solve it now, it
will stop payments being incorrectly allocated in future…”, instead of, “We’ve
incorrectly allocated Customer X’s invoice and they’ve been accidentally sent
debt collection letters…”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*Note, this is based on the SPOT Meeting structure that is
detailed in a Manager Tools podcast that can be found at www.manager-tools.com</span><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Matt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2784903230942141756.post-3775704493919423682014-03-21T15:28:00.002+00:002014-03-21T16:10:34.277+00:00Weekly Tip - Want results? Make it easy for people to understand you<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My blog entries are usually quite lengthy, but making it easy to understand isn't always about keeping it short. I do realise the length of an article can be an issue and you may notice that each weekly tip is summarised in the first 100 words or so. There is a reason for this, which I will explain shortly, but onto the summary.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Summary; In both your written and verbal communication make it easy for people to understand you and you will get better results. A few points to keep in mind;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People are busy (they might get bored if you aren't getting to the point)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Choose your headline wisely (if you hide your point in a forest of language it won't be found)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People aren't good at English (many intelligent, native speakers will struggle if your vocabulary is too fancy, for non native speakers is a nightmare!)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Put the action clearly in the communication (don't expect people to just know what you want because it is obvious to you).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Summarise (if you have a lot to say, break it down into a short summary - like this one!)</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Okay, all this seems pretty obvious, but why do people then get frustrated when action isn't taken as a result of their communication?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>People are busy; </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People tend to pay attention to things that interest them, or that may cause them harm. If your message doesn't drop into one of those categories, then you have a lot of work to do. Keeping your message easy to understand well help. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For example which of the following Is better;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I need to raise an issue that might cost us up to 100k. Andy is the only person that has access to all the information needed to verify the the amount. I've spoken to him and he thinks it will be half a days work. depending on the outcome, we may need to get the team together to identify a resolution. Would you please authorise half a day for Andy to work on this, preferably by Monday to get things moving?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Or,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I've been looking at the figures and there seems to be a few problems with the analysis, and I think it might be worth the team getting together and taking a look, I could do with using Andy for half a day if that's okay before hand to go through the numbers, would that be okay?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would go with the first option, funny, as there are more words, so what I mean by people are busy, is they are too busy for stuff that isn't getting to the point. For example, The first example contains a figure that is likely to grab anyone's attention, additionally it is clear on exactly what is required - an authorisation to use Andy for half a day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The second will most likely either result in a string of emails, or worse be ignored by the person receiving it, the first might just result in, "happy for you to use Andy, let me know if you need anything else."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Choose your headline wisely</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the example above, the number, "100k" will grab your attention, make sure that you have your headline in there!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also some don't just skim read, they skim listen too. If they have something on their minds they may not be giving you their full attention, look for things that get their attention. for some it's numbers, for others, it may be a damage to the company reputation, looking bad in front of a customer or even just looking bad in front of their boss!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>People aren't good at English</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nobody likes to feel stupid, and often those who need to Google a word they are reading or second guess what you are saying, are going to feel stupid. If that is your intention, stop, it won't do you any favours to confuse people, and if others witness it, they may think they are next!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Say what you mean at about the level of language you would expect to read in a newspaper like <i>The</i> <i>Sun</i>. This way you won't lose your audience (you will get more respect for being a clear communicator than using degree level language to make you feel clever).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Put the action clearly in the communication</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unless you really have to, don't leave people to think, just say what you want using a polite request, e.g. "would you please send me the month end report today"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The,"would you please" serves as a polite request that someone can say no to if needed without confrontation. The, "send me the month end report" clearly states what it is you want. Finally, when you want, as the "today" part is essential and gives context to the urgency. Take note if you are a manager and make a request without giving a due date, this will lead to either panic as folk drop what they are doing, or ignore it because you didn't specify a date. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Summarise</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I tend to put an executive summary at the start of communication, my summaries normally look like a contents page with a sentence to explain each item - if you look back to the start of how I wrote the summary for this section, it just says;</span><br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Summarise (if you have a lot to say, break it down into a short summary - like this one!)".</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I do this as the message I want to convey is more important than making sure everyone reads every word I've written or spoken (I expect very few will read all 1000 words of this post). If I wanted more hits, I could use grabbing techniques that are often seen such as, "you won't believe what this person did to getting understood in the workplace...." and then you read a lame story and are disappointed. Well, that may work for social media, but a conversation, email or presentation at work you need all the information quickly accessible, a summary can provide that, and most importantly, make it easy for people to understand you.</span></div>
Matt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2784903230942141756.post-45839659688955575192014-03-12T15:47:00.001+00:002014-03-12T15:47:36.642+00:00Weekly Tip – Build relationships with those ‘prickly’ folk<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In summary, if you build relationships with bad
communicators, the ‘prickly’ folk, or people that you don’t like very much, not
only will you find that they might be okay after all, but you might just tap
into a great resource.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Okay, what am I getting at? Maybe you are 100% professional,
never have favourites and split your time appropriately for the size and nature
of the task…. No?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At work it really comes down to outcomes, it’s what we are
paid for. The outcome you want and the outcome you get from work requests often
vary from person to person and day to day. So, take a scenario where you are at
work, you have two people you need to get to do something for you. More often
than not, if you have a good relationship with a person, you might call them,
or if you are in the same building, perhaps you will find them, have a coffee
with them, maybe even catch up on the week’s gossip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The other guy or gal, you don’t get on with so well. They
are really good at what they do, but they are abrasive to talk to, deliver work
in exactly the way you asked, even though if they had used their initiative it
could have been so much better, or sometimes it’s not what you asked for at
all. Knowing this, you decide an Email will suffice with a list of requirements
and hope that you don’t have to do too much re-work when it gets to you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So why are these folk so awkward?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In my experience, the people who are good at building
relationships tend to do well. The people who are poor at building
relationships also tend to be the people that see these good relationships as
“politics”, and often when it comes to promotion, “Favouritism”. In addition to
this, the phrase “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” is used very
negatively. These are the people that can be abrasive, rude or even sarcastic,
they receive Emails containing complex work requests instead of invites for
coffee. They get frustrated when what they deliver is exactly what the person
needs or asked for, but the person doesn't use it. I know this feeling well, as during my 20’s, I was one of these people, so speak from first-hand experience
of the frustration of handing over a piece of work that I know to be extremely
useful, then that work, and me, would subsequently be ignored. So in answer to
the question ‘why are these folk so awkward?’ Simple, they believe they are good
and are frustrated that nobody seems to see it, awkwardness is their way of
acting out and make people work for their product.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So why bother with the prickly folk at all? If they don’t
want to play ball – leave them to it, I will get it done elsewhere? That’s
perfectly fine, but sometimes these people are really good at what they do,
they also have probably been in the same role for a very long time too so have
a lot of experience. Also, they probably have no clue that their interpersonal
skills have such an impact on their work and career, they also don’t realise
that they are treated the way they are treated because of their behaviour, not
their work (The 20’s me really did think that if I kept being sarcastic about other
people’s errors that they will do something about it! – I was being helpful… In
a light hearted way… wasn't I?)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So building a relationship can work wonders, I'm not suggesting
taking them out for a meal and a movie, but certainly wander to their desk or
at least call them. More importantly ask them for their opinion, try your best
to wade through any negativity that may be there and understand where they are
coming from. They are probably just not articulating it very well. Think of
this as sifting through the grit to find gold. Most importantly, give clear
feedback on what was good at first until you've built up a good enough
relationship to criticise. Most of the prickly folk out there are probably not
getting regular feedback from their managers (If they were their prickly
behaviour would have been handled). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also, don’t expect miracles, first few times you do this,
what you get might not be any better, but over time as you come to understand
each other it will get more like your other, good relationships. At the very
least you will have someone else to go for coffee with.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">********************<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bonus Tip for the ‘Prickly folk’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you are reading this and thinking, “Er… these ‘prickly
folk’ sound a lot like me…” there is nothing wrong with getting an Email from a
person you have a poor relationship and <i>thinking</i>,
“This is a dumb, stupid request, they've had this three times and don’t do
anything with it”, but saying that, or escalating to your manager isn't going
to help you or the business. Maybe try picking up the phone and saying, “Hi, I'm hoping you can help. I've read your Email, and just wanted to check a
couple of things, have you got a minute to chat?”. This is the tough part – listen to them,
understand where they are coming from and be critical of your work and
understand why it’s not meeting <i>their</i>
requirements. At no point do you say, “But we gave you that last week”. It is
okay to say, “Okay, I think we can tweak a few things we've already done for you
and get that sorted out”. Far better for both of you, as you don’t look like an
unhelpful jobs-worth who can’t work with people, and they don’t feel stupid, so
it’s great for everyone! (Note; If you make people feel stupid, it doesn't benefit you, in fact, they will quickly learn to work around you and in some
cases, they may even seek revenge – and if they have better relationships than
you, they will almost certainly win).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sound a bit too much to handle? Just try using the phone or
speaking in person and not blaming anybody for anything. Just talk about the
work and what needs to change and don’t take it personally, and if you can give
anyone a heads up that they have work or trouble coming their way, do so – they
might remember it and even do the same for you.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Matt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2784903230942141756.post-73431226441871935442014-03-04T00:49:00.000+00:002014-03-05T04:48:54.493+00:00Weekly Tip – Don’t use the word ‘Process’<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To some stakeholders, ‘Process’ is a dirty word and only
applicable to certain disciplines where it is a mandatory requirement for some
reason. So, just don’t use the word ‘Process’ and you may get the outcome you
want. My tip is;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Clarify the outcome</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Clarify who does what by when</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Make and record agreements</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Create an enduring relationship</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Map the process and keep it to yourself</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You may want a little more detail, as well as thinking “We
could easily record this in a process map!”, so first, let’s understand the
people involved;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Process Lovers;</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For those of you who love process maps or talk in terms of
process steps, and render your thoughts with lines and boxes, you may be
frustrated that some stakeholders have zero interest in your efforts. Maybe you’ve
been involved or ran DMAIC event and seen what can happen when people get
together, understand their process in a visual way and make amazing
improvements to that process.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Process Haters</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For those of you that at the mention of the word ‘Process’ you
cringe at the idea of process mapping or steps, you may agree in principle that
it’s probably a good idea, but it’s just not for you. Maybe you’ve had bad
experiences, or just not convinced it’s the way to work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Process Agnostics</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For those of you who are not too bothered either way, you may
be happy enough to look at a process map, but you are comfortable with informal
agreements too. As a process agnostic you may have considered getting your
process(es) mapped, but it all seems a little too inaccessible. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Who is right?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All parties want a successful outcome and all believe that
their approach to doing business is the right one. The <i>Process Lovers</i> think that the best way to communicate about business
should be in an orderly and documented way, <i>Process
Haters</i> on the other hand believe that we should stop messing around and get on
with it. <i>Process Agnostics</i> are happy either way, but will probably do
business in a similar way to the <i>Process
Haters</i>. So nobody is ‘right’ but if either side think action needs to be
taken to improve business and customer outcomes, then we need to think carefully
about our approach.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My experience tells me that Process Lovers are in the minority,
especially at a senior level where decision making can be essential. As such,
it’s down to the Process Lovers to do the hard work and not use the word “Process”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How do we talk about process
without talking about process?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are different ways to do this, and I’ve certainly made
a few mistakes along the way. Here are the ways I’ve found most effective;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Clarify
Outcome – </b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Be careful here, conversations often get muddled, are you talking
about issues with a successful business outcome or a successful customer outcome?
For example, you might have a great quality product that the customer loves,
but the cost to produce has resulted in that product becoming unprofitable.</span></li>
<li><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Who does
what by when* - </b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">This is the most important of all, if you can reach a consensus
on this with all stakeholders, then you pretty much have a process you can draw
and keep to yourself.</span></li>
<li><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Make and
record agreements – </b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Sounds obvious, but I’ve been in too many meetings to
remember where minutes and actions were not recorded. A shared summary can be
enough.</span></li>
<li><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Create an
enduring relationship –</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> You may have clarified the outcome, agreed on who
does what by when and made and recorded agreements, but these changes need to
be embedded over a period of time. Building an ongoing relationship with the
stakeholders concerned, in a way they want to communicate will get best
results.</span></li>
<li><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Map the
process and keep it to yourself – </b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">If you really want a process, draw one.
But keep it to yourself. You don’t have to hide it from anyone, but don’t take
it to a </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Process Hater</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> and expect them
to thank you for it. You never know, over time as trust is built up, those
Process Haters and Agnostics may realise that you benefit from referring to a process or procedure (you
are a Process Lover after all), they may even ask for a copy.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Right now, let’s be realistic, as a Process Hater, or
agnostic you are probably jumping for joy and shouting, “No more talk of
Process! Yay!”, whereas a Process Lover may be considering other aspects of what
a coordinated process effort, or even what a simple process mapping workshop can
deliver. As a Process Lover myself, I can empathise, but go back to the point
of what a process is. If you have stakeholders that won’t engage with you
because you use the word ‘Process’, then it has already failed. So, in these
cases, Don’t use the word Process!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">*This phrase I picked up from the
Manager Tools Podcasts (available at <a href="http://www.manager-tools.com/">www.manager-tools.com</a>),
and was in the context of Project Management, but I think is perfect for
process too.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Matt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2784903230942141756.post-71828953846026338822014-02-24T17:48:00.002+00:002014-02-24T17:48:21.458+00:00Weekly Tip; Be open about the fact it will get worse before it gets better<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been lucky enough never to break a bone, but I remember
someone from college who broke the arm they wrote with, and it was pretty close
to exam time! They did adapt, but their skill of writing didn't quite catch up
with their other arm. Why? Well their arm healed and they went back to the old
way of working with their regular writing hand.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some customers of change feel like they have a broken arm
when change is imposed on them. To illustrate this, have you ever seen a post
declaring that they will never use Facebook again because of the new layout or
change in privacy policy? Usually, in a short space of time, this is forgotten and
those same individuals are back sharing their lives on Facebook as they were
before.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is difference between a broken arm and Facebook
functionality? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Choice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you want to continue using Facebook, you have no choice
but to suck it up and get on with it. Most business change has a key issue, it
is possible, once the dust settles to go back to the old way of working.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You may already know that after the implementation of a new
system or process, that performance will, initially get worse before it gets
better. This is often referred to as the ‘J’ curve, and is actually the same as
any change, like when your picture upload facility changes on Facebook, or
having to write with your other hand, you need to get used to the whole concept and learn the new way of working first before you can consider it being better than before.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The thing is, if we are not open about the J Curve of change
with our stakeholders, and be clear that it will actually get worse to start with, the stakeholders
involved may complain, protest and in worse case, refuse to use the newly
implemented change, it will just feel like a broken arm that’s waiting to heal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So the tip here is;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Be honest about the fact that expect things to
be worse initially, don’t just hide the fact in a PowerPoint slide buried in a
briefing. If you know how long this might take tell them. Even better, if you
know in what way it will get worse, let them know so those stakeholders can
prepare</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Monitor non-conformity. Everyone sighs when they
hear the word ‘Governance’ but many times I’ve seen a project team hand off a
project to the stakeholders far too early, with potentially great projects abandoned</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Be present, your stakeholders may be struggling,
misusing or misunderstanding what is going on, they need to be reassured that
the performance dip was expected, that the figures are not going to get them in
trouble, and they don’t need to go back to their old way of working.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Okay, so you've been honest and monitored non-conformity and
you are available as you can be, but the stakeholders are still going off and
doing their own thing. This is where your relationships come into play. Truly
understanding what the issues are, and being honest with findings can be
difficult. Did it in fact work better before? Was the solution the right
solution? How could it be improved to work more effectively? Which Stakeholders
are having the most trouble? Most importantly, is this a part of the J curve,
or are we really seeing a declining trend in performance?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Answering these questions honestly can be difficult, but if
it is put in with overall context of the change then it may be useful. An
example might be call centre metric of ‘Call handling time’* is affected
because a new process requires them to log more information from a customer. That information,
further down the line leads to faster resolution and quality is higher.
Over a period of time, this means that the same call centre will have less
repeat calls from customers who are either complaining or wanting an update on
their issue.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The business improves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If, however, the call centre goes back to the old way of
logging their calls, because they panic at the increase in call handling, later
when they justify going back to the old way of working, they can show a dip in
performance as a result of the change, and then their valiant efforts to claw
their way back to their previous performance levels when they reverted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They only saw the 'worse', they didn’t see the 'better', justifying their actions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, in summary, be honest about it getting worse, ensure
stakeholders are engaged in the change and be available to help them through
the change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*From my
experience, Call handling time is often used as a key metric for call centres
and is often used out of context against other metrics. This example was used
intentionally to highlight that a successful business outcome does not always
equal an improvement in an individual departments measures.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
Matt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2784903230942141756.post-27898040667971260702014-02-18T16:48:00.000+00:002014-03-05T04:54:14.810+00:00Weekly Tip; Fear of Presenting? - Don’t think.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I built my confidence with presenting when I was in my teens.
At age 15 I was teaching Karate to students who ranged in age from five to
fifty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since then, I have spent many hours, both in and out of work
with prepared, and sometimes unprepared material. It wasn’t just this
experience that gives me confidence in speaking, it was actually reading one of
Geoff Thompson’s* books on self-defence that I connected stage fright, with an
issue some experienced Martial Artists face in a real street encounter – they freeze.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a result I have come up with a tip that contains just two
rules;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Don’t think</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Prepare</span></li>
</ol>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So maybe a little more detail is needed? First thing, I don’t
want this post to lead you to think I’m fearless when it comes to presenting.
The reason I’m so comfortable with it is because I’m aware that most of the
issues that people have on this subject is not really anything to do with fear. Like anyone
else, I have the flight or fight mechanism built into my body. Great for
running from danger, not so great when you are attempting to play the opening
chords of an opening song on stage where your hands just stop working (my friends tell it
better than me, but I once had an epic fail on attempting to play <i>Master of Puppets </i>by Metallica).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now there is no easy way to stop this type of thing
happening, but most things I have seen or read on presenting that deal with the
notion of ‘stage fright’ seem to deal with the problem in the same way – by assuming it is something to do with your confidence, or some psychological issue that causes the problem. My bet is that it's neither of these.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let’s talk biology for a second, (please note - I’m no expert!),
but in basic terms, your body prepares itself for action (to run away or
fight), it does this by;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Getting your muscles, and your heart into gear
(preparation a fight or to run)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Minimising digestion to make sure the focus is
on the muscles (it’s not needed while you are fighting or running)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Taking away blood from the brain (you don’t need
to think, you need to run or fight)</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So you are on a stage about to present to five hundred
people, and an adrenaline dump, or ‘rush’ happens, your hands are shaking, you
are sweating (you can’t run or fight, so you freeze). What do you do?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are only two things, considering this biology that
make sense;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Don’t
think</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">; Just understand what is happening to you. Realise that you have
chemical that is slowing your thought process down (your mind has gone blank
because it’s supposed to). So stop thinking, if your hands are shaking, let
them shake, if your voice has gone just wait.</span></li>
<li><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Prepare</b><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.
If you know that you get this chemical cocktail running through you, then
prepare. What works for me is ensuring I am comfortable with the structure of
what I'm talking about, I personally don’t memorise word for word. As
doing this means that you have to think (and that would
contradict number 1!).</span></span></li>
</ol>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Okay, this seems mega simple. That’s because it should be.
During the time of an intense adrenaline rush, you just can’t think straight, there
are many examples of Martial Artists with years of experience that struggle in
a real conflict as they are <i>thinking</i>
about what move they should use next, they freeze, instead of using a simple,
well drilled response.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a part of your preparation, especially if presenting
is a major issue for you, you may want to drill certain habits in to your
mannerisms as well as stalling techniques while you wait for the surge of adrenaline
to pass (so you look like you are intentionally not speaking, as opposed to
looking like a cat in head lights!). I won’t go into detail here, but an example of clearing your
throat and then sipping on water can give a natural five to ten seconds for
your body to sort itself out, a smile, anything that doesn't involve thinking - </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that will lead to trouble.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Final note, "Don't think" comes first for a reason, as adrenaline can hit at any time, you might be in a meeting and your boss says "Matt, can you just take us through X, Y and Z" so you have no prep time. Make sure if the adrenaline hits - don't think.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">*There are a few self-defence authors I would recommend such
as Jamie O’keefe, and Dave Turton, but Geoff Thompson was where I learned on
the effects of adrenaline on the body.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Matt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2784903230942141756.post-30148483950955741182014-02-11T01:57:00.001+00:002014-02-11T01:57:53.011+00:00Weekly Tip; Keep your GTD system water tight - not bomb proof<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While working for npower, I used to send a Weekly Tip to an individual on a work-related, or sometimes non-work related subject. I promised to keep these going once I left the company, but instead of Emailing that person directly, I thought I would share... so as promised here's the first one;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Making your GTD System water tight - not bomb proof;</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a user of David Allen's GTD system</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, I used to have a lot of issues with managing my lists and projects. It used to feel bulky, complicated and hard to do.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I realised that the issue I was having, was that as I wrote an item down on a list, it would sometimes create another action, or, as I wrote Project Plans, they would be cluttered with actions that didn't really seem to add value and as a result, those Projects didn't get done as quickly. I thought that I was doing the right thing by writing everything down that could possibly be needed, but then I realised that the system needed to be water tight, and not bomb proof.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So on to the tip...</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Make sure that any action you take (that is not "Job done"), you write down what the next action is at the time you complete that action (unless you are going to do the action straight away of course!). This makes things water tight (but not bomb proof).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For example;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I receive a refund </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">cheque from the water company and have written on my errands list a reminder as follows;</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">@errands; Take refund cheque to the bank</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">***I deposit the cheque***</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I then write on my @waiting list "Check online bank for water company cheque clearance"</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">***I check and it's all cleared***</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">JOB DONE!</span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a simple example, but can be useful in lots of other circumstances e.g. Have you ever heard the phrase, "Well, I sent you an Email about it" and you roll your eyes. This approach can help, as you may have an action on your Next Actions list of "Send X Report to Jane", and then, you can put an action in your calendar to say "Call Jane to confirm Report X is okay". This type of attention builds relationships and stops things slipping through the gaps. Makes things water tight as the desired outcome is that Jane can take action with the report, not that it's just been Emailed to her.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some of you may be a GTD follower, and think, "All these actions should be on the project plan" (and therefore be bomb proof). By definition, in GTD speak, anything that requires 2 or more actions is a project, but I think setting up Projects for small things, will make your system appear bomb proof, but in reality it can often be a time wasting activity that actually delays getting things done.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Using the example above, if I were to do a "Water company refund project" There are then about 5 actions you will need to take e.g. </span><br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Call water company requesting refund</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Awaiting arrival of cheque of £X from water company</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Process the cheque when it arrives (put the cheque in your wallet)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Take cheque to bank</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Check statement for clearance.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But would you set up a project? Probably not, but writing down these actions as they are needed will help you keep things water tight. A bomb proof approach would have you write a complete plan like this one, as it could be argued that you may forget to write down the next action that is required, but I think a method of writing down actions when they are needed is much more realistic for many situations we face day to day.</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">BEWARE! </span><br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Only use this technique if you are clear and confident that the scope of the action is unquestionable (if there may be some ambiguity, opening a project to clarify scope can be beneficial)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I use this for outcome I write in my projects plans e.g. a Finance project might have "Get refund from water company" - I would then go to my next action list and write "Call water company and request refund" without transcribing it on my Finance project actions list, or further detailing the additional required actions. This may seem a tenuous link between actions and projects but to get over this I number my projects e.g. 23. Finance Project, and then on the actions list next to the action I write a '23' with a circle around it to relate the action to the project. So although there isn't a direct link between the project plan outcome of "Get refund from water company", I can take a pretty good guess the majority of the time!! (water tight, not bomb proof remember!).</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Glossary and useful info;</span><br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">GTD = Getting things done, a time management system. See www.davidco.com</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Use of @ in this post; I use these to denote lists, so in text files I can clearly see where my list starts e.g. @Next, @Calls, @Errands, @Waiting etc. If you are wondering why there are multiple lists, best look into GTD and www.davidco.com</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Projects, in this context can be as simple or as detailed as required, but for GTD purposes, simple outcome statements and lists of key outcomes, maybe a few key stakeholder names, is what I had in mind when writing this post - not a full project plan/Gantt chart.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I don't use anything special to manage my 'system', on re-reading this, it may sound like I got some fancy software or something, so I want to make clear, I run my entire GTD system from a A5 moleskin notebook at home, and then write errands on a notepad on my iphone when I'm out and about (I used to try to carry an A6 notepad with me everywhere - fine in an office environment, but impractical for day-to-day management).</span></li>
</ul>
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Matt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2784903230942141756.post-79628250406018401102011-04-25T22:34:00.001+01:002011-04-25T22:34:18.733+01:00iPhone free 4 track thingHardly used this, it's a free 4 track for the iPhone called mtsr - but it seems to work well, and is making me excited about the irig I've got on order. Awesome for penning ideas anyway. <br /><br />I may have a mess and if I can create anything that doesn't sound too horrific I will post it.<br /><br />There are some others out there, so if anyone has had any success with this or anything else let me know!<br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/04/25/3730.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/04/25/s_3730.jpg' border='0' width='187' height='281' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /><br />Matt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2784903230942141756.post-62728925813195382542011-04-21T16:32:00.000+01:002011-04-21T19:39:05.181+01:00DilbertMade me chuckle...<br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/04/21/1989.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/04/21/s_1989.jpg' border='0' width='400' height='400' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /><br /><p class='blogpress_location'>Location:<a href='http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Halesowen,United%20Kingdom%4052.416039%2C-2.057338&z=10'>Halesowen,United Kingdom</a></p>Matt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2784903230942141756.post-14910507611267037592009-12-08T21:48:00.000+00:002009-12-08T21:48:42.409+00:00Okay, not the most exciting thing ever, but it is for me!<div style="MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivtIwvbvAre3oFwpu5kD-ZPlZsTu2neCXbegUjhG51vPPGb13w6cEIcGwDUSfPku5OIy4mcCUxHZznZgtk4UhSqM0bVhFlx2jBOsXFFV01yn9-7xaV7XcZmHbxSgIlmW3fDUzxPp6D7fk/s1600-h/20091208door.jpg"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivtIwvbvAre3oFwpu5kD-ZPlZsTu2neCXbegUjhG51vPPGb13w6cEIcGwDUSfPku5OIy4mcCUxHZznZgtk4UhSqM0bVhFlx2jBOsXFFV01yn9-7xaV7XcZmHbxSgIlmW3fDUzxPp6D7fk/s320/20091208door.jpg" border="0" /></a> </div><br />Sweet...<div style='clear:both; text-align:CENTER'><a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a></div>Matt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2784903230942141756.post-74026349703521584222009-08-27T21:57:00.004+01:002009-08-27T22:08:59.737+01:00Comments? Ratings?If you are at all bored, you could maybe view some amazing Youtube videos of mine and Rich's Birthday and comment, or favorite or something?!?;<div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rybGJqjaZdA">Under the bridge</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPUFG5rTm-8">To be with you</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-HwPpy9kKE">...baby one more time</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b-3F3Icl6M">Livin' on a prayer</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Cheers, the rest will be on shortly...</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Matt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2784903230942141756.post-60969779588051958952009-08-25T22:44:00.000+01:002009-08-25T22:44:58.481+01:00Derren Brown Art<div style="MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; TEXT-ALIGN: center">Finally dragged myself to London, and my first visit to Camden and Rebecca Hossack Art to see Derren Brown's pics in the flesh. If you want to see them yourself, tough, it's over now :-)<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzZPSP2kdeGWUp_c_JA6WlA2rwLbpupSiDFVtGgkyMMLAR88x5TENuAuuVmPf07uc-VKcuSTcpi4RccPXW7-QG9RejzHYUBqqvvSpvVh5LvfOFYJteN8X-MrpfVpwwpn7f55aWRq5ILkI/s1600-h/DSC01418.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzZPSP2kdeGWUp_c_JA6WlA2rwLbpupSiDFVtGgkyMMLAR88x5TENuAuuVmPf07uc-VKcuSTcpi4RccPXW7-QG9RejzHYUBqqvvSpvVh5LvfOFYJteN8X-MrpfVpwwpn7f55aWRq5ILkI/s320/DSC01418.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><div style='clear:both; text-align:CENTER'><a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a></div>Matt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2784903230942141756.post-50277286812237467752009-07-22T20:44:00.004+01:002009-07-22T23:07:20.263+01:0030th Birthday gig video - finally!This is the first of quite a few, more to come; enjoy...<div><br /></div><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5b-3F3Icl6M&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5b-3F3Icl6M&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Matt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2784903230942141756.post-52144876858594638122009-03-28T21:59:00.006+00:002009-04-21T20:37:48.449+01:00Long time no post...I thought as I haven't posted for a while, I would update on recent musings...<br /><br />Lots of busy stuff, new job where I work and of course, the most important of all things- More Metallica. This time a little more local than I've been used to in recent years as they made an appearance last Wednesday (25th March 2009) at the NEC and were amazing.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKqPtq8cyGbYe8XzlOuuoPZ8CKwWCV4m3BT_p4G_T0orJtA-Jsk8jvG-p3nLqSZJyjGFg6zfWbWmP9ODXZGLdnh4wjQ-HfWh5sbl6pvzm1O1zQZhstnvIjxv0HBiQSM_Rvgd1GIeTo2v8/s1600-h/Image034.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKqPtq8cyGbYe8XzlOuuoPZ8CKwWCV4m3BT_p4G_T0orJtA-Jsk8jvG-p3nLqSZJyjGFg6zfWbWmP9ODXZGLdnh4wjQ-HfWh5sbl6pvzm1O1zQZhstnvIjxv0HBiQSM_Rvgd1GIeTo2v8/s200/Image034.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318363349211017666" border="0" /></a>In this pic you can see one of the fronts of the stage (it was square and in the middle of the arena). Also, Toni Iommi (black sabbath) and Brian Tatler (Diamond Head) were both there watching from right by us! Sweet!Matt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2784903230942141756.post-15080236082551847312009-01-26T21:12:00.001+00:002009-01-26T21:14:21.696+00:00Social not-workingOkay I spend far too much time on social sites, so if you've worked with me - know me, or just want to make my aquaintance add me at <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/mtrowley">http://www.linkedin.com/in/mtrowley</a>Matt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2784903230942141756.post-87060306837001524212009-01-24T16:47:00.003+00:002009-01-24T16:50:56.551+00:00Please sponsor a friend - he is doing something quite stupid...You may or may not know Mr. Jamie Dainton, but he is cycling from London to Paris.<br /><br />So I thought I would do a little promotion for him;<br /><br />Please sponsor at; <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/jamiedainton/">http://www.justgiving.com/jamiedainton/</a><br /><br />And you can also follow his training at <a href="http://jamiedainton.blogspot.com/">http://jamiedainton.blogspot.com/</a><br /><br />Good luck Jamie!Matt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2784903230942141756.post-1177351152837269492009-01-01T23:22:00.004+00:002009-01-02T00:05:00.167+00:00Happy New Year!!A new year is upon us and according to Abi, this is irrelevant and actually, it is just Thursday. Although she does have a point (it is Thursday).<br /><br />I am a little more positive about the whole thing, I think having life split up into units of years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds is kind of useful, it chunks things up to digestable units (imagine having to say I was 914,544,000 Seconds old when someone asked my age), and a year is a pretty wholesome unit - and I think that having goals and stuff for the year (New Years resolutions) is always a good one.<br /><br />But most people tend to chose things that they are not going to be in anyway commited to and are more aspirational life goals, and normally vague, pathetic or sound like they are giving up something they love. For example, "I'm going to lose weight" - your not losing anything, your gaining something - a new lease of life, why not have a goal such as I'm going to run a mile in under 10 minutes - you will probably lose weight, but you will actually occupy yourself with something useful.<br /><br />And the best one of all - "I'm going to quit smoking", this sounds like you are giving up! Are you giving up anything? So why think about something you will gain, like - "I'm going to take up breathing fresh air as often as I can", a side effect of this is that while you are breathing fresh air, it will clash with breathing in smoke. Or if you want something more tangible, take up free diving - you will need to practice holding your breath for that. What fun?<br /><br />So... what is my NYE Task. Well I'm still thinking about that. I'm thinking about what's next.<br /><br />So, to those of you who have celebrated in style because it was New Year (such as myself - pictures to follow) and to those of you who celebrated in style because it was Thursday (such as Abi), and of course to those of you who went to bed at 10:30 because you live life on the edge, I wish you all the best for 2009 and hopes that everything you want in life comes your way when you want it (whether it be by Year, Month, day - or you work outside the constraints of time and space).<br /><br />So.. Cheers, Prost!Matt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2784903230942141756.post-59498344319608363542008-12-28T13:41:00.003+00:002008-12-28T13:51:39.496+00:00Tired and ill but Xmas was goodI am being a typical man and am suffering from man-flu, as all men know this is a severe disease that is life threatening to the point of having an adrenaline shot by my side just in case.<br /><br />Women are some how immunce to this problem and it merely manifests as a cold. Strange eh?<br /><br />Well even though the hunt for sympathy continues I did manage to stay awake at Christmas around the folks with the help of the Guitar tab for 'Death Magnetic' as well as a Rubik's cube (which I managed to complete in the small hours of 27th Dec - yay me!). This of course was to distract me from the tat that passes as Xmas TV i.e. the tears and trauma on Eastenders, Corrie etc. as well as laughing at my Dad squirm as some guy swings around a girl with her head just missing the floor in 'Dancing on ice'.<br /><br />Of course Xmas in the Rowley house-hold is full rich food that I am still trying to get through (Mom always sends us with a care package that can last a normal person about 6 months), so I will get back to watching quality TV (Beauty and the Geek) and thinking how to tackle the food mountain in the fridge.Matt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2784903230942141756.post-90672471850612371232008-12-14T22:57:00.002+00:002008-12-14T23:05:18.502+00:00Decembeard - more!Okay, as work have a policy where you cannot access anything approaching fun or interesting (with the exception of <a href="http://www.wikipedia.org/" target="_blank">http://www.wikipedia.org/</a>) and more specifically Facebook/Blogs and other such stuff which makes publishing stuff on the internet easy, so I have created a website for Decembeard with the photos of the guys who are taking part on.<br /><br />So... go to <a href="http://www.baumley.com/" target="_blank">http://www.baumley.com/</a> and take a look!<br /><br />And while you are there follow the link to <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/decembeard2_Oldbury" target="_blank">http://www.justgiving.com/decembeard2_Oldbury</a> to make a donation (or nab one of us if you see us and give us cash!).Matt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2784903230942141756.post-40271095144825212682008-12-14T15:41:00.004+00:002008-12-14T15:57:39.678+00:00Spencer's Birthday Party<div style="text-align: right;"><div style="text-align: left;">Spencer's birthday celebrations kicked off with a Satsumo reunion from one of the (many) line ups. This was the 'Rich on guitar, Matt on bass, Dave on Drums, Spencer Guitar and Vocals' era.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Yw93W1PSBCwASbCvYJZl5WWIlaM1Q5pU467wYLsMmawqAx0hWw8WoHz90ygHAS1c8BWhcLd5H534AM9DKd8EdpjVKb6KJb_FwPtKJoAxxSHzKSdT8s53gQXd71qKSZFivIM7Jev-CiI/s1600-h/Satsumo1.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 144px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Yw93W1PSBCwASbCvYJZl5WWIlaM1Q5pU467wYLsMmawqAx0hWw8WoHz90ygHAS1c8BWhcLd5H534AM9DKd8EdpjVKb6KJb_FwPtKJoAxxSHzKSdT8s53gQXd71qKSZFivIM7Jev-CiI/s200/Satsumo1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279673603341599554" border="0" /></a>You may be wondering what we are wearing - probably best not to - but at least the beard looks cool :-)<br /></div><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiViG5SurhW7B9QSRHDfiWtqc91RSZqIKx31MGbwGoGZSkzPy8lzHfHKUh1ss_nlcRzk17ZK3QnSqfgGxtCbAoC3VU7UoRP1F_ioIOUvkWpinIC5GnQaWQU3QzvQKKp0KQdSHJUuZdPEuU/s1600-h/Satsumo4.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 193px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiViG5SurhW7B9QSRHDfiWtqc91RSZqIKx31MGbwGoGZSkzPy8lzHfHKUh1ss_nlcRzk17ZK3QnSqfgGxtCbAoC3VU7UoRP1F_ioIOUvkWpinIC5GnQaWQU3QzvQKKp0KQdSHJUuZdPEuU/s200/Satsumo4.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279673598092584722" border="0" /></a>Then later on in the evening... Eclectic Blue;<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnpXd1MLfxhK6p8rrx-lXrS2klGFJF-XKwqE7SdZSeahkwCdq8Vhy5reWdAJUlGn1t18hWqZqQMkm_y2Xea1dYKpzokwYm_APoFfsJBGMAxiSqXYDyVHT-TV8XCXiVKCjAy8sek8C80aI/s1600-h/EB1.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 115px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnpXd1MLfxhK6p8rrx-lXrS2klGFJF-XKwqE7SdZSeahkwCdq8Vhy5reWdAJUlGn1t18hWqZqQMkm_y2Xea1dYKpzokwYm_APoFfsJBGMAxiSqXYDyVHT-TV8XCXiVKCjAy8sek8C80aI/s200/EB1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279672650680364546" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8kjxTRU8MUOwTL6FWkq7xv73zw4aY-zdRxwLXPLKqt1g6Svi0msrCYSHnigUsJDWFjRukLxEJT4JRMpXDwujIjzr9B563RUhukDSBPZ2wlQlo8K4XPGE6I0J4c2eQ2Qi3B1pTkBUeE4A/s1600-h/EB13.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 172px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8kjxTRU8MUOwTL6FWkq7xv73zw4aY-zdRxwLXPLKqt1g6Svi0msrCYSHnigUsJDWFjRukLxEJT4JRMpXDwujIjzr9B563RUhukDSBPZ2wlQlo8K4XPGE6I0J4c2eQ2Qi3B1pTkBUeE4A/s200/EB13.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279672629138770146" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJeoTSh6CZ0Dq8Xe25Uh1Vn9cW4R-xjl8vGoRs8X2r9a6qk0Gv3O1iKZG_LNvpDtOCMY-gSrGgHRslqvs97VdjANo7YSTklDUQVFe1G3ubnyMd4f0cWrYJZk_PstY7r90Io83pPkl1Umk/s1600-h/EB5.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJeoTSh6CZ0Dq8Xe25Uh1Vn9cW4R-xjl8vGoRs8X2r9a6qk0Gv3O1iKZG_LNvpDtOCMY-gSrGgHRslqvs97VdjANo7YSTklDUQVFe1G3ubnyMd4f0cWrYJZk_PstY7r90Io83pPkl1Umk/s200/EB5.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279673594055592994" border="0" /></a>Yes, for some reason the drummer goes barefoot.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB-cWYk5O-vxDRdjl1eOlQSMfGIYUv6SWnoNu5EieM2NszReL6EQphnocROuLGT1xHcYhKsRKM-ALAvElEapuP8aPAk76_ycoH9yDBZt0yRODlX5OrjrTFwBaiYNaAzUNwzGEuz71TgdI/s1600-h/EB8.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 142px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB-cWYk5O-vxDRdjl1eOlQSMfGIYUv6SWnoNu5EieM2NszReL6EQphnocROuLGT1xHcYhKsRKM-ALAvElEapuP8aPAk76_ycoH9yDBZt0yRODlX5OrjrTFwBaiYNaAzUNwzGEuz71TgdI/s200/EB8.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279672656258656194" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieE0Pa0TdtKyJ9OQke7xQH25ewpz18gsk6ZswyEq_iYKnXWXLwNUN58QaLwLZtWLt7VLU-yB_def6NHIK0xMVN5dUSIbPYNDp6nw3PHOPRMy89b9SZ8Y2gvhko-io7h-Eiq7RSPg2WF5A/s1600-h/EB6.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 175px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieE0Pa0TdtKyJ9OQke7xQH25ewpz18gsk6ZswyEq_iYKnXWXLwNUN58QaLwLZtWLt7VLU-yB_def6NHIK0xMVN5dUSIbPYNDp6nw3PHOPRMy89b9SZ8Y2gvhko-io7h-Eiq7RSPg2WF5A/s200/EB6.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279672646445577698" border="0" /></a>Matt Rowleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698968852251003173noreply@blogger.com0