Wednesday, 11 February 2015

Winning hearts and minds

 

Someone mentioned 'winning hearts and minds' on Twitter which had me reflecting, yet again, on the language we use and how the solution is often contained within the metaphor we're using.

Winning or influencing someones mind is covered in most influencing theories. It's also something we're all familiar with - facts and data presented in a way our or their mind finds pleasing.

To borrow a phrase from Star Trek 'my mind to your mind' - so the key is understanding how the other person's mind works (using its operating manual if you like) and presenting the information in a way that their mind finds easier to understand. 

Most of us get 'mind to mind' right if we just spend a little time thinking about our audience and their preferences. 

I then wondered about winning hearts. 

The obvious response, and one I've given many times here before, is - what motivates us is our values and these come from our heart. So if you want to win someones heart then find out what their values are and use those.

I realised as I responded to the tweet there was more to this phrase. 

You see I now wonder if a heart can be won over by mind alone (because whilst someones values are driven by their heart, our assessment of them and our application of them in our communication is driven by our mind).

If a heart can only be won over by another heart then it's no use leaving our heart outside when we walk into work (along with the rest of our soft skills). We have to take it with us and allow others to see, connect and feel our heart. 

Opening our heart at work isn't something many feel comfortable doing but if you're using the phrase "winning hearts and minds" something that's needed.

When will or did you last take your heart into work and use it?

Alison Smith
Inspiring change inside and out - when what you're doing isn't working

The language we use gives so much away about how we process information, our beliefs and our values. Which means it's also a great means of solving the problems too. Other blogs written on the subject include:
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Monday, 9 February 2015

Are Procurement asking the right questions



When determining criteria to select suppliers it would seem Procurement need to think outside the box.

Nothing new there - but bare with me.

Today's news that care agencies broke the law not paying care workers for their travelling time between clients had me thinking (yes I know it doesn't take much).

Just to summarise - a care worker may have 10 clients to visit in a day. Some of those visits may last no more than 15 minutes, and could then involve 30 minutes to travel to the next client. Which means if someone only gets paid for the time in front of a client they're actually working for less than the minimum wage. (I won't muddy the water and include the 'waiting' time between some clients - ie the next visit isn't scheduled till 11.00 and you finished the last client at 10.20 and it's only 10 minutes to get there).

The key for me is that this has been going on for years - so how did the care agencies get away with it for so long? 

I can understand how it happened for those care agencies working for private clients. After all the client just pays £x for the hours worked. If the care agency can convince the care worker they just get paid for hours worked they can get away with it. 

The worry I have is many care agencies work for local councils. How did the fact that these care agencies were breaking the law get passed the supplier selection process?

It's simple - procurement didn't think outside the box and just asked too simplistic questions.

The answer "Yes" to "Do you pay minimum wage" was taken at face value without asking further qualifying questions about payment for travelling and waiting time. 

If nothing else this reminds councils to reassess their procurement, supplier selection, assessment and auditing processes. To do what I hate to do (because I like to trust everyone) and assume suppliers are hiding unacceptable, and in this case unlawful, practices behind their woolly answers.

Of course that begs the question about other goods and services procurement buy. After all we don't have to go too far back for other fiascos that highlight inadequate auditing - Horsemeat gate being a good example.

What questions do your procurement team need to be adding to their tender, supplier assessment and auditing to ensure they get through the fog suppliers may wish to hide unacceptable, and in this instance unlawful, practices behind.

What questions do you need to ask your suppliers this week? 

Alison Smith
Inspiring change inside and out - when what you're doing isn't working 

Although I also realise some of this was allowed to happen due to heads buried in the sand and voices not raised by everyone concerned. However you're hardly likely to blow the whistle if walking out of your job due to this abuse means not even the Government will give you income support. After all many of these jobs were supplied by local Job Centres - but that's another subject all together.
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Sunday, 8 February 2015

The earth cried

Story idea inspired by Visual Verse (1 picture, 1 hour and less than 500 words) and picture used is my collage card shown.

 
The poem "The Earth cried the day the mist set in" has now moved to my new website. 


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Friday, 6 February 2015

Incremental progress

 
The water on the Forth today was like a mill pond - very calm and quiet, and as a result the slow incremental movement of the tide was not noticeable.
 
So true in life - often the change doesn't come with a big fanfare made in big leaps just continual progress every day towards your goal until you realise you've got there. 
 
Alison Smith
Inspiring change inside and out - when what you're doing isn't working 
 
Metaphors are very powerful tools to obtain insight to what's going on. So it's no surprise that the Landscaping your life (LYL) process used here, that uses nature as our teacher, is very effective. More about the process can be found here:
 
  • LYL Pinterest Board
  • YouTube Channel - a LYL playlist with a number of video blogs on the subject
  • An insightful walk in nature - insights from just going for a walk
  • Business strategy development - a board of management's strategy away day
  • Speaking with confidence - using the process
  • The solution is right infront of you - :-) it was
    •  
    An index of blogs about the other tools I use in facilitation and coaching can be found here.
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    Thursday, 5 February 2015

    Summary: The tools I use to facilitate and coach others

    I'm not going to cover the category management, sourcing, supplier management and business tools I use in the work I do for Future Purchasing or other procurement consultancies today.

    This post is more about providing you with a summary of the blogs I've written about the unique tools I use in group facilitation and personal coaching - in procurement contexts and more broadly in other business settings. Whether directly with clients or via the other consultancies.

    These blogs also share the benefits delivered of using these unique tools - which can be summarised as helping groups or individuals to achieve one or more of the following:
    • Identify where they are
    • Identify where they want to get to (for example strategy development might be a session in it's own right)
    • Understand what's stopping them getting there
    • Release what's holding them back 
    • Take appropriate action towards their goal

    More here on a pinterest board I developed on the benefits of coaching.

    As I said in my "But I don't do soft fluffy stuff" post many of the reasons we're not achieving what we say we want can be found in the soft fluffy stuff. So just as it's no use looking for the car keys in the bathroom if you know you left them in your coat - it's the same with resolving what's holding you back - the answer often lies in the soft fluffy stuff and there's a number of ways of getting at that - some more comfortable than others - some certainly less intrusive than others. It sort of depends if you want to get to the root cause or not, or if you're happy just putting a plaster/band aid on it.



    NLP




    Language
    The language we use gives so much away about how we process information, our beliefs and our values. Which means it's also a great means of solving the problems too.



    Landscaping Your Life (LYL)
    I could write a book on metaphors - if a picture paints a thousand words then a metaphor paints a thousand pictures. One metaphor I use a lot is landscapes and nature. I describe it as 'using nature as our teacher'. Nature has been used for thousands of years as a tool of insight and it's still used as such for a reason - because it works.
    I also use gardening as a metaphor for purchasing when training internal stakeholders what it's all about.
    Postscript: a Landscaping Your Life website was launched in November 2015 - so for more on this effective process do please go and visit.

    Collage



    I only started using this tool in November 2014 and have been blown away by it's effectiveness in a business setting. I'd thought it was purely for personal coaching, and yet am finding it a great addition to the other business tools used.



    Frameworks for Change Coaching Process (FCP)

    This process is the business version of the tool below, and I've been successfully using it in business sessions since 2005.
    Other card sets I have used include Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies and Roger Von Oech's Creative Whack pack. All tools that help you to explore a situation to gather more data about what might be holding you back.



    Transformation Game

    Of all the tools I use this is the only one that is only applicable in a personal setting. It's a game and takes 2.5 hrs per person to play and is hugely insightful. I'm not sure these blogs do it justice but I had to try



    So far this week I've shared summaries of blogs written on soft skills, procurement and the rant's I have on our disconnection from what it is to be human!

    Congratulations if you got to the end of that list - such a great reference for me and anyone wanting to know how I do that I do, and the benefits that I deliver as a result.

    Do call me if you think any of these tools might be of interest +44 (0)7770 538159 Alison@thepurchasingcoach.co.uk

    Alison Smith
    Inspiring change inside and out when what you're doing isn't working
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    Wednesday, 4 February 2015

    Summary: Soft Skills


    This week's summary blogs continue today with soft skills. I know it's an emotive phrase and I joined that debate with my blog rant last week entitled "but I don't do soft fluffy stuff" and went on to explain that we all do soft fluffy stuff every minute of every day - ie we're not the android above but human. I also wrote the case for soft skills too.

    I first dipped my toe into understanding more about these skills over 15 years ago when I attended a 4 day NLP workshop. I was so enthused about the subject I went on to attend the remaining 16 days of the practitioner, a further 20 days for the master practitioner, another 20 days for the trainer trainer and numerous assistant roles to repeat all of the above. Which in class room time alone must amount to over 200 days on the subject. So yes I was hooked and books on the subject continue to arrive weekly as I explore the subject more fully.

    Further certification in other coaching tools have just added to the melting pot of all things fluffy!  (More on these tomorrow).

    I suppose that's why I blog so often about the subject - my enthusiasm for the subject - but also the ability as I blog to explore the models more fully. Recent blogging on the subject certainly helped when I included a lot of this content in Future Purchasing's Category and Supplier Management workshops before Christmas.

    The challenge is how to summarise the blogs on this subject because they represent over half of the blogs I write. That said if I write on communication over a number of days I'll link to the other blogs from the final one. So that's what you'll have here - a set of favourite subjects with links to the main blog with the ability when you get there to explore that subject further. Although be warned its still a long list!


    Change
    Personal change management is at the heart of much of soft skills.
     

    Values
    Values are the key to much stuckness in our lives because they motivate our every action or not, and are the basis for how we judge others.



    Influencing (Also see NLP with links to load of blogs)


    Goals



    Personal development



    Wellbeing


    My favourite quotes


    Short stories I've written with wellbeing in mind


    The summary blog tomorrow will share more about what I do and how I do it.

    Yesterday I provided a summary list of blogs on procurement, and the day before a summary of rants on the loss of our humanity. A useful reference for those who enjoy my blogs and more easily want to read those from the archive - ok also easier for me to find them too :-).

    Alison Smith
    Inspiring Change Inside and out - when what you're doing isn't working
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    Tuesday, 3 February 2015

    Summary: Procurement


    Yesterday I jumped straight into Miss angry mode, with a summary of blogs that questioned whether we're losing our humanity, I therefore felt it only right that today's summary blog concentrated on the profession that I live, breath and love - procurement.

    I wonder if I'm the only person who went into procurement on the advise of the careers adviser - she said my analytical bias and extroversion were perfectly suited to procurement - and 30 years later (did I just type that - oh my!!) I think she might just have been right. I've tried a few times to escape but my passion, enthusiasm and expertise for the profession seems to keep me rooted here.

    As you will have noticed many of my blogs concentrate on the soft skills required for procurement, and business more widely (and there will be a separate summary blog to cover that subject tomorrow). So yes I am more likely to blog about influencing skills than I am Kraljic. I'm also more likely to be sharing insight on procurement to those who don't work in procurement rather than those who do. On the basis that if others understand the breadth involved in best practice/ world class or just down right great procurement they'd leave it to us and not try to do it themselves. An area I think procurement has failed to tackle that effectively if recent - horsegate and payment terms fiasco's are anything to go by.

    That said, I do at times blog more directly about procurement here, and also for Future Purchasing and Supply Management:

    Procurement the basics
    Procurement Process
    Procurement Management
    Supplier Management
    General Management
    There will be another summary blog tomorrow on soft skills and all things influencing, change management, communication, collaboration and personal development.

    Alison Smith
    Inspiring change inside and out - when what you're doing isn't working
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    Monday, 2 February 2015

    Summary: what it means to be human



    This week I'm summarising my blogs - that is I've written a lot of blogs on a few key subjects and to assist those interested in a specific subject I'm going to develop a contents page with links to every thing (ok perhaps not everything) I've written on the subject. It will be a great help to me for reference too.

    Last week's news of ID chips being placed under the skin of employees in Sweden had a number of bloggers and tweeters taking to social media to express their concern. Me included, and had me reflecting that a large majority of my most angry blogs have been about what I see as the erosion of our humanity namely (although they only represent 3.5% of my content):

    and whilst not as angry as some of the above, never the less a sad sign of the times:
    Although I realise that getting angry changes nothing and all I can hope to do is be the change I want to see in the world and business, and hope that the business archetype that's worryingly inhumane at times is replaced by a more enlightened one.
    Don't worry I do blog about other less emotive subjects such as procurement, influencing, language, and well being and will share contents pages for those as the week progresses.

    Alison Smith
    Inspiring change inside and out - when what you're doing isn't working
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    Sunday, 1 February 2015

    Facilitating change

    I use a number of different tools * in the work I do - some more conventional than others. The aim of using any of them is to inspire change when, and here's the important bit, when what you're doing isn't working. After all if what you were doing was working you wouldn't be stuck and in need of identifying a solution.

    The key thing I have to remember is not every tool will work for every group or person or every situation, and not everyone will be comfortable with using all of the tools. It's certainly not about bullying people to use a tool they're not comfortable with.


    What it is about is uncovering what's holding someone back and that unfortunately strays into what many call the soft fluffy stuff. But since we're all guided by our fluffy stuff every day it's no surprise the answers can often be found there.

    Some of the tools * I use therefore deal with getting at and exploring the "fluff". It would be no use simply using Porter's five forces, Kraljic or even a stakeholder map if the problem holding you back is your resistance to change. Yes the others tools are safer and don't make people feel uncomfortable, but they also don't solve the problem if the solution will be found in your values and beliefs.

    Never the less some of the tools are much more suited to personal coaching settings and others more applicable in business group settings.

    That said I used the collage cards last week at the Scottish Institute for Business Leaders (SIBL) and much insight was gained and movement forward achieved for the business leaders concerned. Up till then, since attending the collage workshop late last year, I'd only used the process with personal, even if business, coaching clients.


    Those attending the meeting were split into 2 groups - the first explored their issues using Action Learning. A second smaller, and yes willing, group came with me to explore their issues using the collage cards. 

    We spent 2 hours together each pulling a number of cards to help them to:
    • Understand the characteristics of the current situation
    • Identify what was holding them back, and hopefully release it
    • Agree an action plan for the future 


    I don't want to share too much due too confidentiality (to get a sense of what the process involves you can find more here - although it's much enhanced once others provide feedback too) but in summary:
    • A business plan was changed
    • A number of business goals were realigned
    • A few personal goals were stretched
    • Over half had their confidence in their resulting goals increased
    • A couple identified and started to release the fear surrounding their goals (would need an individual session with the individuals concerned to help do this more fully) 
    • Everyone's actions were grounded
    And importantly for me, and a sign of the processes' efficacy
    • everyone asked if we could just bring the cuppa back into the room rather than have the 10 minutes break
    • everyone took a picture of their cards at the end
    • everyone enthused about the process and talked of wanting to use it on other challenges
    No tool I have ever used has ever had such a resounding thumbs up. I know it's a small sample but I'm taking that as a positive sign of what might be possible with this process. I would certainly welcome further opportunities to use it in personal and business settings. You can contact me on alison@thepurchasingcoach.co.uk or +44 (0)7770 538159.

    Alison Smith
    Inspiring change inside and out - when what you're doing isn't working

    * In addition to collage cards other tools I use to support my coaching in a business setting might include NLP,  Frameworks for change coaching process, creative whack pack, oblique strategies, landscaping your life, and in a personal setting the Transformation Game. They're used because they're really effective at getting at what's holding people back and more importantly getting you back on track.
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