Keeping Afloat

I’m feeling a little jittery & off balance at the moment & in need of daily grounding to keep afloat.

I’m sure I’m not alone in finding Coronavirus a little daunting – working & living alone is certainly allowing that jitteryness to take hold even more.

I wondered therefore what I could do to add to the mix of support available & decided to share insights from a coaching tool I use in coaching and workshops.

It’s called the frameworks for change coaching process * & involves exploring the words on a series of cards to help us to tap into our inner wisdom.

An inner wisdom that is able to connect us to our inner calm.

I’ll be sharing a set of cards every day for at least the next couple of weeks.

Today’s insights to keep afloat are:

• Insight: You successfully resisted the temptation to gossip.

• Potential setback: Setback by comparison on the current situation.

• Insight: I measure my success by how much I enjoy my work.

• Mentor: Enthusiasm

Reflect on your own thoughts about these cards as these will always be more powerful for you than my own.

I have however shared my thoughts on a YouTube video (see below and also my YT channel here) & below.

Insight: You successfully resisted the temptation to gossip.

In this context gossip for me is about conversations where we’re telling a story and as we do so we add energy to the story. It’s as if we’re adding in more dark corners and angrier and bigger monsters with every telling. Which eventually has us afraid to go out and jumping at every loud noise. If we stop telling the story and stick to the facts, and focus on the actions we personally can take on a day to day basis, some of the jitteriness will dissipate.

Potential setback: Setback by comparison on the current situation. 

Do not look at others and see them as somehow being better off than you. We each have our own journey, and the media (social and otherwise) is always going to look as if most people are coping well. The chances are that a large majority of people are feeling like you are.  

Insight: I measure my success by how much I enjoy my work.

Some of the usual means of measuring success like hours at work, promotions, financial investments increasing, earnings, or even pats on the back may be a little light on the ground at the moment. What happens if we focus on the enjoyment we’re getting from what we’re doing, focusing more on what success today looks like rather than success next week, next month or next year.

Mentor: Enthusiasm

For me this links to the earlier cards – how can we tap into our enthusiasm today.

Find that one thing that when all around is fraught gives us joy. It might not be huge - it could be playing with your children/cat, or eating a favourite dessert or even watching your favourite film. Anything that will help shift from jangly and jittery to a more joyful mindset.

I'm posting on LinkedIn , Facebook and YouTube daily so pop over there to have a daily dose of insight to help keep you afloat. I'll pop back and share occasionally here.

* The process, the insight, setback and mentor cards used here are from Frameworks for Change © Innerlinks - www.innerlinks.com.

You can get a less businessy set of very similar cards online from Amazon or in person as Findhorn Phoenix shop - the cards are called Intuitive Solutions (Amazon UK, Amazon US).

Purchasing Coach: Advent window 9: FCP

25 unconventional coaching and facilitation tools to surprise and delight

Today's advent window uncovers a tool that's a firm favourite of mine and clients - in 1:1 coaching and facilitation with groups - it's the Frameworks for Change Coaching Process *.

It's such a pity that writing about it often fails to truly demonstrate how effective this process is at getting to the heart of the matter. Thankfully that won't stop me trying ;-)

There are 3 types of cards used in the FCP deck: insights, setbacks and mentors.

Insights (I). These either indicate a direction, attitude or behaviour you can take, highlight a truth you need to remember or remind you of a time when you demonstrated a particular quality or behaviour to bring it in to the now.

Setbacks (S). These may indicate a particular attitude that is unproductive, identify a habitual way you react that restricts your effectiveness or presents its self through someone who displays a behaviour that sets you back in this way.

Mentors (M). These are either real people who already model this quality that can act as an example for you at this time or reminds you to express this quality.

Before reading my own insight from the FCP cards I've pulled you may want to reflect on them yourself. Here they are:

(I) You take time to acknowledge, savour, and celebrate each of your teams successes
(S) You are set back by the inability to communicate in the current situation
(I) You value and express the quality of Faith in the current situation
(M) Willingness

What action do these words inspire in you at this time, how may that lead you back on track and towards a remarkable 2018?

Here's my personal take on these cards:

(I) You take time to acknowledge, savour, and celebrate each of your teams successes.

A reminder perhaps to review the successes achieved in 2017 rather than focus on what didn't happen. Too easy perhaps to focus on the destinations not visited that were on the plan, and forget all the new destinations that appeared as life got in the way!

A reminder too to acknowledge the people who have supported me during the year. More of that tomorrow.

(S) You are set back by the inability to communicate in the current situation

I've got a playlist of happy songs playing in the background as I write this. It's not something I do very often at all, as music normally distracts me. But today it just felt right.

As I jig about on my seat, and sing loudly as I listen to these tracks that I love, what comes to mind for me is the means of communication.

Saying the same thing even if with different words might not be what's needed - perhaps a more whole scale shift to how I'm connecting with the communicating is needed - whether that's singing or dancing.   

In truly connecting to the communication in every part of my mind and body perhaps the words I wish to share will truly pour forth?

And as I do that then the words of the track that has now started playing will perhaps be as true for me as they are for those singing them for themselves.

(I) You value and express the quality of Faith in the current situation

Often with these cards we're asked to tap into a time in the past when we expressed the quality written on the card.  However, as I looked for an appropriate picture and waded through a plethora of religious themed images, I came across this one which had me going in a different direction.

This reminded me to have faith in humanity, and the earth and nature's ability to find equilibrium, for peace to win the day over war and negativity. A little more spiritual than you'd expect in a business blog, but an insight for me that allows me to sleep at night and not buy into the doom-mongers.

The Rhythm of Life has just started playing on the playlist - which also has the same energy to it.

ie let's not forget to follow the things that give us a tingle in our fingers, and a tingle in our toes.

Oh dear, sorry, the next song on the play list also applies - its Seasons of Love from Rent, and ask us how do we measure a year - coffees? sunsets? midnights? miles? tears? bridges burned? minutes (525,600 of them), or love?

A reminder perhaps to not measure my year in turnover and profit but in laughter, support and difference made, and even aspirations.

(after all the start of the year started with a post of me not wanting us to leave our humanity at the office door,

and continued by realising that if humanity could go to the moon, humanity could blinkin' get into board room.)

(M) Willingness

In another set of cards the word willingness is accompanied by the picture of an angel doing the washing up! A reminder perhaps that even the angels have to get their hands dirty and do the jobs that won't go away and we just need knuckle down and get them done!

Hmm I wonder what that's inviting to do..... I'm starting to think it involves those board rooms!!

More here using the FCP* many years ago on keeping on track in a downturn with a group of professional speakers here in Scotland.

Alison Smith
Unlocking procurement potential - using conventional and unconventional tools
Procurement and Business Speaker, Coach, Trainer, & Facilitator
alison@alisonsmith.eu +44 (0)7770 538159

Earlier in the year I applied some of the unconventional tools shared in this series of advent posts to common procurement challenges - more here.

* The process, the insight, setback and mentor cards used here are from Frameworks for Change © Innerlinks - www.innerlinks.com.

Shifting from theory into practice

I had to move my car this morning, as they were digging up the road and needed to put some temporary traffic lights outside the house where I would normally park the car.

A while later as I looked out of the office window and watched the lights change from red to green and back I was struck with the analogy between them and the issue I'd been wrestling with over recent weeks.

How to manage emails effectively.

When I'm out of the office, and as I still don't have emails on my phone only my ipad, I find responding to emails at set times of day much easier to manage ie through necessity it's likely to be at the start or end of the day and done all together.

When working in the office I do find the little icon that appears a distraction, and much like an annoying itch something that needs scratching - resulting in emails being checked hourly, if not much more frequently!

I know the theory of managing and responding to emails and time management more broadly - it was even a topic for one of the coaching clinics last year I facilitated and where I summarised the key findings in a Pinterest board.

I don't, however, always follow the theory - or walk the talk!

When coaching others the biggest challenge to be addressed for many issues is shifting theory into practice. More often than not we do know what to do - we're just not doing it - whether that's managing emails, eating more healthily, exercising, making decisions, speaking up, taking timely action and so on.

The challenge in many coaching sessions is finding the difference that makes the difference for the client. Finding what would move them from theory into action, and in this case dealing with emails differently. For some people it might be about finding the motivation to take action, for others changing the trigger for taking action, and others it might be about changing their strategy all together.

In others words, when wanting to improve email handling, it might include any one or all of the following:

• Turning the icon that tells you that you've unopened emails off, or closing emails - which might work if, like me, you have a visual trigger for action. 
• Turning the sound that heralds the arrival of a new emails off - which might work if you have an auditory trigger for action. 
• Setting a timer to enable you to focus for a set time on a given task with no distractions allowed - which might work if you have a strategy that means you're good at following rules you set yourself, or if you're motivated by reward and can see reading emails as a reward for focusing on another task for an amount of time.
• Finding the motivation by tapping into the thought of what it would be like to finally get other things on your to-do list done (some people may need to tick a box to get the sense of achievement or success).
• Thinking about the people you're letting down by not getting your other actions completed (although this may be the same value that is motivating your over responsiveness to emails).
• Monitoring how often you respond to emails in a day - which might work if you're motivated by efficiency, or away from the horror for how often you let them distract your day.
• Comparing how much time you spend responding to emails if you do them frequently vs in chunks x times a day - which might work if you're struggling with your workload and know you need to free up time every day.
• Writing a list of all the things you don't seem to be doing because you're responding to emails - which might work if you really would prefer to be doing the other activities.
• Adding 'respond to emails' to your to-do list or diary might help you prioritise them alongside your other actions, rather than them just being a filler that expands and takes over your working day.
• Rooting emails into different folders to assist with their prioritisation (e.g many people redirect emails they're cc'd onto into another folder - the rules set up could be expanded to include redirection based on name, project, key words etc). 
• Asking someone who manages their time and emails well what strategy they adopt.

Sometimes the more obvious strategies might not work, and a more unconventional perspective might be just what is needed. In which case, options might include: 

• Considering the language you're using for emails that arrive - instead of calling them 'emails' what about calling them 'distractions' - might that reduce the frequency that you view them? or perhaps calling them 'actions' would help you manage them more effectively. There's no right or wrong, just a strategy that helps you manage your emails and your work load more effectively.   
• Doing a collage to act as a visual reminder about the impact of emails, and using it as a screensaver or popping it by your desk (I'll do a blog on this later in the week and link to it when it's written).
• In a coaching session if we're going around in circles I may get the Frameworks for Change Coaching Process cards out to help provide a different perspective to the situation. (Certainly for me reconnecting to my inner wisdom and vision (big picture) for the future has helped me find more time to allocate to non email activity, and therefore forced me to handle emails differently).

• Using pipe cleaners to help demonstrate the pros of changing your behaviour, and cons of continuing with your current strategy.

• Finding a metaphor that helps the theory land - which is where the traffic lights come in. If I imagine the email is the red light I realise that every x minutes, just like the traffic, I'm being stopped in mid-flow - no choice when I stop just at the whim of something external to me. Once the green light shows I have to navigate the roadworks / obstruction before I get back on track and up to my normal speed. If this metaphor doesn't work for you, what other metaphor might help you relate to your emails more resourcefully? Here's some further suggestions.

• Writing a blog, article, or poem about dealing with emails might help shift the pattern as you are forced to consider, explore and provide solutions to your current unresourceful, unhelpful and unproductive behaviour :-)
• or even doing a vlog

• and so on - what strategy do you adopt for managing emails? 

Alison Smith
Unlocking your potential using unconventional tools

Are procurement setback by Arrogance?

"Are procurement setback by arrogance" was a question I asked a procurement team a few years ago.

Their initial response was "who us? ....never", and slowly as the day progressed moved to "Oh - I can certainly see why some of our stakeholders might consider our language and behaviour to be arrogant." Which then allowed them to develop a different strategy for stakeholder engagement than the one they'd been adopting.

As part of discussions around the Procurement challenges series of blogs I've mentioned the outcome of a session I facilitated with a procurement team a lot so thought I'd share the highlights here.

The title of the session was:

Our Journey to world class - making the boat go faster!

And the CPO's stated objective was:

Bringing the team together, and understanding what needs to happen to ensure team behaviours support achieving personal and stretching objectives.

The agenda included a mix of sessions: communication & influencing training, facilitated discussions/breakouts, and some unconventional tools.

The underlying structure of the day followed the process I'd developed for when you're feeling like you're up a creek without a paddle (follow hypertext for more on the use of this saying, which also explains why we used the 'how to make the boat go faster' in the workshop title).

Use of the saying meant agenda items included putting the anchor down and taking time to consider: how to get back into the main flow of the river, what was needed to keep them afloat, what guides and travellers were there to help them, calibrating their compasses, and taking paddles in hand and getting going. (More here on why I use metaphor in much of my work, and why it's such a powerful, and yet under used, change management tool.)

As part of the day I used cards from the Frameworks for Change Coaching Process *, and the following setback cards came out in succession. As setbacks they're inviting us to consider how the behaviour on the card might be setting us back from achieving our stated outcome/goal.

When the two cards were selected by two team members in succession, whilst some team members were open to the suggestion, I was also met with some dismissive statements.

Even when I asked "How could your behaviour be seen as arrogant" some responded with "It can't".

It would have been easy for me to label some of the things I heard as potentially arrogant, but how easy would anyone find receiving that feedback? And would that facilitate the change in behaviour needed?

I then decided to use another unconventional tool and asked them all to all stand up and move to one side of the room. I then talked them through the standing in their shoes exercise.

In this exercise they imagine looking back at themselves, and noticing what it feels like to be their stakeholder, on the receiving end of their own words, tone and behaviour. It was then that the penny started to drop - a realisation emerged that some of them were stuck in a stereotype of what procurement should, ought and must act like, rather than be more flexible in their approach and use the different communication and influencing styles we'd discussed earlier in the day.

As a coach my role is not to tell others what they should think or believe. My role instead is to provide the right environment and stimulus for them to tap into their own inner knowing and potential. Thus facilitating change inside and out for themselves. (It's certainly why I use the unconventional tools that I do - because they're great at helping people to unlock their own potential rather than have someone force the locks for them!)

As you consider standing in the shoes of your stakeholders, suppliers or colleagues would they consider your behaviour to be arrogant, and in what way might that arrogance be setting you back? As a result of that insight what advice could you give yourself to allow changes to be made that engender a more positive relationship with those individuals you wish to be influencing?

Another insight of the day significantly improved team working with their manager, and involved a conversation about the communication preferences of their CPO. I'll share that in tomorrow's post.

Alison Smith
The Purchasing Coach
Unlocking personal, procurement and organisational potential using unconventional tools

There's an index of posts that I'd adding to as I write post like this - using unconventional tools to unlock procurement potential to resolve challenges faced. The challenges addressed are being provided by responses to a LinkedIn discussion.

* Frameworks for Change Coaching Process (FCCP) copyright Innerlinks www.innerlinks.com I used the FCCP process more fully in a post earlier in the series - more here. 

Viewing challenges from an unconventional perspective

Well I did ask for your procurement challenges and you shared them with me - there's enough for a few months of blogs and that's after only 3 days :-) ! Thank you very much for the encouraging response.

Here's the first in a series of posts using unconventional tools to unlock procurement potential. If you're a little unsure about why I'm using unconventional tools you might want to read my post 'what has convention ever done for us'.

The Procurement Challenge - using unconventional tools to provide alternative perspectives (ie when the conventional way of solving a problem means the solution is still eluding you, and an alternate perspective may just be the thing you need to jolt you back on track)

• Challenge 1: Think of your greatest procurement challenge - or perhaps your most pressing challenge
• Unconventional tool to be used: The Frameworks for Change Coaching Process *
• Unconventional score**: 5/10
• Things that will help you get the most from this post: Read the guiding principles - these provide more detail of the aims of these posts, and identify things that will help and hinder you getting the most from them. I think an important principle as we start is: Have fun, accept the absurdity, laugh and play lightly with the tools and insights. (Where insight comes from can't be forced - if your brain takes you off on a tangent in response to something I write - please do allow yourself time to explore the tangent.)  

Future posts will pick specific procurement challenges, and then apply an unconventional tool to them. Although I can safely say many of them will equally apply to other disciplines and professions.

Today I want to see if one of the unconventional tools can help you uncover insight now - not wait until I pick your specific challenge.

It's called the Frameworks for Change Coaching Process (FCCP) * and has a set of 3 cards: insights, setbacks and mentors.

In a 1:1, 1:3 coaching or facilitated group session a card is picked and then discussed before picking another card. Here I'm going to list the cards first to give you a chance to explore your own relationship to the words on the card, in relation to the challenge you're facing. I will then share some common interpretations and insights from those cards.

Insight cards: Invite you to consider how you might already be, or could express the words on the card more fully in the current situation.

Setback cards: Setbacks, until released, slow us down and can get in the way of us achieving our stated goals. The setback cards invite you to consider how you might be setback by the words on the card, and what action you could take to release the setback (Sometimes the action can also come from the discussions arising from succeeding cards).

Mentors: Consider a role model or mentor who expresses the quality written on the card and consider what they would do in the situation. (Alternatively, especially for anyone familiar and comfortable with meditation, and I know not everyone is, allow the energy on the card to come into your energy field via any means that makes most sense to you.)

Action: Bring your pressing challenge to mind and consider your response to the following cards.
Action: What action(s) might one or all of the cards be pointing you towards, and when could you take that action(s)?

• Insight: You value and express the quality of inspiration in the present situation.
• Potential setback: You are setback by conflict in the present situation.
• Insight: By making room for a personal life, you successfully avoid stress.
• Insight: You demonstrate integrity in your personal, social and business relationships.
• Mentor: Courage.
• Potential setback: You are set back by separation in the present situation.
• Insight: Your wisdom and maturity inspire changes inside and out.
• Mentor: Simplicity.
• Potential Setback: You are setback by criticism in the present situation.
• Mentor: Enthusiasm. 

I can't stress enough that your own exploration will have more validity than the following more general comments from me. Especially as for example inspiration will have as many guises as people reading this.

Which means I strongly advise considering the above cards for at least 5 minutes to allow your inner potential to speak and share what it knows to be the route towards resolution for you.

But just in case it helps here are my thoughts....

Insight: You value and express the quality of inspiration in the present situation.

Inspiration is essential when we're looking for new ideas and solutions. It's so easy for us to think we can just turn it on just like a tap and inspiration will flow. It's not that easy, and we often forget about the environment needed to foster and nurture our inspiration.

What environment allows you to value and express your inspiration? What can you do now to provide that environment?

A walking meeting went down very well on a recent workshop.

Potential setback: You are setback by conflict in the present situation.

Often when faced with a setback we respond by laughingly saying "yes I know I am setback by it", and act as if we have no choice about the setback.

Here we're invited to consider who the conflict is with - ourselves, within procurement, with stakeholders or suppliers.

How is that conflict setting you back ?

What can you do to release the setback (something that is much easier done when discussing and challenged by someone else).

I can't help but wonder if the conflict might be related to the oughts, musts, and shoulds but that perhaps says more about my own conflicts than yours. Could it be the conflict between doing what you think is right, and doing what you think you have to do according to the common stereotype for business? Just a thought.

Insight: By making room for a personal life, you successfully avoid stress.

Hmmm ... for some this may be a pat on the back for having a healthy work/life balance. For others my question here might be when did you last take some time away from 'the challenge' ie we can focus too much on a problem and allow it to grow and consume our every waking moment. Doing that certainly prohibits our ability to tap into our inner wisdom to unlock the answer.

Don't forget these are my interpretations today of the words on the card, and whilst I'd like to hope they're based on frequent insights from the cards after 12 years of using them, they could also just be because of how my day is going!

Just to say - coaching sessions often only include 3-5 cards. I've pulled a few more because in a group setting I've found that to be more appropriate and effective ie you may find only 1 or 2 of these cards particularly resonate for you, all of them do, or none of them.

Insight: You demonstrate integrity in your personal, social and business relationships.

What would doing this look like?

Mentor: Courage.

Who do you know who demonstrates the ability to show courage? What would they do in this situation? Or perhaps it's what would they not be doing?

Potential setback: You are set back by separation in the present situation.

Who or what is the separation with, and how is that separation setting you back? What are the negative outcomes arising from that separation? Often setbacks are about getting in touch with the discomfort involved - ie the discomfort can then provide us with the motivation to find a solution and release the setback.

Insight: Your wisdom and maturity inspire changes inside and out.

I love this card. A reminder perhaps to listen, share and act on your wisdom and maturity. Or to notice the impact sharing your ideas has on others. It's too easy to belittle our own contribution rather than notice the positive impact it can have.

Mentor: Simplicity.

In a world that likes to make everything more and more confusing and complex what would simplicity look like? How would you be acting to express this simplicity? What would you also stop doing?

Potential Setback: You are setback by criticism in the present situation.

Whose is the criticism you're listening to, and in what way is it holding you back? Or perhaps it's you making the criticism of others?

What would happen if you were no longer spending time allowing others criticism, or your own, to use up valuable time in your day?

Perhaps it's criticism about the simple answer provided in answer to the previous card. I could say get over it - a simple answer is a simple answer don't go making it harder than it needs to be. There's plenty of hard challenges out there without making a simple one harder!

Mentor: Enthusiasm. 

When faced with advice, even if we've given it to ourselves, it's easy to talk ourselves out of taking the necessary action. That may even be where the criticism from the previous card comes in.

What would enthusiasm look like in the current situation - how would that help you resolve your challenge, achieve your goal, or simply take the first steps?  What can you do to keep hold of that enthusiasm over coming days?

Action: As you reflect on the above cards - what insights, ideas, challenges, thoughts, tangents, or actions have come to mind as you've consider your own or my interpretation of the cards? What action will you take, who needs to know about this action, and when will you take it?

I'd love to know how you got, and get on.

I've previously shared cards and insights from a 2 hour session I facilitated with a group of  12 speakers in 2009 entitled 'Keeping on track in a downturn' that may provide a better sense of how the FCCP is used when aimed at a specific issue.

I hope you enjoyed the first exploration of a challenge using an unconventional tool to assist with unlocking potential. More later in the week.

Feedback below or via email alison@alisonsmith.eu most welcome. Do also please get in touch if you'd like to discuss me facilitating a session with your procurement, contract management or supplier development teams.

Alison Smith
The Purchasing Coach
Unlocking potential using unconventional tools.

* Frameworks for Change Coaching Process copyright Innerlinks www.innerlinks.com There's a personal version, ie non-business version, you can buy yourselves called Intuitive Solutions. It has 3 sets of cards - insights, setbacks, and the third are not mentors but act in the same way.  

** ?/10 on degree of unconventionalness. I remember a colleague years ago, that I was sharing my latest unconventional tool with, saying "if you'd told me 2 years ago that I'd be doing this I'd have thought you were mad. Yet I don't. It's as if I've gone on a journey with you, and you're always a few steps ahead on the unconventional scale". In other words I may have forgotten how unconventional some of the tools might feel when first used. Do leave feedback in comments.  

Posts previously written that use unconventional tools and that could relate to the challenges shared on LinekdIn this week include:

• No seat at the table - using sayings/metaphor to uncover different perspectives - 7/10 on level of unconventionalness of the tool
• Why Procurement isn't seen as strategic by the board - 1/10 using Kraljic to give a different perspective - a post written for one of the consultancies I'm an associate for.  
• Is it really a problem - is using 'problem' the problem - using language 2/10
• Are you looking for solutions or answers - because for one person looking for the answers and definitely not the solutions meant she found them! - using language - 3/10
• Dealing with closed bridges with others - using sayings/metaphor - 7/10 
• Doing something different every day - 1/10 such a fabulous tool to get us out of our comfort zones and being more open to saying yes rather than no to new ideas.
• Thinking about how to have even more of the problem - 2/10 
• Are you having a chocolate moment? 1/10 no actual chocolates involved I'm afraid.
• If you really think they're being awkward have you imagined standing in their shoes yet? 4/10
• Do you just need to get into a different environment to get a different perspective - what about a walking meeting? 2/10

The Purchasing Coach: Unconventional tools

My name is Alison Smith, and I often use unconventional tools when coaching, and also when facilitating sessions.

There I've said it, and here's why I use these unconventional tools:

• The main reason is they're very effective at inspiring change (more about that in tomorrow's post).
• They really are effective in a business context - as, for example, the CIPS board of management, Scottish Institute for Business Leaders, and Professional Speaking Association in Scotland can confirm.
• They're effective because they're very good at bypassing resistance to change.
• They're different - which means they retain people's attention longer as individuals puzzle and wonder about what's going to happen next.
• I'm very good at using them to facilitate change - the feedback I get supports that I keep the session grounded and aimed at achieving the goals, at the same time as expertly using my intuition to guide clients in the direction of maximum growth to unlock potential. 
• I'm good at keeping a healthy sense of fun in the session.   
• I love using them - there's nothing so satisfying as not knowing where a session will go, and then facilitating the client's journey, and seeing the difference it has made at the end.
• I like new, creative and innovative tools that tap into our unconscious - because just like an iceberg the solution is more likely to be found in what we're not logically and consciously aware of. 

I spoke in more depth about the unconventional tools in my 2016: my year in blogs post.

Here's a quick introduction to a few of them:

I'm spending the afternoon today facilitating a Transformation Game - it's a tool I use in personal coaching sessions, and is very effective at helping clients identify and remove what's holding them back from achieving a goal they have in any area of their life. (The hypertext link takes you to a transcript of game on finding work/life balance.)

It's not for the fainthearted, and its business cousin the Frameworks for Change Coaching Process is a tool I'm more likely to use in business coaching and facilitation sessions.

Other sessions might include making or exploring collages:

or pipe cleaners (the example here was the antidote to lack of communication in an organisation)

or using nature as a metaphor for our lives (if for example they want to feel more grounded)

or exploring the sayings people are using (such as having their head in the sand)

I said they were unconventional. The hypertext links above take you to blogs providing more detail about how a session using each of these tools might work. There's also more unconventional tools in the post I wrote in December last year (including walking meetings).

(Post script addition: more here from a recent Scottish Institute for Business Leaders (SIBL) meeting when I used 2 of these tools to facilitate change for a small group of SIBL members).

Please don't let the above pictures put you off - as I said in the opening I use them because they're effective. The session using pipe cleaners in a supplier management workshop is a recent example where some truly transformative solutions emerged.

I don't use every tool in every session, and some sessions stick with more traditional tools (from my NLP or business toolkits for example for goal setting or communication planning). Some group's resistance to unconventional tools also steer me in other directions. That is, the aim of achieving the outcome for a session is paramount - with the means of achieving it being adapted to suit the outcome, audience and organisation.

For more detail on what a session might look like for you do get in touch - alison@alisonsmith.eu  +44(0)7770 538159. I look forward to hearing from you.

Alison Smith
The Purchasing Coach
Inspiring Change Inside and Out

This first week of 2017 I'm exploring the topics that make me tick - those topics that inspire my action (including the odd rant), and that are subjects that I share often in the procurement consultancy, speaking and coaching work that I do. They're also subjects that I have expertise in, enjoy, and that also make a difference when applied well.

Posts so far this week have covered:

• Don't leave your humanity at the door - because I get frustrated when I hear people tell me that we have to leave our authentic selves/humanity at the office door, and instead apply rules that cause other people and the planet great distress. I believe taking our humanity to work with us is what being a B Corp is all about, and is something I'm going to be talking to B Corporations about during the year. 
• Language - because words have power, and we often unconsciously use words that hinder us achieving our goals.  
• Soft skills - because if your goals rely on working with other people soft skills are the fastest way to achieving them
• Use of unconventional tools - as above 

Topics to be covered later in the week include:

• Procurement in large corporate organisations - because it's the environment I've worked in for over 30 years, and in addition to the tools above also applied more conventional tools to category management and supplier management. 
• Creativity and Innovation - because there's a law of diminishing returns, and if we keep doing what we've always done we get what we're always got!  
• Inspiring change - because effective change comes from motivated people. 

Day 11: 4 new habits in 28 days - Frameworks for Change

The goal was 4 new habits in 28 days, and I've blogged my progress daily here on my blog. See the bottom of the post for more about the 4 habits.

11 days in, and it's not been without it's challenges therefore I thought I'd use the Frameworks for Change Coaching Process* I use in coaching 

The tool basically uses cards to ask questions and invites us to see situations from a different perspective as a result of discussing and debating the words on the cards.

Here's the cards I pulled: 

• Insight: You value and express the quality of Kindness in the present situation 
• Potential setback: You are setback by perfectionism in the present situation
• Insight: You take the responsibility of using your power wisely
• Mentor: Humour

Before reading further please consider how you might personally interpret the cards as a solution to a current situation in your life.

Insight: You value and express the quality of Kindness in the present situation 

This card invites me to see myself as others do and to be kind, and perhaps also to celebrate my commitment to achieving these new habits rather than beat myself up for not achieving them (or if it looks like I may fail just quickly doing something to rectify that at the end of the day).

If I'm not careful adherence to the habits might seen to be too harsh and certainly not kind. I'm working in Manchester this week, and out in the evenings. Perhaps I'm being invited to be more relaxed about how I achieve 'do something different every day' and not worry too much if the soup I've had was made from stock with gluten in. The blogging is also an additional habit that I'd added without knowing - and updating what I've done differently on day 3's blog. Being kind to myself is therefore about taking myself off the conveyor belt and taking the next few days off blogging and focus on what's important!

Potential setback: You are setback by perfectionism in the present situation

I think I said it all in the above paragraph. Embedding the 4 new habits isn't about being perfect. It's about doing them as any other human would, and will therefore include off days.  

A Landscaping Your Life blog on Perfection resonates for this setback too. 

Insight: You take the responsibility of using your power wisely

Wow! It's not often the cards all say the same thing just from different angles. My attention for the next 3 days is on coaching others, and my energy will therefore be directed towards them and not worrying about measuring what I'm doing and focusing time on whether I've had 1.8 litres of water or 2! I will focus on what's important, and if everything else happens then that's great. I know that flies in the face of yesterday's advice but it's about getting the balance right.

Mentors: Humour

Mentor cards invite you to think of someone who is a role model to you for the behaviour(s) stated. In this example asking you what a role model for humour would do.

Oh dear - I suspect they'd tell me it's a good idea I'm going out, and to enjoy Beth Orton and the company of my colleagues.

As you've read my interpretation you may have noticed other meanings behind the cards. The key is being able to look at a situation and see alternative solutions of how to solve the problem. Once there's a few different solutions then it's simply a case of trying them out and seeing which is most effective in moving from the current situation towards the desired situation.

What may you want to do differently as a result of applying these cards, or my own insights, to a current situation? 

Alison Smith

The Purchasing Coach
Inspiring Change - Inside and Out

The 4 habits that I have undertaken for the last 11 days are:

1. I will consistently eat gluten (and nightshade) free every day 9/11
2. I will do my hip mobilisation every day 11/11
3. I will drink at least 2 litres of water every day 11/11
4. I will do at least one thing differently every day  11/11 - I drove via the A1 (rather than M74/M6) to Manchester and so was able to visit friends in Bradford, and call into Bamburgh beach on the way past :-)

Blog posts of the journey to embed these 4 new habits have so far included - finding the inspiration, vision and goal setting, setting targets, doing things differently, wavering, finding support, commitment, the danger of making assumptions, measuring progress and slaying the old habits and thoughts.

Hypertext links in the text above link to previous blogs written on the subject.

#28daychallenge

* Frameworks for change coaching process copyright Innerlinks www.innerlinks.com

Moving forward and making progress with the FCCP

It's been a while since I shared the Frameworks for Change Coaching Process (FCCP) * on my blog, and thought I'd rectify that today.

The FCCP is a tool I often use in my coaching sessions, and when facilitating sessions with teams.

It's hard to put into writing the profound impact using the FCCP can have. Simply put - its a tool that facilitates conversations about resolving situations. It just does it in a way that maximises the insight, and minimises the resistance to hearing what is being said.

It capitalises on the fact that our minds are meaning making machines. For example if I asked "how does x relate to the situation" you will find a way of relating x to the situation. Since you need to access the creative part of your brain to do this, it opens up the opportunity to resolve the current situation at the same time.

Rather than just read the following example and think, "Oh that was nice but won't work for me or my team", why not have a go yourself - either by reading the following and applying it to a real life situation, or arranging a free half hour session to experience it for yourself (available to the first 5 requests received to alison@alisonsmith.eu).

If you're still reading I'm assuming you'd like to apply the FCCP to a current situation that you'd like to move forward on. To do that consider your response to the following questions:

• How are you valuing and expressing the quality of empathy in the present situation? What positive impact would that have? 

• How are you being set back my manipulation in the present situation? What steps do you need to take to release it?  

• What does moving into the next level look and feel like, and how can you ensure that you've let go of any lingering feelings that are holding you back?

• What would a mentor or role model of peace do in this situation?

There's no rush - spend some time considering how the cards apply.

NB: One thing to notice, is any strong reaction or feeling of resistance - for example "NO" or "that won't work", and so on. It's a clue that a button has been pushed somewhere - and a button that needs exploring, not ignoring.

How do I know?

Try noticing the level of emotion if I ask you "How would eating icecream be useful in the current situation" - that's how you should feel if a question isn't relevant. If you're getting a different reaction it's telling you something - so do please explore it to find out what.

Here's my thoughts on the cards which, due to the unique nature of everyone's situation, may or may not add something to your own exploration of the questions:

• Expressing Empathy - empathy can be with yourself, and not just with another person. Often when we're getting frustrated about progress we can get very impatient with ourselves, which in turn increases stress levels. What would showing empathy towards yourself at this time look like? 
• Setback by manipulation - It's so easy to jump to thinking about the manipulation that others may be undertaking. I wonder, however, how we might be trying to manipulate the situation too? That is, pushing a particular outcome rather than allowing one to materialise. If so, it's a bit like we're trying to push the river rather than go with the flow. I'm not suggesting it's about being taken here and there at every turn of the river, but instead observing the general direction it's going, and taking action to determine where in the flow you place yourself at the same time as going with the flow of  river.
• Move up to the next level -  release any lingering feelings that are holding you back. A great reminder that sometimes it's our beliefs and feelings about a situation that are holding us back, not the actual situation. If you knew that what you want to do is possible, and you do have the skills and resources needed, and would be supported by those around you, what would you do? 
• Mentor of peace. Sometimes when I share these cards on the blog I wish I could put them back in, its as if it feels too hard to explain what might be meant! This is one of those situations. On face value peace feels like the opposite feeling one might need when wanting to move forward. However as I consider a role model I have for peace I realise it's about inner peace and having certainty about the direction we're taking. That is, once the decision has been made, make peace with yourself, those around you (supporters or otherwise), and the decision, and fully get behind the action plan that's needed to make it a reality.

As you now reflect on the original situation what insights have come to mind, what action will you take, and when. Does anyone else need to know about this commitment to take action?

I'd love to know how you got on - so do please share your experience in comments below. 

Other insightful and just as unique coaching tools I use include collage cards, and using nature as a metaphor for our lives - both tools only used with permission of the client, and as appropriate in 1:1 coaching or group facilitation.

If you're interested in finding out more about how you could benefit from a coaching session, or series of them, or how these unique tools might inspire your team do get in touch alison@alisonsmith.eu  +44(0)7770 538159.

Alison Smith
The Purchasing Coach  
Inspiring change inside and out

It's nearly 4 years since I facilitated a session using this process with the Professional Speaking Association here in Scotland. It was on keeping on track in a downturn. The insights may still resonate - especially if you're wanting to embrace a new way of working. I loved that authenticity was the final card discussed.

* The process, the insight, setback and mentor cards used here are from Frameworks for Change © Innerlinks - www.innerlinks.com.

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

• A more general blog on NLP - most coaching/facilitation sessions start with some form of introduction around the subjects raised in this post to help people understand why they need to change and therefore be more open to using these tools.
• Values - impact of personal values on our success or otherwise
• Business values - do they exist - I suggest not
• How our values get in the way
• What gets them out of bed in a morning - stakeholders values
• Standing in their shoes - such an insightful process - try it and see
• Well formed outcome - better than SMART goals I'd suggest - or a great addition anyway
• Identity - and the impact it can have on how we feel
• Rapport - reminder of what it involves

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.

• Making mountains out of molehills - my most popular post
• No pain, no gain - another popular post
• Oh no it's Sunday - don't wish your life away
• In need of a facelift - how use of that term about the UN shed light on the solution
• Deadlines - are they killing you?
• Be careful of the paths you tread - another meaning behind the CIPS president's words
• Up a creek without a paddle - how the words give you a clue to the solution
• In a rut - and how to get out of it 
• Is your head buried in the sand - musing if it were buried in the sand - with a great picture!
• Find your inner Picard - yes of Star Trek fame
• I don't want to burn any bridges - great example of how the language used was keeping this client stuck
• What's the organisations operating metaphor - is work like war/a race or a garden?
• Is an integrated commercial landscape even possible - interesting musing on how the language might point to the solution for government procurement 
• Hate or Love - a bit of a rant aimed at the British Heart Foundation about their use of the word Hate
• What do you call your stakeholders/customers - could just be why the relationship is as it is
• What's winning in your world the good, the bad or the indifferent - language is sooooo powerful
• Language to improve rapport - a great reminder
• Language that improves understanding - ditto

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.

• LYL Pinterest Board - a number of examples of how nature can be used to explore challenges you might have
• 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
• Incomplete patterns - expanding your thinking to include the whole picture
• Connecting with your audience - using the LYL process
• Business strategy development - a board of management's strategy away day
• Speaking with confidence - using the process
• Are your relationships crumbling - a series of blogs using nature to improve your communication with others
• Impatience does not serve us well - insight from nature on timing
• Are you getting enough perspective
• How's the weather with you - wondering if the national weather has an impact on how we do business - musing really
• Don't keep doing the same things - a personal favourite
• The solution is right infront of you - :-) it was

I also use gardening as a metaphor for purchasing when training internal stakeholders what it's all about.

• Pinterest board
• Sowing the seeds of cost reduction in your business
• Also see YouTube channel for LYL above

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.

• Facilitating change for the Scottish Institute for Business Leaders
• Collage applied to improving relationships at work
• Overview of the collage process

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.

• FCP - applied to improving relationships at work
• Youtube - a playlist with a couple of video blogs on the subject
• Staying on track - insight from use of the FCP
• Coaching insight on being heard - how to be
• Keeping on track in a down turn - a session with the Scottish PSA

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

• Transformation Game - applied to improving relationships
• I intend to have work life balance

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