I wrote a post last week on adaptive and generative learning and realise I should share links to blogs I've written for other organisations here too - for more info follow the links provided:
Are you, or are your stakeholders or suppliers unconsciously incompetent ?
Please watch this YouTube video - it's GREAT. See BBC Breakfast's Mike Bushell having a go at synchronised swimming :-)
I'm sure the seemingly effortlessness of the synchronised swimmers, gymnasts or cyclists at the Olympics might have lulled some of us into a false sense of security - that we too could do that! Or is that just me?
Such a GREAT reminder that when learning anything we start unconsciously incompetent. It's only when we try it that we realise what we don't know, and become consciously incompetent. As we practice we may even manage conscious competence, and over time that conscious awareness slips into our unconscious.
It's a process we follow when learning any skill - even procurement.
The task many procurement professionals have when dealing with stakeholders therefore is remembering many of them don't know what they don't know, and just like Mike think they too can have a go themselves.
Procurement's task therefore is to help others understand that the skills required to do procurement well take time to develop, and have been achieved through lots and lots of practice. Like any of the medals won this last few days Procurement's medals will only be achieved by the professionals who spend time in the pool daily, rather than those who haven't set foot in it since childhood!
How will you help your stakeholders understand Procurement is more like the 100 meters than the egg and spoon race?
Alison Smith
The Purchasing Coach
Inspiring change - inside and out
PS The same can of course be said when we try to tell our suppliers how to do their job!
PPS For more Olympic themed blogs see yesterday's about wining gold together with suppliers or seeing them as the opposition to be beaten.
When delivering Category Management or Supplier Management training I can often be heard saying "I've written a blog on that". Not so much about the procurement theories and models - more often about learning, influencing, communication and perhaps the softer skills that enable effective best practice procurement to take place and deliver real value to the organisation.
Often those attending the workshop ask for details of a blog I mention. So here's an index of blogs mentioned on a recent 3 day category management workshop (I'm updating these after each subsequent workshop. This mean it's becoming quite a long list, which I apologise if it only
makes more sense to those who attended rather than those looking to understand what we might cover in such a workshop.)
Well-being also crops up, perhaps more over lunch or in the evening. Here's a few blogs covering topics discussed, not at every workshop, but occasionally:
Brian Gym - the book that demonstrates the exercises I have used very occasionally when people are flagging and low in energy (often after a heavy lunch). There's also a brain gym for business book.
Have a great week.
Alison Smith The Purchasing Coach Inspiring change inside and out (more here on why that's important)
PS: See this link for a similar index for a supplier management workshop I ran recently, and another on effective team building. Although over time these lists are starting to contain very similar blogs.
Simon Heath ran a #mydoodleday session today and I couldn't help but to join in vicariously from afar.
I was looking through my NLP trainer notes - the last time I thought about drawing images to support learning - and came across this image.
A great example that pictures can really paint a thousand words, and also means this blog is so very short and sweet - yes I know for a change. Something I've noticed when blogging about the collage cards or Landscaping your life too.
How can you build on success today?
Alison
Alison Smith
Inspiring change inside and out
I may need to go an a workshop to improve my stick men and woman!
It didn't take long for the jokes to start about England's performance at the World Cup after Thursday's game. It also didn't take long for the fingers to be pointed, accusations to be made and denials and protestations to be voiced. Whilst I appreciate the media and their self interest will be stoking the flames of such reactions I did wonder how much this behaviour reflected what we see in business or politics.
For example:
Something goes wrong at work and what's the first thing that often happens? Yep - needing to find someone to blame, the instinctive defensiveness from all concerned, lack of learning and open communication. Resulting in a future full of trepidation and holding back for fear of this reaction again.
Or something goes wrong at the passport office - yep let's see who's to blame, ridicule them, threaten them with sacking, shout, scream and as every day passes focus on the continued failure, and ignore the small and incremental successes being made.
By way of a change I'd therefore like to offer the England football team the following:
Thank you for accepting the role on the team.
Thank you for accepting being in the media's glare and scrutiny.
Thank you for all the hours of practice.
Thank you for trying your best.
Thank you for being there when we needed you.
Sorry it didn't turn out as we, and I know you, wanted it to.
There isn't one specific reason we failed - it will be a combination of factors to which we ALL contributed.
We'll be there supporting you for the final game.
Yes the game does count because its the next step forward.
Now we've learnt how not to do it let's take the learning and move forward to even greater success in the future - together.
Thank you.
I wonder how business and politics would benefit from more appreciation that people do the best they can at any point in time, less finger pointing and blame, and more focus on learning and doing it better together in the future.
Just a thought.
Alison Smith
Purchasing Coach inspiring change in procurement through communication, collaboration and appreciation every day.
The Olympics finished 2 weeks ago with the whole nation seemingly positive, inspired and at peace with themselves and the rest of the world. Every gold was celebrated, every hurdle overcome applauded and every mistake forgiven. When athletes not achieving gold apologised for letting us down in unison we all shouted from our sofa's "You didn't". If they'd measured our happiness score over those 2 weeks we certainly would have been top of that leader board.
Have you noticed a difference since? Perhaps you've achieved more, worked out more or focused better. Or perhaps you've eaten more healthily, been less critical or looked for the positive. On the other hand perhaps business as usual resumed very quickly with well being going out the window, distractions mounting and back to back meetings taking place with no time to think let alone make changes or stay positive.
We were talking about the impact of "business of usual" last week at a session on implementing a new e-enabled procurement toolkit. We can do everything on the training day to ensure they understand the benefits of the using the new tools, we can get them comfortable with using them, we can even enable them to use them on real examples to embed the learning and to understand the positive difference they can deliver. The challenge is how to ensure using the new tools becomes business as usual once they get back to the office rather than falling back on what they were doing before?
If we are to apply learning from those who have successfully made changes to their lives since watching the London 2012 Olympics I'd suggest the following needs to take place:
Desire to change
Inspired to change (others can provide this for you)
Motivated to change (you can only do this for yourself)
Action plan in place (so you know what you're going to be doing)
First step in plan to take place within 24 hours (before you have time for other priorities to get in the way)
Commitment made to others
Being held accountable by others to those commitments
Measuring the benefits (to provide more of 3 above so you continue taking action)
If you failed to make the desired changes 2 weeks ago, with the Paralympics upon us, why not get into the spirit over the coming weeks and tap into the inspiration needed in step 2 to provide the motivation to take the necessary action.
Alison Smith
The Purchasing Coach
Sowing the seeds for effective change in your purchasing athletes and team
