Making Mountains out of Molehills

Today is the day when my baby :-) Can't see the wood for the trees: Landscaping Your Life to get back on track is available to download and, if you're lucky enough to be in the US, available to buy a hard copy too! (Unfortunately we'll have to wait till 20th Sept here in the UK to get our hands on one).

The book explores the sayings we use when we're stuck such as: 

• Stuck in a rut
• Can’t see the wood for the trees
• Up the creek without a paddle
• Like a fish out of water
• Out on a limb
• In at the deep end
• Treading water
• Going round in circles
• Missed the tide

It uses the Landscaping Your Life process that I've been using with clients for over 20 years, and if you resonate with any of the saying's above you might want to pop over to my Landscaping Your Life page and find out more about it - YouTube too.

A more logical explanation about the solutions proposed in the book focuses on two other sayings:

Firstly, we need to take our head out of the sand about about inability to solve the situation.

That is, there will be a solution we just need to stay calm and find it. 

We also need to recognise that we might just be:

It's not a phrase we often use about ourselves, and yet that's what we're doing when we're describing a situation as stuck. That is, we're stating we don't know what to do, and we are most definitely stuck and unable to move. 

The truth of the matter is it's likely that there will be part of us that does know what to do. We just need to turn up its voice a little so we can hear it. 

The mountains are the sayings we use - ie we've taken a situation and are depicting it as mountain like rut, tree, creek, limb and so on!

Which is where the molehills come in, because they're the solution:

1. Motivation
2. Outcome
3. Life as it is now (what we’re leaving behind?)
4. Emotional intelligence
5. Head out of the sand
6. Interference removed
7. Longitude and Latitude
8. Start

That is, the solution to any problems we're facing lies in one of the above MOLEHILLS, or more precisely:

1. To be inspired and motivated
2. To know what you’re headed towards (B)
3. To know where you are now (A)
4. To understand yourself and manage your state
5. To take personal responsibility for your life
6. To understand and remove what’s holding you back
7. To develop the route for getting from A to B
8. To take the first step

Over the six years I've written here I've covered many of these subjects, and over coming weeks will return to these again to explore how we can use them to get unstuck and back on track.

In the mean time if you're stuck in a rut, and have struggled for some time to find the motivation, you might just want to go and find a rut in the landscape, step into it and out again and notice what you notice. You might be surprised!

Alison Smith

The Purchasing Coach

Landscaping Your Life - inspiring change inside and out

Purchasing coach: Advent Window 19: Christmas movies

25 unconventional coaching and facilitation tools to surprise and delight

I've said it before, and will continue to do so for some time, metaphor is a wonderful tool for transformation and insight.

In this series of advents posts of tools to transform and enlighten we've already considered what festive cooking has to offer, what festive characters would do, insight from some festive reads, and also from games we play over the festive holiday.

Today we're going to explore the insights from our favourite films.

To get the most from this exploration, think of a situation you'd like more clarity on, and reflect on the moral of the following festive films, and see if any can be applied to your challenge?

To do this I asked social media for some help so not all of these are my suggestions.

• It's a wonderful life - says it all in the title - remember life is wonderful, and remember all the little things you do that make a HUGE difference to others. You matter.
• Elf - never doubt your abilities, smiling is contagious.(More about this image on 22nd)

• Santa Claus is coming to town - it's about the journey.
• Miracle on 34th Street - the right decision will win out.
• The Snowman - "a lesson in squandered potential"!
• Love actually - there's so many different ways to love.
• White Christmas - count your blessings (not sheep) - linked to window 10's tool, help others (more tomorrow).
• Home alone - check you've not forgotten anything essential, be careful what you wish for.
• Rudolph the red nosed reindeer - celebrate your/their differences.
• Polar Express - everyone has doubts, but believe in yourself and things will happen. Seeing is not believing. Some of the most real things in life can't be seen.

• Batman Returns - good will always win the day, again and again and again.
• Nightmare before Christmas - passion is contagious.
• Trading places - money doesn't make you likeable!
• Scrooge - being a grump won't get you very far, other than alone 
• Frozen - some people are worth melting for.
• Die hard - there's no right time to wait for anything - now is the time.
• Mrs Miracle (please tell me I'm not alone in loving this Christmas movie and watching it every year) - moving on doesn't mean we're forgiving or forgetting others.

Are any of your favourite Christmas movies missing? What would be the moral behind that story? 

Reflect on your original situation, and consider what change in belief or action might enable you to see the situation differently?   

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.

Are they answers or solutions?

This post has now moved to my new website 

Is your language stopping you from finding the solution?

Yesterday I suggested that the solution to a problem might be found in the very words we're using. That is, the solution to going around in circles may be to metaphorically explore the circles, or that trees would provide the solution when you metaphorically can't see the wood for the trees, or that procurement not having a seat at the table in organisations would be resolved by exploring how to get a seat at other types of table.

In this post I'm suggesting that the words we use can also stop us from finding a solution. As Caroline Myss says "words have power". They have power because words create internal representations in our mind. If the image that comes to mind when you use a word is this

rather than this

There's no surprise that you think and feel differently about the situation, and the likelihood of finding solutions might be very different too.

We're all different, and so a few of you may be more inspired by the brick wall, however the majority reading this will think of solutions more easily when imagining the 2nd picture or a similar image that conveys for them movement and ease.

I'm not just talking about words like can't, impossible and never which certainly tell the mind that a solution is out of reach but other words.

In the past I've written about using 'no pain, no gain' as a particularly unhelpful saying. Today I'd like to explore the use of 'problem.'

I'm sure we've all caught ourselves saying we've got a 'problem' and then correcting ourselves to say 'challenge' or even that the 'solution is currently eluding us'. We instinctively understand that labelling something as a problem means we're saying to other people, and our own mind, that it's all the things listed below.

We're telling ourselves at the onset, as soon as we use the word problem to describe a situation, that it's complicated, difficult, muddled and messy! Any wonder then that solutions are hard to find?

I saw the following job advert on LinkedIn a few weeks ago, and initially responded to say I loved the job title.

How fantastic does being a Head of Problem Management sound.

Until I considered what it actually meant, and could potentially mean within the organisation.

Does a problem manager just manage the problems - make lists of them, define them, sort them into piles and see success as well managed problems? Do those in the organisation go to the problem manager to gossip and moan about the problems. Perhaps there's a notice board where problems can be viewed for all to admire - ranking problems out of 10, and being particularly pleased when they've identified a 10/10!

It may sound silly, trivial or down right rude to you - and it might be. The proof is in whether problems in the organisation are lower or are now resolved quicker as a result of having a Head of Problem Management or not.

I'd love to explore whether a Head of Solution Management might reduce problems encountered in the organisation - you never know perhaps the Head of Problem Management hands their problems over to the Head of Solution Management for them to be resolved?      

What do you think? Would it make a difference to you? Do you notice the impact words have on you, and make a conscious decision to use words that support the outcome you want?

If you're getting the results you want there's no need to pay attention to the words you're using. If success is eluding you, or there's an increasing sense of stuckness then why not explore the language you're using to describe the situation. You never know, your language may just be what's keeping the solution at arms length.

Alison Smith
The Purchasing Coach
Inspiring change inside and out 

Available to help you and your team explore how the language and metaphors you're using might be helping or hindering you in finding solutions, and stopping you achieving your 2016 2017 goals. Support available with other soft skills development too.

To find out more do get in touch either via alison@alisonsmith.eu or +44(0)7770 538159

No seat at the table

Post now moved to new website

When did you last have a walking meeting?

As part of the recent Category Management training in Warsaw we were discussing different tools, techniques and ways to get into a more creative frame of mind.

The assumption is that if we do what we've always done, and sit in a room in a big office block around a table we're not necessarily going to be that creative.

During the workshop we discussed use of metaphor, collage, creative tools such as the Creative Whack pack, and other ways we might achieve a more creative mind set.

Someone suggested 'walking meetings', and I asked the question "has anyone been on a walking meeting?" and everyone said "No". This was closely followed by me asking "would you like to try one?" To which they replied "Yes".

Knowing we were coming up to a session on e-auctions, where I ask them to share their knowledge about the subject, I said we'd do that whilst walking at the same time.

The above video was taken at the start of that walk :-).

For the next 20 minutes we walked towards our mid morning break - this time at a famous Warsaw chocolate house instead of in the hotel.

Each person sharing what they knew about eauctions, and asking questions for clarification.

Passing famous landmarks as we went.

and certainly in the chill of early November enjoying the hot drink as we discussed the insight and learning we'd obtained as a result of our walk. 

Once we returned to the training room I asked it it was something they would repeat, and they all gave a very enthusiastic "Yes". I've even been asked by the client to ensure it's retained in this workshop in the future, and for a forthcoming supplier management workshop.

The benefits we observed included:

• Better focus because we had to concentrate to listen against the background noise of the city.
• Excitement about getting out that transferred onto the subject being discussed (certainly a benefit for eauctions)
• The duration of the walk meant we could explore the topic from different angles and perhaps have it explained from different view points. 
• It seemed easier to ask questions when walking side by side with others

For next time we would recommend that we:

• Have smaller groups - we're thinking a maximum of 4 and possible even 3 would be better
• Know how long it will take to get to our destination - 'not far away' was a little further than that!
• Have clarity about the subject to be discussed on the way back - I think we all discussed different topics - some category management related and others not.
• Ensure we're sufficiently dressed for the occasion - we were mainly lucky but a few returned to the training room a little colder than they would have liked.

I've used walks for looking at issues from a different perspective before. Use of a walk as simply a means of talking about a subject however, is new to me, and one I'd like to explore further if anyone is interested.

Follow the link for more on Keeping on track: Stakeholder engagement half or full day sessions for up to 3 people per session walking in Fife, Scotland in December or January (so yes it would be a case of wrap up warm even if the train will be our main means of transport and shelter if needed).

Or perhaps a Getting on track for the year ahead session would make more sense. Let me know your thoughts, and I'm sure we can develop an inspiring and transformational session together.

Alison Smith
The Purchasing Coach
Inspiring Change Inside and Out.

An index of other blogs on topics covered during the 3 day workshop can be found here.

Did you tell the source of the problem?

I had a great reminder this week that when we have a problem with a supplier we should go straight to the source of the problem not tell every one else.

You know the sort of thing - supplier x is always late, or staff are rude, or products are faulty. Instead of taking it up directly with the supplier however, everyone moans to everyone else, or they call procurement and demand they change supplier, or even climb the hierarchy demanding that the CPO, CFO, or COO do something. In fact shouldn't someone be sacked for this sort of behaviour! 

Living where I do, near the Forth river/ estuary in Fife Scotland, we occasionally get the odd oil rig anchor off shore. Sometimes for maintenance, and over recent years just 'stacked' because it has no work, waiting until it's needed out in the North Sea (or possibly further afield?).

On previous visits the joke within the town has been that the Christmas tree has arrived. 

As it 'spoils' my view of Edinburgh across the Forth sometimes, ok often, my language has been a little strong. Even if it does stop me taking my view of 12 years for granted when I get it back - sometimes a few months later.

As I returned from delivering some training down South last week imagine the language as I turned the corner and saw the recent 'Christmas tree' had arrived in my absence.

However something was very different. For once I could also hear a dull incessant hum from said tree in my bedroom as I tried to sleep! A little like the sound of an expectant train that never arrives. Dull enough that day time background noise cancelled it out, but loud and incessant enough that it was all you could hear when in a quite bedroom at night. I even wondered about moving to my spare north facing bedroom until it was resolved.

As the weekend progressed and a dull headache appeared I was looking up who to speak to at DEFRA, tweeting the local council and generally moaning that something needed to be done. I even sent off an email to DEFRA - although I have yet to hear from them!

My neighbour and a few other locals had a better idea. Ring the company who owns the oil rig. The response from the receptionist was a contract manager's or procurement manager's dream:

"Oh dear, I'll get straight onto the manager, and I'm sure he'll be able to sort something out if he can. He's a 'sort it out' sort of guy. We'll get back to you when we know something. I can't promise it will be today as he may be on site with limited WIFI etc but I assure you we will get back to you".

She rang an hour or so later to say they had received other complaints, and a site visit was actually taking place that day to try to resolve it!

Whether by fluke or not at 1230 that day my headache disappeared, and many of those talking about the hum on social media said they'd had a good night's sleep. As a noise could still be heard with windows open - even if, from my home, less incessant and annoying - we recognised that might have been only due to a change in wind direction.

A local councillor who had also got involved posted the following on Facebook sharing the council's environment officer's update:

Cllr, Forth Ports have updated me so far as the Platform Engineer was out yesterday (26th) and rerouted an exhaust for the generator on the platform, which they believe to be the source of the hum/drone. Additional baffling is also still being considered. I am proposing to visit again tonight or tomorrow (weather dependant) to reassess if this action may have made a difference in reducing noise levels affecting the complainants

He then went on to say:

Communication routes appear to be open to try and resolve this complaint and I am hopeful these will remain open whilst we try and resolve this issue. Whilst the Platform is working with Forth Ports and ourselves and showing Best Practice, I am not considering any formal action and I hope this issue may be resolved shortly but will of course continue to keep you updated.

The latest update provided 28th Oct:

I have spoken to the Harbour Master again this morning. The Platform has had an acoustic engineer out and they have identified the need for additional work to construct baffles and/or muffler around a generator on the Rig. They have advised that it will take a few days to construct, fabricate and install. 

Isn't that what we need from a supplier when we're having problems:

• Recognition that there's a problem
• Not being defensive
• Not over promising when they can respond or remedy
• Giving us confidence about the person being tasked with solving it 
• Keeping us updated
• Exploration of how they can solve it
• Trying something to solve the problem
• Having other options if that doesn't work
• Keeping communication channels open

Let's remember oil rigs don't normally have to think about their neighbours!

The key of course is us remembering that moaning to others and not directly to the supplier is very rarely going to resolve the situation, and if needed for the future, certainly isn't going to help future relationships with that supplier.

What action can you take today to resolve a problem with one of your suppliers - who do you need to contact, and when will you do it?

Alison Smith
The Purchasing Coach
Inspiring Change - Inside and out 

I wrote another blog about how to deal with problem suppliers in January (follow the hypertext link to read it).

Have you tried everything to find a solution?

What about collage? A process in my coaching toolkit.

Coaching means different things to different people. 

In essence coaching is about helping the client to know where they are, where they want to be, and identifying what they need to do to get from one to the other. Coaching may be required to identify all of these. Coaching may also be about helping the client work through the action plan, to take the first steps and / or journey towards their goal.

There's many different tools and techniques that can be used in a coaching session. One of the more creative tools I use is collage cards (that's one word for them anyway). They use the premise that metaphors are worth more than pictures and words, and can therefore allow us to observe a situation from a very different perspective.

To try it for yourself think of a situation you'd like more clarity on, and then consider the following cards. 

Don't be too quick to determine how the card relates to the current situation. 

Initially just describe the card, and perhaps identify any themes you might draw from it:

You might notice the endless road and the heat of the desert, and noticing the alternate means of transport out of there. Or it may be it's just about taking the clear path ahead? 

Or perhaps about returning to more psychedelic times?

Or climbing vertical cliffs to the top? 

Or looking for the easier path, already forged by the wind, rather than the harder one? 

What about this next collage? 

It's not about describing every element of the card as much as noticing what you notice about the card. Your unconscious will help you see the pattern(s) that align with the current situation. 

So it might be about having the physical strength, or being more playful, or connecting more to nature. Or perhaps noticing the natural timing of things - e.g a full moon only takes place every 28 days (or perhaps it's a sun). Or about reminding you to take time to smell the roses?

What about this even more obscure collage? 

The inner power perhaps? Or walking your own walk? Or surviving in an alien environment - perhaps even being yourself in such an environment?

As you now reflect on the original situation what are the summary themes you can take away from these cards? There's no right or wrong, and logic isn't necessary in that the cards may just have reminded you of something else entirely that relates instead. The mind acts in mysterious ways, and so long as you've got an insight, why worry about how you got there?

For me the cads message is about not making life too difficult but instead taking the clear path ahead. It's also about connecting with the elements, nature and remembering there's a natural order to much of life, and not to fight against but move with it. 

You may have got something totally different, and that's the reason it's such a helpful process. We're able to connect to the cards in a way that makes sense to us personally in relation to the current situation, and yet perhaps still also provides a different perspective. 

How did you get on? 

Alison Smith

The Purchasing Coach

Inspiring change inside and out

If you're wanting to find out more about the coaching offered for yourself or your team do please get in touch alison@alisonsmith.eu or +44 (0)7770 538159

Notes from a session at a Scottish Institute for Business Leaders meeting using these collage cards can be found here.

Do you have the holistic view?

I went to hear Chief Inspector Andy Brown speak at the Royal Society of Edinburgh last night. His talk was entitled

Crisis communication:lessons from Afghanistan

One impressive fact was that deaths due to insurgence infiltration were significantly reduced after the security forces implemented the process, tools and techniques Andy taught them.

One insight for me was regarding the piece of information the security forces had been missing previously, and that was 'why' there has been so many deaths.

The reason given was that there had been a lack of understanding previously of the cultural differences between the UK and Afghanistan. That is in Afghanistan there's a saying 'life is cheap, but reputation is life long', and many British soldiers had inadvertently dishonoured Afghanistan soldiers with tension then escalating with often disastrous consequences.

Obviously I'm not saying that was the only issue, nor only reason for the deaths. However by simply remembering that how we interpret a situation, and how another interprets it, are not always going to be the same, did then lead to a change in strategy that allowed the outcome to improve.

Isn't that the same in any situation where we're facing an undesirable outcome.

There's a need to stand back and holistically see the whole picture. It's only from this perspective that strategies are able to be developed, and solutions found.

I'd suggest this holistic view is needed in health, relationships, business, politics, the environment, and yes even procurement.

That is, if the outcome you're getting isn't working you can't keep doing the same thing. You need to step back, and look holistically to try to discover what you're missing.

It's certainly no use forcing the solution to be one way:

When it's clearly another way

Or perhaps even

Especially when other people are involved

How can you view a current challenge in your life holistically? and who will help you do that?

Alison Smith
The Purchasing Coach
Inspiring Change - inside and out

Landscaping Your Life

Landscaping Your life is a tool I use in my coaching and facilitation with clients. Since its conception in 2000 there's been many different ways that landscapes and nature have been used to obtain insight on situations whether for teams, boards, managers, leaders or personally.

I've shared a number of the different ways previously on this blog - going for a walk, envisoning changes to a landscape, short story, observational video blogs, coaching sessions in nature, and using sayings such as can't see the wood for the trees to find the antidote.

Here I'd like to go back in time and return to the first ever time I used it - which involves choosing a picture that best describes the current situation and then making changes to it until it's just right. (you can do this in your mind but using real pictures and cutting them up adds something to the process).

I can't tell you how you'll know 'it's just right' but you will know. It's as if as you make the changes your mind makes sense of the original situation, and the changes you make to enable it to become clearer as a result.  

Here's an example 

I then decide what to add or take away from the picture

and then realise I need to cut even more away 

That's better - and then add something

and again

and again

You may end up with very little of the original picture left - there is no right or wrong - it's as if you've gone on a journey from where you are to where you want to be and your mind will now make sense of what that means in reality. Of course you may never know what it means - you may just feel differently and the situation may just change.

Have a go yourself and notice what you notice - and let me know how you get on. Just a word of warning I've found for 99.99% of people it's useful for the landscapes to be on earth rather than out of this world. That is the normal rules of gravity apply.

I know a number of those early guinea pigs who still have their end landscape, even 15 years later, and it's on view in their office as a reminder of the insight they gained. A sign I always think of a truly profound process - even if I say so myself :-).

Individual coaching and group facilitation sessions using Landscaping Your Life or a number of other tools are available so do please get in touch if you've been grappling with a challenge for some time and would like a different perspective. alison@alisonsmith.eu +44 (0)7770 538159.

More can also be found on Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube.

Postscript: a Landscaping Your Life website was launched in November 2015 - so for more on this effective process do please go and visit.

Life as Life or death or sustainability

Moved to my new website

Alison

Alison Smith
Inspiring Change inside and out


Metaphors used in our language are a common theme to my coaching sessions with clients, with those using nature and landscaping your life also a frequent visitor. My most popular blog Making mountains out of molehills is a great example of how the metaphors we use can also provide the solution to the very challenges they're describing. 

Of course organisations have operating metaphors too.

An index of blogs written about the many different tools I use in coaching can be found here.

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:

• Making mountains out of molehills - my most popular post
• No pain, no gain - another popular post
• Deadlines - are they killing you?
• Pain or pleasure - use of alleviating 'pain' as a motivator in pharmaceutical organisation

Personal Relationships - Collage Cards

Another* tool I use in personal coaching sessions is collage cards. 

 

Taking this week's theme of developing relationships I thought I'd see what insights might be gleaned from pulling a few of my collage cards. 

NB these are used in a personal setting and would only be used if the client was open to using perhaps a more obscure means of connecting with their own inner wisdom as their 

unconscious makes meaning from the images (because it can't but help find meaning).

When I made this card I assumed it was this way up - but have subsequently found it to be more useful the other way up. 

I wonder if its about 'giving' and 'receiving' in our relationships and inviting us to think about how much we do of each. Asking us to reflect how much of an imbalance there might be as shown in the different sizes of the 2 figures. 

I also notice mist between both figures potentially obscuring the actions of both. How might the motive of your actions not be as obvious to the other person? or perhaps be misinterpreted by them?

You may get completely different insights from the cards than me and of course that's perfect. The aim of the cards is to help you tap into your inner wisdom not necessarily listen to mine :-). It's simply about helping you to see a situation differently, and therefore understand what actions you might be able to take in order to improve the current situation. 

 

Sometimes I wish I'd just be a little less honest and put a card back and pull a different one :-) . However I do need to demonstrate that, even if a card doesn't seem obvious at first glance, if we persevere, an insight can be found.

I suppose I've always seen Dawn French as epitomising being happy in her own skin. Being truly authentic in all that she does and happy with it. 

In that context such a great reminder to hold true to ourselves when in relationship with others.

 

I've generally seen this card as being one of purification. However in connection to the enquiry about relationships I wonder if it's about warning us about dumping our stuff onto others. A slower trickle might just be more effective than a huge bucket :-).

 

Using collages is not a process everyone feels comfortable with but can provide some very meaningful insights. What insight did you obtain from these cards and as a reault what action will you take?

 

Alison Smith

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

* Earlier blogs this week shared more about tools I use in a business setting such as Frameworks for change coaching process, creative whack pack and oblique strategies. Tomorrow I will share more about the Transformation Game - another personal development tool.

More on how I use the collage process can be found here, and more about the origins of the collage process can be found here.

Metaphorical language - in need of a facelift

 

It's that time of year again and I'm watching and engaging as much as I can with One Young World - where inspirational young people from over 190 countries come together to share, collaborate and take action. It always leaves me inspired and motivated to also become the change I want to see in the world. After last week's rant don't be surprised therefore if corruption and wrong doing in business turns up here over the next few weeks.

 

Each year #OYW have many influential speakers - last year Richard Branson, this year Bob Geldoff, and if I'm not mistaken Kofi Annan has attended the last 3 years? This morning I saw a tweet quoting Michael Moller the acting Director General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

 

"The UN is a 70 year old lady that needs a face lift right away."

 

I and others on twitter where uncomfortable with the wording. This blog isn't going to address the rights and wrongs of what he said. What I'd like to do is explore the metaphor Moller used because to his unconscious that metaphor makes sense and therefore may provide a solution.

 

I've written before about the power of metaphor and explored how saying "making mountains out of molehills, no pain no gain, I'm stuck in a rut or I'm up a creek without a paddle" can provide the very solutions you think are out of reach. 

 

Let's explore the metaphor Moller used - or more importantly his use of "need for a face lift"- here's some insights I'd make (assuming Moller has spoken on behalf of the UN who agree with him):

• They're feeling their human age
• They're seeing an organisation as having the same life span of a human (you're certainly not 'old' at 70 if your life span is 300 years)
• They're unhappy with what they're 'seeing'
• They're potentially ignoring the underling causes of the wrinkles
• They focusing on what they look like
• They're only focusing on their face - and specifically certain aspects of it
• They're just focusing on what they don't like 
• They're not seeing it from other people's points of view

Which for me provides the following solutions:

• Change is needed but more in how the UN think (see here my Pinterest board on 'age is in the imagination' or some coaching on limited beliefs might be useful ;-) )
• Stop focusing on what you don't like and focus on what you do
• Ask others what they admire in you
• Get in touch with how you're feeling - if it's like a spring chicken then stop worrying
• Embrace all the good you've achieved and know that can continue
• If you really do have a human lifespan then how do you hand over to your children and grandchildren and stop pushing yourself so much (think that's where One Young World comes in)  
• Embrace the behaviours that support well being - what ever your age - time in nature, nutrition, water, creativity, exercise, good doing and so on.

The longer you an stay with the metaphor the better because that way we stick with the structure and don't get caught up in the content (the he said this, you said that, then he did this and ... etc). So don't worry for now for example what wellbeing of the UN looks like. Just keep coming up with solutions if someone of 70 was suggesting they needed a facelift. Once you've exhausted all the responses then and only then try to relate it to the situation. (Although your unconscious is likely to be ahead of you on this and have already sorted out the solution )

 

I've said before (in this blog on finding your inner Picard - yes of Star Trek fame) the problem with me interpreting the metaphor is I'm not the one using it. To Michael my words may make no sense what so ever. That said a conversation at the UN about how they all relate to this saying and the solutions that emerge would be useful - so too at One Young World.

 

I would love to know what solutions this saying reminded you of?

 

Alison Smith

Inspiring change inside and out

alison@alisonsmith.eu +44 7770 538159

 

I also use nature as a metaphor for life in Landscaping Your Life where nature provides the solutions. More here on Pinterest, YouTube and Facebook.

 

Gardening is a great metaphor for purchasing too - after all we know lawns need mowing and shrubs need pruning but often forget to do so with suppliers. Great for those stakeholders and managers new to procurement. 

A different perspective

 

The bottom fell out of the bottom drawer of my filing cabinet the other week which meant I couldn't open it. The challenge yesterday was I needed the documents contained in the drawer. The tactic of procrastinating would no longer help.

 

What to do?

 

I emptied the top drawer and tried to get that out hoping to come at the documents from above but it wouldn't budge - no matter what I tried to do.

Suggestions on social media had me considering hammer and screwdriver. Then Jo messaged me "Turn it upside down and then the drawer will open!"

As it happened I only needed to turn it on its side.


 

A reminder that often the simplest solutions come from a different perspective.

What situation in your life may benefit from a different perspective?

Alison Smith
Inspiring change inside and out in procurement

Up a creek without a paddle

When coaching clients or facilitating groups I'm always on the lookout for the language being used to describe the challenge being faced. It's the quickest way to access the underlying issues, that taking words at face value may take hours to uncover.

I'm, therefore, continuing the theme today of using the very metaphors we're comparing a situation to in order to solve it. If you think you're in a rut then use that metaphor to explore the options that exist to get out of a rut. If you're making a mountain out of a molehill then let's not get caught up in the content of the issue let's just look at the patterns that exist that provide insight on how to stop doing that!

Today we're looking at being "up a creek without a paddle". As with the other phrases I've looked at here the very use of the phrase presupposes that you're stuck, with nowhere to go and no ability to get out of the situation.

In reality if we were up a creek without a paddle then there's many ways we could get out of the creek. Here's one solution (the landscaping your life process would enable you to identify many more solutions).

STOP!

Think about it. If we’re drifting aimlessly or even going around in circles until we stop then we can’t really plot a route out or even understand what’s happening. We’re at the mercy of external forces.

If you’re in the boat there’s going to be a number of different ways to stop. You may have anchor but it’s unlikely so you may have to ground yourself. On the other hand you may be able to moor or tether the boat if you can.

STOP is about a breathing space to assess the situation. It’s about grounding ourselves so we can act from a place of calm and peace not from a place of fear.

Life Jacket

Once we’ve stopped many of the solutions we may identify will be easier if we had a life jacket on.
That is on the way out of the creek, as the going gets rough, without a life jacket confidence can become dented and we may soon end up back up the creek. We don’t have the confidence to stay out there in the rapids. We prefer to come back to the safety of the creek than hang on for open water.

That’s where a life jacket would come in handy because it gives us confidence that even if we end up in the water we’ll be ok. That is we can cope with anything.

The life jacket is about getting into a resourceful and confident state where we know we can cope with anything that life throws at us. (My prescription for positivity may help here.)

Mission

Once we’re ready to start thinking about leaving the creek we need to understand what our mission is. It’s only once we know our mission that we can look at a map and understand the routes that will best enable us to meet it.

It’s no use just grabbing the paddle and getting the hell out of the creek. Without a mission how will we know what direction to take at the first fork? How will we know it’s not another creek?

All heroes on our TV’s seem to have a mission to save the world from the bad guys. We therefore know when they meet a bad guy that they’re going to take action. There’s no doubt in your mind because that’s their mission. That’s what our mission is about – knowing what we stand for and what we will take action to move towards. It’s only once we know this can be move onto looking at who else might want to journey with us.

Guides and Travellers

Once we understand our mission it’s important we find people who are going to be able to help us. We might be able to get out of the creek on our own but we stand a better chance if we find people to guide us and others we can travel with.

The step in the process is as much about our relationship with our network as it is building the network. We can have 1000’s of people in our network but if they don’t like or trust us what’s the point!

The Guides and Travellers step is about identifying your potential network. It’s also about developing relationships with those who boost our energy and minimising our time spent with those who drain our energy.

Map

When we’re up the creek it’s not always easy to understand the routes out of the creek especially when the tall creek walls are surrounding us. It’s easy to think there are no routes out and believe ourselves to be stuck.

Plotting a map with all the possible routes out helps expands our thinking and understand all the possibilities that exist. In the long term we’d like to understand the routes that will help us achieve our mission. In the short term we may have other missions to accomplish.

Compass

When walking even if we’ve got a map we use a compass to help plot the course and help us understand where we are in relation to the map and our intended destination.

We have our own inner compass, inner wisdom some would say intuition. Once we’ve got all the possible routes out of the creek it’s our inner compass our intuition that will determine which direction we take.

This step is also about being authentic and true to ourselves – following our own true north.

Paddle

Once we’ve undertaken the other steps there is only one way out of the creek and that’s to find our paddle and use it. That is take personal responsibility to take the necessary action to take the first and subsequent steps.

Which part of the above 7 steps do you need to spend some time on in order to get out of a creek in your life?

  

Alison Smith

The Purchasing Coach
Unlocking potential using unconventional tools

Postscript: a Landscaping Your Life website was launched in November 2015 - so for more on this effective process do please go and visit.

Photograph copyright by brother from Andrew Jones Photography.