Will it be a bright 2018?

Happy New Year.

I wonder, are you envisaging a 2018 that's like one of these images?

or more like this? 

And more importantly is it working for you? If it is, read no further. If you know your relationship with 2018 could do with a little tweak or two then see if the following might help nudge you in the right direction.

Is it a representation that will help you achieve your goals this year? or will it help you to find the motivation to set some goals? or more of what ever it is you feel might me lacking at the moment?

As you consider your representation, what happens if you make changes to it - does 2018 feel, look or sound more or less as you would like it to be?

You may want to make your image of 2018 bigger, smaller, add or take away colour, give it some movement, move it, add a sound track, take a picture of it, change the focus, or draw it. Basically, any change or changes that make 2018 the year you'd like it to be, if of course it isn't already.

The image that represents 2018 for you might not be a number, it might be another image all together. If a landscape comes to mind you might want to pop over to my Landscaping Your Life blog for more about what changes you might want to make to the landscape.

You may not have an image for 2018 at all - it may be a feeling or a sound. The aim is to ensure that what ever your representation is for 2018 that it supports what you want to do in 2018, and not hinders it. 

The following images my help provide some clues about what changes could be made.

What about a theme tune for 2018?

or even a dance?

There is no right or wrong - just what ever comes to mind. You may want to make a collage? A model? or even bake a cake. 

Exploring the representation we have for aspects of our lives is one of the unconventional tools I decided to save for this first post of 2018. Many of the other tools I use in my coaching and facilitation had a festive feel applied to them in my advent series of posts at the end of last year. It's certainly one of my go to tools when someone is wanting to shift a current situation.

What changes might you want to make to 2018, and when will you make them?

Alison Smith
The Purchasing Coach
Inspiring Change in 2018

Purchasing Coach: Advent Window 22: Stand in your shoes

25 unconventional coaching and facilitation tools to surprise and delight

I've written before about standing in the other person's shoes to get insight on how to shift a current impasse with them. 

When I purchased these elves shoes, I thought that's what I was going to do with them on this series of posts ie to use them, as an example of standing in the other person's shoes.

However, upon getting to the beach and putting one elf shoe on, another thought came to mind. As I looked down, I reflected on whether the 2 shoes represented different aspects of me.

As I put on the elf shoe I wondered who do I become? what do I feel comfortable doing? what would my elf-like self do in the situation? (Be more playful was the answer - more lighthearted - less attached to a particular outcome)

It's a little like my friend who always wears her red jacket when she's got a particularly tough meeting coming up. It's as if what she's wearing changes her level of confidence, and ability to tackle the day in hand.

I wondered if shoes would be like that too?

Would I think of different solutions, options or answers when I was in bare feet? (Authenticity, and grounding myself and connecting to nature came to mind? Certainly looking for down to earth solutions.)

Or in my normal shoes, or any other shoes  

Trainers: Fast paced, flexible, adaptive, comfortable?

High heels: Stylish, elegant, poised, more considered?

Safety shoes: Risk management and mitigation, careful and considered? 

Flip Flops: relaxed and patient?

Or perhaps like my friend and her jacket. its about the colour of the shoes that makes the difference

Red: confident, strident, assured?

Wellies: Practical, water tight?
Pink: fun and light hearted?
Blue: clarity and ease?
Orange: vibrant and excited? 

What insights come to mind as you view the different shoes? 

In what way can these insights be applied to a current situation you'd like more clarity about? 

Thy're all different parts and aspects of ourselves, that imagining the different shoes styles and colours allows us to access, along with the different perspective they provide on a situation/challenge.  

As you imagine wearing different shoes observe in what way they allow you to view the situation differently - some improving and increasing the solutions available, and others not!

Do let me know how you get on.

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.

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.

Purchasing Coach: Advent Window 18: Say yes (or no)

25 unconventional coaching and facilitation tools to surprise and delight

In November when I started to plan this series of posts I thought that 'saying yes' would be a great tool to include.

The idea is not to say "No" to life, but instead to say "Yes" and notice what transpires.

Last year when I did something different every day for 28 days I was amazed at how often I said "No", and as a result how repetitive life had got.

Saying yes, takes you into new surroundings, to meet new people, or try new experiences and to find solutions outside your comfort zone, solutions currently sitting in the middle of your 'don't know what I don't know' area. (Who knew that coffee wasn't so bitter if you added sugar!)

After yesterday's post where one of the insights was that I had permission to say No, I wonder if there's also a tool about saying No too. Especially useful when we find ourselves far to often saying "yes of course I'll do that" "yes of course I'll move my diary" "yes of course I'll cancel my plans for you" when we know the honest answer, the one that supports our values and well being, is "No I'm sorry, not this time."

Where do you need to say Yes more, and no less?

Where do you need to say No more, and yes less?

Will you make the change?

And if so, what's stopping you from starting this very minute?

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.

Purchasing Coach: Advent Window 15: Intention

25 coaching and facilitation tools to surprise and delight

As I wrote on LinkedIn earlier in the week, one persons unconventional is another person's weird. I should have added, one person's conventional is another persons unconventional.

Today's coaching and facilitation tool is very conventional and ordinary for many, and yet for others it's straying into weird.

It's a tool I've used since the late 90's. I remember hearing a number of years after I'd left Lloyds Bank, that the team still used this tool when they were struggling in a meeting, usually after someone had just asked "What would Alison have done?" It's also something we often start workshops with.

Setting an Intention.

Yep - it's simply about starting the day/meeting either thinking about the qualities needed to make the session a success, or about the outcome, in terms of how you'd like to feel, or what you'd like to be saying, or doing, at the end of a successful session.

You can do this on your own or as a group.

You can do this logically - thinking of your own answers to the question.

You can pull a word out of a hat/bowl.

You can ask others for a word for you.

You can open a book or magazine and pick the first word you notice - like we did behind window 12.

You can have one word, or many.

You can even have sentences.

You could add a picture or two.

You can build it up over a week - reinforcing the intention every morning

No rules as such, just a desire to focus your mind on how you'd like the outcome to be. Because rushing about like a headless chicken, and worrying, and focusing on the negative, or even worse what you don't want to happen isn't helping your mind support you in getting to your desired outcome.

As with all the tools in this advent series, it's going to make much more sense if you try it for yourself.

Do please let me know how you get on.

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.

Purchasing Coach: Advent Window 10: Gratitude

25 unconventional coaching and facilitation tools to surprise and delight

Yesterday's window asked us to 'take time to acknowledge, savour and celebrate your team's successes' and I was reminded of another tool that can arise as an action in coaching. 

Perhaps not a tool that's unconventional in the conventional sense, but something we forget to do which means I firmly believe it merits a mention.

Gratitude

Whether a gratitude log done at the end of every day to remind you of the things you're grateful for, or a reminder to show gratitude to others - not just when they've done something but just for being in your life.

Thank you for being in mine.

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.

Purchasing Coach: Advent Window 6: Collage

25 unconventional coaching and facilitation tools to surprise and delight

Window 6: Collage

Level of unconventionalness out of 10 = 5

==========================

Process:

• Identify a situation you'd like more clarity about. 
• Put the situation to the back of your mind.
• Explore a collage - logically first, as that might identify some insight. (see my festive one below although Pinterest is a great source for collages - here's my board with some pretty way out options.) 
• Explore the collage more intuitively - what would the advice be from the collage, or certain aspects of the collage ie what would it/they say to you?
• Follow any and all tangents - as they're your subconscious's way of showing where the solution may be found.
• Keep going - sometimes the real juice comes after the obvious has been exhausted. You may also find that on a different day with a different challenge that you will notice different aspects of the collage - which means you may also notice different things from me in the example below.
• Pick another collage. 
• Or maybe, make a collage to express the current situation and/or the desired outcome (I now have about 120 that I've made that I use in workshops, meetings and coaching sessions.)   
• Return to the original situation and consider what advice you have given yourself.
• What action will you take, and when?   

Festive/Holiday season example: 

Here's a collage I made for Christmas:

You may want to reflect on your own observations before reading mine.

Logical observations

After making the collage, I realised there was a lot of pairs in it - so one piece of advice might be not to try to do everything on my own. What would partnership look like in the situation?

Another element I notice is the light, and am reminded to follow the light - ie follow my passion not that which brings greyness to my day.

One picture is of a chocolate cake, and eating a slice would certainly give me great joy - so there's also something there about following our bliss too. Not making it all about the shoulds, oughts and musts.

These are observations that I am making based on my current life situation. When applied to your life or another situation these observations might not make sense. It's why, as with many of these tools, it's always useful to apply it to a situation you'd like more clarity on rather than just reading about mine.

More intuitive reflection

Relax, and the fun will come to you.

Let even more sparkle into your life.

Mind, body, heart, and soul isn't an either/or - they can and do coexist! (Blimey - that's something for me to reflect on), and also perhaps a link to the insight from yesterday's blackout poetry.

When reviewing the other collages I'd used here on my blog I found this one.

Whilst I think it reflects much of the advice I've obtained from the first collage, it has more of an energy about that I can take into 2018 with me. Perhaps using it as a screensaver for a time to remind me might be helpful. 

As a result of reading these thoughts, and observing the collages what insight(s) have come to mind for you at this time? What action can you take to help the insight enlighten the current situation? 

========================

Benefits: Helps us tap into the part of ourselves that does know the answer. Helps to bypass resistance to hearing alternate views.

Uses: Strategy and Vision Setting, Coaching, Problem Solving, Creativity & Innovation

Participants: Procurement, internal stakeholders, external supplier stakeholders. (It never fails to amaze me how open business leaders and other participants on workshops are to using this process, and the level of insight gained.)

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


Here's a post I wrote after facilitating a session using the collage cards I've developed at the Scottish Institute for Business Leaders.

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

Purchasing Coach: Advent Window 1: Problem Reversal

25 unconventional coaching and facilitation tools to surprise and delight

Window 1: Problem Reversal

Level of unconventionalness out of 10 = 2

==========================

Process:

• Identify as many ways of making the current situation worse - ie how can you have more of the problem, 
• Have fun and get absurd, 
• Mind maps on a flip chart are great for this with everyone contributing (as you'll discover below, it's not such a creative process with one person doing it alone!)
• Once you have a lovely long list identify mitigating actions to ensure the suggestions don't trip you up, nor are the reason for your future or continued failure.  

Festive/Holiday season example: 

How to have the worse Christmas/holiday ever.

Before the holiday

• Leave everything to the last minute
• Be very unclear with others about your plans 
• Don't listen to what others want
• Steam roller ahead with your own plans
• Say yes to everything - work and personal 
• Say no to everything 
• Say yes to things you don't want to do
• Say no to things you do want to do
• Set unrealistic deadlines 
• Focus on one task to the exclusion of everything else on your to-do list 
• Have no idea what preparation you need to have done
• Do no preparation
• Put pressure and stress on everyone around you ahead of their holidays 
• Start to erode into other people's holidays by giving them work at the last minute (e.g sending out a tender on Christmas eve with a deadline of 2nd Jan - but you'd never do that would you?)
• Party hard every day running up to the holiday (although I realise for some this might make for the best holiday ever)

During the holiday

• Read your emails daily
• Interrupt other people's holidays with work
• Ignore and don't speak to anyone (again this might be someone's idea of bliss)
• Spend most of your time head down in social media 
• Do nothing you enjoy 
• Ensure only those that don't get along are invited to the same party/meal
• Focus on the negative to the exclusion of any positive
• Spend lots of time with people you don't get along with 
• Be ungrateful for everything
• Eat and drink nothing you enjoy 
• Play at being Scrooge
• and so on.

Solutions might include:

• Be grateful every day 
• Plan to do what you enjoy doing
• Be clear about the criteria for success for you for the holiday
• Understand other's criteria for success
• Plan ahead
• Develop and prioritise a to-do list - NOW
• Identify things you can do in spare moments throughout the weeks running up to the holiday
• Delegate if possible
• Say no, or ask if it can wait till Jan
• Use your out of office to manage expectations
• Ensure people know now when you're planning to be away.
• Don't go cold turkey with your emails - wean yourself off them slowly over December (other suggestions for email management can be found here)
• and so on

If there had been a few of us doing this exercise we would have had a little more fun with it, and have identified some ludicrous suggestions that no one would ever do - and yet ......

You may also find that these suggestions could be applied to a challenge you're facing. As you reflect on that challenge review the above suggestions and notice what you notice. You may just be surprised with what you discover.

============================

Benefits: Fun means of finding solutions without the defences going up about the reason for the current situation. Great way of uncovering the obvious we're ignoring/have forgotten about!

Uses: Strategy and Vision Setting, Coaching, Problem Solving, Creativity & Innovation

Participants: Better when there's a few of you to bounce ideas off each other and have fun together.

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. Otherwise, I wonder what will be behind window 2, and what tool will get the coveted 10/10 on the unconventionalness scale!

NB: Conventional thinking can simply give us more of what we've already got which is why I always consider the applicability of an unconventional tool or two in any situation.