The Juniper Company

Inspiring People – Doreen Lawrence

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 10:26:00 -0400

Have you been inspired by the achievements of a famous person, particularly in the face of adversity?

On Mothering Sunday I was moved as I listened to Clare Balding interview Doreen Lawrence on Radio 2. Having lost her son 20 years ago in a violent racial attack, Doreen Lawrence spoke about how the event has changed her life. She described how, despite it taking several years to arrive at this point, she now views Stephen’s death as having given her an opportunity to make a difference in other people’s lives in two main areas.

Firstly, by setting up the Stephen Lawrence Trust, which helps young people from disadvantaged backgrounds into a career in architecture. To mark the 20^th anniversary of Stephen’s death and celebrate his life, the SL20 campaign aims to promote the future ambitions of the Trust and to raise funds.

Secondly, Doreen explained her changing attitude and behaviour over the years. Instead of being angry now with those who took her son’s life and the system that took so long to bring them to justice, she now challenges others’ behaviour, and tries to see the positive rather than the negative in people and situations.

On top of that her quest is to eradicate racism for the benefit of both victims and perpetrators.

An inspirational woman indeed! The interview got me thinking about what I am doing to make a difference; how I can re-frame situations I see in the negative in a more positive light and how I manage my work-life balance to spend quality time with my family, as she does (a grand-mother of three, she is still very family-focused).

I am really interested to know who has inspired you and why. As we continue our series on inspiring people, please let us know your stories including those we can share with other Juniper friends.

Link to the interview:

BBC Radio 2 - Good Morning Sunday, 10/03/2013, Doreen Lawrence speaks to Clare Balding

2013 has finally got off the ground!

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 10:42:00 -0500

Well, 2013 has finally got off the ground! People are back from holiday and are ready for some exciting challenges over the coming months.

Yesterday we experienced the buzz of Learning Technologies at Kensington Olympia. We met some very interesting people, listened to some key industry players talk on current trends and even had time for a bit of fun on the Redware Bleeper game!

Next week it’s The Juniper Co’s turn to host our Personal Brand event. I’ll be focusing on personal brand, including how to raise your profile and influence others.

Does that sound relevant to you? If yes, then please come along and join the discussion over a glass of wine and some nibbles.

To register for this free event, please click on the link or email us for more information.

Ten plus one extra

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 11:30:58 -0500

Our main focus is optimising the human capacity that underpins organisational success through change management, communication and leadership. The 2013 Juniper Co calendar sees us celebrating 10+1 years. So why the one extra? Because it got us thinking about all the areas where we add that bit extra…

In January, our calendar focuses on one extra question.When we’re working on a project, we like to ask our clients questions that challenge them and encourage them to take a different perspective on an issue. We also motivate them to ask questions within their communities; develop their understanding; and to deliver their best.

February looks at one extra achievement. At Juniper, we are very achievement-focused, especially when it comes to clients. We want our clients to be the best that they can be and use all of our resources to make that happen. We constantly challenge them to do different things and to do things differently!

One extra opinion is the topic for March. We have opinions and we love to hear others’ opinions. We also believe that collaboration and pooling of ideas brings about the best solutions.

April is all about taking action - one extra action. With both the present and the future in mind, we always take steps to ensure that the positive impact and ripple effect of a training event, communications campaign, or change initiative goes beyond the brief.

In May we think about going that one extra mile. One of the reasons why we love what we do so much is because we always go the extra mile to get under the skin of an organisation; coupled with our commitment and passion, we help our clients to deliver the results they desire.

We take one extra moment in June. It’s no coincidence that one extra moment comes in the middle of the year, when we are starting to think about our holidays… Everyone enjoys a break and at Juniper we believe in a healthy balance between delivering a great piece of work and enjoying rewarding relationships with clients.

In July we give you one extra team. An extension to your team is how we see ourselves at Juniper, as we work seamlessly in partnership with you, with discretion and of course, integrity.

One extra discovery is exciting in August. Augmented reality was just one of the new discoveries for Juniper in 2012 – we are always looking for innovative ways to share and deliver information. We are currently working on some exciting projects with our partners in the technology space – talk to usabout your challenges and we will find you an original solution.

September recognises one extra service. Because our services are intrinsically linked to one another, we are able to offer clients all-encompassing solutions.

One extra goal is the perfect way to start October. Ever had that sick feeling on a roller coaster, when you think you have totally lost control? By setting really stretching goals, Juniper helps you through the confusion, to solutions and ultimately success.

In November we continue to look for that one extra client. We all want more clients. By helping ours focus on theirs, both internal and external, we help them to gain more – insights, knowledge, expertise and more clients!

Everyone wants one extra present in December! Have you ever found a present under the tree with your name on it after you thought they had all been opened? That is what we are about – creating that feeling of excitement and fulfilment as you find the unexpected gift.

We still have a few calendars left - if you would like to receive one, please let us know.

Wishing you a happy and successful 2013, do keep in touch and let us know how it goes.

“Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room” Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 11:08:00 -0500

How many of us have made resolutions this year and broken them already? From both personal and professional experience, I know that a resolution such as “Must eat healthier” or “Must do more exercise” is often very difficult to keep up, especially when the weather is cold like it is now. How about focusing on an area that can have just as much impact – personal brand? Small changes we can make in our approach, attitudes, and behaviour can bring positive outcomes (and don’t involve 6am runs or eating fewer biscuits at work).

Think about the opinions people make of you when they meet you and what you do to influence those opinions – what you say, how you say it, how you dress etc. When Mary Spillane asks us to consider our personal brand, she refers to assets (skills, abilities and experiences), values (the things that matter as well as our passions) and image (what we project to others), in everything we do. Why not consider these three simple steps :

Step 1: Define your desired brand (how would you like people to perceive you?)
Step 2: Evaluate your current brand (what are people’s opinions of you now?)
Step 3: Close the gap between your desired and current brand (decide how you are going to achieve your desired brand and then do it!)

Think about what Mahatma Ghandi said “we have to become the change we wish to see in the world”. What results do you think you could see in your professional and personal life by spending some time working on your personal brand this year?

We’ve got a great first impressions quiz to try as a starter for ten. To have a go, click here.

If you want to know more about how changes in your personal brand can affect your levels of influence, why not come to our event in February? Please click here for more details.

We Are Moving!

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 07:01:40 -0500

Always up for a change and a challenge, the Juniper birds will be migrating to their new office in Weybourne, Surrey next month – and we are very excited about it!

We will be embarking on the next chapter of our story in a place that has been the home to innovation, creativity and sporting excellence for many years. From John Henry Knight (pictured here driving the first petroleum carriage for two people made in England), a founder member of the AA, pioneer and inventor; to Dame Vera Lynn, famous World War 2 singer, who spent summer holidays there with her aunt; to Jonny Wilkinson OBE, former England rugby player, who was educated there in his early years, Weybourne has certainly witnessed the birth and life of extraordinary success.

So let’s see what is in store for us. Watch this space for more updates!

From Monday 3 December, our new office details will be :

Upper Barn
4 Hillside Road
Aldershot
Hampshire
GU11 3NB

Please bear with us over the next couple of days while we move!

"The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people." (Roosevelt)

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 05:58:35 -0400

Part 2 (continued from last week)

Having identified the roles, let’s look at how we can change our behaviour.

In their book, Leadership Presence, Halpern and Lubar say: “Much of leadership is about finding balance between two often-conflicting activities: asserting authority and responding to others’ needs.” I use an adaptation of the DESC approach to giving feedback to provide the recipe for assertive communication and building adult-adult relationships.

State – your observation using ‘I’ statements – do not judge – find out how the other person views the situation: I have observed that… How do you see…
Express – share your feelings and describe the effect that the situation has had: I feel that …
Ask – for suggestions to improve the situation - How do you suggest…
Request – very specifically what YOU would like to see happening and state the benefits – I would like to ask that …

When I’m running a skills workshop to help people get along better with their colleagues, I ask them to give examples of statements in the child, parent and adult mode. Here is an example statement for each mode :

Parent : “Don’t worry about the business planning meeting, I will work something out to make the numbers add up”.

Child : “We are never given any notice for business planning meetings. There is no way I am going to get this done on time.”

Adult : “Right, the business planning meeting is next week. Let’s have a pre-meeting at the end of this week to understand what’s left to do.”

It is also important to remember that in transactional analysis, behaviour accompanying the words contributes largely to the sense of the comment.

It is sometimes easy to slip into habits and behaviours we have used for many years. However, a change in our own behaviour can only produce a change in others’. I tell clients, who are struggling with this : “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” So why not give it a go yourself?

"The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people." (Roosevelt)

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 05:27:00 -0400

How can we all learn to get along better with the people we work with? And how can a company empower its people to build strong, effective and fruitful relationships?

One way of doing this is to ensure that your people are capable of maintaining adult-adult relationships. When people have an adult-adult relationship, they are able to communicate assertively. This means they can stand up for themselves, while acknowledging others; they can effectively express needs, feelings and preferences – and empathise with others. And both parties feel they are gaining from the relationship.

When we are aggressive, we often slip into the parent role and when we are submissive or manipulative, we slip into the child mode. Neither of these two behaviours help people to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes from the interactions.

If you interact as the parent, you will always have to take responsibility for other people’s problems (mopping up after others). You will also fall into a pattern of chiding, reminding, threatening and getting frustrated. If you act as the child, you will not be taken seriously by others. You will find others making decisions for you, underestimating your competence, checking up on you, second-guessing your decisions and trying to control you.

When an organisation is going through change, the project leader or team leader can often fall into the role of the parent and the people they are relying on to implement change take on the position of a child. Change managers often have a paternalistic approach but adult-adult conversations help everyone in the business to feel they could contribute and take responsibility for making the change successfully. An adult-adult relationship maximises the chances of getting the kind of relationships, jobs, friends and life we want. It raises our level of confidence and self-worth and makes us feel more capable, optimistic and in control.

As a manager, do you tend to go to extraordinary lengths to protect your team or do you try to take control of certain situations instead of giving team members responsibility? If this is the case, then perhaps now is the right time to start thinking about regaining the adult-adult equilibrium in your working relationships.

Revisit our blog next week to find out how!

Survey competition

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 08:55:23 -0400

Congratulations to Teresa Kotlicka and Louise Nash who have won our survey competition. They have each won £25 of Amazon vouchers to spend on their learning and development.

Keeping in touch with our delegates and contacts is important to us to ensure we understand your training needs in today’s market. We believe strong client relationships help us to keep savvy and stay on top of the ever changing business environment. If you have some feedback for us please let us know. If you missed the opportunity and would like to complete our survey, just follow this link.

Thank you to all of those who have filled out the survey to date.

The harder you work, the luckier you get – Gary Player

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 04:44:00 -0400

Those of you who read my “Olympic” blog might have asked yourselves the same question one of my clients asked me : “Surely more sweets hit the bowl second time round because they have practised?” A very good question indeed!

It’s true to say that even without instruction, more sweets probably would have hit the bowl (although I must insist, more would have done with coaching and instruction!), and that is down to practice. Malcolm Gladwell writes in his book “Outliers” that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert in a field - that is about 4 hours a day of practice 6 days a week for 10 years. Gary Player, professional golfer, sums this up quite neatly: “The harder you work, the luckier you get”.

But is there such a thing as luck? What differentiates the day a risk we have taken at work pays off from the day our flight is delayed and we arrive late at an important client meeting? Surely that is the result of luck and not hard work?

Going back to the Olympians, I think it would be true to say that they worked very hard to reach the standards we saw over the summer – and that had very little to do with luck!

Do you also find that the harder you work the luckier you get? I do!

“Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.” Karen Kaiser Clark

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 06:23:00 -0400

In a recent blog I talked about how resourceful organisations are responding creatively to cuts in learning and development by balancing out formal programmes with more informal development, such as coaching. Even in the absence of training programmes or workshops, ongoing coaching is useful because it provides the opportunity to speak to people about personal growth and development.

There are different types of coaching beyond the traditional one-to-one method. Peer-to-peer coaching is really valuable since it provides a really honest view about an individual, because peer coaches see what their colleagues do, how they work and how they interact with others on a day-to-day basis. Team coaching is also used at all levels across an organisation to build relationships and equip leaders and teams with the skills needed to work together. This can involve group work, as well as individual coaching of team members. Interestingly, reverse coaching is also being used in some organisations – where junior employees coach senior leaders in topics like using social media or new technology. Whilst facilitating a leadership programme recently, I sought feedback from managers who had started to experience reverse coaching with their team members. One manager explained that through reverse coaching she had learnt that her team all had differing needs (in terms of development, communication, and learning style) and that she should no longer try to meet one individual’s needs in the same way as another’s by trying to follow a prescribed formula. It was a breakthrough for her!

Coaching has many benefits and having good coaching skills is now viewed as being important in building an engaged team. However, research shows that many managers don’t have the requisite coaching skills with only 52% of employees rating their manager as a good coach and just 34% feeling motivated or engaged by their manager. The research also suggests a strong link between good coaching skills in managers and staff retention levels.

I regularly show leaders and managers how to use the GROW model to improve their coaching skills – adapted from Whitmore’s ‘Coaching for Performance’. The model is useful when helping others to achieve their performance goals. It helps by posing a series of questions around the topics of Goal, Reality, Options and Will.

GOAL

What do you want to achieve?
What performance is required?
What outputs are required?
When do you want to achieve it by?

REALITY

What is happening now? (what, when, where, how much)
Who is involved?
What’s been done so far?
What results have been produced?
What are the constraints to success?

OPTIONS

What options do you have?
What else could you do?
What if …?
Would you like another suggestion?

WILL

What will you do?
When are you going to do it?
What obstacles could you face?
How will you overcome them?
What support do you need?

In May, I shared some insight into giving constructive feedback using the DESC model (Describe, Explain, Specify, Consequence). I often use GROW and DESC together, enabling me to give constructive feedback, and have a coaching conversation around potential solutions. Have you tried that?

"The Crowd Helped Me" (Jessica Ennis)

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 06:35:14 -0400

What a fantastic 2 weeks! Our athletes have certainly emphasised the “great” in Great Britain.

Interestingly, Mo Farrah, Jessica Ennis and Laura Trott are just a few of the competitors who have not only thanked the home crowd for their support, but have attributed their success, in part, to it. After winning a gold medal last week in the velodrome for the omnium, Laura Trott explained “I’m peaking at the right time and it’s all thanks to the coaches really, and the support of the crowd.” It is clear that for some of our athletes, the force of the crowd, the “wall of clapping” as Zara Phillips described it, was powerful enough to push them through to first position.

Now, we aren’t all winning gold medals for Team GB, but I wonder how many of us will have watched those interviews and empathised with the athletes. At a recent leadership workshop, I urged individuals to experience this for themselves through the Sweets in a Bowl exercise. Follow the instructions below to experience the power of support for yourself.

Split a group of colleagues into 2. Ask one half to stand in a line along the wall and place a bowl about 2 metres in front of them. Tell the other half of the group simply to give the instruction to the first group to throw sweets into the bowl. After 60 seconds, record how many sweets have landed in the bowl. Now do the exercise again, this time instructing the second group to cheer and encourage the first to throw as many sweets as they can into the bowl. Have a look in the bowl at the end of the second minute to see how many more sweets have reached their target.

I use this simple exercise not only to get teams communicating with each other, but to demonstrate the power of encouragement, coaching, and clear goal-setting.

Mo Farrah sums up his reaction to the crowd’s support : “I just can’t believe it, the crowd got so much behind me and was getting louder and louder…It doesn’t come round often and to have it right on the doorstep and the amount of people supporting you and shouting out your name.” Whether it’s long distance running or throwing sweets into a bowl, we can all be motivated to succeed by support and encouragement.

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other (John F Kennedy)

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 04:38:40 -0400

Recently,I have been working closely with a team of promising leaders, who have been participating in our Leadership Enhancement Forum and the whole experience has been very rewarding. One element that works really well in programmes like this is that each participant is given invaluable support by internal sponsors from the senior management team. These sponsors give feedback on how individuals have applied the learning and ensure they have time for the programme within the demands of their day job.

What’s been really interesting for me is that the senior sponsors have started to think about their own personal development and want the learning and the opportunity to develop the new skills being offered to their teams. The ripple effect of a great learning initiative like this can bring beneficial results throughout an organisation.

Seeing this appetite for learning grow at close range has been inspiring and it’s made me consider what’s happening at the moment in the wider learning and development environment. Much has been written recently in the HR press about the reduction of learning and development investment and its impact on organisations. Training Journal writes that according to research carried out by Knowledge Pool, L&D managers say that training budgets are one of the first costs to be cut in a recession. This can affect an organisation in a number of ways: and it can cost the company more in the long term through the loss of key talent, as well as slowing recovery further.

How, then, can staff motivation be retained in spite of a reduction in formal training? When personal development and skills training is made a regular part of an employee’s job role - whether on a formal or informal basis - people begin to feel valued by the investment in their development, their motivation levels rise and they understand the value of advancement through learning. Without it, a lot of key soft skills can be lost.

We really need great leadership to help organisations survive and thrive; especially at a time when leaders have had their teams reduced and the culture of ‘more for less’ seems to be all too common. It’s unfortunate that as a result of cuts in personal development budgets, people may lose the professional etiquette needed to do just that. Being able to ‘step up’, adapt well to change, influence, put ideas forward, and collaborate are all skills that are being lost under the pressure of work. Even something as simple as not taking calls or checking emails during a meeting can make a huge difference in terms of focus, team commitment and dealing with issues effectively. Interpersonal development can really give people the power to create great working relationships.

Since being exposed to a learning environment has such a positive impact on individual, team and business growth, we need to start thinking creatively about how a blend of formal and less formal training might be the answer. Increased use of more informal methods such as social networking, peer-to-peer coaching and mentoring can all have a beneficial effect on the return on training investment. By embracing the culture of continuous learning and development in this way, organisations can help their people to work more innovatively and make work more rewarding. And as I’ve seen first hand with my group of leaders and their senior sponsors – this can have a wide reaching effect on the whole organisation.

The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice

Thu, 10 May 2012 05:40:45 -0400

It’s more important than ever to continue to grow and develop in the workplace – both individually in our role and as part of a successful team. To do this we need to be continuously aware of how things can be done better and more creatively. As Walt Disney famously said: “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”

One of the most important parts of embracing the process of improvement is by continually giving and receiving feedback.

Start by making a habit of asking what you brought to a project that was valuable and how you helped achieve the goals. We often struggle to receive positive feedback and don’t ask for it enough. As the recipient of constructive feedback, it’s important to remain open and objective. Be appreciative that someone is taking the time to give you feedback, ask questions to understand how you can improve and identify what you can take away from the feedback that would have a positive impact in the future.

Giving feedback is also a crucial skill, especially when giving corrective and improvement focused feedback. I find the D-E-S-C approach very helpful:

Describe: focus on one or two priority areas for change that would bring the most benefit to the project, team or business. Share your observations but also ask the other person to describe their behaviour: What is your view? How do you think your input influenced the team/situation?

Explore: ask questions and listen to explore the other person’s viewpoint. Clarify what you’ve been told; give the individual a chance to explain, share information or correct misconceptions. In other words – check your observations first. You can do this by using open-ended questions: How does that affect…? How would you explain…?

Specify: always refer back to the bigger picture and objectives so that the individual can understand how their behaviour could hamper progress towards those goals. Develop an action plan for improvement together based on these shared objectives. Offer practical support and follow-up.

Consequence: only state the consequences if the desired change doesn’t occur or if you feel the individual doesn’t realise the need for improvement. Make sure you give recognition when change occurs.

Finally – remember always give positive praise in public but give constructive feedback in private.

Your opinion of the world is also a confession of character.

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 05:43:43 -0500

How did you feel when you started your work day? Chances are you’ll already been influenced by many factors before arriving at work – whether it’s family relationships, the news, advertising, a phone call, traffic, how well you slept or how well the previous day’s work went.

The way you respond to influencing factors makes a difference to whether you look forward to tackling work or if you’re worried and stressed about how you’ll cope. Chances are, if it’s the latter, you’re likely to be suffering from black and white thinking. Your outlook and the stories you tell yourself about a situation have a huge affect on its outcome.

When we use black and white thinking, we’re inflexible and ineffective. We get thrown when things don’t work out exactly as we planned. We fail to see that some areas are grey and we think that making a mistake is unforgivable. Because we’re inflexible we’re unable to deal with contradictions, paradoxes and ambiguities. We have a very technical view of life and don’t make provision for nuances, and the chaos that form part of human existence and business.

Leaders also need to be wary of showing negative emotion about an issue, as it can affect the team’s perspective. Equally, if just one team member is downbeat or unconstructive about a change programme or a new project, it can significantly influence whether the outcome is successful or not. It can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I’m a big fan of internationally acclaimed businessman, Peter Daniels who has written several best-selling books and lectures on the effect of positive thinking and the impact it has on others around you. There is no doubt, Daniel’s outlook and the stories he told himself about his situation are directly related to his success. Even when he failed he said: “I’m learning and I haven’t made the same mistake twice. This is excellent experience.”

So next time you tackle a new task, come up against a challenge or face a difficulty, ask if you can tell yourself a different story.

Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:02:00 -0500

I’m frequently asked to help people become more self-assured, confident and positive in the workplace. However, this is often followed by a slight concern that being assertive means being aggressive or arrogant. But this isn’t the case.

Being assertive means you’re focused on the goals of others, as well as your own. You put equal emphasis on the task and the relationship. You show empathy to other people’s needs, understand their position and have a collaborative approach. And you communicate spontaneously and accept responsibility without judgment. It’s a crucial behavioural skill to deal with interpersonal conflict or when facing adversity.

Assertiveness doesn’t always come naturally to us Brits - often we come to the workplace from school or university struggling to assert ourselves with finesse. After all, assertiveness is a learned behaviour and not a personality style. I often use the following technique to help develop assertive behaviour:

Describe: you state your observations or the facts of the situation - When you…

Express: you indicate your feelings towards the situation and/or the negative effects of the situation -
I feel…It leads to…

Request: you state your requirements, importance and benefits to the other party/overall goals of meeting these requests - I would like… (state requirements) because then we’ll be able to work together more productively etc.

This technique works well because it enables you to gain a positive rather than aggressive response, because you don’t use harsh words or put-downs.

10 Days of Juniper Christmas

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 09:34:00 -0500

On the first day of Christmas
Juniper gave to me
An invite to Buckingham Palace

On the second day of Christmas
Juniper gave to me
Two trips to India,
And an invite to Buckingham Palace

On the third day of Christmas
Juniper gave to me
Three Dutch visits,
Two trips to India,
And an invite to Buckingham Palace

On the fourth day of Christmas
Juniper gave to me
Four comms campaigns,
Three Dutch visits,
Two trips to India,
And an invite to Buckingham Palace

On the fifth day of Christmas
Juniper gave to me
Five golden nuggets (see blogs),
Four comms campaigns,
Three Dutch visits,
Two trips to India,
And an invite to Buckingham Palace

On the sixth day of Christmas
Juniper gave to me
Six clients a calling,
Five golden nuggets (see blogs),
Four comms campaigns,
Three Dutch visits,
Two trips to India,
And an invite to Buckingham Palace

On the seventh day of Christmas
Juniper gave to me
Seven heads a swimming (from all those projects),
Six workshops running,
Five golden nuggets (see blogs),
Four comms campaigns,
Three Dutch visits,
Two trips to India,
And an invite to Buckingham Palace

On the eighth day of Christmas
Juniper gave to me
Eight birds a tweeting,
Seven heads a swimming (from all those projects),
Six workshops running,
Five golden nuggets (see blogs),
Four comms campaigns,
Three Dutch visits,
Two trips to India,
And an invite to Buckingham Palace

On the ninth day of Christmas
Juniper gave to me
Nine consultants creating,
Eight birds a tweeting,
Seven heads a swimming (from all those projects),
Six workshops running,
Five golden nuggets (see blogs),
Four comms campaigns,
Three Dutch visits,
Two trips to India,
And an invite to Buckingham Palace

On the tenth day of Christmas
Juniper gave to me
Ten blogs a blogging,
Nine consultants creating,
Eight birds a tweeting,
Seven heads a swimming (from all those projects),
Six workshops running,
Five golden nuggets (see blogs),
Four comms campaigns,
Three Dutch visits,
Two trips to India,
And an invite to Buckingham Palace

Do you know your O, P, Q, R, S, T?

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 09:37:00 -0500

I was recently asked about the biggest challenges in my role as a Managing Director of a successful company. One of the things that instantly jumped to my mind was the realisation that I need to delegate in order to grow. I started Juniper on my own and put such a large amount of energy and effort into building my client relationships. When it came to the point where I needed extra resources to manage work load it was hard to ‘let the baby go’.

I’m not alone - many leaders find it difficult to entrust others with the responsibilities and tasks needed to achieve success. They struggle to delegate – and when they do it’s often in small chunks, without context – and the wash-up can be costly and time-consuming.

I use the O, P, Q, R, S, T model designed to help leaders effectively delegate:

Objective What is to be achieved?

Priority Why is it important? Provide status and background.

Quality How is it to be achieved and what standard of work and result do you expect?

Resources Who is available to support you in the task? What is the budget?

Specifications How will the achievement be measured?

Timing When are the goals to be achieved?

I’ve learnt from first-hand experience how important delegating is. Today, I work with a close-knit team and find it incredibly rewarding; we are focused on delivery, maximising the value we add to client projects.

"We must become the change we want to see"

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 07:02:56 -0400

If you are responsible for managing change then you’ll know how important it is to find common ground with your team so that you can connect with each of them and engage them in the change process. Sometimes it seems to come so naturally to others – we often value certain qualities in our peers and aspire to be more thoughtful, caring, motivated or emotionally intelligent, but we don’t take the time to break down exactly what we like about those characteristics and how we can begin to emulate them.

“Stop, start, continue” is a simple exercise I do with clients to help them become aware of what behaviours they should stop, start or continue, which might help or hinder the change process. It’s a great way of identifying small things that can really make a big difference throughout change.

This exercise involves evaluating how you come across in certain situations. You might find gaps between the values and character traits that you want to convey and those that you actually project, so you can then begin to assess the ways in which you can close those gaps. For, example, if you find it hard to relate to people in meetings when you’re discussing your change programme, you might want to start becoming more aware of others’ body language (if someone looks uncomfortable, then they most likely are), stop using closed questions (which tend to elicit one-word answers) or negative language and continue to seek common ground and shared goals.

This easy exercise can help change leaders identify the essence of who they are and who they want to become so that they can positively motivate and engage others in change.

"Never mistake motion for action"

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 05:05:11 -0400

The ‘activity trap’ or being in a constant motion is a state many of us find ourselves stuck in when we’re in a pattern of doing ‘stuff’; keeping busy without truly doing ‘valuable’ activity.

It often happens to people at work when they’re struggling to acknowledge a change in business direction; they’re concerned about adapting to a new process or an alteration to their job role.

The classic Change Curve illustrates the process people go through when adapting to change. Put simply, there are two stages:

Denial and Resistance
Exploration and Acceptance.

Stage one is concerned with the past – “I like it the way it is”. Stage two is looking to the future – “I can see this is going to work for me.”

It’s while we’re in the resistance stage that we get ‘busy’ – spending our time filing, responding to emails and participating in other displacement activity. It keeps us in motion, but only reaps short-term rewards.

As change leaders, when others in our team are not excited by a change initiative, we assume that they don’t understand it or are being obstinate or negative. When this happens, it’s useful to search for possible historical and emotional reasons why people might find it hard to deal with the proposed change and explore the various reasons why people might fear or resist change. Taking time to explain the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ can help people move from resistance to exploration and be open to accept the change.

Action is something people need to do to focus on long-term gains and adding more value. It means they have to risk making a much bigger investment in effort and thinking. But, it tends to be more challenging and rewarding than filing!

"A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you've been taking"

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 06:26:20 -0400

It’s that time of year again when many of us are focused on our much-needed holiday – a time for reflection and rejuvenation. Sandy beaches, summer sun and balmy evenings feel just within our grasp… if only we could get all our work finished!

Why is it that in the run up to a holiday we become more focused on the task in hand, more aware of priorities and more determined to complete our work? Mainly it’s because we want to leave things ‘shipshape’ and walk away from our desks, secure in the knowledge that we have done a great job and can now clear our heads…and head for the pool.

It strikes me that it wouldn’t be a bad thing if we worked more often than once or twice a year like we were just about to go on holiday. After all, we’re generally more productive when we prioritise our tasks and focus on achieving them in a specified time frame.

According to Canfield, Hansen & Hewitt in The Power of Focus, thesecret to optimising balance is to be alert: conscious of what’s going on, mindful of priorities and aware of our state of balance. This is what naturally happens in the run-up to annual leave. Part of this is about taking specific, well-planned action – we determine what the most productive use of our time is so that we spend most of it doing what we do best and what adds most value.When you return from your holiday, why not try this simple exercise which many of our delegates use regularly - the 4D solution:

1) DUMP IT - if it does not support your objectives / is not part of survival

2) DELEGATE IT - when someone else can take care of it

3) DEFER IT - in favour of more urgent concerns (not for procrastination)

4) DO IT NOW!!! - if it is important/necessary

Happy Holidays!