NOT Another Meeting!

Photo Credit: Richard Chicoine iCopyright 2009


Meeting Mania? Try These Tips!

Let’s try this scenario for a change in your meeting strategy. Tools needed: one iPhone or recording device. One maverick meeting attendee who is fed up with long, boring, useless, trivia and ego infested agendas.

Maverick transforms blackberry into a fly-on-the-wall, positioning himself unobtrusively at the board room door, or at the water cooler. Audio/video on: what are people really talking about - the strategic items that need to be actioned, or the way that another hour was eaten by the meeting monster?

If only the hallways could talk. Actually, they can, if only you’d ask.

Enough said about useless meetings.
I’d like to introduce three tips which might improve the function and format of your next discussion at the board room table.

Tip 1

Get quirky.

I recently heard the story about a CEO, who was bothered by fast-paced and sometimes, inappropriate decision making during staff meetings. The pace was harried, driven by a collective need to just get this done. He wanted to slow things down to a conversational pace. He believed that rushing through the agenda was creating a dysfunctional arena for strategic thinking. What did he do?

He left his blackberry behind, and began recording his notes using a historic device. He purchased a fountain pen. Now and again, he’d say, “Excuse me, I didn’t quite get that point written down. Would you repeat it please?”.

Meetings became calmer, and the CEO gained control. The culture changed.

Tip 2

Surprise.

If the gang consistently and unconsciously protects their own turf - “this is MY seat” - change locations and stay standing.

A mid-level supervisor discovered, quite by accident (conversation overheard in the ladies room) that her division’s one hour meetings were draining and boring. She changed the format, location and without fail timed the agenda to start on time and end on time: 15 minutes max. Now into week 38, she’s excited about their progress. The grumbling has stopped.

Tip 3

Build Meeting Skills.

Invest in formal “presentation” or “facilitation skills” training for everyone on your team.

It’s easy to criticize if you’ve never had to manage a group conflict, or sort through a complex problem with twenty silent participants and a couple of very vocal dissenters. When the shoe is on the other foot - or the control of the agenda is on your own plate - you will understand the skills required to move the meeting to a satisfactory conclusion. The added value is that the chair role can be transferred easily, and people speak up more often.

What’s your best strategy for enhanced meetings? Slowing down, speeding up, collective leadership?


Final Tip

Let me suggest that you bring this column to your next meeting. Ask the folks around the table two questions.

The first: “What can we do to engage everyone at our meetings?”

Next: “What do we do at every meeting that’s frustrating you?”.

Then do what the group has advised you to do. Take the lead and don’t judge their feedback even if you think that the suggestions and comments are too quirky, too slow, too fast or just too...


##

Maggie Chicoine’s company, The Idea Sculptor, specializes in “Strategies to Think Ahead.” Her weekly column, The Tuesday File, appears in www.lakesuperiornews.com. She posts to her MAGOHZINE blog on Tuesdays at www.theideasculptor.blogspot.com.

Maggie is a charter member of CAPS, a Master Coach (ICF) and professional writer (PWAC).

Reach her at twitter @ideasculptor or 1 800 587 1767.

Sandcastles (Not) In the Air

Photo Credit: Richard Chicoine iCopyright 2009

Leaders: Sand Castle Sculpting Lessons

As much as I believe that psychological assessments of skills and behaviors are valuable, I'd like to propose an additional leverage point for leaders interested in honing their innovation skills. Take a pail and shovel to the nearest beach. You'll learn about function, design, skill sets - including your challenges - and the right tools for innovation. Sculpting that sand castle can be great for your leadership health.

The ancient Egyptians designed scale models of pyramids using sand and water. From grains of sand, gigantic marvels were born. These miniature architectural experiments would contribute to the scale, efficiency and effectivness of their final blueprints. Metaphorically speaking, taking the "sand castles in the air" and in their minds to an actual, physical representation allowed the Egyptian pyramid builders/leaders to "do the right things, in the right way, for the right reasons, at the right time, with the right people". Let me add: "using the right skills and the right tools" to the list. This "right action" is also the bottom line for any leadership role.

Paul Saffo, a futurist based at Standford University has developed 4 rules to fuel tomorrow's innovation. As you read these rules, imagine applying them to sculpting in sand and allowing your skills to expand with your imagination. Think about the strategic tools which would increase your abilities and lead to an outstanding structure.

Rule #1: Uncertainty is possibility. Uncertainty is opportunity. And you don't want to get surprised by missing an important opportunity.

Rule #2: Some of the greatest dangers for an innovator who is able to identify future trends is to mistake a clear view for a short distance, to be too early, and to think that things are going to arrive more quickly than they actually are.

Rule #3: Don't let your hope about what will happen interfere with your judgment of what you think could happen.

Rule #4: The essence of executive wisdom is the ability to make the right decision based on incomplete information. The sooner you can be comfortable that you have the right decision with less information, the faster you can move over your competition.

Source: Paul Saffo, BigThink

Your Leverage Point

I could easily draw some quick comparisons to waves destroying your structures, just as the economy has washed away resources globally. Perhaps "getting down to business" should be "getting away from business" to start with a new pile of sand, a bucket of salt water, some old spoons and a carving knife.

Shouldn't "play" be part of your business strategy? You might learn more than you expected...history (aka ancient Egypt) has proven that point.

Maggie Chicoine, The Idea Sculptor, specializes in "Strategies to Think Ahead". Her column, "The Tuesday File" appears in www.lakesuperior.com weekly. Maggie is a respected leadership professional, keynote speaker, writer and Master Coach. Reach her at 1 800 587 1767. Twitter @ideasculptor.

Rants Have Their Purpose

Photo Credit: Richard Chicoine iCopyright 2009

Chatter? Nope, RANT!

When Re-Imagine, Tom Peter’s revolutionary epic about the new business order was released in 2003, I thought I’d gone to heaven. Finally, a respected management guru who had the courage to Rant, and the power to Rave about what was happening in organizations. I applauded his rants about radical leadership and raved about his 20 ways to self-destruct.

The love affair with the unconventional Peters must have died along the way, because I, like many others, forgot about ranting and raving while just trying to survive the chaos. Perhaps it is the state of the economy, or a chance encounter with a frustrated Executive Director, that inspired me to re-pull Re-Imagine off the shelf, and peruse its technicolor wisdom one more time. In the six years since publication, are the words and advice still relevant?

Peters said, “Buckle Up - We’re In For A Bumpy Ride”. He was referring to white collar employment, and continued, “The Transformation may be Ugly And Painful. But it’s on, with Unimaginable Fury.” He says we’ve become “cubicle slaves”. He declares: “Imagine a world where work matters, where Dilbert is denied, where we learn something new every day and brag about what we do.”

Did we pay attention? Well, not really, did we?

All too often, employees who rant are silenced through the power of compliance with outdated rules. We haven’t heard their wisdom, because it’s traded in coffee shops and in the back corners of the parking lot, not in meeting rooms where new plans are formed.

When leaders ask for input, they receive sarcasm, partial answers or comments that test the trust factor instead of what's in the hearts and minds of employees. All of this leads to fractured decision making and a cycle of non-compliance, union grievances and wasted energy. Perhaps even corporate demise.

Leaders who direct Strategic Planning Processes, forge ahead without checking assumptions and values across the board. They often forget about the customer’s perspective, leaving the front line details to the wizardry of the marketing department to squeeze the relationship into shape.

As Peters writes, “A lot of people work for Harley-Davidson. The good news...none of them are so silly as to believe that they make “motorcycles”. What? They make experiences. The Rebel Lifestyle.”

Now that’s checking assumptions!

So it was an amazing wake up call, to hear the leader of a not for profit organization rant the other day. She said “Why would mental health organizations insist on calling people “consumers”. They are NOT consuming anything!”

It’s all about how we name our purpose, our strategy, and our clients. What we say, and more importantly, what we ask, drives our direction.

Spring Rant Challenge 2009

Since we are entering a season of change, a literal spring of renewal, I’d like to challenge you to express your organizational rants. Alter your perspective with each rant, and write in the “imagine if” turnaround. It's the second part of the rant - the turnaround - that needs our ultimate attention.

For example, one of my favourite rants is about pot-holed corporate parking lots: what does this broken state of affairs say about how you treat your customers and staff? Do you really give a darn?

Imagine if the pride you take in your work was perfectly mirrored in the physical environment. What if the dollars you spend on preventative maintenance showed up in customer and staff satisfaction? What would Walt Disney do?

It’s about values, assumptions and listening to the frustrations and rants at all levels. Amazing what part time summer students notice!

Rant on Tom Peters. Join in, leaders and frustrated workers. Rant on. Let’s get some change happening!

PS You Are Invited:

Send me your RANTS + Imagine If's - I will post them anonymously.

###
Maggie Chicoine is a professional writer, keynote speaker and master coach specializing in Strategies to Think Ahead. She is known for her twists of ingenuity and innovative approaches to corporate and personal renewal. Reach Maggie at 1 800 587 1767 or www.theideasculptor.com.

Simple Strategy Best for Survival

Photo Credit: Richard Chicoine iCopyright 2008

Simplify Your Chaos

Unstable as the economy might be right now - let’s describe it as purple jello jiggling on a bed of hot rocks - business owners hold the fundamental keys to their own survival. These are the cornerstones of strategy, so well figured that customers will intuitively understand what the business stands for and what the relationship will be.

If you haven’t re-designed your cornerstones lately, let me prod you along. Like many others, you may be suffering from system overload.

Do two things to spark your thinking:

1. scan social media for ideas in your industry, and then,

2. go on a fieldtrip to a totally unrelated company. Look for the subtle underpinnings of their success.

The Super Kupers

Let me introduce you to an award-winning, family owned firm in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Campgrounds are not typical role models for entrepreneurial savvy, but this innovative enterprise is highly regarded in the industry, and by its customers.

KOA Kampground owners Kristie and Michael Kuper (that’s “super” with a “k”), have a solid grasp of their basic foundations. They both virtually burst with stories after 11 years of upgrades and imaginative additions to what was once just a typical northern Ontario tent site.

The couple purchased the business from Kristie’s parents, and decided that adding features and events could bring more campers to stay longer on the grounds. Of the 94 acres, over 40 are carefully groomed for 200 sites. Tall pines, poplar and birch trees shade ample spaces with the usual access to hydro, water and a picnic table. But that’s where the similarity to their competition ends.

Michael points to the tons of natural amethyst rock which highlight the 18 hole mini golf course built around a fountain and waterfall. “This amethyst is local, from one of the mines up the highway. It was hand picked, and I laid it all myself, stone by stone.”

In fact, Michael and a team of teenage workers are vigilant about the condition of the grounds. No litter, groomed paths for walking and biking, shipshape fire-pits and a constant eye for anything that needs repair - from hinges on washroom doors to fresh tanks of propane to keep the hot water in the gazebo kitchen running – means that complaints are few and compliments are plentiful.

Campers don’t even need to haul their own shelter. The seven Kamping Kabins are in themselves, works of log art. Meticulously constructed, they feature a double bed and a fabulous set of pine bunkbeds, much to the delight of kids who often assume that this playhouse has been built just for them. If you look carefully, you’ll find wooden hinges and a Scandinavian style pulley lock on the door. Even the porch swing has been hung with perfect balance ratios.

Their definitive approach to the business and managing their staff has brought them numerous awards. Kristie emphasizes, that they regard KOA standards as their minimum. The Thunder Bay site has been rated by Woodall’s in the top 5% of North American RV parks with an impressive 5 out of 5 in both facilities and recreation. Trailer Life gave them 8.5/9/8.5 ratings. Yet the Kupers both emphasized with great pride, that the Founder’s Award, voted on by the campers themselves, is the most meaningful honour they have received to date.

I’m not surprised that the Kupers are so highly regarded. They review and revise their business plan with three simple cornerstones to guide them. Passion (and hard work) drives their focus on:

1. “Camper” Customers - relationships, stress free natural experiences
2. Cleanliness - consistent with safety
3. Innovation - more than a typical campground

No social media can take the place of a weekend with the Kupers, observing what they do and how they do it. Ask the cyclists from France, or the guy in the pup tent to comment on their camping experience, and the response is a unanimous “great!”.

When times are tough, like they are now, simplify the chaos. Do your e-social research but subtract the superfluous. Then take the time to explore an unlikely example of excellence right in your own neighbourhood. Reduce the thought clutter even further to three clear points. Stick passionately to the plan.

###

Maggie Chicoine is a professional member of the Professional Writer’s Association of Canada, a charter Director of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers and a Master Coach. Maggie is one of Northern Ontario Business’ Most Influential Women. An accomplished entrepreneur, she specializes in “strategies to think ahead”. Reach her at 1 800 587 1767 or http://www.theideasculptor.com/