Shift Happens

I don’t know the source of this information, but it’s plausible and thought provoking…if you know where it came from, please leave a comment!

— Philip Greenwood

Tags: Strategic+Information

Computing Awards: IT Leader of the Year shortlist

The VNUNET.com shortlist is out, for IT Leader of the Year, and among it are many familiar names and organisations:

• Mark Akass from BT Global Financial Services;
• John Crane from National Australia Group Europe;
• Richard Cross from ITV;
• Rorie Devine from Betfair;
• my old colleague Benoit Laclau from EDF Energy;
• Gareth Nutt from Mouchel Parkman (I’ll have to look this up!);
• very unsurprisingly Al-Noor Ramji from BT;
• and Darrell Stein from Marks & Spencer.

Congratulations to all, and I’m sure you’ll now be expecting my call, as well as every other product and service vendor in the Kingdom.

I was intrigued by the synopsis paragraphs…each one incorporated a suggestion that the candidate had implemented a strategy and achieved results.  It implied, though without support, that the stategies were brilliant, and the results outstanding.

I found this curious, because this is a leadership award, and in only one case did the synopsis paragraphs discuss leadership behaviours – that of Rorie Devine – who runs ‘fortnightly “talkback” sessions to encourage feedback from engineers, and sends out a weekly email called “Rorie’s Ramblings” to share the ups and downs of a week as a CTO.’

Perhaps all the other candidates do these things too, and it’s VNUNET.com’s technical bias that is showing, but I’m pretty sure none of the brilliant strategies were fashioned, nor the outstanding results achieved, without the support of extensive project teams.  So why not talk about project leadership behaviours when you’re talking about IT leadership?

— Philip Greenwood

Tags: VNUNET, IT, Leadership, Shortlist

Flo Radio Part 2 - The Real Deal

A while ago I published a blog piece on the use of sound in the office environment to enhance productivity - and a link to a Pandora radio station I created called Flo Radio.  I know quite a few people now listen to the station, and I’ll keep on refining it because…I like it .  But I’m an interested amateur where environmental sound is involved…

Yesterday at the London Ecademy BlackStars networking day, Julian Treasure gave me a review copy of his book “Sound Business”.  I first met Julian last week; he’s the chairman of The Sound Agency, and we had a long discussion about obscure ‘80s and ‘90s music.  I read his book overnight last night, and Julian is the real deal.

The book is packed with insights about how we perceive sound, how we relate to sound and how we can use it effectively to enhance performance, revenues, quality and workplace mood. 

The book comes with a CD with examples – including a set of loop tracks for working and relaxation.  Try them in your home office – try them with your work teams.  Put them on low in your meetings – notice how the mood changes.

— Philip Greenwood

P.S. The CD content is for personal use only – you’ll need to contact the Sound Agency to discuss commercial applications.

Tags: Environmental, Environmental+Sound, Sound, Music, Birdcall, Effectiveness, Efficiency

TribeCo.

The morning comes, and with that excited feeling in your stomach you turn up to your new job. You are truly ‘engaged’.. you’ve seen your new employers marketing literature, you’ve bought into the story they tell their customers about their fast moving, innovative, go-getting team, and you are ready to become a part of that; one of the shiny happy faces staring out from the cover of the “new joiners” information pack. One of the high achievers, part of the family… ready to make a difference!

Unfortunately, figures from Gallop suggest that within six months of starting only 38% of employees are still engaged… after 10 years of employment that figure drops to 20%! and worse still…

Flo Radio

Do you work from home?  Sometimes it can be wonderful, and I get heaps of work done. Other times, even when home alone, I find it quite easy to get distracted (I suspect I still get more done than when I’m in the office).

In one of those distracted moments I started wondering what I could do to have more of the “flow” moments – the good ones.  I’ve had a study at home for many years, so it’s pretty established and comfortable, to my mind – although my fiancee calls it “the man room”.  

I realised that the ambiance could be improved, so I did some research: What kind of sounds could be used to help concentration?

Then, using the wonderful Pandora Radio Internet site, I created a radio station for “flow” music – you can share it too, with this link: Flo Radio. It may not be your music preference, but if you keep it quiet, it chugs along nicely in the background, and it seems to have the desired effect.  If there are tracks that you find intrusive to your work, just tell Pandora you don’t like them, and it’ll optimize for you!

— Philip Greenwood

 

 

Tags: Flow, Radio, Work+from+home, Achieve+more

Strategic Librarian

Can I get away with that title?  Probably not, but Nina Platt can, and does. Let it be known I read some pretty diverse content.

I loved the fact that Nina is commenting on Change Management – it’s one of the keys to building a learning culture.  I particularly liked the fact she took a moment to remind us that the term means different things to different people.

 

Occult Knowledge

This is a true story:  A few weeks ago god cooked me dinner! (Please note the small “g” – I don’t wish to offend).  It was the last evening of my 39^th year, and the charter yacht was secure on a swinging mooring off the coast of Croatia.  The crew (my fiancee) and I were relaxing at the end of a breezy day of sailing when we noticed a small motor boat pulling into a jetty in the bay.  On board this fishing boat there was a crew of three, including one man – clearly in charge - with long grey hair, a long grey beard, skin brown as a berry, and wearing just silver swimming trunks.  My crew looked at me, and as if reading my mind, said: “Hey, there goes god!”

Reductio Ad Absurdum?

This question has been playing on my mind:  If stories are the most effective tool of influence, but are an inefficient way to communicate facts, what kind of communication style is most effective in today’s “attention deficit” business world?  So for an experiment, let me try out a communication style:  The “reduced” story line.

MindJet Project Management JetPack for MindManager 7

The good people at MindJet have allowed me early access to their MindManager Project Management JetPack.  As I read that sentence I realize that many readers won’t have a clue what I’m talking about, so let me explain:

MindJet is the company that produces the MindManager application.

MindManager is, at its heart, a brainstorming and mind mapping software tool.

Mind mapping is a knowledge management technique for generating, organizing and communicating ideas or concepts. (Go here for more info)

Powerpoint woes...

I admit it, I am a communications geek. I love seeing artful communicators bring stories to life, grab an audience, and change the world.

Compare business communications with ‘consumer’ communications, and you’ll see a gap like the grand canyon…  but every once in a while you see a presenter that bridges that gap, and gives a business orientated presentation that you would probably enjoy even if you didn’t have to see it.

My two favourite examples? Funny you should ask!… read on dear reader..