I put the lime in the coconut … now what?
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Humor & comedy
If you know the song ‘Put the lime in the coconut’ by Harry Nilsson, then this graphic (by Mike Rilestone) is pretty darn funny.
If you don’t know the song, then it will leave you scratching your head.
Like perspective. Sometimes illuminating, sometimes confounding, always interesting.
~~TGIF- each Friday I rejig & re-post a blog entry from my www.life-lenses.com blog, which is about enhancing our perspective & worldview.~~
Tags: humo, perspective
4 Best Apps for Team Collaboration via Mashable
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Business & organizational development
Check out this Mashable post for the full list of 8 Best Apps for Team Collaboration.
Here’s my take on four of them. Do you have any to add? Have you used any of the ones below?
1. Dropbox
The quintessential app for file-sharing and document collaboration. Through Dropbox, you can share PDFs, files and folders. When you star a file, you can access it offline later on.
My Verdict: I use Dropbox ALL the time. In fact I’m uploading the #1 song from each of the past 95 years as a special gift for my Nana’s upcoming birthday. Yep, she’ll be 95 next week. As I’m in Kenya & she’s in Canada- dropbox makes it dreamily easy.
2. Flow
Flow makes project management incredibly easy and collaborative. Many business apps try to do too much, resulting in an overwhelming and stress-inducing experience. Flow’s clean, simple design, however, brings a zen-like peace of mind to task management. Plan a project by creating a folder, adding in lists for each project component and writing in an itemized task for each list. You can delegate tasks to co-workers via email, even if the person you’re delegating the task to doesn’t have a Flow account.
My verdict: haven’t tried it but it’s on my list to see if it would work for a new client where I’m focusing on developing a collaborative learning & development plan for the organization.
3. Skitch
Evernote‘s Skitch app lets you edit photos or snapshots with colorful shapes, arrows and text. With Skitch, you can caption pictures, circle meeting spots on a map or annotate a PDF document.
This app is ideal if you work in any kind of visually creative field. From planning concert brochures to laying out next month’s magazine cover, Skitch makes it easy to communicate visually.
My verdict: sounds fun & easy. My kinda app. It’s on my list to try.
4. Google Apps
The Google Apps for Business suite includes the Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets and Slides for collaboration in the cloud. Google offers a free 30-day trial and charges $5 per employee.
Google Hangouts is also a popular business app by Google. Hangouts are especially useful if you have employees who work remotely, as they can participate virtually in meetings and brainstorm sessions. You can share photos or emojis and add up to 10 friends per hangout.
My verdict: I’m obsessed with Google stuff. Ever since I heard former Google CIO Douglas Merrill talk (I review his book here; How to turn off your brain and ski to Thailand – a review of Douglas Merrill’s book Organizing in the Age of Google) I’ve plunged in & keep adding more google apps to my repertoire. Current favs are google docs, google forms & google hangouts.
Tags: apps, dropbox, flow, google, mashable, skitch
Fact chimp – just the facts ma’am
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Diversity & culture
- Ancient Egyptians believed that onions would keep evil spirits away.
- The band Duran Duran got their name from an astronaut in the 1968 Jane Fonda movie “Barbarella.
- In Belgium, there is a museum just for strawberries.
- Reindeers survive in the extreme cold by eating lots of moss. The moss contains a special chemical that helps reindeer keep their body warm.
- The human body makes anywhere from 1 to 3 pints of saliva every 24 hours.
These are but a few of the tweets from Bill Stenson ‘s (@factchimp) Twitter account.
Gotta love those Head Life Lenses™.
~~TGIF- each Friday I rejig & re-post a blog entry from my www.life-lenses.com blog, which is about enhancing our perspective & worldview.~~
Tags: factchimp, facts, head lens
Social media tools for listening, learning & leading
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication, Human resources
I recently presented a workshop on Leveraging Social Media to Boost Employee Engagement at the IHRM (Institute for Human Resources Management) HR Technology Conference, co-sponsored by H-Senid (which specializes in HR & Tech & has offices in 5 countries) in Nairobi.
Here’s the group (picture below), all of whom were enthusiastic to not only get their picture taken around the Hilton hotel pool but also to try out some new social media tools.
Want a peek at what I covered? Download the powerpoint at the link below where I include tools for listening (a.k.a. research), learning & leading (a.k.a. application).
Have any tools to add to the mix? As always, I’d love to hear from you.
Leveraging Social Media to Boost Employee Engagement – workshop powerpoint.
Tags: h-senid, Human resources, ihrm, social media, technology
‘Sometimes,’ said Pooh, ‘the smallest things take up the most room in your heart’
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication
Ahh Winnie. As in Winnie the Pooh, that affable, loveable, wise teddy bear.
No truer words were spoken from a Heart Life Lens™ perspective.
Small matters can make a big difference to how we feel – about ourselves & others.
In a dark, cluttered, crammed closet with cob webs, type of way. Enter overwhelming too-much-to-do lists, slights & griping.
Or
In a bright, light, humming along the highway of life, type of way. Enter uplifting, appreciating that particular ray of sun as it lights up that leaf, lifting ones face to the sky & saying thanks.
What’s taking up space in your heart?
~~TGIF- each Friday I rejig & re-post a blog entry from my www.life-lenses.com blog, which is about enhancing our perspective & worldview.~~
Tags: perspective, winnie the pooh
Sisi ni Amani means We are Peace in Swahili- tidbits from this group’s recent retreat
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Business & organizational development
I’ve had more adventures in my life than one person has a right to expect. I’ve sailed around the world on a ship while going to university. I’ve worked in -72 degree weather (the Canadian Arctic) & +44 degree weather (Calcutta). I live in Africa.
What I hadn’t done, until now, is work with the amazing Sisi ni Amani, a group based in Kenya that does peace building using text messaging. Really.
When I received an email from founder Rachel Brown asking if I’d facilitate their recent retreat, I confess, I did a happy dance around my computer.
So a few days ago I found myself on the outskirts of Nairobi working with this talented team. I thought you’d like to see some of the results. Below are video clips of an exercise I did with the group, an exercise I learned from some animators in the Philippines some 20+ years ago called ‘Moving Pictures.’
In short I asked each small group to create 3 sculptures that represented Sisi ni Amani as it was in the past, as it is now & as they’d like it to be in the future. Check out their ‘sculptures’ below.
And of course, because all work & no play makes for a very dull retreat, check out the last video clip of us doing an energizer. Dare you not to laugh. (Make sure you watch to the end to see our youngest participant.)
Moving sculptures- take one:
Moving sculptures – take two:
Energizer song (watch to the end to see our youngest participant):
Tags: humour, moving pictures, sisi ni amani, training & development
Out of the mouths of babes … come an entirely different perspective
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication, Creativity & innovation
We have chains around our brains. These chains limit our thinking. They box us in, hold us down, reign us in.
The chains often come in the form of assumptions. Assumptions we make without even knowing it.
Assumptions kill creativity. Assumptions keeps us in our own dogged perspective, our own worldview.
How to bust out? Listen to kids. And learn.
Here, thanks to an email my mother-in-law sent, are some example…
A little girl was diligently pounding away on her grandfather’s word processor. She told him she was writing a story.
“What’s it about?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “I can’t read.”
What’s the broken assumption? You have to know how to read to write a story.
When my grandson asked me how old I was, I teasingly replied, “I’m not sure.” “Look in your underwear, Grandpa,” he advised “Mine says I’m 4 to 6.”
What’s the broken assumption? You have to know in your head (you can know in your body).
A second grader came home from school and said to her grandmother, “Grandma, guess what? We learned how to make babies today.” The grandmother, more than a little surprised, tried to keep her cool. “That’s interesting.” she said… “How do you make babies?” “It’s simple,” replied the girl. “You just change ‘y’ to ‘i’ and add ‘es’.”
What’s the broken assumption? Making babies has to involve sex.
Children’s Logic: “Give me a sentence about a public servant,” said a teacher. The small boy wrote: “The fireman came down the ladder pregnant.” The teacher took the lad aside to correct him. “Don’t you know what pregnant means?” she asked.
“Sure,” said the young boy confidently. ‘It means carrying a child.”
What’s the broken assumption? To be pregnant means having a child within you. There is more than one way to be with child.
A 6-year-old was asked where his grandma lived. “Oh,” he said, “she lives at the airport, and when we want her, we just go get her. Then, when we’re done having her visit, we take her back to the airport.”
What’s the broken assumption? Home is where you live. Airports are home to all sorts of things, including magnificent reunions.
~~TGIF- each Friday I rejig & re-post a blog entry from my www.life-lenses.com blog, which is about enhancing our perspective & worldview.~~
Tags: assumptions, creativity
Training & development learning well July blog post round up
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Training & development
If you didn’t catch all the posts last month simply peruse & click what’s below.
Here’s the Rock.Paper.Scissors’ monthly training & development round up for the month of July.
Learn well in the training & development learning well. Dive deep into the learning well or take a small sip. Shower yourself in training & development or just get your big toe wet.
Refresh & refreshing.
As you wish.
Tags: canada, communication, culture, home, humour, life lenses, mashable, perspective, social media
A parent’s perspective on their teen
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication, Humor & comedy
Okay, I know, I know, teens get a lot of flack. I have one myself (a teen that is) so I hear stories about some of the grief he goes through.
And…
I think this sign is hilarious.
It flips the switch on perspective.
And that’s always illuminating.
(Thanks to my friend & colleague Roman for sending me the picture.)
~~TGIF- each Friday I rejig & re-post a blog entry from my www.life-lenses.com blog, which is about enhancing our perspective & worldview.~~
Tags: communication, humour
Your choice: overwhelming, intimidating, confusing, barrage or adventurous, educational, exciting ride
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication
It used to be that if I wanted to get in touch with you I’d call. Or walk over to your house or office & chat in person.
Then faxes arrived. (I remember sending my first fax. To Japan from Vancouver. It was truly magic. Confession time: I thought that the paper somehow dissolved into bits & transformed on the other side. When I realized the original paper stayed in Vancouver I was gobsmacked.)
Then cell phones arrived. I remember not having to chase down family & friends trying to figure out where my husband was, when he was late, at the end of the day when we were supposed to be meeting up to ride home together. Magic.
Then Facebook. And Twitter. And LinkedIn.
And.
And.
And.
It’s an overwhelming, intimidating, confusing, barrage.
OR.
It’s an adventurous, educational, exciting ride.
Your choice.
(The image above is from a Mashable post – a view of Social Media in 2013).
Tags: mashable, social media