What’s your take on Stop Life Lenses™? Clean or messy? Blockage or clearing?
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Diversity & culture
- Creative Commons licensed on Flickr by: Rev Dan Catt
I love this image.
There are at least two ways to interpret it.
In no particular order…
1. Being a Stop Life Lens™ messes you up. It causes unnecessary mess by being overly cautious. Stop Life Lenses™ cause blockages, they bring things to a halt, preventing progress & flow.
2. Being a Stop Life Lens™ cleans you up. It creates a pool of reflection time amidst a downpour. Stop Life Lenses™ cause calm amongst the chaos, space to think amongst the crazy go go go’ness.
What’s your take? Clean or messy? Blockage or clearing?
~~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: life lenses, perspective
Training & development learning well June blog post round up
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Diversity & culture, Humor & comedy, 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 June.
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: age, andy rooney, canada, culture, diversity, Diversity & culture, frank kaiser, mckinsey & co, perspective, stephen covey, team building, time management, training of trainers, united nations, worldview
Where do you start – your head or your heart?
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Diversity & culture
Where do you start – from your head or from your heart?
Do you honour your intuition above all? Have you honed your gut feelings like a finely aged wine? Are your spidey senses are sharp as a tack? If so you’re likely a Heart Life Lens™.
Or …
Do you prioritize what you can prove? Is what’s rational king in your world? Is your queen the science of objectivity? If so you’re likely a Head Life Lens™.
Head and Heart Life Lenses™ often have a tough time talking to each other.
Here’s are two tips:
- if you’re a Heart Life Lens™ talking to a Head Life Lens™ premise what you’re saying with “I think”. It may feel weird to you but it will have more resonance with your Head Life Lens™.
- if you’re a Head Life Lens™ talking to a Heart Life Lens™ start what you’re saying with “I feel”. It may seem strange to you but it will have more resonance with your Heart Life Lens™.
~~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
Oh Canada- this one’s for you
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Diversity & culture, Humor & comedy
Even though I’m about as far away as you can get from Canada, without leaving the planet, my heart lives in Canada.
Thinking about home. Thinking about how the concept of home has changed since I’ve been living in Kenya. Thinking about what others think about my home. Thinking about culture.
Oh Canada, this one’s for you.
And this one …
How do you want it all to feel? sensuous goal refinement + emotional magnetizing
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness
Danielle LaPorte is pure genius at getting us to think differently, to try on a new way of being, of feeling. With her permission I’ve reposted one of her blog posts below.
Speaking of feelings, ‘how do you want to feel,’ says the Heart Life Lens™ to the Head Life Lens™.
Feelings are magnetic. So it goes that if you generate certain feelings — and you have the power to create any feeling you desire — then you increase the power of your emotional magnetism. But we need to limber up, loosen the images and adjectives encrusted on our goals and most-desired states. It helps to get poetic, lyrical, and abstract. Go there with me.
I want my day to feel like jazz.
I want kissing to feel like eating an orange off the tree from Tuscany.
I want my next success to feel like Adele must feel with her latest album.
I want my body to feel like a Jaguar in a new open field.
I want smiling to feel like mangoes.
I want my friendships to feel like sandalwood oil, and bowls of popcorn, and hand-knit, with Vodka mixers, served up in a red tent.
I want my nervous system to feel like The Buddha must have felt when he discovered The Middle Way.
I want my gigs to feel like Jimmy Page playing Kashmir, and Gaga doing a Born This Way finale, with some Leonard Cohen tenderness.
I want my neighborhood to feel like a new Jason Mraz song.
I want my integrity to feel like the Hope Diamond.
I want my money-making to feel like walking though a vineyard, surveying ripeness, a production of sun and earth for craft and pleasure.
I want my word to feel like gold bullion.
I want my laughter to feel like electric pineapple children.
I want the end of the day to feel like a happy quiet baby.
I want being of service to feel like a Squaw mixing herbs into healing paste for warriors.
I want my philanthropy to feel like a cosmic Queen on her best day.
I want my challenges to feel how Siddhartha felt when the left the kingdom.
I want my love to feel like a gorgeous secret that only he and I know. For eternity.
I want my writing to feel like Citrine, and Jack Kerouac with a fresh buzz on.
I want my ideas to feel like sunrise.
~~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: danielle laporte
Don’t be a scaredy cat – watch your back as a trainer
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Training & development
I’m very honoured to be in the middle of doing some Training of Trainers for UNDP Somalia. I’m also very sobered, considering the recent attack on the UN compound in Mogadishu.
It’s made me think about watching your back as a trainer.
That of course can mean many things – from personal safety to psychological safety of participants, from being aware of how to include diverse participants in your training delivery and design to taking care of yourself as a trainer so you can care for your participants.
Running a company that’s both a training & entertainment company, I’ve learned the benefits & value of humour (Rock.Paper.Scissors’ form of entertainment is improv comedy). There’s nothing like hanging out & working with professional comedians to teach you that.
So with great care & great attention to ‘back watching’ I give you the following kitten as an example of what can happen when you get distracted don’t watch your back.
Tags: training of trainers, united nations
In Praise of Older Women by Frank Kaiser
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Diversity & culture
Frequently (& mistakenly) attributed to Andy Rooney, the article ‘In Praise of Older Women’ by Frank Kaiser is a great example of a different (as in not mainstream) perspective on aging & particularly of older women.
Here’s some of what he has to say…
When I was 20, I had eyes only for girls my age. Any woman over 30 was ancient, over 40 invisible.
Today, now in my 70s, I still appreciate the 20-year-old for her youthful looks, vigor, and (occasional) sweet innocence.
As I grow in age, I value mature ladies most of all. Here are just a few of the reasons senior men sing the praises of older women:
- An older woman will never ask out of the blue, “What are you thinking?” An older woman doesn’t care what you think.
- An older woman has been around long enough to know who she is, what she wants, and from whom. By the age of 50, few women are wishy-washy. About anything. Thank God!
- Older women are forthright and honest. They’ll tell you right off that you are a jerk if you’re acting like one. A young woman will say nothing, fearing that you might think worse of her. An older woman doesn’t give a damn.
- Older women are sublime. They seldom contemplate having a shouting match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive dinner. Of course, if you deserve it, they won’t hesitate to shoot you if they think they can get away with it.
- Women get psychic as they age. You never have to confess your sins to an older woman. Like your mother, they always know.
Yes, we geezers praise older women for a multitude of reasons. These are but a few.
Unfortunately, it’s not reciprocal.
For every stunning, smart, well-coifed babe of 75 there’s a bald, paunchy relic with his yellow pants belted at his armpits making a fool of himself with some 22-year-old waitress.
Ladies, I apologize for my fellow geezers. That men are genetically inferior is no secret. Count your blessings that we die off at a far younger age, leaving you the best part of your lives to enjoy and appreciate the exquisite woman you’ve become. Without the distraction of some demanding old coot clinging and whining his way into your serenity
~~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: age, andy rooney, diversity, frank kaiser
Givers take all: The hidden dimension of corporate culture
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Business & organizational development, Teambuilding
The quotes below are from McKinsey & Co – read the full article here.
“After the tragic events of 9/11, a team of Harvard psychologists quietly “invaded” the US intelligence system. The team, led by Richard Hackman, wanted to determine what makes intelligence units effective. By surveying, interviewing, and observing hundreds of analysts across 64 different intelligence groups, the researchers ranked those units from best to worst.
Then they identified what they thought was a comprehensive list of factors that drive a unit’s effectiveness—only to discover, after parsing the data, that the most important factor wasn’t on their list.
The critical factor wasn’t having stable team membership and the right number of people. It wasn’t having a vision that is clear, challenging, and meaningful. Nor was it well-defined roles and responsibilities; appropriate rewards, recognition, and resources; or strong leadership.”
Any ideas what it was?
“The single strongest predictor of group effectiveness was the amount of help that analysts gave to each other.” Period.
That blew my socks off.
Something so easy to replicate & yet we don’t tend to share easily. Sandbox rules 101 anyone?
Tags: mckinsey & co, team building
Where would you put your used kleenex & other odd perspectives
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Diversity & culture
- Creative Commons licensed on Flickr by: Pink Sherbet Photography
I was working at the United Nations today. A bit snuffly, I blew my nose & put the used kleenex on a dirty cup & saucer.
A wait staff came over & angrily asked what ‘it’ (the kleenex) was. Surprised & taken off guard, I was wondering if I was on hidden camera at this point.
‘Uh, a kleenex,’ I said.
‘It’s not food,’ he said in exasperation.
At this point, thoroughly confused, I sat in silence & tried to figure out what was going on. My glance raked the room & took in other bits of flotsam & jetsam, like used serviettes, on dirty plates.
Did I break some cultural norm? Had I unwittingly caused offense?
I don’t know. And even after I talked with someone who’s worked there a long time, I don’t know (& neither did he).
Working across cultures, with different perspectives, is sometimes like walking on eggshells. It’s a tricky balancing act. At times it causes more questions than answers. But then again, that’s what makes it so 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: Diversity & culture, united nations
‘The little chart that will change your life’ compliments of Stephen Covey
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Business & organizational development
Every since I learned about Stephen R. Covey’s 4 quadrant time management grid I’ve been enamoured.
The grid falls along two axis – things that are either urgent or not urgent & things that are either important or not.
From that falls the four quadrants, which here they are re-visited. See where you spend most of your time &, more importantly, if that’s the quadrant you want to be spending time in —>
Q1 – Necessity
– crises, emergency meetings, last minute deadlines, pressing problems, unforeseen challenges
Q2 – Extraordinary Results
– proactive work, high impact goals, creative thinking, planning, prevention, relationship building, learning & renewal
Q3 – Distraction
– needless interruptions, unnecessary reports, irrelevant meetings, other people’s minor issues, unimportant email, tasks, phone calls, status posts etc.
Q4 – Waste
– trivial work, avoidance activities, excessive relaxation, television, gaming, internet, time wasters, gossip
Tags: stephen covey, time management