Perspective – you can’t have it if your head is down
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Humor & comedy
Perspective.
It’s what we miss when our head is down.
…when we’re so focused on our Blackberry or IPhone that nothing else matters.
…when we’re so focused on our next step that we don’t see an easier path ahead.
It’s amazing what can happen to our perspective if we lift up our head and look. Simply. Look.
Enjoy this laugh out loud video of people lacking perspective. You know you’ve been there!
Tags: janitor, perspective, snow
The Rock.Paper.Scissors newsletter is out: seeking happy holidays through hope
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness
This month’s Rock.Paper.Scissors e-newsletter focuses on four small gifts designed to lift your spirits for the holidays. Read the entire issue here or see below for an excerpt.
Not everyone starts off the season with warm fuzzies. Many are stressed, frazzled & frenetic. Others are on pure overwhelm due to having been on overdrive for far too long.
Recognize yourself?
I invite you to sit back, put your feet up &, depending on where your ‘starting point’ is, receive one or more of the gifts included in the newsletter.
Gift number four: if you find yourself in despair over all the world’s problems & are seeking a reason for for hope see this.
Read the rest of the issue here to see the other gifts.
P.S. Get in on our Annual To-do, Not to-do, To done & To’odle list
Each year for the past few years a wide variety of diverse people have contributed to the annual to-do, not-to-do, to-done & to’odle lists.
It’s a great way to start off the New Year & you’re invited to send in your contributions.
Need more info? See this blog post for a sample &/or see below for the descriptions of what exactly each one means. Email me your contributions (laragan at rpsinc.ca) or post them in the comment section below. They’ll appear in an upcoming newsletter.
Tags: holidays, inspiration, rock.paper.scissors newsletter
The Rock.Paper.Scissors newsletter is out: seeking happy holidays through calm inspiration
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Communication
This month’s Rock.Paper.Scissors e-newsletter focuses on four small gifts designed to lift your spirits for the holidays. Read the entire issue here or see below for an excerpt.
Not everyone starts off the season with warm fuzzies. Many are stressed, frazzled & frenetic. Others are on pure overwhelm due to having been on overdrive for far too long.
Recognize yourself?
I invite you to sit back, put your feet up &, depending on where your ‘starting point’ is, receive one or more of the gifts included in the newsletter.
Gift number two: The Law of Least Effort. If you are frenzied & are seeking calm.
Gift number three: The She-ros Journey. If you are overwhelmed & are seeking inspiration (note: this link will take you to a downloadable gift).
Read the rest of the issue here to see the other gifts.
P.S. Get in on our Annual To-do, Not to-do, To done & To’odle list
Each year for the past few years a wide variety of diverse people have contributed to the annual to-do, not-to-do, to-done & to’odle lists.
It’s a great way to start off the New Year & you’re invited to send in your contributions.
Need more info? See this blog post for a sample &/or see below for the descriptions of what exactly each one means. Email me your contributions (laragan at rpsinc.ca) or post them in the comment section below. They’ll appear in an upcoming newsletter.
Tags: calm, deepak chopra, holidays, inspiration, meditation, rock.paper.scissors newsletter
The Rock.Paper.Scissors newsletter is out: seeking happy holidays
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Humor & comedy
This month’s Rock.Paper.Scissors e-newsletter focuses on four small gifts designed to lift your spirits for the holidays. It was written from my office in Nairobi, where I can see sun warmed banana, flame & mango trees. Regardless whether your view is similar or decidedly different, I’d like to wish you a peaceful holiday.
Read the entire issue here or see below for an excerpt.
May you celebrate the holidays with people that bring you joy, indulge with food that nourishes your spirit & participate in experiences that bring a smile to your face.
The holidays are a time for giving & for giving back. And as I’m privileged to work with such great clients & workshop participants I wanted to do just that.
Not everyone starts off the season with warm fuzzies. Many are stressed, frazzled & frenetic. Others are on pure overwhelm due to having been on overdrive for far too long.
Recognize yourself?
I invite you to sit back, put your feet up &, depending on where your ‘starting point’ is, receive one or more of the gifts included in the newsletter.
Number one: May your troubles always be smaller than your imagination: if you have the blues & are seeking a reason to smile see below.
Polar Bear Attack in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada
These are photographs of an actual polar bear attacking a man.
The pictures were taken while people watched and could do nothing to stop the attack!
Reports from the local newspaper say that the victim will make a full recovery.
The photos are below.
May your troubles always be smaller than your imagination
Credited to stuff mom send me.
Read the rest of the issue here to see the other gifts.
P.S. Get in on our Annual To-do, Not to-do, To done & To’odle list
Tags: Christmas, holidays, rock.paper.scissors newsletter
Social Change for Christmas? How about an ad aimed at reducing terrorism.
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness
Need a reason to celebrate this time of year? Want an extremely creative example of effecting social change?
In a coming together of advertising & social responsibility, a Colombian ad agency won the grand prize at a prestigious London ad awards ceremony recently with their ad designed to reduce terrorism.
The agency sent soldiers into FARC guerrilla occupied jungles to string Christmas light (no, this isn’t a joke).
The Christmas light were designed to turn on when someone approached and light up a sign that encouraged the guerrillas to ‘demobilize’. (Imagine the shock of jungle critters as they prowled by & set off the lights.)
331 FARC fighters were inspired, in part by the PR operation, to give up their weapons, as Simon Houpt writes in the Globe & Mail.
Here’s to peace on earth, including peace in the jungle.
Tags: Christmas, inspiration, simon houpt
Playing in the sandbox of perspective: who’s ‘ami’ are we talking about?
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Diversity & culture
I laughed myself silly when I saw the video below. Count the times the guy says ‘Miami’.
I’ll save you some time – it’s 6. It takes him 6 times to put himself in the little girl’s shoes or rather sandbox. Interestingly she gets it right off – she automatically puts herself in his place.
She looks at the situation from his perspective.
Perspective. It’ll get you every time. Especially if you’re oblivious to diverse perspectives & working only from your own.
Life Lenses™ are a perspective enhancing tool. Got yours yet?
Tags: cross-cultural, culture, diversity, perspective
Ladysmith Black Mambazo – trainers can learn from their energy & enthusiasm
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Business & organizational development, Training & development
Living in Kenya for a year definitely has its benefits. One of the many is getting to see Ladysmith Black Mambazo live in concert. They initially came to the world’s attention when they accompanied Paul Simon on ‘Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes’.
As I grooved to their rhythms, I wrote these words:
Hot sun, cool shade.
Sweet tunes, like liquid honey on a sizzling day.
Velvet smooth melodies, feather light tunes.
Soothing the soul, easy on the ears.
Gratefully received with a full heart.
See the snippet of video I shot below. I think trainers can learn a lot from Ladysmith Black Mambazo energy & enthusiasm.
Imagine what the world would be like if we all brought that level of passion & commitment to our work.
It’s a jungle out there- training & development African style
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Training & development
Going on weekend safaris are par for the course living here in Kenya & with it comes learning about African wildlife.
I’m borrowing from some of the most amazing animals here & applying it to training & development. Come on a training & development safari with me.
Gazelles can leap up to 3 metres. That height keeps them out of the eyesight of cheetahs. Gazelles can run up to 50 km/hr & sustain it for long whiles.
How it applies to training & development: Keeping things active is good for short whiles. Get participants moving & involved.
Cheetahs on the other hand are sprinters. When they’re going full tilt they are taking 150 breaths per minute & their body temperature can reach 30 degrees Celsius. One more degree & they’d boil their brain, so while they can run fast (0 to 95 km/hr in 3 seconds), they can’t sustain it.
How it applies to training & development: cycle back & forth between action & reflection when training. Officially this is called praxis. Too much action means no reflection. Take time to cool down participant’s brains & encourage reflection.
Cheetah young protect themselves by chirping like birds. Literally. Their cries for their mama sound like birds. Makes sense when you think about it. When cheetah cubs are hiding in the grasslands while mama’s hunting, they make like birds so predators aren’t alerted.
How it applies to training & development: look for inspiration outside the training & development field. If cheetahs can chirp like birds, we as trainers can benefit from cross-pollination from other lines of work. Explore. Engage. Enjoy.
Lions have fierce looking (& acting!) claws which when they take off on a hunt, dig into the soil & give them a good start. The balance? They can’t sustain their running for long.
Because hoofed animals (aka lion prey) don’t have claws to dig in & give them traction, they have a slower start when they’re off & running . The tradeoff? They can sustain their pace for long whiles.
Cheetah’s small & aerodynamic heads make them fast but on the other hand, they have small, weak jaws.
How it applies to training & development: keep it balanced. Know your assets & issues as a trainer. Make sure you’re not training solely as you like to learn as that weakness will leave out learners.
The dark ‘tear lines’ on cheetah’s faces (see picture above) dampen the glare of the sun. Think of the smudge lines football & baseball players put under their eyes. Same thing. Makes it easier to see.
How it applies to training & development: training’s hard work, take care of yourself when you’re training. If you do you’ll be a much better trainer. How can you avoid the glare & embrace the light?
Tags: africa, praxis, self-care, training & development
I’m selling my soul, are you?
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Social Responsibility
I sold my soul.
I sold my soul in New York City.
I’m still selling my soul.
I will always sell my soul.
Perspective. It’s a tricky thing. It’s an intriguing thing. It can be a brick wall or a wide open window. The number one hit on ‘selling your soul’ is selling your soul to Satan- a how to guide.
Nah uh. NO way.
Here’s what I mean by selling my soul.
I make my living doing what I love – helping people laugh, learn and lead by expanding and enhancing perspectives.
How do you look at the world?
Are you selling your soul? I hope so.
Tags: danielle laporte, new york city, perspective, soul, Wellness
Speaking English kills you (& other ways evaluations can go sideways)
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Human resources, Training & development
Program evaluation can leave you feeling like you don’t know if you’re coming or going.
I do a lot of program evaluation work because it’s often so painful for my clients that I’m eager to show how it can be done with ease & even creativity & humour.
I was particularly proud to be asked by the United Nations to write a program evaluation training manual. It will be available online for free sometime soon (fingers crossed) but in the meantime you can check out the Beta site of SoJo, where some of the manual’s content has been posted.
SoJo is a collection of tools and informational resources to inspire and empower you to transform your ideas for social change into reality.
In the meantime, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, here’s an example of how drawing the wrong evaluation conclusions can hurt you.
For those of you who watch what you eat, here’s the final word on nutrition and health.
1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the English.
2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the English.
3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the English.
4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the English.
5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than the English.
Conclusion: Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.
(I’m not sure who is the original author of the above humourous take on health but here’s one source.)
Tags: program evaluation, sojo, united nations