‘Organizing in the Google Era’ – a review of Douglas Merrill’s book
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Business & organizational development
Douglas Merrill, author of Getting Organized in the Google Era, has creds. He has a PhD in cognitive science, he’s the former CIO at Google, the former President of EMI Music’s digital unit and current CEO & co-founder of ZestCash.com. Equally important the approach he takes in his book is funny, funky and surprisingly tender (the latter as he shares his learnings from watching his partner pass away from cancer).
He shares with us, that while knowledge may have been power in the past, now power is all about the sharing of knowledge. And while the desire for work-life balance is very real, it doesn’t exist (don’t loose hope, he’s a fan of integration instead). Douglas bases his book on two key principles ~
A) The world is a mess when it comes to organization:
B) Our brains aren’t as mighty as we think they are:
Depressed yet? Hang on, Douglas gives us hope.
1. Get stuff out of your head ASAP
Our brains can only hold 5-9 things in short term memory so get stuff out of your head and into a notebook, the cloud, an email etc. Just get it out and down (written, emailed, noted etc). Repeat after me… out and down … out and down.
Douglas tells an unverified story of a reporter, who after interviewing Einstein asks him for his phone number in case he needed to do follow-up. Einstein goes to a phone booth (remember those?) and tears out his phone number from the directory, expressing surprise that the reporter would expect him to know his number when it was listed in the directory.
I’m not suggesting you forget your phone number but it is a great example of analyzing the flotsam and jetsam that’s floating around in our head and turfing what doesn’t need to be there.
Bonus tip: if you really need to remember something, Douglas says attach a story to it. While our short-term memories are good at rote memory our long-term memories encode very differently, and that’s through the use of stories. Stories are how we remember.
2. Organize around actual not assumed constraints
Douglas suggests we “uncover patterns of behavior that cause us to ‘get in our own way’”. He says to pay particular attention to what scares, stresses, frustrates and angers us. I was so taken by this concept that I grabbed a sticky and made a list under each of those 4.
“If you don’t know what the problem is you can’t solve it” he says and then goes on to say we also need to figure out what we do and don’t have control over. Insert favourite saying here: If you can’t fight and you can’t flee … flow (from As Above So Below).
3. Have clear goals
Clear goals are the flip side of constraints. If you are really clear about your goals (and keep coming back to them to make sure you’re on track) things tend to flow from there.
4. Search
If you only keep in your head what you truly need then what do you do with the rest? “Don’t file information search for it,” are perhaps the wisest words in the book. “Search sets us free from the clutter of our imperfect minds.” Amen and high five to that!
Point 4 is so impressive and has such potential to change the way we work that I’ll add the second set of 4 takeaways related directly to search in the next blog post. Can’t wait? Read them all here in the Rock.Paper.Scissors Inc. latest e-newsletter article.
Tags: as above so below, douglas merrill, einstein, emi, getting organized in the google era, google, organization, zestcash
More rock star stories of women & HR, ten more top tips
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Human resources
Recently I facilitated a panel discussion of senior Human Resources women for BCHRMA in order to tease out and build upon their stories. What a night! The panelists hummed and the audience responded. Here are the mistresses of HR stories:
- Janice Antaya-Finlayson (VP, HR for Best Buy Canada)
- Joan Burgess (Director of HR for the City of New Westminster)
- Jay-Ann Fordy (Chief HR Officer of Coast Capital Savings)
- Karen Oyhenart (Director, HR for Diversity & Inclusiveness at Telus)
No matter the differences.
No matter if they came from a supportive family or if they went it bravely alone.
No matter whether they’d spent their career in the same organization for some 34 years,
Or changed both sectors and organizations,
There were remarkable similarities.
Here some of the themes these successful women shared (part two) (see part one here):
- spend time IN the business – understand the business: cultivate the skills to be able to take a deep dive in
- have active conversations about the business because it will give you credibility
- lean into and follow your intuition
- be a lifelong learner
- life is short so follow your passion
- embrace change and know that your ability to embrace it may be stronger than your business’ ability so cultivate being a proactive change agent
- getting buy in, creating ownership, facilitating engagement are critical skills – exercise those muscles
- balance being bold and being certain with being open and questioning
- know that context and culture can change everything, especially perspective
- the journey towards access, inclusion and diversity is complex and critical
And you? What has worked for you and what are you continuing to work on?
Tags: BCHRMA, best buy, city of new westminster, coast capital savings, corporate storytelling, Human resources, janice antaya-finlayson, jay-ann fordy, joan burgess, karen oyhenart, telus
Effective communication – I’m an anchor? You say that like it’s a good thing
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication
Effective communication? You be the judge.
A client called me an anchor recently. I chuckled … after I realized she didn’t mean to say she thought I was going to weigh down the conference like a ball and chain, rather she said – You’re our anchor “now when you get home what can you do with everything you just learned” presenter closing the conference.
I shared my chuckle with her and she in turn shared: I was thinking anchor like the last person on a relay race….. And I was having a conversation with someone here who has a room full of assorted furniture and she was arranging a viewing – I thought funeral and my colleague thought real estate.
What’s your view? ‘Tomatoe’ – ‘tomata’, ‘potatoe’ – ‘potata’ – let’s not call the whole thing off.
How do you ensure effective communication?
Tags: communication, communication skills, effective communication
And the answer is …… Do First Nations people look you in the eye? More cultural lessons for training & development
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Diversity & culture, Training & development
Two weeks ago I launched a contest based on a comment I hear fairly frequently when I’m doing cultural intelligence, diversity and/or access and inclusion training. And that comment is ‘First Nations people don’t look you in the eye.’
Besides being a generalization, it’s way more complicated.
I learned another way of saying ‘yes’ and ‘no’ years ago when I was working way up North. 500 miles North of the Arctic Circle in fact, in a tiny community called Pelly Bay. What a place to learn about intercultural issues – it was magical – even on our coldest, -72 degrees Celsius day! The Northern Lights danced and my learning took off.
I put that experience together with the comment I frequently hear and decided to hold a contest to see if you could determine, with the two pictures below, in which one am I saying ‘yes’ and in which one am I saying ‘no’. It’s a twist naturally, because to figure out what I’m saying you must be looking at me.
The comments poured in on the original post.
Photo a- am I saying yes or no?
Photo b - am I saying yes or no?
Here are the original photos. See if you can tell how you say ‘yes’ and how you say ‘no’ in the Inuit community I was in.
By far most folks said photo A was ‘yes:’:
- your eyebrows are up and that’s how you say yes in the Philippines (said Marie Jocelyn)
- Jan wasn’t sure, she said it could mean ‘yay, great idea’ or ‘ you gotta be kidding me’
- Donna gave her thumbs up to my eyebrows in photo A
- Viabhav on the other hand said photo A was ‘yes’ because of my nose bridge
- Marcela said that photo looks more ‘welcoming and assenting’
- Colette said photo A was yes because of my eyebrows even though in Turkey the same gesture means no
- Rebeca thought photo A looked more ‘positive and expressive’
- while Theo said it was yes because I looked more ‘serene’
- Asarte guessed yes to photo A recognizing the guess was based on their cultural lens
- Dyana said yeah to photo A because to her I looked more ‘open, engaging’
Only 4 folks thought photo A meant no and photo B meant yes:
- Jodi said photo A was no because it reminded her of her Grandma’s look that said ‘you think I’m buying that story?!’
- to some photo B meant yes because I’m leaning more towards the camera, I look more relaxed and because my chin is tucked in
Fascinating stuff. The question is easy – yes or no? The answers are not.
Some people focused on their gut to answer, some were more analytical/logical. Some made comparisons (to other cultures, to relatives). Some were certain, some guessed.
Many people focused on something that had nothing to do with the answer. And that’s the hard part of intercultural communications – what do you pay attention to and what do you let slide? What’s critical and what’s not?
That’s what keeps the conversation going and the learning happening.
Ready for the answer?
Photo A is yes and photo B is no but perhaps not for the reason that you think.
Photo A is yes because my eyebrows are up. That’s how you say yes in the community I was in.
Photo B however is no, because of something no one mentioned. It’s because of my nose. To say no in this community you squinch your nose. Yep, squinch your nose = no.
Now imagine, it’s a bitterly cold Arctic day. I have 20 teenagers traveling with me from Vancouver who want to fit in with the Inuit youth. One of them asks me if they can go outside (keep in mind – Arctic winter). I’m concentrating and don’t realize that I’ve just raised my eyebrows.
The Inuit youth, naturally, take this as a yes and rush outside. The youth from Vancouver follow, all the while I’m holding down my eyebrows yelling ‘hang on, let’s talk about this!’
Are you aware of how much your eyebrows move when you talk? It’s just one small thing that the intricate, intriguing world of intercultural communications will bring to your cultural communications radar.
As promised, I did a random draw from all those who entered, and I’m a happy to say that Donna McGrath won the complimentary Life Lenses™ assessment – an assessment designed to illuminate your perspective or how you view the world. I’ll be in touch Donna with how to claim your prize.
In the meantime, watch those eyebrows!
Tags: cross cultural communications, cross culture communication, culture, first nations, intercultural, inuit, pelly bay
Shedding light on the stories of women & HR, ten top tips
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Human resources
Have you entered the cultural training & development contest yet and grabbed a chance of winning a free Life Lenses assessment? No? What are you waiting for – deadline is June 15th.
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Recently I facilitated a panel discussion of senior Human Resources women for BCHRMA in order to tease out and build upon their stories. What a night! The panelists hummed and the audience responded. Here are the mistresses of HR stories:
- Janice Antaya-Finlayson (VP, HR for Best Buy Canada)
- Joan Burgess (Director of HR for the City of New Westminster)
- Jay-Ann Fordy (Chief HR Officer of Coast Capital Savings)
- Karen Oyhenart (Director, HR for Diversity & Inclusiveness at Telus)
No matter the differences.
No matter if they came from a supportive family or if they went it bravely alone.
No matter whether they’d spent their career in the same organization for some 34 years,
Or changed both sectors and organizations,
There were remarkable similarities.
Here are some of the themes these successful women shared (part one):
- look around you – listen to what people are saying
- fear and risk are unavoidable – so deal … and deal well (fear can be a great motivator)
- humour is a universal theme – embrace it and use it as a strategic tool
- grow from your innate talents
- be open – embrace the unknown
- pay attention to your health and your wellness
- get support from people you trust
- success means being confident
- success means being competent
- work towards respect – be a realist AND an optimist – know that respect is a human rights issue and issue that needs to be protected
Would you add any? What’s worked for you?
Stay tuned for the next post with another top 10 tips.
Tags: BCHRMA, best buy, city of new westminster, coast capital savings, corporate storytelling, Human resources, janice antaya-finlayson, jay-ann fordy, joan burgess, karen oyhenart, telus
Do you know the fancy, official wine term ‘DNPIM’? aka a great T&D hook
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Humor & comedy, Training & development
Have you entered the cultural training & development contest yet and grabbed a chance of winning a free Life Lenses assessment? No? What are you waiting for – deadline is June 15th.
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A while ago I attended the Forum for Women Entrepreneur’s annual Gala, a great bash for entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurially minded. This year I have to admit, when I heard the theme was wine, I was a bit skeptical.
With all due respect to sommeliers (whom I think are poets of the mouth), if the wine is red I’ll drink it. I love to listen to hues of ‘this’ and after notes of ‘that’ that sommeliers can reel off, but it doesn’t mean I can taste them.
Yet there I found myself, in between delightful dinner conversation with my seat mate John Jacobsen, CEO of Monexa, watching Tony Stewart, CEO of Quails’ Gate Estate Winery (that’s him above), take the stage to talk about, what else, wine.
My yummy chocolate concoction of a desert competed for my attention but when Tony began his talk by with the term DNPIM my attention was diverted. He went on to say that DNPIM is a term that’s very common in his winery. Expecting to hear a definition that included something I’d still need to decode, I almost snorted my wine when he said it stood for:
Do Not Put In Mouth
As in a wine that simply didn’t taste good. No more reason than that. No good. Nada.
And at once he had me hooked into his story. He changed my perspective and he drew me in. Presto!
What ‘hook’ do you use in your training to capture your participant’s imagination and attention?
Tags: decode, forum for women entrepreneurs, fwe, hook, john jacobsen, monexa, perspective, quails' gate estate winery, tony stewart
7 training and development governance tips – breath & don’t ignore the hippo in the room
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Training & development
- Maryanne Lockwood and I at the BCHRMA conference oxygen bar
Have you entered the cultural training & development contest yet and grabbed a chance of winning a free Life Lenses assessment? No? What are you waiting for – deadline is June 15th.
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Great training and development means being aware of governance factors.
Gover who? Governance factors are all things related to the physical space and environment that our training and development takes place in.
Even air quality.
I was intrigued to learn at the recent BCHRMA conference oxygen bar display booth (that’s myself and Maryanne Lockwood partaking) that today’s air is made up of about 19-21% oxygen. The oxygen bar gives you 50% oxygen. Interestingly 200 years ago we had 30% oxygen in the air we were breathing.
The oxygen bar got me thinking about governance factors, those factors that can make a big difference to the quality of your participants’ experience, whether or not you can control the factors. Here are some examples:
- room temperature: I once did a workshop in the middle of winter in a room where the heating was broken. Myself and participants clad ourselves in winter coats, mitts and hats. Acknowledging that I didn’t have any control over the temperature (oddly, it was controlled in another city) but that we had someone working on it was critical to continuing.
- physical space: despite clear instructions that our workshops require participants to have room to move about, one workshop had folks practically sitting on top of each other we were so so squished into a tiny room.
- lighting: some participants, as with other governance factors, don’t particularly notice the light in the room while others are very keen observers. If the room I’m training in doesn’t have natural light I mention it (to appease those who have already noticed). If the blinds on the room can be moved I invite participants to change them as they see fit, particularly as the light shifts as the day progresses. What was a nicely lit spot in the morning can be the source of blinding glare in the afternoon.
- ambient noise: the hum of a PowerPoint, the whir of a fan, outside traffic etc. all can drive some participants nuts, while others remain unaware. I try to have my antennae up and ask participants if they’re being bothered.
- seating: uncomfortable chairs, not enough chairs, chairs arranged so not everyone see each other or you are all a hassle to deal with. Clear communication with the training venue can go a long way in preventing problems.
- physical layout: how the seating is arranged has a big effect on what kind of training activities you can do. For example, fixed, cantilevered seating makes mixing participants challenging (seating that gradually rises the further the rows are from the stage). Large obstacles in the middle of the room (like floor to ceiling pillars or a massive fireplace, I get a migraine thinking about that training experience) are also challenging. I always tell clients it’s imperative that participants be able to see and hear myself and each other. There’s no equivocating on that one.
- sound: if people can’t hear you it doesn’t matter how good you are. Know how many people you can speak to without a microphone and make sure you have a good quality sound system if the number of people is above that. For example I can speak to about 75 people without a microphone, while our entertainers can go up to about 100. If you’re using a sound system make fast friends with the technician and leave enough time to do an unhurried sound check.
The ones above are the most common and there are many, many other governance factors, especially when you’re training in international and/or remote areas such as:
- the local wildlife (I’ve dealt with bears, caribou, whales, monkeys and hippos to name a few)
- the presence of fierce looking security guards
- the contrast of sweltering temperatures outside with glacial, air conditioned temperatures inside
- unusual food you and/or your participants aren’t used to
Have good training content? Check. Have good training delivery methods? Check.
Then don’t ruin it all by not paying attention to governance factors.
Tags: BCHRMA, governance factors, oxygen bar, training tips
No better way to learn about your own cultural training & development roots than to immerse yourself in another
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Diversity & culture, Training & development
Have you entered the cultural training & development contest yet and grabbed a chance of winning a free Life Lenses assessment? No? What are you waiting for – deadline is June 15th.
As I mentioned in a previous post watching out for too-near hippos by night and too-curious monkeys by day, I’ve been fortunate to do my training work all over the globe. From -72 Celsius/-96 Fahrenheit to +44 Celsius/111 Fahrenheit I’ve run the gamut of intriguing work places and spaces.
When you find yourself 12 hours ahead or behind your regular timezone, in a culture that is obviously different from your own, cultural issues naturally tend to pop. But. Cultural issues are always at play. Truly. Truly.
Culture is what gives meaning to our lives.
No matter where you find yourself doing training & development work, whether your participants seem like they are culturally similar to you, vastly different or somewhere in between, culture is a HUGE component of every successful training. Loose sight of its significance at your peril.
However.
First.
An important caveat.
I’m using what I’ve observed working with other cultures. However the examples I give below don’t necessarily relate to the overall culture. You will always find exceptions, other, difference. That’s what makes it interesting.
So please don’t take the examples as written in stone (aka generalizations or stereotypes), as in all Kenyans (fill in the blank) _______. You’ll hear my gasp and choke from afar if you do!
Besides I’ll guarantee there are things about you that ‘fit’ your overall culture and things that don’t. For example, I’m Canadian but I really dislike hockey. Yep, it’s true and if you dislike me because of it, the only thing that’s changed is you.
Now on with the cultural training & development lessons.
Whether I’m in my own backyard or several timezones away here are some of what I’ve learned about cultural lessons for training & development:
- Time: I was working in the Philippines years ago and one night decided to go to a movie. While I waited for the movie to ‘begin’ I noticed people ambling in and out of the theatre. Curious, I followed a bunch in. Gobsmacked, I realized the movie had already ‘started’ and I was ‘late’.
It turned out to be a great example of how fluid some cultures treat time. My culture? We save, bank, shave, mark and bide out time. It’s a commodity that we measure down to the nanosecond. Working in a culture where time was much more flexible was refreshing. Although I have to say my cultural roots sure showed another time when, working in an indigenous community in Mexico, we just about missed our flight because of this fluidity.
- Physical space & body awareness: ever ask a corporate North American audience to dance and move their hips? It can be done but with a lot of preparation and foundation laying. When I did a 5 day training in East Africa with Ugandan, Kenyan, Tanzanian and Rwandan UN workers let’s just say they put my North American clients to shame in the way they moved. A movement exercise to reinforce the program evaluation training I was doing there was met with loud cries of ‘more!’
How cultures react to the physical space around them and how much they are aware of and consciously use their bodies varies tremendously.
- Formality / informality: a final cultural element to keep in mind when training is the formality / informality continuum. Where do you lie on the continuum? Where do your participants lie?
When I was doing a cultural intelligence training for the United Nations in Brazil I was a bit worried (to say the least) when at the start of the workshop there were only 3 people in the audience. Turns out the organizers were waiting for my formal say-so to open the door. I’m happy to report that the workshop was overflowing.
How can you tell where you should aim your training on the formality/informality continuum? Simple. Look at what you and your participants are wearing. Clothing is a big clue. See a sea of suits? You’re likely in a formal setting. Open toed sandals peeking up at you below bare arms? Could be a more informal environment. Language is also a clue – watch for the level of formal terms in use.
Take a look at your cultural roots when you’re both preparing and delivering a training. For sure your roots will show. Same with your participants.
Tags: body awareness, cultural elements, cultural intelligence, culture, formality informality, life lenses, physical space, time, united nations
Cross cultural communications – are you in?
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Diversity & culture, Training & development
We interrupt this blog post for an important message:
Taken the ‘test’ on cross-cultural communications yet? No? Get on over to this post with the test (and a prize!). If you can answer the question in the comment section you could win a Life Lenses™ assessment.
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Cross cultural communications. It’s a BIG topic.
It has a BIG impact on training & development.
Cross cultural communications affects:
- when do we start our trainings? what’s considered ‘on-time’ and ‘late’?
- how do we use power? Do we share it, keep it or pass it on?
- what training techniques do we choose? Which ones do we leave out?
- how do we arrange the training space? Where do we sit or stand? Where do the participants?
- what do we wear?
- how formal or informal are we?
Cross cultural communications – intriguing, uplifting, confusing, energizing, energy consuming and ever present.
Tags: cross cultural communications, culture, diversity
Do First Nations people look you in the eye? More cultural lessons for training & development
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Diversity & culture, Training & development
Hot post title, no? Has it got you all up in arms?
Good. Hang on, keep reading (there’s a contest with a cool prize to come)…
A couple of my recent posts have been on cultural issues to consider when doing training and development. You can see them at the bottom of this post.
I left the biggest cultural issue for this post and I’ve thrown in a bit of contest to boot. Are you with me?
I’m talking about communication. Nothing is more culturally laden than how we communicate.
Communication is a huge topic within intercultural work, and for today’s post let’s look at one small example and that’s the indirect <——-> direct communication continuum.
Some cultures communicate very directly – eye to eye, specifically with the person they intend to relay or receive a message from. Other cultures communicate indirectly, perhaps with less eye contact and/or through a third party. And lots of cultures are somewhere along that continuum.
More than once I’ve had clients say to me ‘First Nations people don’t look you in the eye,’ assuming all First Nations people are indirect communicators. What’s wrong with that statement?
Many things, including it generalizes all First Nations people into one cultural category.
While not directly First Nations, I love to relay the following story as an example of another way of looking at communication issues.
When I was working up north (in -72 degree Celsius weather) I didn’t think some Inuit elders were answering my questions. I tried several tactics, including having less eye contact. Didn’t work. Turns out I was asking yes or no questions (questions that can only be answered by yes or no).
Photo a- am I saying yes or no?
Photo b - am I saying yes or no?
See if you can tell how you say ‘yes’ and how you say ‘no’ in the Inuit community I was in.
In which photo am I saying yes?
Which one says no?
And how do you know?
Enter your answer in the reply section below. I’ll make a random draw & announce the winner June 15th. One person will win a free Life Lenses™ assessment – an assessment designed to illuminate your perspective or how you view the world.
The deadline for entering your answer is Tuesday, June 14th, 2011.
Good luck and have fun!
Update: click here to see the answer on June 15th’s post.
Tags: communication, communication continuum, first nations, intercultural, inuit, life lenses, perspective