Happy New Year! I hope that you had a great Christmas break. We got some very interesting feedback on the website over the holidays. It was good to see that people are starting to take notice and are generally appreciative of what we are trying to achieve. The feedback was more of a question around as we are in such a crowded market place, how could we make our unique approach to infinite pie thinking more distinctive? So we're working on that now.
But it got me thinking about how people are very good doing almost everything except what they're passionate about in the work place. Think about it, are you an amazing whizz with spreadsheet analysis? Do you find writing concise copy as easy as pie? Are you the sort of person who will see that tough project through to the very end? Do you have a dream to start your own auto-valeting company? You're probably already thinking about what it is that flicks your switch, gets you all excited. Now ask yourself, are you doing this in your day to day job?
It's odd that in most cases I would guess that the answer is no, which is a real shame. I'm not suggesting that we all need to jack in our jobs to write a book or take up a career in painting without thinking the consequences through, however, if you are not tapping into your talent, your passion, it wont be long before you start looking through the window at work and wondering what the next step will be.
So, your challenge should be, how can I tap into that thing that gets me going, gets me up in the morning. Now how can I use that in my current job do do something better for those that I work with and for, but more importantly, better for myself.
How's that for a New Year resolution?
MD
infinite pie
Listen with a purpose, applying listening to children – not to get them to follow orders but to understand their environment, expectations and put them in a position to make their own effective decisions. Not allowing children to question, but to just obediently fall in line because an authority figure demanded it, will reduce the capacity and initial skill for free thinking in adulthood.
Now replace the word “children” with “a member of staff”.
AF
infinite pie
Imagine, it's the week before the Christmas break, wind down week. All the work is effectively done, no new customer enquiries so I spend a bit of time shopping online to finish off the last few bits and pieces. All in between taking the few calls that are coming in and making sure that my intray is well and truly empty.
If spotted by a Bad Boss, I am sure I would be presented with 'company policy on the use of non business websites'; whereas a Good Boss would satisy themselves that my work was up to date and my customers were happy.
Which one are you?
MD
infinite pie
I read a fantastic article written by Eric Jackson for Forbes today on why large companies are failing to retain their top talent. It’s fascinating to read that these reasons plague large companies as well as smaller ones, but the reasons are still the same.
If you are involved in a company that is knowledge based, and let’s face it most of us are you will need to rely on your talent to take your business forward. In the previous article ‘The Art of Science’ the point made was of mastering the process and then letting the art shine through. Reading through the list in the Forbes article, every single item on the list can be boiled down to mastering change, improving leadership skills and communicating effectively. What do you think? It might seem simplistic, but in reality the tools and techniques needed to retain talent are, it’s the application, the art of the science that makes all of the difference.
MD
Infinite pie
The Art of Science
One of the key mnemonics that I have used throughout my career is SOSTT. It’s a fairly common way to approach marketing projects, but can be used for pretty much any problem that arises and needs a rudimentary timeline analysis. Simply put SOSTT considers
· Situation
· Objective
· Strategy
· Tactics
· Time or Target
Without understanding what the situation or ground state is, deriving the objective is pretty much redundant. It’s like planning a trip to the beach, and not knowing whether you own a car or need to take the train, or where you live.
OK, so it’s all well and good knowing the ‘science’ behind SOSTT, but applying it appropriately is where the ‘art’ comes in.
I’ll give you a good example, I was in Starbucks this weekend, and witnessed the art of science from a barista who was competent at the ‘science’ part, took my order efficiently, asked if I wanted anything else, proceeded to make exactly the coffee that I ordered in a timely fashion. The ‘art’ was that he engaged me in conversation that was genuine, warm and funny; all the while making me a coffee.
If we are to succeed in our ambitions, achieve success in what we do we need to lift our thinking out of the process and consider the impact of what it is that we are doing. By lifting the art out of the science and not being solely process driven we can start to achieve great things.
Let me know how pure process has helped or hindered you.
MD
infinite pie
